jimmy
why is squid wrighten in japanese katakana if it sounds nothing like the english word squid. katakana is used foreign words mostly English. normally squid is written as イカ ika which sound nothing like The English word squid. if its not originally from the English or Japanese language than what language is it originate from? and if it is a native Japanese word than why is it in katakana
Aug 31, 2015 4:38 AM
Answers · 5
4
I'm Japanese and we habitually use katakana in for the kind/species of animals, fish, plants, flowers, vegetables, fruits, etc, for example, キツネ、アジ、サクラ、バラ、ナス、リンゴ、etc. Since I'm not an expart of the Japanese language, I don't know why we use katakana for them though they are Japanese word. There might be histories for that, so please wait for the correct answer. Anyways, I hope this was helpful.
August 31, 2015
4
Words from foreign languages imported into Japanese (referred to as Gairaigo/外来語) are just one of the things katakana is used for. There are various other uses as well - like the names of some animals. See http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/20840/why-are-the-names-of-plants-and-animals-often-written-in-katakana for further information, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana#Usage for the uses of katakana.
August 31, 2015
1
I'm not sure if it is the same but often words in katakana are derived from German/Dutch as they were some of the first nationalities who travelled to Japan. It's much like the word アルバイト or Arubaito which is Part Time Job in Japanese. This was taken from the German word Arbeit. I hope that helps
August 31, 2015
Katakana is used for loanwords. Loanwords from every language, not only English. So it's probably another language.
September 1, 2015
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!