So, as most people know, katakana is used in Japan for loan words and onomatopoeia (sounds that animals make or other sound effects). The two examples I found of this not being the case, and which is slightly less known, is for the names of Japanese companies and to emphasize certain Japanese words.
トヨタ、for example, is the name of the Japanese car company that makes cars. Although it is a Japanese company, it's name is written in katakana. I believe this is so in order to distinguish the company from the name of a person. The same works for the company スズキ。
The other example of katakana words is with emphasis.
As you mentioned, Katakana is mainly used as onomatopoeia, loanword and emphasis in the text books.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think why Toyota is using "トヨタ" instead of "豊田" and "とよた" as well as Suzuki?
Have you seen examples of Katakana emphasis?
-by こばやし
Yes, as Kobayashi-san said, can you think of other examples for emphasis? A good place to start might be looking at manga or popular Japanese TV shows. - すぎもと
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