cultural%20project.pptx

Here is my last artifact. The transcript is as follows.

Do you need help?- Kya ap ko mudud chahiye?

Yes. Call a Doctor?- Haan, Doctor ko baloon

AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE

Where do you have pain?- Kahan pe durd ho raha hai?

I have a stomachache- Muhjay paitdurd hai

For how long have you had this pain?- Kitnay der durd ho raha hai?

For two days- Do din say

Do you have any other pain?- Ap ko aur kaheen durd ho raha hai?

I have hurt both of my hands- Main dono hat may chot lugee hai

Good. Do you have any allergies?- Achaa. Kya ap ko kuyee allergy hai?

No- Nahee

Have you eaten today?- Kya ahj apne kuch kaya hai?

Yes, I had breakfast- Haan, maine breakfast kaya hai.

Good. Go to the pharmacy and buy some medicine- Achaa. Dukan jhahiye aur dhavai kureedeeyay

Good. Thank you.- Achaa. Dhanyavad.

Artifact%204.mp3

As the semester is coming to a close I have had time to reflect on my language learning. I have found that the Mango Language App was very helpful for learning basic vocabulary and phrases. I definitely learned a lot using the app and I found the lessons it had very helpful and relevant to what I wanted to be able to say. However, the most effective way of learning was definitely with my language partner Bishan or speaking with my boyfriend Dilsher and his brother Adil. The main flaw in the Mango App was that it did not prompt you to have a conversation. Rather it gave you a phrase in English and asked you to translate it to Hindi. Although this was helpful to master vocabulary, as stated, it did not help very much in understanding questions that people asked me and to be able to think on my feet without a direct prompt of what to say. Thus the most helpful was when I spoke with native speakers and had them ask me questions using vocabulary that I knew but in a slightly different order so I could learn to understand new phrases. Although I did not set out to learn the entire Hindi alphabet the Mango App did also help with recognition of various letters and words because it gave the translation in Hindi script (Hindi lipi). Thus I am able to recognize a majority of consonants and vowels. This is helpful because Hindi script is purely phonetic. Thus as soon as I master the alphabet I should, in theory, be able to read any word. This is much different from English lettering with many silent letters and alternate pronunciations depending on the positioning of letters in the word. 

I also came across a very helpful website in my Hindi endeavors. (Hindi Website). This website had some helpful sound clips so I could master pronunciation. It also had some helpful pages on introductory grammar. Being Hindi grammar is so different from English grammar it was helpful to have a written summary explaining word order and different phrases that we do not have in English. Although my language partner was helpful in describing these things to me I find that I learn very well by reading things directly so it was nice to have this website to reinforce my learning. 

Overall I think this course was very effective in helping me learn some Hindi basics. However, I think that the lax structure may have been a little difficult for me, especially in my last semester. There were definitely some weeks where I felt overwhelmed with other work and did not put in as much effort learning Hindi because I knew that there was no structured class I had to go to other than meeting with Bishan every week. I think in the future if I continue to pursue this language it would be nice to do so in a classroom setting. However, learning at my own pace was definitely nice. I think having a boyfriend who speaks the language was definitely the main driver in my motivation to learn this language. I am excited that I can at least say some short phrases to him and that I at least a little more understanding of conversations when he speaks with his brother or his parents which makes me feel a little less left out. I definitely plan on returning to India and I hope the little bit of Hindi that I have mastered will prove helpful. 

This week I have been immersing myself in the Indian culture. I have been sampling Indian restaurants in the area and I have tried my best to order food in Hindi. Whenever I go to a restaurant I try and bring my friend Adil or my language partner Bishan so they can teach me the names of certain dishes and what is in each of them. Having been to India I am familiar with many Indian dishes but I think it is helpful to continue going to places in the US and to try as many things as I can. I have found I particularly enjoy the mango lassi and a sweet dessert called gulab jamun. 

Along with going to restaurants I have also been expanding my knowledge of Ayurveda for my cultural project. I have spoken with my language partner Bishan whose father practices Ayurveda. I have also spoken with my boyfriend whose family practices as well. Through online research and direct conversation I have learned a lot about the ideas behind this form of medicine and many speak to the benefits of the practice. Although this practice originates in the Hindu religion, it is definitely not limited to followers of Hinduism. My boyfriend is a Sikh and his family practices. I have also found a bunch of Americans who practice through blogs and various websites.

