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stelthings i should be doing:
- studying
things i am doing:
- analyzing napstablook's japanese dialogue
- not studying
i'm okay at japanese since i lived there for a few years (日本で数年住んでいたので、日本語が少しできる。), but i'm not that good at it and don't really understand the art of intentionally using katakana. i know a little bit about using the language for characterization (ie. showing a character's personality) but only a little
my original understanding of napstablook's speaking style in japanese was:
- no kanji
- sentences end with katakana (eg. そうですヨネ)
i took a more in-depth look today, and it's apparently more complicated than this
all this dialogue is taken from this video
…ゴメン なんか…
ジャマしちゃった みたいだネ…
...gomen nanka... jamashichattamitaidane...
sorry... um... it seems like i interrupted you...
ごめん (gomen) is in katakana here for some reason? 邪魔 (jama)—which is usually kanji—is as well. at the end of the second sentence, ね (ne) is katakana, while だ (da) isn't.
キミのトモダチ… かえっちゃっタ…
kimi no tomodachi... kaecchatta...
your friend... left/went home...
君 (kimi) and 友達 (tomodachi) are katakanized here, similarly to 邪魔 above. i can't tell if "かえっちゃっタ" is meant to be "帰っちゃった" though, which has kanji that isn't replaced by katakana.
どうしよウ… せっかく たのしそうニ してたのにネ…
doushiyou... sekkaku tanoshisou ni shitetanonine...
what should i do... you seemed like you were having fun...
the kanji in 楽し isn't katakanized here, which doesn't seem to follow the above pattern, so there's definitely something i'm missing. also the particle に (ni) is katakanized in the middle of the sentence, but not in the phrase のに (no ni). strange
えっと… ちょっと…あいさつしたかったダケなんダ…
etto... chotto... aisatsushitakatta dake nanda...
umm... uhh... i just wanted to say hello...
挨拶 (aisatsu) isn't katakana here, so my initial thought (that they katakanize all kanji) seems to be wrong.
えっと……………
etto.......
uuhmmm.......
えっと seems to be what they say in the japanese translation instead of "oh". just from my knowledge, i think that makes them sound more unsure/nervous than the dejectedness that's conveyed in the english version
here's the original text in english, by the way:
... sorry, i interrupted you, didn't i?
as soon as i came over, your friend immediately left...
oh no... you guys looked like you were having fun...
oh no... i just wanted to say hi...
oh no.................................................
i would do more but i need to study (i've been procrastinating all day)
