RE: This discussion about original vs loanwords in English

Japanese is also quite similar in this regard, with many native Japanese words continuing to co-exist with foreign loanwords, especially from Chinese. This is one thing that learners of Japanese can find perplexing is how there are synonyms, which are also represented by the various readings of the same Kanji. But this isn't too different from how English is also has different words meaning the same thing, often from different origins, as discussed in more detail in the link above. But for this thread I'd like to focus on Japanese.

Just as loanwords in English often evoke a greater air of sophistication, Chinese loanwords similarly tend to evoke more sophistication compared to native Japanese words. Not surprisingly this is because Japanese writing originated from Chinese writing, and initially the Japanese only wrote in Chinese but later developed their own forms of script to better suit their language (as Japanese isn't even in the same language family as Chinese, just as English isn't in the same family as Latin-descendant Romance languages).

Some examples. Native Japanese words are in Hiragana while Chinese loanwords are in Katakana.

YEAR: とし　ネン - e.g. ことし = "this year", キネンビ = "anniversary"
COW: うし　ギュウ - e.g. うしどし = "Year of the Cow, ワギュウ = "Japanese beef"
LOOK: みる　ハイケン - latter is more formal, similar to how "look" is English but "spectate" is Latin
MEDICINE: くすり　ヤク - e.g. ヤッキョク = "pharmacy"
FOOD: たべもの　ショクジ - the former means 'food,' whereas the latter is often translated as 'meal.' When I run both words through Google Images たべもの gives me this whereas ショクジ gives me this
WELCOME: いらっしゃい(ませ)　カンゲイ - again, when running both words through Google Images, the former gave me this while the latter gave me this. Welcome vs reception, same meaning, but different moods!
...and so on and so on...

Also, I've made a video where I'm narrating a Chinese fairy tale in Japanese here. The video contains my narration with Japanese subtitles and an English translation in the description, although the thread itself shows individual images with English translations beneath each one.