Composition #3

初めまして！
わたしはフィオナリアオです。にじゅうねんごのわたしは台湾でせいじのしごておします。わたしは台湾の社長になる。台湾のうちはひろいです、そしてとてもきれいです。うちのなかにプールがあります、がプールの保持かかくはとてもたかいです。うちのちかくにしゃくしょがあります。まいあさべんりなしごとにいきます。大人のせかつ楽しいですが難しいです。せいじんのせいかつはこどものせいかつとはことなります。

Katakana Literary Work

Katakana Literary Works - Haikus
1. 
このクーデター
せいかつくらい
かえります

Coup d'etat 
Life is dark 
Go home

Coup d'etat is in katakana because even though it is a loan word, it is a loan word borrowed not from English, but from French, which makes it more potent and striking. In this haiku, coup d'etat symbolizes the shortness and transience of power and life, so the foreignness of the word shows how power is not permanent. How the word comes from another language also symbolizes the nature of a coup d'etat itself - a sudden deposition of the government/rebellion from another group, enemy, or political group. 

2.
シャシンよを 
とりませんです
わすレマス

Picture ー
Not taken
Forget

The word "shashin," or picture, is written in Katakana because I wanted to "italicize" it using a different alphabet to show how important pictures are to helping humans recall memories. Many times our memories fail us as they become foggy and distant, so we rely on permanent evidence such as photographs to help us. The last three words are written in Katakana because it shows how spotty our memory is - sometimes we mix up different events and people, just like how the Katakana and HIragana is mixed up. Katakana really comes in handy when we need to express emotion and human experience!

3.
スッゴイね
どうしましたか
いいせかい


Amazing ー
What's the matter?
The world is good


I wrote amazing, or  すごい, is Katakana for emphasis because this haiku is exclaiming how seldom we realize that life and the world is good. We need to be more grateful for all the blessings we have in life, so the Katakana serves to illustrate the shock and surprise we experience. Because contemporary media focuses so much on negative news reports, we are always surprised when we encounter good deeds and the moral nature of humanity. The way the word is written takes the meaning of the word to a whole new level - we can't just express our amazement in a regular alphabetical way but rather, through another alphabet that symbolizes sophistication and complexity. 

Haiku

The English Haikus below helped me warm up for the Katakana literary works

1.
Airport terminal
Crossroads of sights and colors
Existence is brief

He meets her in this
Cold uncaring beautiful
Swirl of consciousness

Flash of brilliance
A facade of forever
Fade into abyss

2.
Himalayas
Alone in its majesty
Judge of humankind

3.
Peace, impossible?
Excuse, for our folly
History repeats

4.
Rush hour run run run
Shove old lady, spill coffee
Time, an illusion

Composition 2

山田さん、お元気ですか。はじめまして。

わたしはフィオナ。リアオです。コロンビアだい額の一年生です。台湾からきました。じゅうはっさいです。だいがくのせいかつはとでもいそがしいですそしておもしろいです。宿題はたくさのります。時間がありませんから、やすめません。べんけようします。ここはもう少し寒いです、そしてとてもきれいです。町の生活葉とてもすてきです。８月１４日ににほんへいきます。じゃ、また。どぞおよろしくおねがいします。

１０ガ３０日　フィオナ。リアオ

A Thoroughly Comprehensive Katakana Analysis! (final)

Greetings all Japanese lovers, let us embark on an adventure exploring all the different ways Katakana is used in the Japanese language! Surprisingly enough, Ktakana is more than a linguistic liaison between Japan and foreign countries.  It is actually a means for the language to branch out into a myriad uses, such as hiragana emphasis, onomatopoeia, scientific/technical usage, condensing, unifying, and more. Check out below all the different uses of Katakana I found! -

1. Non-English foreign words

Before we branch into other ways of using Katakana, first let us discuss the other half of loan words - words that come from languages other than English. Contrary to popular belief, not all Japanese Katagana is from English words. Katakana is a very hybrid and versatile Japanese language. Roughly half of words in Japanese originally come from Chinese. The other half derives from European (or American) words - the Japanese imported these words since coming into contact with the Europeans. For example, the import of Portuguese words was done in the 16th century, then Dutch ones from the 17th to mid-19th century, as the Dutch were the only Westerners allowed to trade with Japan during most of the Edo period (1600-1868). 
After the Meiji Restoration (1868), a whole slew of German, English and French words entered the Japanese language. Sometimes words in these languages were very similar to each other, and a word like "virus", is even spelled the same in English, German, French or Latin, but has a different pronunciation in each language. Because this word was imported both from Latin and German, it was rendered in Japanese as ウイルス and ビールス, not following the English pronunciation (ヴァイラス). This is important to understand because foreign or English speakers think that Katakana English is just a deformed form of English, but it is actually not because of its European derivation. They are not mistranslations - they do not come from English. Here is a short list of imported words in Japanese that do not come from English. These words are written in Katakana because they are obviously foreign. 

