2011年4月29日 星期五

Hong Kong's education system

In the past, Hong Kong's education system was closely similar to the system in UK. Nowadays, Hong Kong's education system has changed. Under the new system, students now are facing the 334 system.

I found a video in youtube.


From my perspective, the old system is quite stressful for students because we need to pass two public examinations to get in to University. It actually is difficult and stressful for students. For the new one, as I just experienced the old one, I don't know much about the new system. Therefore I cannot compare the pros and cons of the two systems.

However, I believe Hong Kong's education system will be much better in the future no matter in students' eyes or the whole system.

Survey Project Reflection: 日本人男性が考える理想の妻に関する調査

Recently, we did a survey about the criteria of choosing wives for Japanese man. After we did the survey, I not only learned the research method, but also knew more about Japanese culture. Conducting a survey is not as easy as I thought at first, we need to consider many details of every question and have a clear orientation that what the result we expect. Luckily, with group mates' help, everything ran smoothly and I want to say thank you(:. Although not many people did the survey, the result is quite interesting and some are out of expectation.
One of the questions is that what kind of personality you prefer? Most people chose sweet and gentle and only few people chose active and sociable. Another one is that which of the following skill that your future wife must possess? This question can be chosen more than one choices. The result shows that cooking is the most popular one and others such as home cleaning, financial management and taking care of children or elderly are averagely chosen, respectively.
The only problem in our survey is lack of people. Therefore,I would suggest add one more question that is the criteria of choosing partner for Japanese woman which we didn't include in our survey this time. PITY!

2011年3月14日 星期一

Writing Project: Japanese Personal Pronoun ''I''

僕は君に恋をする  平井 堅









作詞︰平井堅
作曲︰平井堅

もしも願いが葉うなら 
君の悲しみをの胸の中に
注ぎ迂んで下さい 
その痛みならばは耐えられる
未來描く地圖も無くしてしまう
ちっぽけなだけれど 君をみつけた

さよなら、ありがとう、好きだよ、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、泣くなよ、バカだな
伝えたい言葉は止めどなく溢れる
何度も、何度でもは君に戀をする

君の願いが葉うなら 
全て捧げると心からいえる
僕がいなくなっても消えること無い
戀色に染まる心 君とみつけた

さよなら、また會おう、ごめんね、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、怒んなよ、バカだな
轉載來自 ※Mojim.com 魔鏡歌詞網
戀しい 苦しい、愛しいじゃ足りない
何度も、何度でもは君と戀をする

戀する瞳と愛する痛みを
君が僕にくれた輝き忘れない ずっと

さよなら、ありがとう、好きだよ、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、泣くなよバカだな
伝えたい言葉は止めどなく溢れる
何度も、何度でもは君に戀をする

さよなら、また會おう、ごめんね、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、怒んなよ、バカだな
戀しい 苦しい、愛しいじゃ足りない
何度も、何度でも叫ぶよ 好きだよ
さよなら



Perfume - Polyrthythm  ポリリズム









作詞:中田ヤスタカ
作曲:中田ヤスタカ

とても大事な キミの想いは
無馱にならない 世界は迴る
ほんの少しの の氣持ちも
巡り巡るよ

くり返す このポリリズム
あの衝動は まるで戀だね
くり返す いつかみたいな
あの光景が 甦るの
くり返す このポリリズム
あの反動が うそみたいだね
くり返す このポリル一プ
ああプラスチック みたいな戀だ
またくり返す
このポリリズム
このポリリズム

轉載來自 ※Mojim.com 魔鏡歌詞網
このポリリズム ポリル一プ

ほんの少しの の氣持ちが
キミに伝わる そう信じてる
とても大事な キミの想いは
無馱にならない 世界は迴る
ほんの少しの の氣持ちも
巡り巡るよ

くり返す このポリリズム
あの行動は まるで戀だね
くり返す いつかみたいな
あの感動が 甦るの
くり返す このポリリズム
あの反動が うそみたいだね
くり返す このポリル一プ
ああプラスチック みたいな戀だ
またくり返す ポリリズム

The first song is sang by Ken Hirai and the second one is sang by a Japanese girl group, Perfume. In both lyrics, I see the word ''僕''.
''僕'' is always mainly used by boy or young man and rarely used by girls. It is more polite than ''俺''.
With the society changes, nowdays, more and more girls use ''僕'' to express themsevles. Why? I guess the girls might think that it is much more cool and characteristic using ''僕'' nowadays which might be a trendy slanguage.

