Composition 3

二十年ごのわたし：わたしはさんじゅうはっさいです。アメリカにいます。たぶんべんごしです。いいべんごしですから、おかねがたくさんあります。だからわたしのうちはとてもひろいです。そしてきれいなうちです。うちはまちにあります。わたしのあかいくるまはとてもたかいですがセクシーなくるまです。そしてはやいくるまです。

わたしはかぞくがほしいです。しゅじんとおんなのこがほしいです。わたしのおんなのこはかわいいこどもです。ごさいです。しゅじんはハンサムです。おもしろいひとです。しんせつなひとです。

まいしゅうまつわたしのかぞくはいっしょにえいがをみます。そしてScrabbleとScattergoriesであそびます。まいばんいっしょにほんをよみます。まいねんクリスマスにわたしのかぞくといもうとのかぞくはわたしのりょうしんのうちへいきます。

わたしのせいかつがだいすきです！

Katakana Analysis Final Draft

One of the things that I found interesting was that words written in katakana can make use of katakana for more than one reason. For example, we talked in class about how katakana can be used for emphasis or for loan words, and combining these two usages can have a powerful effect in Japanese. Take the word ファッション: obviously, the word comes from the English word “fashion.” It is therefore a loan word, and that is one of the reasons it is written in katakana. But if we take a look at the picture where this loan word was found, we can see that using katakana is also a good way to advertise fashion. Katakana’s visual aesthetic is sharper and edgier than either hiragana or kanji, and so it fits well with the idea of fashion itself, emphasizing the idea of fashion and creating an impression of fashion being “cutting edge,” simply through the way the word looks written in katakana. Fashion is different from just wearing everyday clothes—the fashion industry is about pushing the frontiers of aesthetics, being avant-garde and setting new trends, and the visual look of katakana, an alphabet which stands apart from everyday hiragana and kanji, reflects that. In short, katakana is useful here because it can combine the familiar with the unfamiliar. If the word had simply been written in English letters, it would be entirely foreign, and while that might have exotic appeal, it doesn’t lend itself to the idea of mass culture. Katakana, on the other hand, can express both exoticism and mainstream appeal simultaneously.

Here is the picture:

 

Another use of katakana that fascinates me is the way that katakana can define a culture or people. We see some hints of this in the idea of using katakana for foreign words, thereby highlighting their exoticism. But the most extreme case of this is the way the Ainu people of Japan use katakana as their writing system (Wikipedia “Special Katakana for the Ainu Language”). The Ainu are an indigenous group of people in Japan who have historically been considered ethnically separate from the Japanese, and their language is not related to Japanese. Originally, they did not have their own writing system, because the Ainu practiced oral traditions (Wikipedia “Ainu people”). Their adoption of katakana as their writing system is therefore symbolic of their place in Japanese society. They have adopted a Japanese writing system, showing how, as their numbers dwindle (official government estimates say that there are only 25,000 Ainu left today, and the Ainu language is in danger of dying out (Wikipedia “Ainu people”)) the Ainu are becoming more integrated into Japanese society, or at least less able to resist the influence of Japanese culture on their own. And yet, the choice to adopt katakana rather than hiragana or kanji may not be just a practical choice, although it is true that katakana, of the three writing systems used by the Japanese, is the best able to accommodate the foreign sounds of the Ainu language. Because katakana is associated with foreign words, using katakana as one’s only writing system sends a message: the Ainu are not Japanese. This message is at once one of solidarity and of isolation. On the one hand, it defines the Ainu as its own people with their own culture, proudly refusing to be fully integrated into ethnic Japanese society after more than a century of domination and forced assimilation by the Japanese government (Wikipedia “Ainu people”).  On the other hand, katakana acts as a clear, visual barrier setting the Ainu apart from the rest of Japan, making them, if not unequal to then at least very different from the ethnic Japanese, regardless of whether they want to be considered different or not. Thus, katakana can help to define an entire culture or people and their place in Japan as “other.”

