I am looking forward to potentially traveling to Japan and Okinawa and being able to talk to people. I also love Miyazaki movies and I would love to be able to pay more attention to the actual picture rather than the subtitles.
What I have found difficult about this class so far is remembering all the new words. However I do prefer the spelling and grammar as (so far) it seems much more logical than English (for example, I have yet to encounter words like knight or knife with the random, unpronounced "k"). I generally have difficulty with learning languages (I am exceptionally bad at English and Spanish despite the many years I have studied those languages). I figured that if I were to take a language and struggle with it it may at least be a difficult language.
Lastly, this summer I watched the movie Godzilla versus Biollante which was one of the best movies I had ever seen.
Wow! It is kind of sad that Columbia doesn't teach dialects. You would think that they would have cooler classes since tuition is so expensive, but I guess not. Learning Japanese is probably the best alternative, but I think that learning Japanese with no east-asian language background is pretty impressive too! I also really enjoy Miyazaki movies, and Princess Mononoke is my favorite movie!! I hope you get to talk with your family in Japanese in the future! - Selena
ReplyDeleteThank you,
DeleteViola
Hallo Viola-san. Godzilla vs. Biallante certainly seems ahead of its time. Also definitely me too, I'm having a much easier time with Japanese than I had learning Spanish, which I have forgotten about 70% of but still have enough to maintain a basic conversation. Also, Princess Mononoke is my favorite Hayao Miyazaki movie too (@Selena), it's got all the right themes in it and is soooo well animated. Y'all should check out The Tale of the Princess Kaguya though, directed by Isao Takahata, who is the other (and in my opinion better) director at Studio Ghibli. It is about the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Japan's oldest folktale, and it is probably my favorite movie of all time because of it being so well made and so beautiful. Also, an amazing and less known Studio Ghibli movie is Whisper to the Heart, which most critics consider to be one of the best made movies of all time. Anywho, bye. - Joseph
ReplyDeleteThank you for the movie recommendations!
DeleteViola
You are so very welcome
DeleteI took a Spanish class last semester after my first travel to Cuba. I simply thought it would not be that hard but it proved me wrong hardly in grade.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could travel to Okinawa one day! Do you know if there has great food?
-Lei Li
I don't know much about Okinawan food except that it has something to do with a kind of sweet potato. If I find out more about Okinawan food I will let you know!
Delete-Viola
This made me laugh. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you,
DeleteViola
Oh boy! We must have posted this before we got to numbers right? Ah, the innocence of yesterday. While I totally agree that the spelling makes sense, I'd take on a silent "k" for numbers to remain the same across the board, from counting to days of the week to days of the month to months of the year.. Sure, there are similar things happening in Cantonese but I didn't have to make a conscious effort to learn my less than grade-school level vocabulary in Cantonese.
ReplyDeleteThat's true the numbers trip me up quite a bit! I especially have difficulty remembering to break the numbers off in groups of four instead of three. It hasn't come up too much yet but when it does it's very disorienting.
Delete-Viola
Lesson 101 on Viola-san. check mark
ReplyDeleteEverybody loves Princess Mononoke!
AND, I love the name fo your blog^ ^
Thank you!
DeleteOmg this blog is just so unbelievably cute! <3 It's so interesting that your family's from Okinawa. I wish to hear more about your family history there!!
ReplyDeleteThank you,
DeleteViola
I agree with you that remembering all of the new words can be difficult in this class. I have never seen that film but maybe once I am more comfortable with the Japanese language, I will watch it and be able to actually follow what is going on!
ReplyDeleteHonestly without the words the movie is still quite funny(perhaps even more so).
DeleteHappy Viewing,
Viola
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ReplyDeleteHello, I'm Yudai. I'm an university student. I like the movies of STUDIO GHIBLI too especially Porco Rosso: Kurenai No Buta in Japanese.If you have never watched the movie, I strongly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI love Porco Rosso. I also really like The Cat Returns. It is sort of an oddball and not as acclaimed as the other Studio Ghibli movies, but I still find it quite entertaining.
ReplyDelete-Viola
It's cool that your family is from Okinawa, are you an international student?
ReplyDelete