Charliphine

私のせかい

Thursday, 9. February 2006, 20:48:06

日本語, nihongo cup 2006, Art

My world

This years Nihongo cup (a Japanese speaking competition which our school is -forcibly- suggesting we enter) is about My World. The leaflet says;
"You are free to make a speech on any topic, real or imaginary, that relates to the theme My World. Take it literally and describe the world around you and/or tell a personal story. Or you could interpret the theme more generally and talk about an ideal world or an imaginary world."

I was thinking, I could start by talking about my own life and then moving into what I would like the world to be like. Only, I'm not sure if my Japanese skills are up to it. It has to be three to four minutes long but we are allowed to read from notes, it does not have to be memorised, thank god!

Does anyone have any suggestions about where to start?!

On an entirely different subject, I was given today the results for that art work I handed in earlier in the week. I got 88%. Yay!!! My friends all got similar marks, ranging from the mid 80's to low 90's, so my mark I guess was about average-ish.

I mentioned the new project a few days ago; Identity. Well, I spent todays lesson, after queuing for results, wondering around the school trying to take photo's representing my identity. Didn't manage to get many, although I got what I at least thought was a very cute/sad photo of Friend sitting on the floor in the lockers... Although I realise this isn't about me. But hey.

Our homework over half term is to collect photos and images that represent our identity, so I figured it would be a good time to get back into photography. One problem, I don't really know what my identity is, I guess now is the time for some soul searching.... Whenever I'm asked to do things like this all I can come up with are sad things, like family problems. Thing is, I'm not a sad person anymore, it's just that for me, happy situations are more difficult to depict in art than depressing one's. Is there something wrong with me, or am I just being a normal, emotional, hormonal teenager? All my friends seem to be able to think of happy things....argh.

Speaking of teenage emotions, I loved Susan's line in desperate housewives last night:
"I'm gonna need all the support I can get. Julie's a great kid but she's nearly fifteen; she's going to turn on me any minute now."

Yesh, I suppose this is more of a blog to me than anyone else. Sorry about that folks.

xx

It's actually a rather large world...Holidays

Comments

Cois # 9. February 2006, 21:25

Yep, you're a normal emotional hormonal teenager! Enjoy it or you'll become a normal emotional twenty something already with a mid life crises! From Cois who makes a feeble attempt to sound wise.

and like Mahoroba-san.

Cois # 9. February 2006, 22:10

I guess I'm not the only one that's up this time of the morning. Does that make may make us the normal minority!

sorry he I don't mad sense.

ojizosan # 10. February 2006, 06:23

It may be a hard work (

then

) but I think you should take part in this Japanese speaking competition.

It would be such a great occasion to do something pratical and meaningful with this language.

Go ahead! Write and talk about your own life and what you would like the world to be. There is no better subject

.

I am sure all of the Japanese speaking members of LX (myself included) will be happy to help you correct your writings.

Go ahead, dot it! 歩く者に力あり！

Something good will come out of it. May be not tomorrow but some day. I guarantee it.

from mahoroba, who remembers a report about Japan he did in his high school days, not knowing that one day he would be living there.

Hiro # 10. February 2006, 20:54

I agree with Mahoroba-san. I imagine that would be a hard work to talk about something in a foreign language and then keep the audience interested for 3-4 minutes, but it is well worth participating.

If I were you, I would choose a topical issue for teenagers and would relate the subject to your interest/life. If you want something serious, try something like Hikikomori/NEAT phenomenon, diffence in students'lives in general, if you want something more entertaining, talk about why you think Japanese horror films or Anime films suddenly got so popular in Hollywood, (or in English speaking countries).

This kind of cultural comparison matter never fail to get attention, and you should get quite a lot of information over the internet, hence you never run out of what to talk about. The only problem is how to summarize/cut down the information you collected and make a point.

Cultural event, such as Hatsumode or 3-5-7 celebration, coming of the age day, etc would be another option. Yamato Damacy is great to get the inspiration from.

Anyway, it would be ideal to think and write in Japanese, but it would be difficult for a beginner to do so. So I suggest you to complete the essay in English, translate it using the machine translator available on the web(i.e. google language tool), and go through the whole sentences yourself. Machine translation is not perfect and it cannot translate words in contexts, so you need to go through the text and correct vocabularlies accordingly.

Anyway, if you are serious, I am happy to proofread your text.

rogerleos # 12. February 2006, 00:09

Hey Charlie, I just read your comments in my blog. Thanks a lot !!
You said you can not read spanish so I just added an english version of each post as I did in the begining.
Please notice the dif between my own english speech in the first versions of my blog and the latest I just ranslated by copy-paste at:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

Let me make a review of the translations to my own feeling in the following hours but you can access now my bilingual blog every day.

Have a nice day
Roger Leos

Aya # 12. February 2006, 08:52

"All you can come up with are sad things"....I think this meaning is sad things are already past.and you feel happy now.

Anyway I can help you too whenever you have some difficulity in Japanese. ..Although I wonder if I could help you with my terrible English..

# 12. February 2006, 10:46

こんにちは！！
すごいねー！
Charlie this is great!!! Im just hopin that you will do great!! Man if you practice alot u will find that 3-4 minutes isnt sooo long!! Anyway I hope you do really really good and if you need any help just ask me and I will try to do my best!!
Ulie xx

rogerleos # 16. February 2006, 08:49

Hey, Charlie, thanks for your comments about the english version.... I just wrote about possibilities among the norm, like just kidding with expressions of mind and the extensive that contents could become some day even in other stages, eras or tastes and of course how speech or writting figures out sort of movies in other's imagination...
Have a good time !