Comments on: Japanese Tomboys http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/ A little place for learning languages Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:09:22 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Vincent Pace http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/comment-page-1/#comment-610 Vincent Pace Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:07:37 +0000 http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/#comment-610 You're right about the use of katakana for foreign words being more recent. 亜米利加 伊太利亜 仏蘭西 Have any idea what those are? They're how a few countries used to be written before katakana became common. アメリカ イタリア フランス You might be familiar with the term 米国. Well, guess where they got the 米 from? Likewise, 伊 is used as a one-character abbreviation for Italy, and 仏 for France. There's a certain cut-off point somewhere back in the day when they switched to katakana. Before that, pretty much all loan words were approximated with standardized characters, just as they are in modern Chinese (note above how the リ above is represented by 利 both times in kanji). I'm not sure what the cut-off point is, but I'd be interested in finding out. You’re right about the use of katakana for foreign words being more recent.

亜米利加
伊太利亜
仏蘭西

Have any idea what those are? They’re how a few countries used to be written before katakana became common.

アメリカ
イタリア
フランス

You might be familiar with the term 米国. Well, guess where they got the 米 from? Likewise, 伊 is used as a one-character abbreviation for Italy, and 仏 for France.

There’s a certain cut-off point somewhere back in the day when they switched to katakana. Before that, pretty much all loan words were approximated with standardized characters, just as they are in modern Chinese (note above how the リ above is represented by 利 both times in kanji).

I’m not sure what the cut-off point is, but I’d be interested in finding out.

]]> By: Andrew http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/comment-page-1/#comment-578 Andrew Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:53:51 +0000 http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/#comment-578 かん (缶) is another common one, one that you still see all over the place. It's from dutch, if I recall. かん (缶) is another common one, one that you still see all over the place. It’s from dutch, if I recall.

]]> By: justin http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/comment-page-1/#comment-502 justin Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:29:06 +0000 http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/#comment-502 The most obvious one that springs to mind for me is 煙草. I think there were a good bit more, but as with tobacco you tend to see them written in katakana these days. The most obvious one that springs to mind for me is 煙草. I think there were a good bit more, but as with tobacco you tend to see them written in katakana these days.

]]> By: sergey samokhov http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/comment-page-1/#comment-501 sergey samokhov Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:36:08 +0000 http://babelhut.com/languages/japanese/japanese-tomboys/#comment-501 Maybe the Japanese themselves were confused about that "o-" and din't know whether it was a prefix or not. Or maybe they knew it wasn't, but they were used to put "o-" at the start of the word as お, so it just seemed right. Maybe the Japanese themselves were confused about that “o-” and din’t know whether it was a prefix or not. Or maybe they knew it wasn’t, but they were used to put “o-” at the start of the word as お, so it just seemed right.

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