Number XIII (is that a Kingdom Hearts reference?)

With this final post, my blog for this semester will be complete. Overall, I enjoyed studying Japanese this semester. べんきょうはよかったです！While my prior knowledge was helpful in the beginning, it wasn't very long before I entered unfamiliar territory. Thankfully, I was able to learn new things pretty well. I enjoyed the classroom setting a lot more than studying online, because it held me accountable and motivated to keep learning and it was fun to talk with people and laugh about random things. Sometimes the longer writing assignments were difficult, but they were also good practice. I'm excited to see what the next semester and beyond have in store. じゃあまたね。

Blog Post 4(x3) Golden

Since this might be the last blog post of the semester, I thought it would be fitting to share one of my favorite video game ending songs, "Never More" from Persona 4 (Golden). The song is from the perspective of the protagonist reminiscing about the friendships he's leaving behind. The fact that "never more" is the only phrase in the song that's not in Japanese emphasizes those lyrics and adds to the sense of finality but also hope because darkness and loneliness will "never more" trouble the protagonist thanks to the friends he made while solving mysteries in Inaba. The meaning of the song aside, I think it's interesting how the singer generally pronounces each syllable distinctly (with a few exceptions). Also, she pronounces を as "wo" instead of "o". It shows that sung Japanese can sound rather different from spoken Japanese. It does make sense, as I sometimes mishear the lyrics to English songs because of how things are pronounced differently from what I'm used to!