Week 14:
Reflect upon what you have learned about the culture(s) you have been studying:
Since a very young age, I have been taught that Punjab is a monolithic province one a single ethnic group, the Punjabis. However, my view of that has changed greatly since starting to take this course. My eyes have been opened to culture that has had huge impact of the people and history of Pakistan. Since the inception of the country, the Siraiki people have contributed in politics, science and have played a huge part during Pakistan's times of crisis. To add to that, I have had the opportunity to explore the power of peers in the Siraiki community. These individuals whole immense wealth and power and have been known to exploit the poor and illiterate. It has been great learning more about my own country and heritage. It is this knowledge that has allowed me to reconnect with Pakistani and helped me realized what truly means to be a Pakistani.

Self Assessment:
I am fairly confident that I was able to address my learning goals during the course of the semester:
1. Accent: Since the very beginning, Ziad was not pleased the way with which I pronounced words. I have improved enough for Ziad to not bug me too much regarding my accent
2. Vocabulary: The number of Siraiki words in my vocabulary have definitely increased. I am sometimes going through my head trying to remember the words for different objects when I am talking about them in Urdu.
3. I can carryout a conversation in Siraiki. I do have issues articulating sentences but I have lesser difficulty understanding what the other person is saying.
The most interesting part of preparing for Siraiki was writing the scripts. This involved coming up with funny scenarios and translating them to Siraiki. This allowed me to learn new vocabulary and get new grammar tips as well.
The least fun part was try to memorize the words. Because of the mechanical nature of pure memorization, the task was not too appealing.
Siarki Presentation

Week 13:
This was the week of revision. Ziad and I went over all the previous items. This involved us going through all the notes since the very first semester and hammering out my weakness. This was a frustrating task as I did not like the fact that I was making mistakes. We focused mainly on the basics as these were the things that I was more likely to get wrong.

1 hik
2 buh
3 tri
4 chaar
5 panjh
6 che
7 suth
8 ath
9 no
10 duh
11 yaraan
12 barahaan

1.15 savah hik
1.30 did
1.45 ponaen du/buh

2.30 dhai

3.30 sade tri

__ piya thi-de

13 tereen
14 chodaan
15 pandaranan
16 solaan
17 sathraan
18 aithraan
19 unn vi
20 vi
21 iku vi
24 chowi
.
.
.
29 unn tri
30

Days:
Monday Soomar
Tuesday Anghgaro
Wednesday Budhar
Thursday Khamis
Friday Jumoon
Saturday Chanchar
Sunday Aahchar

Week 12:
Culture post:

The death of a peer becomes national news as thousands of his followers can descend on his home to take part in the funeral rites. It would be therefore not wholly unrealistic for these powerful figures to take up politics and a secondary profession. Where does the power of the peer come from? According to his followers, from God himself! A peer is considered a representative and close friend of God. This leads to immense exploitation of the masses. In order to get closer to god one must get closer to the peer. As an example, individuals descend on the peer in times of hardship. They pay him money to make a special prayer to God to ease the individuals suffering. This is a source of major revenue. Though concept of peer is a predominantly Sunni one, one can expect in certain circumstances for both Shia and Sunni Muslims to believe in the same peer.

Week 11:
This week, Ziad and I worked further with wedding vocabulary. We did so writing a script and than translating it into Siraiki. Writing scripts to translate are always interesting for me as grammar comes up that I have not seen before. Therefore, the process adds new nails and bolts to my Siraiki toolkit.

Ziad and I are at his brother's wedding reception:

Hadi: saeein aoa
Ziad: waoa. keh haal heni hain tera

Hadi: thik thaak. tu budha
Ziad: bas yaar ad mera bhai di shadi pithidi hai. oon kamch masroof lagiyaan piyaan

Hadi: Mubarik ho be.
Ziad: ha yaar asa nu bhi kushi hai. bhai 35 salaan da thi gya. aoon shadi napi thivaas

Hadi: Tera kya halaat hain
Ziad: mein ta haali tyaar nahaan akch ta meku chokri golarni hai

Hadi: bhai ki kyun nahin chuki
Ziad: meku apni cousin nal shaadi nahin karni

Hadi: hahaha. Magar teri shaqal he is laiq hai
Ziad: mekun khape hikri gori chitti mai jeka marh likhar hai

Hadi: parhi likhi tumhin chara nahin daale gi
Ziad: chodan to desi na?

