2/29 Daily Routine

まいにち、わたしはNDHであさごはんをたべます。そして、じゅぎょうがあります。まいにちにほんごのしゅくだいをします。まいばん、テレビをみます。そして、ピザをたべます。まいしゅうまつ、わたしはパーティーにいきません。そのかわりに(instead)、わたしはとしょかんでにほんごをべんきょうします。

Katakana: Think Different

I decided to check out Apple's website to see how a large, multinational corporation handles localizing its product pages. As it would happen, not much is different. For one, Apple chooses not to localize the names of many of its products and features. Just take a look at the page titled Built-in Apps:

Many of the apps are not translated at all, even to Katakana, and instead retain their English names. Some apps like Maps and Mail, however, do get transliterations to Mappu(マップ) and Meeru(メール). I would suspect this discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that programs like FaceTime, Pages and GarageBand are specific names, whereas Mail and Maps are more generic terms that refer more literally to what the app does. I believe that Apple is trying to emphasize the uniqueness of apps with English names by making them stand out more.

Moving on to the page called "Performance" we see similar trends. Apple does not translate its special terms such as "MacBook" and "Retina," but does translate more generic terms.

This section is describing the science and engineering that went into making the MacBook. The words GPU, Retina, DNA, and MacBook Pro are all still written in English while terms such as disupurei moderu(ディスプレイモデル), which is always written after MacBook Pro, and Dyuarukoa to kuaddokoapurosessa(デュアルコアとクアッドコアプロセッサ), which refers to the dual and quad core processors found in the laptops, are written in Katakana. These terms refer more generically to the technology the MacBook contains, and as such are translated. In fact, technology(テクノロジー) is yet another term that is written in Katakana as seen in the phrase パワフルGPUテクノロジー(powerful GPU technology).

From all of this I would conclude that a general rule of thumb for how companies handle localizing their product pages is that specific product names are generally not translated, while terms used to describe them, particularly technical or scientific terms are written in Katakana, and the rest is written in Kanji and Hiragana.

Battleship Yamato

The Yamato and its sister ship the Musashi were the largest battleships ever created. Fully loaded, each ship displaced over 72,800 tons of water! Because the Yamato was designed to engage multiple battleships at once, it was heavily armed, with guns capable of shooting 18 inch shells weighing 3000 pounds with accuracy up to a range of 25 miles away. Each of the turrets weighed more than a typical heavy destroyer of the time. At some points, the armor was over two feet of steel thick. All of this extra armor and firepower came at a cost, however. The Yamato was significantly slower than its fellow Kongo-class battleships, with a top speed of only 27 knots. This left it at a disadvantage when it came to pursuit and maneuvering,

In spite of its fearsome outfit, the Yamato, much like the German Bismarck before it saw little actual combat. Following a series of close encounters with torpedo bombers and submarines, and a widespread fuel and ammunition shortage, the Yamato became a "hotel ship" for a span of nearly 9 months. During this time it served as the fleet headquarters but never left port to participate in battle.

Ultimately, the Yamato was sunk while en route to its final destination at Okinawa, where it was to beach itself and act as a gun emplacement. American planes and submarines tracked it down and managed to sink it before it could reach its final destination. The explosion caused from the ship's main magazine could be seen as far as 100 miles away.

However, the story of the Yamato does not end with it sinking. In 1974, an animated film called Space Battleship Yamato was made about raising the Yamato as a spaceship that goes on a quest to save the Earth. The series was a major success, leading to five feature films and two television series. There is even a proposal in the Japanese Parliament currently to research the viability of raising part of the Yamato as a memorial or museum.

じこしょかい

はじめまして。ないろす　です。
わたしは　いちねんせい　です。

ノートルダムだいがく(Notre Dame)の　コンピュータサイエンス(Computer Science)の　がくせい　です。 
あめりかじん　です。
かなだじん　じゃありません。
わたしは　デトロイトから(Detroit)　きました。