From German

ワクチン from "Vakzin"

アレルギー from "Allergie"

From Russian

エネルギー from "Energie"

イクラ from "ikra"

From Spanish

ノルマ from "norma"

マリファナ from "marijuana"

From Italian

ゲリラ from "guerilla"

パスタ from "pasta"

From French

(センチ)メートル from "(centi)metre"

クーデター from "coup d'etat"

2.. Technical and Scientific words 

Technical and scientific words are often written in Katakana too. For example, ガン (cancer) is nearly always written in katakana, even though it has a kanji (癌). Another example is how Homo sapiens, as a species, is written ヒト, rather than its kanji 人. This is because the western scientific term of human is Homo sapiens (ホモ・サピエンス ) and the Japanese people want to stick with that. Perhaps writing a technical and/or scientific term in Katakana makes it sound more important and cutting edge, since in the 20th century, the West represented technological advancement and new innovations. Thus, the Japanese want to connect their science and technical terms to the West to make it sound more impressive. 

3. Shortening/Simplification 

Simplification is also another usage of Katakana, since many foreign words, including both Chinese (Kanji) and English/European languages are difficult and long. For example, インフラ is a shortened version of infrastructure. Medical terminology, which is difficult to write in Kanji, is commonly written in Katakana. For example, the first two character of ヒフ科 (skin doctor) are written in katakana for simplicity. Furthermore, in the word 皮膚科 hifuka (dermatology), the second kanji character, 膚, is considered difficult to read, and thus the word hifuka is commonly written 皮フ科 or ヒフ科, mixing kanji and katakana. This shows how katakana always comes in handy in the Japanese language - it serves as a way for Japanese people to make their language more efficient and easy to learn. 

4. Japanese words in Katakana for Emphasis
Some Japanese words are just written in Katakana for emphasis, especially exclamations such as "great!" which is スッゴイin Katakana Japanese. "Cool" in Katakana Japanese is カッコイ. This is used simply for emphasis - "great" in Hiragana isn't enough, it has to be written in Katakana to make it even greater. 

This is especially apparent on Japanese signs, advertisements, and billboards. It is possible to go out on the streets in shopping districts to see ココ koko (here), ゴミ gomi (trash), or メガネ megane (glasses). This is the Japanese way of italicizing. This is really quite intriguing, the Japanese don't use a different font to emphasize, they use a completely different way of writing (alphabet). 

5. Japanese Company Names
Katakana are also often, but not always, used for Japanese company names. This is quite a novel discovery for me because I would think that Japanese company names with Japanese meanings would use Hiragana to write their names. However, many use Katakana. For example Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. I fathom that this is used instead of Hiragana because the companies want to seem more internationally connected - perhaps having this name makes the company more sophisticated and large, more immersed in the global community. 


6. Unusual Accents
Katakana is also frequently utilized in comics or cartoons to show a character having a weird or unusual accent, such as robots or foreigners or ghosts. For example, in a manga, the speech of a foreign character or a robot may be represented by コンニチワ konnichiwa ("hello") instead of the more typical hiragana こんにちは. This is very interesting because it is emphasis, but with a twit. 

7. Unification

Another usage of Katakana is to create new meaning out of two foreign words. For example, スキンシップ is a combination of "skin" and "ship" to create the meaning of "close physical contact." It describes the close emotional bond between mother and child by physical contact. Another example is ジョンアップ, which is a combination of "version" and "up" to create the meaning of "upgrade." Sometimes traditional Japanese words aren't enough to describe something like "upgrade," so Katakana is used to combine two words that in a way describe that word. Once again, unification is another way Katakana comes in handy.

This is the end of my Katakana analysis! After all this research however, a question I still have is, why is the super popular Chinese loanword "rāmen", written in katakana as ラーメン in Japanese, but never written in kanji (拉麺)? 

Conclusion

Each textbook is different in explaining katakana because being the versatile language that katakana is, a myriad interpretations can result. As I said above, I found katakana words that were foreign, onomatopoetic, scientific, unifying, and shortening. Because of all these possibilities to use katakana, how can a textbook summarize sufficiently what katakana is exactly used for? Therefore, they have their own interpretations of what katakana essentially is, where it comes from, and what people use it for. For example, some textbooks might say that katakana is used because Japanese people think of it as more trendy and sophisticated, others might claim that katakana allows more convenience, by shortening words or emphasizing words. Others may say that katakana should strictly be used for foreign words and nothing else. This is what makes the katakana and the Japanese language so exciting and fulfilling to learn and utilize - its multifaceted aspects allow us to endlessly explore the possibilites where we can use the language.

