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！