夏休みの予定

今年の夏休みに、私はカリフォルニア州へ行くつもりです。どうしてですか？私は日本語の勉強に行きます！この機会があるから、私はとてもうれしいです。奨学金をもらったから、夏休みの準備を始めました。いろいろな準備をやらなければなりません。例えば、飛行機の切符を買っておかなければなりません。ほかの人は私に、飛行機の切符もう買ってしまいましたか、と聞く時、私は、いいえ、まだですだと言います。でも、もうすぐ買おうと思っています。そして、私はカリフォルニア州でちょっと旅行しようと思っています。でも、今は時間がないから、旅行の約束を予約できません。今の予定はカリフォルニア州経いく予定だけです。でも、これもとてもおもしろくて、楽しい約束ですね。私は夏休みにたくさん日本語を勉強したいんです。そして、たくさん知識を習いたいんです。とてもいい夏休みの予定だと思います。

研究のこと

最近、私は朝から夜まで修士論文を書いています。私の生活はいつもいそがしですが、研究の時間はとても大切だと思います。図書館では食べ物を食べてはいけません。ですから、時々昼ご飯や晩ごはんなど食べる時間があまりありません。ちょっと大変ですね！それから、図書館へ行かない友達に合う時間があまりありませんが、私の友達はたいてい図書館でも　"住んでいます"。いま、図書館は私のうちのような所ですから、ちょっとアパートへ帰りません。でも、図書館は大きだし、静かだし、とてもいい所です。図書館では本を読みながら、レポットが書いています。それに、たくさんアイデアを考えています。それで、私はとてもいそがしです。修士論文を書いてしまいました、とてもうれしくなります。

Podcast Project: Video

びょうきはとてもたいへんですね！

私は先週の週末にびょうきになりました。とてもたいへんですね。私はびょうきのときになにもすることができませんから、びょうきがよくきらいです。

先週の木曜日に友達とレストランへいきました、それから、晩ご飯を食べました。でも、なかなかビルを飲みませんから、私の調子がよくいいです。でも、うちへ帰ってから、のどがいたくなりました、そして、頭もちょっといたいでした。私は早くねましたが、金曜日におきてから、びょうきがありました。

週末にたくさん休みました。水もたくさん飲みました。ですから、私は宿題をぜんぜんしませんでした、とてもたいへんでした。私は映画をたくさん見ました、土曜日と日曜日にたくさん寝ました。でも、私は月曜日にからだははまだげんきじゃありませんでした。私の友達と先生はお大事にと言いました、とても親切な人ですね。きょうはきのうよりげんきですが、私はきょう休みたいです。

友達に旅行先を紹介する

たなかさんへ、

おげんきですか。いまにほんのせいかつはどうですか。わたしはだいがくいんせいですから、いつもいそがしですが、せいかつはともおもしろくて、たのしです。せんしゅうのどようびにわたしのりょうしんはニューヨークへきました。いっしょにいろいろなところへいきました。そのしゅうまつはとてもよかったです。

じゃあ、たなかさんはもうすぐニューヨークへけんがくしにきませんか。ここはとてもすてきなところです。ときどきあまりしずかじゃありませんが、いつもおもしろいまちです。ニューヨークはひとがおおくて、ものがたかいです。そして、タクシーや、バスなどがたくさんあります。でも、ニューヨークはちかてつがべんりで、ぶんかがおもしろいです。

ニューヨークへきてから、なにかしませんか。わたしはニューヨークにすんでいますが、なかなかりょうこすることができません。でも、ニューヨークでいろいろなところへいくことができます。ゆうめいなビルへいったり、おいしいたべものをたべたりできますよ！たかなさんのしゅみはびじゅつをけんきゅうすることですね。じゃあ、アメリカのびじゅつかんへいきませんか。びじゅつかんへいくまえに、こうえんをさんぽしましょう！それから、かぶきをみたことがありませんから、いっしょにかぶきへいくのはどうですか。わたしはたなかさんにかぶきのぶんかをならいます。それから、ニューヨークのとてもいいレストランでばんごはんをたべることができます。ニューヨークでいろいろたべものをたべなければなりません。