Here is my third artifact. The transcript is as follows:

This is my mother- Ye meri ma hai

What is her name?- Inka nam kya hai?

Her name is Maria- Inka nam Maria hai

What does she like to do?- In ko kya pasand hai?

She likes the woods- In ko jhariyaah pasand hai

And who is this?- Aur ye kya hai?

This is my father- Ye mere papa hai

What is his name?- Inka nam kya hai?

His name is Rick- Inka nam Rick hai.

What does he like to do?- In ko kya pasand hai?

He likes to watch TV- In ko TV dekna achaa lagta hai

And who is this?- Aur ye kya hai?

This is my brother- Ye mera bhaee hai.

What is his name?- Iska nam kya hai?

His name is Andrew- Iska nam Andrew hai

What does he like to do?- Is ko kya pasand hai?

He likes XBOX- Is ko XBOX pasand hai.Artifact%203.m4a

This week I have really been taking advantage of my language partner Bishan and my friend Adil. Although I have gotten pretty good at using the Mango Language App I have been discovering that it is hard for me to improvise a conversation. I can say phrases if I am first prompted with the phrase in English but I get a little bit confused when faced with questions in Hindi. I have been asking (and possibly annoying) Adil to talk to me in Hindi as much as possible even if I can only say simple questions. I have found it helpful when he throws questions at me that I am not used to but that include words that I know. I feel like this is the best way to learn. I have found that when I am speaking in this manner I tend to mix up the order of words in the sentence. This is likely because Hindi word order is much different than English. When I was learning French this was much less of a problem because the only difference there is really in the adjective placement. However, in Hindi the question words change around and oftentimes you have to add additional words that do not directly translate into English. Overall practice is definitely helping but I think it was important for me to have some sort of basis of vocabulary before jumping right into conversations. I will be sure to try and speak more with Bishan instead of using my time with him to ask general questions and learn vocabulary.  

I can introduce myself, my friends, and my family.

I can ask for and give simple directions.

I can name different parts of the body and state that I have been injured/have a head/stomach ache.

I can count to 10 and then to 100 by 10s.

I can ask for the price of something.

I can order at a restaurant.

For my learning activity I created a work sheet where you have to label the body parts. I included things like: arm, leg, ears, eyes, etc. I used this sheet with my friend Avery to teach her the respective body parts. First we went through all of them together, I told her the names and had her repeat them. Next I provided her with a word bank to see if she could match the words to the different body parts. I think this worked pretty well. Although she did sometimes get mixed up on things when we went through the words together it definitely helped her. Even if she did not retain the knowledge, making this activity and teaching Avery actually helped my learning. I feel much more comfortable with naming the body parts now.

Here is the worksheet: body%20parts.docx

Here is the transcript and audioArtifact%202.mp3 for my second artifact.

Where are you from?- Ap kahan say hai?

I am from America and where are you from?- May America say hoon, aur ap?

I am from India- May India say hoon.

Good-Achaa

What do you do?- Ap kya krte hain

I study in college. And what do you do?-May college may purti hoon, aur ap kya krte hain?

I also study in college. How old are you?- Muhjay bhee. Ap kitnay sal kay hain?

I am 21 years old. And how old are you? Ek kees sal key hoon , aur ap?

18. Where do you live?- Utarah. Ap kaha rehetti hain?

I live in Virginia- May Virginia may rehetti hoon

Here is my first learning artifact. The transcript is as follows:

• Good Day (hello)/ Goodbye- Namaste
• Good Night- Namascar
• My Name is Carly- Mira nam Carly hai
• I am Carly- Main Carly hoon
• What is your name?- Ap ka nam kya hain?
• It is nice to meet you (having met you, happiness occurred to me)- Ap say milkur khushee huee
• To me also- Muhjay bhee
• This is my friend Bishan- Ye mira dost hai, Bishan.

• Artifact%201.mp3

I've been spending a lot of time learning some questions that are relevant for shopping and travel around India. For instance I have learned to say:

How much is this?

