Katakana is a more block style of writing the Japanese syllables. Hiragana is much like cursive writing
in english, where katakana is more like the printed form. However, though all katakana and hiragana were derived from
kanji, in some cases the katakana had a different source than its hiragana counterpart for a given sound.
All borrowed words are written in katakana rather than kanji or hiragana. Often they are english based, but do not
fall into a pattern of assuming if it is in katakana that it must be from english. Russian, French, German and
many other languages have also contributed to borrowed words in Japanese. Also, if the borrowed word is a long one, for
example "Word Processor", often the borrowed version is only the first two syllables of each word. In this case "Word
Processor" becomes "Waapuro". (Wor-Pro) |
