Givens 1

Ebony Givens

Masha Fedorova

Writing 2

12 December 2018

Final Portfolio WP1

The Japanese Language Cafe is one club among hundreds on UCSB’s campus that also

serves to function as a discourse community. Discourse communities have a common public

goal, have a way of communicating within their group while using their participatory

mechanisms to provide information and feedback to their members; use a variety of genres to

communicate with their members; use specific lexis when communicating; and have members at

various skill levels (Swales). As the name suggests, the Japanese Language Cafe was created for

UCSB students to practice their Japanese language skills. Since Japanese is not a widely known

language in the United States compared to more popular ones like Spanish, having a club where

students learning Japanese can come and talk is beneficial to them. Going to events in person is

the only way to gain practice with language skills, so the Japanese Language Cafe needs a way to

make people come out and actively participate in their club. In order to notify students about

when meetings will be held, the Japanese Language Cafe uses various genres available to them,

such as e-mail and Facebook posts, to get students to come to these meetings.

The Japanese Language Cafe has a common public goal that can be found on its campus

organization page. In its mission statement, the Japanese Language Cafe describes itself as “an

organization that brings together Japanese students and native speakers so that they can practice

their language skills through fun activities and lessons” (Japanese Language Cafe). Since the

Japanese Language Cafe is a language exchange club, the goal of this community is to help its

members become better at Japanese by practicing conversing with others who have various
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levels of fluency in the language. When students get stuck trying to express themselves, their

conversation partner is able to supply them with the words they are trying to say. Similarly, if a

student’s sentence structure is incorrect, they are able to fix their mistakes by listening to others

speak. Some students might even feel more comfortable making mistakes when talking with

other students of a similar fluency compared to when conversing with professors. Students being

able to chat with each other might also lead them to creating friendships and even exchanging

contact information through various forms of media.

While text messages, e-mails, and OrgSync posts are all different forms of media that the

Japanese Language Cafe uses to foster intercommunication between its members, their primary

mode of communication is Facebook posts, since many UCSB students access Facebook often.

These Facebook posts inform club members of events that are happening, so they can attend

them, providing information about where events will be held and what time they will start. Some

of these events will ask members to “RSVP to the event page...so [members who are putting on

the event] can be sure to get enough food for everyone” so if one is interested in actively

participating, joining Facebook is a must (Yoko Yamauchi JSA/JLC BBQ Reminder). Other

types of posts inform members about internships, studying abroad opportunities, and job

opportunities available in Japan. Occasionally, these posts include pictures of flyers for

internships and job opportunities. These flyers provide all the information needed to know how

to apply for these opportunities and how much experience is needed for that specific position.

Most of the time these flyers are not standalone; professors will add their own opinions

encouraging students to apply for these opportunities. Facebook is a great form of media to use

because of its ability to let people create lengthy posts, upload flyers and posters, respond to

posts, and even privately message club members.

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The Japanese Language Cafe’s Facebook posts are written in a way that make the club

come off as friendly and welcoming. The use of emojis in written posts and the use of colorful

pictures on posts that provide information on events put on show how the club has more of a

casual tone where people can hang out and relax. For example, in one post talking about when

and where the first fall meeting for this club is, it states that “free pizza will be provide[d]” and

after a pizza emoji (🍕) is included. Also included in this post is a picture that shows a drawing

of two people studying together, one person practicing speaking Japanese, a pizza box, and the

background shows hills of orange and yellow, signifying how it is fall quarter (Yoko Yamauchi

JLC First Fall Meeting Details). From this post it is easy to tell that the Japanese Language Cafe

wants people to come out to have a good time. If this post was written in a bland, formal style

then it would not grab as much attention as it already has, in turn affecting how many people

decide to come to the club meeting. A more serious post would have made people have second

thoughts about coming. Just like how this post contained a typo, there are other posts that do this

all well. Most of these typos are mainly omitting one letter or misspelling a word, such as writing

“reminde” instead of “reminder” and “thier” instead of “their” (Yoko Yamauchi JLC First Fall

Meeting Details, Yoko Yamauchi JSA First General Meeting). The posts that contain these typos

are the laxer ones, with some posts being no more than a few sentences, reinforcing the idea that

the Japanese Language Cafe is more of a casual club.

With this tone of casualness, noticeable in many of the Japanese Language Cafe

Facebook posts, there is also a tone of enthusiasm that is apparent as well. This is evident by the

use of exclamations in some of these posts. One of the professors informs those checking the

group page about the first general meeting by saying “📣JLC is also going to announce about our

first meeting soon! Don't miss it!!🎉👍” (Yoko Yamauchi JSA First General Meeting). Those

skimming the club’s page are drawn to reading these posts because the emojis stand out. The
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confetti popper emoji is mainly used when signifying celebrations and other special events,

showing how the Japanese Language Cafe’s first meeting will be both fun and exciting. The use

of multiple exclamations further backs this up as it makes the post seem more energetic. Using

only periods at the end of sentences when trying to persuade people to come out to club events

would not be effective since it would make posts seem dull, in turn making people think that the

events would be boring.

