Why did you pick 'your' SDLAP language? What about it--either the language itself or the culture(s) where it is spoken--interests you? What do you plan to explore this semester?
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** Originally posted January 23, 2011 at 3:17pm. Revised after meeting with Professor Grove.
I have chosen to study Hindi largely due to my incredible study abroad experience in India last semester. When deciding where to study abroad, I was interested in going somewhere completely different from the US. India definitely fulfilled this hope in every way possible. In the four months I was there, I fell in love with the country and its vibrant culture – the people, food, traditions, the diversity of religion, the language, the occasional ridiculousness of everyday life, and the way in which, despite all the chaos and hardships, people are able to coexist in relative harmony. I took Hindi classes with other American students, which was an absolute necessity for use in everyday tasks such as arranging transportation and making purchases. Though English is one of the official languages of India, a significant portion of the population only speaks Hindi.
Beyond the practical applications, my desire to learn more Hindi was fueled by a desire to be able to interact with more and more people in a meaningful way each day. This became even truer during my last month in India. During this time, I was in Calcutta by myself doing independent research in a leprosy hospital. Though Bengali is the main language in Calcutta, almost everyone there can also speak Hindi. I started teaching a class each day to some of the patients – math, writing signatures, geography, etc, all in Hindi. This was so difficult, but also incredibly worthwhile; the patients loved their time out of the hospital wards and having something to take their mind off their disease and recovery.
I am hoping to return to the hospital next summer with a grant to start a program within the hospital and the surrounding community to reduce the social stigma still very much associated with the disease. If this works out, it will be incredible to return with improved language skills to aid my interactions, especially with patients. Looking even more towards the future, I might like to return to India as a doctor, though I am still grappling with what my thoughts are about the place of an American physician overseas. I observed foreign doctors without a knowledge of Hindi trying to treat patients while in India and didn’t think it very effective or thorough. If I were to practice medicine in India, I believe a solid foundation and confidence in Hindi would be critical to my success and my ability to provide the best care to my patients.
This semester, I am hoping to improve my listening and speaking abilities, and to significantly broaden my vocabulary.
I initially decided to take this class and study Hebrew, because it fit my schedule. However after learning more about the class structure and the way in which the class is conducted I am very interested in becoming more self involved in my learning. I specifically landed on Hebrew because it is a language that is very different from most others. This is a very ancient language that has been used for 5,000 years, and always being very interested in history this seemed like a very historically rich topic, not only in the language but also in the people that use this language.
To be perfectly honest, I am not a very cultured person. I have never been outside of North America and have barely any exposure to foreign language. I would like this to change, but frankly i do not see that happening any time in the near future because of a variety of factors. Studying Hebrew, however, I believe has the potential to change this. I believe this to be true, not simply because I am learning the language, but also because in this class, it is required that each student do research on the culture in which the language is used, and I believe the more reading I do on foreign places the more enticed I will be to travel abroad.
In addition to all of this I live in an area in which there are a few towns around me that every saturday one can see the presence of the Jewish, Hebrew speaking community as they observe the sabbath and abstain from using modern techologies. This extreme cultural difference so near to my house is something I have always found fascinating, and wondered what exactly the importance of this observation is. Through study of the language and culture of Hebrew I hope to find the answers to many of these cultural questions.
This is my second reply to this week's culture post. I have recently decided to switch from Bengali to Thai because at this point it is more likely that I will use Thai in the near future. I was rejected from Fulbright to conduct research in Bangladesh but I am still awaiting two pending decisions to work in Thailand when I graduate.
I spent 6 months studying development, globalization, and Thai language in Northeast Thailand one year ago. I became very excited that I gained the ability to speak and listen Thai very quickly. I really like the language because although it is difficult to grasp as a tonal language, in many ways it is very simple (i.e. no tenses, singular or plural) in many situations it seems as though you can throw some words together and it usually works. I plan to work closely with my new language partner to explore more cultural intricacies embedded in the language. I would also like to expand my vocab significantly.
