Have you started writing in the target language? Do you prefer to type or write free hand? Have you started to see patterns emerge in the structures between words, clauses, and sentences? What is the relationship between simple and complex sentences? How does your knowledge of parts of speech, government, and agreement affect your ability to communicate in written contexts? Provide a sample of several short meaningful writing exercises from your target language.
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For the most part, Malay is written with the Latin alphabet. While there are some components that use the Arabic script, more specifically Jawi, most users of the language write with said Latin alphabet. As such you could theoretically say that I'm writing with my target language just by writing this response. However, to answer the question in a more specific matter, I have practiced writing with my target language, but not as much as I would have liked to. I remember having to write essays and exams which were helpful but given the messiness of my handwriting, I definitely prefer typing as it is more efficient and quick. For the most part, Malay is very similar to English in its parts of speech and sentence formation. We both use the subject-verb order, and complex sentences are combined using conjunctions. Interestingly, however, Malay is an “agglutinative” language, while English is a “fusional” language. This means that Malay often uses separate, straightforward affixes (like prefixes and suffixes) that each has one clear job instead unlike English where multiple meanings arise from a single word ending or form.
However, one thing I think would be really interesting to explore is the difference between conversational and formal. When I was younger I was often told that my Malay sounded like a textbook rather than a natural Malaysian speaking. As such, I think a meaningful writing exercise would be understanding interpreting, and relaying the differences between normal and informal Malay.
An example is "what are you doing":
Sedang apakah kamu lakukan? (formal) vs Kau tengah buat apa? (informal)
By this point of the semester, I had practiced writing Korean by keeping a journal and consistently writing down diary entries. Additionally, I kept texting with my family members and a few friends, which helped me improve my writing skills. Since I’m still not so familiar with the Korean keyboard, I prefer writing by hand over typing. When texting some of my friends in Korea, I’ve started using some of the slang terms I’ve learned from my language partners in our conversations.
In Korean, complex sentences often include dependent clauses that are added to independent clauses. As I continue to follow my learning plan, I’ve been learning more about how to properly use Korean particles.
Ex:
Sometimes I journal in Portuguese and I like to text Portuguese/Brazilian friends in their native tongue. I prefer to journal rather than type because when typing, adding accent marks is annoying. For example, if I want to add an ã or a õ (like in pão for bread or soluções for solutions), I need to hold down on the letter for a few seconds, wait until a screen pops up, and then hit the number 7 or 8 across the keypad. After another delay, the symbol shows up. While this doesn't sound like it would take too long, compared with typing other letters, it breaks up flow.
When I’m writing, on the other hand, I can just make a small flick of the wrist and voila I’ve got any accent I can imagine. For Portuguese, I don't believe it’s that complicated to write in the language because I already know spanish and am starting from a orthographic base not too far away.
With that said, what's most difficult for me is getting agreement right in sentences. Gender is not present in most English words but it's everywhere in Portuguese. When I’m writing, it’s very difficult to know whether its your dress (seu vestido) or (sua vestido) without having to crack open a dictionary. While the meaning is identical, these markers I believe are what single me out as an outsider most obviously even in basic conversations. Something else that limits me, more when I'm texting than journaling, is my difficulties with Brazilian slang. That's the main reason I’m doing slang for my final project.
Here’s a recent example from my journal talking about what I want to do over winter break:
“Tambem quero refrescar os meus habilidades no violão e desenhar tambem. Tambem quero relaxar e passar o resto do meu viagem com minha familia. Possivelmente com as últimas dias vou entrenar o cachorro novo tambem.”
From this short writing sample, there are a few important takeaways. I over rely on “Tambem” as it's used three times in this short sample. “Possivelmente” is also used and although that technically works, a native speaker would say “É possivel” instead. Since I’m coming from a place of English, “It is possible” (É possivel) sounds more bizarre that “possibly” (possivelmente). You’ll also notice that I use the simple future a lot. That’s another limitation of my portuguese because a native speaker would just use the future.
I definitely experienced the exact same dynamics in my Turkish learning. I know that they make solid keyboard covers that have the arrangment of the particular language, but I was unable to find a good one for Turkish on Amazon when I looked for it. However, I am surprised at the difficulty of gender in Portugese, as in Spanish there are very strict rules for the gender of words. Are there tricks for looking at a word and knowing its gender, or is it fairly random? I had a similar problem while I was learning German, as there are not hard rules for the gender of words, and given that German has three of them, it caused me to feel the same frustrations.
I also find typing annoying! Plus, I find handwriting is actually more effective for committing things to memory. Gender is tough, especially in Portuguese where it seems like there are no clear spelling rules or patterns. I have the same problem in Ukrainian, where there are more grammatical exceptions due to influence from both east and west slavic languages. Keep up the good work!
I’ve begun writing in Korean, focusing on sentence structure and honorific grammar. I prefer typing due to the convenience of practicing input methods and character selection, but I also value handwritten exercises to reinforce muscle memory with Hangul’s unique strokes. Studying both Chinese and Korean reveals shared patterns in language structure. I’m recognizing similarities in sentence formation, where sentence-ending particles define tense and politeness, helping me frame complex and simple ideas with clarity.
In both languages, simple sentences form a basis, but as complexity increases, understanding government (especially verb-object relationships) and agreement (in honorific forms) becomes essential. This understanding directly impacts my ability to communicate appropriately, as missing or misusing particles can alter meaning significantly, especially in polite contexts.
A few short writing exercises in Korean I’ve practiced include:
1. "안녕하세요? 제 이름은 테드예요." (Hello, my name is Ted.)
2. "오늘 날씨가 아주 좋아요." (The weather is very nice today.)
I have been writing in Korean ever since I learned it as a little kid. Writing it freehand is definitely the better alternative for learning and practicing spelling and grammar, but for convenience's sake, I prefer to type Korean. After visiting Korea for three weeks during the summer of 2023, I have regularly been keeping in touch with my relatives in Korea, which has required me to practice my Korean skills. In doing so, I have noticed patterns emerging between “받침”s. The direct and literal translation is “support”. These supporting characters often change the pronunciation and meaning of words. The relationship between simple and complex sentence structures in Korean is relatively easy to follow. However, a difference between English and Korean is that for Korean, the always often comes before the verb. The simple sentence structure consists of a Subject + Object + Verb and the complex sentence structure consists of a Main clause + Conjunction/Subordinating particle + Dependent clause. Another thing I have become more aware of is Korean allows for more word order flexibility due to the use of particles, which indicate the role of the word in the sentence. Knowing these patterns about Korean has tremendously increased my ability to communicate more fluently in written contexts, as I am able to express myself better and emphasize the ideas I want to communicate in a clearer manner.
Example:
English: I eat an apple.
Korean: I apple [particle] eat.
Write the correct word order for the Korean equivalent of this sentence:
English: I go to class.
Korean: I class [particle] go.