Katakana Literary Work Final

みなさん、

This is the final Katakana Literary Work Post by me (at least for now). So I will combine the first two posts that I have together and then add another poem at the end.

Senryuu 川柳（せんりゅう）is a short poem.

It consists of 3 lines with 17 (5-7-5) or more/fewer morae.
Example from wikipedia,

どろぼうを

とらえてみれば

わがこなり

The robber,

when I catch,

my own son

The subject of senryuu is based on human nature, usually ironic or satirical.

Senryuu is similar to haiku はいく。　Nevertheless, haiku have seasonal expressions which senryuu don't have to have.

(Credit: さとう先生のブローグです　http://nikonikonihongo.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_6523.html#comment-form ありがとうございます!)

This is the first senryuu that I composed.

おはようを                                        Good Morning           

はなしていると                                We are saying it and

ハヤクする                                        Saying it fast

さんぽしてる                                    We are walking

ハヤクしている                                Walking fast

おはようを                                        Good morning

はなしてる                                        We are saying good morning

あるくとはなす                                We are walking and saying

とてもハヤク                                    really fast

This is inspired by people who have to rush to class in the morning or during the 10 minute class-change time. They walk pass someone they know and say hi to them, but they just keep walking and do not talk to each other any more than that. That greeting can be somewhat regarded as shallow and meaningless.  Also, I used katakana in はやく meaning "fast" (adv) to emphasize the word. I'm not sure whether I did it right, but I'm really like it anyway.

This one is 　はいく　inspired by Early Morning Rain by Peter Paul and Mary

雨（あめ）ふってる　                   It's raining
くらくとしずかに                          darkly and silently
はやい雨                                         early morning rain

雨ふってる                                     The rain is falling
行（い）くところない　　           with no place to go
シツレンシマス                              with a broken heart

This one I emphasized the broken heart.

There is the new 川柳 that I just composed. This one is inspired by the song Home by Michael Buble.

パリとローマ                                          Paris and Rome

一人（ひとり）いる　ウチ                   I live by myself. Home

帰りたい                                                 is where I want to go.

そとうれしい                                          Outside, happy

人（ひと）たくさんいる                       people there are.

さびしくて、                                          I feel alone and 

かなしいウチ                                         sad. Home.

とても帰りたい                                     I want to go home.

なく一人（ひとり）                             I cry alone.

I used パリ, ローマ as Paris and Rome as I'm supposed to (borrowed words). But I also use ウチ as home instead of うち or　家 to emphasize. 

Actually, the song itself focuses more on the reunification part when the singer gets back home so it has quite a happy ending. But in this poem, we focus on the author's longing to go back home.

 じゃあ、　詩（うた　poem）が ３つ　ありますが、　何が　一番　いいと思いますか？

三月 二十二日

みなさん、

今週、　私は　えいがを　三つ　見ました。おととい　ニューヨークで　オズ　はじまりの戦い （Oz: the Great and Powerful）を　見て、昨日　りょうで 　ライフ・オブ・パイ （Life of Pi）を　見て、今日　ガーデンシアターで　アドミッション（Admission 2013 film）を　見ました。
見たえいがの中で、ライフ・オブ・パイ が　一番　好きです。　ライフ・オブ・パイは　とてもゆうめいで、　とらは　とてもき。　アドミッションは　プリストン大学が　ありますから、とてもいいです。

みなさんは　見たえいがの中で、　何えいがが　一番好きですか？

アドミッション（Admission 2013 film）

ライフ・オブ・パイ （Life of Pi）

オズ　はじまりの戦い （Oz: the Great and Powerful）

Hi everybody,

This week, I watched three movies. 2 days ago, I watched Oz: the Great and Powerful in New York City. Yesterday, I watched Life of Pi in my dorm. Today, I watched Admission at Garden Theater. Among those three movies, I like Life of Pi the most. Life of Pi is very famous and the tiger in it is really beautiful and seem real. Admission is about Princeton, making the film better :D.

What is y'all favorite movie?

