For my last artifact, I thought it would be fun to make a comic of me attempting to order from a Pakistanti restaurant in Urdu: 

Since the beginning of the semester, I've met weekly with Omar Farooq, my language partner for Urdu. Our meetings consisted of reviewing what we went over last week as well as continuing my effort to reach my next learning goal. I asked him about different phrases that I was interested in learning and he would provide me with the translations. We worked a lot on reading, writing and spelling during our meetings to make sure I can easily write and read in Urdu. He also helped me in terms of learning about Pakistan's culture. He was a good resource for the numerous cultural posts I had to write for the class. During our meetings, we mostly relied on his knowledge of the language and did not work with many outside resources. However, I did make sure to review anything I've learned from an outside resource with him during our meetings. 

Because Omar is no longer my language partner, I have not met with him for the past two weeks. However, I made sure to keep up with my learning as much as I could. This week, I will be meeting with Hadi Abdullah for the first time. We will review what I've learned so far and I will make sure to keep him up to date. 

Microfinance%20in%20Pakistan.pptx

While I was preparing for next week's language history presentations, I stumbled upon some articles that were discussing a current problem that Urdu is facing that is very similar to what the Arabic language is facing too.Urdu is traditionally written in a Perso-Arabic script called nastaliq, a flowy and ornate and hanging script. But when rendered on the web and on smartphones and the entire gamut of digital devices at our disposal, Urdu is getting depicted in naskh, an angular and rather stodgy script that comes from Arabic. And those that don’t like it can go write in Western letters. 

This kind of information is important to know. It shows how much Urdu speakers respect their language and try hard to preserve it. It's also important to know for non-native speakers. Making sure I write in Nastaliq shows my appreciation and respect for the language as well. 

Fatima Al-Bassam
SDLC 105
April 1^st, 2014

Reflection Paper

As a senior looking for classes to take, finding a course that would both interest me and challenge me was a bit difficult. As I was looking through the lists of possible electives I can take, it occurred to me that I can finally learn Urdu. Urdu has always been on top of my list. My father and aunts were born in India and spent a big part of their childhood there. Consequently, Indian culture has been a big part of my childhood and I grew up listening to my father occasionally having whole conversations in Urdu. 

Given my background, I was very excited to start my learning journey this semester. I developed a learning plan for myself and found various materials both online and in the Global Studio to help me reach my goals. The first few weeks went as smoothly as possible. Everything went according to plan and I was always on top of everything. However, as soon as my workload for my other classes started to increase, my motivation to learn Urdu started to decrease.

Looking back, I might have been a bit too optimistic about my learning journey. I never expected it to be this difficult. Learning a whole language on my own is something completely new to me. Though I already speak three languages, Arabic, English and Spanish, all of them were acquired in a conventional setting.  Motivating myself to sit down and spend some time on something that does not have a deadline while I had a lot of other pending work was a struggle I did not foresee.

I went through periods of standstill in my journey. These periods increased during the height of my workload, midterm week. Right before Spring Break, I decided that I have to change my way of learning. I was not happy with where I was. I have had some accomplishments of course. By that time, I could read and write easily in Urdu, ask questions about a person’s day and identity and have a very basic conversation, but these were not enough.

When I met with Dr. Sharon that week, I mentioned how difficult it was to motivate myself to learn while there's so much to do for my other classes. Her suggestions were extremely helpful. So far, I've been incorporating them into my learning plan. One of the most helpful ones was to schedule 15 minutes of learning Urdu in between my other work. This serves as a nice break from my normal business school workload and a way to motivate myself to learn more Urdu. I also increased my revision of past lessons and started incorporating Urdu into my everyday life. One thing that has helped me to learn more is listening to Urdu radio while I work on other things.

I hope to continue my work and reach some more goals till the end of this semester. This has been a challenging and interesting experience so far.  I’m glad I chose this as my last elective of my college career. 

I found the Cultural Competence reading very interesting. It further proved that learning a language means more than knowing the vocabulary and the grammar. Perfecting a language goes beyond that. 

It is important to know the culture of the language one's studying. What I found especially interesting was the part about categorizing cultural competence into four different ones: grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistics and strategic competence. Knowing the language's culture is especially important when it comes to the sociolinguistic component of cultural competence. For example, when conversing with a Pakistani, there are some topics that should not be discussed. Knowing them is important to avoid problems like offending the person in front of you. Some of the taboo topics are the conflicts between Sunni and Shia, homosexuality and, interestingly enough, how one can relate back to the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him). 

