In a Japanese short story my conversation partner and I are currently translating, I came across something I don't think we can do.
A young father is taking his four-year-old son to nursery school and the boy asks why his mother isn't taking him and has gone off to work. Because, the father says, "Papa's company has gone bankrupt." I.e,:
「パパの会社は倒産しました。」 ("Papa no kaisha wa tousan shimasita.")
The kid responds by asking, "Bankrupt?" I.e,:
「トウサンって？」 ("Tousan tte?")
Why, I asked, did the author write "tousan"—bankrupt—in kanji when the father spoke and in katakana when the child responded?
It's because a four-year-old would not know the kanji for the word. By four years old he might know the two syllabaries, katakana and hiragana, but would not know the kanji. By writing the kid's dialogue in katakana, the author indicates visually that it's a child speaking.
I don't know how you'd accomplish the same effect in English.
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