ニューヨークはふゆさむくなりますから、はるいってもいいですか。はるへいかなくてもいいですが、ニューヨークのはるがいちばんすきです。

もうすぐあうことができますね！じゃあ、また！

アリソン

About Communication

I think that good communication is just as much about form as it is about content. A successful message is best served by careful mediation and presentation, which is to say that ideas must be packaged well in order to be communicated effectively. Certainly, this is not to say that communication is exclusively about persuading others; rather, communication should be about opening up spaces for discussion. Thus, any sort of medium of communication (presentations, papers, this podcast project, or whatever) should help to establish channels for constructive dialogues and the possibility of engaging ideas in conversation. Communication is most effective when all parties involved are willing to learn from each other, and are prepared to participate actively in meaningful discussions. 

Becoming an autonomous learner is, I believe, very much about finding your passion within the broader domain of what you study. There are many possible entry points into the study of Japanese language -- music, film, popular culture, etc., as I have mentioned in earlier posts. 

In terms of this podcast project, I hope that I will be able to learn more about ways of using Japanese to communicate creatively by expanding my vocabulary base and familiarity with elements of Japanese culture that exist in New York. Any group project is, of course, a good lesson in working with others and sorting through ideas and approaches to producing a final product as a team. But, I am most interested in putting my Japanese to independent use, and trying to learn from the process of applying it to situations outside of the classroom/academic setting. Just as listening to music or watching films in Japanese helps to inspire more extensive and creative uses of the language, I hope that doing this project will allow me to further explore ways in which I might use my Japanese independently and creatively. 

ピアノとおんがく：わたしの好きな物

わたしはピアノとおんがくが大好きです。わたしのせいかつはとてもいそがしですが、いつもピアノをひきいて、うたをうたいます。アパートにピアノがありますから、アパトでピアノをたくさんひきたいです。ピアノとおんがくはすてきなものですから、ピアノをひきいて、うたをうたいますはわたしのやすみです。ニューヨークはにきやかで、ちょっとていへんなまちですから、ときどきしずかなおんがくをききます。これはだいすきなうたです。Claude Debussy のReverieです。



わたしはピアノでクラシクとジャズをひきますが、ジャズがいちばんすきです。とくにアメリカのBillie Holidayや、Bing Crosbyなどがすきです。うたのいみはとてもいいですから。これはわたしすきなうたふたつです。Billie Holidayの「The Way You Look Tonight」とBing Crosbyの「」です。にばんは「Holiday Inn」のえいがでうたいました。いいうたですね？





わたしもにほんごのうたとちゅごくごのうたがすきです。いっかげつにともだちといっかいカラオケをします。このにほんごのうたをうたいました。



わたしもちゅごくごのうたがすきです。これはいちばんすきなたいわんうたです。うたはいいべんきょうかたですね？

ふゆやすみのおたのしみ

わたしのふゆやすみはとてもたのしかったです。わたしはクリスマスのばんのあさにバスでニユージャージーヘいきました、バスのえきでちちをむかえました。わたしはちちとくるまでうちへかえりました、それからははとおとうとをみました。わたしたちはとてもしあわせでした。

わたしはかぞくのうちでいしゅかんはんぶらいかかりました。つかれましたから、ぜんぜんべんきょしましませんでした。でも、おもしろいほんをたくさんみました。わたしはたくさんやすみました、そしてかぞくとたくさんはなしました。ははとちちはりょうりがじょうずですから、わたしはかぞくのたべものをたくさんたべました。わたしたちはえいがをみました、これからいっしょにコンサートへいきました。とてもしあわせなやすみでした。

あたらしのねんのいちがつみっかにニュヨークーへかえりました。レポトをにさつかきたいですから。わたしはレポトをいっさつかきましたが、いっさつかきませんでした。いまレポトをかいています。だいがくいんせいのせいかつはちょっとたいへんですね！

にじゅうねんごのわたし

ことしはにせんさんじゅういちねんです。わたしはよんじゅうよんさいです。まいにちのせいかつはとてもおもしるいですが、すこしいそがしです。わたしはアメリかのボストんにかぞくといます。わたしのかぞくはよにんいます、おっととこどもがふたりいます。かぞくはすてきです。そしてとてもいいです。

