Due by 5pm on Sunday, March 31: Discussion Post #8 on the Ning
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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Yes, I have started writing in my target language, that being Korean. I started writing it when I took a Korean class while studying abroad at Yonsei University last spring. In short, I started writing (and learning) Korean a little more than a year ago. Personally, I prefer to write in Korean by hand, as that way it is easier to remember all the spelling and clauses. Although, typing in Korean is also pretty good, especially on a phone, since it can autocorrect and complete words for you, as opposed to traditional writing methods. Conversely, typing Korean on my laptop is really difficult since I can only see the English letters on my keyboard, and writing words is a bit of a guessing game.
I have noticed some patterns while writing in Korean that are pretty obvious, such as the structure of sentences (being subject -> object -> verb) and how all verbs end exactly the same (depending on the tense). Simple sentences are different to complex sentences as they do not contain words and/or syllables that are specifically designed to connect sentences together, pretty similar to English.
One short writing exercise for my target language that I think is pretty helpful is to write commonly used syllables, so it becomes natural to write them in commonly used words. Another exercise is to write all forms of a verb like "to eat" or "to go" that I want to nail down, including progressive, past, future, etc.
I have indeed started writing in the target language. Typing is my preferred method over freehand writing as it allows for faster and more efficient composition. As I delve into writing, I've begun to discern patterns emerging within the structures between words, clauses, and sentences. These patterns aid in constructing coherent and fluid compositions.
Regarding the relationship between simple and complex sentences, it's evident that simple sentences serve as the building blocks upon which complex sentences are constructed. Complex sentences, characterized by their inclusion of multiple clauses, allow for the conveyance of more nuanced and detailed information, thus enriching the written expression.
My knowledge of parts of speech, sentence structure, and grammatical agreements significantly influences my ability to communicate effectively in written contexts. Understanding these linguistic elements enables me to construct grammatically correct sentences, ensuring clarity and precision in conveying ideas and messages.
Now, for some short writing exercises in the target language:
I am really impressed with the sentences you are able to write at this moment. The distinctions you made between simple sentences, combined sentences, as well as answers to a question, are spot on. I have also started writing in Korean more often as time progresses, and it is really rewarding when you can make both simple and complex sentences without any outside help. It shows one is truly grasping grammatical concepts and applying them effectively, like you are doing it.
I have not yet started writing in Korean. The few times I have written in Korean I preferred free handwriting because it helps me retain information better. My language partner always writes the new words I am learning in Korean. I sometimes attempt to write in Korean but I still have a long way to go in terms of recognizing words, clauses, and sentences. Recognizing different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs allows me to construct grammatically correct sentences. Understanding the role of each part in a sentence helps me organize information logically and convey meaning accurately. Knowing agreement allows me to maintain consistency and correctness in my writing, ensuring that all elements align. By incorporating these linguistic principles into my text generation process I can produce Korean sentences that are grammatically sound and logically organized. Korean allows for the combination of compound and complex sentences to create more intricate structures and example of a combination of compound and complex sentences is "나는 우산을 가져왔고, 비가 오기 때문에 집에 머물러 있어요." (I brought an umbrella, and I'm staying at home because it's raining.) Below is a list of meaningful words in Korean.
I have written a fair amount in my target language. Free hand has been easier so far, especially since the keyboard for Portuguese is fairly different. Constantly adding accents, tiles, and tails on letters takes a little extra time and is somehow impossible to do for capital letters on my computer. Paying attention to structures in sentences is something that I am generally not used to and so I wouldn't say that I have engaged a lot with this concept in Portuguese so far. It is so similar to English and Spanish that it is easy to avoid thinking much about it.
There is a huge gulf between spoken and written Portuguese in Brazil so this has been one particularly large change from the spoken to written mediums. There are tenses and verbs which are considered to be more formal and are only used in official writings. The biggest example of this is the 'pluscuamperfecto' in Portuguese which appears in three ways. In Spanish you would say había hablado but in Portuguese this can be translated in three ways depending on the formality. There is the 'simple' way to say it: falara (falar = hablar). This looks like past subjunctive, but is actually its own unique tense in Portuguese that essentially means haber _____. This is only used in formal writing. Havia falado is formal, as would be used by a professor and is most similar to Spanish. Tinha falado (the verb ter) is used in normal spoken communication. This is an example of speech changing depending on the medium.
The best way I have been able to practice this is simply responding to written prompts that lead me to use a variety of tenses. The grammar of Portuguese comes easier than the vocabulary so I always try to mix both of these parts of speech in. Overall, however, I should definitely pay more attention to written Portuguese than I currently do.
I have started to write in my target language. It does not matter whether I type or write, but I believe I can learn faster by writing in hand as there is no automatic correction. I have seen simple patterns like how the sentence is structured; however, there are some exceptions that I still need to understand. Compared to simple sentences, complex sentences mostly end with 'da (다).' My knowledge of parts of speech, government, and agreement raises the level of the topic but does not change the sentence as much as I thought it would. Some of the words are specifically used in specific fields, so it sounds more professional if I utilize those talking about the topic. For instance, in the sentence '항소심에서 감형돼 지역형의 집행유예로 선처받았다,' the word '선처받았다' is specifically used in the legal field. instead of '선처받았다,' it could have been '받았다,' which has a similar meaning.