PE Reflection
I think my pronunciation and fluency is better than average in controlled situations where I am parroting the recordings. However, I think these two traits degenerate when I am in a stressful situation where I need to generate conversation and converse. I found shadowing the cadenced poems relatively easy.
PE Goals
I would like to hone small talk for Japanese business situations. I want to try and shadow more of these business situations so that I can commit them to memory. I will try to shadow more of the "news" based recordings that simulate real life dialogue so that I can develop an ear for patterns and set phrases.
After reading about so many other's analyses of katakana, I want to write a very brief addendum to my blog post analysis about something that I feel is more broadly anthropological. I have many questions of how language affects the behaviors and cultural fabric of society. Particular to the Japan context, I am curious as to how katakana changes in different social norms.
Gender roles and how they are manifest in katakana.
The role of othering - does katakana isolate the unwanted from the Japanese language or idolize the foreign? How is this balance changing over the course of history?
What is the process of a word become distinctly Japanese and canonized into Hiragana?
Does nationalist sentiment manifest itself in katakana as opposed to hiragana in any case?
What language does katakana steal most of its loan words from? Why?
What are the rates of katakana words being inducted as they relate to Japan's foreign relations with countries that speak the language of those words?
How does Japan side with the pronunciation of French fries when certain United States citizens wanted to change it to freedom fries?
The answers to these questions seem relevant when understanding the reasons why the Japanese people created katakana. It bespeaks of a deeper psychological perspective of how communities take in and interact with foreign influences.
