Initially, I believed participating in a self-directed language course would not be difficult considering I had always done very well in all of my other language courses. However, after making my own learning plan and realizing how challenging it would be be to reach those goals instructing myself. I had assumed that I was a very visual learner from the start of the course and used that throughout my practices to my advantage; in learning the entirely new alphabet that Farsi required. I came to realize very soon that the visual aspects of learning would only bring me so far in my learning journey and I would not produce as successful results as I had in my other language classes. Throughout the semester I learned more and more of what it would take for me stay on track stably as a Farsi self-directed language learner.

In my learning journey I basically utilized repetition, mainly in writing, as my self-directed activities. This taught me all of the Farsi alphabet, Farsi numbers, days of the week, family members, basic introductory conversations as well as simple conversation, and a handful of verbs to use in basic conversation. I learned also through this method better pronunciation of these words. It was clear from the beginning that Farsi pronunciation is very distinct and also difficult for non-native speakers. There were new sounds to produce which meant new ways to form these sounds with the mouth that I had had never had to form before. Through repetition, however, I would practice learning the alphabet, improve my handwriting, and also improve my pronunciation by repeating the word aloud. This was very helpful and I could always receive help from my language partner if my pronunciation was off. Also, within my learning journey my language partner suggested dialogues, between her and myself or with my roommate Laila, who is also taking Farsi. The dialogues were a tremendous help as well. As we practiced each dialogue thinking in Farsi (in only a little) became a little more easier as we had to recognize words to respond and know what should come next in a basic conversation. It was also worth while to see the progress we made through speaking in dialogues.

The most worrying challenge in self-direction would have to be time commitment. If I didn’t make sure that I practiced outside of the meetings with my self-directed language partner I would easily be able to make it up in the meetings of course, however, it would always result in us not moving forward as much as we should be able to because of the review. It was also difficult, and still is, to adapt to the grammatical structure of Farsi. To begin with Farsi is written completely backwards that was confusing enough for me when starting out. As we began to make sentences later on I noticed that I could not make sense of how the verbs were placed in relationship to the subject and other sentence particles. That definitely took a while to semi-understand. As I had mentioned before pronunciation is very different and unless I could actually here and mimic I would end up not pronouncing something correctly and prevent myself from being understood which was always frustrating. 

The self-direction in itself I found difficult as well. I have always done very well in instructor taught language courses but having to formulate my own learning plan for Farsi was difficult because it was hard to know what I should know in one semester. It was also difficult for me to utilize the resources found at the Global Studio being that I did not have a lot of free time this semester. For new self-directed learners I would recommend setting a learning plan that is realistic and appropriate for their current academic situation. I would also recommend using the Global Studio as your number one source and not just your assigned language partner. I would improve drastically if I had used it more because I was not very creative on my own in figuring out things I should learn or broadening the range of what I new, I mainly depended on my language partner for the creativity. I enjoyed the 105 course and discussing with other self-directed learners what we enjoyed and what we found to be complications in instructing ourselves. Knowing that we all were learning different languages was also interesting but the languages themselves never entered the classroom and I believe it would really make a difference to have more individual language interaction. Overall, the class provided good support in enforcing common knowledge for understanding a different language in all it’s aspects, in types of people, culture, and geographical differences.

I was intrigued by each of my classmates cultural projects because they incorporated a lot more personal experience than mine did. I was most interested my the rickshaw drivers presented in Nina's cultural project because it signifies an everyday experience for people in India. It also demonstrated for me the economic state that many people are facing in India. Rickshaw industries are major employers within India and many employed by them barely make any money as they are renting and paying back for what they use. I also found the topic Nina chose to be enjoyable because it is something anyone and everyone can experience if they visit India.

Lily's project I found informative as well as familiar because I grew up with many predominantly Jewish neighborhoods surrounding me. I found it very interesting as she recited all the differing sects of Judaism and the geographical distances that set them apart. I was also amazed at the differing races that come with Judaism, ranging from European, to Asian and to African. From how Lily put it I could access that Judaism is a very accepting religion of other cultures as that did not keep other sects from being labeled as Jewish.

