Katakana Literary Work FINAL

１、
たべものが
たくさんあります
パ！ありません。


２、
わたしのゆめは
とてもちいさいです。
それから、
イマス。


３、
ア、
ニューヨークのせいかつは
とてもたかいです。
そして、
だいがくのしごとは
とてもむずかしいです。
そして、
よるのじかんは
とてもながいです。
でも、
わたしは
とてもたのしいです。
にほんごのクラスに
いきますから。

二十ねんごのわたし

２０３０年十二月一日（にせんさんじゅうねん　じゅうにがつ　ついたち）

わたしはニューヨークタイムスのちゅうごくのジャーナリストとフォトグラファーですから、いまわたしはちゅうごくにいます。りょこうをよくしますから、とてもいそがしいです。でも、このせいかつがだいすきです。しごとはたいへんですが、とてもおもしろいです。いろいろなところへ行きます。たとえば、日本やかんこくなどへいきました。いつもしゃしんをたくさんとります。そして、いっかげつにニュースのきじをやっつぐらいかきます。毎日あたらしい人にあいます。そして、あたらしいことをならいます。ひまなじかんに本としんぶんをたくさんよみます。

十年けっこんしています。かぞくは三人います。おっととむすめとむすこがいます。でも、みんなアメリカにいます。わたしだけがいこくにいます。一年によんかいぐらいうちへかえります。うちへたくさんかえりたいですが、しごとがあります。らいげつインドネシアへレポートをしに行きます。





And here again...it's Leila sharing with all of you her favorite Japanese pop culture and everything. This is the theme song for a drama called 熱海の捜査官. The song is 天国へようこそ by 東京事変. I'm usually not into this type of emo/rock/I-don't-know-what music at all but this song (and the drama) is simply amazing.

Katakana Analysis Final Draft

Of the four textbook examples given, only one mentions katakana's use in emphasis, which is not at all uncommon in Japanese print materials and probably the more difficult concept for foreign Japanese students to understand and master. For example, in the manga below, "oyaji," which means "my old man," is written in katakana. "Oyaji" is a native Japanese term that has its own kanji (and so do most nouns, but like "oyaji," most of the kanji characters are not frequently used), but here "oyaji" is written in katakana, likely for emphasis--the character seems to be shouting in the manga below. It's understandable why katakana would be used for emphasis. It is more angular-looking and therefore it looks much more alarming than the cute, round characters of hiragana and is not as difficult to read as kanji. My fellow classmates also noted a couple of interesting possibilities. The use of katakana for "oyaji" makes this particular "oyaji" special, rendering this character more familiar to the readers. Questions still remain, however--where do we draw the line? When do we simply make the hiragana or kanji larger for emphasis? When do we want to turn hiragana/kanji into katakana? One possible answer, I figured, is "it all depends," and I'll address this issue in my conclusion.





Another example is the term "hachimachi" in the following picture (source: 空の軌跡, made by my favorite game company Falcom). "Hachimaki" means headband, or 鉢巻. There are a few important things about 鉢巻: 1) 鉢巻--the kanji version--is a commonly used term (according to Denshi Jisho); 2) Even though Japanese people are not wearing Hachimaki very much nowadays, but, at least according to Google image searches, hachimaki is still mostly commonly associated with this Japanese style headband that usually has encouraging words in red (please refer to リジュンさん's photo in my last blog post). The question then becomes why did 空の軌跡's game maker decide to write 鉢巻 in katakana? 鉢巻 clearly does not fall into any of the common categories (loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis).

I would like to argue that this decision to use ハチマキ instead of 鉢巻 or はちまき is, in fact, for emphasis. But this use of emphasis is not in the same way as how おやじ is written as オヤジ. First of all, 空の軌跡 has an imaginary but heavily Western industrial--sort of--setting. Due to the nature of the game, it would be awkward to have something that is "very Japanese" appear as an accessory on a game character. So perhaps the game maker want to use katakana to emphasize that this headband, hachimaki, is not what a native Japanese speaker would normally expect (a headband with encouraging words in red). Instead, it is just a headband and no more. In a way, katakana is used to deemphasize the nativeness of the word.

At the conclusion of my first example, I brought up a few questions that might or might not have a clear answer. Why do most of the textbook examples given to us evade emphasis, whose use is as unclear and puzzling as I demonstrated in the previous two examples? I think there could be a few possible explanations. First of all, a textbook can't explain everything, especially an intro-level textbook. As a native Chinese speaker, I could not possibly imagine a book that can fully explain the uncountable subtleties of the Chinese language. The use of emphasis through katakana is sometimes painfully straightforward (like its use in loanwords and onomatopoeia), but it can be also very, very subtle. To fully understand those subtleties--to a point that we could use them with ease--requires us to have day-to-day interaction with Japanese people and culture for a very long time. Textbook explanations would never suffice. Therefore, these textbooks did what they could with explaining the overarching idea, which is that katakana is used mainly for loanwords and onomatopoeia.