Here is a recording of me having a conversation with my language partner about personal details. I asked him, among other things, about his country, his hobbies and what he does for a living. 

Artifacts%202.mp3

Today, I taught an Arabic speaking friend the Urdu alphabet. The task was not too difficult, since the Arabic and Urdu alphabets are very similar. However, he did have some trouble with pronunciation. This was an issue for me in the beginning of the semester as well. My friend said that when he looks at the words, his brain automatically processes them as Arabic words so when he wants to pronounce them, he's inclined to pronounce everything similarly to Arabic. Practice will make perfect, I told him. 

I have been reflecting on my progress for this semester, and to be honest, I'm not completely happy with where I am. I have had some accomplishments of course. I can now read and write easily in Urdu. I can ask questions about a person's day and identity and have a basic conversation.  However, I have underestimated the difficulty of self directed learning in the beginning of the semester. In my meeting with Dr. Sharon, I mentioned how difficult it was to motivate myself to learn while there's so much to do for my other classes. Her suggestions were extremely helpful. So far, I've been incorporating them into my learning plan. One of the most helpful ones was to schedule 15 minutes of learning Urdu in between my other work. This serves as a nice break from my normal business school workload and a way to motivate myself to learn more Urdu. 

While watching the Culture Shock video during Tuesday's class, I found myself nodding along throughout at least third of video. It resonated a lot with me. As an international student, I could relate to a lot of things that were mentioned. 

I always thought of culture shock as something that would literally shock you, but I now realize that it's a whole process. It can take anywhere from two weeks to two semesters. Even though I grew up knowing a lot about American culture, it was still very hard for me to be 100% comfortable when I first started studying in the States. Being away from my family, speaking in a different language all day and living on my own for the first time was tough. 

No matter how much a person knows about a culture, she/he will always go through some sort of culture shock. It's inevitable. But knowledge will definitely make the transition easier. Though I don't plan on going to Pakistan any time soon, I believe knowing one another's cultures makes relationships stronger. It lessens problems that come from miss-communication and is important to know the language better. 

Throughout the semester, I have been focusing more on learning about phrases than just plain vocabulary. I want to learn Urdu to be able to have a simple conversation and a waiter or a shopkeeper. To be completely realistic, I know anything more than that would be a waste of time for me. 

If I count all of the words in the phrases that I've learned so far, they would be close to 70 words. It might not seem a lot, but I can now ask a person how they are and understand them. I can count from one to ten and talk about what I like to do in my free time. 

One interesting thing that I've been noticing is that Pakistanis substitute a lot of English words for Urdu ones. When I asked what the word for soccer is, my language partner told me that they just use 'soccer'. It's the same with any number above 10. 

I have always been interested in women's issues. Since coming to college, I've been introduced to the term social entrepreneurship. This term has helped me a lot with deciding with what I want to do with my life. More specifically, I've been learning a lot about microfinance and its empowering effect on women in developing countries. 

My cultural topic for SDLC 110 will be about microfinance and entrepreneurial women in Pakistan. My goals for the topic is to learn more about: 

• Microfinance in general
• Microfinance in Pakistan: history, success rate, etc.
• Entrepreneurship endeavors that were started with micro loans by women
• The cultural aspects of the issue:
  • Is it culturally acceptable for a woman to start her own business?
  • What are some of the challenges that women face? 
  • Is it easier for a female or male to get a loan? 
  • What types of businesses are most popular? 

The presentations on Wednesday were all very interesting. The topics ranged from talking about cuisines to the concept of beauty. My favorite three were The Concept of Beauty in India, Korea's Culture and Korea's Cuisine. 

Though the information that what was presented in the first presentation was not all new to me, it made me reflect more in the issue. When did the obsession with being lighter start? Was it pre or post-colonialism? What are the limits of trying to be beautiful? And who really is to blame here? Is it the beauty industry? The media? Or the consumers? Presenting facts and numbers is interesting, but there's always more to them. Concepts of beauty don't come out of thin air and there's nothing wrong with trying to be beautiful. But a person has to always dig deeper and really understand the implications of everything he or she does before before doing them. 

The presentation about various aspects of Korea's culture was also very interesting. What interested me most was the part about men's obsession with perfection and beauty. In all honesty, looking at the pictures made me really uncomfortable. Some would say that it's refreshing to see men caring as much about their looks as women do. But to me, the way women obsess over their looks is wrong, and I wouldn't wish it on men. Taking care of one's looks is natural, but when a person make it a priority, then I believe a line has crossed. 

