This sign is from みやじま (宮島）, a beautiful island is southern Japan, near ひろしま (広島). I think it's a fun chance to practice hiragana (not to mention Korean).With a little help from rikaichan (of course the proper translation is on the sign):
こんな サル に しない よう
such monkey not to do/be
エサ は やらない で ください
feed not to give please
As far as I can tell "monkey" (saru) and "feed" (esa) are Japanese words, and could be written with Kanji. Why are they written with Katakana? Maybe they're not Kanji so that schoolchildren can read?
Anyway, maybe "konna saru ni shinai yoo!" is up there with "watashi no chichi wa samurai desu!"?;)
2 comments:
Katakana can be used for not only loan or foreign words but also for onomatopoeia and emphasis, but as you may know (or may not know), this is not a definite rule. In the past only men used katakana. You can find more information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana
So basically we can do whatever we want. Some people use katakana in a creative way to express themselves.
sweet sign. did you go to japan?
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