Complementary Photos to MengさんのBlog Post

@Sapporo


リジュンさんとあたらしいはちまき


I forgot what this was.


My Curry Ramen! Yum <3



MengさんのSapporo Special



ギョザ。a generous treat from Lijunさん! =D

感謝祭(かんしゃさい )

＊or サンクスギビングデー...what a mouthful.


サンクスギビングデーにうちへかえりました。ともだちにあいあした。それから、Aromaカフェでコーヒーをいっばいのみました。あそこのコーヒーはとてもおいしかったです。しゅくだいがたくさなりますが、ずっとなにもありません。さむかったですから、なにへもいきませんでした。でも、スーパーとほにゃへだけいきました。ろいきにょうびでしたから。抹茶（まっちゃ, green tea）イスクリームをいっばいとほんをいっさつかいました。わたしは抹茶イスクリームがいちばんすきです。でも、抹茶イスクリームはふつうイスクリームよりたかいですから、いつも抹茶イスクリームをかいません。

Sigh.



抹茶イスクリーム

songs.

Hi, みなさん

here's Leila again sharing にほんごのうた that she likes with all of you! =D

singing style of Aska--or of the singers of his era--はとてもおもしろいいand deeply amusingです。The way that he does the thing with his nose ("gutachiWAAAA~!")

and btw...although unlikely...if anyone knows where I can find the sheet music for the violin part of the version of "夜空のムコウ" below...PLEASE TELL ME.



And another one...from the now-old-but-still-a-lot-younger-than-Chage&Aska-generation...and the inspiration of my blog's URL...he deserved an A+++++ already just for all the effort he put in those (hilarious) twists and turns with his body, haha.

わたしのpoems~

１、
たべものが
とてもあります
パ！ありません。


２、
わたしのゆめは
とてもちいさいです。
それから、
イマス。


３、
ア、
ニューヨークのせいかつは
とてもたかいです。
そして、
だいがくのしごとは
とてもむずかしいです。
そして、
よるのじかんは
とてもながいです。
でも、
わたしは
とてもたのしいです。
にほんごのクラスに
いきますから。



おいしいけしゴム　２

Composition 2

山田さんへ、

はじめまして。わたしはレイラです。アメリカからきましたが、ちゅうごくじんです。バーナードだいがくのいちねんせいです。だいがくのせいかつになれました。月曜日と水曜日のしちじからくじまでアーチェリー(Archery)をします。ときどきともだちとジム(Gym)へいきます。やきゅうとバルーボールがすきです。じかんがありませんから、そのスポーツをしません。まいあさ、はちじにおきます。そして、ごぜんいじにねまう。クラースとしゅくだいがたくさなります。このあたらしいせいがつはいそがしいですが、おもしろいです。ひまなじかんいにほんごのえいがとドラマ(Drama)おみます。にほんおりょうりがだいすきです。きょねん、まいしゅう、ホームタワン(Hometown)のちさいいすしのレストランですしおたべました。あのすしはとてもおいしいです。そした、たかいぜんぜんじゃありません。とてもやすいです。来年の五月じゅうよっかににほんへいきます。よろしくおねがいします。

レイラ



おいしいけしゴム

Quizletで勉強（べんきょう）しましょ！!

みなさん、

メンさん wrote a blog entry about how I introduced her to Quizlet.com, which, to me, is the best website in the world. In short, this is a website that functions like an electronic flashcard maker, but its uses go way beyond mere flashcards. You can basically use it to study anything and everything for any class and every class. I've been using it for three years. I also created a group so that my high school friends and I could study together (for chemistry, bio, English, Spanish, SAT=_=, etc). Basically one person creates a set and shares it with the group, and then all 37 of us could use it to study! It was a huge success.



Quizlet is eco-friendly and is truly the most efficient method I know to study vocabulary. Its "Learn" function is simply awesome. With that function, you cannot possibly not know the 20-30 words that you're studying in 10-15 minutes. Also remember that millions of Quizlet users have already created zillions of sets, so if you want to memorize things like GED vocab, hiragana chart, periodic table (lol), or whatever, more than one person probably have already made sets for those things so you can save some time by using theirs!

So, anyway, to get to the point, good stuffs should be shared so I created a new group for our Japanese class. If you have taken a look at Quizlet and also think that this is an amazing website, then feel free to join the group and contribute and クラースメトとべんきょうしましょ!