Hadi: tu dand jab saal nal hik baar brush karen da hai
Ziad: fiqar na kar, meku chummi nahin deni

Hadi: khana qida mal laksi
Ziad: bas aadh qalak sabr kar. Usi taein mela khandaan di maiyaan di pundi kar

Hadi: khuda da khof kar be. unhaan de moon teh mekan wadeeq waal hin
Ziad: to kithya, teri khatir bleach kar dein gi

Hadi: nahin bhai, mein aadhe kala kan picha asaan
Ziad: chal ok jinab, asa ida aihein

Week 10:
Peers play a very important part in politics. With thousands of followers, millions of rupees and acers upon acers of land at their disposal, these individuals make perfect candidates for broken political system. In my exploration of the topic, I came to know a very interesting fact. PTI, a political party that thrives on middle class vote, which advertises itself as a party of the middle class, for the middle class, also has its fare share of peers. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and currently in the top brass of the PTI is a peer as well. The man who often dresses in fashionable and expensive suits can be hardly be expected to pass as a turban wearing Peer with religious inclinations. What is interesting is that even though PTI less corrupt than most other parties that is why one expects it to have less influence from the Peers.

Learning Plan:
Overall, the plan was successful. Teaching my friend the pattern and helping him realize the similarity with English numerals was immensely useful. When I was teaching the numerals, my friend had no trouble understanding. However, once I shifted to the quiz, he did not do too well. A solid C+. Still, I am proud of him!

Bi-Weekly Post:
Given that it is the time of marriages in Pakistan, Ziad and I decided to go over the vocabulary that one might use when talking about the union. To my distress, there were no words that we went over that had any similarity with words that one uses in Urdu. To add to that, the words that Ziad used contained characters that are not present in the Urdu language. I had to struggle through this task as I wanted to get the pronunciation exactly right. This task proved to be immensely difficult. However, Ziad and I were able to reach a point where he was satisfied with my pronunciation, even if that was done just to keep me from wasting more of his time.

Shadi
Shadi/biya

dulha
ghot

dulhan
kanwari

barat
jann

inlaws
susr

invitation
niyaapa

pre-marital sex
chadi ak naksh thokar

family
khandaan

adultry
zina

husband
murs

wife
zal

pidaaish
dumar

bacha
baal

young one
nandha

bacha/bachi
chokra/chokri

Learning Plan:
numbers
I decided to create a learning plan to teach my American friend numbers and counting in Siraiki. The task involved first writing down all the numbers 0 to 9 and teaching the pattern that exists. While the numerals we use in the English speaking world is based on the Arabic numeral system, the Siraiki numeral system is entirely taken from the Arab world. This means there is significant overlap that allows for faster accumulation of numeral knowledge. Therefore, after teaching the pattern, I would compare the numerals to English numerals to instantly clear up any problems. Then I would quiz the individual on what he or she has learned.

So far, Ziad and I have covered a range of topics. We have covered directions, time, days and dates, business transactions. The effectiveness of the learning plan can be assessed by the following anecdote. I often listen to Ziad Skype with his family back home. I once caught him lying to his father on how he prays five times a day and how he only eats halal food. I could not stop giggling in the background while he lied so masterfully.
The lack of formality helps me learn the best. I often just ask him to start explaining the menu at a restaurant in Siraki or translate a few phrases that I wish to know. This kind of lack of rigidity allows me to learn what I want at a pace I want. I feel by merely continuing at this pace I can achieve my set goals for the semester.

Second Artifact:
Hadi is the vendor and Ziad comes to Hadi's shop to purchase a bulli

Hadi: G janab. Tuke ghinar aeein
Ziad: meku bulli khappe

Hadi: Tu sahi jagahch aeein. Mein ghareen qismaan de bulli aooo bamboo khape taan
Ziad: tu kkieen qimat de khappe daan

Hadi: Toon ki khappe
Ziad: meku tri inch di bulli khappe kyun ke meri zaal(biwi) di tri inch gehri hai

Hadi: Mekan sona da chandni da aoon tamba da de bullian hain. Meku lagde pya ke tekan eda paisa naan
te picha metu qangi phi de sagdein
Ziad: Tu meku paisa bata, mein zaroorat mand da aoon. apni maan khappa bhi ghin churian sa

Hadi: mein bhi zaroorat mand da aoon. Khair sona vi rupa kilo, chandni dah ropa kilo, tamba du rupa ilo aoon khira muft.
Ziad: hur jo bakra eid aadhi pai hai, meku lagde pya, keh meri maa hazar rupyach khappe vaise. picha meku dah kilo, sona di bulli de. Meku tri inch de purza khappan