コロンビア大学

みなさん、 こんにちは

今日（月曜日）　私は　コロンビア大学来ました。水曜日は　プリストンに　帰ります。プリストンから　ニューヨーくまで　れっしゃで　一時間半ぐらい　かかりました。コロンビア大学に行って、コロンビアの友達とジョンズ·ホプキンスの友達と　会いました。　友達と　コリアタウンに　行って、かんこくのレストランで　かんこくの食べものを　食べました。ちょっと高かったですが、とてもおいしかったです。　それから、かんこくのベーカリーに行って、バブルティーとパンを　買いました。べーカリーも　おいしかったです。そして、　買い物に　行きました。　くつしたを　よっつと　あかいポロシャツと　みどりのポロシャツを　買いました。
けさの天気は　雨がふりそうな天気でしたが、　ばんは　雪がふりました。雪は　とてもきれいでした。　しゃしんをとりました。しゃしんをみて下さい　
　

私と友達

バブルティーとパン

かんこくの食べもの

みなさん、春休みはどうですか？

Hi everybody,

I came to Columbia University today (Monday) to meet my friends from Johns Hopkins and my friends at Columbia. I will return to Princeton on Wednesday. It took about an hour and a half from Princeton to NYC by train. I went to Korean town with my friends to have Korean food. It was pretty expensive but really good. Then, we went to bakery. I had bubble tea and a little bread. They are really delicious. We went shopping a bit. I bought 4 pairs of socks, green and red polo shirts. 

It looked like it's going to rain in the morning but then in the evening it snowed. It was really pretty like in the movie. I took photos too. Take a look.

How is everyone break?

はいく short poem / Katakana appreciation 2

みなさん、

There is another poem that I just came up with.
This one is inspired by Early Morning Rain by Peter Paul and Mary


雨（あめ）ふってる　                   It's raining
くらくとしずかに                           darkly and silently
はやい雨                                           early morning rain


雨ふってる                                      The rain is falling
行（い）くところない　　          with no place to go
シツレンシマス                              with a broken heart

This one I emphasized the broken heart.

じゃあ、　このはいくは　どうですか。　みなさんは　好きですか。
じゃ、またした。

三月 十四日 PE1 reflection and PE2 goals and activities

PE1: Activities

1. Repeat vocabularies in each chapter in the textbook after the audio files. 5 minutes a day. 
[improve pitch, review vocabularies]
2. Practice the short conversation practices online (either from textbook or kizuna 311). 5-10minutes a day. 
[improve speed, intonation]
3. Listen to Japanese songs and sing along and look up a few vocabularies per song. 5 minutes a day. 
[improve pitch, speed, have new vocabularies]
4. Attend language table every week and engage in the conversation more. Try to initiate the questions and conversation during the language table.
[communication, become more comfortable with communicating in Japanese]
Goals, activities, how long are the practices a day are subject to change. 

Reflection

1. Most of the days, I was able to do it. So I think I did this one pretty well.
2. I did not do many of a conversation shadow practices. I have been really busy lately but I will try to do this activity more in the second half of the semester. 
3. I have done just a few of this activities, usually about five to ten minutes.
4. I think I miss one of the Japanese table to attend the review session. So, I think I did a pretty good job on this one. 

PE2: Activities
I will try to make this one more feasible and adjust it to lean towards what I have been doing regularly. 

1. Repeat vocabularies in each chapter in the textbook after the audio files. 5 minutes a day (or one chapter a day). 
[improve pitch, review vocabularies]
2. Practice the short conversation practices online (either from textbook or kizuna 311). 5 -10 minutes every other day. 
[improve speed, intonation]
3. Listen to Japanese songs and sing along and look up a few vocabularies per song. 5 minutes a day. 
[improve pitch, speed, have new vocabularies]
4. Attend language table every week and engage in the conversation more. Try to initiate the questions and conversation during the language table. And don't get intimidated by new vocabs!
[communication, become more comfortable with communicating in Japanese]

5. Go to Sato sensei or Shibata sensei office hours weekly.Goals, activities, how long are the practices a day are subject to change. 

せんりゅう short poem / Katakana Appreciation

みなさん、

Today, I want to talk about "senryuu"川柳（せんりゅう）. Senryuu is a short poem.

It consists of 3 lines with 17 (5-7-5) or more/fewer morae.
Example from wikipedia,

どろぼうを

とらえてみれば

わがこなり

The robber,

when I catch,

my own son

The subject of senryuu is based on human nature, usually ironic or satirical.
(Credit: さとう先生のブローグです　http://nikonikonihongo.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_6523.html#comment-form)

I want to compose one as well. So did I compose.