Compared to the above referenced posts, the more serious posts are both lengthier and

more formal. They also contain neither emojis or any exclamations. For example, one of these

posts is for an English teaching internship in Japan. This post contains a short summary about

what they are looking for in someone who is thinking of applying, links for more information

about the internship, and a time frame for when the internship starts and ends. Additionally

included is a flyer that provides some of the above information and photos of people who have

previously done this specific internship. The post is lengthy enough that one must click the

“expand” button in order to view all that it says. This post also includes elevated jargon that one

would not use in everyday conversation; words such as “testimonials” and “irrespective” being

examples of this (Yoko Yamauchi English Teaching Internship). Due to the use of these words, a

more mature vibe is emanated from this post. This is something that the creator of the post had in

mind when writing it; an internship is an important opportunity that one must be prepared for

when filling out an application to do. Since this internship is for teaching English specifically, it

makes sense that applicants must be able to understand the syntax incorporated in the post. In

order to teach English, it is impertinent that one is very knowledgeable about a multitude of

English lexis.

The Japanese Language Cafe has acquired its own specific lexis that it uses for its

Facebook group. The Japanese Language Cafe mainly refers to itself as “JLC” on their Facebook
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posts. Due to JLC being a school organization, they use acronyms that UCSB staff and students

would be familiar with, an example being when they state that events will be held in the “Asian

Resource Center in the SRB” (Yoko Yamauchi JLC First General Meeting). Those who attend

UCSB would know that “SRB” stands for “Student Resource Building” while those who do not

attend would be confused. JLC’s posts also incorporate the use of Japanese language for people

fluent in it and also for others who want to practice how good they are at reading Japanese. Most

of their Facebook posts contain a mix of both English and Japanese. A few of these posts begin

with English and then at the bottom the words are translated into Japanese. This is good because

people with no experience in learning Japanese are able to understand what the post is saying due

to it being in English while those with some experience in Japanese can practice reading the

Japanese characters. If there are transfer students from Japan who are not fluent in English, then

they are also able to read the posts in Japanese while also being able to practice their English.

For those who are barely beginning to learn Japanese or do not know any Japanese characters,

sometimes parts of the post are written in “romaji,” which uses the Latin alphabet to write how

words would be pronounced in Japanese. For example, “hello” in Japanese would be written as

こんにちは, but sometimes the posts will use “konnichiwa” instead (Yoko Yamauchi JSA First

General Meeting). How they incorporate all of these various styles of writing makes JLC a very

inclusive group; it does not matter if you are a novice or an expert at Japanese, their posts are

written to reach a wide variety of people.

Anyone who has an appreciation for Japanese culture or an interest in the Japanese

language is welcome to join JLC. You do not necessarily have to know any Japanese to join

either. This means that members can range from just barely learning Japanese to being

completely fluent in the language. Since JLC is a club at UCSB, the members are primarily

students who either are taking Japanese classes on campus or those who have an interest in
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Japanese culture. Those who usually post on the group’s Facebook page are the members in

charge of the group, ones who have been part of it for a while or are the Japanese language

professors who take part in the club and put together and attend meetings. Two of the most active

people on JLC’s Facebook group are Yume Kanno, the president of JLC this year, and Yoko

Yamauchi, one of three Japanese language professors currently teaching at UCSB. Those who

read the Facebook posts are ones who are interested in coming out and actively participating in

the events; by doing so they are assimilating themselves into this discourse community. All in

all, JLC is a very inclusive group and does not really have any rules that would prevent anyone

from joining.

The use of Facebook posts is a convenient way to get information on events being put on

for those who want to practice their Japanese and also for opportunities to be able to go to Japan.

It is also a great way to make connections with people who share a similar interest in Japanese

language and culture and communicate with them. You have to have a Facebook in order to

comment on Facebook posts, RSVP to events, or message the JLC group with any questions you

have, though. Everyone who becomes part of this discourse community gets benefits in the end:

members are able to practice speaking Japanese to become more fluent in the language and are

also able to talk with the Japanese language professors, who in the future can become someone

they can go to for a letter of recommendation and who can also help members expand their social

networks by introducing them to other professors. By being able to practice speaking Japanese,

those who are either majoring or minoring in the language gain additional speaking experience,

which will help them become familiarized with grammar points they learn in class and prepare

them for future oral presentations.

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Works Cited

Japanese Language Cafe. orgsync.com/99281/chapter. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis-Setting the Scene, 1990,

gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/2350644/mod_resource/content/1/Swales%

20Discourse%20Community.pdf.

Yoko Yamauchi. English Teaching Internship. Facebook, 1 Oct. 2018, 10:47 a.m.,

www.facebook.com/groups/241576699332847/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.

Yoko Yamauchi. JLC First Fall Meeting Details. Facebook, 8 Oct. 2018, 8:34 a.m.,

www.facebook.com/groups/241576699332847/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.

Yoko Yamauchi. JLC First General Meeting. Facebook, 5 Oct. 2018, 4:30 p.m.,

www.facebook.com/groups/241576699332847/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.

Yoko Yamauchi. JSA First General Meeting. Facebook, 1 Oct. 2018, 7:31 p.m.,

www.facebook.com/groups/241576699332847/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.

Yoko Yamauchi. JSA/JLC BBQ Reminder. Facebook, 12 Oct. 2018, 10:07 a.m.,

www.facebook.com/groups/241576699332847/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.