Note 1: The assignment asked us to explain the differences in the explanation of katakana in various Japanese language textbooks. However, I have chosen not to do so because I find that the explanations did not really vary.

Note 2: Some of the people who commented on my Katakana Analysis draft asked why it would be that the Ainu use katakana and not romaji, which they felt would be more able to express the sounds of the Ainu language. I have two replies to this: firstly, the Ainu language is indeed sometimes written using Latin script (Ethnologue “Ainu”). More importantly, we need to distinguish between the use of latin script and the use of romaji. Western languages and their alphabets may contain sounds that are closer to the Ainu language than Japanese sounds are, and can therefore be useful when trying to put the Ainu language down in writing. However, this is not the same as using romaji, because romaji consists of using a Western-style alphabet to express Japanese language sounds. It is therefore just as restrictive sound-wise as katakana, because it is simply a transliteration of Japanese sounds into English letters, used today to help Westerners understand Japanese pronunciation. I believe that katakana is therefore more practical than romaji for writing the Ainu language, because we go from Ainu sounds to Japanese approximations, whereas romaji would be an English approximation of the Japanese approximation of the sounds of the Ainu language.

Sources:

1) Ethnologue: entry for the Ainu language (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ain)

2)Wikipedia article: Ainu language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_language)

3) Wikipedia article: Ainu people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people)

わたしのしゅうまつ

こんにちはみなさん！
せんしゅうのしゅうまつはとてもいいしゅうまつでした。ハリーポーターのえいがをみましたから。そしてJoseph Gordon-Levitt はコロンビアへきました。Joseph Gordon-Levitt はとてもゆうめえなおとこのこです。Actor です。わたしはJGLにあいました！JGL はとてもハンサムです。。。

 ティテクボのまんがブリッチはいまおもしろいです。ブリッチのmain characterはくろさきいちごです。Chapter 1からChapter 221までいちいごくんはすごいしにがみでした。でもいましにがみでわありません。T＿T　がんばってね、くろさきくん！

きょうわたしはバスでマリランドへいきます。そふぼにあいますから。Happy Thanksgiving!

これはJoseph Gordon-Levitt talking to me! :DDD

http://hitrecord.org/records/267545

Katakana Literary Works

I have chosen to do せんりゅうfor my Katakana Literary Works, however, because of my limited knowledge of Japanese, I was not always able to make the 5-7-5 format work perfectly. ごめんなさい。わるいせんりゅうです。。。

１）せかいで
こどもがあそぶ
ムジャキです
Translation:
In the world
children play
innocent.

2) あきのあめ
しぜんのわらい
シューシューだ
Translation:
Autumn rain
nature's laughter
shuu shuu.


3) にびねこは
にほんのテイル
にほんある
Translation:
The two-tailed cat
has two (thin/long)
Japanese tails.

Explanation of my use of katakana:

In the first poem, I used katakana for emphasis--I wanted to create a sense in the reader of how much importance we place on the innocence of children and make the reader aware of how fragile and fleeting that innocence is.

In the second poem, the katakana is clearly onomatopeic. I love the sound of rain outside my window, and I wanted to capture the fact that, although rain is usually associated with sadness, to me rain sounds happy.

In the third poem, the katakana was used for a loan word, the word "tail." I liked the irony of juxtaposing a foreign word for tail with the play on words between nihon (Japan) and nihon (counter for thin, long objects like tails).

Composition 2: Exchange Student Introduction

やまださんへ,

はじめまして。ローレンハシュ(刘明慧)です。アメリカのニューヨークからきました。わたしはじゅうはっさいです。コロンビアだいがくのいちねんせいです。わたしはInternational Relationsのがくせいです。そして、にほんごのがくせいですがにほんごがすこしわかります。にほんごはとてもおもしろいです。まいしゅうげつようびからもくようびまでわたしはせんせいににほんごをならいます。そしてしゅうまつにわたしはにほんごをべんきょうします。まいばんにほんごのしゅくだいをします。わたしはコロンビアのクラスがすきです。クラスはむずかしいですがおもしろいです。コロンビアのがくせいはすてきなともだちです。コロンビアのせんせいもすてきなひとです。みなさんはしんせつです。コロンビアのせいかつはいそがしいですがいいです。にほんのせいかつもたのしいです。にほんのたべものはおいしいです。わたしはラーメンがだいすきです。アニメがだいすきです。にほんのJ-ポップがだいすきです。にほんのファッションがすきです。にほんはとてもすごいですね。あのう。。。これからおせわになります。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

