As a language learner, I found that I enjoy learning about the history of language, how the language family of the Korean language itself can fit into possibly three families, how languages can become extinct, endangered, and revived, and the fact that I have developed an appreciation for phonology and morphology. I am still an auditory learner and enjoy learning words and how to speak them correctly by watching videos and clips and repeating after them. And as a cultural explorer, I am a factually and insightful learner from the FIRE model; and I am a hand-on learner as I learned the best when I actually engage in the activity and try it for myself instead of just seeing things being taught. Truthfully, it was difficult for me to begin phonology because I first believed that it was just sounds. But as I learned in lectures and practiced pronouncing and hearing the pronunciations, I was able to excel at that unit and was able to pass with a high mark on my test. I found it difficult to understand the difference between qualifying certain sounds in the phonetic inventory as I did not really understand it. But through your comments, I was able to think of it in a different light and see it more like “a catalog of language-specific sounds that then form the basis of the language as a whole.” I really enjoyed learning about the direct affix and indirect affixes of Korean and how it applies to numerous languages even in the development of English. In addition, I also enjoyed learning about the history of the Korean language to a certain extent which grew my interest in exploring it. I plan on continuing my learning of these ideas by analyzing poetry to see the development of language, tailoring my learning plan to learn more historical words, more vocabulary specifically in the government and healthcare field, and improving my grammar and cultural appreciation of Korean as well. I also was fortunate enough to apply for the SLC scholarship to learn Korean at an intensive program in Korea for 8-10 weeks if accepted and am currently in the process of searching and applying to more internships in Korea to try and build my language understanding and Korean-speaking ability. The readings I thought were most useful were the “Phonetics” reading by G. Hudson; “Aitchison’s Linguistics”; and the NYT article about a tribe reviving a language from the brink of extinction. I believe these were the most useful readings because the Phonetics reading helped me to better understand phonology, the different types of phones, and open my eyes and look at “Aitchison’s Linguistics” as more than just an article that basically defines linguistics that is very dry. The NYT article was important because it helped me to see that languages do become extinct actually which I had not previously aware of which can be due to different factors like the speakers died off, the kids of the last speakers did not learn or speak the language, the records of the language are destroyed or burn like in the language library, or even that people just stopped using the language because it is no longer recognized by the state/country or that people or moving elsewhere from the native country to find jobs. The language family learning was important as well as it gave me insights into the Korean language’s origins which are debated to be either from Sino-Tibetan family, Altaic language family, or is its own Korean language family. This helped me see that Korean comes from and could be influenced by many different cultures and languages which all helped shape and form it to what it has become today in some sort of way. It was cool to read and learn about how the usage for Korean words comes from, specifically the NIKL (National Institute of Korean Language) which is based in Seoul and how the language family debate contributes and could have shaped how certain words, phrases, and the language are used today. I would love to learn more about the history and vocabulary in government and healthcare as stated previously and in my learning plans and would like to study and maybe even work in Korea to get a deeper understanding of the language, the culture that it has evolved to today, and be able to see how it is changing morphologically with all the slangs and different words being used and created today in Korea.
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