わたしはだいがくのちゅうごくぶんがくのきょうしです。わたしはがくせいにちゅうごくごとぶんがくのクラスをおしえます。そして、わたしのけんきゅうをします。いつもとしょかんでがくせいとべんきょうしますが、わたしのちゅうごくごのほんはじむしょのなかのつくえのいちばんうえのたなにあります。ちょっとべんりじゃありませんが、しごとがとてもすきですよ。

わたしはまいにちろくじはんにねます。はちじからはたらきます。ごごのごじはんにうちへかえります。それから、おっととこどもとばんごはんをたべます。わたしたちはおかねがすこしだけありますから、うちはちょっとせまいです。でも、わたしたちのあいだにたくさんあいがあります。

わたしはひまとじかんがほしいです。どようびとにちようびにこうえんへさんぽにいきます。これから、のどがかわきましたから、きっさてんでいっしょにしょくじします。みずとコーヒーをのみます。わたしたちはいっかげつににかいいっしょにあそびます。とてもたのしいです。それから、うちへかえりたいです。らいしゅうのしごとがはやくきました。

Literary Work (Revised)

ひとのきせつ

まちのはる

ポストのなかに

はなてがみ

うちのなつ

おかえりなさい

イイデスネ

へやのあき

クモリのハート

ワカリマス

ヒトノフユ

アイマセンカラ

サムイデス

I have made a few small changes -- altered the title and fixed a typo -- but this is largely the same work that I posted originally. Please see below for my explanations on using katakana and the development of the poem from stanza to stanza. 

Katakana Analysis (Final)

**I have only made minimal changes to my original post, mostly in the later paragraphs.

Katakana script is characterized by a variety of features in our collection of textbook excerpts, among them references to its material/visual form, its lexical functions, and its relationships with other scripts of Japanese (hiragana and kanji). The discussions in each of these textbooks divide katakana usage into a basic repertoire of fundamental classes -- foreign names and loan words, representation of sound, and word emphasis -- and thus attempt to position the script and its uses within simply constructed and easily defendable categories. This desire to definitively “pin down” katakana is certainly informed by the intended audiences of these textbooks. Textbook authors most likely assume that students of beginning Japanese have no background in the language, and thus require a straightforward rubric for evaluating the language’s diverse array of scripts. These classifications help to facilitate quick mastery of the language through systematic categorizations that render katakana and its applications easily quantifiable and quickly recognizable.

Perhaps more noteworthy, however, is the way in which these textbooks equate katakana with difference -- their descriptions emphasize that katakana is a vehicle of the “foreign” or unusual (which might signify any of the categories listed above, depending on the situation), and equate its usage with words and occasions that are largely “outside” the realm of “normal” language. Unlike hiragana and kanji, which are both presented as “standard” or “essential” building blocks of Japanese language, katakana is presented as something of an afterthought, or at least as a later addition to this functional lexical core. Its employment is never entirely benign, and is always contingent upon context; the decision to write in katakana is made intentionally and must be justified, while its use also generates overtones of meaning that resonate beyond the bounds of the actual words that it is used to express. 

My search for katakana samples led me to uncover quite a large spectrum of applications for this script. Some of these specimens could be superficially categorized within the “usual” assortment of usages enumerated by the beginning language textbooks evaluated above. On two different Ito En (伊藤園) tea product packages, for instance, katakana words include: ティーバッグ (tea bag), フィルタ (filter), シリーズ (series), and ジャスミン茶 (Jasmine Tea), all of which could be most simply described as transliterations of foreign words. I imagine that there is also something of an advertising incentive for the use of katakana here -- as a vehicle of otherness, using katakana markets these goods as cosmopolitan products intended for a broad, probably international audience. (The same is true for another sample I found on one of my boxes of contact lenses, which recorded katakana words including フォカスデイリーズ (focus dailies) and ソフトコンタクトレンズ (soft contact lenses).) However, in terms of the two tea products, their packages also balance out words in katakana with words in hiragana and kanji, which seems to serve an aesthetic goal as well -- the balance and variety of scripts makes these product packages look more appealing than one dominated by only a single script would appear. In terms of advertisement, then, the usage of katakana is not always based in language. Rather, it serves as a visual/artistic medium that creates an imagined market for the product through implicit references to its cosmopolitan purchasing community, and further helps to generate the product’s market appeal by balancing and complementing the alternate script forms of hiragana and kanji as package ornamentation. 

