What do I plan to learn from the podcast project?
1. New vocabulary for contexts outside those presented in the textbook
2. How to edit a movie
3. How to use a whole range of visual cues including body language to communicate in Japanese
4. How to craft a message for both American and Japanese (and perhaps international) audiences
5. How to write a narrative story in Japanese
What does communication mean to me?
Communication means the ability to convey meaning and information to another living person. This can include information about my intentions, desires, and emotions as well as information or knowledge. I can use means including visual or body language and not just words.
However, communication only works with an agreed-upon framework, which is why languages differ from each other and why bodily gestures means different things in different cultures (here understood as systems of meaning).
The podcast project represents an opportunity to try and communicate in two spheres--American and Japanese--at once, even though I will be speaking Japanese.
Hello Thompson-san,
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to hear that you see this pod-cast project as an opportunity to explore conventions in language that go beyond the means of textual and verbal language. I'm sure the video medium would serve as a great way to find differences and similarities in body languages and other visual cues that are used in Japanese culture. I agree with you that communication can also include languages of bodily gestures, and it would be an interesting (and challenging) project to explain this in Japanese.
Good luck with your project, and I'm excited to see where this leads in the near future!
-Sugita (TA)
Thank you, Sugita-sensei!
ReplyDeleteOur video will be set at Columbia, so in a way it will explore how a Japanese student might mistake American behaviors (like laughing with our mouths open), etc. It will be fun.