I found Laila's project to be very helpful for myself as we both are studying the same language of Farsi. It was interesting to learn of the eating habits people in Farsi speaking countries as learn the reasons as to why they chose those things to eat. Laila also focused on how it is appropriate to ask for food in a restaurant and ask for food for others eating with you which I found helpful. I also enjoyed the segment of Laila's project where she gave a miniature cooking lesson with a popular Iranian meal.

Initially, I had anticipated basing my cultural project on gender roles within Afghanistan or Iran. Instead I decided on Weddings in Iran and then incorporated some information about basic gender roles in Iran because of lack of information. Gender roles I though would be an important aspect of culture because of religious turbulence in the Middle East the lack of support for women.

I turned to weddings instead because I really enjoy them. I frequently watch the show say yes to the dress, where I had seen a few extravagant Persian weddings, and I believed it would be an enjoyable topic and would tie in gender roles as well if I talked about rate of marriage and age of marriages. Incidentally, the rate and age of marriage have changed drastically over the years as women are now receiving more of a say in how early they would like to marry. This was something I had not been quite expecting because I had always assumed religion and tradition bound most women to marrying early. The ending of my project which summarized my insight on marriages that are as heavily arranged as Persian ones tend to be should be further explored, especially as Iran is morphing socially into accepting the rights of women openly.

My learning goals based on what I plan to achieve from learning Farsi in the long-term.SDLAP_learningplan.pages

Through meeting with Susan everyday I was able to learn a lot more than what I would have expected myself to learn alone while being an extremely busy college student. Our first few meetings we focused on learning the Farsi alphabet and we for the most part worked on that a majority of out visits as I learned new vocabulary and attempted to spell them correctly with this brand new alphabet. I found pronunciation to be a very difficult task while working with Susan because sounds I am not at all familiar with became expected of me and it was frequently quite a struggle to speak words appropriately and efficiently. 

The speed at which we went through lessons was comfortable as well as I spent a lot more time on the reading and writing aspects of learning, as I am more comfortable with that, than I did with speaking aloud. When it came time for our sessions this was usually my time to practice speech with Susan and having someone to guide me through rather than practicing alone was always a relief. Our lessons were also informative in how they incorporated information about culture: what people eat, how people speak to one another etc.

Overall I enjoyed the experience of working with a language partner. It relieved some of the pressure of teaching myself a language and made it sort of an informal classroom setting which I am very comfortable with. I also appreciated my language partner keeping me on track with my goals and helping me formulate plans on what I should be learning. 

My cultural project was about Persian Weddings and was able to virtually explore the types of music played at weddings and general types of Persian speaking music as well. Popular music in Persian speaking countries is recent and more often than not music is imported instead of made. This might be because in Iran and Afghanistan celebrity musicians are not as frequent as Western countries and those who are quite popular are known by everyone. 

Early pop music in Iran actually consisted of imitating many musicians from Western countries such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Latin romance rhythms were also introduced into this music. However, a few decades later Iranian officials began to produce and promote a more appropriate and decent style of pop music that would compete against the Western-style music. This type of music was well received in iran as it was domestically made and produced a national pride in the people.

Persian music is not very popular because extremely strict regulations discourage people from attempting to make albums and even publish a song. Firstly, permits must be obtained to perform or publish any music through the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Through this process it will usually take three years for an album to get a permit. Artists like Canadian-Iranian Mozhdah Jamalzadah, who have long since fled the country, use their opportunity to make Persian pop music regardless of their location. Attempts made by artists like Mozhdah are bringing Iran and Afghanistan closer to forming an identity in the popular music and entertainment industry which will bring these countries closer to forming a modern identity.