Now, the instructions:

1) Go to quizlet.com, and sign up
2) Search "CU Japanese Study Group" (case-sensitive)
3) Join
5) Study

I've already shared my sets with the group. As you can see, I wrote all the Japanese translations in Romaji, and the long vowels such as "ū" as "uu" because 1) I assume we all know hiragana and katakana by heart now (I indicated that term is written in katakana whenever necessary); 2)you could write ū on Quizlet but it's annoying because you have to take your hand away from the keyboard while using Learn function and use your mouth to click the special symbol ū...anyway, it's just easier to type; 3) I personally feel that romaji works better for memorizing those subtle things like whether "ō" in hiragana is written as "ou" and "oo" and the "っ"'s placement in ちょっと...

And if you wish to share your sets please remember to change the "Editors" to your group members so that this way if we find a mistake/typo we can correct it immediately.

Good luck on みなさんのにほんごのべんきょう！

Katakana Analysis Draft

Of the four textbook examples given, only one mentions katakana's use in emphasis, which is not at all uncommon in Japanese print materials and probably the more difficult concept for foreign Japanese students to understand and master. For example, in the manga below, "oyaji" is written in katakana. "Oyaji" means something like "my old man" and is a Japanese native term that has its own kanji (so does most nouns, but most of the characters are not frequently used), but here "oyaji" is written in katakana, obviously for emphasis. It's understandable why katakana would be used for emphasis. It is more angular-looking and therefore it looks much more alarming than the cute, round characters of hiragana and is not as difficult to read as kanji. Questions still remain, however, such as where do we draw the line? When do we simply make the hiragana or kanji larger for emphasis? When do we want to turn hiragana/kanji into katakana?





Another example is the term "hachimachi" in the following picture (this is a game called しらのきせき made by my favorite game company Falcom, which, I heard, is not producing PC games anymore. I'm deeply sad). "Hachimaki" means headband, or 鉢巻. There are a few important things about 鉢巻: 1) 鉢巻--the kanji version--is a commonly used term (according to Denshi Jisho); 2) it's something that can be called "very Japanese" because non-Japanese people don't really wear headbands in the ways that Japanese people do. The question then becomes why did しらのきせき's game maker decide to write 鉢巻 in katakana, the writing system used mostly for foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis? I believe this decision to use ハチマキ instead of 鉢巻 or はちまき is, in fact, for emphasis, but not in the same way as how おやじ is written as オヤジ. First of all, the game has an imaginary but heavily Western industrial--sort of--setting. Due to the nature of the game, it would be awkward to have something that is "very Japanese" appear as an accessory on a game character. So perhaps the game maker want to use katakana to emphasize that this headband, hachimaki, is just a headband and no more. Therefore, katakana, in this case, is used to deemphasize the nativeness of the word.

Why do most of the textbook examples given to us evade emphasis, whose use is as unclear and puzzling as I demonstrated in the previous two examples? I think there could be a few possible explanations. First of all, a textbook can't explain everything, especially an intro-level textbook. As a native Chinese speaker, I could not possibly imagine any book that can fully explain the uncountable subtleties of the Chinese language. The use of emphasis through katakana is sometimes painfully straightforward (like its use in loanwords and onomatopoeia), but it can be also very, very subtle. To fully understand those subtleties--to a point that we could use them with ease--requires us to have genuine, day-to-day interaction with Japanese people and culture for a very long time. Textbook explanations would never suffice. Therefore, these textbooks did what they could with explaining the overarching idea that katakana is used mainly for loanwords and onomatopoeia.

１９th誕生日 ^ ^

きょうはわたしのたんじょうびです。いまじゅきゅさいです。こんばんとおだちとレストランへいきます。こんしゅうちへかえります。バレーボールをします。ちゅごくのごはんをたべます。オケ、いまわたしのへやへべんきゅします。さよなら！

愛．おぼえでいますか ^ ^

I was looking through the lyrics of this classic song from the anime Macross...(LYRICS: romaji, english, kanji - http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossdyrl/aioboete.htm)....a lot of the words/phrases (verb tenses...today...tomrw...yesterday...etc) are actually really relevant to the recent lessons. LOL.

Enjoy...

^ ^

Yesterday I went to a large group garage sale near my home. There were two nice Japanese ladies selling miscellaneous household items. The first time I wandered by their stand they gave me a picture frame for free (it's in my dorm right now), and then I told them that I'm taking Japanese right now and we began a conversation in Japanese. I felt accomplished.

Why Japanese~? :\

I chose to study Japanese because I really enjoy reading Japanese literature and watching Japanese dramas, animes, and the like. It'd be nice if I could read and watch these things in their most original form as opposed to translated version. First-year Japanese is my favorite class so far so I'm really excited about coming to class everyday. Woot. Nothing has been particularly difficult so far...It has been only two weeks...I'm looking forward to the challenge. :)

Watashi...

HI~みなさん〜私はLeilaです。Barnardだいがくのいちねんせです。これBLOGは私のfirstにほんごのBLOGです。アメリカのNew Jerseyからきました。ちゅうごくじんです。どぞよろしくございます。：）