In japanese, there are a number of personal pronouns used in different occasions, gender, age. the times and so on. Such as ''わたし(私)''  ''わたくし''  ''あたし'' ''あたい"  ''わい''  ''こっち''  ''ぼく(僕)''  ''おれ(俺)''  ''おれさま(俺様)''  ''うち''  ''わし''  ''せっしゃ(拙者)''  ''それがし(某)''  ''みども''  ''わがはい(我が輩)''  ''わが(我が)''  ''われ(我)''  ''じぶん(自分)''......  

Again, I found some personal pronouns such as あたし which is used by females, especially among younger women, but rarely used by males and it is commom in conversation but rarely used in written language.
I found  あたし used in あたしンち


あたし




This picture shows different pronouns used by different people.

First of all, 俺 is used by scrapper. It is a pronoun always mainly used by men especially those who are strong and can be seen as not polite or rude. However, it depends on the situation, among close friends or family, its usage is a sign of familiarity rather than masculinity or superiority.
Second, the old male characters use わし/ わて. わし is a colloquial. It is often used in fictional settings to stereotypically. And わて is a Kansai dialect.
わたくし is the most formal polite version of わたし. And 拙者 is used by Samurai but is no longer used nowadays.


After coming across so many personal pronouns, I found that it can be categorized by diffierent type such as gender, identity, formal or informal.

Female: あたし、あたい、うち、おいどん、わらわ(童)、

Male: ぼく(僕)、おれ(俺)、おれさま(俺様)、せっしゃ(拙者)、しょうせい(小生)、それがし(某)、おい、愚生、みども(身ども)、ごじん(吾人)、

Both: わたし(私)、わたくし、われ(我)、じぶん(自分)、わが(我が)、おいら、わし






 



2011年2月7日 星期一

Writing Projects: Japanese Geography~``Keihanshin京阪神*^^

Yup, I am beauty conscious. I like delicate and beautiful things. For play, it would be best to go to an amusement park to play for whole day and take many wouderful pictures. And my hobby is, like most girls, shopping for things!^^  I am very happy and grateful I have opportunity with my family to travel Japan where is very comfortable and the sceneries are stunning. Unfortunately, I didn't keep any photos in my computer./\.

Once, I have been to here...
                                      

Osaka大阪, Kyoto京都 and Hyogo兵庫 (kobe神戸). These cities are in the kansai region of Japan's Honshu island.
Starting from Osaka where is the third largest city by population after Tokyo and Yokohama(according to wiki), I have been to Namba難波, Shinsaibasi心斎橋, Umeda梅田 and Universal Studios Japan.

Dotonbori道頓堀 of Namba is a single street running alongside the artificial canal which water will run to the sea.


There is also a food paradise full of varied traditional Japanese food such as Takoyakiたこ焼き, Ramenラーメン, Udonうどん, Okonomiyakiお好み焼き and so on. I remembered last time eating takoyaki there discovering the size of one ball was very big!! and so yummy.>< And the sushi was delicious especially the fever eel sushi, the texture and the taste was memorable.


Apart from food, you can see neon and mechanized signs sparkling at night and the street becomes more bustling. Look at the sportman! Glico in Dotondori is an Osaka landmark. I just know it now>.< I didn't notice it when I was there...


Shinsaibasi is a district in the Chuo-ku ward (central district) of Osaka and it is also the city's main shopping area. It is a shopping street with quite a long history. I don't know the history but it is one of my favourite places in Osaka because the street is full of different kind of shops such as snack shop, clothes shop, shoe shop, grocery store, cell phone shop, flower shop, even hair salon and so on so forth. In my memory, it is worth shopping the shoe shops at Shinsaibasi especially those sell converse, nike etc because the price is not too expensive and the shoes are stylish.



Umeda is also a wouderful place! Last Summer's trip to Japan with my family, I first took MTR to Umeda. It was my first experience to take MTR in Japan which was a little bit exciting and really broaden my sight because everything was so different from Hong Kong such as the route, the ticket machine. What was the most unforgettable was the process of buying tickets which was very complicated! Lucky for me, I just saw and waited for my mum to buy the tickets XD. But I hope that next time I will have a try! What is more, Umeda is also a good place for shopping because there is a big department store and also a shopping street like Shinsaibasi.


