忙しい週末

今週の週末はとても忙しかったです。チャペルクワイアとアカペラがあるので、金曜日から今まで、十時間ぐらい歌いました。宿題をする時間がありませんでした。今学期はとても忙しくて、ストレスがたくさなります。けれども、友達と会うために時間を作ります。（作らなきゃならないね！）

"春が来た”…と思いました

ペリンストンの天気がぜんぜん分かりません。先週の金曜日はとてもあたたかかったですが、その後はさむすぎました。（Ｔ＿Ｔ）私はさむい天気が大嫌いで、それよりあつい天気が好きです。だから、春を楽しみにしています。

では、かなしい話しはここまでです。ペリンストンのキャンパスはいつにもきれいなので、嫌いな冬の写真をとりました。見てください！

チャペルのよこにかわいいberriesがあります。

体育館 (Dillon gym)

冬のツタ (ivy)

春＝はる
冬＝ふゆ
天気＝てんき
後＝あと (after)
嫌い＝きらい
楽しみ＝たのしみ
写真＝しゃしん

カタカナの分析：Analysing Katakana Usage

Introductory Japanese language textbooks usually go into very little detail about the usage of katakana in modern Japanese. They tend to describe only one or a few of the possible uses of katakana, usually ranked in the following order of priority:
- loanwords, i.e. words borrowed from another language, and transliterated in Japanese, whether it is from English, French or Chinese. (Chinese words that have been part of the Japanese vocabulary for a long time, and that have a distinct Japanese pronunciation, are not considered loanwords.) コーヒー (coffee) would be the most common example of this.
- names, especially names of foreign origin.
- onomatopoeia, i.e. words that simulate or represent through sound a particular sound, action, or even feeling. For example, ドキドキ (dokidoki) is an onomatopoeia for a heart beat.
- emphasis, i.e. using katakana to bring attention to the word, probably because katakana is written in cleaner, squarer strokes, which are easier to read.

This last usage is only mentioned in one of the textbook definitions we looked at. It general, Japanese textbooks only focus on the use of katakana as loanwords and for foreign names – words that are only written in katakana – and do not go into detail about the many subtleties of katakana usage in other contexts. I think this is done in order to avoid confusing students when they are starting out with the language. By separating the two kana alphabets, hiragana and katakana, into two non-overlapping systems, one for Japanese words and the other for foreign words, they can teach both alphabets within a short period of time, and students may find it easier to differentiate the two kana alphabets in their minds.

But let's look at how katakana is used in modern Japanese society. In reality, although the most frequent use of katakana is probably still for loanwords, of which there are many in Japanese, katakana is also often used for the less emphasized purposes of onomatopoeia, emphasis, and scientific formalization. Its use for names is also wider than simply for names of foreign origin: brand names also tend to be written in katakana, such as Suzuki (スズキ) for example.

Katakana can be used to emphasize a word, because it looks different (emptier, and neater, due to the straight strokes) from hiragana. In Japanese, there are no spaces between words, so it is difficult to skim through a text with only hiragana, because there is no way to parse between particles (non-important elements) and words (information-carrying elements). One way to indicate that a word is important is by writing it in kanji. However, for words that do not have kanji, or whose kanji is not well-known, katakana accomplishes the same purpose.

In the example below, which comes from instructions on a bottle of salad dressing (ごま, イカリbrand) the katakana reads "ビンはワレモノです”. ビン means bottle, and it can also be written in kanji 瓶 or in hiragana. ワレモノmeans fragile object, and it can also be written in kanji 破れ物 or hiragana. The message ("This bottle is fragile") is obviously important, and since this is the only part of the instructions written in katakana, we can assume the katakana was used to bring attention to this sentence. In this situation, I'm not sure whether katakana was be used instead of kanji because the kanji for these words are not well-known, or because they are too complicated and would be hard to recognize in such a small font (the bottle was relatively small), or simply because katakana would be more eye-catching, and therefore more successful at emphasis.

Here are two other examples of interesting use of katakana, which both come from the manga GINTAMA 銀魂. The first is an example of onomatopoeia, ザッ (zah). This function of katakana is not uncommon. What I found interesting there was the typography – in this case, the onomatopoeia was drawn in, and it is part of the image rather than the dialogue. The way it is drawn somewhat reflects the impression it is supposed to give – here, the bold strokes add to the confrontational and daring situation of the 'hero' prepared to fight alone against a group of men.

In this second example, only a part of the word is written in katakana (the ending), and it is not written in a grammatically correct way. The katakana here describes a sound – the drawling of the character's voice – just like it does in onomatopoeia. The fact that it switches halfway through the word is the most interesting there and it shows the versatility of hiragana and katakana.

カタカナの用例: Examples of Katakana Use in Modern Japanese

Use of Katakana in a manga: GINTAMA
Source: A Japanese roommate's wall decoration. Page number unknown.

Use of Katakana on food packaging

Source: Bottle of ごま (salad dressing), brand イカリ

Use of Katakana in Modern Haikus
Source: Internet Webpage "Contemporary Katakana Haiku" ("現代カタカナ俳句"), http://www.geocities.jp/gekkason/oka-negio-30.html

A few examples:
アニメソングクリスマスソングより迅し　　　河内静魚
夜桜の一太刀浴びぬカップ酒　　                    　植野順聞
セ－タ－の背をセーターの胸で押す　　　　　原英俊
タンポポ咲くドレミドレミソミレドと　　　　いのうえかつこ

ヒトもまた絶滅危惧種ほたるとぶ　　　　　　川嶋隆史

A few categories:
Modern Japanese things (コンビニ, カップ酒)
Foreign words (アロハシャツ, アジト,キャンパス,クリスマス, ドーナツ)
The Sky (オリオン、コスモス)
Flowers/Plants (カンナ、クローバ、アネモネ)
Names (ゲーテ, スカイツリー (Sumida Tower, Tokyo))
"Sounds" (ドレミドレミソミレド)

