Hey Guys! I'm Loretta and welcome to my channel, "KemushiChan"!
I just got off a call with the J-House at the College of William and Mary
J House is the dorm for students who learn Japanese
While I was going down memory lane I noticed a VERY cringy file in this old boy.
I saw about 5 seconds of it, cringed thorougly,
and realized this is probably something we should all watch together.
This is a presentation I did at Keio University, talking about digital communications and kids in Japan
Do I really want to share this with you guys?! HERE WE GO!
Me and Japanese: Then and Now and where 10 years can take you!
Jaa, watashi ga kenkyuu shita no wa (So my research topic is about)
wakamono. De, sou itte mo, dare deshouka. (Japan's young generation. Who are they really?)
Densha de keitai wo tsukattari, makku de mitari (You can see them using smartphones on the trains and catch them at McDonalds)
sou iu hito dakejanakute minna no (not just those people, also everyone)
15-sai kara 25-sai goro no hitotachi wo kenkyuu shimashita. (aged 15-25 was who I researched.)
tsugi. Hai. tsugi. Next. Yes, Next.
Oh my god. Quick pause.
Right off the bat, the first thing I can tell is that
I clearly had researched which WORDS to use, like "wakamono" and "digital communication"
but all the words are very choppy.
SOU IU HITTO .... DAKEJANAKUTE... MI - NNA - NO.
There's a lot of choppiness and breaks in between
and that's clearly because I didn't practice.
You can tell I did not practice saying this out loud before I did the presentation
So while I knew which words I wanted to say, everytime I would say a big word I would stop
catch my breath, and worry if it was OK.
This could've been so much smoother if I had just practiced beforehand.
and in addition to that, my pronunciation...
sore .... dakejanakute mi - NNA - no
putting emphasis in places that don't exist in Japanese.
Japanese should be said more evenly than that.
"So right now, there's a lot of pressure from society..."
ENGLISH?!
Saying that youth are the source of a lot of problems.
tatoeba. nanka. (for example, like,)
shakaiteki ni wakamono ga mondai to iwareru. (society-wise the youth are a problem supposedely.)
tatoeba. nanka. (for example, like.)
HOLD ON! This is a mess!!!
So clearly this was supposed to be mixed media, English and Japanese
I was using English when I was nervous and I when I didn't know what to say
I remember asking my classmates like
"Do you think I sounded bilingual?" *heart eyes*
was my code-switching because I'm bilingual?
them: "No, you were code-switching when you didn't know what you were saying."
Those words dinged me right in the heart, but it's true!
It's OK to code-switch for one word, but to switch languages, mid-sentence
its not a good way to perform. It's confusing because people don't know what you're saying.
nanka. Shakai-teki ni, wakamono ga, mondai, to iwareru. (society-wise the youth are a problem supposedely.)
First of all, what I'm saying is already a sweeping conclusion
I'm sure there are social problems among the youth in Japanese
but that doesn't mean I knew anything about them.
I remember my research. There wasn't necessarily
data from my field research making these claims about the youth.
This is just me talking, because I wanted to say this point.
Bad research. Bad me. This is not true ethnographic research.
OK, next!
kazoku to issho ni bangohan wo tabenai toiuka (families don't eat dinner together, ya know)
soshite nihongo no midare, hikikomori toka (kids are bad at Japanese, some become shut ins)
kou iu mondai ga..... e? (these problems are....... huh?)
(*laughs because I lost my train of thought*)
kou iu mondai ga deteimasu. (these problems are coming out.)
TSUGI! (next!) Hurrhurr.
tatoeba. onaji kama no meshi wo tabeteinai. (Ya know, no more "the family that eats together, stays together")
Again, the things I'm saying the actual conclusions I'm making aren't even based off of research.
It's more just like things I wanted to say and force onto my research.
Which is a problem in and of itself.
You can just tell that I'm nervous, and the easiest way to prepare for that
is to actually practice saying the thing beforehand.
I should have practiced doing the entire presentation, recorded myself, listen back to it
and then done that at least 2 or 3 times.
It's awkward, cringey and feels kinda silly to speak in Japanese when it's not your native language
I was nervous about "Am the things I'm saying correct? Is the Japanese correct?"
The easiest way to fix that would've been to have it corrected (I had a dedicated professor on this research, and student assistants, but didn't ask for their help).
If this is an actual, professional speech that I'm giving
then the Japanese should be edited, I should rehearse saying it
then I should listen to myself saying it, and then present it.
This should not have been the first time that I was saying these words.
You can tell I'm trying to be goofy, giggly and play it cute
but at the end of the day I'm like... GURL!
