East Asian Writing

Here’s my absolutely blurry picture of the Eugene Asian Market (sorry about that) sign from my phone! It’s located on East 11th Avenue, and is easily found through a GPS system of any kind (Google maps?). Anyway, I chose this place because I frequent it often, as I cook with my roommates and often make Asian food. I’m not entirely sure what the Chinese characters mean, but I do know that if an Asian store has Chinese characters then it’s probably good. One thing I notice that I can connect to what I learned in class is the design of the characters, and how there are two characters on the left and write sides of the word for some of them. Another thing I notice is the detail in the lower characters versus the characters above the “Eugene Asian Market”. I don’t really know why that is, though. Anyway, I’m pretty sure they used the characters here to let other Asian (probably Chinese) people know that it’s a more authentic market, or to appeal to them and gain more sales. Definitely worked on me.

As for my learning in this class, I still think that the history and similarities/differences between the writing systems of each language (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) was by far the most interesting topic we’ve covered so far. The other topics were still interesting, but the writing systems was just very intriguing. The most challenging thing about the class is that it’s quite early in the morning for me, so it gets hard to focus at times. I’m most engaged in learning when it’s either super interesting to me or if it’s hands-on, like with the tea lecture (which was great, by the way). And lastly, the strategies that have helped me the most to learn are to drink tea in the morning, because it helps to both wake and warm me up in the morning when it’s really cold. Overall, I’m having a lot of fun in the class, and I hope to learn more interesting things!

Blog 2

This photo was shown at the Jordan Schnitzer museum of art. This photo celebrates the history of Japanese mezzotint prints. I think the most interesting part is that the photo shows the character at that time. Especially for their clothes, in Japanese, it has been called “kimono”. When I see this kimono, I will recall the Chinese traditional clothes in Tang dynasty. The style looks the same, but the pattern and color is different. This design uses some elements and technology from Italy, the main aim is to adjust the different colors and let them look vividly and beautiful. I think the most incredible part is that this photo only shows the kanji (the traditional characters), “北齊”. I did not find the hiragana and katakana from this print. Also, I feel confused about these two characters. Does it represent the name of a place or the other special meaning? Also, I think kanji was important in people’s daily life at that time.

I feel the most difficult part is to recognize the different writing styles, the Japanese words, and Korean words. And sometimes it was connected with the meaning, the different intonations will let me confuse, I should review it for several times and easier to forget. But I think it is interesting and have their special background information and culture.

Writting

These two photos are taken from Uniquely Chengdu, a Chinese restaurant right off of campus and across the Duck Store on 13th St. The characters in the 2nd picture spell out Cheng Du ming xiao chi, which translate to Cheng Du famous’s xiao chi (a type of food). This shows that Chinese language is left branching, with the modifie, in this case the word ming -famous, placed on the left.

    Everything we covered in class have intrigued me so far. I like how the course introduces different subjects and topics about east asian cultures that I have never thought of. The one aspect that intrigued me the most was about the tonal of Asian languages, where one word can have different meanings depending on the tone of it. My learning strategy is do the readings and quizzes before class in order to have a general knowledge about the lectures, then take notes during the lectures to memorize it. I feel like I’m learning a lot and engaging with the materials the most when I’m in class listening to lectures. There has been a time when the lecture was not clear, and what I did was asking my friends about it.

Blog 2

This is a Photo taken close to UO, it is of Eugene Chinese Christina Church.

“pin yin” Eugene

“nan jin ji du jiao Hua” Christian

“hua ren” Chinese

“jiao hui” church

The church is found on the intersection of Hilyard and 19th, across the street from South Eugene High School. It’s placement on the building allows for those who pass by the building to understand its purpose before even reading the text itself. Seeing how the English translation is intertwined with the mandarin, the characters act more like symbols, because they show the church’s affiliation especially to non-Chinese speakers.