ये कितना है

Do you have SOME PRODUCT?

क्या आपके पास PRODUCT है

Can you take me to the Taj Mahal?

तुम मुझे ताजमहल के लिए ले जा सकते हैं

Where is the train station?

रेलवे स्टेशन कहाँ है

I have also been learning the answers to these questions so I can hopefully understand if people choose to answer in Hindi. Thus I have learned to say things like the train station is next to/behind/in front of the bus station and this product costs X amount of rupees. That being said, I now know my numbers through 10 and can count in 10s to 100.

I have been learning how to say some key phrases in Hindi that will help me learn while using my Hindi skills. Some of these phrases include:

• I do/don't understand 

  मैं समझता हूं OR 
  मैं समझ में नहीं आता

• Can you repeat that?

  क्या आप दोहरा सकते हैं

• Can you say that louder?
  क्या आप ज़ोर से बात कर सकते हैं
• Can you say that more slowly?

            क्या आप धीरे धीरे बात कर सकते हैं

• How do you say this/that in Hindi?

          कि कैसे आप कहते हैं कि हिन्दी में

I've been practicing these phrases with Bishan and I am trying to use them instead of asking questions in English.

This week I have been focusing on possessive pronouns and how they change depending on the gender and number of the possession. In Hindi there are pronouns for me, we, he/she and they (however as stated there are two different versions depending on whether he/she is close in proximity to you or far away), and three different forms of you (a formal one, a friendly one, and a rarely used intimate one). These pronouns usually take the ending -raa or -kaa when in basic possessive cases. For example मैं -->मेरा (main-->meraa)    आप-->आपका  (aap-->apkaa ) . However, as stated these change depending on gender of the object being possessed. Meraa becomes meree in cases of singular feminine words, mere in plural masculine, and stays meree in plural feminine. Overall this is very similar to things I've learned in French. The pronouns change in the same way that Hindi ones do. However what I did find interesting is that the gender of nouns in Hindi rarely matches the gender of nouns in French. I am curious as to how gender of nouns developed and why it is different in these Indo European languages that are thought to have a common ancestor.    

This week I have been mainly focusing on how to ask different questions in Hindi. For instance I have learned how to say "How do you say this/that in Hindi?" and "What is written there?" or "What does this say?" The question structure is interesting in Hindi and the word order for the question changes depending on the type of answer that can be given. The placement of the question word क्या (kya) changes. I am still a little bit confused as to when I should start a sentence with the question word or the subject but I am working with Bishan to better master the order when asking questions.

There are also different words used when describing someone depending whether or not they are near or far. If you were to say "He is Frank" you would use यह (yeh) if he is close to you and वह  (voh) if he is far away. This is an aspect of Hindi that is not found in English and I find it very interesting. I feel like the existence of these two separate terms helps remove confusion when using pronouns. If you are telling a story about two people and one is in the room it will be clear which person you are talking about when you use the word for he whereas in English there would be no differentiation.

This week I have been focusing on recording my artifacts so I have been working closely with Bishan to master my pronunciation. We have been practicing short conversations using the vocab that I have picked up. This week specifically we are talking about the weather. I have learned how to say it is hot and cold and that it is nice out. I have also learned how to say it is raining. I still notice that it is difficult for me to differentiate between certain Hindi phonemes that are allophones of the same phoneme in English. ठ tha and ट ta as well as ड da and  ढ dha  are very hard to differentiate. My friend Adil is very interested in the fact that I cannot differentiate these sounds and I'll spend minutes at a time just trying to copy him with little success. I have noticed that native Hindi speakers have difficulty pronouncing the English "th" it comes out more like a "d" sound.

My main learning goal will be to understand and say basic terms related to healthcare and injury. I will focus on learning names of body parts and various injuries as well as how to ask for and recognize someone who is asking for help. Being that I plan on attending medical school, I think it is most relevant for me to learn terms related to this field. There is a possibility for me to go abroad to India during medical school and the phrases that would be most important for me to know relate to healthcare as well as basic conversational skills. I have already started to learn the body parts but I think it will be helpful for me to know things like numbers for age and dosages of medication. I think that if I do end up working in India, even for a few short months, I will be able to connect better with patients and gain their trust if I am able to speak at least a little bit of the language. 

