Composition 3: 二十ねんごのわたし (Me, 20 Years from Now)

わたしは　おきます。　朝ごはんを　たべます。　それから、うちを　でます。　学校へ　行きます。　でも、今わたしは　学生　じゃありません。　いま、四十さいです。　先生ですよ。　この二十ねん　一しゅうかんに　五かい　日本ごを　べんきょうしました。　今、　わたしは　日本ごの　先生　です。しごとが　とてもすきです。

-Simon

Katakana Analysis Final Draft

My first katakana word is ポッキ (Pocky). Pocky is the very famous asian snack that consists of a biscuit stick that is coated with chocolate or strawberry. Pocky originated in Japan, and its name is an onomatopoeia of the sound it makes when you bite into it (the snapping of the Pocky stick). For this reason, expressing the word in katakana would make the most sense since one of the uses of the writing system is to represent onomatopoetic sounds. Nowadays, however, the brand is usually written with the English alphabet version of the word (Pocky) instead of the original katakana version (ポッキ). This was probably done because English words stand out much more as a brand than a word written in any of the three Japanese alphabets.

My second katakana word is ロイヤルミルクテ (Royal Milk Tea). This is a Japanese brand of milk tea drink. Using katakana to represent the name of the drink in this way might seem like these are loan words. However, milk and tea both have native words in Japanese that are not loan words from English (ぎゅうにゅう and ちゃ). Using the phonetic representation of these words in katakana shows that it was probably used as emphasis. Katakana are more noticeable than hiragana as brands (because of their blockiness) and also shows sophistication when representing western words.

The Katakana writing system's effect of providing emphasis to the word is probably due to the physical characteristics of the Katakana alphabet.  Its edginess appears very unnatural because things found in nature (rivers, mountains, etc) are usually rounded and not as jagged.  Katakana's edginess and sharp corners would stand out in a pool of curvy Hiragana words.  It is the same way capitalized letters in English provide more emphasis than lower case letters.  They contain more corners so they bring the reader's attention to them.

Different textbooks sometimes have different explanations for the use of katakana. I think the discreprency comes from the changes in the uses of katakana over time. Unlike hiragana and kanji, katakana is used as the writing system for words that do not fit in the uses of the other two systems. For this reason, katakana can have different purposes as new uses are invented. In my opinion, katakana is the most flexible of the three writing systems because writers can effectively use it however they see fit.

-Simon

せんしゅう の しゅうまつ

せんしゅう　の　しゅうまつ　わたしは　Boston の　MIT へ　いきました。　どようびに　Trading Competition が　ありました。　MIT や Harvard や UPenn　の　がくせい　も　いました。　とても　たのしかった　です。　Boston　は　おもしろい　まち　です。　たくさん　がくせい　が　います。　たべもの　は　おいしい　です。

Last weekend I went to MIT in Boston.  On Saturday I had a Trading Competition.  Students from MIT, Harvard, UPenn, etc were also there. The competition was very enjoyable. Boston is an interesting city.  There are a lot of students.  The food is great.

Simon

Literary Works - Senryu

ニューヨーク、

さむいおてんき

ゆきだるま。

New York,

Cold weather

Snowmen.

This first senryu is about winter in New York. The poem alludes to the cold weather and snowmen that are typical of the image we come up with when we think of winter. "New York" is the katakana word in this poem. By placing New York as the first line of the poem, the blockiness of the katakana word clearly directs attention to New York as the topic of this poem. This lets the reader have an initial image of New York in his/her mind. The subsequent lines build upon that image of New York one layer at a time: by first adding in the cold weather and then finally adding in the snowmen. The resulting image is one of a New York winter that is blanketed with snow.

~

にほんごの

ビールのミルク...

なんですか。

Japan's

Milk of beer...

What?

This poem is about an interesting Japanese drink that I read about on the Internet. This drink is called "Bilk" and it is a drink that combines milk with beer into one. I'm not sure how this dink tastes but it sounds like a very...unique idea. The katakana in this poem are the two drinks and appears in the middle line. This usage of katakana brings attention to the focal point of the poem - the two drinks that are mixed together in a creative way. Using katakana to represent these two items also brings out the "foreignness" of this original idea.

~

おんなのこ、

ロゼとダラスが

ありません。

Girl,

Roses and dollars

I don't have.

This last senryu is about a boy who is telling a girl that he doesn't have any flowers or money to give her. By saying that he does not have any flower or money for her, he is showing that he is not trying to win her over by giving her material things. In this case, the use of katakana in this poem is a representation of something that is unneeded. The words rose and money are written in katakana and stresses the shallowness of those objects.