When I first began conducting research for my cultural project the first thing I asked my language partner about were any specific practices/ceremonies done for children that specified gender - as my topic was originally gender roles. Susan informed me that there is a naming ceremony heavily celebrated after the sixth day of birth for a child. On that day there is a celebration with family and food and the newborn is named. It is called شب شش (Sheb Shesh) or the sixth night. There is also a Child's Day or د،ذ ک،رک (Rozeh Kodek). It is held for children around school age which when Susan was in school was around 7 years old and has now gone done to as young as 5 years old. Reason's for this celebration could be that birthdays are not heavily celebrated so celebrations including many children occur instead. 

It is also around school age that children must learn to pray as it is practiced to pray several times a day. Along with prayer expectations of the child were expressed and children are taught to respect their elders similar to many countries and always make sure the elders eat first. Elders are also spoken formally to and always greeted with 'salam', from Susan's experience. School life for children was included in Susan's explanation as well. While the boys had their sports activities the girls most often participated in theater while it was offered to all of them. The boys uniform usually consists of slacks and buttoned shirt while the girls wear a long black dress and white head dress daily. Susan complained of the complete lack of personal expression in schools as jewelry or any other kind of accessories were allowed her entire school career nor when open toed shoes. The school regulations have stricter expectations of children than what Susan expressed to me in her everyday at home life.

My main interest in learning of Irani and Afghan culture was that of gender roles as we see the disparities women in these countries face. Before I had the chance to learn anything about countries like Afghanistan and Iran I had always assumed that life for women was like what I saw on television: no freedom of expression or self. I had assumed that the extremists of their countries were limiting them to their homes. After speaking with my language partner and even watching media from Afghanistan I learned that there is a lot of similarity to an Afghan woman's life similar to that of an American women and I had been too blinded by stereotypes on television to notice this. 

Susan, my language partner, described to me what a normal day for her was like in her home in Afghanistan when she was in high school. She would go to school in the morning separate from the boys at that age, however, they basically were taught the same coursework. After school is where there were differences as there were many activities available for the boys and none for the girls. Girls often returned home after school having nothing else to do. Susan said that occasionally she would have friends visit her home but her mother never wanted her to visit others homes to be bothersome (very similar to my own mother). One activity Susan discussed was going out with her parents to shop or see a movie. Other than that another activity Susan partook in was household chores shared between herself and her sister. As she became older it was expected of Susan and her sister to take on the household work for their mother.

Although, I do see gender roles demanding that women be the one to take care of household work instead of men I also noted that Modern day Afghanistan is in some ways very similar to the Western world. Afghanistan has changed in recent years to include women in many more activities and give them equal access to more of the world that they were denied in more traditional times. I found it surprising to hear of daily schedules not so different from mine when I was in high school, especially in what I thought was an area strictly divided between sexes.

Initially, I believed cultural competence could not be achieved and only cultural acceptance/awareness was possible. From an anthropological perspective cultural competence would require not only learning of the culture, language, and social structure but also relating to that culture and quite frankly believing in what the people of the area believe. When we first discussed cultural competence I was viewing it from that standpoint but after discussion and reading of the article I have accepted that one can become at least communicatively competent under the right circumstances. 

The reading says communicative competence is the "competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally with specific contexts". From our outside class discussion I remember David saying we do not need to be experts in order to be competent' competence is merely relative and not absolute as the reading says. Communicative competence requires grammatical competence, or knowledge of the language lexicon and semantics, discourse competence, connecting sentences, sociolinguistic competence, social rules of language, strategic competence, verbal and nonverbal strategies used in communication to compensate for breakdown in communication. I found these factors to all be sufficient in labeling a person communicatively competent if they are able to achieve them. 