This week I've been mainly focusing on trying to learn the body parts and words for different types of injury or disease. I've decided to focus on some aspect of healthcare for my cultural project so I think it will be important for me to know body parts. I've learned words for: hand, foot, head, hair, fingers and toes, back, chest, stomach, eyes, ears, mouth, nose and face. I have also learned how to say that some body part was injured (literal translation injury has struck in a certain body part). I am finding the way in which Hindi speech identifies action very interaction. For instance in aforementioned "injury has struck my hand" instead of "I hurt my hand." There is a similar situation when stating that you have lost something, instead of "I lost my wallet" it literally translates to "my wallet has become lost." I feel like this way of stating things takes some of the blame off of the person. It suggests that the action happened to someone instead of the person being the causative agent of the action. In further terms of healthcare I have learned how to say "I need help" and "Call a doctor." Through the next week I will try and focus on more specific health vocabulary like rash, itch, bite, etc. 

This week I focused mainly on trying to read Hindi. Although we are not required to know this for the course, the Mango App uses Hindi lettering and I found that I was already able to identify some consonants just based on context. Being Hindi is a phonetic language it will be easier for me to say words correctly if I can read them in Devanagari instead of in the English alphabet. I've been writing the letters down in a notebook and trying to identify them on the app and in other places I may see them.

In learning my first few language tasks I have been relying heavily on the Mango Language App. It has been very helpful and I especially enjoy the feature that allows me to record myself and compare the sound bits to the correct pronunciation. I have discovered that there are many allophones that English speakers consider to be one phoneme but Hindi speakers consider to be two separate phonemes. For example ट [ta] and ठ [tha]  (imagine the h as a superscript indicating aspiration) are different phonemes. It is very difficult for me to hear the difference between these two sounds but I know that learning it will be integral to mastering this language. Some words are exactly the same except for aspirations on certain sounds, making differentiating these phonemes very important for understanding and communicating. Taking a linguistics class has really helped me to recognize that these differences exist and Thomas is very helpful in attempting to differentiate certain sounds. However, when I have Bishan or Adil try and say the different sounds for me, they usually end up sounding the same. Also when I try and say the two sounds myself they end up sounding the same, even to my teachers thus I must not be making them correctly. That being said, the Mango app displays what you are supposed to say using actual Hindi letters. I think it will help me to recognize the different phonemes if they are transcribed using different letters. All in all practice with these sounds is definitely required.

Having just returned from a trip to India and being in a long term relationship with an Indian native, I finally decided to sit down and actually learn Hindi. I have spent upwards of 2 years listening to conversations in Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi when I spend time with my boyfriend, his family and his friends. Thus I have spent hours and hours not knowing what anyone is saying and feeling very left out of the conversation.

Starting off Hindi this week I came to the conclusion that I knew no grammar. As a matter of fact all I knew was a collection of random words that aren't typically used in conversation (ie bunder means monkey, pyaz means onions). I was excited to streamline my learning in a way that would help me hold at least brief conversations. To start off, I downloaded MangoLanguages onto my phone. In the past week I have learned more Hindi than I have in the past 2 years. The app has taught me how to say basic things like "My name is Carly" (mira nam Carly hoon) and "Where is the bus station?" (bus udda kahuhn hey). Through learning these simple phrases I have learned the bizarre (to me) way that Hindi and I assume most other Sanskriti languages go about grammar. Their word order is very different with the conjugated form of to be usually coming at the end of the sentence. For instance mira nam Carly hey literally translates to my name Carly is. Through the app I have also learned directions such as left, right, in front of, and behind and basic greetings and goodbyes.

Working with Bishan (my official language partner) is very helpful but I have also been trying to speak Hindi as much as possible. Whenever I talk to my boyfriend or his brother I always try and show them what I have learned so I can gain their input. I have found that many of the things that the app has taught me are very formal ways of speaking (obviously) and speaking with native speakers I have learned some slang ways of saying words that will be helpful in real conversation.

Over the next week I plan on continuing with the app to get basic phrases and grammar down before expanding onto more specific topics.