The first task of a self-directed learner is to set goals. An essential aspect of the SDLAP is to learn how languages reflect the cultures in which they are used. What interests you about the culture(s) of your language? What do you hope to learn about this semester? Why does this language appeal to you? Why does this culture appeal to you?
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My interest in Turkish Language
I have always been interested in languages. When I was a child, I met one lady who was fluent in four languages, and I promised myself that one day I would be like her. I visited Turkey three years ago, just prior to coming to the United States. I spent about 10-15 days in Istanbul and Bursa. I was fascinated by the beauties of this wonderful country. My country, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under the Turkish Ottoman Empire for about 400 years so there is no wonder why Turkey reminds me so much of my country. We share many common characteristics, but one: same language. Although, we have some common words such as "pencer, kamyon and buyrun," most of them actually differ. Most of the words that are same are actually written differently but pronounced the same way. I got interested into Turkish ever since my first day in Turkey. I had a wonderful time and I am definitely planning to spend more holidays in Turkey in the near future. What I noticed during my time in Turkey is that not so many people speak English and it was very surprising to me, so I believe that knowing basic/intermediate Turkish could be very useful. I was also planning to study abroad next semester in Turkey, but since I changed my major and I am an accounting major now, I cannot take any accounting classes anywhere but at the University of Richmond. However, during summer I am planning to visit Turkey again.
I am very ambitious but I know that learning a new language takes a lot of time and work. Therefore, I know I cannot set out a goal to be fluent in Turkish in only one semester, but I know that I want to be able to lead a basic conversation with Turkish people, order food, ask/tell the time, talk about my family etc. I also want to be able to pronounce Turkish sentences without problems. This might be difficult in the beginning since there are some letters in Turkish alphabet that my mother tongue alphabet does not contain. I want to acquire new vocabulary and learn basic grammar such as present simple/continuous. I have many Turkish friends at the University of Richmond, and I think I will practice my Turkish with them, as they are all willing to help me. Also, my roommate from high school was Turkish and she is also willing to help me learn the language.
I am a big fan of watching Turkish soap operas, and I have been watching "Dudaktan kalbe" with subtitles in my language. I really want to be able to understand basic conversation between the actors without having to read subtitles. I know that this is extremely hard for beginners, but I believe that strong determination and persistence will keep me motivated to work hard and achieve my goals.
There are many reasons that I want to learn Urdu. One aspect of the language is the culture of the people who speak Urdu. Pakistani culture has intrigued me ever since I spent a summer in Northwest India and went to a flag ceremony at the Pakistani-Indian border. Staring across a thin barbed wire fence at a group of people I could not communicate with, I wanted greatly to know what life was like for them, what their customs and festivals were, what they hoped in and in what they found enjoyment.
This semester I want to learn the Urdu alphabet and numbers, common phrases that will help me to communicate with individuals, and key vocabulary and terms in areas that I find important or that are culturally relevant to Urdu speaking people. I also find cultural and geographical lessons to be important for language usability. This specific language appeals to me because of its widespread use in Pakistan and because of its linguistic similarities to other languages in the region, like Hindi and Bengali, as well as similarity to Arabic in script. The culture of the region appeals to me because it is where I have spent much time outside of the USA. Some of my closest friends live in Punjab, India, which has a very similar culture and way of life as Punjab, Pakistan.
I was introduced to Farsi through a book assigned back in high school, Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. I was taken by the beauty of the writing but also the stories that she told. I'm interested in learning about Farsi within a context that examines how women are written about and how women write about themselves. So far I have Azar Nafisi's memoir, Things I've Been Silent About as well as Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, which is a novel and a film. I want to be able to at least read short poems by the end of the semester and also have a stronger background for deciphering terms that are inserted in the translated texts. As a film studies major, I want to incorporate film into my lessons as well. I know of two directors thus far, Negar Azarbayjani and Shirin Neshat and am looking forward to see what I can take away from their films.
My interest in learning Sindhi comes from my heritage. I am a Sindhi, but I grew up in Southern India and have not yet had a chance to visit Sindh and learn more about the culture and language.
One of the major reasons for not traveling to visit Sindh is because it is located in Pakistan. During the partition of 1947, Pakistan and India were created as two different nations, the former being an Islam nation and the later being the nation of the Hindus. There are Sindhis that are Muslims as well as Sindhis that are Hindus. Sindh was acquired by Pakistan during the formation of the two nations but the majority of Hindus who were living in Sindh, which was now a part of an Islamic nation, felt the need to flee and settled down throughout India and abroad. My great grandfather’s family moved to Southern India during this period and since then my family has not gone back to Sindh. Due to the Hindu-Muslim rivalry that has been there for years now, my family has never pursued the thought of visiting Sindh.
