Stumbled across some weird things regarding hiragana and katakana

[djurre.power_511816]

So I'm fairly new to the japanese writing (and japanese in general) and I noticed some things.
Note: I have been using Google Translate for all of my "research" and I don't know if this is/was the right way to do so.
But now the things i noticed recently and can't seem to figure out myself.

For example:
Katakana
ボー (Bō) Translates to "baud".
ボウ (Bō) Translates to "bow" (however this time you spell it "bou" in romaji but Google Translate changes it to Bō).
ボ (Bo) Just translates to nothing (at least Google Translate doesnt).

Hiragana
(I can't seem to find out how to spell "Bō" in hiragana without just spelling it as "bou".)
ぼう (Bō) Translates to "rod". Or to be more specific a long rod used in fighting (again it is spelled "bou" but it changed automaticly).
ぼ (Bo) Translates to "pot"

Questions:
1. ボ (Bo) And ぼ (Bo), why doesn't "bo" in katakana translates to anything while it is spelled exactly the same as in hiragana.
Does this have something to do with context or am I just not supposed to translate these words individually. Same goes for ぼう (Bō) and ボー (Bō)/ボウ (Bō).

2. ボー (Bō) And ボウ (Bō), maybe it's better to first ask about "ō" and "ou". Is "ou" just there to make the "ō" easier to read in ramaji or are "ou" and "ō" completely distinct from each other. With that said, how do "ou" and "ō" work in this case shown? ボー And ボウ are spelled a bit different in katakana but are spelled the same in romaji. Is this just a poor translation to romaji or is there no differance and the meaning just depends on whether you use "ー" or "ウ".

3. Like stated before, I can't seem to find a way to spell "bō" in hiragana without using "う". So is there a way like the one shown in the first example of katakana, or is this one of the differences between hiragana and katakana.

Thank you very much for reading my post.
I really hope to get some answers since this has been bugging me for quite a while.
Again thank you very much and have a nice day.

[jim.schuler]

The first thing to understand about hiragana and katakana is that they serve different purposes.

The primary purpose of hiragana is to function as the grammatical glue of the Japanese language, tying kanji together and conjugating them. It is also used for native Japanese words for which there are no kanji, as well as in place of obscure kanji so that the meaning is understood.

Katakana is used for foreign words, adapted to Japanese pronunciation. Also, for onomatopoeias, but mainly, foreign words.

This is why they translate differently, because words written in hiragana are simply not the same words that are written in katakana.

As for why katakana has a chouonpu (that dash thing) and hiragana doesn't... no idea. It may be that repeated vowel sounds are simply more common in katakana.

The う thing is also largely a "just because" thing. There are occasions where お will be used for ō in hiragana (such as ほお, for cheek, and こおる, for ice), but I can't figure a rhyme or reason for it. Sounds the same to me. Plus, I grew up with English, so it's not like I have a right to complain about other languages' inconsistent spelling rules.

[djurre.power_511816]

You've helped out a lot.
Thank you very much.

[community.japanese]

jim.schuler san,
konnichiwa.
Thank you for helping san.

san,
konnichiwa.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us again.
Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com