Initial Composition 3 Post

二十ねんごわたしはニューヨークにいます。おおきいアパートがあります。わたしのアパートはふるいですが、べんりです。アパートがわたしのしごとのちかくにあります。あるいて十分かかります。

わたしはほうりつかです。しごとはむずかしいですが、おもしろいです。まいしゅう金曜日と土曜日と日曜日は休みです。

休みはかぞくとえいがおみます。わたしのかぞくはえいががすくですよ！わたしのパートナーとけっこんします。おんなのこが二人います。そしていぬがいます！

わたしのせいかつはとてもたのしいです。

Revised カタカナ Analysis!

The first example of katakana I will explore can be found here: http://qoo.jp/. This is クー, a Japanese soft drink. I believe the choice of katakana for this drink can be attributed to a few things—one being that the name is actually more of a sound than a word (onomatopoeia). According to the wikipedia page at least, the name refers “the mascot's reaction to tasting the drink.” Furthermore, クー is also somewhat of a loan word—again, at least according to wikipedia, “Qoo is transliterated in Chinese as 酷兒 (kù'ér). It evokes images of “cool kid” since 酷 (kù) is a transliteration of the English word cool and 兒 (ér) means ‘child’ or ‘son’.” Essentially the word has gone through the language/cultural sieve of Europe and/or America, China and Japan; cool leading to 酷 (kù) leading to クー —how cool is that? クーis also a good example of intelligent marketing. It is easy to remember in that it is short and evokes a feeling (how one feels drinking クー) rather than a specific fact or something. Because it is short it seems as though it would be very easily remembered by both children and adults, perhaps explaining the universally cute mascot! 


The other example of katakana I have is the use of it for computer terms such as　フォルダ (folder) and ホーム (home). I discovered this when I changed my computer's system preferences to Japanese. It would seem that this choice of katana serves two purposes, the first being that katakana is most commonly used to represent loan words from other languages, in this example English. With regard to having found this on my computer, it seems logical that sharp, concise writing such as katakana would be used to represent technical terms, loan words or not. This script is very easy to read and very uncluttered, aesthetically speaking.


A commenter brought up in my previous post that often Japanese words such as ねこ and ごみ are written out in カタカナ, not just loan words and onomatopoeia。Here is one example of this:

In this case, I believe カタカナ is used to  draw attention to what the sign is asking (and to the silly joke). Using かんじ would be way too formal and reserved, using ひらがな would let the topic of the sign fall into the background of other 
ひらがな words. カタカナ in a sea of other characters screams "look at me!!!!!!!!" 


Another question that was brought up elsewhere was what kind of impression these words give to readers. I think it depends on the situation. I think for words like ゴミ, the use of カタカナ stresses the urgency of trash disposal. It seemingly breaks up the way a sentence looks and jolts the reader into paying attention, which is especially important since this is a language that does not use spaces to break up sentiments.


 For writing out loan words, I think to an extent American culture is romanticized in Japan which would lead to brand names wanting to achieve that sentiment of the coolness of the English-speaking world. I hope that isn't terribly ethnocentric of me to posit! 

カタカナPoems Revised

しろいねこは、
さかなをたべます
おいしいニャア！

このせかい
あおいペンで
かきました。

シャトルバス
おちゃはつめたい
かれ、さよなら。

サンクスギビング休みがすきですよ！

お早う!　あしたはサンクスギビン. うちへかえりません。フロイダまでひこうきのきっぷはとてもたかいです！このだめに、ボルツバスでWPIへいきます。しちめんちょうがあまりすきじゃありませんでも、サンクスギビングりょうりがよくじょうずです。

セんしゅうのてんきはちょっとさむかったです。きのうのてんきはさむくなかったです。ニューヨークのてんきはおもしろいですね？とてもダイナミクですよ！

このクリスマスカメラおかいます。コロンビアはもみじがあります。もみじはとてもきていです。カメラでしゃしんおとります。

きせつのなかであきがいちばんきれいです。

カタカナPoems

しろいねこは、
さかなをたべます
おいしいですニャア！

このせかい
あおいペンで
かきました。

シャトルバス
おちゃわつめたい
かれ、えいけつ。

Composition 2

山田さんへ、

初めまして！わたしはケリーです。十九歳です。日本帆の学生のいちねんせいです。わたしの大学はコロンビア大学です。わたしのりょうはちさいですが、きれいです。アメリカからきました。コロンビア大学はニューヨークの大学です。ニューヨークがすきですよ！とてもいそがしいです。まいにち９じから５じまでならいます。そして５じから１０じまでちかてつでダウンタンへいきます。わたしのべんじょうはむずかしですが、おもしろいです。

７月１０日に日本へ行きます。それから山田さんのうちへタクシでいきます。じゃ、また！

よろくおねがいします。

カタカナ Analysis!

The first example of katakana I will explore can be found here: http://qoo.jp/. This is クー, a Japanese soft drink. I believe the choice of katakana for this drink can be attributed to a few things—one being that the name is actually more of a sound than a word (onomatopoeia). According to the wikipedia page at least, the name refers “the mascot's reaction to tasting the drink.” Furthermore, クー is also somewhat of a loan word—again, at least according to wikipedia, “Qoo is transliterated in Chinese as 酷兒 (kù'ér). It evokes images of “cool kid” since 酷 (kù) is a transliteration of the English word cool and 兒 (ér) means ‘child’ or ‘son’.” Essentially the word has gone through the language/cultural sieve of Europe and/or America, China and Japan; cool leading to 酷 (kù) leading to クー —how cool is that? クーis also a good example of intelligent marketing. It is easy to remember in that it is short and evokes a feeling (how one feels drinking クー) rather than a specific fact or something. Because it is short it seems as though it would be very easily remembered by both children and adults, perhaps explaining the universally cute mascot!


The other example of katakana I have is the use of it for computer terms such as　フォルダ (folder) and ホーム (home). I discovered this when I changed my computer's system preferences to Japanese. It would seem that this choice of katana serves two purposes, the first being that katakana is most commonly used to represent loan words from other languages, in this example English. With regard to having found this on my computer, it seems logical that sharp, concise writing such as katakana would be used to represent technical terms, loan words or not. This script is very easy to read and very uncluttered, aesthetically speaking.