                      


Kyoto is a city beside Osaka and kobe. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture,as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area (according to wiki).

One of the places I love the most in Kyoto is Hanami Kouji花見小路 where is full of nostalgia ambiance! The architecture is very impressive and stunning since it remains the Japanese tradition. What a pity, I didn't meet Kabuki歌舞伎 last time><. I hope that I can go there again in the future and take as many photos as I can@@!








Next, Kiyomizu-dera清水寺, offically Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera音羽山清水寺 is an independent Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. Kiyomizudera is one of the famous temples in Japan. It was founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto, and derives its name from the fall's pure waters. This is a picture of Kiyomizudera during the cherry blossom season.



Otowa-no-taki音羽の滝, the waterfall is drinkable. According to local beliefs, the right waterfall makes people intelligent, the middle waterfall makes people handsome or beauty and the left one ensures longevity. And people believe that drinking all the three waterfalls invite personal misfotune so you have to choose.^^
By the way, which one will you choose?? *v*



Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyogo Prefecture o the southern side of the man island of Honshu本州. Kobe is most famous for its Kobe beef and Arima Onsen. Notable buildings include the Ikuta Shrine as well as the Kobe Port Tower. It is well known for the night view of the city, from mountains such as Mount Rokko, and Mount Maya as well as the coast. Kobe is also known for having a somewhat exotic atmosphere by Japanese standards, which is mainly as a result of its history as a port city.

Kobe Mosaic神戸モザイク is an entertainment complex with 90 shops, restaurants, cinema and amusement which is just on Kobe's most beautiful seaside.


Canal Walk
Flower Plaza
Sea front


Keihanshin, what a wounderful place! I wanna come again ><!










(picture source:
http://www.kyoto-kankodo.com/kyoto_spots/higashiyamaku_asobu/hanamikouji/images/1.jpg (花見小路)
http://kyoto-albumwalking2.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2008/07/14/imm_8014a.jpg (花見小路)
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/16340598.jpg
http://www.kobe-mosaic.co.jp/en_photo/img/8460.jpg
http://www.kobe-mosaic.co.jp/en_photo/img/20060920121611.jpg )




2011年1月22日 星期六

Writing Projects: Yanwaili ヤンワィリ, ''ワィ'' is difficult to type!
















Yanwaili ヤンワィリ is a cosmetic brand. It has appeared for few years in Hong Kong. It readily catches my eyes because the brand name is quite interesting and a little bit strange. When I first saw its television advertisement, I wondered that what is the Japanese word mean? Is it a real Japanese word?

The word, ヤンワィリ, is written in katakana but not in hiragana. As Seo sensei taught us last lesson, katakana is used primarily to transcrible foreign loanwords, onomatopoeic and emphasized words. I guess the word covers two functions.

First of all, the producer or the person who give the name to the product might want to emphasize that the word is important and want to catch people's eyes because of popularization(just guess lol). Therefore it might be a emphasized word. And what is the most interesting and attracts me is the remaining function appylied in the word. The pronunciation of ヤンワィリ is similar to cantonese of ''因為你'' which means because of you. Is this represents that ヤンワィリ is a loanword? I think it is not really becuase I can not find the word in Japanese dictionary and JP yahoo search and I can not type ''ワィ'' which is rarely seen.

By the way, I think the way they named its product is funny and the way they present the meaning of ''因為你'' in Japanese character is interesting and subtle although it might be....wrong. I don't know.









(Source: http://hk.image.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=yanwaili&fr=FP-tab-img-t&ei=UTF-8&meta=rst%3Dhk)

2011年1月21日 星期五

はじめまして^^

みんなさんはじめまして、私はELLENです。
日本のドラマが大好きです!つまらない時、よくドラマを見ています。
ドラマが面白いくて、楽しいです。
一番好きなドラマはliar gameです。それで音楽も大好きです。
日本のことが好きですから、日本語が習いたいと思っていました。
でもね、今はわたしの日本語がまだ下手です。
もっと頑張りたいと思います。

どうぞ よろしくお願いします。