What's in Japan?

エンゲルト：にほに　いきましたか？

わたし：　はい、いきました。

エンゲルト：　にほんに　なにが　ありますか？

わたし：ええと、ひろさきしろが　あります。

エンゲルト：そですか。ひろさきしろは　どなですか？

わたし：あのう、とても　ふるいです　そして　とても　りっぱです　でも　ちいさくありません。あおまりに　ありますよ。　

エンゲルト：そですか。にほに　たべものがありますか？

わたし：どらやきがあります。どらやきは　とても　いいです　でも　おおきくあろません。

エンゲルト：いいですね！ きょとに　なにが　いますか？

わたし：宮本茂さん（みやもとしげる）きょとが　います。

エンゲルト：いいですね。ありがと　ございます。

わたし：いいえ

My Hometown：ロサンゼルス

わたしあ　カリフォロニアしゅうのロサンゼルスから　きました。わたしの　うちは　たかいうちです 　でも　あおくありません。ロサンゼルスは　とてもゆうめいです　そして　ふるいです。 DowntownLAの　ててものは　たかい　そして　りっぱててものです。　

わたしの neighborhoodのおなまは　ハイランドパークです。ハイランドパークは　きれいです　そして　ちいさいです　でも　あまり　ゆうめいじゃありません。としょかんは　ちいさいです。

カタカナ Expressions

Once we learned hiragana, I thought that we would be using that for the most part but when I started to look things up I found out that katakana is used just as much as hiragana is. This surprised me mainly because I know that many languages will create their own words for foreign words or at least assimilate the word but Japanese not only tries to stay close to the original but also distinguishes it from the Japanese words/ "alphabet." For example, soccer is known as football almost everywhere else in the world but for English it has a different name altogether. Whereas in Japanese, a sport like basketball has the katakana name ベスケットボール. I was also surprised to see some words that I would have imagined would be in hiragana to actually be in katakana. For instance Pokemon is written ポケットモンスターオフィシャルサイト despite the series having originated from Japan. I appreciate katakana much more now that I have seen its applications in Japanese and actually thought about what the purpose of even developing katakana.

Arthur Binard Poetry Reading

Arthur Binard spent many years living in Japan and translated various books and poems. He talked about the difficulties as well as the joys of translating English text to Japanese or vice versa and his experiences doing so. For example, he told us how translating can be difficult because there are not always analogous words between languages so the translator must find words and phrases that can be used to communicate the meaning of the literature. So it can either be translated faithfully or it can be completely butchered! This made some of his translations take a few years just because he could not find words that could make the literature impactful and meaningful in Japanese. On the other hand, he also talked about how he was able to write his own poem in Japanese when he could not accurately express himself in English and he joked about how translating is a form a legal plagiarism. In the end, he emphasizes that he always aimed to remain faithful to the original intentions and meanings of the author, even if that meant being liberal with the actual translating and how rewarding he found translating to be.