Vanguard
A New Perspective Through Learning a Language
Associate Professor Ikumi Waragai brings a multifaceted approach to her research on German literature. We talked with her about the significance of gaining a new perspective through language studies and about the language teaching projects she is now engaged in through collaboration that is unique to Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus.
WARAGAI, Ikumi
Associate ProfessorFaculty of Policy Management
Music and German Studies
I have loved opera since my teens and I
used to sing my favorite arias without knowing what the words meant.
I also played in the brass band at junior high school. Herbert von
Karajan was then at the height of his career in Germany. This was the
reason for me to learn German. My interest in German literature grew
during my study at the Catholic high school. I decided to study
German literature at Nanzan University where they were offering this
course. After developing my language skills I began to study theater
and fiction focusing on German feminist writers. Then I went to the
University of Bonn and acquired MA and Ph.D. at the Department of
German Literature, the Faculty of Arts. My doctoral dissertation
involved a functional analysis of Christian elements in some literary
works. The analysis of literary works from this perspective brought
some interesting hitherto unknown facets of literature into light. I
am still involved with opera. Three years ago, I was commissioned to
write a Japanese libretto for a German opera in Japanese. This
libretto was written by the great composer Hans Werner Henze and
based on Yukio Mishima’s novel, Gogo no eiko (The Sailor Who Fell
from Grace with the Sea). After its world premier in Japan, the opera
was staged at the Salzburg Festival, becoming the first
Japanese-language opera ever performed at the festival. Now I am
involved in creating the Japanese supertitles and TV subtitles for
various operas.
Encountering the German Religious Community
While studying in Germany, I was
surprised to find that the image of religion there was quite
different from that in Japan. In Germany foreign students are often
asked about their religious commitment. Students from Japan often
confess that they have no religious commitment. The Germans are quite
surprised by their answer as it amounts to rejecting the community or
insulating themselves from it. In Germany church-run hospitals,
schools, and kindergartens are ubiquitous and therefore not belonging
to a church implies living without the help of the community. In
other words, in Germany it is normal to belong to a religious
community. Religion is a community, a living model and one’s way of
life. I think most Japanese will agree that this concept is quite
different from ours. I am not suggesting that everyone should have
religious affiliation or subscribe to a particular faith. However, I
do think that it is important to appreciate other ways of thinking.
It is also imperative to know the social structure of other countries
in order to function effectively in diverse cultural and religious
milieu.
Religion Background in Literature
Comprehending the religious aspects in
work of art, such as literary composition, musical work or painting
helps us to understand them better. For example the German verb
einsinken means “to sink into” or “to cave in”. However, it
also connotes a Christian meaning that is “to become immersed in
God”. Understanding the connotation of a word helps us to gain new
insights into literature. I believe that western literary history is
deeply rooted in the Protestant religious ethos. The study of
literature as an academic discipline dates from the European
Enlightenment. The Enlightenment thinking underscored the idea of
pursuit of truth as the only way to understanding God. And this
perspective is clearly reflected in the systematic approach of
literary history. I also believe that what was later imported in
Japan as the canon of Western literature was shaped precisely by the
view of literature developed during the Enlightenment. How did the
Japanese receive Western literary works that had a strong religious
component? Were these religious elements recast in other forms when
they came to Japan? I think that it is important to examine questions
to gain a new perspective about literature.
The Prism of Language
The meaning of a text changes depending
on the language, and the recipient gleans completely different
information. For instance, a Japanese news text will acquire
different meanings if the translated subtext is in German or English.
We in Japan receive most of our information from different parts of
the world in English. Thus, when news from non-Anglophone European
countries reaches Japan in English the information has already passed
through an Anglophone filter. In other words language alters our
perspective. I want students to understand the culture, language and
religious background of the countries when they learn language. I
also feel that just to master the English language is not enough.
Knowing a language other than English or our native language which
frames things in a different way may help us to interpret information
in relative terms. Students should not be satisfied with obtaining
just conventional linguistic skills. They should broaden their
horizons and gain multiple perspectives through other languages as
well.
