sophie in life!

 Taking Japanese here at Notre Dame was one of the best decisions I've made, I truly enjoyed learning a language connected with my family. I felt like I learned so much in such a short time, especially with only having a background in hiragana and a few words from my family. The class curriculum using groups and in person learning made it a lot easier to grasp grammar points and new information, making it such a fun learning experience! Unfortunately, due to time conflicts with architecture studio being from 1:00 PM-5:00 PM during the Elementary Japanese II section, I won't be able to enroll in the course despite really wanting to continue learning Japanese. Despite this, I will definitely try to continue learning on my own whenever I have the time as I have so much to learn, and so much I want to learn! Thank you so much to my classmates and かわむらせんせい for such a great learning experience this semester!

けさ、八じごろにへやでおきました。それから、ダンカンでおちゃをのみました。おちゃはのみますがコーヒーはのみません。そして、クラスにいきました。たくさんけんちくがくをしました。でも、おやすみをしませんでした。それから、ワシントンホールでヴぃおりんをしました。私はクラシックのおんがくがすきです。マリアッチのおんがくもすきです。しょくどでばんごはんをたべました。パンやごはんをたべました。それから、りょうのへやにかえりました。

 みなさん、さくらまつりおめでとう！私はヴァイオリンをしました！うたのはるがきたをしました。私ははるがきたがすきです！まいにち、ヴァイオリンをれんしうました。 I really enjoyed the entire event! It was so much fun to see so many different performances and how creative the other Japanese classes were! I used to attend many of the Asian events, and now I've also attended many Latino events due to Mariachi, but nothing has been as fun or humorous as the Sakura Matsuri. Overall, I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a fun and beautiful gathering! Happy spring everyone!

 わたしはペンシルバニアしゅのピッツバーグにいきました。うちにかえりました。わたしとかぞくはきんようびにレストランにいきました。いもうとのたんじょびです。たくさんのしゃしんをとりました。それから、どようびにともだちとあいました。にほんごのべんきょうをしました。そして、わたしはノートルダムにりょこうしました。

わたしはペンシルヴァニアしゅのピッツバーグにいきます。うちにかえります！いもうとはたんじょびです。いもうとはじゅうごさいです。だから、きにょうびにレストランにいきます。わたしはレストランでばんごはんをたべます。それから、どようびにかいものにいきます。おちゃとチョコレートをかうます。それから、カフェにいきます。Kyomatchaカフェがだいすきです！でも、わたしはたくさんえります。げつようびにノートルダムだいがくにかえります。

 When thinking of what kinds of katakana words to research and find where they come from, I thought to see if there were any words borrowed from Spanish and learn the history of why! I found that there aren't that many borrowed words in Japanese from Spanish because the Spanish presence in Japan was very brief, and they were expelled by the shogunate at the time. Because of this, Japanese has more loanwords from Portuguese, especially since Portuguese Jesuit priests and traders entered Japan to introduce Western ideas and developments.  This is an example chart of some of the words from Portuguese that are now borrowed by Japanese. It is very interesting to see how many of those have direct ties to religion in this chart.  These loanwords reflect the early trade connections established by Portugal and Japan in the 15th and 16th centuries, where food, religion, and other items were exchanged between the two cultures. Many words that were thought to be Spanish entered ...

みなさん、こんいちは！ わたしはよくごぜんはちじごろにへやでおきます。あまりごぜんくじにしょくどうであさごはんをたべます。ときどきテレビをみます。Genshin Impactがすきです。でも、あまりGenshin Impact をします。ぜんぜん、コーヒーをみます。わたしはまいにちみずをみます。わたしはまいにちごぜん１じごろにねます。

 わたしはまいにちごぜん８じにおきます。ときどきわたしはあさおちゃをのみます。クラスにいきます！まいにちとしょかんでべんきょうします。わたしはごご７じにしょくどうでばんごはんをたべます。わたしはごぜん１じごろにねます。

こんにちは！ わたしは　Vocaloid 　がすきです！ For this week's blog post, I wanted to share music from a really fun game I used to play a lot in high school! The game's full name is Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, but people usually just call it Project Sekai instead. A rhythm game similar to piano tiles, the game consists of both commissioned songs and covers from many Japanese artists who make music in the style of Vocaloid!  Vocaloid music is a genre created using voice synthesizer software, allowing people to generate vocals by typing lyrics and melodies, so they don't need a human vocalist. It utilizes voicebanks recorded from real singers who are represented by virtual character mascots, with Hatsune Miku herself being an example! While it is associated with just J-pop music, the style covers a wide range of genres, all touched on by the songs you can play along to in the game! This specific song is called Tondemo-Wonderz, which translates to Outrageous Wonders! It is one of the more dif...

