Snoopy!

In celebration of the 55th Anniversary of Snoopy, a design exhibition of Snoopy was held in Seoul this summer.

Many of the design artists are Japanese: Yayoi Kusama, Ruriko Murayama, Chie Morimoto, Masataka Kurashina, and many more. The three bottom photos are all pieces by Yayoi Kusama. Before coming to Seoul, the exhibition was presented in Japan. The artistic twist to good old Snoopy brought smiles to all the visitors. Afterall, don't we all love Snoopy?

My Japanese Workbook From Korea

Above are photos of a Japanese workbook I purchased in Korea. I love the colorful pictures and the layout of the workbook. I've been self-teaching myself Japanese through this workbook. It's different learning Japanese in Korean as opposed to learning it in English. This workbook won the 2007 award for the Best Japanese Learning Book and it was the #1 topseller for Foreign Language Books. Working with such a coloful book full of cute illustrations makes learning Japanese even more fun!

My first children's book written in Japanese

Sometime in the near future, I want to write and publish children's books. I am planning on a series where a little girl from each country in the world is the main character of the book. By incorporating the little girl's culture in her daily life, kids around the globe can further understand different cultures and this will hopefully lead to international peace! (I'm quite the optimist.^^) I thought I'd start by writing a children's book about a little Japanese girl named Keiko. Feel free to add a "Part II!"

Title: けいこの　たのしい　せいかつ "The Enjoyable Life of Keiko"

けいこは　にほんじんです。　とうきょう　からきました。
じゅっさいです。きれいです。

げつようびに　かずくと　くるまで　びじゅつかんへ　いきました。

かようびに　あるいて　ゆうびんきょくへ　いきました。さとうしんじせんせいに　てがみを　おくりました。　

すいようびに　ともだちと　はしで　そばを　たべました。ともだちに　あかいはなを　もらいました。

もくようびの　ごご　さんじに　えごを　べんきょうしました。えごは　おもしろいです。でも　ときどき　むずかしいです。

きんようびに　かれと　おはなみを　しました。はるは　きました！
　
どようびに　ゆきは　どこへも　いきませんでした。うちで　ほんを　よみました　そして　おちゃを　のまました。

にちようびに　やすみました。ごご　いちじまで　ねました。

けいこの　せいかつは　おもしろいです。

はるやすみ：せんしゅう かんこくへ いきました。

みなさんの　はるやすみは　おもしろいですか。
どこへ　いきましたか。
わたし　ひこうきで　かんこくへ　いきました。
さんがつようかから　さんがつじゅうはちにちまで　いきました。
かぞくと　かれと　ともだちに　あいました。
かんこくの　たべものは　おいしいです。
New Yorkは　いま　ごぜん　はちじ　にじゅっぷんです。
でも　かんこくは　いま　ごご　くじにじゅっぷんです。
Due to jet lag, きのうの　ごご　よじから　はちじまで　ねました。
きょうの　ごぜん　ごじに　おきました。

きょねん とうきょうと おおさかへ いきました。

きょねんの　はちがつに　とうきょうと　おおさかへ　いきました。
おおさかへ　ちちの　ともだちに　あいました。
ともだちの　なまえは　やまざきさんです。
この　しゃしんは　おおさかへ　とりました。

