32671
Good day, I have tattooed the words "nantoka naru sa" in Kana on my right arm
and a while ago I was reading some Japanese lessons where it explains that
Katakana is used only when you're translating a word from a foreign language,
English for example. And now I really want to be clear about this so I find a
way to fix it, or just re-do a new tattoo over the current one.

Thanks a lot.
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2016-03-03T13:31:44.143
32635
2021-11-14T02:58:23.037
2016-03-03T20:26:53.357
5229
13746
question
katakana loanwords hiragana kana-usage
Is なんとか なる さ meant to be written in Hiragana and not Katakana?
It should be written in hiragana, like this: なんとかなるさ. You could also write
何とかなるさ, if you wish, but ナントカ ナル サ is completely wrong.
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2016-03-05T01:33:03.110
32671
2016-03-05T01:33:03.110
9971
32635
answer
I disagree with the other answer. Writing ナントカ ナル サ is not familiar modern
orthography, but it's not "completely wrong". In fact, there is a very famous
poem written with native words in katakana, which all Japanese people know by
heart:

> 雨ニモマケズ
>
> 風ニモマケズ
>
> 雪ニモ夏ノ暑サニモマケヌ

Putting spaces between the words is weird but not so bad as to make the tattoo
an embarrassment. You often see spaces between words in children's books or
video games. Maybe people will think your tattoo is a video game quote.

The "sa" at the end, which you also asked about, is a spoken particle and has
[a specific meaning](https://www.facebook.com/notes/lets-learn-
japanese/sentence-final-particles-yo-ne-no-sa-zo-ze-na-and-
wa/116422641715796/).

If you spaced the words incorrectly, "ナント カナル サ", that does look a little
embarrassing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-05T07:55:07.890
32674
2016-03-05T07:55:07.890
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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583
32635
answer