The Viewpoints of Thai Students majoring in Japanese Language through Yoshimoto Bnana's works

the Case Study of Mangetsu

Abstract

This research aims to study the viewpoints of Thai students majoring in Japanese on "Mangetsu" and how they understand this work. By focusing on different cultural perspectives, this research came to the conclusion that only 25 percent of students assessed themselves that they could understand the story. Difficult issues for them are the usage of allegorical images such as the full moon, and food. Apart from that they were interested in gender matter. By analyzing different cultural perspectives, the meaning of "full moon" used by Banana and the meaning that the students understood are not compatible. Moreover, the way that food is described and used in a meaningful way is rarely found in Thai novels. Thus, Thai students are not familiar with this kind of novel and sometimes it is hard for them to fully understand the text. One more thing that is interesting for them is the topic of gender. In this story, transwomen characters play important roles which differ from the third gender roles in Thai society, which are mostly conical. However, this research revealed that students are not able to understand the author's message because of the limited language proficiency and life experience in Japan therefore, knowing the Japanese way of thinking and culture is important.