                                   

                        刘明慧 

十一月九日

Katakana Analysis Draft

Katakana Analysis Draft

Lauren Hirsch

One of the things that I found interesting was that words written in katakana can make use of katakana for more than one reason. For example, we talked in class about how katakana can be used for emphasis or for loan words, and combining these two usages can have a powerful effect in Japanese. Take the wordファッション: obviously, the word comes from the English word “fashion.” It is therefore a loan word, and that is one of the reasons it is written in katakana. But if we take a look at the picture where this loan word was found, we can see that using katakana is also a good way to advertise fashion. Katakana’s visual aesthetic is sharper and edgier than either hiragana or kanji, and so it fits well with the idea of fashion itself, emphasizing the idea of fashion and creating an impression of fashion being “cutting edge,” simply through the way the word looks written in katakana. In short, katakana is useful here because it can combine the familiar with the unfamiliar. If the word had simply been written in English letters, Japanese people might not have been able to read it. However, using katakana, it can be ensured that Japanese people will be able to read the word fashion and still get a sense of how different fashion is, how exotic and appealing it should be.

Here is the picture:

 

Another use of katakana that fascinates me is the way katakana can define a culture or people. We see some hints of this in the idea of using katakana for foreign words, thereby highlighting their exoticism. But the most extreme case of this is the way the Ainu people of Japan use katakana as their writing system (Wikipedia “Special Katakana for the Ainu Language”). The Ainu are an indigenous group of people in Japan who have historically been considered ethnically separate from the Japanese, and their language is not related to Japanese. Originally, they did not have their own writing system, because the Ainu practiced oral traditions (Wikipedia “Ainu people”). Their adoption of katakana as their writing system is therefore symbolic of their place in Japanese society. They have adopted a Japanese writing system, showing how as their numbers dwindle (official government estimates say that there are only 25,000 Ainu left today, and the Ainu language is in danger of dying out (Wikipedia “Ainu people”)) the Ainu are becoming more integrated into Japanese society, or at least less able to resist the influence of Japanese culture on their own. And yet, the choice to adopt katakana rather than hiragana or kanji may not be just a practical choice, although it is true that katakana, of the three writing systems used by the Japanese, is the best able to accommodate the foreign sounds of the Ainu language. Because katakana is associated with foreign words, using katakana as one’s only writing system sends a message: the Ainu are not Japanese. This message is at once one of solidarity and of isolation. On the one hand, it defines the Ainu as its own people with their own culture, proudly refusing to be fully integrated into ethnic Japanese society after more than a century of domination and forced assimilation by the Japanese government (Wikipedia “Ainu people”).  On the other hand, katakana acts as a clear, visual barrier setting the Ainu apart from the rest of Japan, making them, if not unequal to then at least very different from the ethnic Japanese, regardless of whether they want to be considered different or not. Thus, katakana can help to define an entire culture or people and their place in Japan as “other.”

Note: The assignment asked us to explain the differences in the explanation of katakana in various Japanese language textbooks. However, I have chosen not to do so because I find that the explanations did not really vary.