I chose to study Hebrew because I come from a family where my brother and sister can both speak an odd foreign language. Not the typical French or Spanish, although my sister can speak Spanish, but the more complicated language of German, Arabic, and Farsi. As of right now I am the only member of my family that does not have a working knowledge of a foreign language. By the end of this semester I hope to have the ability to at least know some form of Hebrew so that I can feel more comfortable in an environment that does not speak English.
In addition to be the only family member that does not know a foreign language, my girlfriend used to speak Hebrew when she was younger and on the occasion will slip a Hebrew word to me that I have no idea what it means. I hope that by April I can understand what she is saying to me.
Maybe in the future I could possibly travel to the Promise Land and interact in that environment, although as of right now I do not think this language can be applied in a culture that I am not familiar with. Essentially I am learning Hebrew for the sake of learning it and sharing it amongst my loved ones. The goals I have set for this semester is learn animals names, friendly greetings and goodbye's, and helpful adjectives to describe something.
I have chosen to study Turkish because I just came back from Turkey! I studied abroad there for a semester and was able to pick up some of the language and, aside from the fact that I really liked the country, I think it would be a waste if I forgot all that I learned.
Turkey has a great history and is becoming a very important power, once again, in the middle east. The Turkish culture is and interesting one. Most people think that the only Turkish place in the world is Turkey. However, the Turkic people and their language spread all the way from Istanbul to the western province of Xinjiang in China. Throughout which some form of Turkish is spoken.
Another reason that pulled me to continue my study of Turkish is that I also speak German and have an interest in working in Germany. Given the very tense situation right regarding the integration (or lack there of, according the P.M. Merkel of Germany), knowing German and Turkish could come in very handy.
My goals for this semester are to increase my vocabulary. I have a pretty good understanding of basic conjugations. I'd like to understand all the cases as well as the meaning of all the prepositions.
At first I was a little hesitant about taking Farsi because I knew nothing about the Persan culture let alone the language. The course was perfect for my schedule because I needed one more elective and it was an independent course.
So I decided to do some research on the language and realized that Persian language had a considerable influence on languages like Turkish including on neighboring areas like anatolia. As a classicist with a great interes on Archeology Ive studied This are for the past four years developing a great interest on the history. In my opnion there is no better way to understand a culture than through its language, so I decided to take the course. I also have a great interest in studying languages, I'm fluent in both English and Spanish and took two years of mandarin. I think this will be a great experience and I expect to learn a lot form this course.
I originally decided to enter this program because I love learning languages and wanted to see how I would do with the challenge of teaching myself. I hoped that I could learn the skills necessary and have the self-discipline to not only learn Farsi, but so be able to apply these same skills to learn other languages in the future. I'm a French major and Spanish minor and so I wanted to try out a new language, with a different alphabet and grammar.
I am also an international studies major and plan to go to graduate school and then hope to find a job working with international governments. Currently, the US State Department lists Farsi as a high-demand language, meaning that those who are able to speak it are more likely to find positions.
Additionally I am extremely interested in Middle Eastern culture. I'm looking at gradschol programs for conflict analysis and resolution, many of which state that it is advantageous to know Arabic or Farsi. I hope to learn the Farsi alphabet as some of my learning goals include reading newspaper headlines and menus. I also hope to learn a lot more about Middle Eastern culture as that's a part of the world that I have not have the opportunity to study very much.
I decided to study Persian/Farsi because it fit into my schedule. That is not to say that I am not interested in the language. I had originally intended to learn Arabic but my class schedule kept me busy during the times that Arabic was offered. So in my search for a new language, I decided I would try Farsi.
I fell back on Farsi because it is useful in may of the same ways that I thought Arabic would be useful. I am currently looking into careers in international relations such as the Foreign Service so I thought a Middle Eastern language would be useful. Farsi also uses the Arabic alphabet so at least it kind of looks the same. I know that's a bit of a superficial reason to learn a language but if I decide to learn Arabic later, I will at least be familiar with the alphabet and word formation.