Similarly, katakana script might also be used not just as a visual medium, but as a representation of emotion and mood. In the Bump of Chicken song entitled 《オンリーロンリーグローリー》(“Only Lonely Glory”) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-h2Se1nsA), the band’s choice to use a transliterated katakana title might be construed simply as a statement of mainstream “coolness.” Yet, it seems that there is in fact a deeper artistic incentive underlying this decision. Both the music and lyrics to this song (based on a translation that I found here: http://rukirin88.livejournal.com/15401.html) contain an outpouring of emotions, and the song itself serves as an anthem to resiliency. In part, the song is a receptacle of frustrations, and its lyrics give voice to the singer’s displacement; yet, they also reveals his capacity to move beyond his pain, and explore the possibility of transcendence even in the face of adversity. The music itself also embodies an invigorating drive to move forward, and conveys a mood that plays with interpretations of both the singer’s struggles and his desire to surpass them. Using katakana for the title of this song in itself draws attention to its emotional depth. This is not to say that the use of katakana words in the title are necessarily innately tied to the meanings of the words themselves; rather, the use of English-derived katakana words is more a vehicle for emphasis, which makes them stand out from the rest of the song that has words mostly in hiragana or kanji. Even further, the phrases “only glory” and “lonely glory” serve as an almost desperate and jarring refrain that punctuates the otherwise hiragana and kanji-dominated lyrics (for the lyrics in Japanese, see: http://www.utamap.com/showkasi.php?surl=B07124), and further serves to embody a certain extra degree of emotion that stands out from the rest of the song. This is true whether the song is read or heard, given that the English basis of the words additionally differentiates them from the Japanese pronunciations of the rest of the song. As the phrases that stand out most in this song (at least to my ear), these katakana transliterated phrases both provide a meaning-focused commentary on the atmosphere of the song, and also serve as a point of centering that structures the content of this work for listeners. 

Based on the samples discussed above, it seems that diverse applications of katakana have flooded the domains of Japanese popular culture and advertisement, especially as a visual and artistic generator of meaning outside the scope of a specific set of vocabulary words. However, I was also interested to see how katakana might be used differently outside of these realms; so, I took a look at part of an article in Japanese (included on the reading list for one of my seminars) aimed at a more academic community, Hamashita Takeshi’s “Shûen kara no Ajia shi” 周縁からのアジア史 (Asian history from the margins of Asia). (See: Hamashita Takeshi, “Shûen kara no Ajia shi” (Asian history from the margins of Asia), in Shuen kara no rikishi (University of Tokyo Press, 1994), pp. 1-7).

After going through the first page of this article, I located a number of terms in katakana: アジア (Asia), エネルギ (energy), フロンティア (frontier), and ダイナミズム (dynamism). While I have tried to piece together the themes and implications of this article by linking recognizable kanji with my classmates’ readings of the piece, I don’t pretend to be able to situate my analysis of katakana used on one page of the article within the context of its full argument. However, it seems that, as an article that takes marginal space and border regions as its object, Hamashita might be using these katakana terms not just as passive vocabulary, but also as a way of adding texture and dimension to the border spaces that he analyzes. Three of the four katakana terms on the first page of this article -- エネルギ (energy), フロンティア (frontier), and ダイナミズム (dynamism) -- are all related as terms that illustrate movement and variability. All three can be used either to depict movement (energy underlies and generates movement, while dynamism can be described as a condition of embodied vigorous energy), or to represent an unstable space infused with movement (if one considers a frontier to be a variable space characterized by a tendency toward change/fluctuation). By using katakana to draw attention to a cross-section of the article’s movement-related vocabulary, Hamashita is able to emphasize, as well as conceptually embody, the instability of the frontiers/marginal spaces that he describes. Further, as in the other cases described above, katakana is a visually-jarring vehicle of meaning that causes these vocabulary terms to stand out against a language background otherwise dominated by kanji and hiragana. Even Hamashita’s use of アジア (Asia) might designate a similar choice, and could signify that the concept of “Asia” itself is an unstable and problematic construct, not unlike the border regions that are the subject of the rest of this article. Given that there is also a kanji term for Asia (亜細亜, according to Google translate), writing “Asia” in katakana must have been a deliberate choice -- even if the kanji terminology was developed later, it seems that the katakana phrase would still have been intentionally selected over the kanji word. Admittedly, this analysis might go too far or be altered by a more complete reading of these terms within the larger context of the full piece. Nevertheless, as a written script predicated on conveying difference, the unusual, and the foreign, katakana seems perpetually poised to make an impact through the necessity of interpreting it, first through meanings generated by an author, and then through the re-creation of these meanings upon its reception by an audience. 

