Regarding the Sept. 23 article "Japanese: a language in a state of flux": Having spent much time in Japan, I can say that the only katakana I find useful is company names, brand names and some signs (such as the one for "toilet"). This is all based on visual recognition, rather than a phonetic comprehension.
As an English speaker who continually studies Japanese, I find the only real use for katakana is foreign names. Everything else I see in katakana is virtually incomprehensible due to the pronunciation, and the use of French, Portugese etc.
Japanese is a vast language when written and spoken, so why kill it off with inferior English substitutes? Why exclude 97 percent of the population from involvement in their own country and progressive culture because of foreign jargon?
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