The other aspect of of Persian/Farsi that I liked was that it is considered a critical language (I guess most of the SDLAP languages are). I hope that if I can gain proficiency in this language, it will make me a more marketable job applicant in the future. The part of the course that requires us to learn more about the culture in which the language is spoken also appealed to me. My main focus in the past has been Latin America and Spain. Expanding my horizons to better understand the Middle East has been one of my goals and this class will hopefully allow me to do that. I plan to explore things that I might encounter in a politically related job. This would include specific vocabulary often used in political contexts, and also an understanding of cultural customs to observe while in a Persian speaking area.
As the Turkish economy rapidly grows it becomes more and more vital to be apart of this global move. Learning the language and understanding the culture will put me in a better position during this international transition.
Other than the business perspective, the fact that Turkish is a completely different language excites me. My brother’s fiancé is a native Spanish speaker while my mother is fluent in Italian and conversational in French. No one in my family knows Turkish, which is another important reason why I want to study it.
Furthermore, my parents and close friends have had nothing but great things to say about Istanbul and I hope to make it there after graduation. After exploring the various pictures of the city I fell in love with the architecture and cannot wait to see it in person. This, and that I will be working with individuals from Istanbul next year, largely spurred my interest in learning the language and culture.
Over this semester I plan to explore Turkish culture through eating food and studying various traditions. Learning the main dishes is important to me because, well, I love food! Additionally, understanding life for a Turkish individual excites me and I hope to be able to relate with my future Turkish co-workers. I plan to learn greetings, numbers, basic sentences and descriptions, colors, and foods. As I move along I will adapt my learning throughout the semester but I am very excited to get started!
I first got interested in Bangladesh through Japan. Although this sounds weird, let me explain. I was working at an international school in Japan for a year, and this school supported a school in Bangladesh. Through this connection, another teacher interested in working there in the future planned a trip to go visit the country as well as some personal friends of his. Knowing that I was interested in working in a 3rd world country in the future, he invited me to come along. We went for a week visiting many places in the hill country.
After this short time in the country, I wanted to go back. I more than anything else enjoyed the people of Bangladesh. So I applied the next year to go back and learn the language through the Critical Language scholarship. This last summer confirmed that I really enjoyed the culture and the people.
I am interested in going back possibly as a doctor. If that were to happen, it obviously would be very helpful to know the language well. Therefore this semester, I am really interested in becoming much more fluent in listening and speaking.
Replies
** Originally posted January 23, 2011 at 3:17pm. Revised after meeting with Professor Grove.
I have chosen to study Hindi largely due to my incredible study abroad experience in India last semester. When deciding where to study abroad, I was interested in going somewhere completely different from the US. India definitely fulfilled this hope in every way possible. In the four months I was there, I fell in love with the country and its vibrant culture – the people, food, traditions, the diversity of religion, the language, the occasional ridiculousness of everyday life, and the way in which, despite all the chaos and hardships, people are able to coexist in relative harmony. I took Hindi classes with other American students, which was an absolute necessity for use in everyday tasks such as arranging transportation and making purchases. Though English is one of the official languages of India, a significant portion of the population only speaks Hindi.
Beyond the practical applications, my desire to learn more Hindi was fueled by a desire to be able to interact with more and more people in a meaningful way each day. This became even truer during my last month in India. During this time, I was in Calcutta by myself doing independent research in a leprosy hospital. Though Bengali is the main language in Calcutta, almost everyone there can also speak Hindi. I started teaching a class each day to some of the patients – math, writing signatures, geography, etc, all in Hindi. This was so difficult, but also incredibly worthwhile; the patients loved their time out of the hospital wards and having something to take their mind off their disease and recovery.
I am hoping to return to the hospital next summer with a grant to start a program within the hospital and the surrounding community to reduce the social stigma still very much associated with the disease. If this works out, it will be incredible to return with improved language skills to aid my interactions, especially with patients. Looking even more towards the future, I might like to return to India as a doctor, though I am still grappling with what my thoughts are about the place of an American physician overseas. I observed foreign doctors without a knowledge of Hindi trying to treat patients while in India and didn’t think it very effective or thorough. If I were to practice medicine in India, I believe a solid foundation and confidence in Hindi would be critical to my success and my ability to provide the best care to my patients.
This semester, I am hoping to improve my listening and speaking abilities, and to significantly broaden my vocabulary.
