Reflect on your learning experiences this semester.

(a) What insights have you gained about yourself as a language learner and cultural explorer?  What did you find difficult?  What have you enjoyed?  How will you continue your learning?

(b) Which readings and learning activities did you find most useful?  What would you like to learn more about?

            Since taking the SDLC 105 and 110 courses, I have learned that I learn best when I have a specific interest or goal in mind. Pursuing topics that held my curiosity felt easy to study, whereas things that seemed boring or tedious took longer to understand and were forgotten quickly. I also realized that I am a very impatient learner, meaning that I become frustrated or discouraged if I feel as though I’m not progressing fast enough or cannot jump right into something more intriguing because I must work on the basics first. This impatience popped up frequently because I had no previous knowledge about Korean, but I had been studying higher level foreign language for the past two years. Having to take a step back into a novice’s role was frustrating and having to study such basic material so thoroughly and slowly felt foreign in a way. Besides having to slowing down, establishing a whole new vocabulary and learning how to pronounce those words somewhat correctly was difficult. The Korean language has several sounds that do not exist in standard American English and depends on an ear that can distinguish between tense letters and their relaxed counterparts. This was particularly difficult during the first few weeks of study, but working with a Korean language partner was critical in getting me past the pronunciation and listening hurdle.

Although it may sound boring, I really enjoyed learning grammar. Because I have a background in a language with a similar grammar system, I could simply place Korean words into grammar structures that I already understood and communicate effectively, something which satisfied my impatience as a language learner. On top of studying grammar, I enjoyed looking into Korean culture as well. For 105, I looked into Korean Hanbok (traditional dress from the Jeosan Dynasty), surasang (royal court cuisine), views on time, and much more. I feel like I gained more exposure to aspects of Korean culture that I had encountered in passing, but had never stopped to dig deeper into the subject.

From this point, I don’t know how I will continue my learning. I’m still interested in the Korean language and Korean culture, but my studies of it will probably decrease in intensity. I won’t stop all together, but I will probably continue my studies more as a hobby rather than as a course.  

I found that the readings that gave insight into how language has evolved and adapted, like “Family Tree of Language Has Roots in Anatolia, Biologists Say,” were helpful in explaining the interconnectedness of language. I also think that the short presentations were very useful. They gave me a crash course in an eclectic mix of culture topics that I knew nothing about and enhanced my understanding of several cultures. In addition to what we covered in class, it would be interesting to learn more about what similarities most languages have and why those similarities exist. I’m curious about why most languages can be broken down into verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. and I want to know more about languages that may defy that system of categorization.

Introduce yourself and your family

Korean Text:

안녕하세요! 만나서 반갑슴니다. 제 이름이 카슨이에요.  저는 스무살 이에요.미국인 이고 리치몬드 대헉교 이헉년이애요.

우리 가족은 모두 셋명이에요. 삼촌은 칠십살 이고 미국사람이에요. 아주머도이에요. 아주머는 선생님이고 예순육살 이에요. 보라삭은 가잠 좋아해요.

전부탁드립니다!

Translation:

Hello! It’s nice to meet you! My name is Carson. I’m 20 years old. I’m and American and a sophomore at the University of Richmond.

There are 3 people in my family. My uncle is 70 years old and he is an American. My aunt on my mother’s side is also an American. She is a teacher and is 66 years old. Her favorite color is purple.

Please look after us!

Reflect upon what you have learned from the cultural projects presented in class. 

Brenda’s presentation about the increasing popularity of living alone and being ok with living alone was very interesting the context of Korea’s collectivist society, but such a life style isn’t particularly unusual in our American, individualist society. I thought it was really amazing how modern financial concerns, like the increasing cost of supporting a family, could affect a society and how the people of that society live so greatly. Taiyaba’s presentation about the changing demographics of the Korean population was also really interesting because it will surely have a great impact on such a homogeneous country. I was surprised by how much Russian history was mixed into her topic. David’s topic about robots in Korea made me more aware of Korea’s advanced technology. I knew that Korea had the worlds best internet, but I didn’t know anything about their standing in robotics. It suprises me that Korean robotics is advanced and common enough that people can buy robots for the simplest things, like to be a drinking companion.

