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Katakana translation, おねがいします

e_mendiola

後輩
10 Sep 2019
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During my search into how Guam was identified prior to 1942, I came across an old postcard created during the Japanese Administration on Saipan. It was fascinating to actually read my language from a postcard rather than from a grave marker. What was more exciting is that a translation into the Japanese language was made along side it--written entirely in katakana! Oh I thought it would be a simple task to translate the katakana. Since when is life that simple, even in anime plots. It was easy for me to translate the Chamoro text and worked to identify the intended expression for the written katakana. Well, I did my best (refer to attachments), but have questions about the particle usage--did the writer use the 'correct' particles at the start? I inserted what I thought it ought to be. I also observed something odd about how エ and ヘ are used as particle and spelling of a verb. Do you see any concerns?
 

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The kanji used there is just a variation of 郵.

Dakuten (or handakuten) was not always used in classical texts.

の can be used as the subject marker in a modifying clause.

That's エハガキ(絵はがき), i.e, picture postcard.

コシラヘタ is written in the historical kana orthography, which is equivalent to コシラエタ in modern kana usage.

カツテ is 買って, not 嘗つて. The large and small "tsu" are not always distinguished in classical texts. This is also applied to the small "ya" (or "yu" "yo", of course).

In conclusion, there is no "incorrect" part in the postcard.

ドウカオトウサンノ
コシラヘタコノエハ
ガキヲカツテクダサイ

どうかお父さんのこしらえたこの絵はがきを買ってください

Please buy this picture postcard our father made.
 
Thank you for that amazing insight. May I also ask, based on my observation on other post cards of the period, why was katakana used over hiragana? I have noticed postal service written in hiragana, but where there is kana used with kanji, it would be katakana. Curious to know why the preference.
 
Pre-World War II official documents mix katakana and kanji in the same way that hiragana and kanji are mixed in modern Japanese texts

It's not uncommon to write a sentence only in katakana in that era. You can see a picture of パアマネントハヤメマセウ in the wikipedia page linked above.
 
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