Author Archives: clee21

Blog Post #3

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I initially came into the class with minimal expectations and the small hope I could reconnect with my Chinese culture. Growing up as an Asian American and dealing with identity issues definitely drove some distance between me and my desire to learn more about my heritage. However, now I realize that this class has done so much more than fulfill that small hope. The wealth of knowledge I carry now even surprises my Chinese parents who never thought to question the origin or intricacies of their native language.

I was definitely more receptive to the discussions about the Chinese language, especially concerning the history and evolution of its honorifics. Still, I was really intrigued by how Japanese and Korean used language commercially such as their incorporation of English words by using katakana and hangul. I was very engaged by the debate between whether or not this commercialization meant that the native language was being corrupted or not.

Even though I am not studying linguistics at UO, I definitely have a new found admiration and appreciation for this field. Knowing that what we have covered so far only scratches the surface of this field proves to me that it has so much more depth. If possible, I’d like to continue studying East Asian languages either with instruction or on my own.

Thank you for making this class so enjoyable!

Claudia

East Asian Writing

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Hello again!

As I was walking around Eugene, I found a number of small businesses and restaurants with East Asian writing. This Asian market, for one, is located on 503 East 11th Ave. The pinyin for the traditional Chinese characters are ” Yà zhōu lóng” which stands for “Asian dragon.” If you separate the words, in order, they are: “Asian,” “continent,” and “dragon.” The first two words make a compound word and stand as “Asian continent.” Its translation is pretty straightforward, but it is interesting to see a small market like this one use the word for dragon in its name. It makes me think they are using it as a metaphor to say their market is great and auspicious.

This restaurant “Izakaya Jinsei” is located on 1249 Alder St in Eugene. In this photo, you can see the Japanese words “いざかや 人生” (which uses both hiragana and kanji characters in its name) on the storefront of the restaurant. Separated, the words “いざかや” mean “tavern or small bar”, and the words “人生” mean “life”. In class, we discussed how the Japanese language uses three writing systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. While hiragana is often used to write verb endings and grammatical particles, in this example it rather phonetically sounds out the kanji rendition of “izakaya”, or 居酒屋, and provides an informal tone.

So far, I’ve been able to follow along with the history and social nuances of the three East Asian languages. However, I’ve been more challenged since we started our lessons discussing basic structures of East Asian languages. Thankfully, I’ve been able to keep up by reviewing past lessons through lectures and iClicker quizzes. I wonder how different languages came to use different structures (SOV vs. SVO). I know that it’s largely due to their parent language, but I’m curious about the specifics of it!

Until next time,

Claudia

Hello Class- It’s Claudia!

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Hi, I’m Claudia Lee, and I’m from sunny LA, California! I’m a freshman studying journalism, and I hope to become a video producer and editor in the future. I’d love to expand my production to cover campaigning, advocacy, etc. My hallmates and I joke a lot about making a Youtube channel to improve our skills, but we’ve actually come up with cool ideas like talking about what’s it like to be a POC in Oregon or where to find good Asian food. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them out (plus make friends hehe). 

In my free time, I like going out and having fun with my friends. This summer I didn’t travel, but I went to Six Flags for the first time, had a Star Wars marathon, and walked around the city. I do love traveling, though! I’ve been to different parts of the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hawaii, and I’ll be traveling around Europe this winter break. Some places I’ll be visiting is France, Holland, and Germany.

I identify as Chinese-American, so I definitely wanted to take a class that could help me better understand the history behind my culture and language. Growing up, I wasn’t sure if how I behaved made me too Asian or too American, but I know now that there is no problem with how I live or who I am. I’ve already learned so much from our lecture about dialect vs. language (I speak Cantonese and I always thought it was a language, but I’m studying French at UO). So far, I’ve found the class and Friday discussions straightforward and easy to follow. I’m excited to see what else I’ll learn in this class!

Sunset in Oahu, Hawaii (captured with my Canon Rebel 40mm).

Friends & I fooling around during our spring dance concert. <3