Overall, every presentation taught me something that I didn’t previously know about, which goes to show that there’s so much one could delve into when researching any country’s culture. Besides being on interesting topics, all of the presenters seemed to be well prepared and were well spoken, and I was impressed by how much each person had learned during their self-directed studies this semester.  

Document a learning task that you have completed that meets a personal goal.

Translation:

Sunday:

            -9:00: I woke up. 

            -2:20: I drank coffee. It was delicious!

            -7:50: I read a book. I also ate food. 

Monday:

            -11:30: I did not eat lunch. I drank coffee. It was sweet and tasty. .

            -5:40: I study at the library. 

Tuesday:

            -8:35: I go to school. 

            -11:35: I went to the library.  

Wednesday:

            -8:25: I do not eat breakfast. 

            -3:00: I went to Korean class. 

            -5:30: I did homework. 

            -11:40: I go to sleep. 

Thursday:

            -10:45: I ate breakfast. 

            -4:40: I went to a meeting. 

            -6:30: I study Korean. 

Friday:

            -9:20: I woke up. .

            -5:00: I did homework and watched TV. 

            -8:55: I showered. 

Saturday:

            -10:15: I took a Korean test. 

            -12:30: I ate lunch with my family. It was good. 

            -4:10: I did homework. 

Show that you can ask and answer questions about identity

Text in Korean

(Me answering questions) Korean%20Recording-%20Carson%20asking%20questions.m4a

Question: 이름이 뭐예요 ?

Answer: 제 이름이 카슨이에요.

Question: 몇 살이에요?

Answer: 스무살 이에요.

Question: 선생님이에요?

Answer: 아니요. 학생이에요.

(Me asking questions) Korean%20Recording%202.m4a

Question: 이름이 뭐예요 ?

Answer: 제 이름이 김영진에요.

Question: 이학년이에요.

Answer: 네.

Translation into English 

(Me answering questions):

Question: What is your name?

Answer: My name is Carson.

Question: How old are you?

Answer: I’m 20 years old.

Question: Are you a teacher?

Answer: No. I am a student.

(Me asking questions)

Question: What is your name?

Answer: My name is Kim Young Jin.

Question: Are you a sophomore?

Answer: Yes.

Summarize your work this semester, the progress you made and the difficulties you encountered.

Because I just began studying Korean this semester, I had to start from the most basic of the basics and establish a solid foundation first. While making my learning plan at the beginning of the semester, I underestimated how difficult it would be to start learning a language of which I had almost no prior knowledge. The pacing of the schedule that I initially outlined was much too fast, especially for the early phases of the semester. For instance, because I haven’t had to learn a radically different writing system since beginning Japanese in my junior year of high school, I had forgotten how long it takes to become adequately familiar with a new alphabet. I spent more time working on identification, writing, and pronunciation of the alphabet than I would have wanted to, but once I had a firm foundation in reading and writing the alphabet, I was able to learn more quickly.

In terms of grammar, I had a leg up coming into Korean with a background in Japanese. Because of my understanding of the Japanese language, I already understood fundamental elements of the Korean language, like different types of particles or basic sentence structure. For instance, both Japanese and Korean use a particle to denote an objects location (‘O’ in Japanese and “ae” in Korean) and both function in a similar way, so it was easy for me to learn how to describe location because it was just a matter of swapping out Japanese words for Korean ones while the grammar structure remained the same.

I also already knew some Korean vocabulary thanks to cognates between the two languages; however, I found learning vocabulary very difficult. I had to build a completely new vocabulary, and I also had to resist my involuntary reflex to use Japanese words in place of Korean ones. Sometimes, I would unconsciously use a Japanese word when I didn’t know the word in Korean, or I would use Japanese pronunciation when speaking. For example, for ‘coffee’ I would say the Japanese ‘ko-hee’ instead of the Korean ‘keopee.’

