The first task of a self-directed learner is to set goals. Your goals will probably be related to your reasons for choosing this particular language. What is your interest in 'your' language? What do you hope to accomplish this semester? What are your long-term goals?
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For some reason, my comment went away, so I'm going to repost it.
My parents left Iran in the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War. I was raised in English-speaking countries (first Australia and now America) and my parents decided not to teach me Farsi, thinking that I wouldn't learn English as well if I was bilingual. Now, I've decided to go back and learn Farsi to be able to communicate with my relatives, many of whom don't speak English at all, and to be more connected to my own culture. This semester, I hope to establish a basic knowledge of Farsi -- to be able to read and write a paragraph, have a conversation, watch a movie and not be completely lost. Ideally, in the long-term, I would love to be fluent in Farsi and be able to communicate with others in Iran that are not my family. As an aspiring physician, a future goal would be to volunteer in a medical clinic in Iran or another Farsi-speaking country.
Since childhood, I have been extremely curious about foreign cultures, customs, and norms. When the opportunity arose, I attended cultural celebrations and festivals in the city of Richmond (my hometown) to have a more enriching cultural experience such as Taste of India, Nigerian Celebration, Jamaican and Latino Pride festivals, etc. Growing up as an African-American, I've felt devoid of "true" culture that links back to a history and country that I can be proud of.
Last year, while studying abroad in London, I was exposed to a culturally variant population. In particular, my University was situated in a predominantly Indian and Bangladeshi community in East London. During my time abroad, I was inspired by my girlfriend who speaks Gujarati as her native language. I want to be able to speak basic phrases such as how to greet and talk about food, understand and be able to pick up on certain phrases between native speakers; additionally, I would like to learn the cultural aspects of Gujarati as well as, recognize basic letters and sounds. Hopefully, by graduation next May, I will have a better understanding of Gujarati as a language and Gujarat, her country of descent.
I am fascinated by different cultures. Language constitutes a very large part of a culture. This semester, I am learning Hindi, the national language of India. As an Indian, it is very crucial for me to know my native tongue. India is a vast countries with approximately 21 officially recognized languages, this number does not include thousands of official dialects. I know Gujarati which is spoken in my home state of Gujarat. It is an incredible language but it only has a limited number of speakers, whereas, Hindi is a combining force for all of India. I want a means that helps me communicate with majority of the Indians and not just Gujaratis. I want to know my know culture better and, therefore, I am very interested in learning Hindi.
Growing up in India, I am familiar with the language. However, I cannot read or write in Hindi. My primary goals for this semester are: learning how to read and write at an introductory level. Also, I would like to understand Hindi as a whole and not simply into bits and pieces, and actually be able to have a conversation in Hindi. When I state these goals, I intend on learning the very basics of the language.
In general, I have a keen interest in languages. I was born in Mongolia where I spent half of my life and spent the other half in America. I started to learn English in the fourth grade. Although I've been here for a decade, speaking/writing English is still a learning process. I chose to focus on Korean in this course because my dad used to live in Korea when I was younger and he tried to teach me alphabet back then. I also enjoy watching Korean dramas and thought it would be helpful if I could pick up on some of the things being said in the movie rather than having to rely on the captions all the time. At the school I transferred from, a lot of my friends were Korean and they would often speak in Korean and I remember always being so lost... So this would definitely be a good opportunity to take and learn Korean.
My main goal for this semester is to get myself more acquainted with Korean culture/customs and to learn many new vocabularies and phrases. I would love to visit South Korea and use my skills learned in this course to help me get around the place.
SDLAP 110
What is your interest in 'your' language and what do you hope to accomplish this semester? What are your long-term goals?
I have professional and personal interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As an aspiring professor of American-Bosnian history, it is important that I begin my lingual and cultural acquisition as soon as possible. My personal interest was sparked by my camaraderie with Bosnian international students here at the University of Richmond. I am fascinated by their history, cultural experiences, and their complex ethnic, national, and sense of religious identity.
I am learning Bosnian in preparation for a trip year long trip to Bosnia after graduation, ideally through a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) scholarship. Regardless of Fulbright’s support, I plan to find some means to spend substantial time over there studying, researching, coaching and playing soccer, and immersing myself in all things Bosnian.
By the end of the spring, I’d like to be able to converse, write, and read at an intermediate level. This means the ability to understand respond to a variety of commonplace topics and scenarios, talk about myself, learn about others, send emails, and read and comprehend. At this point, it is difficult to set more specific, “realistic” goals because of the unorthodox method we’re experimenting with and the results my language partner and I have had this first week. Granted, it was the first week and we haven’t felt the weight of our course load yet. Nevertheless, I have learned greetings (formal and informal), farewells, the alphabet (spoken, written, and memorized), emphasis/pronunciation of multiple words, a useful list of vocabulary of things I see every day (jeans, hand, door, desk), how to order food and drink at a restaurant, how to ask for the location of a restroom, culturally specific foods (we took a field trip to a Balkan restaurant), very basic history, cuss words (on my own), and other phrases (you are crazy, how do you say, what does this mean, who what where when why how, go away, do you want something to drink, here you go, etc…). The topic for this week is soccer. Put broadly, I hope to that if we keep doing what we’re doing, I’ll be at an “intermediate level” by the end of the year.
As being grown up in Pakistan, I always wanted to learn their language "Urdu" in a professional way. I wanted to understand conversations about Urdu literature and poetry. and most important, I wanted to learn how to write simple sentences.
By the end of this semester, I hope to learn how to write, read and be able to understand conversations about literature. This will be accomplished by meeting with my language partner at least twice a week and practicing the language without memorization or having my notes as much as possible.
My long term goal is to get better understanding of the culture where this language is spoken, know about their food, music, holidays and other traditions, and be able to understand and compare the similarities and differences among this culture and other cultures that I already know about.