So far into our class, I have enjoyed learning about history and culture, especially our topics in week 5. As far as learning strategies go, I think it helps me a lot to not take notes in class. Unless I need extra help with the topic, I find its best for me to view the slides after class and take notes. It really helps to just sit and listen to lectures. By reviewing the material later and taking notes truly cements the lesson in my head. It really helps that the slides are not simply talking points, but detailed enough to understand even if I miss class or can’t recollect what was said about that part. I think the iclicker questions are extremely helpful and help with engagement with the material. It connects the reading and quizzes for best comprehension when we go over it in class with greater depth. The most confused I have been in class is when we talk about sentence structures like topics in week 3 and 4. I think it’s just due to the fact that some students in class already know a lot about these languages, so I feel behind the rest of the class. However, the class is paced really well so that despite these facts I am able to comprehend the material we have covered.

East Asian Writing

Image

For this blog post, I decided to head down to the Eugene Asian Market at 11th Ave. I not only walk by it quite often but I go here as well to pick up items. Since, it is walking distance from my dorm, it is super convenient! One of the first things I noticed when seeing this market are the traditional Chinese characters present on their signs as well as to the stairs up to the entrance. The Chinese text shown in the picture is 亚洲龍 (yàzhōu lóng). The kanji 亚洲 (yàzhōu) means Asia, then the kanji 龍 (lóng) means dragon.

With the information I learned during the lectures, seeing Chinese kanji and searching for the meanings. I see first hand where di-syllabic and mono-syllabic are used. 亚洲 has the two syllables, the first being yà then the second as zhōu to be used together in order to mean Asia. With the kanji 龍 it is an example of a monosyllabic word since it is only lóng. It is intriguing after learning this in class to look at different kanji and words that you learn and understand what the word is apart from its meaning. Also, reminding me how important tone is as well to the Chinese language. How a flat tone to a falling tone makes a difference to what the meaning of a single word is. As I was using the chinese keyboard on my computer, while typing in the pinyin without the tones being an option on the keys itself. The bar showed a whole array of different kanji together with the same letter but having a different tone syllable in order for it to be a different word from what you could have been intending to write. Quite fascinating!

In class, I feel like I am learning the most when listening to the lecture. Taking notes when needed, but also the in-class clicker questions. It feels like a reflection for the content I just learned. While also keeping me engaged and attentive during class in-order to get the correct answer. I always seem to remember the content I was quizzed on in the clicker-questions easier than some of the other material, since it feels like a breather from the previous slides to put everything I just learned together in order to answer the question. To use the information previously given is what is helpful for my learning within the class because it is easier for me to remember that content.

Blog #2

This photo was taken at the Eugene Asian Market on 11th Avenue. This advertisement’s statement, “鲜虾享受, 尽在一囗,” contains the imperfective aspect marker, zai. From the use of “zai,” we can infer that the phrase “尽在一囗,” pronounced “jǐn zài yī wéi,” is an ongoing action. I think that the purpose of using “zai” in the advertisement is a marketing strategy that implies the product being sold is always tastes “delightful.” This Chinese advertisement is displayed by the storefront of Eugene Asian Market because it appeals to both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking customers.

Topics that have intrigued in this class has been the subtle use of metaphors in the Chinese and North Korean media. Learning strategies that I use is going over my notes that I took during lectures. I feel like I am learning most during lectures because it can sometimes be challenging to comprehend and understand large chunks of material from the readings. I feel that I am engaging with the materials the most when I go over the reading material with the class during lectures and discussions. Learning about the different structures of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean was the most confusing for me, but I overcame this struggle by finding structural similarities between the languages.

Linguistic Landscape of Eugene

 

The first two pictures were taken at Bao Bao house. The text consists of Chinese characters. These characters are used because Bao Bao house is a Chinese restaurant. I would assume the characters demonstrate the validity of the food. They show Chinese people that their food is authentic and made the way they would expect back home. I don’t know much about Chinese characters but I can see that they look complex. I would also assume that these characters are mandarin because it is the official language of China. Mandarin is also more simple with only 4 tones versus Cantonese. I can’t tell but the characters look like the simplified version used in mainland China, and Singapore.