At the end of the day, I still believe it is rather difficult to be even communicatively competent especially in the sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence. Grammar once learned and practiced might be far more simpler but when interacting it might be difficult to call upon social rules, as many as there are, of language. And there is most often difficulty in flow of conversation once that breakdown in conversation has been reached and the subject cannot efficiently communicate in all the strategies composed in that culture

I found it easy to relate to the international students of the video. One, because my family is Jamaican and being that I did not grow up around my extended family when we do come into contact I feel like an outsider and two, because I have witnessed, through my international friends, many of the bizzarre scenarios mentioned about adapting to a new life in the states. It's very important that when entering a 'new area', generally speaking, the perspective of the guest should be considered by the native and vice versa. I think the international students who gave their past experiences on how they were received noticed a lack of their feelings being considered by Americans they came into contact with. Because of the discomfort they feel with making relationships with Americans they then tend to turn to other foreign students also experiencing that discomfort.

Misunderstanding while communicating was also a huge issue I found in the documentary but not simply because of the language barrier. One example I took note of was of the male Chinese student expressing his frustration with not understanding the underlying meaning of his American friends. It's come to my understanding that language proficiency is possible but complete understanding of conversation that may be filled of innuendoes and location specific terms is near impossible if one is from outside of that community. While these seemly unsolvable obstacles are quite often faced by international students and can often be discouraging I've learned from their anecdotes that it is the most rewarding to press on regardless of the discomfort and enjoy the experience to the fullest. This documentary has encouraged me to not fear my own study abroad experience when the time comes. 

The cultural dimensions of learning a language include nonverbal communication, understanding of whether the culture is individualist or collectivists and if an individual is internal or external. The reading suggests that language is composed with the beliefs, practices and ideals of that culture and entering into a culture takes more than knowing the language. 

Individualist societies tend to focus more on everyone being different, forming their own type of lifestyle (to an extent). Collectivists, on the other hand, believe that everyone within the community must work in a collaborative effort where beliefs are taught and values are mutual. In collectivist societies there is harmony not only within the community but in the language. As we discussed in class there are not words to distinguish people in Turkish, they actually share a word for he and she. Similarly in Japan and in the Japanese language an individual's first name is not used instead their last name or 'family name' is used. Also, everyone considers other neutral adults to be family with them because they live in same area. Young women will be called by children 'big sister' while older men can be called 'uncle'. 

The differences in cultural dimensions of language are most prominent between that of Westerners and others. This is mainly because one is a low context culture while the other is a high context culture. In America we experience a low context culture because we are without a rich cultural practices and traditions. Instead, we have large populations of people from other cultures who bring their values and beliefs here and we adapt bits and pieces from everywhere. Globalization has also brought brought typically Western habits over to areas of high context culture. In many countries around the world that were once strictly collectivists are now adapting to the individualist viewpoint of Westerners. 

Nonverbal communication, another key cultural dimension, is especially significant especially wen entering another culture because there are many altered views on what is appropriate nonverbally and what is. For example personal space is understood in America but can be insulting in other cultures. In Papa New Guinea personal space is so ignored that even men walk around joined at the hands to display friendship. That would be misinterpreted in Western societies because close proximity is saved for more closely related people and even in that case it is not around the clock. Examples like this explain how important human interaction is in unison with language.

The process of forming words and speaking explained in the readings does demonstrate how we are physically able to communicate through language. We are all capable of forming the same (or similar) sounds but have been limited because of culture and area differences. In my experience of pronunciation of words in Farsi some words are all but possible. The produced sound is nothing like that of my language partner and instruction on where the sounds should be coming from and the correct movement of the mouth is the only way I have been abale to get it. I see in the readings that the parts of our speech system, especially the motor cortex, are comprised of abilities of hearing, seeing, interpreting, understanding, and reproducing words.

When a word is heard or seen it is processed by the auditory or occipital lobe respectively. That is were the process begins and as the assessed sounds reach the Wernicke's area they are comprehended and further sent through Broca's area so that responses can be formed. What I am most interested in is the motor cortex which controls all physical movement of the mouth to produce correct sounds and words in a language. The sound must come from pressure in a specific area of the throat just as the mouth must take on a specific shape for a letter to sound right. The motor cortex is what is trained most by culture because we learn to move our mouths in specific ways to produce specific sound which in a whole produce a unified sound of language.

