A: The frist word I found is インターネット, which is the loanword for internet in Japanese. Unlike some other technical or scientific terms which can be written in Kanji in Japanese, インターネット only has the katakana form. I think the reason for that is to clarify the foreign origin of this term and to formalize its reading in Japanese.
The next word I found is ピンポン, which is the onomatopoeia for the sound of doorbell in Japanese. I think the reason for writing it in Katakana is to differentiate it from hiragana and thus avoiding confusion when they are used together in the same sentence.
And the reason for both of the words not applying Kanji form I think is because the Kanji form of those words doesn't convey meanings as conspicuous or understandable as other terms may do when be transcribed, so adding those void kanji for those terms would be of no difference with setting hindrance for communication.
Additional Question: why sometime Katakana can be easier to understand or more applicable than Kanji?
A: For example, in Chinese, we have Kanji for all kinds of onomatopoeia; however, sometime we cannot remember how to write the Kanji or we cannot recognize them in some contexts...So in those cases, in Chinese, we have to look up or try to remember those uncommon Kanji in order to communicate in writing forms. But if we can have Katakana represent those words, we would no longer have such kind of problems. Likewise, the Kanji for the names of some Chinese emperors are extremely uncommon, or we can say unique, that means few people know how to write them or its readings unless they learn them many times. Although those Kanji are that useless, in Chinese, we have to remember them in order to communicate in writings or conversations, and for lots of time, those Kanji made troubles. Hence if we can use Katakana instead of Kanji in this case, there will not be any problems. Also, for the names of some places, some food, some technological terms, some historical events or some Chinese sayings, there is always only one correct combination of Kanji, in other words, if we write even one wrong Kanji in the combination, the term will not be the one we want to talk about, and that really makes our writing communications harder, because you need to pay attention to lots of details. But if you can use Katakana for those names, you will never have those problems.
2. Also, think why there are such effects/purposes.
A: First, As we all know that lots of kanji in Japanese have different readings, therefore if kanji is used instead of katakana in those cases, people should know their readings first; otherwise, if people are not sure about their readings or misrepresent them with other readings, confusion will be created and limitation of using those terms can be caused. Also, the kanji for those two words in Chinese are meaningless, or in other words they are merely onomatopoeia; hence, introducing those additional kanji to Japanese people is equivalent to set unnecessary burden on communication and study to them.
Second, as we know hiragana alone is usually used as parts of speech that other than nouns or adjectives. That is because putting together clusters of hiragana can be so confusing and so hard to read. So people used katakana or kanji to distinguish some words from hiragana. And when, by using kanji, the meanings of some words are not easy to grasp, or their readings are not obvious to tell to people, katakana will be used instead of kanji to ease communication and understanding and avoid redundancy of applying meaningless kanji.
Third, as a tool to express loanword, katakana can appear exotic when they are used especially instead of kanji; that's why lots of Japanese company write their names in katakana. Moreover, if you go to Japan, you may find lots of food names and product names are written in katakana instead of kanji or hiragana, that's because katakana can make them appear more exotic and attractive to customers and thus stimulating their consumption on these food or products.
Forth, also as a tool to express loanword particularly foreign concepts, katakana has more academic impression on people. Hence, using katakana sometimes can make a person appear more knowledgeable and educated, and make a term appear more academic. And that's another reason for katakana's popularity and wide using in modern Japan.
Additional Question: In many cases, why Katakana can be attractive and have academic impression on people?
A: Because as a tool to represent loanword, for most of time, at first glance, Katakana words will always be thought as foreign word. So in this aspect, comparing with using Kanji or hiragana for some words, the using of Katakana will draw more people's attention because people are always curious about what they saw when its meaning is not so obvious to see. In this way, if an original Japanese word can be written in Katakana, at first glance, people may think it was a foreign word, in that way, the using of katakana can make the word appear exotic, and after they realize what the word means, some of them may probably think of the difference between the real thing represented by the Katakana word and the same thing represented by traditional ways.
In similar situation, as lots of new technological terms have been introduced to people by using Katakana, so when someone often use katakana to describe things, it seems that that person know foreign languages. And as we know, lots of loanword are not of Japanese origin, so the meaning of those words are unknown to people unless they learned. So in those senses, we people use such kinds of Katakana words, it will make them appear more knowledgeable and educated, thus creating an academic impression on others.
3. Think about why each textbook is different in explaining katakana, and why the textbooks explained katakana in the manners that they did.
A: I think the using of katakana has been quite diverse and complicated. It seems to follow certain rules, however in many cases it also can be an individual thing. Therefore on text books, we can see though the general directions of explaining the usage of katakana are universal, there are always variations among them. Because the using of katakana is really flexible and it is getting more and more popular in modern Japan. As a result, the enhancement of variations of using katakana is inevitable and its application will be far less possible to be enclosed within certain rules.
This article was written based on personal opinions, if there is any incorrect information, please point it out, thank you!
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