Hello, my friends. Welcome to Erin Yan's wonderland. Feel free to leave me a comment, or contact me should you have any suggestions. Hope you will have a pleasant journey in my small world!
みなさん、にほんごのクラスはおわっています。ありがとうございます! This is my first semester here in the US., at Columbia University. Thank you all for such a wonderful semester. にほんごのクラスはすこしむずかしいですが、とてもたのしいですね!そして、みなさんはとてもかわいいです。 Good luck to our final exam. Wish you a pleasant winter break. ^_^
Katakana is mainly used as Onomatopoeia- Emphasis- Loanwords.
- Onomatopoeia: ワンワン(bowwow)、ブ-ン(zoom)、ドキドキ(heart beat)、パタパタ(the sound of falling rain or leaves)
Katakana is used to imitate the sound. Similar situation exists in
kanji, but the Chinese characters used as onomatopoeia are mostly very
difficult to read and write. So, it is a smart choice to use katakana to
record the voice. In addition, the use of onomatopoeia can make the words and expressions more vivid. Let's take a look at this manga:
Here, in order to show the surprising shout fromのび のびた, katakana word ワッis used. - Loanwords: サラダ(salad)、スタンプ(stamp)、サーモンカルパッチヨ(salmon carpaccio)、 ネギトロ(toro with scallion)、ユニクロ(UNIQLO)、テラ(tiger)、マツダ(Mazda)
I think this group may be the largest one in these three
categories. When entering a Japanese restaurant, it is easily to
discover many loanwords in katakana on their menu. These words are
mainly loaned from Western languages. Sometimes, we use katakana to
refer to typical species or brand, because they are kind of prescribed
expressions, such asテラ(tiger). Brand names are also expressed in katakana:
- Emphasis: コウテイペンギン(emperor penguin or "aptenodytes forsteri")、ネコ(cat)、ココ (here)、イマ(now)
This category is really special in that they are not so fixed.
Sometimes, people just use it to make things more attractive. For
example, in magazines, we can find イ
マ(now) written down together with commercials (such as discount in
limited time). This way of using katakana is random, which shows the
personal inclination of typical expressions. I myself use katakana as an emphasis in my experimental poem はなのうみ. The first time I use はなのうみ to describe the beautiful "sea" of cherry blossom, while in another paragraph, I do not want to repeat the same phrase, so I change it into ハナノウミ.
Katakana is mainly used as Onomatopoeia- Emphasis- Loanwords.
- Onomatopoeia: ワンワン(bowwow)、ブ-ン(zoom)、ドキドキ(heart beat) Katakana is used to imitate the sound. Similar situation exists in kanji, but the Chinese characters used as onomatopoeia are mostly very difficult to read and write. So, it is a smart choice to use katakana to record the voice. - Loanwords: サラダ(salad)、スタンプ(stamp)、サーモンカルパッチヨ(salmon carpaccio)、ネギトロ(toro with scallion)、ユニクロ(UNIQLO)、テラ(tiger)、マツダ(Mazda) I think this group may be the largest one in these three categories. When entering a Japanese restaurant, it is easily to discover many loanwords in katakana on their menu. These words are mainly loaned from Western languages. Sometimes, we use katakana to refer to typical species or brand, because they are kind of proper expressions.
- Emphasis: コウテイペンギン(emperor penguin or "aptenodytes forsteri")、ネコ(cat)、ココ (here)、イマ(now) This category is really special in that they are not so fixed. Sometimes, people just use it to make things more attractive. For example, in magazines, we may find イマ(now) written down together with commercials (such as discount in limited time). This way of using katakana is random, which shows the personal inclination of typical expressions.
When preparing for this draft, I found a video on Youtube. The teacher has given us some explanations about the usage of Hiragana/ Katakana/ Kanji (although most of her ideas are not new to us). Share with you all! :)
きょ、I would like to tell you about my favorite Japanese Cartoon: ドラえもん。
As long as you have watched this cartoon, I believe you had dreamed that one day you could have a friend like ドラえもん, who owns such a magical power from future world that can give you special experience and help you out of trouble. I have been enjoying this cartoon since I was a child, while I still find it appealing until now. Let's see the first appearance of ドラえもん:
I appreciate wonderful imaginations within the cartoon stories. Each role has a unique characteristic. The precious friendship between ドラえもん and のび のびた is really impressive. It's a very beautiful story full of emotion and hope.
The original creator of ドラえもん is 藤子·F·不二雄.
The author unfortunately passed away before an official ending was planned.
But some fan created an ending to this story, which is really moving.
I choose to study Japanese for three reasons. First, my major is Chinese Literature. In pre-modern as well as Republican China, Japan and China had had much conflicts and communications, which influenced literary works in both China and Japan. Also, many Japanese literati came to China during 1900s to 1950s, and they have written down many useful passages recording situation of that era. In order to expand my own research about Republican Chinese Literature, I decide to study Japanese. Secondly, I really enjoy Japanese food, such as sushi and salmon sashimi. on the other hand, landscape in Japan is amazing. Hence I would like to go to Japan one day, and I want to travel by myself without a tour guide. The final reason that I start to learn Japanese is that my department requires us to take one foreign Asian language. As to me, there is no doubt that the most important foreign Asian language is Japanese. I'm so lucky that I can learn Japanese with all of you!