Overall, I think I learned a good amount this semester. I started off knowing very little about Korean and finished being able to read, write, and converse in basic ways.

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

Since this was the final week before starting the Korean final exam, this week I focused on reviewing all of the information that I’ve studied over the course of the semester. I felt fairly confident in my ability to read, write, and identify teach letter of the Korean alphabet, so I didn’t review the alphabet very thoroughly; however, I will probably take another look at it before taking the reading a writing section of the test. So far, my approach to reviewing has been to skim over a section of material, take note of what I have forgotten or an unclear on, and then review that material more carefully.  If I still didn’t understand something, then I would ask about it during class this week.

In class, we have followed a similar tactic and have been quickly going through everything that could show up on the exam and then pausing whenever someone had a question or wanted more clarification. Because the speaking exam was on Friday, I focused on vocabulary or common phrases and less on reading and writing. I already know that I made at least one mistake during the speaking exam, so I’ll have to go back and review that grammar point again. Besides that, I think that I did well and that I’m headed in the right direction in terms of studying for the final. 

Learning%20plan%203.docx

Post your sources, the slides you used in your presentation (if any), and a summary of your presentation (written or spoken).

Link to presentation:

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/presentation/d/154FPJ0j7mCv6bD2to6DhkO6OmbTwlpAFpGnAc6qRskU/edit?usp=sharing

Sources:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/difference-between-language-dialect/424704/

http://www.importanceoflanguages.com/learn-korean/korean-dialects/different-korean-dialects/

http://www.101languages.net/korean/dialects.html

https://www.justlanded.com/english/South-Korea/South-Korea-Guide/Language/South-Korean-Language

Summary:

Just as in any language, Korean has several dialects. The difference between a language and a dialect is not clear, but the best way I can explain it is a dialect is a variation of a language that may slow down the efficiency of communication but does not fully hinder communication. A language, on the other hand, is a collection of dialects.

Although the Korean peninsula is mostly homogeneous, there are multiple dialects born from the isolation created by Korea’s mountainous terrain. The majority of Korean dialects are spoken rather than written. Variations in dialects can include vocabulary, intonation, and stress.

Among the various dialects, there is a one which is considered the lingual ‘stand.’ Because of the division between North and South Korea, there are two standards. The Seoul dialect is the standard for the south and Pyongyang is the standard for the north. In total, there are about 9 different dialects on Korean peninsula, and one on Jeju island (although some linguists categorize the Jeju dialect as its own language).  

My self-directed studies placed me within the context of the Korean language. As my studies progressed, I gained a greater consciousness of the subtilties of a language, like the existence of dialects in Korean. Finally, my studies have increased my ability to research and understand topics concerning language and linguistics. 

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week we returned to numbers, but instead of learning the Sino-Korean system, we learned the Native-Korean system. The Native-Korean system is very irregular, so it was more difficult to learn because there was more memorization involved. Native and Sino-Korean numbers are used in different cases. For example, when telling the time, Native are used to tell the hour and Sino is used to tell the minute. Native is also used to tell a person’s age. To learn these numbers, I used a number chart and wrote the words several times to help reinforce them. I also used time in class to practice using these numbers in questions and conversation.

We also talked more about verb and adjective stems and how to conjugate a word from its stem. The conjugation attached to the stem depends on the type of vowel inside to the verb or adjective stem. Almost all of the stems act regularly except for a handful. The ones I have learned so far are common words, such as ‘to be,’ ‘to go,’ and ‘good.’ The conjugations are fairly straight forward but I’m still working on nailing down the basics. I will have to keep practicing saying and writing these conjugations.

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

Each letter in the Korean alphabet is made of three basic strokes that can be reorganized into different configurations, so learning how to write most of the letters was simple; however, several Korean letters look the same as or similar to some characters in the Japanese writing systems. Although several letters looked the same as or a mirror image of a Japanese character, the letter’s reading is very different. Because I am so used to associating certain ‘signs’ with Japanese sounds, even now, I will sometimes misread or miswrite a Korean letter. These mistakes don’t happen as often now, but I still have to be careful.