やまざきさんの　ふねです、
おおさかは　きれいです。

The Difficulties of Learning Japanese

The three different sets of characters in the Japanese language make it one of the more difficult languages to learn. We have to learn hiragana, katakana, AND kanji. I personally like the round shape of the hiragana characters the best and kanji the least because it is extremely detailed and complex. Before I learned Japanese, I would see the hiragana characters and think they looked nice and bubbly and cute. I feel as though Japanese would be easier and quicker to learn if it didn't have so many kanji characters. Both Japan and Korea still use Chinese characters, except a lot less so in Korea. Many, if not all, Chinese characters are pronounced differently between Korea, Japan, and China, but they carry the same meaning; my family was able to find our way around Osaka and Tokyo during our trip to Japan last year because of my father's extensive knowledge of Chinese characters. When I am in Korea, I see only a few Chinese characters and those are mainly in the newspaper. Koreans use a lot of Chinese in the spoken language (pronouncing the characters differently from the Chinese) from various phrases to wise sayings, but they are often written in the Korean characters, just like how our textbook has hiragana above the Chinese characters. However, in Japan, Chinese characters (with no accompanying hiragana pronounciations) cover the pages of even teen celebrity magazines, which I'm sure middle school students read. I doubt such magazines would print so many Chinese characters if they didn't assume the majority of middle school students and above were able to read them. Anyhow, being from Korea, where we are drifting away from printing Chinese characters, I wonder why Japan is still incorporating so many Chinese characters in their language. I know, I am jumping way ahead of myself considering we haven't even learned Kanji yet and probably won't for a while, but the frequent use of Chinese characters in Japanese intrigues me. My conclusion is that three different sets of characters make the Japanese language one of the most difficult to master. I would love to hear more about the relationship between Chinese characters used in Japan, Korea, and China; does anyone have any feedback? :) Maybe that is why to write and to draw are the same word in Japanese; Chinese characters are like a beautiful drawing.

Internship

Came across this internship posting last week. If anyone knows someone who is bilingual and is interested in journalism or just needs some extra cash, please forward. I wish I had the Japanese ability to apply!

intern for ESPN. Paid internship. Start immediately. Requirements: Must speak, read, and write both English and Japanese. Must have sound journalistic instincts. Job Description: Monitor print reports out of Japan for figure skating and baseball. Translate articles from Japanese to English for use by production crew (producers, announcers, etc.). Contribute to editorial research for figure skating and Little League World Series (baseball) broadcasts. Translate interviews from Japanese to English during or for broadcasts. Hours are extremely flexible. Pay will be daily and as an "intern." Most likely work will be 8-10 hours per week now with the possibility of there being much more work over the summer. Email resume and cover letter to Amy Stetson (ESPN Researcher) at amy.l.stetson@espn.com

Self Introduction

こんにちは。はじめまして。わたしは　ジュィエヤン　てす。
かんこくじんてす。かんこくの　Seoul　からきました。
にじゅうにさいです。わたしは　しずかです。でも　おもしろいです。
Columbia　だいがくの　さんねんせいです。　
せんこうは　えいぶんがくです。
でも　まいにち　にほんごを　べんきょうします。
もも　と　すしが　すきです。
みなさんも　すしがすきですか。
（みなさん：　“はい。はい。はい。”）
そうですか。
わたしの　でんわ　ばんごうは　。。。。ちょっと。。。
じゃあ、どうぞよろしく。

Valentine's Day Poem in Japanese

A love poem in Japanese using the vocabulary learned in class.

わたしは　みる　かれ。
かれは　きれです　まいあさ　と　まいばん　と　まいにし。
かれは　きれです。
わたし　かれは　すきです。　
まいにちは　はる。
おせわになります。　
おおきい　れんあい。　

Not quite what I was hoping to say...
Once we learn more verbs I will reattempt to write a love poem in Japanese.

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Korea, where I am from, and Japan celebrate Valentine's Day in a similar fashion. Only the females give chocolate on Valentine's Day in both countries. On White Day, which is on March 14th, males distribute chocolate in Japan while males give out candy in Korea. In my opinion, Korea made candy the staple present to give on White Day to grant candy manufacturers the opportunity to increase their revenue along with chocolate manufacturers. I was hoping to make heart-shaped macha cookies and bring them to class tomorrow, but it looks like it will have to wait until next week.

そばや と ぱにゃわ おいしい と たのしい

(I will only be using affirmative non-past tense verbs for this blog even though this happened over the weekend. I will distinguish between past and non-past tenses in future blogs, just wanted to become familiar with the verbs first. ^^)