こんにちは！ わたしのしゅみはおんがくとゲームです。わたしは マリアッチ (Mariachi) おんがくのクラシック (Classical) おんがくがだいすきです！　 For today's blog post I wanted to share my love for playing violin! I have played violin for 10 years, and I always did Orchestral Ensembles, focusing on classical music until I got here to Notre Dame! I wanted to explore new forms of music, as well as connecting with the Mexican side of me so I joined Mariachi ND!  I had the opportunity to play with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra twice in High School, getting to play one of the coolest pieces ever composed, Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Márquez! I highly recommend it if you're interested in exploring a combination of contemporary sounds with classical music. I used to not be very great at playing violin, but I worked really hard in high school to practice and learn from those around me who were better than me. It was always so much fun!  Laufey played on this stage a few months after I got to!! (I love Laufey!!) Side-by-Side with the Pittsburgh S...

こんにちは！ はじめまして。わたしのなまえはソフィア ・ サラゴサです。だいがくせいです。いちねんせいです。せんこうはけんちくがくです。わたしのしゅっしんは アメリカのピッツバーグです! しゅみはおんがくとゲームです。 ゲーム がだいすきです！ どうぞよろしくおねがいします！

 こんにちは!  For my choice of Japanese culture to interact with this week, I decided to watch the latest Nintendo Direct for a new game I'm really excited about in Japanese! I used to play the 3ds version many years ago, but my sister ended up losing my copy, so I didn't get to play it again until now with this new edition! It'd also be interesting to analyze the video since Tomodachi - ともだち, is one of our vocabulary words!  I had already watched the American version of this video from Nintendo America, but despite the information being the same, there were many differences! Firstly, the characters introduced were different; the main girl was Marie-San, a fun-loving college student. Just by listening without captions, I was able to distinguish many phrases and words that we have learned so far, which was really cool! Once the video shows Marie complete and ready to interact, she introduces herself with the phrases we learned in class!  はじめまして、わたし まりえ です！よろしくおねがい...

こんにちは! For my choice of Japanese culture to interact with, I chose to listen and read along to the lyrics of a song by one of my favorite singers! Fujii Kaze has been one of my favorite Japanese singers for a few years now due to his wonderful instrumentals and vibes, especially in other songs such asきらり!  Despite not understanding everything he was singing about in the song, I was able to pick out specific words while also having the ability to read along, for the most part, to the words he pronounced! Fujii starts with a very soft "ん" sound accompanied by a warm electric guitar that continues throughout the entire song, acting almost like a heartbeat. Then, when transitioning to upbeat singing, he uses a very soft head voice that conveys vulnerability for the words he's saying, further adding to the dreamy feeling this song conveys. Even without knowing the words, I hear Fujii bouncing the syllables as he sings, lining up with the varying rhythms different parts of the ...

こんにちは !!  I chose to study Japanese to reconnect with my family's roots in Japan. My Great-Grandparents immigrated to Mexico from Iwakuni, Japan, but the language was lost afterwards as they didn't want to continue speaking it in a foreign country that wasn't open to Japanese people after World War II. Because of this, my Grandfather and Mother both experienced identity struggles as they grew up in two cultures, Japanese and Mexican. Through my interactions growing up with them, I was also raised with their same cultures in America! I hope that learning Japanese can inspire my family to reconnect with our Japanese heritage, as well as open new doors to our own culture in ways that aren't possible without the language. I'm excited to learn more about the writing systems, as well as to improve my pronunciation with the phrases I currently know while learning new ones!  はじめまして! どうぞよろしく