せんしゅうきんようび

せんせんしゅうのにちようびはわたしのたんじゅうびです。いまにじゅうよんさいです！でも、わたしはとてもいそがしですから、ともだちといっしょにあそびますのしかんがありません。わたしはほんをよみました、レポトをかきましたか。ちょっとたいへんですが、だいがくいんせいですよ！

せんしゅうのきんようび、わたしはにほんのともだちのうちへいきましたか、いっしょにパーチイーをしましたは。わたしたちとコロンビアだいがくのともだちとたべのもをしました、ビルをのみました。それから、わたしはにほんのともだちにちいさいプレセントをひとつあげました！パイです！わたしはとてもいっきょうでした！そして、とてもしあわせでした。わたしはときどきともだちにあいませんが、いっしうかんにいっかいあいますはとてもすてきですね！

Literary Work

リレーションシップのきせつ

まちのはる

ポストのなかに

はなてがみ

うちのなつ

おかえりなさい

イイデスネ

へやのあき

クモリのハート

ワカリマス

ヒトノフヨ

アイマセンカラ

サムイデス






I'll apologize first to anyone reading this for writing about the topic of relationships; but, due to a combination of writers block and it being rather late, this is what I have come up with, at least for the moment.

I have written a poem based on a hybrid mix of haiku/senryu form in each of the four stanzas, depicting a relationship from its happy beginnings to its not-so-happy ending. The first katakana word used -- ポスト -- carries no meaning other than its literal one. In the following stanzas, the disintegration of the relationship is symbolized by a similar deterioration of the language of the poem into katakana. This shift in language is gradual but progressive, and katakana takes over the lines of the poem one by one until the last stanza is written entirely in katakana. The poem itself is based on a seasonal cycle, using one season each to designate the stages of the relationship (from spring to winter), while the spaces of action become increasingly personal/contained, similarly reflecting these same four stages.

This poem turned out to be much more depressing than I had originally intended, but I will aim to fix that problem in the editing process.

やまださん、はじめまして！

やまださんへ、

はじめまして、アリサンバーナードです。わたしはアメリカのニュージャージーからきました。いまにじゅうさんさいです。コロンビアだいがくのだいがくいんのにねんせいです、ちゅうごくのぶんがくをべんきゅうします。

わたしのせいかつはとてもいそがしいですが、とてもたのしいです。げつようびからもくよびまでろくじはんにおきます。それからあさごはんをたべます。コーヒーをのみます。はちじよんじゅうごふんにひとりであるいてだいがくへいきます。にほんごのクラスはくじじゅっぷんからじゅうじじゅうごふんまでです。それからしゅくだいをします。ひるはちゅうごくのぶんがくのクラスです。わたしはごごろくじにしゅくだいをします。ぜんぜんやすみません。えいがをみません。ラジオをききません。じゅういちじにねます。

わたしはどようびとにちようびにときどきともだちにあいます。ともだちとレストランへいきます、いっしょにばんごはんをたべますが、ときどきあまりひまじゃありません。ひとりでうちでほんをよみます。しゅくだいをします。わたしはいつもべんきょうします。だいがくいんせいのせいかつですよ！