-Simon

Composition 2

やまださん、おげんき　ですか。わたしは　サイモン　です。コロンビアの　がくせい　です。わたしは　日本へ　ろくがつに　いきます。　日本の　せいかつが　すきです。ニューヨークは　たかいまち　ですが、　にぎやかです。　わたしは　日本の　たべものが　すきです。　おいしいですが、　たかいです。　日本へ　いきます　それから　やまださんに　いっしょに　日本の　りょりを　たべます！　どぞよろしくおねがいします。

-サイモン

Katakana Analysis

My first katakana word is ポッキ (Pocky). Pocky is the very famous asian snack that consists of a biscuit stick that is coated with chocolate or strawberry. Pocky originated in Japan, and its name is an onomatopoeia of the sound it makes when you bite into it (the snapping of the Pocky stick). For this reason, expressing the word in katakana would make the most sense since one of the uses of the writing system is to represent onomatopoetic sounds. Nowadays, however, the brand is usually written with the English alphabet version of the word (Pocky) instead of the original katakana version (ポッキ). This was probably done because English words stand out much more as a brand than a word written in any of the three Japanese alphabets.

My second katakana word is ロイヤルミルクテ (Royal Milk Tea). This is a Japanese brand of milk tea drink. Using katakana to represent the name of the drink in this way might seem like these are loan words. However, milk and tea both have native words in Japanese that are not loan words from English (ぎゅうにゅう and ちゃ). Using the phonetic representation of these words in katakana shows that it was probably used as emphasis. Katakana are more noticeable than hiragana as brands (because of their blockiness) and also shows sophistication when representing western words.

Different textbooks sometimes have different explanations for the use of katakana. I think the discreprency comes from the changes in the uses of katakana over time. Unlike hiragana and kanji, katakana is used as the writing system for words that do not fit in the uses of the other two systems. For this reason, katakana can have different purposes as new uses are invented. In my opinion, katakana is the most flexible of the three writing systems because writers can effectively use it however they see fit.

-Simon

せんしゆう の どようび えいが を みました - I watched a movie last Saturday

せんしゆう　の　どようび　わたし　は　ともだち　と　えいが　を　みました。コロンビア　だいがく　から　Union Square まで　ちかでつ　で　いきました、それから　ともだち　に　あいます。えいが　は　The Social Network です。わたし　は　えいが　が　すき。　どようび　は　いい　にち　でした。（＾＿＾）

Last Saturday I watched a movie with my friend. I took the train from Columbia to Union Square, and met up with my friend. The movie was "The Social Network". I liked the movie. Saturday was a good day. =)

-Simon

さんしゅうかん - Three Weeks

こんにちは、がっこう　の　だいさんしゅう　です。にほんご　は　はど　です。

Hello, it's the third week of school. Japanese is hard.

It's been three weeks since classes started. School has been alright, same old same old. The most interesting parts of my week are probably the times when I have Japanese. So far, Japanese has been pretty frustrating at times. It is definitely harder (for me) than learning Chinese, and the work probably takes up as much time as all my other classes combined. I think the hardest part of it is retaining all the vocabulary that we learn every day. Although we have quizes on about 20 words everyday, I would be lying to say I still remember all those words by the time a week has passed after the quiz. Recalling words that we have learned a couple of days ago takes a long time, and sometimes I would find myself flipping through the textbook in class to look up words. That being said, I have to admit I am learning an enormous amount of Japanese in the process. I feel like I am slowly beginning to be able to form sentences more easily. I still can't believe I had learned an entirely new alphabet in about a week's time (excited about Katakana).

So in short, Japanese has been very frustrating yet fun. As expected.

-Simon

にほんご の のうと (Japanese Notebook):
いまは ごごしちじ にです。きょう　は　かようび　です。わたし　は　さんじからごじ　ねました。ばんごう　は　なんばん　ですか。
It is seven P.M. Today is Tuesday. I slept from four to six. What's your number?

.

こんにちわ

わたし　は　さいもん　です。　ころんびあ　だいがく　の　さんなんせい　がくせい　です。　これ　は　わたし　の　にほんご　ぶろぐ。　どぞよろしく。

-さいもん

Hi, my name is Simon. I am a third-year student at Columbia. This is my Japanese blog. Nice to meet you.

That's (hopefully) what the Japanese up there says.  Why am I taking Japanese?  I am taking Japanese because Japan is one of those places I can realistically see myself visiting a lot in the future. I am interested in East Asian languages and cultures and have already taken two years-worth of Chinese in the past (Elementary I in my freshman year and Intermediate II at Beijing the summer after that).  From my experiences in taking Chinese, I found that the feeling I first got from being able to hold my own in a conversation with native speakers in China was one of the most satisfying feelings in my life.  By taking Japanese, I hope to be able to reexperience those times of excitement and adventure in the process of learning a new language.  So far, the first two weeks have been pretty intense with all the quizzing and hiragana sheets, but I know that the results at the end of the year will be more than worth it.

-Simon