Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Sorry, but it is very common to see all four used simultaneously. I just translated a sentence yesterday that had all four writing systems. Romaji (not "romanji") is hardly ever used for the benefit of non-speakers (train stations and airports are the only real examples I can think of). Spend more than a few days in Japan and you will realize that little is done for the benefit of non-speakers.
Japanese all study English and all know ABCs, so using them to write Japanese words and commonly known English words is not uncommon to see, but it isn't for foreigners benefit.
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Your right (MMM) - I got confused regarding Romaji - I instantly thought kpauner was refering to using english words mixed with japanese script - which of course is very rare. I have seen lots of instances where romaji has been used in conjunction with the other 3 - apologies for misinforming you (Kpauner).
However - in relation to your retort regarding Romaji's relationship to foreigners(MMM)
My post was NOT regarding Romaji's use to benefit foreigners - I highlighted it's "convenience" at being phonetically identical to the structure of Hiragana and Katakana and by proxy - it's benefit to westerners as a translation tool.
I did not and have not insisted that it was developed to help foreigners, but you can judge yourself how difficult it would be to translate japanese script without using romaji as a translation tool.
To me & I daresay to you (MMM), that benefits foreigners immensly. (If the foreigner wants to learn japanese)