Literary Work Draft: Advertisement

An travel ad created for Mt. Rainer in WA.

Katakanas used in this ad are mostly loanwords "jungle" and "west coast", as well as names for foreign places such as "America" and Washington".

Katakana Analysis (Final)

      One of the most interesting examples I have is "イケメン", which means good-looking man in Japanese. I knew this word from a Japanese TV show called 美男ですね (pronounced as Ikemen desu ne). So I automatically thought that the word "Ikemen" is equivalent to the Kanji "美男", and should be written in Hiragana as "いけめん". But I was not sure, since I know "美男" is pronounced as "びなん"...... Anyway I started to use this word when chatting with my Japanese friend online; however, to my surprise, they told me that the word should be written in Katakana not Hiragana. So I checked online, and I found "イケ" comes from the Japanese adjective "いけてる" (charming, handsome); "メン" is the same pronunciation as "man/men" in English, but can also be written as "面" in Kanji, which means "face". Yes, hot men have charming faces! I guess this word was probably firstly created as a joke...... And the reason for this word to be written in Katakana is mainly because it is a 流行語 (trendy word), and is usually meant to be emphasize in the context.

  The second example is "オノ・ヨーコ", the famous Japanese born artist and musician. It is strange to me since both of her first name and last name are Japanese names, and should normally be written in Kanji as "小野洋子". However, in Japanese press and media the name was usually written in Katakana. And the first name is before the last name, which also follows the Western tradition. The possible reason for this might because of Ono's marriage to Lennon, which made her a foreigner's wife, and thus should also be considered as a foreigner. An other example for this is クリスティー・ヤマグチ(Kristi Yamaguchi), an American figure skater. Although her last name is obviously a Japanese last name (山口), yet the whole name is written in Katakana.


        In essence, most of the text books describe the usage of Katakana in three big categories: loan words, onomatopoeia and emphasis. The "Ono Yoko" example points out that the first category does not only includes words (and also names) that are made abroad and spelled in foreign language, but also includes those entities (or people) that become part of the foreign culture. The final category can be very tricky because it basically makes possible for any Japanese word to be written in Katakana when emphasis is needed. Also many trendy words which does not necessarily have foreign origins are also written in Katakana, so that they are emphasized and distinguished from words that are more commonly used.

Chinese Poetry in Japanese

It is said that this is one of Japanese people's favorite Classical Chinese poems...

楓橋夜泊（ふうきょうやはく）

張繼

月落ち「つきおち」 烏「からす」啼「な」いて 霜天「しもてん」に満「み」つ

江楓漁火「こうふうぎょか」 愁眠「しゅうみ」に対「たい」す 

姑蘇城外「こそうじょうかい」 寒山寺「かんざんじ」

夜半「やはん」の鐘声「しょうせい」客船「きゃくせん」に到「いた」る

Here's an English translation which I think hardly make sense...

Zhang Ji (mid 700's): Moored for the Night by the Maple Bridge

1 The moon is down, crows caw, a frostiness fills the sky;
2 By the riverside maples and fishing lights, sad, insomnious, I lie.
3 Beyond the walls of Gusu City, where Hanshan Monastery stands,
4 Bong, goes the bell at midnight to touch the boat of the passerby.

translated by Andrew W.F. Wong
5 June 2008 (last revised 18.6.08)

Original text in Chinese:

張繼: 楓橋夜泊

1 月落烏啼霜滿天
2 江楓漁火對愁眠
3 姑蘇城外寒山寺
4 夜半鐘聲到客船

Katakana Analysis (Draft)

One of the most interesting example I have is "イケメン", which means good-looking man in Japanese. I knew this word from a Japanese TV show called 美男ですね (pronounced as Ikemen desu ne). So I automatically thought that the word "Ikemen" is equivalent to the Kanji "美男",  and should be written in Hiragana as "いけめん". But I was not sure, since I know "美男" is pronounced as "びなん"...... Anyway I started to use this word when chatting with my Japanese friend online; however, to my surprise, they told me that the word should be written as katakana not hiragana. So I checked online, and I found "イケ" comes from "いけてる" (charming, handsome); "メン" is the same pronunciation as "man/men" in English, but can also be written as "面" in Kanji, which means noodles.  Yes, Hot men are like delicious noodles! I guess this word was probably firstly created as a joke...... And the reason for this word to be written in katakana is mainly because it is a 流行語 (trendy word), and is usually meant to be emphasize in the context.




The second example is"オノ・ヨーコ", the famous Japanese born artist and musian. It is strange to me  since both of the first name and the second name are Japanese names, it should normally be written in Kanji as "小野洋子". However, in Japanese press and media the name was usually written in Katakana. And the first name is before the last name, which also follows the Western tradition. The possible reason for this might because of Ono's marriage to Lennon, which made her a foreigner's wife, and thus should also be considered as a foreigner. An other example for this is クリスティー・ヤマグチ(Kristi Yamaguchi), an American figure skater. Although her las name is obviously a Japanese last name (山口), yet the whole name is written in katakana.




References:
http://gogen-allguide.com/i/ikemen.html
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B1%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B0%E3%83%81
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A8%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B3

日本で好きなもの #1

この夏わたしは日本へいきました。

旅行は本当に楽しかったです！
そして最良の部分は、食べ物でした。:P

 お握り寿司

お茶漬け

枝豆（えだまめ）

飛騨牛肉　^_^／　

カタカナプロジェクト examples

1: Onomatopoeia

にこにこ is onomatopoeic phrase for smile.



Similar onomatopoeic for laugh or smile in Katakana:

http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa090900.htm

kusu kusu くすくす to giggle
gera gera げらげら to laugh loudly, to guffaw
niko niko にこにこ to smile
niya niya にやにや to grin
nita nita にたにた to smirk
ahaha, hahaha あはは、ははは the sound of loud laughter




2. Loanword

イベント simply means "event" in English. Although there are many Kanji equivalent for this word, such as 行事, 事件, yet it seems that イベント is the most popular.

http://www.mitsuwa.com/event/index.php


3. Emphasis

イケメン means "good-looking man" in Japanese. Although the word is of Japanese origin, it is usually written in Katakana because it is sort of a slang and being emphasized in the context.





4. Unknown Reason

オノ・ヨーコ（小野 洋子) is a famous avant-garde artist, who is also know as author, filmmaker, peace activist, musician, and of course John Lennon's Wife. The name is surely a Japanese name, but usually it is either written in Katakana or Kanji. The reason for this might because of Ono's prominent influence in America and the Western society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono

 

こんにちは！

　　初めまして、わたしは朱颖です。こどしは２１歳です。バーナードカレッジの四年生です。２００９年に中国の杭州市からニューヨークへきました。バーナードは女子大学です、そしでセブンシスターズの一校です。わたしの専攻は美術の歴史と経済学です。私は半年間日本語を勉強してきた。日本語はおもしろいです!