I suppose some may be wondering why I decided to take Japanese. Well, ever since I was little, I've been intrigued by the Japanese culture - the food, the language, the people, and everything in between. I spent my early developmental years in the Philippines, an archipelago in southeast Asia fairly close to Japan. As a result of this proximity, a lot of fads, foods, and other such things crossed the seas and reached our shores in the Philippines. Certainly, Pokémon, Digimon, and other fads reached American shores as well, but games like Dance Dance Revolution, Tekken, and Beat Mania found homes with an eager audience in various malls and arcades of the Philippines. All of my fond childhood memories of arcade games and restaurants (for example, さいさき[Saisaki] and つきじ, (Tsukiji) were those of Japanese origin. And so, presented with the opportunity to reconnect to my childhood obsession with the Japanese and the desire to learn the language itself to better communicate and understand Japan, I am now taking Japanese at the University of Notre Dame. Here's a little bit of what I've learned so far:
こんばんわ。(Good evening) (ko-n-ba-n-wa)
はじめまして。彩らです。ドオゾよりしく。(How do you do? I'm Chris. Pleased to meet you.)
お葉や小尾 ございます。(Good morning [to a superior]) (o-ha-yoo go-za-i-ma-su)
こんにちわ。(Good afternoon) (ko-n-ni-chi-wa)
しつれ絵します。(Goodbye to a superior) (shi-tsu-ree shi-ma-su)