I initially decided to take this class and study Hebrew, because it fit my schedule. However after learning more about the class structure and the way in which the class is conducted I am very interested in becoming more self involved in my learning. I specifically landed on Hebrew because it is a language that is very different from most others. This is a very ancient language that has been used for 5,000 years, and always being very interested in history this seemed like a very historically rich topic, not only in the language but also in the people that use this language.
To be perfectly honest, I am not a very cultured person. I have never been outside of North America and have barely any exposure to foreign language. I would like this to change, but frankly i do not see that happening any time in the near future because of a variety of factors. Studying Hebrew, however, I believe has the potential to change this. I believe this to be true, not simply because I am learning the language, but also because in this class, it is required that each student do research on the culture in which the language is used, and I believe the more reading I do on foreign places the more enticed I will be to travel abroad.
In addition to all of this I live in an area in which there are a few towns around me that every saturday one can see the presence of the Jewish, Hebrew speaking community as they observe the sabbath and abstain from using modern techologies. This extreme cultural difference so near to my house is something I have always found fascinating, and wondered what exactly the importance of this observation is. Through study of the language and culture of Hebrew I hope to find the answers to many of these cultural questions.
This is my second reply to this week's culture post. I have recently decided to switch from Bengali to Thai because at this point it is more likely that I will use Thai in the near future. I was rejected from Fulbright to conduct research in Bangladesh but I am still awaiting two pending decisions to work in Thailand when I graduate.
I spent 6 months studying development, globalization, and Thai language in Northeast Thailand one year ago. I became very excited that I gained the ability to speak and listen Thai very quickly. I really like the language because although it is difficult to grasp as a tonal language, in many ways it is very simple (i.e. no tenses, singular or plural) in many situations it seems as though you can throw some words together and it usually works. I plan to work closely with my new language partner to explore more cultural intricacies embedded in the language. I would also like to expand my vocab significantly.
I chose to study Hebrew because I come from a family where my brother and sister can both speak an odd foreign language. Not the typical French or Spanish, although my sister can speak Spanish, but the more complicated language of German, Arabic, and Farsi. As of right now I am the only member of my family that does not have a working knowledge of a foreign language. By the end of this semester I hope to have the ability to at least know some form of Hebrew so that I can feel more comfortable in an environment that does not speak English.
In addition to be the only family member that does not know a foreign language, my girlfriend used to speak Hebrew when she was younger and on the occasion will slip a Hebrew word to me that I have no idea what it means. I hope that by April I can understand what she is saying to me.
Maybe in the future I could possibly travel to the Promise Land and interact in that environment, although as of right now I do not think this language can be applied in a culture that I am not familiar with. Essentially I am learning Hebrew for the sake of learning it and sharing it amongst my loved ones. The goals I have set for this semester is learn animals names, friendly greetings and goodbye's, and helpful adjectives to describe something.
I have chosen to study Turkish because I just came back from Turkey! I studied abroad there for a semester and was able to pick up some of the language and, aside from the fact that I really liked the country, I think it would be a waste if I forgot all that I learned.
Turkey has a great history and is becoming a very important power, once again, in the middle east. The Turkish culture is and interesting one. Most people think that the only Turkish place in the world is Turkey. However, the Turkic people and their language spread all the way from Istanbul to the western province of Xinjiang in China. Throughout which some form of Turkish is spoken.
Another reason that pulled me to continue my study of Turkish is that I also speak German and have an interest in working in Germany. Given the very tense situation right regarding the integration (or lack there of, according the P.M. Merkel of Germany), knowing German and Turkish could come in very handy.
My goals for this semester are to increase my vocabulary. I have a pretty good understanding of basic conjugations. I'd like to understand all the cases as well as the meaning of all the prepositions.
At first I was a little hesitant about taking Farsi because I knew nothing about the Persan culture let alone the language. The course was perfect for my schedule because I needed one more elective and it was an independent course.
So I decided to do some research on the language and realized that Persian language had a considerable influence on languages like Turkish including on neighboring areas like anatolia. As a classicist with a great interes on Archeology Ive studied This are for the past four years developing a great interest on the history. In my opnion there is no better way to understand a culture than through its language, so I decided to take the course. I also have a great interest in studying languages, I'm fluent in both English and Spanish and took two years of mandarin. I think this will be a great experience and I expect to learn a lot form this course.
