ひまな時に、漫画を読みます！

みなさん、こんにちは！もう少しで日本語の一年が終わります。今がっきに、三年生ですから、とてもいそがしいです。時間がないので、あまりアニメを見なくてゲームをしません。でも、ときどきまんがを読みます。さいきん、すごいまんがを読みました。「山田くんと７人の魔女」が知りますか？山田は高校生です。山田の高校の中で、魔女（まじょ）があります。この魔女はとくべつです。たとえば、魔女のなかで、しょうらいをみられる人が一人います。でも、山田もとくべつです。。。

「山田くんと７人の魔女」のまんがかは吉河美希（よしかわ　みき）です。このまんがかは私の一番好きなまんがのまんがかです。一番好きなまんがは「ヤンキーくんとメガネちゃん」です。このヤンキーくんのなまえは品川大地（しにがわ　だいち）です。品川はやんきそうです。でも、ほんとうにあたまがよくてしんせつな人です。このメガネちゃんの名前は足立花（あだち　はな）です。足立は高校の生徒会長（せいとかいちょう）になります。でも、足立はほんとうにわるいせいとです。

「山田くんと７人の魔女」と「ヤンキーくんとメガネちゃん」はとてもおもしろいです。ひまな時に、読んで下さい！

子供の時

PE Reflection (1st Half) and PE Goal (2nd Half)

PE Reflection (1^st Half):

Between the end of last semester and now, I feel like my Japanese has improved in a number of areas. Although pitch and intonation will always be a problem, it seems like it has become less of a problem nowadays as I have been getting used to listening to words and thinking about their pitch patterns. In addition, I feel like my fluency has gotten a bit better. This is probably because I finally got used to conjugating on the fly and am slowly remembering important grammar structures such as we use them more and more in class. In addition, I feel like I have had an easier time composing entire sentences at once rather than having to put them together piece-by-piece (although some of the new topics have been harder for me to deal with than others, such as casual speech).

While my Japanese has undoubtedly gotten better, there is still a lot of room for improvement. One area that I have begun to find particularly troublesome is listening, which has proven to be very difficult for me in both daily conversation and during exams. As such, I feel like the only way to get better at listening is to converse with more people in Japanese on a regular basis. Furthermore, even though my fluency in Japanese has improved, I am still nowhere near being able to speak at a comfortable pace on a regular basis, especially with the complexities involved in the topics we have been learning recently.

PE Goal (2^nd Half):

·        Go to office hours on a regular basis

·        Try to engage others in casual conversation as much as possible. Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong.

·        Do the optional listening exercises. Since they aren’t graded anyways, spending only a couple minutes on them is better than not doing them at all.

·        Go to language table (unsure of how this goal will go, given my current schedule)

·        Go to anime club, which I have admittedly been missing lately due to various circumstances

Katakana Literary Work

ユキガナイ

スズシイテンキ

キュウニアメ

私の好きな食べもの

Katakana Analysis (Final)

The Katakana expressions that I chose to look at were コーン　フロスティand ツマラナイ. コーン　フロスティ is used as the Japanese title for a brand of cereal. It is written in Katakana rather than Hiragana because it is a loan word for “Corn Frosties.” ツマラナイis used in a Japanese advertisement for Vitamin Water. It is most likely written in Katakana rather than Hiragana in order to emphasize the word’s meaning of “boring.”

The Japanese name differs slightly from the English name of the cereal, “Frosted Flakes.” A possible reason for this difference in naming may be that “Frosted Flakes” is harder to transcribe into Japanese than “Corn Frosties.” This is primarily due to the “d” sound at the end of “Frosted” and the “fl” and long “a” sound in “Flakes.” In general, when a consonant is used without a vowel after it, it is transcribed into the “consonant + u.” However, there are certain exceptions, such as “t” and “d” becoming トandド as well as “ch” and “j” becomingチand ジ [1].  The “fl” sound is a little trickier to deal with, since it has both a double consonant and an “l” sound. Since Japanese does not distinguish between the “r” and “l” sound, the “la” portion would usually transcribed into ラ[2]. However, since the “a” is actually a long “a” sound, the transcription would actually use the long vowel marker ー(also called a chōonpu) with the レinstead [3]. The “e” sound in the “ke” portions in “Flakes” is also silent, so with the “consonant + u” guideline it becomes ク. As such, “Frosted Flakes” would transcribe into something like フロステド　フレークス, a much more difficult transcription than コーン　フロスティ. In addition to this difficulty in transcription, フロステド　フレークス seems more difficult to pronounce as well. 

As for the advertisement, the use of Katakana is a little more subjective. Despite the fact that ツマラナイ is a Japanese-origin word, it is written in Katakana to emphasize that水, the word it is describing, is particularly boring. The advertisement uses this emphasis to create juxtaposition between water and Vitamin Water, portraying water as a dull and typical choice of drink while portraying Vitamin Water as a more exciting and interesting choice of drink. Since Katakana often seems "edgier" and more eye-catching than Hiragana, it is commonly used in advertisements for this effect. This use of Katakana for emphasis is less commonly seen than its use for loan words and is actually a relatively new development that may be seen as the result of the increased Westernization in Japan, as Western culture is seen as more trendy [4]. It may be for this reason that each textbook chooses to explain Katakana differently, as it may be confusing to first-time learners of Japanese for Katakana to be used in such a variety of ways. While the textbooks all agree that Katakana is used for loan words, not all of them bring up its other uses. Since the works in which Katakana is used for emphasis are often artistic mediums such as manga or advertisements, the emphasis is mostly to express certain tones or messages that the author is trying to convey. For learners of Japanese, it is often less confusing to simply stick to the typical usage of Katakana for loan words.

1.      http://en.wikibooks.7val.com/wiki/Transwiki:Transcribing_English_to_Japanese

2.      http://www.learn-japanese.info/writing/kwriting_rules.html

3.      http://learnthekana.com/choonpu/

4.      http://www.japan-society.org/index.php?nav1=section&secid=5&subsecid=67&articleid=16

私の好きな食べもの

りょうりの中で、わしょくが一番好きです。カリフォルニアのサンフランシスコで、よく日本のレストランにひるごはんをたべにいきます。たいていすしとぎょうざにしますけど、ときどきさしみにします。さしみの中で、さけさしみが一番好きです。高いですけど、おいしいです。

私はたくさん好きな食べものがありますけど、からい食べものが大好きですから、一番好きな食べものはカレーライスですよ。うちで母はよく日本のゴールデンカレーを作ります。とてもからくておいしいです！あぶらがおおいですけど、ベビーコーンとたけのこがあります。あまり食べものをかいたくないですから、ときどき私も日本のカレーライスを作ります。