Why I Chose to Study Japanese
I took Spanish classes throughout high school and, when coming to Columbia, I wanted to fulfill the language requirement by taking classes in a language I had never studied before. For the past few years, I have been fascinated by Japanese poetry and philosophy, as well as post-war filmmaking from the 1950-60s (specifically the films of Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Yasujiō Ozu), and I thought that the best way to appreciate this art on a deeper level would be to learn the language of these artists. Being able to engage directly with a language helps one gain a sense of empathy for its culture, and therefore it is the best way to not feel like an outside or passive observer when visiting the country or merely appreciating its art. That is why I want to study Japanese and why I am excited about pursuing it further into my Columbia education.
Here is a video compilation I made, setting music to the films of Akira Kurosawa (it would not let me upload in a higher resolution than this):
After the first four weeks, I have found it very challenging to remember topic markers, as they are very different than the way we speak in English. I have also had a difficult time reading Hiragana to the point where I can read it fluently. However, I am very excited to get better at reading and writing in Hiragana, as well as learning Katakana and, eventually, Kanji. I am also eager to expand my vocabulary so that, while our skills in written language improve, so does our ability to actually understand what is written.
Here is a video compilation I made, setting music to the films of Akira Kurosawa (it would not let me upload in a higher resolution than this):
I also took Spanish classes in high school and wanted to learn something new in college. Your interest in Japanese film is very interesting and the compilation was very nice! (Perhaps someday you will be able to persuade Okamoto sensei to let us have a movie day) -Viola
ReplyDeleteA movie day would be very nice! Unfortunately, a lot of those films are 2+ hours, so we would have to spread it over a couple days (you know, that doesn't actually sound so unfortunate...). Let's petition to do that instead of the final!
DeleteI didn't know you were so interested in Japanese film! I will definitely need to check out some of the films you mentioned. I also have experience with a romance language and I can agree that it is very different from learning Japanese! But definitely learning a new script is extremely fulfilling.
ReplyDeleteFrom Zak
Because of the new alphabets (and because conjugation makes much more sense), I actually prefer learning Japanese over romance languages! I definitely want to go back to learning Spanish someday, as mi español muere con tiempo, but it's nice to take a break from that and do something completely different!
DeleteLet me know if you want any recommendations for Japanese films! It's something that I want to learn much more about.
I really appreciate how you verbalized your reason for taking Japanese. I feel my motivation was very similar, but you found articulated it very well. Besides filmmaking, I was wondering what aspects of Japanese philosophy and poetry how find particularly interesting. Do you have any philosophers or poets in particular that you enjoy?
ReplyDelete-Allison
はい、I read a book over the summer on the poet Matsuo Basho (famous for the haiku), but that book also had several other poets in it as well; I couldn't remember them off the top of my head, but their work is totally beautiful. As far as philosophy goes, most of my reading has come from Western philosophers explaining the philosophy of Zen (namely Alan Watts) from their own experience, so I am excited to learn Japanese in order to read those texts firsthand! I recommend reading Alan Watts if you ever want to get into that philosophy world (specifically his book The Way of Zen and his lecture series), his writing is fantastic.
DeleteI was interested to know how you got to learn Japanese. How did you first encounter Japanese literature and philosophy? I am curious how your first thought of Japanese through the literature and through language was different. That is a great motivation!
ReplyDeleteI kind of stumbled across Japanese filmmaking when I was a Sophomore in high school (I watched this video and it got me hooked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8). After that, I just became interested in trying to learn as much as I could about Japanese literature and philosophy -- it came out of my love for that era of filmmaking.
DeleteJapanese literature (specifically poetry) is much different than a lot of western stuff! Specifically, it is much more minimal and abstract; but once you get into it there is so much to be found, it's great!