二十ねんごのわたし

ニューヨークに　すんでいます。　ニューヨークは　わたしの　いちばん　すきなまちです。　コンピューターは　とても　おもしろいですから　コロンビアだいがくの　コンピューター　サイエンスの　せんせい　です。　まいにち、あさごはんを　たべます。　それから、　だいがくせいに　コンピューターを　おしえます。　ほんが　だいすきですから、　まいばん、ほんを　よみます。　わたしの　せいかつは　とても　たのしい　ですが　とても　いそがしい　です。

Final Katakana Essay

    In Japanese, the katakana script is usually used for foreign loan words, foreign proper nouns, and onomatopoeia. However, katakana is occasionally used to represent words of Japanese origin. In one case, the word karada is written in katakana on a Japanese magazine. Karada is a Japanese word that means "body". It is difficult to understand why karada is written in katakana rather than kanji or hiragana. It may have been written this way in order to add emphasis. Katakana adds emphasis because katakana characters usually have much harder corners and angles than hiragana or kanji. These characters tend to stand out. The magazine is a fitness magazine, therefore it would make sense to emphasize the number one topic of fitness; the human body. This all achieves the effect that when you look at the magazine the first thing that you see is karada.
     Japanese Military transmissions are also written in katakana even though they often use words of Japanese origin. For example, when someone in the Japanese military wants to tell someone to halt, they send the word "toma" written in katakana. This is surprising because toma is actually short for tomaru, the japanese word for halt and it one would expect it to be written in hiragana. This is likely because katakana characters are more simple than hiragana. In a situation where something must be written quickly, it would make sense to use katakana.
     Most textbooks briefly explain katakana, hiragana, and kanji in a few short paragraphs. For the most part, katakana is described as a form of writing identical to katakana and used for foreign words. While this description is true, it also leaves out some of the more subtle uses of the script. It makes sense that a textbook would want to keep a description of the writing system brief as this is arguably one of the most daunting parts of Japanese at first. However, not emphasizing katakana can make Japanese more difficult down the road when a student realizes the other ways in which it can be used.

サンクスギビング

ことしの　サンクスギビングやすみに　ニューヨークに　います。　おいしい　たべものを　たべます。　とても　たのしい　です！　セントル　こえんに　さんぽします。こんしゅう　いそがしくないです！　たくさん　ひま　です。　やすみます。そして、ともだちと　あそびます。とても　おもしろい　えいがを　みます。きょねんに　インデアナへ　かえりました。　あまり　たのしくなかったです。

カタカナ はいく

ふゆ　さむい
なつ　あつい　でも
アキ　ステキ！

コロンビア
すきな　がっこう
いそがしい

ニューヨーク
にぎやか　ですよ
すてき　まち！

Composition 2

山田さんへ
こんにちは。　キース・ニコルズ　です。　コロンビア　だいがくの　ねんせい　です。コンピューターをべんきょうします。　わたしの　せいがつは　とても　いそがしい　ですが　たのしい　です。　ひまじゃありません！　ニューヨークは　にぎやかな　まち　です。　そして、すてきな　まち　です。　ろくがつ　よっかに　にほんへ　いきます。
よろしくおねがいします。

Katakana

     In Japanese, the katakana script is usually used for foreign loan words, foreign proper nouns, and onomatopoeia. However, katakana is occasionally used to represent words of Japanese origin. In one case, the word karada is written in katakana on a Japanese magazine. Karada is a Japanese word that means "body". It is difficult to understand why karada is written in katakana rather than kanji or hiragana. It may have been written this way in order to add emphasis. Katakana adds emphasis because katakana characters usually have much harder corners and angles than hiragana or kanji. These characters tend to stand out. The magazine is a fitness magazine, therefore it would make sense to emphasize the number one topic of fitness; the human body. This all achieves the effect that when you look at the magazine the first thing that you see is karada.

     Another Japanese word written in katakana is toma which means halt. While this is a word of Japanese origin and is usually written in hiragana or kanji, toma, along with many other words, is written in katakana in military transmissions. This is likely because katakana characters are more simple than hiragana. In a situation where something must be written quickly, it would make sense to use katakana.

     Most textbooks briefly explain katakana, hiragana, and kanji in a few short paragraphs. For the most part, katakana is described as a form of writing identical to katakana and used for foreign words. While this description is true, it also leaves out some of the more subtle uses of the script. It makes sense that a textbook would want to keep a description of the writing system brief as this is arguably one of the most daunting parts of Japanese at first. However, not emphasizing katakana can make Japanese more difficult down the road when a student realizes the other ways in which it can be used.

My Weekend

もくようびに　ごぜんじゅういちじはんから　ごごろくじまで　にほんごを　べんきょうしました。
きんようびに　ごごにじに　セントルパークへ　あるいて　いきました。ごごはちじに　タイムスクエへ　ちかてつで　いきました。
どようびに　ごぜんはちじに　おきました。ごぜんはちじはんに　ベカズ　フィルドに　バースで　いきました。じゅうにじから　さんじまで　フトボルを　みました。
どようびに　ごぜんじゅうじから　ごごはちじはんまで　すうがくを　べんきょうしました！
とても　すごい　です！

Grave of the Fireflies

Isao Takahata's animated film, Grave of the Fireflies, tells the tragic story of two siblings trying to survive during a U.S. bombing campaign of Japan during World War II. The film is both incredibly moving and profoundly disturbing. After their mother dies, the two siblings must fight starvation when they decide to live on there own outside of society. While they try to stay positive, their situation gets increasing bleak until the film reaches an emotionally jarring conclusion. Grave of the Fireflies presents the impact that war has on ordinary people, without exploring its political significance.
Grave of the Fireflies was first shown to me by my high school Japanese teacher. She was apparently a huge sociopath, and always loved to show this movie right before winter vacation. Needless to say, Grave of the Fireflies isn't an appropriate Christmas movie. God that teacher was awesome.

Studying Japanese

Hello, my name is Keith. I am a sophomore at Columbia University studying first-year Japanese. I chose to study Japanese because I have an interest in Japanese culture and I have previously studied Japanese in high school. I am very excited to learn many new vocabulary words. So far, the class has not been very difficult as I am somewhat familiar with the language, however memorizing new vocab words has been a bit of a challenge.

Self-Introduction

はじめまして。
Nichols さん　です。America じん　です。New Jersey　から　きました。じゅうきゅうさい です。Columbia だいがくの　がくせい　です。にねんせい　です。
どうぞよろしく。