おはようを                                        Good Morning           

はなしていると                                We are saying it and

ハヤクする                                        Saying it fast

さんぽしてる                                    We are walking

ハヤクしている                                Walking fast

おはようを                                        Good morning

はなしてる                                        We are saying good morning

あるくとはなす                                We are walking and saying

とてもハヤク                                    really fast

This is inspired by people who have to rush to class in the morning or during the 10 minute class-change time. They walk pass someone they know and say hi to them, but they just keep walking and do not talk to each other any more than that. That greeting can be somewhat regarded as shallow and meaningless.  Also, I used katakana in はやく meaning "fast" (adv) to emphasize the word. I'm not sure whether I did it right, but I'm really like it anyway.

じゃあ、　このせんりゅうは　どうですか。　みなさんは　好きですか。
じゃ、またした。

   

Katakana Analysis

Katakana Analysis

Katakana is one of the three kinds of characters in Japanese: hiragana ひらがな, katakana カタカナ and kanji 漢字. All three types of characters can be used together in the same sentence without any concrete grammar rules. However, there is a convention in written Japanese regarding how to use each specific type of characters. In this blog, we will talk only about katakana.

There is a consensus in many Japanese language textbooks that katakana will be used for representing sound (onomatopoeia), loanwords and foreign names (which are three majors uses of katakana). 

Start off with foreign names.Foreign names can come from any origin except the ones already existed in Japanese. 
For example,
My name: Chatarin Wangsanuwat (Thai origin)　    チャタリン (cha-ta-ri-n)　ワンサヌワット (wan-sa-nu-wat-to)                  
                  Smith (English origin)                                    スミス (su-mi-su)
Japanese origin names are written in kanji               上田    (u-e-da)

The next one is loanwords.Words that are from any other origins except Japanese's.For example, pizza     ピザ (pi-za)

- ブラザーフッズミーティング, Brotherhood meeting, sign 

The last one is to represent sound. 

- ズム、Boom, Manga "Vinland Saga"

Nevertheless, there are some katakanas presented not according to this convention.
For example, 

- ゴミをすてないで！、　Don't trash, Street sign

From here, you might notice that the word ゴミ (go-mi) is not quite familiar to the English speakers as any of English words. According to aforementioned convention, go-mi or "trash" should be written in hiragana ごみ (also go-mi) . [Note トリーさん pointed out in the draft's comment that go-mi is usually written in katakana. Thank you for the information!] 

- イカの炙り焼き　(Ika no Aburiyaki), Grilled Squid, Japanese menu

From this Japanese menu, イカの炙り焼き　(Ika no Aburiyaki). I-ka is written in katakana meaning Squid, instead of in kanji 烏賊 (also i-ka). Notice that in this same menu, saba, Mackerel fish, is written in katakana as サバ　instead of hiragana さば　as well. 

- ニッポン、　Japan, Street/advertisement sign

For the last example, towards the bottom of the sign, though there are some kanjis and hiraganas presented, ni-hon (meaning "Japan") is written in katakana ニッポン instead of the more common kanji　日本　（ni-hon or nip-pon）[Note N.K. Suzukisan also pointed out that both pronunciations are correct and widely used. Thank you for the information!].

From these examples, one assumption can be made. The writer decide to use some katakanas not following the convention in order to emphasize the words. In English, apart from bold, italics and underline, we can use capital letter to emphasize the word, indicating emotion attaches to the words (such as shouting)

For example,Please don't leave the trash on the floor, THANKS! (This "THANKS!" indicates writer shouting)The party was NOT fun AT ALL. (The writer emphasize the word "NOT" and "AT ALL").

However, we cannot use capital for Japanese characters.Consider this sentence,私は　昨日　日本のレストランで　とんかつと　チャーハンを　食べました。 There are all three types of Japanese characters in the sentence. The usage of each follows the convention.Therefore, if the writer use katakana instead of kanji or hiragana aka not following the convention, he can emphasize that word.From example above,  ゴミをすてないで！ The writer emphasize the word "trash" (ゴミ)　by using katakana. 

Therefore, there is flexibility within the characters used. Exposing to Japanese reading and writing will definitely help you understand more and become more comfortable using types of characters not following the convention.