Toward a Personalized Learning
I am also involved in developing German
language teaching material through joint research. My goal in
teaching German to students is to help them go beyond the rudimentary
aspects of speaking the language where they just introduce themselves
and describe their interests. I would like them to think in German
just as they do in Japanese. Since the acquisition of practical
skills through conventional rote method may be difficult, I am
developing new strategies. Ideally, learners should be exposed to the
language beyond the classroom setting and within their own
environment. Thus, I am now developing language materials in
consonance with the evolving social environment. Recently, my
laboratory collaborated with another laboratory to create a German
learning environment and linguistic text through the use of mobile
devices such as iPhones. I believe that people differ in their choice
of study methods just as varied as they do in food taste. I want to
create a learning environment and language material that can be
customized by students to suit their learning style.
Unique Joint Research at SFC
The Seminar pursuing this work is known
as Projekt “Neue Medien und DaF” (or Project New Media and German
as a Foreign Language). It is a joint project between my laboratory
and that of Visiting Assistant Professor Marco Raindl. The members
include undergraduate and graduate students and researchers. Some of
the students have had experience in Germany on short- or long-term
study programs or have conducted fieldwork there. Conducting joint
research with a German professor and students helps us to develop
learning materials from the learner’s point of view. One of our
current projects uses GPS to create a learning environment. For
example, if a student is at a restaurant in Germany and his/her
mobile terminal is detected by GPS, his/her terminal automatically
downloads a video podcast showing how to order from the restaurant’s
menu and how to tip the waiter. We have already run a number of
trials of this mode.This semester, we plan to try refining the GPS
accuracy using the Campus Network System, so that the system can help
us create a customized podcast to be delivered when a student is,
for example, in front of the statue of Yukichi Fukuzawa, or beside the
Gulliver Pond at SFC. In our conceptualization the faculty and
students are not divided into teacher and taught. They are all in the
project team together. In this relationship, we are working on the
next generation of language teaching materials with the laboratories
of Professor Hideyuki Tokuda, in ubiquitous network research, and
Professor Yasushi Kiyoki, in multimedia database research. One of my
former students of German language, now research associate, Shuichi
Kurabayashi, is also working with us on a language database. When I
have the opportunity to talk to fellow specialists in German
literature or German language pedagogy from other universities, many
of them are astonished by the kind of research we are doing. An
environment like this, where we can collaborate and create something
with people belonging to laboratories in other research fields, is
quite rare. I am quite aware of how productive it is to work with
experts in such diverse fields, and how this interaction can help us
to broaden our potential. I also think this kind of research provides
an ideal learning situation to our students. It is the unique
environment of SFC that makes all this possible.
A Brief Background of Associate Professor
WARAGAI, Ikumi
Associate Professor Waragai graduated in 1987 from the Faculty of Literature, Nanzan University. She earned her M.A. in 1989 and her Ph.D. in German Literature in 1995, both from the University of Bonn. After serving as a part-time instructor at Keio Girls Senior High School and a Research Assistant in the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, she was appointed Associate Professor in the same Faculty in 1999. Her areas of specialization are German language and literature and German language pedagogy.She has published Analogien zur Bibel im Werk Büchners: Religiöse Sprache als sozialkritisches Instrument (Biblical analogies in Büchner: Religious language as an instrument of social criticism) (Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag, 1996). She has co-authored Bibelsprachliche Wortschätze (Lexicology of the Bible) (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2002), Shokyu Doitsugo (German for beginners) (Tokyo: Daisan Shobo, 2001) and Moderu (1) Mondai hakken no Doitsugo (Modelle 1: German through problem identification) (Tokyo: Sanshusha Publishing, 2007). In 2000, she translated the supertitles for a performance of Manfred Gurlitt’s opera Wozzeck, which won the Agency for Cultural Affair’s National Arts Festival Excellence Award. In 2005, she participated as supervisor in a project commissioned by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and translated the Gottfried Benn poem on which Toshiro Saruya based his composition Koko ni nagusame wa nai (or There is no consolation). In 2006, Saruya won the 54th Otaka Prize for his composition. She also wrote the Japanese libretto for the opera Gogo no eiko (The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea), which was staged at the Salzburg Festival Hall in 2006, becoming the first opera performed in Japanese in the history of the Salzburg Festival.
WARAGAI Ikumi Research Project
(29 March 2010)
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