The best part about the Korea's Cuisine presentation was Gargi's introduction. She mentioned that looking at a country's cuisine tells us a lot about its climate, geographical area and beliefs. Obviously, anyone who has been in an elementary geography class has heard this, but I have never really thought about it in an isolated fashion. This will definitely make me look at national dishes more closely and analyze them in a different manner. 

One Pakistan's biggest holidays is Eid Al-Fitr, which is also called Feast of Breaking the Fast. It is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting, Ramadan. Eid Al-Fitr falls on the first days of the month of Shawwal. It is a day when Muslims all around the world show unity. 

Every Muslim country has its own customs and traditions for Eid Al-Fitr. In Pakistan, people make sure to wear new clothes to get ready for Eid prayer. It is obligatory to give charity to the needy and poor on behalf of each family member before Eid day or at least Eid prayer. This charity is called Zakat Al-Fitr. It allows everyone in the community to enjoy Eid and share the joy.

For Eid prayer, Pakistanis gather in large open areas to pray. After prayer, they meet and greet each other with a traditional hug of friendship. Before going back home, more charity is given to the needy and poor. This, however, is only customary and optional. On the way back, families buy sweets, balloons for kids and gifts for other family members. It is a joyous time of giving and receiving. 

At home, families enjoy a special Eid breakfast with various types of desserts and sweets including the traditional Eid dessert Sheer Khurma. This dessert is made out of vermicelli, milk, butter, dry fruits and dates.

Many traditions are focused on the enjoyment of children. One tradition is adults giving out money in cash called Eidi as a gift to young children. Children are allowed to use this money in any way they want. Games and outdoor activities are enjoyed all day by people from all ages. Pakistanis usually visit their elder relatives and then friends all day to share the joy and happiness. Some people go to parks, rivers or lake fronts to enjoy and relax.

At night, families rejoin to enjoy a special Eid dinner and plan how to celebrate the second and third day of Eid. 

My first artifact for SDLC 110 was about the Urdu alphabet. I made a chart that showed the equivalent of each Urdu letter to a letter in either Arabic or English. Since I am bilingual in those two languages, the chart makes it easier for me, and anyone who is in a similar situation, to learn the Urdu alphabet better. It is accurate in both pronunciation and linguistically.

So far, I have learned the alphabet, greetings and farewells and some personal questions and answers. I am still working on the last part but plan on "mastering" it by the end of this week. 

My goal for the next two weeks is to ask and answer questions about identity (Where are you from?  What do you do?  What are your studying? etc.). I plan to learn these phrases from LiveMocha.com, Youtube videos and my language partner. I will test myself by trying to have a simple conversation with a native Urdu speaker here on campus to evaluate my success. 

My Learning Plan

Where are you now?  What can you do?  What do you know?

Use the Levels of Competence document and the LinguaFolio® checklists to assess your current abilities in your language.  For more information, see the SDLAP Wiki.

Interpersonal Communication

Interpretive Listening

Interpretive Reading

Presentational Speaking

Presentational Writing

What is your ultimate goal?  What is your goal for this semester?
What do you want to be able to do with this language at the end of this semester and in the future?

My goal for the semester is to be able to read in Urdu and have good conversational skills. I would like to be able to talk to a Pakistani seller in a store or a friend here in UR about basic everyday things.

What tasks will you complete and what activities will you do this semester to meet your goals?  How will you document and evaluate your progress?

Novice learners should consult the ‘Language Tasks’ page of the SDLAP Wiki and incorporate the required tasks in their learning.  Be as specific as possible when planning activities, e.g., “I will watch YouTube videos to learn how to talk about the family.” or “I will consult a grammar text to learn about possessives.”  Make sure you include some tasks that are relevant to your interests, e.g., “I will learn to understand soccer commentary.” or “I will learn to talk about the stock market.”  Culture and language are, of course, inseparable.  It is expected that all your language will be culturally appropriate and that every task will contribute to your cultural competence.

Urdu has the same alphabet as Arabic. And though this gives a big advantage, it also makes a bit difficult in the beginning. As I was trying to read Urdu, I had to always be mentally aware of the pronunciations. Readings in Arabic scripts comes naturally to me but the difficulty here is because though we have the same script, not all letters are pronounced the same. Urdu's grammar is also very different from Arabic. I still don't have a firm grasp on it.