How well did you achieve your goals? What were the stumbling blocks you encountered? How were you able to overcome them? What was most/least interesting to you? What would you like to do next?

Overall, this semester I had a difficult semester after coming back from abroad, but I am proud of the accomplishments I have achieved this semester. I reached most of my goals regarding vocabulary and being comfortable using the language and tried my best to reach more wishful feats such as memorising music in Czech or reading an entire book. Some of the stumbling blocks I encountered was motivation and self-discipline as I had to crave out certain hours designed for the independent study which I have never done before. It was also difficult not having someone to bounce ideas off with and practice on. I was able to overcome them by keeping touch with friends abroad and using it in my daily life. I think music and art has helped me integrate my love for the language and culture. The most interesting thing this semester has been listening to the other cultural presentations because they have taught me so much about Korean and Turkish culture as well as the passions of my fellow peers. The least interesting to me was some of the psychology behind languages. Although I enjoy learning about the origins of languages and how they contribute to our lives, I wasn't too interested in learning how our brain responds to certain things. Next, I would like to continue learning Czech and practicing Korean and hopefully, I will be able to pursue Polish or Russian next because those languages are the closest to Czech in the sense that they are all from central Europe. 

SDLAP_learningplan213.docx

Post (a) an evaluation of your First Artifact conversation, and (b) an assessment of how well you met your learning goals for weeks 4 and 5.

My first artifact was when I introduced myself with greetings and farewells. I thought I did ok, but I could definitely sense an American accent because I have not introduced myself in Czech for a long time. There are certain things that feel better when other people are speaking the same language and I think when I was introducing myself, I found myself speaking as though I was an American instead of a Czech person. I think this could hinder my growth because as I mentioned previously, I want to be able to shift my mindset when speaking a new language because it can help me be more authentic when spekaing the language. My learning goals for weeks 4 and 5 have been going well, I managed to converse with my friends from abroad and during my presentation for the CCE, I was able to present in Czech for a few sentences although it was sometimes hard to pronounce a couple of words. Overall, I think I am doing a good job with keeping up my learning journal.  

What do you need to know about the structure of your target language?  How will you acquire the knowledge you need?  Do you think a reference grammar can be useful?  Why or why not?

To learn Czech, I need to know more about how the language can be used in daily conversation. I think one of the problems with learning a language is that they are too structured and sometimes too formal. Some of the situations that we learn are not applicable in real life, which is why people struggle to listen and speak the language. They are looking for words and phrases they learned in the textbook. While I do think it is very important, children do not learn the complete structure of their language, they learn what they need to thrive in society. To acquire the knowledge I need, I need to integrate myself with more Czech media such as newspapers, articles, tv shows, movies, and music. I think a reference grammar can be useful, but I think becoming dependent on a reference is bad because in their mind, the person speaking the language might take too long to conjugate the verb. 

Reflect on the readings.  How does this knowledge help you shape your language learning process?

The readings this week revolved around one central theme: how does the brain take in information and how are languages analyzed through the brain. I think this subject is very interested because even in a class of twenty students, they will all be a different places in the language. Some may have previous experience with the language or some may know a language that is similar to the language they are studying, while some may have only known one language their entire life. I think the people that succeed with progress the fastest are not those with the biggest brain or the highest GPA, but those that have the ability to see the connection between their native language and the language that they are learning. While many people think language and culture divides us, it actually brings us together and the articles emphasize the fact that all of us start out with the same brain. 

Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language.

Knowing a language's history can definitely help you learn the language because you get to understand the origins of the language and the people that use it. For instance, I think Czech is one of the roughest-sounding languages that have hard sounds on certain letter such as the c, z, h, and v sounds. In contrast, Korean is one of the smoothest sounding languages with almost sing-song type styles. This comes from the history; Korea is always been the front runner of innovation, but holds a deep respect for elders and having a soft tone shows that respect. In contract, Czech Republic went through difficult times in the past centuries with World Wars and this roughness is reflected through the language. 

Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. 

Trying to read and write in Czech is extremely difficult for a non-native because they often shorten words and the grammar is difficult to grasp. In one of my exercises, I read a Czech article and could only make out two words in every sentences. When writing, I have no trouble writing basic sentences, but they do not always express what I want to feel and I found myself getting a little frustrated when I couldn't be as specific as possible about my interests or past experiences. 

Respond to the readings.

