I found both readings very interesting and informative, and they gave me several new ways to view language learning. "How the Brain Handles Language" provided a great deal of information I was unaware of -- I was able to make a few basic connections
Read more…I was really intrigued by how complex the language process is in the brain. I knew that there were a lot of moving parts, but now I can see it and put it all together. Also, the concept of localization was interesting to me, and if one part of your b
Read more…I think language is not purely a biological phenomenon since nurture can also be a reason. Yet, I do agree that we are biologically capable of learning and speaking. The readings mentioned that the left hemisphere can be dominant in language for righ
Read more…The first reading, How the Brain Handles Language was dense and difficult to understand at some points. However, it was the more interesting reading for me as I have very little background or understanding of the biological function of language learn
Read more…I had my first Mandarin tutoring session this Friday, and I will have another session today. Entering the meeting, I had a vague outline of my plan to begin my language learning, but I quickly realized that I needed to create more structure in my sch
Read more…The left hemisphere is more dominant in language. I found it interesting that this fact changes for left-handed and right-handed people. I would think there wouldn’t be a difference in brain function between our dominant and non-dominant hands. As I
Read more…As the semester comes to an end, this week I focused on reflecting on the progress I’ve made and what kind of learning methods would work best for me in the future. I looked back at the tasks I completed, the strategies I experimented with, and the m
Read more…This semester has been wonderful in learning about the functions of language and how to apply effective studying tactics to learn any language quicker and more efficiently. I have learned that languages have patterns, and there are ways to sort of "h
Read more…Because it's the last week of classes and it's very close to finals week, I’m just going over what I learned for the past semester instead of working on new things. Jason and I haven’t gotten the chance to meet for the following two weeks due to busy
Read more…For the fourth cultural post, I looked at the Gyerim-ro dagger and sheath (경주 계림로 보검). It is an ornately decorated artifact from the Silla Kingdom. The dagger was found in a royal tomb and it embodies a bridge between the living and the dead, the loc
Read more…I'd like to think I'd start by studying the cultures, the people of Brazil and Portugal, to do a linguistic study on the differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. I'd track their histories, get personal accounts, measure the d
Read more…Languages go extinct due to many factors like globalization, cultural assimilation, political pressure, and then things like mass death of culture due to natural causes, war or things of that nature. They don't randomly or suddenly die, it's normally
Read more…Yes I have had the opportunity to write in my target language, it's interesting because it uses a lot of letter symbols (sorry, I'm not sure the correct term for this). I also prefer to write free hand, mainly because I like writing better in general
Read more…In my pursuitof Portuguese knowledge, my tactics have remained similarly unchanged to my stated plan. I would say learning the vocab and general grammar has been manageable because of my knowledge of Spanish. The discussions we've had in class are he
Read more…This semester, I’ve been able to establish a more solid foundation of basic Korean language. Thanks to my language partner, Jason, I was able to speak Korean more confidently, and I was able to learn about the basic building blocks that anyone learni
Read more…For my third cultural post, I looked into the Changdeokgung (창덕궁 - 昌德宮 - royal palace) located in Seoul. The palace is a UNESCO world heritage site and a historic site of South Korea, and it is one of the best preserved royal palaces in Korea. The pa
Read more…So far this semester, I have done a lot of learning and gained a lot of insight into the art of learning. The art of learning a language is something that I never thought would be a course taught in college. I assumed you had to have the IQ of Einste
Read more…For my second cultural post, I looked at the Gold Crowns of Silla (신라 금관). The crowns are a collection of royal crowns from the early Silla period, which was one of the three Korean kingdoms, and it existed between 57 BCE to 935 CE. The crowns are cl
Read more…Portuguese belongs to the Romance language family along with languages like Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and French. There are lots of similarities with the Spanish language as seen in verb conjugations ( yo + verb uses o ending, eu + verb also uses o
Read more…If I received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of the Korean language and culture, I would investigate the generational differences in language use. I would start by finding and reviewing any previous, relevant research on this topic. B
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