Teaching Japanese through Parody

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  • パロディのある日本語教育
  • パロディ ノ アル ニホンゴ キョウイク

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The aim of this article is to explore various possibilities of using parody for Japanese-language teaching. Parody requires: 1) a prior text, 2) imitation, and 3) transformation. While 2) is often associated with respect for 1), 3) is closely connected with the subversive and carnivalesque nature of parody. Parody pre-serves its object at the same time as it revolts against it. This structural and attitudinal ambivalence can also be explained etymologically: "para" means both "counter/against" and "beside/near." Given this double-sidedness, parody can be used as an effective tool in second-language teaching, reducing fear and encouraging active participation of the learner. Use of parody in language classes can also contribute to alleviating the general tendency away from literature and the stereotype preconceptions regarding Japan. Yet this is by no means an attempt to revive the traditional reading/translation of literary texts in language class. Texts should be selected not on the basis of their canonicity or "Japaneseness," but for their regenerative and critical merit. Genres other than fiction should also be taken into consideration. Two examples of using parodic texts for a late intermediate (or early advanced) Japanese course are presented. First, Tsutsui Yasutaka's "Karada Kinenbi," which parodies Tawara Machi's Salad Anniversary. In a relatively short period of time, students with no prior knowledge acquire a basic understanding of tanka, literary/poetic style, and parody to the extent that they can appreciate Tsutsui's text and create their own parodies of Salad Anniversary. The second example involves a short excerpt from Inoue Hisashi's Kirikirijin. Celebrated texts by Soseki, Kawabata, and others are "translated" into the Kirikiri language. These "translations" accompanied by the protagonist's comments provide the students with an entertaining and dialogic introduction to the modern Japanese literary canon.

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