Hadi: g yeh lo
Ziad: baihat shukria

Hadi: Salam alikum
Ziad: sath sriya kaar

SecondArtifact.mp3

This week, I came studied about the Hurs. The first Saint of Pagaro or Pir Pagaro declared his people to be "Hurs" or Free from the British in 1868. The Hurs, residing in the desert areas along the Indo-Pak border are a fiercely independent tribe. Their strategically important location, warrior-like culture and understanding of the desert proved pivotal during the war of 1965. Facing a major shortage of troops as most of them were being deployed up north in the Kashmir and Sialkot sector, the Pakistan Army turned to locals for help. They asked Pir Pagaro for help. The Pir called on his followers who answered the call. 65,000 Hurs joined the Pakistan Army and were absolutely pivotal in blunting enemy advances into Pakistan. Even though they were lightly armed and trained, their knowledge of the desert improved useful. They went on to capture famous Kishanghar Fort that is 500 km inside enemy Territory. 

FirstArtifact.mp3

Learning Journal:
According to Ziad I need to improve on particular pronunciations. Urdu does not have a lot of the sounds that Siraiki does. This means that when words with those sounds come up I mess up. He said I was correctly placing the words together. What was lacked was a good Siriaki accent. He also said that if I were to be in his village and would attempt to converse with a local, that I would get my point across. However, the other person would know that I was an outsider, even a Gora (Term for old colonial masters of India).

Learning Plan:
The following items are what I wish to cover the course of this semester:
1. Give directions
2. Discuss the politics of a country
3. Give instructions on cooking
4. I can ask for and provide descriptions of places I would like to visit.

BI-Weekly Report:
Siraiki 2016

front Aguon
back poyuun
left khaba
right sidha
sidha chal sidha hal
Oopar mathe
neecha hate
forward akte
backward poyte
samne samoon

yahaan se mein kaisa jaoon
iddoon mein kiyaan wana

Room to Dhal
Pehla kamre se bahir jaon
Akch toon kamre choon nikal

yaahn se left ho jao
idoo tu khabe hath wan

lakeview se bahir jao
lakeviewichoon bahir nikal

uskebaad neecha jao
picha hate wan

lake ke sath sath chalo
jheel nal gadh gadh hal

commons se right ho jao
comons kan sidha hath halyaan wal

aur age dhal aa jae ga
aoon teda samoon dhal hosi

Directons:

--------------------------------------------
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First Bi-weekly post:

This Ziad and I explored the concepts of Peers in Sindh. I had hoped to learn new and interesting facts about this phenomenon in Pakistan. Hailing from the province itself, Ziad had many interesting stories to offer. He told me how in the city of Karachi, the financial capital of the country, never prepares for any of the cyclones that hits its shores. No public emergency services are put on high alert, no hospitals are made ready to receive the effected and no state of emergency is ever declared. This is because a vast chunk of the population believes that the tomb of the saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi will protect them from their wrath. Interestingly enough, none of the cyclones have ever reached the shores of the city but have dispersed miles from the shores. So far belief Abdullah Ghazi has proved fruitful. Ziad and I surfed the internet for more information and we realized the he had a large online following for a deceased Sindhi saint. He even had his own website AbdullahShahGhazi.com.

Ziad and I also made some progress regarding Siraiki itself. I learnt directions in the language and learnt how to guide a traveler from my dorm room to the dining hall. What frustrates me sometimes was the fact that I was unable to fully imitate Ziad's accent for certain words. He kept on asking me repeat the word a certain way even though I was unable to hear the difference between what he was saying and what I was saying.

The Siraiki people form a subunit of a greater group of people called the Sindhis. Centuries of living side by side has allowed the two cultures to intermingle and seep into one another to such a degree that two might be indistinguishable to the naked eye. These people reside along the desert and have played an enormously important role through out the history of Pakistan. There ability to live and traverse in the desert and their strategic location at the easter border of Pakistan was pivotal during the war of 1965. The reason for their intense resolve to defend the border did not stem from patriotic inclinations, but from religious obligation to their Pir. A Pir is a living saint and is imbued with religious authority. They have large number of followers who are willing to do anything at the Pir's orders. I want to study the culture of Pirs amongst the Sindhi people. I will use my language partner as a primary source and will be looking for resources online. By studying more about this topic, I would be able to better understand the politics and policies of Sindh that define modern Pakistan.

I can greet people

I can say farewell

I can introduce myself

I can talk about my family

I can ask someone’s identity

I can answer simple questions about my identity.