わたしのかぞく

きょうわたしはせんせいにかぞくvocabularyをならいました。わたしのかぞくはちち、はは、いもうととわたしです。いもうとちゃんほんとがだいすきです！いもうとちゃんはほんとかわいいです。なまえはアーヅリーです。いもうとちゃんはきゅうさいです。サッカーとpianoをします。フランスごとエイごをならいます。きんようびにわたしのかぞくはニューヨークへきます。きんようびからげつようびまでニューヨークでやすみます。でもだいがくはやすみませんだからどようびとにちようびにわたしはしゅくだいをします。みなさん、しゅくだいはひどいですね！
またあした！
















これはわたしのいもうとちゃんです！

このweekend

こんばんわ。きょうわたしはごじよんじゅごふんにねました。きのうのごごくじからきょうのごぜんごじよんじゅごふんまでべんきょうしました。しゅくだいをしました。>.<  わたしのともだちソニアちゃんとソナレちゃんきのうくじからきょうろくじはんまでしゅくだいをしました。たいへんですね！こんばんわたしはあにめクラブへいきます。わたしたちはむししをみます。わたしはこんばんKanji Lecture へいきませんでした。Meep! ざんねんですよ :(。あしたはわたしのたんじょうびです！じゅうはっさいのたんじょうびです。こどもどわありません ^_~。あしたわたしはともだちとレストランでばんごはのたべます。わたしたちはえいがをみます。えいがはRocky Horror Picture Show です。このえいがわすてきですね！

Mm...that's all for now. またね！

こんばんは

So, the time for a new post has come. I've decided that I want to make a list of all the new, interesting facts that I've learned about Japanese language and culture since coming to Columbia. Please enjoy!

1) おじぎ: I already knew that the Japanese bow to each other, but I didn't know the details--the placement of hands for men (sides) vs. women (front) and the face that you do not want to make eye contact as you bow.
2) Exclamation points: I was surprised to learn that formal writing in Japanese never includes exclamation points. They tend to be rare in formal English writing as well, but nevertheless they are definitely present, even in academic papers.
3) にほんごのLabはsexistえす!! I know that Japanese culture tends to be very patriarchal/male-oriented, but it was simultaneously hilarious and annoying to see that come out even in the Language Lab work. In our very first session, when we were practicing common phrases, a woman's voice would read out the phrases that we were supposed to repeat like, "arigatou gozaimasu--polite way to say thank you." But then, when we reached how to say "thank you to a subordinate--arigatou," a male voice appeared out of nowhere in order to read that one phrase! The implication that men will be the ones thanking subordinates was so blatant that I actually laughed out loud (lol'd) in the middle of the language lab. ひどいですね...
4) The workers at the elevator in the department stores: my aunt actually mentioned them the other day when she was talking about the time she spent in Japan. She thought it was a very interesting custom--it seemed very foreign to her, since she felt that people should be capable of just pressing the elevator buttons by themselves haha.

ええと...those are all the ones that I can remember for now, but more to come later!

じゃまたあした！

Introduction

Q: Why do you want to take Japanese?

A: I've been fascinated by Japanese culture ever since middle school, and am now considering a major in EALAC. I have never been to Japan, and I want very much to study abroad there. I'm very excited to be taking Japanese because I don't want to go to Japan without being able to speak the language--it feels like cheating, or like I won't get the full experience.

Q: What has excites and/or frustrates you about Japanese?

A: Although I'd obviously like to be fluent in Japanese, my more short-term goal (well, maybe more like mid-term goal? less long-term goal?) is to be able to read manga in Japanese and understand anime without subtitles. I first became interested in Japan because of manga/anime, so it would be a great way of seeing how I've progressed. As for what I find frustrating...I guess learning the writing was more difficult than I had anticipated, partially simply because we move so fast. I actually so far have found hiragana to be more challenging to learn than Chinese characters (I used to take Chinese). I think it's because what helped me remember characters was that they each had a meaning; they meant something. Hiragana on the other hand, looks to a Western-raised brain like a character, and yet in terms of how it works, it is more comparable to an English-style letter, because it is phonetically based, rather than meaning-based. I think I almost have it down now though... ^_^

はじめまして！

はじめまして！Hirsch Lauren です。これはわたしの にほんごのブログです。わたしは Columbia だいがくのーねんせいです。じゅうななさいです。わたしはアメリカじんです。San Francisco からきました、でもわたしのおかあさんはMalaysiaじんです。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。すみません、わたしはおもしろくありません！>.<

さようなら！

Lauren