I really enjoyed the readings about bilingualism because it reflects exactly how I feel; having a mixed identity can be beneficial and have long-term strengths, but it can be confusing and it takes a while for me switch between languages. Additionally, it sometimes feels like I have two different identities and mannerisms depending on the language I am using. As of now, when I speak in Czech, I am reminded of the type of culture they have there; the people are reserved, but loyal and respectful. There is a loss of national pride, but the people are scrappy and can do anything as long as they set their mind to it. That is the type of mentality I like to have when speaking Czech because it reflects when I speak it. 

This week I prepared for the oral examination for my Self-directed language in Czech. Because professor Howell, a Russian professor who studied at Charles University will be examining me, I want to be able to speak at a high-level. I have been practicing my pronunciation because my normal tonality is much different than my diction in Czech. I believe the examination will be difficult because listening has always been one of my weaknesses, but I know that she will understand my uneasiness first because I couldn't practice with people regularly. 

This week, I focused on specifically on numbers. I have always found numbers fascinating because in the English language, we build upon each number such as one, one-hundred, one-thousand. I believe that each language does this, but in the Czech language this is extremely emphasized. Yedna, meaning one, has multiple ending attached to it to increase the value of the number. For example, yednact means eleven, while dvacet yedna is twenty one. This style of adding words upon basic values must have roots in mathematics because people often call math the universal language. When I was studying numbers in Czech, I often myself saying "this is easy" because the system of numbers is similar across languages.  

Reflect on your language learning so far and the relationship between understanding the target culture and the target language.  What do you need to improve your communicative competence. 

In order to improve my communicative competence, I need to have a strong motivation as well as a deep understanding of the language beyond the words and grammar. The ability to communicate with someone is very different from being able to speak with them. In English, we often dismiss our ability to connect with people on an emotional level, one that shows empathy and sympathy and has more meaning behind the words that we speak. When we switch to a different language, I often notice most language learners, including me, speak at one tone and tend not to emphasize words or change vocal levels and such. I think the ability to communicate with people and use all of the human senses will enhance one's ability to learn the language and culture because you can act and communicate in a way that will be genuine. This semester has taught me that genuinely is important for humans; people don't want to be around people that pretend to be someone that they are not. Self-identity is therefore extremely important when learning a new language. One has to be sure about themselves before they dive into a language because they don't want to lose esteem during the process. However, they should be open to new ideas and have an open mindset because this will help them learn faster and think in different ways about the language and culture. The idea that languages can only be learned as a child is simply not true; you may be busier and you may not be in the environment that uses the language all the time, but with hard work, dedication, and a strong passion toward the language, I believe one can become bilingual and communicate with other people as much as they can with their native language. 

The biggest insight I have gained as a language learner is that I am extremely motivated to learn and put myself 100% in the language when I know there are no consequences. When I was first learning English, I think part of the reason why grammar was always so hard to retain was because I felt pressured to master it otherwise I would be a disappointment. With Czech, there was nothing at stake, either I learned it or I didn’t and I think I learned it better because I had many opportunities. I had the option to take advantage of those opportunities and I really enjoyed that free will. I find languages difficult to learn when I don’t have someone else involved in the process. Whether it be the language teacher, fellow students, or even just a friendly person I can chat once in a while. I think part of my lows this semester was when my language partner abroad was too busy to respond to my texts. I will continue my learning by using applications such as memrise, uchat, duolingo, etc. I just found out that Duolingo will be incorporating Czech hopefully by July 2017 so I am very excited. The readings that I found most useful were the how languages die article and why bilinguals are smart article. Both resonated with me for different reasons. The extinct language article made me realize that languages were dying everyday and with that loss comes a loss of culture. Even those Czech is not at risk, I am afraid that because it is not as big as English, Chinese, or Russian, it will eventually lose its relevance in the modern international world. As for the bilingual article, because I am semi-bilingual, I was wondering how much of my ability to switch between languages contributed to my academic and emotional strengths. My ability to see things differently and appreciate different types of approaches and styles was derived from my bilingualism. Finally, I would love to learn more about the connection between all languages. My favorite image was when you showed us the tree with all the languages and how they all tie together. I think the symbolism behind it is is beautiful and I would to learn more about the origins of languages and maybe even how each language interprets others and words and the new identities being created when different languages interact. Because I am Korean, but have largely American upbringing, and have a keen interest for Czech culture, I see a new type of self-identity forming in our generation. People are no longer as polarised as they once were and due to technology and transportation, we are all closely linked than ever. 

