What I expect to learn from the podcast project:

• Making a presentation both interesting and informative
• Conveying a message in Japanese to both native speakers and beginning learners
• Using pictures, special effects, etc to spice up the presentation and help make the message more easily understood
• Time management, getting everything done in time and being able to coordinate with group members
• Overcoming challenges with the English/Japanese language barrier

What communication means to me:

• Providing helpful constructive criticism to members but not complaining or being rude
• Being able to talk about problems and everyone pitching in to help solve them
• Everyone is willing to spend time and effort on the task
• Listening to everyone's questions and concerns

どんあおんがくがすきです

かんこくのおんがく(Kpop)がすきです。
Temptation of Sonataはいちばんうたをききました。いま、このうたはとてもふるいです。

I originally discovered this song because the music video was a very authentic live action adaption of a scene from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

かんこくのうたはたのしくて、にぎやかです(can you describe music as にぎやか?)。（それから、シンガーはハンサムですよ。）


As I've mentioned before, Super Juniorはグループがいちばんよかったです。
コンサートをいきました、すてきでしたよ！

The concert was for all the artists under the SME label, so there were 7 performers total:

• SHINee
• Super Junior
• TVXQ（とほしんき）
• Girls' Generation（しょうじょじだい）
• f(x)
• BoA
• Kangta.

たくさんかんこくのシンガーは日本ではたらいています。これはTVXQの日本語のうたがすきです。

Both the lyrics and music video are very touching.

ふゆ休み

ふゆ休みにニューヨークにいました。ごかぞくはきました。まいにちおもしろいところへいきました。Bronx ZooやRockefeller Center やLittle Italyなどいきました。ちちはChinatownのりょうりがすきです。ちゅごくのりょうりをたくさんたべました、おいしかったですね。

Rockefeller Centerのクリスマスツリーはおおきでした

コゥンビアのキャンパスはとてもしずかでした。人がすくなかったですから。あまりおもしろかったりません。テレビをたくさんみました、そうしてほんをよみました。にほんのえがをみました。ハウルのうごくしろ (Howl's Moving Castle)です。えはとてもきれい。日本ごがすこしわかりました。

いまとてもむずかしですね。わたしのあたらしい日本ごのクラスははやくです。それから、まいあさ九時におきます。たいへんですね。。。

ええがとうた

てんくうのしろラピュタをみました。とてもおもしろかったですよ。にほんごをすこしわかりました。

Recently I watched Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky (instead of studying like I should be). I was pleasantly surprised to be able to understood some words here and there, maybe if I work hard someday I'll be able to watch it entirely without subtitles.



The story itself was very charming. It had a little kid story's simplicity but was still beautifully made with a lot of action and emotion. One criticism I would have however, would be that the pacing in the beginning was a bit slow and made me bored at first.




 きれいですね。 My favorite scenes were those of the castle. The architecture was very pretty and coupled with the tree roots and the "ruined effect" it was amazing. I'd post a better picture showing how elaborate it is... but I can't find one of a good close-up T.T

Maybe after finals are over I'll watch some more Japanese movies


I mentioned before how Super Junior is my favorite band. Recently they released a new song in Japanese. Also, the name is Snow White, which makes me excited because that's my Chinese name, and the name of this blog because Shiro Yuki is a bit catchier sounding than Melissa's Blog -.-. Super Junior, Japanese, and a reference to my name? Triple win :D. My Japanese isn't good enough to grasp the entire meaning of the lyrics but I recognized some words here and there.

Here's a video with both Romaji and English lyrics if anyone wants to see how much they can understand

Katakana Literary Work [Final]

Reads right to left.

Katakana words used:
ワイワイ- Sound effect for people talking in the background
カチャ- Sound effect for door opening
パタ- Sound effect for falling down
ジーー- Sound effect for stares
チリペッパー- Chili pepper
ニャ- Sound effect for grin
ハンサム- Handsome
ガヤガヤ- Sound effect for excited crowd
アメリカ- America
エ- Sound effect for shock
ギョ- Sound effect for fear
ヒヤヒヤ- Another sound effect for fear
チリソース- Chili sauce

New Word: べんなかいじん- Weird foreigner

Composition 3 [Final]

二十ねんごのわたしはﾆｭｰﾖｰｸにいます。にぎやかなまちですから。しごとはにほんとちゅうごくでします。そして、にほんとちゅうごくへときどきいきます。わたしはべんごしです。とてもいそがしいですが、たのしいです。まいにちくじからごじまではたらきます。ﾀｸｼｰでかいしゃへいきます。しゅうまつかんこくごをならいます。そしてともだちとあそびます。わたしのせいかつはいいですよ！

Katakana Analysis (final)

ゴニーヤツ
This was a sound effect of a car crash in a manga book. I think one reason that sound effects are written in katakana is so that readers won't confuse it for a word. It can also grab at the reader's attention so he/she will know to pay attention to it. Also, it makes the manga more dynamic when readers can visualize the sound effects and helps convey the mangaka's intent better.

クレンジング
This seems to be an English loanword for "cleansing" which was found on a bottle of skincare product, aptly called cleansing oil. Since I know that sometimes names are written in katakana rather than hiragana or kanji, the makers may have decided to put the katakana version of the name on the packaging to emphasis the product name. Also, using a katakana loanword instead of a Japanese word may be more trendy/catchy as a marketing strategy, like how some American skincare brands use French names for their products.

I think the purpose of katakana is let to the reader know that this word is important in some way. Whether to indicate onomatopoeia, English loanwords, or just topic-relevant keywords. Katakana can be used to emphasis certain words, like how in English some words are italicized to show that it is notable for some reason. Also it may be used in lieu of hiragana/kanji to sound more trendy and modernized.

Our textbook covered katakana very briefly, other than how to write it correctly and basic uses for it we did not go into detail about katakana. However, I think that I have learned enough to be able to use/read it sufficiently as an elementary Japanese learner. As I progress in my Japanese studies I will probably explore deeper uses for katakana. Through some outside research I have found out that katakana is also use for scientific and technical terms as well. It was created by Buddhist monks as a form of shorthand for Chinese characters.