カタカナ語の言論

安倍首相：カタカナ言葉は１０９回　小泉首相の４倍

　 安倍晋三首相の所信表明演説は政策面でカタカナ言葉が目立つ。「オープンな経済社会」に「イノベーション（技術革新）の創造」と明記するように、具体的な 数値目標の代わりにカタカナ言葉を多用することで、斬新なイメージをアピールする狙いもありそうだ。しかし「美しい国、日本」を掲げ、伝統や歴史を重視す る保守色の濃い内容に比べると、ちぐはぐな印象も否めない。

　所信表明は全体で８３０１字。自民党総裁選で訴えた政権構想の内容を網羅的に盛り込んだ結果、就任後初の演説としては森喜朗元首相の４９８２字、小泉純一郎前首相の６４５２字より長い。

　この中でカタカナ言葉は、ミサイルやテロなど日本語に置き換えにくいものや、国の名前などの固有名詞を含めると、延べ１０９回も登場。カタカナや役所言葉を嫌った小泉前首相の就任時演説に比べ約４倍の分量だ。

　例を挙げると「自宅での仕事を可能にするテレワーク」や「日本がアジアと世界の架け橋となる『アジア・ゲートウェイ構想』の推進」「未来に向けた新しい日本の『カントリー・アイデンティティー』」といった具合。

　聞いただけではピンとこないものも多く、多用の効果には疑問符も付きそうだ。【鬼木浩文】

毎日新聞　2006年9月29日　13時38分

Abe's katakana-laden policy speech rings hollow with listeners

New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's use of words written in katakana, a form of writing used mainly for scientific terms and words derived from other languages, stood out in his policy speech on Friday, as he apparently aimed to create a new image of himself as a leader.

Abe, at 52 the youngest Japanese prime minister in the post-war period, used a total of 109 katakana words in his speech, four times the number used by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who disliked katakana words and bureaucratese.

The prime minister is apparently trying to send out a new image with his use of fuzzy katakana words instead of concrete target figures. However, at the same time he is promoting the slogan "Beautiful country, Japan," conservatively emphasizing Japan's tradition and culture, and the two stances appear out of step.

Abe's policy speech, which provided comprehensive details on the administration he promoted during the election for presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was 8,301 characters long. For an inaugural speech, it was longer than the 4,982-character speech given by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and the 6,452-character speech by Koizumi.

The katakana terms Abe used included words such as "missairu" (missile), and "tero" (terrorism), which are hard to convert into Japanese, as well as with names of foreign countries and other proper nouns.

Other examples in phrases from Abe's speech included "terewaaku (telework) enabling work to be done from home," "the promotion of an Ajia geetouei (Asian gateway) concept with which Japan can become a bridge bewteen Asia and the world," and a "kantorii aidentitii (country identity) for a new Japan looking to the future."

Many of the words failed to strike a chord among listeners and doubts appear to remain over whether using so many katakana words is actually effective. (Mainichi)

September 29, 2006



最初の数クラスを取っていた 同級生から聞いた事は、その学生達が、覚えにくかったと思ったから、カタカナ言葉が嫌いだった。その時に私はそうと思っていなかったが、日本語の学習が進 化する間、出来るだけ少ないカタカナ言葉を使うようにするようになった。それは使うカタカナ言葉の数があげると、愈々日本語じゃないそうになるからです。 許りでなく外来語じゃない言葉のほうが気概があるそうと思う。

皆どうと思う？同ずる、異なる？コメントを書いてください。

From what I have herd from my classmates in the first few Japanese classes were that they disliked katakana words because they thought that the characters were difficult to remember. I did not think so at the time, but as I progressed in learning Japanese I began to prefer to use as little katakana words as I could. That is because I think that the more katakana words that are used, the less and less like Japanese a person's language becomes. Not only that, but non-borrowed words seem to have a stronger spirit contained within them.

What does everyone think? Do you agree or disagree? Please leave a comment!