About Communication

What does communication mean in relation to this podcast project?
    
Technical Aspects: 

Clear speech: Avoid mumbling. Speak with articulation and adequate volume. Keep the speech formal, not too many colloquialisms, etc.
Video Editing: Reasonable body language. Camera focused on relevant places. Subtitles.


Other Aspects:
 Relevance: Does this project convey a message? What is our audience and how will they find the podcast helpful?
Language: Is the grammar accurate? Is it simple enough to be understood by our classmates, while still challenging them?
Goal: Do we accomplish that which we set out to do: expose Japanese cultural establishments throughout NYC that may be unknown to our audience?


 

What can we expect to learn from this project?

This project should facilitate an organic comprehension of language as it pertains to the above mentioned subject matter. After completion, we should expect to have a more fluid usage of spoken Japanese. Since classroom and homework exercises tend to focus on written comprehension, this project will help to fill a potential gap in our education: the spoken Japanese language.

In addition to the linguistic benefits, the exposure to New York's Japanese culture will increase our overall knowledge of the subject, giving a better rounded education of all things Japanese.

私は何が好きですか。えええええと。。。

物の中で、テレビゲームが一ばんいいです。みんなテレビゲームが好きですが、ギターヒロが一ばんたのしいです。私はギターヒロがとても上手です。そしてシューターが好きです、でも私はシューターがあまり上手じゃありません、私はあまりはやいですから。

本が好きです。むらかみはゆうめいな日本人のさっかです。むらかみの本をよみました、でもこの本があまり好きじゃありません。むらかみのかきかたがわかりません。JAMES　CLAVELLはよみかたが上手です。SHOGUNは本で一ばんいいです。Clavellの日本はとてもおもしろいです。

私はえいがをすこし見ます。えいがが好きです、でもじかんがぜんぜんありません。

アートはおもしろいですね。私はアートをあまりしっていません。いまコロンビアで日本のアートをべんきょうしています。たのしいです。

日本語のクラスははまたはじめています。

もうふゆ休みはおわります。たいへんですね。でも、いま日本語のクラスははまたはじめています。これはとてもいいです。

ふゆ休みはとてもよかったです。クリスマスはとてもいそがしかったです、わたしのあねはこどもが二にんいますから。わたしのアパートは小さいですが、アパートに人が九にんいました。ちょっとわるかったえすが、たのしかったです。

わたしはLAへいきました。たのしかったです。そしてあつかったです。わたしは山でさんぽしました。うみでおよぎました。ゆうめいな人をたくさんみました。ワインやへカリフォニヤのワインをかいにいきました。いまわたしはワインをたくさんもっています。

わたしはみんなワインをのみます、日本語のクラスはまたはじめていめあすから。

わたしのうち

日本語のクラスはおわります。たいへんですね。

A final post on this last day of Japanese class.

What a semester! My first months of real academic work in nearly a decade have proven quite fruitful. Much to my great relief, I actually really enjoy school this time around, and I find myself as the semester draws to a close, eagerly awaiting the end of winter break so I can begin studying all over again! Next semester, Calc, Gen. Chem, Art Hum. (eastern of course!), Opera as Literature, and of COURSE Japanese 2!

This Japanese class certainly turned out to be the most time consuming. While perhaps not "difficult", there were plenty of moments throughout the semester while studying a 30 word vocabulary list, or perhaps while struggling to keep up with those damnable language lab listening assignments where I asked myself... "Why am I doing this???"

And then I remember this:

My god I love the Japanese. A little hard work and frustration does NOTHING to change that. And now, when I watch my beloved Naruto, I can actually read some of the signs and understand the odd word or two.

So onward to Nihongo glory! See you all next semester.

Composition 3

ニューヨークの医者の中で、わたしはいちばんいいです。わたしは医者ですから、びょういんではたらきます。わたしはとてもきれいなつまがいます。そしておもしろいこどもがふたりいます。わたしのアパートはおおきいですが、とてもたかいです。いつもわたしははたらきますから、おかねがたくさんあります。わたしは日本ごがよくわかいます。でも、日本ごをぜんぜんよみません、とてもむずかしですから。

じゃあまた！

Katakana Analysis

The Katakana characters first appeared in China in the 9th century. Originally, Katakana was used by Buddhist monks  to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese Kanji. It was not until 500 years later that the correspondence between Katakana characters and syllables in speech was one to one.  In other words, Katakana is a 1100-year old alphabet which took 500 years to finish.

"Since the 20th century, katakana have been used mainly to write non-Chinese loan words, onomatopoeic words, foreign names, in telegrams and for emphasis."(Omniglot.com)

Clearly, the uses for Katakana today are far more numerous than they were 1000 years ago. The first example below, however, is perhaps as close to the original concept of Katakana as pronunciation aid as is still used. 

The image above is taken from an issue of the manga, Naruto. Seen in several examples on the above page are Katakana characters used for onomatopoeia. This is similar to the origin of Katakana in that the artist of the manga uses Katakana to represent sounds that one might not otherwise know how to pronounce. Also in this example are Katakana as mimetic words. This differs from onomatopoeia slightly, in that mimetic words tend to emphasize motion as opposed to sound. An example of onomatopoeia above would be ワン　in the final frame, whereas in the second system, ズオオオオis an example of a mimetic word.


The second example below is by far the most common usage of Katakana today. Katakana is most often used to transcribe words from other languages. These "loan words" do not derive from Japanese, and often contain sounds that  would not otherwise exist in the Japanese language.

The menu comes from a Japanese pizza restaurant. Pizza, obviously not being Japanese in origin is written in Katakana, but so too are many of the other words on the menu. While some of these are obvious, for example ミックスーａ, or mix-a, others represent a more interesting trend in Japanese language. Often a word will be translated into a loan word even when the word exists in Japanese. In this case for instance, the Japanese word for egg: たまご　is replaced in the ham and egg pizza (yuck!) with the English loan word Eggusu: ハム＆エッグス.


The final example is far less clear cut than these other examples, and represents Katakana's flexibility. 

This image has many examples of Katakana. Some of them are more familiar, but the interesting example is the word ニッポン　seen towards the bottom of the image. Nippon is a Japanese word, not a foreign loan word, and it is clearly not an example of onomatopoeia or any of the other common Katakana usages. It can therefore be assumed that Katakana in this case is used for emphasis. Perhaps the advertisement wishes to emphasize this word in order to appeal to a sense of nationhood, or perhaps it is simply to draw the eye to some more important key words in that part of the advertisement. 


The point is that Katakana usage varies tremendously. Besides many prescribed usages, the flexibility to use it for emphasis means that Katakana may appear at any given moment in Japanese, and is an important part of Japanese writing and culture.


Sources:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm
http://www.merriam-webster.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga

ターキデー！

こんしゅうはサンクスギービーングです。わたしはりょうしんのうへいきます。りょうしんはりょうりがあまりじょうずじゃありませんから、わたしたちはレストランでばんごはんをたべます。

 サンクスギービーングはやすみじゃありません、しごとがたくさんありますから。えいごのクラスのレポートが二まいあります。そしてげつようびににほんごのクラスのしけんがあります。

でも、だいじょうぶです。わたしは先生にたくさんならいます。たいへんじゃありません。

こんしゅうわたしはナルトをたくさんみます。アニメのなかで、ナルトがいちばんいいです。

じゃまた。