My Family

I am proud of the work I have done this semester because I originally thought it would be extremely difficult to continue my Czech since there is barely any Central European influence in Richmond. However, I managed to find new ways to practice my Czech and I think it was healthy for me as I transitioned back from being abroad. I think being in this class helped me appreciate my experience, but also made me excited to continue learning languages and culture. I think the most important thing when learning a new language is to have a deep passion and connection with the language and looking for ways to integrate it into your life. In some ways, it helps you grow a deeper connection with people and I hope to keep this mentality when continuing to learn independently. This semester, I managed to learn new vocabulary relevant to my newfound career aspirations of working with higher education.  Additionally, I was able to learn new words in the field of music and politics, as well as listen, read, and write in Czech. My cultural presentations helped me think about how my experiences helped me use the language today. When I was abroad, my Czech increase drastically everyday because I had to adapt to a new environment. I could see how good I was getting every time I ordered and understood something perfectly at a restaurant or could speak to someone at a bar. Being back in America, it is hard to see that progress because there is nobody on that journey with you. Also, I have tried my best to find stores and restaurants of Czech influence, but there seems to be none in Richmond which means I have to expand my search and hopefully wherever I live in the future will have that Czech culture. I think this semester has helped me satisfy the void that was inside of me when I left the Czech Republic and I am glad I got to learn more about the language and culture as well as learn more about Korean, Turkish, and Brazilian culture as well. 

Learning Journal 11: State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

For task 10, I was required to read a Czech children’s book. I read a folktale called Longshanks, Girth, and Keen, the story of three serving men. Basically, an old king wants his son to marry and he decides to choose the most beautiful woman in the entire land, but she is heavily guarded under a magician’s spell. He recruits three men with special abilities to help him with his tasks. At the end of the story, he marries the princess and asks the men to stay with him, but they tell him that they are wanderers and decide to leave. I first read the Czech version, and use the English version as reference. Some of the translations were difficult because they were not in American vernacular. However

Learning Journal 10: State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals

This week I was supposed to listen to Czech songs by Czech artists. I found a great playlist called Nejlepsi ceske pisnicky, which means best Czech music. Two of my favorite artists are Tereza Kerndlova and SEBASTIAN. They both sing love songs, but it was very difficult to understand the lyrics because in music, they tend to break up the diction to fit rhyming pairs. This is similar to Korean music; sometimes it is difficult to understand a sentence because the song breaks up the sentence or word structure. However, I found it very valuable and it gave me a better appreciate for music in different languages and cultural influences. One thing that made me sad was that in the past two years, American music has been at the top of Czech charts, which means Czech music has not been rising in their own countries. 

Learning Journal 9: State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

My learning goals for week 8 was to practice more vocab and learn miscellaneous things. I used Utalk and memrise to practice old vocabulary as well as learn new ones. One of my favorite words I learned this week was “kytara” or guitar, and I also learned zpivat which means to sing. Those two words go hand in hand because I love singing and I recently acquired a guitar and signed up for class guitar next semester. I really enjoyed saying that I liked to sing and that I have a guitar now 

Learning Journal 8: State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

My learning goals for this week was to write a reflection paper on my time so far being back in Richmond and things I miss about Prague. Unfortunately, I was only able to write a couple of sentences that completely expressed my thoughts. I found myself using a hybrid mix of English and Czech for the most of it. I realized that even though I learned a lot of speaking and listening this semester, writing has been very difficult for me to learn. I think especially because in Korean, writing is basically non-existent for me, I have not made it a priority to focus on it. However, I was able to convey my main thoughts: I really miss Prague and being back in Richmond has been hard, but I will go back one day. 

Learning Journal 7:  Reflect upon your progress to date, consider the effectiveness of your learning plan and activities, and discuss what changes--if any--you will make to finish the semester.

My progress at this point, in consideration of my learning plan and activities, has fluctuating. One day, I will be having a great conversation in Czech with my friend from abroad, but another day, I will be hard-pressed to find a situation where I can use my Czech. I think one of the biggest struggles of learning a new language is having no environment to practice. I tried my best to try and find people to speak with, but it has been difficult to try and find an appropriate time to focus simply on the language. I think one of the things that I would have changed would have been having a language partner, or being more active about reserving a time to speak with another person. I have skyped and face timed with my abroad friends, but during that time we barely used any Czech because they wanted to practice their English. Overall, I think the fluctuation could have been minimized.