Another very important aspect from the readings are the semantics of language. I initially saw there being a mix between a naturalist and conventionalist view, an intrinsic connection between the sound of a word and the thing it refers to as well as words to objects not being related. From reading the article, however, it seems more like it is all conventional because even onomatopoeic words change from culture to culture even though the same sounds are heard in the world. If it were naturalist then there should be no change in the words used if the whole relationship were internal. I believe that words were developed in relationship to the society and location of the society, like the natives of arctic areas would have many snow related words. Physically being able to speak and then the influence of society on language are the basis of how we develop languages.

Body language, to me, is such a significant sector of language and culture. Especially for those of us who are more 'artistic' with our hand gestures. More gesturally inclined I like to call it. Speaking with my language partner over the weekend I not only learned a few of the hand gestures common to Iran but I also learned of surprising body language similarities Iran shares with Western society. This similarity I think is primarily because of globalization, especially of common Western behaviors.

My language partner shared with me the commonality of sharing kisses between peoples with greetings. Now this is something typical of most cultures, however, the number of kisses shared and the placement differs by location and location. Susan explained that in Iran they share three or more and up to five kisses one per cheek repeatedly. Practice of this by sex is another thing that sets Iranians apart compared to other places. Woman usually share the multiple kisses between one another while men will kiss each other on the cheek but usually only once. Men and women who are friends or strangers never kiss on the cheek in greeting. This gesture is only shared between relatives usually. 

I interpreted this part of gesture to support the surrounding culture in Iran because there are stricter separations between the sexes. Gestures and body language are so significant because of situations such as physical human interaction where in one culture things, like kisses on the cheek between the opposite sex are acceptable whereas in other places is is strictly unheard of.

I've had a love of languages unknown to me since I was a little girl and my babysitter, a Spanish-speaker, would speak to my siblings and I in a Spanish that allowed us to eventually pick it up. We would go home, my mom used to say, speaking in Spanish after a a short time with her. Unfortunately, she didn't stay my babysitter all that long but luckily for me I was born and raised in New York City, diversity capital of the world. I've always been surrounded by so many languages whether it be on the bus, subway or street. 

I began academically learning Spanish in junior high school but my school's language program was not at all adequate and after 3 years of junior high school Spanish I had learned close to nothing. In high school I continued Spanish, however, being so far behind because of poor background I was only able to pass and not excel. My sophomore year I began Japanese which I have taken ever since even through changing schools multiple times. I absolutely love the language and found it extremely easy to get into and contextually understand. With Japanese simply through understanding the syntax of the language you understand more about the beliefs and ideas of the Japanese people.

To this day I am continuing Japanese under the instruction of Suzuki-sensei and it's getting tougher (I used to be the best in high school - they called me Smart-sama). I only want to move forward from here though and get as good as I can hope to be and possibly travel to Japan in the near future. Before even going through the fire model I can say that I learn the best through quiet study and then intense (but not too intense, still not that good!) drills. When I first began Japanese I was a few weeks behind because I had transfered schools and through studying and then participating heavily in class I managed to make it to the top of the class in a few weeks. I prefer to take good notes and go over them until they are smoothly in place inside of my noggin and then have a conversation using the very same points and previous material with a group.

Farsi has become my self-taught language of choice and I am not yet sure on how I should be approaching study habits and learning activities as I am not at all familiar with the structure of the language. It would be much easier for me if I could simply carry over my study habits from Japanese and hopefully I will be able to because the thought of forming new habits already with how busy my days have become just exhausts me. My roommate has also decided to take Farsi so we will be helping each other out in this process. Having semi self-taught myself Korean a few years ago I expect with proper guidance and some gung-ho learning strategies this journey of teaching myself Farsi will be extremely rewarding.