Korean syllable blocks were something that I’ve never since before during my study of foreign languages. Rather than being written in a line, Korean words are broken up into syllable blocks which are made of 2-4 individual Korean letters. To read a word, you have to read each block right to left, top to bottom and then string that syllable to the next. At first, I had to work out the sound of each letter to read a block, but now I can read a block as a whole unit. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but overall, I know that my reading and writing skills have improved considerably since the beginning of the course. 

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I learned new vocabulary to describe the flavor of food. Youngmin introduced the lesson on food by bring in some ddeokbokki chips for us to try. They were very good. That aside, were learned words like salty, sweat, spicy, and the like, so now we can both name various foods and describe them as well. In addition to adding new vocabulary, we continued to practice describing the position of an object. I think that I’m getting used to describing position in Korean because I feel as though I can comprehend and explain an object’s position faster than I could the week before.

We did something different this week and we watched a Korean movie, Ode to my Father, with English subtitles. Youngmin chose this movie because it’s famous in Korean and it covers Korean history starting from the end of the Korean war and ending around modern day. The film was dramatic to the point of comical, which was a bit distracting from the movie’s actual content. The film followed the life of one man to represent how Koreans fit into historical, global events. For example, this character escapes to southern Korea before the DMZ was established, worked in the German coal mines, and was injured in Vietnam during the war. Practically, it seems impossible for one person to be at so many historical events during the course of their life, but if you view this character as a device to bring us to different historical events, this character’s miraculous life makes more sense. 

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I continued to expand my Korean vocabulary and learned more about describing location. I learned the names for about a dozen body parts in class and then studied them more thoroughly on my own time. I also began to study words related to campus life from materials provided in class. According to the TA, some of the terms in the textbook are rarely used by Koreans. As we’ve gotten further into the class curriculum, several of these differences between what the textbook says and what is actually used by native speakers have come up. Although all of the terms, phrases, and grammar points taught in the textbook are correct, they can be a bit stiff and will make sense but will also make you sound like a foreigner. That point aside, knowing the campus related words is extremely useful since school and campus life is what I interact with on a daily basis.

On top of that, I learned how to describe locations of objects. One thing that was a bit confusing was that you have to attach a specific particle to the word describing the object’s location. It also seemed strange to me that you have to use a different verb the describes existence rather than being. 

How many new words have you learned in your target language?  How did you learn them?  Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary?

I don’t know exactly how many new words I’ve learned in Korean so far. If I had to guess, I would say that I’ve learned roughly 100 words. It’s especially difficult to quantify the number of words that I have learned considering that I have learned some words through a formal classroom setting and others informally (and I don’t know if I’ve learned those words properly). I also can’t account for terms that I may know because of Japanese, but have yet to discover the cognate. I’ve been using daily practice apps to build up my vocabulary of everyday words and phrases, and I have also been learning words pertaining to my own interests through class materials and the Korean TA. Thus far, the vocabulary that I’ve built up meets the demands of my current skill level in Korean. I think my goals for the beginning weeks was unrealistic, but now that I have a better grasp on reading and writing, I think that I’m catching up and will soon be on track or close to on track with my original set of goals. 

Respond to the reading, reflecting on what is lost when languages die.  (You might want to watch the interview with David Harrison posted to the front page of the Ning.)

As we’ve discussed in class, language influences how a speaker thinks and processes life, so if a language were to die out so would a unique way of filtering the world. The article seems to apply a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality to the survival or domination of any given language. It cites English, Spanish, and Mandarin as ‘winners’ in the global competition for lingual dominance because all three of these languages have a large body of speakers and, more importantly, these languages are supported by a system that can guarantee its proliferation. These types of socially supportive systems, such as school, are what ensure the existence of one language while simultaneously driving languages deemed as insignificant to the brink of extinction, as seen in the case of Siletz-Dee-ni. Although having serval major languages simplifies international communication, increasing the size of the speaking population at the cost of a minor language seems counterintuitive to globalization and diversification.

