The roles and forms
of kanji and kana have changed throughout
the centuries. In contemporary times,
Katakana are used to mainly for foreign
words and to emphasize native words,
serving a role similar to that played
by italics in English.
With kana transcription, we normally
use katakana symbol to write names in
Japanese. This is the simplest method
for writing English words in Japanese
symbols, and is especially useful for
newcomers to Japan or new Japanese language
students.
Of course, you can also use hiragana
symbol as well, but that is a rare case. |