わたしはいつもとてもいそがしいですが、わたしのだいがくいんはいいです！ニューヨークはにぎやかなところです。そしておおきいまちです。じゅうがつからさんがつまでちょっとさむいですが、ろくがつからはちがつまでとてもあついです。 コロンビアだいがくはとてもゆうめいです。コロンビアのキャンパスはきれいですが、ちょっとちいさいです。コロンビアのクラスはあまりやさしくないですが、とてもおもしろいです。

やまださんのせいかつはどうですか？にほんはどんなところですか？わたしはろくがつむいかににほんへいきます！どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

Katakana Analysis

Katakana script is characterized by a variety of features in our collection of textbook excerpts, among them references to its material/visual form, its lexical functions, and its relationships with other scripts of Japanese (hiragana and kanji). The discussions in each of these textbooks divide katakana usage into a basic repertoire of fundamental classes -- foreign names and loan words, representation of sound, and word emphasis -- and thus attempt to position the script and its uses within simply constructed and easily defendable categories. This desire to definitively “pin down” katakana is certainly informed by the intended audiences of these textbooks. Textbook authors most likely assume that students of beginning Japanese have no background in the language, and thus require a straightforward rubric for evaluating the language’s diverse array of scripts. These classifications help to facilitate quick mastery of the language through systematic categorizations that render katakana and its applications easily quantifiable and quickly recognizable.

Perhaps more noteworthy, however, is the way in which these textbooks equate katakana with difference -- their descriptions emphasize that katakana is a vehicle of the “foreign” or unusual (which might signify any of the categories listed above, depending on the situation), and equate its usage with words and occasions that are largely “outside” the realm of “normal” language. Unlike hiragana and kanji, which are both presented as “standard” or “essential” building blocks of Japanese language, katakana is presented as something of an afterthought, or at least as a later addition to this functional lexical core. Its employment is never entirely benign, and is always contingent upon context; the decision to write in katakana is made intentionally and must be justified, while its use also generates overtones of meaning that resonate beyond the bounds of the actual words that it is used to express. 

My search for katakana samples led me to uncover quite a large spectrum of applications for this script. Some of these specimens could be superficially categorized within the “usual” assortment of usages enumerated by the beginning language textbooks evaluated above. On two different Ito En (伊藤園) tea product packages, for instance, katakana words include: ティーバッグ (tea bag), フィルタ (filter), シリーズ (series), and ジャスミン茶 (Jasmine Tea), all of which could be most simply described as transliterations of foreign words. I imagine that there is also something of an advertising incentive for the use of katakana here -- as a vehicle of otherness, using katakana markets these goods as cosmopolitan products intended for a broad, probably international audience. (The same is true for another sample I found on one of my boxes of contact lenses, which recorded katakana words including フォカスデイリーズ (focus dailies) and ソフトコンタクトレンズ (soft contact lenses).) However, in terms of the two tea products, their packages also balance out words in katakana with words in hiragana and kanji, which seems to serve an aesthetic goal as well -- the balance and variety of scripts makes these product packages look more appealing than one dominated by only a single script would appear. In terms of advertisement, then, the usage of katakana is not always based in language. Rather, it serves as a visual/artistic medium that creates an imagined market for the product through implicit references to its cosmopolitan purchasing community, and further helps to generate the product’s market appeal by balancing and complementing the alternate script forms of hiragana and kanji as package ornamentation. 

Similarly, katakana script might also be used not just as a visual medium, but as a representation of emotion and mood. In the Bump of Chicken song entitled 《オンリーロンリーグローリー》(“Only Lonely Glory”) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-h2Se1nsA), the band’s choice to use a transliterated katakana title might be construed simply as a statement of mainstream “coolness.” Yet, it seems that there is in fact a deeper artistic incentive underlying this decision. Both the music and lyrics to this song (based on a translation that I found here: http://rukirin88.livejournal.com/15401.html) contain an outpouring of emotions, and the song itself serves as an anthem to resiliency. In part, the song is a receptacle of frustrations, and its lyrics give voice to the singer’s displacement; yet, they also reveals his capacity to move beyond his pain, and explore the possibility of transcendence even in the face of adversity. The music itself also embodies an invigorating drive to move forward, and conveys a mood that plays with interpretations of both the singer’s struggles and his desire to surpass them. Using katakana for the title of this song in itself draws attention to its emotional depth, and one might even go so far as to say that the title emphasizes the singer’s tentatively unfamiliar yet anticipatory hope for the future (hence, using katakana to express what is “other” to him). Even further, the phrases “only glory” and “lonely glory” serve as an almost desperate and jarring refrain that punctuates the otherwise hiragana and kanji-dominated lyrics (for the lyrics in Japanese, see: http://www.utamap.com/showkasi.php?surl=B07124). As the phrases that stand out most in this song (at least to my ear), these katakana transliterated phrases both provide a meaning-focused commentary on the atmosphere of the song, and also serve as a point of centering that structures the content of this work for listeners. 

