Composition

ウィーンをみにいkたいですか。わたしはしゃしんをみたいですから、りょこのまえにカメラをもっていかなくてはいけません。いまはいかなくてもいいです、はるまでもってください。はやくおきますそれからシュンだいせいどうへいきます。だいせいどうでしゃしんをとったり、タワーにのぼったり、きれいまどをみたりします。それからこうえんをさんぽします。わたしのしゅみはクラシックをきくことですウィーンでコンサートがたくさんありますから、クラシックをならいます。たかいです、がオペラへいくごとができます。しゃしんをもってきてください。

About Communication

At least in the English language, communication must necessarily be distinguished from language. Communication includes all conscious (or in some definitions, even unconscious) information conveyed through the body, including hands, face, and of course the tongue. For our podcast project, we want to effectively communicate so that our audience understands exactly what we're trying to get across. There are many stock expressions we can make use of, even where our language skills fail us. For example, prohibition of particular table manners need not just be correctly using the な form, but should also include indicators with gestures and facial expressions. To this purpose we should also do some limited research on basic Japanese gestures, since these are by no means universal (Greeks shaking their head for yes has baffled plenty of tourists).

As for the linguistic aspect, we must be sure to conform entirely to the Japanese audience's expectations. Translation is indeterminate, and if we aim to be effective, we should write always in Japanese aiming to use the appropriate grammatical structures for our purpose rather than writing a script and English and seeing how well we can translate it. Communication is a complex topic and appropriately is still debated in the realm of philosophy, but for the purposes of this project our aim should be to learn how to communicate through learning the culture. Table manners, my group's topic, is a very precise and important semiotic system within Japanese culture. Part of the challenge of this project will be to communicate explicitly about an implicit system of communication. The interplay between these systems and the responses we get will certainly be interesting, and I expect to learn not only about Japanese language, but communication in general.