So I’m studying Japanese on Duolingo and they have a section for learning the characters for Hiragana and Katakana. Why are there two different “alphabets” for the language? Especially when there appears to be a big overlap in the sounds that they make?
For example, both シ and し make the “shi” sound. So why are there two characters for it? I was under the (likely wrong) assumption that Katakana was for loan words, but a lot of the words I’m finding in duolingo using the Katakana are words that should have existed in Japan without any outside influence. For example, キス is “kiss” and written in Katakana. Surely there was a word for kiss? And why not use きす which makes the same sound?
Thanks for shedding any light on this for me 🙂
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Katakana IS used for loan words, and in other contexts it is used for emphasis, kinda like using all caps online. The word you chose, kiss, is a slang term used. Japanese has it own word for the verb to kiss, that is spelled and pronounced differently. But the word is known and is used colloquially. Kiss as a loan word has become popular.
Someone recently asked if French people say yass like English speakers, or ouiii, and they use both, because they have their own native way, but they also know what the English one means because it is used online
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