Based on the samples discussed above, it seems that diverse applications of katakana have flooded the domains of Japanese popular culture and advertisement, especially as a visual and artistic generator of meaning outside the scope of a specific set of vocabulary words. However, I was also interested to see how katakana might be used differently outside of these realms; so, I took a look at part of an article in Japanese (included on the reading list for one of my seminars) aimed at a more academic community, Hamashita Takeshi’s “Shûen kara no Ajia shi” 周縁からのアジア史 (Asian history from the margins of Asia). (See: Hamashita Takeshi, “Shûen kara no Ajia shi” (Asian history from the margins of Asia), in Shuen kara no rikishi (University of Tokyo Press, 1994), pp. 1-7).

After going through the first page of this article, I located a number of terms in katakana: アジア (Asia), エネルギ (energy), フロンティア (frontier), and ダイナミズム (dynamism). While I have tried to piece together the themes and implications of this article by linking recognizable kanji with my classmates’ readings of the piece, I don’t pretend to be able to situate my analysis of katakana used on one page of the article within the context of its full argument. However, it seems that, as an article that takes marginal space and border regions as its object, Hamashita might be using these katakana terms not just as passive vocabulary, but also as a way of adding texture and dimension to the border spaces that he analyzes. Three of the four katakana terms on the first page of this article -- エネルギ (energy), フロンティア (frontier), and ダイナミズム (dynamism) -- are all related as terms that illustrate movement and variability. All three can be used either to depict movement (energy underlies and generates movement, while dynamism can be described as a condition of embodied vigorous energy), or to represent an unstable space infused with movement (if one considers a frontier to be a variable space characterized by a tendency toward change/fluctuation). By using katakana to draw attention to a cross-section of the article’s movement-related vocabulary, Hamashita is able to emphasize, as well as conceptually embody, the instability of the frontiers/marginal spaces that he describes. Further, as in the other cases described above, katakana is a visually-jarring vehicle of meaning that causes these vocabulary terms to stand out against a language background otherwise dominated by kanji and hiragana. Even Hamashita’s use of アジア (Asia) might designate a similar choice, and could signify that the concept of “Asia” itself is an unstable and problematic construct, not unlike the border regions that are the subject of the rest of this article. Given that there is also a kanji term for Asia (亜細亜, according to Google translate), writing “Asia” in katakana must have been a deliberate choice. Admittedly, this analysis might go too far or be altered by a more complete reading of these terms within the larger context of the full piece. Nevertheless, as a written script predicated on conveying difference, the unusual, and the foreign, katakana seems perpetually poised to make an impact, first through meanings generated by an author, and then through the re-creation of these meanings upon its reception by an audience. 

だいがくいんせいのスケジュール

わたしはだいがくいんせいです、じゅうよじかんにべんきょうします、やすみません。まいあさろくじはんにおきます、あさごはんをたべます。しちじはんからはちじよんじゅうごふんまでちゅうごくのほんをよみます。はちじごじゅうごふんにひとりであるいてコロンビヤだいがくへいきます。

にほんごのクラスはくじじゅっぷんからじゅうじじゅうごふんまでです。ごぜんじゅうじじゅうごふんからごごにじまでべんきゅします。わたしのちゅうごくのぶんがくのクラスはにじじゅっぷんからよじまでです。よじはんからごじはんまでサッカーをします、それからばんごはんをたべます。しちじからべんきゅします、じゅういちじにねます。

わたしはせんしゅうのどようびのごごとまだちをあいます、とまだちとレストランへいきます、やさいのばんごはんをたべますした、みずとおちゃをのみます。すいませんでした。それから、わたしたちはえいがをみました。じゅうにじにねました。

Pop/Rock Music of Japan: My Indoctrination

Recently, I had a informal music-swapping session with a couple of friends from my department, during which we shared some music we enjoy from the countries we each study. During the course of this exchange, I was introduced to quite a few appealing/catchy/unusual songs that comprise some sort of cross-section of the present-day Japanese pop/rock music scene, some of which I thought I'd share with everyone here.