You should've practiced. Let's keep going.
A lot of people aren't eating together. Kore ga katei no henka (this is the change in homes.)
MINna ga ISSho ni TAbeteiNAI (Families won't eat together!)
I'm using a lot of weird inflection.
In American English we punch a lot of the words that we're emphasizing
The FAMily is NOT EATing toGEther.
But in Japanese you don't need to say KAzoku wa MINna de TAbeteiNAI.
it's almost offsetting to be so emphatic in Japanese. Next!
bangohan wa daiji nandesu keredomo (dinnertime is so essential)
nande wakamono ga minna to tabeteinai. (so why're youngins skipping out on family dinner?)
toiu ..... e? (er like.... huh?)
chotto.... ah... (hold up... uh...)
nanka. kotae ga nanka. ('cause like, the answer is like)
minna ga isogashikute, wakamono ga (everyone's so busy, and for the young people)
juku toka hikikomori toka, iro iro na (there's cram schools, and kids who don't leave their rooms, etc. )
tabetakunai to iu kimochi de, iroiro na eikyou wo ataeteiru. (they don't feel like eating together and are influencing a lot.)
soshite nanka. (also, like)
What was it??
These cram schools and busy schedules are creating this effect that kid's don't want to eat together (with the family).
Let's put "hikikomori" (shut ins) off to the side
because that's a social issue I am not qualified to speak about
(cram school and shut ins, they don't feel like eating together, so it's causing influence.)
THIS IS NOT A SENTENCE IN JAPANESE.
the subject and the verb, the predicate actually don't match.
When you're talking about influencing something else
____ GA EIKYOU WO ATAERU.
But in this case a word like "gei'in" (source) or "riyuu" (reason)
that could've been a less clumsy way to say it.
Or even just "kara" (because).
sukejuuru ga ippai ni natteiru KARA, issho ni taberu jikan ga nai you desu. (Kids have very busy schedules now WHICH IS WHY they don't have time to eat together.)
You don't need to use fancy words if it's just going to be wrong!
soshite. nanka. (And, like,)
moraru no teika ga.... kou iu... nanka (A loss of values.... is like... ya know)
It's becoming "MORAL NO TEIKA" (loss of values) because they don't have time to eat together.
So, minna to issho ni tabetakunakereba (SO, when you don't want to eat together)
moraru no teika ni naru to iu... (values don't get shared.... is like...)
nanka. (So like,) This is something I've heard.
So clearly, I'm talking about cause and effect.
"issho ni tabetakunakereba moraru no teika"? If you don't want to eat together then loss of values?
"Is something that I've heard."
moraru no teika. What is this phrase that I just clearly wanted to say.
It would have just been easier if I had just used KARA (because).
This clip is over! Wow that was bad.
The main issues that I saw was pronunciation
punchy American accent, forcing things
It would be easier to listen to if my sentences were fluid and connected.
Listening to this I can tell
I had never said any of these sentences in one go.
It's probably because I was in Japan at the time
and I was just having fun.
I was exploring like "wow Japan is so cool!". I didn't want to go home and practice.
You know, that's boring right?
But because I didn't, this is the result!
I had looked up certain words I wanted to use, even put little furigana on top
I had cool, set phrases like "moraru no teika"
I don't even know where that came from
I clearly had these phrases I wanted to use in Japanese
but I didn't have any glue to put them together
that's an issue of missing grammar, but in terms of how to say these things on the spot
You have to get the muscle memory of certain sentences on your tongue.
I had the verbs, and the nouns, but no glue to put them together
that's because I hadn't done any muscle training (shadowing) with my tongue.
A (cause) KARA B (effect) to iu keesu ga ooku mirareru. "There are many cases where A causes B to happen."
At this time in my life I had very few chances to actually use Japanese
so this was the first time I really had a chance to use "eikyou wo ataeru" (to influence/impact something)
I really wanted to use this phrase and throw it in there
but because I wasn't used to it I couldn't use it well
so the subject and the predicate just kind of fell apart mid-sentence.
so it's hard to tell who's doing what or why.
The content words are there, so like, in a way,
you can probably assume what kind of swooping conclusions I was trying to make
about hikikomori and moraru no teika
Wow. This is terrible!
So that's that clip!
While I was in here I actually found another clip...
I had to take a certification called the OPI
They call you and just talk, then they hang up,
and a month later, send you a certificate about how BAD you were.
So here, at 2010 is when I really started to get into keeping audio diaries.
see what this is...hopefully this isn't too personal. This is my diary!
Here we go!
This is what I should have been doing!
TECHNIQUES AND ANALYSIS COMING UP NEXT!