I am at a stage in my life where I want to take a deeper look at my heritage and let go of all the misconceptions about Sindh that I have grown up with. This semester through the SDLAP I plan to grasp the basic speaking skills of the language in order to have a conversation with my grandfather who speaks Sindhi. I do not plan to learn writing the language only because I see no use of it to me, as my basic goal is to have a conversation with my relatives who speak the language. By the end of the semester I would also have liked to learn more about the different sects the Hindu Sindhis are divided into and the meaning of those sects.
Since I'm taking Bengali in order to gain literacy in the language as I already speak it, I'm going to write about why I'm interested in learning to read and write.
Although I speak the language, there are many things that I don't understand- for example it takes time for me to adjust to different dialects because I have a small array of synonyms for words. I want to gain speed in recognizing these changes and adjusting my hearing in order to understand different Bengali dialects. Moreover, I want to be able to watch programs on Bengali channels with my parents and understand what they are saying. Due to my limited vocab, I get lost and quickly lose interest while watching TV with my parents. Especially the news; because they speak in formal Bengali, I never get the gist of the news. I also just want to not feel inferior to my relatives in Bangladesh who are literate in both English and Bengali while I'm not! I hope to become competent in reading and writing Bengali by the end of this semester and put it to practice this summer either at home or in Bangladesh, as I may be visiting for a vacation.
My interest in my language stems from a wish to reach out to my heritage as well as to be able to communicate in the language. There's also a future-component to this because I am considering teaching English in Korea the following year. I hope that by the end of this semester I won't feel as much reluctance to speak the language as I usually do and that I will reach a level of competency that will add a new dimension to my conversations with my parents and grandparent. On a side note, I still have an interest in Japanese and since the two languages are quite similar, it will be interesting to see where the similarities begin, where the difference end, and vice versa.
My interest in learning Korean comes simply from the fact that I have already learned Japanese. Like mentioned before in class by a classmate, languages that similar to each other might actually help one in learning. I myself already personal experience because I know Bengali and with that knowledge I sometimes understand Hindi or Urdu. Also another fact that influences my interest in Korean is one of my good friends, whom I met in Japanese class, decided to go to Korea for a semester abroad a year ago and seems to have a good basis of the language now. I already know I will not be as strong as her in the language because she had the advantage of being emerged in the culture and language. Regardless. I still feel as though my knowledge in Japanese will be somewhat helpful when learning Korean. Especially due to the fact Japanese and Korean both have similar grammatical structures.
Truthfully I am still somewhat unsure what I want to accomplish this semester when learning Korean. I do not have any personal connection to the language, but do enjoy watching Korean dramas and listening to Korean music. Although truthfully most of my entertainment does not have much substance to it. So look at my past interest in the language I guess I can say for my goal I would like to watch couple episodes of a Korean drama and try to understand what is actually occurring. But I will probably pick a historical one because it will incorporate more of the culture in it as well.
Hebrew is a very interesting language to me. It is really similar to Arabic and Assyrian, two languages that I speak fluently, yet it is distinctly different. The alphabet in Hebrew is pronounced almost exactly as Assyrian, and the grammar is very similar to Arabic. This should make my learning experience easier.
The Israeli culture is also very different from the cultures of the surrounding Arab countries. While the food is very similar (both Hummus and Falafel are favorites for Arabs and Israelis), the Israeli culture is generally more westernized. The popular music in Israel is a mixture of Hebrew traditional music that reflects on the countries of origin and western music such as rap and hip hop.
My plan for this semester is to learn reading and writing Hebrew, learn basic grammar, important sentences that relate to food, travelling, and everyday conversation. My goal for this semester is to be able to give a short presentation in Hebrew about food and Music.
Here are some dishes I like as they are written in Hebrew:
באבא גנוש: Baba Ghanoush. It's originally an Arabic dish made of mashed eggplants and baked with olive oil.
פלאפל: Falafel. It's a ball of ground chickpeas deep fried and served as an appetizer or in a sandwich toppedaa with vegetables and hummus based sauce.
מצה בריי: Matzah brei. It's a Passover breakfast dish made of roughly broken pieces of matzah soaked in beaten eggs and fried as a thick pancake.
I am interested in new years for farsi, how gender is rooted or understood. Personal rituals, codes of behavior and cuisine are also fascinating. I don't know anything but would like to learn. I saw a video of new years celebration with food from Stanford University and wish I was there watching the dancing and eating. This semester i want to learn how to understand the news like current events, economy, politics. I know I can't accomplish it all, but at least I can learn the gist. Farsi appeals to me because It is easier than Japanese and Chinese and has Arabic letters. Persian culture is appealing because it preserved some of the pre-Islamic festivals from the old persian religion. I was raised catholic and we incorporated our pre-Christian religions into the Church without maintaining the original meaning intact. There must have been a period when the Islamic Empire (unlike the Holy Roman) allowed for differences of belief but allowed worship.
goals?
basic conversation; create voci with conversation, commands, alphabet, numbers, reading and writing from memory