A complete list of all the katakana in this page:

アイロン

アジト　(den, hideout)

アトリエ

アネモネ

アロハシャツ (aloha shirt)

エプロン

オブジェ

オリオン

カタカナ

カップ

カンナ

キャベツ

キャンパス

キューピー

クリスマス

クローバ　(clover)

ゲーテ　(Goethe)

ゲリラ (guerilla)

コスモス

コップ (cup)

コンビニ

サーファー

サイレン

サングラス

ジーンズ

シャツ

シャワー

スカート

スカイツリー

スケート (skate)

セーター

タンポポ

ドレミドレミソミレド

チェロ

チューリップ

ドーナツ

トマト

ナイフとフォーク

バイク

ハイビスカス

バス

パン

ハンモック

ピアノ

ヒト

ヒロシマ

ブルース

ベンチ

ポインセチャ　(poincettia)

ポケット

ポスト

ミモザ

ミルク

ムーンウォーク　(moonwalk)

メーデー　(Mayday, Labour Day)

メビウス

メロンパン

ラムネ

リズム

Use of Katakana on the cover of manga/anime magazines:
Source: Google Image. (Gファンタジー and 少年ガンガン)

俳句、ハイク、haiku.

二月は一年で一番みじかい月なので、“俳句の月”になりました。“はいくの月” (英語で、National Haiku Writing Month, or NaHaiWriMo) と言うことは、毎日はいくを一つ書くことです。私は詩を書くのが好きだから、その“はいくの月”をします。今は英語で書きますが、いつか日本語ではいくを書きたいです。それは私の目標(goal)です。

はいくは何ですか？

             古池や 蛙飛び込む 水のおと

                       - 芭蕉

                 Ancient pond –

                 A frog leaps in

                 The sound of the water

                       - Basho

                         

・５−７−５
日本語で、はいくは５−７−５音節(syllable, mora)に書きます。でも、日本語の単語(word)はだいたい長いです。だから、日本語の５−７−５は英語の５−７−５より短いそうです。さいきん、英語のはいくは５−７−５じゃなくてもいいです。

・季語 (Kigo: Season Word)
はいくを書く時、季語が重大(important)です。季語がはる、なつ、あき、ふゆと関係(relation)がある単語です。季語はたくさんありますが、むずかしいです。For example, in Basho's famous poem, kawazu (蛙: the frog) is a season word for spring. How are you supposed to know this? わかりません。季語を探す(look for) 時、さいじきをよみます。さいじき(歳時記)は季語のじしょです。

・切れ字 (Kireji: Cutting Word)
はいくだいたい切れ字があります。切れ字はむずかしすぎます。This is quite complicated, so I'd like to refer you to the Wikipedia page on this. However, the most important point for writing haiku in English is that there must be a a juxtaposition of two different images/topics – for example, the ancient pond, and the jumping frog (in this poem, the kireji is the particle や).

Found on Old Pond Comics –
where (frog) Kaeru learns to write haikus from (also frog) Master Kawaku.

リンクス:
NaHaiWriMo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NaHaiWriMo/108107262587697
Learn Haikus with Old Pond Comics (and two frogs): http://www.oldpondcomics.com/haiku.html
Online saishiki (one of many): http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/haiku/saijiki/brief.html


二月＝にがつ (February – the second month)
一番＝いちばん
短い＝みじかい (to be short)
俳句＝はいく
詩＝し (poetry)
英語＝えいご
目標＝もくひょう (goal, target)
音節＝おんせつ (syllable, mora
単語＝たんご (vocabulary word)
長い＝ながい (to be long)
重大＝じゅうだい (important)
関係＝かんけい (relation)
探す＝さがす (to look for)

P.E. Goal and Activities Statement

It's been a while since I have practiced speaking Japanese, although in the past year I have continuously been exposed to it since a lot of my friends, both in Seoul and in Princeton, are Japanese or speak the language. I would say that although my listening skills have improved, my speaking skills have not, and in fact they have probably gone down.

Therefore, my goals for the first part of the semester are:
• To practice speaking a lot in order to get used to speaking Japanese again
• To be able to speak more naturally (without foreign-sounding pauses, using Japanese placeholders)
• To improve my intonation

I will try to do the following activities:
• Go to Japanese language table regularly
• Speak to a friend only in Japanese for at least twenty minutes once a week
• Take the P.E. exercises seriously and do more than the minimum exercises
• Do some singing shadowing (because doing karaoke for a class is pretty amazing, even though I don't really like recording my own voice)

もう一度始めましょう！ JPN102

もう一度日本語の授業をとります。先生たちは去年と同じです。楽しみにしています。
＾_＾

今学期のクラスのブログは"ニコニコ日本語"です。かわいいブログですね〜


じゃ、新しいクラスメートへ：
初めまして、三年生のアンクレーア・ワンです。フランスから来ました。両親は中国人です。（だから、私のブログにかんじをたくさんあります。かんじがある方が奇麗です。でも、授業で勉強していませんかんじをブログポスとのしたで書きます。）
私のせんこうはうウドローウィルソン(Woodrow Wilson)です。でも、そのより、言語を勉強するのが好きです。韓国語も勉強しています。そして、歌うのが大好きです。
よろしくおねがいします！日本語を面白くて楽しく勉強しましょう！





授業＝じゅぎょう
去年＝きょねん
同じ＝おなじ (the same)
楽しみ＝たのしみ
学期＝がっき
両親＝りょうしん
奇麗＝きれい
勉強＝べんきょう
言語＝げんご (language)