On Wednesday, March 6 2024, the Bachelor Program in Japanese Language and Culture held a webinar entitled Webinar on Japanese Language and Literature. The webinar was attended by more than 70 participants, a combination of the Bachelor Program in Japanese Language and Culture students and students outside the study program who have an interest in Japanese Language and Literature.
The webinar was held in two sessions, with the first session by Dr. Mulyadi, M.A. as a lecturer in Linguistics at the Bachelor Program in Japanese Language and Culture and the second session by Prof. Mika Baba who is a lecturer in the Literature subprogram of the Undergraduate Program in Humanities and Literature from Tsukuba University.
The first session is an explanation of the Use of Japanese in Naming Business Entities in Lamongan Regency. This session began with a presentation of business entity naming data using Japanese taken from Google Maps. There are 20 Japanese names of business entities from various fields. The data shows that there is a perception that the Japanese language and culture are considered to have high appeal in attracting customers, especially young people.
The session continued with a discussion of Personal Pronouns as a Method in Modern Japanese Literature by Prof. Mika Baba. Her research focuses on literary works in the second half of the 19th century (1850-1900). In Japanese literature, first person pronouns use words such as 「私」watashi,「余」yo,「己」onore,「我」ware,「僕」boku,「俺」ore, and「自分」jibun. These seven first person pronouns have the same meaning, namely “I” or “me”. The difference lies in the time of use, such as 「余」yo which is no longer used, then 「己」onore and 「我」ware which can still be seen today in literary works set in the past. Another difference lies in the gender of the user. The pronouns 「僕」boku and 「俺」ore are mostly used by men, while 「私」watashi is mostly used by women. Lastly, the pronoun 「自分」jibun is generally used in situations where one is expressing personal opinions in a public forum.
By holding a webinar on Japanese literature and language from the two speakers, it is hoped that students can gain new knowledge related to the use of Japanese both in practice and theory. The knowledge gained can later be used by academics to study this field in depth.