There seems to a difference between language preservation and language revival. The article mentions how some try to save a language through documentation and translation into a widely used language, and it also brings up the revivalist approach which entails increasing the number of people who can actually speak and manipulate the language. I think increasing the number of speakers to a sustainable level is more important than just documenting its existence. If the language were to die out completely, with just recordings and dictionaries but no native speaker, there would be no way to restore the language to what it once was. The nuance of the language and the understanding of its cultural context would most likely would be gone.

Attitudes about Time in the Target Culture

In regards to time, Korean attitudes towards time and punctuality are significantly different, if not opposite, from the American treatment of time. I think it’s fair to say that, in American culture, arriving as close to a predetermined time as possible is a sign of respect and politeness. Although it’s usually ok to be a few minutes earlier or late, it may reflect badly on you depending on the situation. On the other hand, I’ve read that the perception of time in Korean culture is much looser which gives way to a relaxed attitude towards being on time. Supposedly, tardiness is so common that it is better to expect lateness as the norm, especially in close relationships like among friends.

One theory traces the root of this socially accepted lateness to the Korean language itself. Apparently, when you talk about time in Korean you use words of approximation, such as ‘roughly’ or ‘around,’ even when discussing a specific time. Time is discussed in vague terms rather than precise ones. This habit of approximating time in Korean is thought to stem from how the ancestors of today’s Koreans dealt with units of time. These ancestors broke the day up into 12 2-hour units which reset every day at 11pm. Because of this division of time, an hour in this system would be equal to what we consider two hours, so an event starting during the 8^th hour could start anywhere between 4-6pm.

It is important to note that some say that tardiness in Korean culture is on the decline, but none the less, tracing the roots of this style of tardiness through the Korean language is an interesting explanation of the cultural phenomenon. 

Respond to the readings.

I may be biased towards the second article since I am not a true bilingual, but I think that the first article Why Bilinguals Are Smarter depends too heavily on the assumption that the strength of the brain’s executive function determines the degree of a person’s intelligence. This measure of intelligence seems much too narrow and skews the label of ‘superior intelligence’ naturally towards bilinguals. Both articles acknowledge the history of bilingual discouragement, and I think that this article’s clear intent to place bilinguals into the higher echelons of intelligence is a reactionary repudiation of the prior disapproval of bilingualism. Although I understand the sentiment, I think the article’s sole dependence on executive function as a measure of intelligence creates a weak foundation for such an extreme claim.

On the other hand, Are bilinguals really smarter acknowledges similar claims made in the first article, but refine the definition of the executive function and specifically cite its importance in decision making. This framing of the executive function gives a nod towards bilinguals’ heightened decision-making abilities, something which is certainly advantageous for things like multitasking, but does not undercut the intelligence of monolinguals at the same time. Additionally, the second piece ends on a more positive, less exclusionary note by noting that the benefits of bilingualism isn’t restricted to people who grew up speaking several languages, but can be gained by monolinguals as they study a foreign language and train their brains. 

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I learned how to say I am ____ and I am not ___, so I continued to build up my vocabulary with words that I could use to fit that grammar structure. I learned words for several countries and then learned how to turn those country names into words for nationality and language. I also studied terms pertaining to my life as a student, like teacher, student, and college. I used my prior knowledge of numbers and used it to tell my age and year in college. Because I have learned this grammar structure and these words, I’ve been able to achieve my goal of being able to do a basic self-introduction. I now feel like I have a strong enough foundation that I can learn a bit fast as I continue to progress further.

I also used this number knowledge and learned how to tell the day’s date, the week day, and the month. I studied a wide array of information this week, so I did workbook pages to reinforce the information that I read in textbooks and practiced what I learned during class times. I also had to study for quizzes for class, so I reviewed my notes and wrote out whatever I had trouble remembering.

Use as much of the target language as possible.  For example, you may upload an audio or video clip to introduce yourself, create a slideshow of places you have visited/want to visit in the target country, etc.

My imaginary trip to Korea PPT:

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/presentation/d/1JeVs4COiRSJ0dnAiyY462U4Fexu-54c64ZcTuOZbe-I/edit?usp=sharing