I can count

My language partner used to meet up every week. We used to set an agenda before every meeting of ours. This agenda was aimed towards inching me closer towards the goals that I had described in my learning plan. We started off with something very simple which was names of numbers, days and months. We then moved on to advanced concepts such as sentence structure. Sometimes, the weekly agendas were decided by language partner based on how I was performing. We used to cover areas that I found difficult more throughly are more often. 

I used in sit in on Skype conversations of my language partner to track how I was doing. At the begging of the semester, I did not understand any of the conversations. However, as I gained more knowledge, the conversations started to become clear. Given that I had made much progress, I also practiced speaking the language but I would put my language partner to tears every single time.

I have come to learn a lot about Korean Culture from the cultural presentations. It was really interesting to gain different insights into how South Korean culture has developed. What most shocked me was the degree to which the cultures of South Asia differ from that of South Korea. Yes, we do share similarities especially when it comes to family structures and social hierarchies. However, other than that, the two cultures are worlds apart. The kind of TV shows Koreans watch are different from those watched in Pakistan. In Pakistan, there are 2 major categories within which al TV shows fall: Drama and News. To see that there was so much variety in South Korean broadcasting was really intriguing. Another thing that I found interesting was the development of the Korean script. While Urdu and Siraiki languages borrowed scripts from Persian, the Koreans developed a script that is relatively easy to understand, all on their own.

Cultural Project Slides

My cultural project discussed how the script of the subcontinent ripped it apart. The events that unfolded after the partition of India were a tragic hour in the history of humanity. 1.6 million people lost their lives and more than 12 million people were displaced. My presentation talked about how the initial policies of the East India Company, or the EIC, that won control of the subcontinent contributed towards the flare-up. The polices the EIC enacted set in motion a series of events that caused the Hindus and Muslims to loose the peace they had maintained for hundreds of years. It also talked about the role of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his Two Nation Theory. The theory set the foundation for the creation of Pakistan. It is important to know what the politicians of the time thought about the matter. The most important of these politicians was Gandhi. He, being a non-radical reformist, wanted the subcontinent to return to relatively peaceful state it was before the arrival of the EIC. However, ethnic and religious tensions on the ground could not have possibly allowed for that. Therefore, on the night of the 14th of August, Pakistan was ripped out of India’s bleeding womb and gave rise to the state of war that exist to this very day.

General Time Line:
711:
Arrival of Arabs
Introduction of Arabic to the Subcontinent
1206:
Establishment of Delhi Sultanate
Persian official language
Hindustani semiofficial language
1526:
Arrival of Mughals
Persian reintroduced as official language
Development of Urdu gains momentum
1606:
Arrival of British
1757:
British rule of India begins
Persian replaced with local languages
1857:
Great Indian Revolt
1872:
Two Nation Theory Introduced
1945:
Partition of India
Pakistani languages take-up Persian script
Indian languages take-up Devanagari

Siraiki Words:

1. خوراک

2.جنگل 

3.دوست 

4.زمِین

5.دریا 

6.مطلق

7.کھیݙَݨ 

8.رستہ 

9.پَر 

10.سِر 

Fourth Artifact: Ordering Food at Restaurant

Third Artifact: Introduce yourself and your family

Looking back at the semester, I feel I have come along way. I started off not knowing anything about the language. However, now I can understand two individuals speak. However, I was not able to make much progress on the reading and writing front. This was evident from my conversations with my reading partner. Siraiki is increasingly becoming an oral tradition. There are not many Siraiki magazines or newspapers in circulation. This has been due to the fact that Urdu was made the official language in 1947. This move sidelined all the other four dozen languages of Pakistan.

However, as all the languages of Pakistan use the Persian script. Urdu, my mother language, is also written using Persian script. This means that if I were to ever come in contact with the Siraiki literature in the coming years, I will be able to read the material. Even though I imagine it will be a struggle.

This also true for my Siraiki writing abilities. I can vaguely spell and write out words in Siriaki using the Persian script. However, because my language partner has not been taught to write Siraiki, I imagine we won’t much progress.

 The question that one must answer before delving into a discussion of the article is what being smart actually means? The fact of the matter is that there is no single definition of the word that is accepted by all. In the article, being smart meant that the bilingual in question will have better executive functions. This means he or she will have an easier time focusing or switching between tasks. This by no means makes the person smarter than the rest. Just because of the vagueness of the word smart. However, this does mean that the bilingual person will have an easier time in certain daily tasks compared to someone who is not. Even though I would like to think I am smarter than the rest just because I know multiple languages, the study pointed to in the article, at least in this case, does not back up the claim.