One of the most interesting example I have is "イケメン", which means good-looking man in Japanese. I knew this word from a Japanese TV show called 美男ですね (pronounced as Ikemen desu ne). So I automatically thought that the word "Ikemen" is equivalent to the Kanji "美男", and should be written in Hiragana as "いけめん". But I was not sure, since I know "美男" is pronounced as "びなん"...... Anyway I started to use this word when chatting with my Japanese friend online; however, to my surprise, they told me that the word should be written as katakana not hiragana. So I checked online, and I found "イケ" comes from "いけてる" (charming, handsome); "メン" is the same pronunciation as "man/men" in English, but can also be written as "面" in Kanji, which means noodles. Yes, Hot men are like delicious noodles! I guess this word was probably firstly created as a joke...... And the reason for this word to be written in katakana is mainly because it is a 流行語 (trendy word), and is usually meant to be emphasize in the context.
The second example is"オノ・ヨーコ", the famous Japanese born artist and musian. It is strange to me since both of the first name and the second name are Japanese names, it should normally be written in Kanji as "小野洋子". However, in Japanese press and media the name was usually written in Katakana. And the first name is before the last name, which also follows the Western tradition. The possible reason for this might because of Ono's marriage to Lennon, which made her a foreigner's wife, and thus should also be considered as a foreigner. An other example for this is クリスティー・ヤマグチ(Kristi Yamaguchi), an American figure skater. Although her las name is obviously a Japanese last name (山口), yet the whole name is written in katakana.
References:
http://gogen-allguide.com/i/ikemen.html
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B1%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B0%E3%83%81
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A8%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B3
Hahaha! I think the funniest thing about your "Ikeman" example is that it sounds almost the same as "Iteman (although Ikeman may also work here)" which is used in much the same way as "Salary Man" is used in Japan. Huh...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it was great to learn something new! Good stuff!
Ikemen has gotten really trendy lately! I was really surprised when they remade the Korean drama "You're Beautiful" as "イケメンですね！" as it seems to have no connection... Same with adding the tagline of イケメン・パラダイス to the Hana-Kimi drama. However, that also could be said with the Korean adaptation of 花より男子 since the meaning of the idiom is lost there.
ReplyDeleteClearly all my knowledge of Japanese comes from dramas with イケメン in them. It was very interesting to learn more about it - I always assumed the メン was like 面 or "face".
The name portion of your analysis is interesting, particularly when you consider certain restrictions and allowances made by the Japanese government with regards to naming convention. Previously I believe, if you were a citizen you were required to take a proper Japanese name. Now, you can use either kanji approximations, or render your foreign name in katakana. This is a particularly interesting case of katakana use that could possibly be explored.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea for why Yoko Ono's name is katakanized. I never thought about it as possibly resulting from her marriage to Lennon. Way to think outside the box! Take that textbook explanations!
ReplyDelete-Elise
Ikemen is very interesting! When I first saw イケメンですね in your anaylsis, I was about to say there was Korean drama with same title (in fact, I never watched..)! But they actually remake the Korean drama haha thanks Sophie! Interesting analysis!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your イケメン analysis! It's funny how whenever I see this word used in advertisements, TV commercials, and magazines, it's usually written in katakana rather than hiragana. One thing though, you mentioned how the word メン can be written as 面 in Kanji. I don't think this kanji is related to the メン part in the word イケメン, as メン is referred to the English word "men."
ReplyDeleteThe kanji for the word noddle is "麺".
I also think that "面" ("メン") should be interpreted as "face" instead of "noodles" hahaha. But it does make more fun if in interprete it in that way.
ReplyDelete