I originally decided to enter this program because I love learning languages and wanted to see how I would do with the challenge of teaching myself. I hoped that I could learn the skills necessary and have the self-discipline to not only learn Farsi, but so be able to apply these same skills to learn other languages in the future. I'm a French major and Spanish minor and so I wanted to try out a new language, with a different alphabet and grammar.
I am also an international studies major and plan to go to graduate school and then hope to find a job working with international governments. Currently, the US State Department lists Farsi as a high-demand language, meaning that those who are able to speak it are more likely to find positions.
Additionally I am extremely interested in Middle Eastern culture. I'm looking at gradschol programs for conflict analysis and resolution, many of which state that it is advantageous to know Arabic or Farsi. I hope to learn the Farsi alphabet as some of my learning goals include reading newspaper headlines and menus. I also hope to learn a lot more about Middle Eastern culture as that's a part of the world that I have not have the opportunity to study very much.
I decided to study Persian/Farsi because it fit into my schedule. That is not to say that I am not interested in the language. I had originally intended to learn Arabic but my class schedule kept me busy during the times that Arabic was offered. So in my search for a new language, I decided I would try Farsi.
I fell back on Farsi because it is useful in may of the same ways that I thought Arabic would be useful. I am currently looking into careers in international relations such as the Foreign Service so I thought a Middle Eastern language would be useful. Farsi also uses the Arabic alphabet so at least it kind of looks the same. I know that's a bit of a superficial reason to learn a language but if I decide to learn Arabic later, I will at least be familiar with the alphabet and word formation.
The other aspect of of Persian/Farsi that I liked was that it is considered a critical language (I guess most of the SDLAP languages are). I hope that if I can gain proficiency in this language, it will make me a more marketable job applicant in the future. The part of the course that requires us to learn more about the culture in which the language is spoken also appealed to me. My main focus in the past has been Latin America and Spain. Expanding my horizons to better understand the Middle East has been one of my goals and this class will hopefully allow me to do that. I plan to explore things that I might encounter in a politically related job. This would include specific vocabulary often used in political contexts, and also an understanding of cultural customs to observe while in a Persian speaking area.
As the Turkish economy rapidly grows it becomes more and more vital to be apart of this global move. Learning the language and understanding the culture will put me in a better position during this international transition.
Other than the business perspective, the fact that Turkish is a completely different language excites me. My brother’s fiancé is a native Spanish speaker while my mother is fluent in Italian and conversational in French. No one in my family knows Turkish, which is another important reason why I want to study it.
Furthermore, my parents and close friends have had nothing but great things to say about Istanbul and I hope to make it there after graduation. After exploring the various pictures of the city I fell in love with the architecture and cannot wait to see it in person. This, and that I will be working with individuals from Istanbul next year, largely spurred my interest in learning the language and culture.
Over this semester I plan to explore Turkish culture through eating food and studying various traditions. Learning the main dishes is important to me because, well, I love food! Additionally, understanding life for a Turkish individual excites me and I hope to be able to relate with my future Turkish co-workers. I plan to learn greetings, numbers, basic sentences and descriptions, colors, and foods. As I move along I will adapt my learning throughout the semester but I am very excited to get started!
I first got interested in Bangladesh through Japan. Although this sounds weird, let me explain. I was working at an international school in Japan for a year, and this school supported a school in Bangladesh. Through this connection, another teacher interested in working there in the future planned a trip to go visit the country as well as some personal friends of his. Knowing that I was interested in working in a 3rd world country in the future, he invited me to come along. We went for a week visiting many places in the hill country.
After this short time in the country, I wanted to go back. I more than anything else enjoyed the people of Bangladesh. So I applied the next year to go back and learn the language through the Critical Language scholarship. This last summer confirmed that I really enjoyed the culture and the people.
I am interested in going back possibly as a doctor. If that were to happen, it obviously would be very helpful to know the language well. Therefore this semester, I am really interested in becoming much more fluent in listening and speaking.
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