カタカナのぶんせき（さいご）

Last time, I pointed out two usages of カタカナthat befuddled me, since they were not examples of loan words or onomatopoeia. Well, now that I have been given some insight, I will tackle these カタカナwords again!

1. キューシュー
コードギアスがいつもみたかったです。さいきん、みました。On one of the last episodes of the first season, I noticed the title was "The Battle of Kyuushuu", with 九州　（きゅうしゅう）in カタカナ.　Since きゅうしゅうis a にほんのまち that has its own かんじ, writing it in カタカナstruck me as weird. I guessed that きゅうしゅうwas written as キューシューto emphasize the fact that this battle was a deciding factor regarding the end of the first season. While that may or may not be true, I have also found out from a wonderful commentor that the places in コードギアス are meant to be parallels to にほんのまち, but not actually be the まちthemselves. For example, elsewhere in the series, とうきょうis even written in カタカナ. Apparently, these カタカナequivalents exist only in the world of コードギアス . This makes sense since コードギアス takes place in 2010, which was the near future for when it was released.

2. カラオケ
While わたしはだいきゅうかのたんごをならいました、I noticed that カラオケwas written in カタカナ. This also struck me as odd since カラオケis an original Japanese concept. My previous guess as to the reason for this was maybe カラオケbecame too globalized and it seemed only natural to write it in カタカナ. But this did not make sense to me then (since more popular words like すしand さむらいare not written in Katakana), and does not make sense to me now. Thankfully, a very helpful commentor mentioned that カラオケused to be spelled like this: からオケ. Just like けしゴム, the second part of the word was in カタカナand the first part ひらがな. Apparently, "から" means "empty" and "オケ" was meant to be an abbreviation for the English word "orchestra". Overtime,I guess it just became easier to write the entire word in カタカナ. Who knows, maybe eraser will be next!

If I got one thing out of this project, it's that カタカナis a tricky pickle to eat. Most textbooks have no problem agreeing that カタカナis used for loan words and onomatopoeia, since those usages are, for the most part, not debatable and clear cut. Some textbooks mention emphasis as a possible reason why some words would be written in カタカナ, but what does that even mean? At that point, カタカナrules give way to personal preference.This is why キューシューis an anomaly, since it's the result of artistic lisence. Nevertheless, none of the textbooks mention that カタカナusage varies with time and historial context, since this influence is unpredictable and ambiguous. This is why カラオケis uncategorized.

Well, I hope you learned something from this ^_^ バイバイ！

カタカナプロジェクト！

じかんがありませんから、おわりませんでした。^_^"

ここはわたしのまんがのいちページです。ぜんぶで、よんページです。Stay tuned!

ながさきくんをかきました！

とてもハンサムなおとこのひとです！

さくぶん二！

やまださんへ、

はじめまして。ナーディディアナです。アメリカじんです。コロンビアだいがくのいちねんせいです。ニューヨークにコロンビアだいがくがあります。ニューヨークはおおきいです。そして、とてもにぎやかです。でも、しずかじゃありません。だいがくのせいかつはたのしいですが、いそがしいです。まいばんごじかんべんきょうします。ひこうきでひとりでにほんへろくがつはつかにいきます。ワクワクします！どうぞよろしく！

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ナーディディアナ


　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

What's the Deal with カタカナ？！

せんしゅうのしゅうまつ、アニメをみました。アニメのなまえはコードギアス One of the episodes was titled "The Battle of Kyushu", and きゅうしゅう　was written in　カタカナ：キューシュー。Since きゅうしゅう　is an original Japanese city that has its own kanji, I thought it was weird that it was written in カタカナ。Here's my guess -- in this particular episode, the battle of きゅうしゅう　was the determining battle that ended the first season of コードギアス。So, maybe because of its significance to the storyline, きゅうしゅう　was written in カタカナ　as a means of emphasis.

Then, while わたしはだいきゅうかのたんごうをならいました、one of the vocab words was "karaoke", except written in カタカナ：カラオケ。If カラオケis an original Japanese concept, why is it written in カタカナ? じゃあ、since カラオケhas become such an international phenomenon (わたしはニューヨーックにカラオケのバーをたくさんみました) maybe writing it in カラオケ is a way to reflect this international appeal. Of course, すし is just as well known as カラオケ and is not written in カタカナ, so I cannot be too sure.

No wonder why textbooks cannot make up their mind! Since カタカナ is pretty much set in usage for loan words and onomatopoeia, most textbooks have no problem mentioning these purposes. However, regarding the matter of emphasis, カタカナ usage becomes a personal preference, which may be why some textbooks just leave that reason out altogether.

いちリットレのなみだ

1 litre of Tears

"1 Litre of Tears" is a にほんのドラマ based on the true story about a 15 year old girl dealing with a degenerative disease of the cerebellum (the part of the brain that deals with motor coordination). She starts out as a varsity athlete, but soon she cannot coordinate herself, she cannot walk properly, until she eventually cannot control her breathing. However, her mind stays in tact.

Since we learned dates, one of the songs on the soundtrack of "1 Litre of Tears" is Remioromen's "さんがつここのか". Can you figure out the title?

In this particular scene where the song is played, the girl, あや, informs the boy she has fallen in love with, あそうくん, that it hurts being with him because it only reminds her of her inevitable decay. You can watch the entire drama for free on mysoju.com. I really recommend it. かなしいですけど、 it makes you remember how beautiful life is and what in life really matters. Here is the song.

たしかに、ファンの女の子です。 ^_^"

Admittedly, I am a fan girl! ^_^"

ながさきしゅんすけがだいすきですよ！ながさきくんはハンサムなおとこのひとです。それから、ながさきくんはオリンピックせんしゅです―トランポリンおします。さいしょにさすけにみました。ここでかれは！

I love Shunsuke Nagasaki! Nagasaki-kun is a handsome man. And, Nagasaki-kun is an Olympian -- he does the trampoline. I first saw him on Sasuke (Ninja Warrior). Here he is!

Game Trailers - E3 2012

そして、にほんごのおんがくおききます！それから、とほしんきもだいすきです！"Mirotic"はさいこうです！

And, I listen to Japanese music. And, I love Tohoshinki! "Mirotic" is the best!