How 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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I mainly write in Korean when I am texting my mom or my Korean friends. I definitely prefer to type because auto-correct and spelling are checked by the computer so I don't have to worry as much. I have seen patterns emerge as I see that Korean slang can be tricky, Korean slang uses a lot of phrases that are not intuitive.
엄마 잘 지내세요?
How are you doing mom?
몸은 어때
How is your body?
I am actually much better at writing in Indonesian than speaking or listening, because I have time to think through what I write and see the words. I prefer to write free hand because the process makes me more mindful of the words, whereas typing is just slightly too easy. Every day I write 5-10 sentences in Indonesian using a new word I am learning so that I can practice their use.
The most difficult part of writing Indonesian for me so far is determining what form the verbs should take. Although it appears initially simple, because Indonesian verbs are not conjugated, after learning a bit more about the language I’ve realized that there are many different forms of each verb. The prefix ‘ber’ in front of a noun causes it to have the meaning of ‘to have ___’.
For example, warna means color, so berwarna means to have color. Ex: Apel ini berwarna hijau means ‘this apple has the color green’. This is one of the few verb prefixes I truly understand now, but there are many others. The prefix mem is used before the root of an Indonesian verb sometimes, and sometimes not. I haven’t managed to understand exactly when or why this applies because my language instructor says it is a complex topic that we will cover later. I believe that when asking a question, the mem prefix is usually eliminated, but I haven’t figured out all of the other rules. Actually writing out sentences in Indonesian makes me more aware of the aspects of Indonesian grammar that I am still missing.
I have also learned through writing how to determine between present and immediate present, and immediate past verb tenses, although the verbs aren’t conjugated themselves. In Bahasa Indonesia, the word sedang is put in front of the verb to indicate something is happening right now. For example: apa yang sedang kamu lakukan means ‘what are you doing right now?’ Without sedang, the sentence simply means ‘what do you do?’
Meanwhile, to specify that something has occurred in the very recent past, the word sudah is placed in front of the verb, literally as a way of saying ‘just’. For example, the sentence dia sudah pergi baru saja means ‘she has just gone now’. The word belum can substitute sudah to give the meaning of something not happening yet. I have practiced these grammatical concepts through the sentences that I write every day, because I find myself frequently misplacing the order of the words or mixing up sedang and sudah. However, as I practice more these concepts are allowing me to more clearly express myself and articulate the exact meaning of my sentences.
I have been learning American Sign Language this semester. Due to how, word-wise, the language is (mostly) the same as my primary language, I haven't really needed to differ much in my writing. Typically, I prefer to type the words for certain signs because I store the signs or phrases that I learn each week on a Google Slide presentation. Though, I have had to be more cognizant of how I structure my sentences.
Even now, I am still trying to grasp the concept of why sometimes pronouns are used both at the beginning and at the end of sentences. I am at the point of my ASL journey where I am wondering is it better to try to stick to "standard ASL" or would it be more appropriate to learn regional ASL/ a specific dialect of ASL? Through watching videos of native signers, I've caught on that sometimes signs are used with one hand instead of two or that there can be other abbreviations to signs. However, I haven't quite been able to figure out if this is based on a regional tendency or if it is "standard" in ASL.
Simple sentences consist of one independent clause, while complex sentences have an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses. I've noticed that, ever since I learned the word"but" and "because" in ASL, I tend to use complex or compound sentences more when communicating with Reba. I also have learned "and", but I do not use this sign frequently based on my current knowledge that it is not commonly used by native signers.
Reba and I haven't done any "traditional" writing exercises as of yet, but we have done exercises that consist of her either fingerspelling a word and I respond with the sign or the reverse (she will give me a sign and I fingerspell the word).
I've found this source to be helpful.