As far as my learning process in the class, I like reading and absorbing the information from the readings before class, and coming into class with the material fresh on my mind. I also like just listening to the lecture and taking notes sparingly. I find I can focus more when I am present in the lecture and not worrying about taking notes. I am normally a good note taker in other classes but I feel like this class it isn’t strictly necessary and the lectures aren’t necessarily set up to take notes on.

HW Blog 2

Maple Garden is located on the corner of Alder and 13th, and I walk by it nearly everyday, so I figured I’d check it out for our blog post. Unfortunately it wasn’t open, so I was only able to get photos of the sign and the menu on the wall outside. That being said, it was nice that they had the menu in both English and Chinese. I assumed that the letters underneath “Maple Garden Restaurant” was a direct translation, but just to be sure, I did some translating. I found that the first character is a combination of the Chinese character for tree, and character for wind. Because Chinese is a phonographic language, I know that each character represents a sound rather than a meaningful unit, like in a logographic system.

 

I don’t have any questions about the course so far, seeing as it’s engrossing and well organized. I like how the course is being taught because it’s a familiar format. As I said on the last blog post, I like that we get more, shorter length assignments rather than less frequent, lengthier assignments. I really like this approach because it keeps me engaged throughout the week, and I end up spending more time on the material overall than if it were project-based. The reading quizzes are also very helpful and I like that we don’t have a time limit, giving me time to be more thorough with the reading instead of feeling rushed.

Blog 2

This photo was taken at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. The painting was painted by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The text on the picture is Japanese. The painting shows a woman pulling a striped fabric. The theme of the painting is to thank the guards of baotaro who answered the prayer. Ukiyoe masters at the end of the edo period used novel designs, unrestrained ideas and solid painting skills to break through the framework of ukiyoe and create many attractive works. He was one of the representative painters in the late period of ukiyo-e painting school. In the class, the Japanese class covered how to use three writing systems. For kanji, hiragana and katakana. In the picture I took, there are Chinese characters and hiragana. In context, it is an embodiment of the meaning to be expressed in the work. The purpose of these Japanese words is to tell the viewer what the picture means.

So far, my classroom experience has been good, except for many professional words and sentences that I need to concentrate on taking time to remember and digest. The upcoming mid-term exam is a challenge for me. I don’t know anything about the classroom materials, but there are many concepts and knowledge that I need to spend time to learn and distinguish. I will constantly review the presentation and memorize it over and over again, because my learning method is to keep learning for a long time and get certain satisfactory results.

 

BLOG 2

Before school started, I remember going around in Portland/Eugene so that I could be associated with the area. As I was mentally being prepared, for the time being, thinking that I would not have any Asian food anymore, I came across this Asian market store. This King’s Asian Market in Eugene, Oregon is on the 2100 W 11th Ave, Eugene OR 97402. In this photo, there is a Chinese letter that says “君怡阁”. The first character of the word means “king”, the second “happy”, and the third “building/house”. Since people that can not speak nor write Chinese would not be able to understand the writing, it does seem intriguing enough for them to come so that way they would buy things that are from Asia, rather than the common stuff they buy in American stores. 

I find this class challenging yet intriguing and interesting at the same time. I am always looking forward to learn more about the three main asian language (Japanese, Chinese, and Korean) that we are learning in class. Although it can be complicated, I can understand how they are all connected, yet not connected at the same time.

However, as a Korean person, while I can understand the Korean language concept, I struggle to understand Japanese and Chinese because I do not understand their language and their cultural idea’s and concepts that well. Although I am taking Japanese 101 in order to understand this class, as well as speak another language in my behalf, it can be difficult to know the difference between the three languages. Though I attend to this class very often and finish my homework on time, every class that I go is just alot to take in under 50 minutes. Despite of the challenges I face, I still go over the past presentation and ask questions to people around me so that way I could get a better understanding of the class.