Quote:
Originally Posted by DewarHolmes
Hi,
It recently came to my attention that, when referred to in Japanese, "Final Fantasy" is written in Katakana instead of Hiragana or Kanji. I understand that Katakana is used for loan words, emphasis, onomatopoeia, etc. but why would it be used for something like 'Final' + 'Fantasy' when the Japanese have Kanji for those words. Is it the concepts/ideas that are attached to the words that are foreign?
On the same note, I was looking through the Japanese version of the book 'Alice in Wonderland' and I noticed 'Usagi' is written in Katakana rather than Hiragana. I could only speculate that that has to do with the character rather than the animal, rabbit.
Thanks for any explanations.  |
The game's title is literally written using the katakanized English "Final Fantasy."
It's exactly like how in English we call the food "sushi" when we already have perfectly good words to describe it in English ("stuff wrapped in vinegar, seaweed, and rice")
Same goes for "sashimi" instead of "raw fish."
Also, in Modern Japanese, most animal species are written in katakana rather than kanji. I honestly have no idea why, but that's the general practice. About the only exceptions are 犬、羊、牛、馬、猫、and 鳥 and those variations. For example, I think you'll see カエル more than 蛙 (frog).