Second Attempt at BLOGGING IN JAPANESE

おはようございます！
きょわげつようびです、こんしゅうまたまい朝、まいばん、まいにちわべんきょします！たいへんですね？
わたしわもくようびからにちようびまでColumbiaだいがくのがくせいとColumbia Model United Nationsえいきいます。やすみじゃありません！らいしゅうともだちとでんしゃでYale University (Security Council Simulation at Yale University)えいきます。
またあした！

Fiona :)

Salutations all lovers of Japanese, sushi, and Sony!

It is I, Fiona, again. This weekend, I finally mastered Hiragana. It feels awesome to be literate in another language, especially Japanese since I've been wanting to read/write it for the longest time (since moving there when I was eight months old I guess :D). Now all I need to learn is katakana and kanji! Hopefully Kanji will come easier because I know Chinese. BRING IT ON!

Anyway, it has been an incredibly crazy and hectic three weeks at Columbia. Quite frankly, it feels like Japanese class is the only class that offers me order in this vast sea of chaos and freedom that is college. Japanese class is a comfort because we can actually see steady growth and improvement. At the risk of sounding cliched, I look forward to learning Japanese because all the new things we learn actually assists us in unlocking a new world. I mean, Literature Humanities should help too, but nothing is as concrete or tangible as the rewards of studying Japanese.

EDIT (ON 10/10/2011):
Ok so I am supposed to edit my blog to correct any violations I have made on the Blogging Constitution we compiled on the minnatonihongo blog. And as flawless as I thought my blog was, I realized I don't have any visually attractive pieces of aestheticism! ENJOY!

This is what my backyard looked like when I lived in Tokyo.

Just a random aside: IT IS TAIWANESE INDEPENDENCE DAY! 10/10/2011. A hundred years of democracy!

Above is what the view from my room was like.

...just kidding about those two pictures. But the ABOVE really is my "backyard," In Hiroshima, I lived near the city palace, which is what the picture is. I used to go biking with my parents here all the time.

And this was where I went to elementary school, the Hiroshima International School.

はじめまして！
フィおなです。タいわんからきました。Columbia だいがくin the city of New Yorkのいちねんさいです。じゅはさいです。
ドおぞよろしく。

Salutations classmates, teachers, and scholars around the world!
The above post was my rather short and lame attempt at a self-introduction in Japanese. As the semester goes on, however, I hope I'd be able to write pages of ancient literature analyses and critiques on international affairs and politics in Japanese. I kid you not - those are the first sentences I have ever written in Japanese. So I guess, not too lame right? Yes I am quite proud of myself.

Now you know I am Fiona, an undergrad student of Columbia University, from Taiwan, and 18 years old. I am studying Japanese at this amazing and complex university, but you might ask with such intent curiosity - why do you want to study Japanese (when you are Taiwanese)? Well firstly, I'm Asian, so to understand my own continent better and the manifestations of the Japanese empire on East Asia in the 20th century, learning the Japanese language and its culture is essential and pivotal. And, you know, after spending almost a decade laboring at the hands of my ruthless Chinese language teachers - traditional Chinese too - at my bilingual school in Taiwan, learning Japanese is not to say easier, but more enjoyable because I already understand Kanjii. 

The second reason I want to learn Japanese is my origins and background - I was actually whisked away from Taiwan at the barely human age of eight months to move with my family to Tokyo. Thus, the most paramount years of my life (one to three) was spent in this metropolitan city. I went to preschool and kindergarten there and learned Japanese along with my mother tongue, Chinese.

After 4 years, our family moved again to Vancouver, then to Chicago, then to Beijing. These six years were amazing, but I shall not elaborate as to blind you with irrelevant intellectual ramblings about the culture and history of these cities. After Beijing, we moved to Hiroshima - I spent most of my elementary years there. And it was there that I discovered just how fascinating and deep the Japanese culture, history, and people were. I attended Hiroshima International School, so I did not have the chance to study the language, but I did immerse myself into the lives of Japanese people. I discovered how sophisticated, kind-hearted, and down-to-earth everyone was.

The city of Hiroshima, especially, left a particularly permanent impression in my mind. They are the city that struggled to rebuild after the calamitous atomic bomb was dropped on them on August 6th, 1945. After decades of hard work and camaraderie, they successfully rebuilt a beautiful city based on the values of peace, love, and harmony. These are the qualities of human existence that they especially understand and value above all else. Living in this kind of environment was quite an experience. This analysis on the city of Hiroshima does not directly relate to why I want to learn the Japanese language, but other than living in the parameters of the country, the numero uno way to understand a culture is to dive deep into the learning of the language. This is why I am here in this fantabulous class learning Japanese!

Doozo yoroshiku!
Fiona Liao