Over the weekend,　わたしわ　いきます　to そばや　たべます　そば　と　うに。　
I used what little にほんご　わたし　am able to いって　と　きって　にほんご　used amongst the 　かいしゃいん　と　にほんじん　customers. そばや　あれです。 Located at: 229 (にひゃくにじゅきゅう)East 9th （きゅう）Street #3 （いちかい）NYC　でんわ　ばんご：２１２－５３３－６９６６（いちにいちのごさんさんのろくきゅうろくろく）そばやわ　a variety of different そば。そばやわ　やすい　と　ちいさい。わたしわ　いって　“おはようございます。　にひと　おねがいします。”かいしゃいん　いって　“＆（＊％＾＄＾＊＆　なまえ　*）＆＊＾＄％＾＊（）”わたしわ　わかります　なまえです　じゃ　わたしわ　いって　”Julie　です。“　After waiting for about じゅ　minutes, we sat down at a table and when we were ready to order わたしわ　いって　”すみません.“　When it was my turn to order, わたしわ　いって　”うに　そばや　ふたつ　おねがいします。“　I have been to Sobaya often but this was my first time visiting the place after learning Japanese. I was excited and honestly happy when わたしわよみますtheir にほんごmenu! After we finished our meal, we いきます　to Panya ぱにゃ, a ちいさい　と　やすい　にほんご　bakery. There, わたしわ　いって　”こんにちは。おちゃ　おねがいします。“　And out of the desire to use more にほんご、わたしわ　いって　”おおきい,“basically asking for a big cup. To apply the direction exercises we did in にほんご　きようしつ　わたｑしわ　いって　”おちゃcake　どれですか.“　I was hoping she would say, “それです。”but she just pointed to it, so わたしわ　いって　“はい、これです。”(The cake was right infront of me^^*). I wanted to use　あれです、so わたしわ　いって　“そばや　どこですか.あそこですか.”pointing toward the east. I now realize I should have been more polite and asked, "どちらですか," instead of " どこですか." ”はい,” she replied along with unfamiliar Japanese I didn't understand, so I just smiled と　わたしわ　いって　“ありがと　ございます。また　らいしゅう！”　I don’t know if I will be able to go again next week, but I wanted to speak more にほんご. みなさん　たべます　そばや　と　ぱにゃ　らいしゅう！

Nihonjin ocha uchi Cha An

Ohayo gozaimasu.

Today's blog will be the last blog I write in romanized Nihongo. From 'ashita' I will write in Hiragana as much as I can in my blogs. I have memorized all of the Hiragana characters but have not figured out how to type in Hiragana only Katagana seems to appear. I will figure it out by today. ^^ This weekend I went to Cha An, a 'Nihonjin ocha uchi' downtown. I hope 'minna' will stop by sometime and 'nomu ocha' and practice their Japansese to the staff there. I entered upon their 'kire ocha uchi' and said to the waitress, "Konbanwa. yon hito, onegaishimasu."Out of my lack of confidence, I held up two fingers just in case. I wish I had known the plural of 'hito' so I could say four people, rather than four person. When it came time to order, I pointed to the menu and said "futatsu, onegaishimasu." When our tea arrived, I said "Arigato gozaimasu." I wanted to speak more Nihongo to them for example, "Cha An suki desu," or "Watashi wa dagakusei." Incase they asked me something I didn't understand, I would have just smile politely and say "chotto," memorize the sound and ask Sato sensei. 'Minna sanpo' down to Cha An 'ocha uchi sugu' for 'undo' and order in Nihongo as you seki shita. There is also a 'ike' in the store with a pile of 'ishi' aesthetically positioned around it and it is very kireina but you have to be shizukana. It's open until 12 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, making it a lovely place to go on a date where you can say "osewani narimasu" to that special someone and hopefully s/he will reply, "kochirakoso."
Cha An Japanese Tea House Address:
230 E 9th Street
denwa bango: 212-228-8030

Minasan,

I believe that learning a language opens the door to a country's culture without letting anything get lost in translation. I visited Tokyo and Osaka this past summer and I was very impressed. I cannot wait to go and experience Japan all over again, this time with the ability to communicate in Japanese. I thought it would be practical to learn Japanese considering its close proximity to my homeland, Seoul, Korea and my frequent visits to Japanese places in NYC. People from Korea often visit Japan for the weekend to play golf or ski. My profile picture on facebook was taken while I was on a private boat steering through the river in Osaka. I am very excited to learn Japanese and only wish I had thought of taking Japanese classes at Columbia sooner.