As a student of Chinese, I have found listening to music a very effective way of familiarizing myself with the language. Music can function as an excellent listening exercise, and is thus also a really good personal/independent teaching tool (both for language and culture). I have, in the process of listening to Chinese pop/rock music, not only learned some current-day slang (which naturally doesn't get taught in classrooms), but have also learned some fairly complex vocabulary that I have been able to apply to more academic settings later on. This sort of "studying" also masquerades as fun -- or, rather, really is fun -- and even further provides a great topic to discuss with people from the country you're studying.


While my Japanese is not nearly good enough to understand much of anything in these songs, I hope to continue to use music as a "fun" point of entry into Japanese language and culture. Here are a few places I've begun...


Sukiyaki: This song seems to be pretty famous, and the tune was popularized in the U.S. a number of decades ago complete with a set of English (translated?) lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuO0BsEEss&feature=related


Shuji to Akira -- Seishun Amigo: A boy-band-sounding song, which includes a video complete with backup dancers and backflips to conclude the recording. I got "terebi" and "desu" in the announcer's introduction! The lyrics are included on the screen, with some recognizable words there, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725Iff7alAo


Konayuki, by Remioremen: A very pop-rock-ish ballad, which (judging from the video) expounds on the troubles of love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHJwo2xFwo


Ashita ga aru sa, by Ulfuls: The video for this one has some pretty funny moments...and includes "ashita" in the title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nDCZDLf48A

才悩人応援歌, by Bump of Chicken: Despite the very strange name of the band, I really liked this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8uxa0ksDw




Enjoy, みなさん！

Japanese Beginnings

My introduction to Japanese during these past two weeks has been quite exciting, although the process of continuing to accumulate knowledge of the language will, I'm sure, also be fraught with some frustrations and difficult moments. Before beginning this course, I had no working knowledge of Japanese, with the exception of a few words I had picked up here and there from friends who speak Japanese and a basic familiarity with the character の from reading store signs in Taipei. As a student of early modern China and Ming/Qing dynasty literature, I hope to develop a functioning reading ability of Japanese so that I will be able to use it as a research language in the future, and thus gain access the wealth of scholarship written about China in Japanese. Of course, my interest in Japanese also stems from a more culturally-informed curiosity -- I hope to learn more about Japan itself in order to broaden my conception of "east Asia" as a geographical, political, and socio-cultural entity, and am especially interested in exploring the relationship between China and Japan. Further, I have quite a few friends in my department who study Japan/are Japanese/speak Japanese, and, quite honestly, it will be nice to have some idea of what they all are talking about.

In these first two weeks of studying Japanese, I have been struck by both the numerous similarities and vast differences in Chinese and Japanese as languages. I imagine I'll be discussing this to a larger degree in later posts, so I will only note some very basic thoughts here. I feel that my previous experiences with learning Chinese have seasoned me for the study of Japanese -- I am familiar with reading characters, although hiragana and katakana are pretty different from the Chinese characters/kanji I am more used to dealing with. Even so, I am trying to prepare myself for the likely confusion of learning kanji in a Japanese, rather than Chinese, language setting (different pronunciations, some variant character meanings, etc.). Nevertheless, my experiences with Japanese so far have suggested that it is a very logical language, and I hope that I continue to find it so in the weeks and months to come.

Self-Introduction

みなさん、はじめまして、Bernardです、どうぞよろしく！わたしはColumbiaだいがくのがくせいです、だいがくいんせいのにねんせいです。New Jerseyからきました、アメリカじんです。わたしはちゅうごくのけんきゅしゃです、にじゅうさんさいです。