Before taking this course, I did not have the proper approach when trying to learn a new language. I thought you could simply study the different characters and learn the vocabulary to become more fluent in a language. However, my perspective has changed since taking this course. I have realized all the different components of a language that must be understood. The most important component is immersing yourself in the culture because culture provides the insights that you would normally overpass. For example, understanding Korean etiquette helps you understand how to address elders. There are different words used to address people who are older than you and people who are younger than you. It is important to understand this differentiation.  Furthermore, it is vital to put yourself in situations where you can learn languages. The different environments you can expose yourself to will give you more solid foundation when approaching different situations. An example would be going to a grocery store and trying to use the language to identify different foods. The day-to-day use of language is much easier to learn when you are actually in the situation.

In regards to the cultural presentations, my presentation helped me learn more about Korean history and how the Korean alphabet originated. It is vital to understand the roots of a language because it gives you an opportunity to learn more about the country and why the language was created. Additionally, it really inspired me to be more curious. In an article I was reading in Korean, I did not know that different countries utilized different names in the Korean language. I am visiting South Korea after graduation and it is important for me to understand how to pronounce certain countries in Korean because I will be traveling to other Asian countries.

Not only has this class sparked a curiosity to learn more about Korean culture and language, but also it has increased my interest in exploring other cultures. I really enjoyed all the other presentations on different countries. The presentations gave me different insights and outlooks that I previously did not know.  In the future, I hope to utilize this newfound curiosity to learn about the various cultures and people in the world. 

In regards to linguistic principles, I grew up in a Korean household so I already felt fairly comfortable with the language. For me, the big emphasis of learning is vocabulary. There is so much vocabulary that I do not have because I know more day-to-day words. As mentioned before, my strategy to learn new words is putting myself in situations where I’m forced to learn new words to be coherent. I definitely have learned a lot about how to approach learning a new language. Overall, this course has been very valuable in teaching me different strategies and methods when trying to learn a new language. From understanding different perspectives and cultures to more structured language learning, I feel much more confident when trying to immerse myself in a new language. I also feel much more adventurous and hope to utilize my curiosity to explore more. 

Throughout my childhood, I had the opportunity to learn how to write and read in Korean from my mother. As I have gotten older, I think my writing and reading has become a bit slower because I do not regularly write and read in Korean. Recently, I have been starting to read and write more because of my upcoming trip to South Korea this summer. Reading is obviously more important in my upcoming trip because I will need to read when going to various places in Busan. I think the hardest part about reading is understanding all the vocabulary. Due to my limited exposure to a vast amount of Korean dialect, sometimes its hard for me to interpret what certain words mean. As I continue to practice my reading and writing, I also recognize that I need to expand my vocabulary. Vocabulary may be even more important than the ability to write and read to interpret what is going on in an Korean environment.

In my opinion, bilingual speakers are not necessarily more intelligent than people who speak one language. However, bilingual speakers do have the opportunity to immerse themselves in multiple cultures. For example, I grew up in a Korean American household. Throughout my childhood, I was exposed to both Korean and American culture, which gave me two different perspectives. I think being bilingual gives you a broader knowledge base. A broader knowledge base may be correlated with intelligence, but I don't think being bilingual necessarily makes you more intelligent. Any learning opportunity that is taken advantage of is a great way to broaden the way you think and the way you process different environments. Language is a great way to experience a new culture.

Growing up in my Korean household, I had the opportunity to learn a lot of vocabulary that was used in daily life. Unfortunately, I never learned some of the more specialized vocabulary. During my Korean assessment a few weeks ago, I was asked to read an article that dealt with international soccer and I realized that I was unfamiliar with the terms used to describe countries. I did not realize that names of countries in Korea were different. My recent goal has been to learn some of the European countries. I've been using flashcards to learn the various countries. As I continue to study various forms of vocabulary, I've recognized that I need to learn specialized vocabulary for the topics I'm interested in discussing with my family when I visit South Korea this summer. The best strategy has been utilizing flashcards with the English term on the front. I hope to continue to expand my vocabulary so I can have more in-depth and specific conversations with my family and so I can interpret various the news when I'm in Korea.

Language is much more than a means of communication. It serves as a reflection of culture, beliefs, and values of a certain country. When a language dies, much more than a means of speaking is lost. When a language is not utilized anymore, the process of cultural knowledge that the language exhibits begins to deteriorate. For example, if Korean became a dead language, less and less people would remember Korean dialect. Many stories and sayings are told in the native language, so the history and cultural norms will slowly diminish. When language is forgone, the culture begins to fade as well. Language of any country possesses deep historical routes that tell different stories and historical events. 

Language serves as the means of communication across the world. However, language in each country is very different This can be attributed to the historical derivation of each country's language. Each country experiences a different process to develop the current language that they utilize. The final language developed in a country is a product of various historical occurrences. Several of the major factors I have seen in the development of language are the influence of other developed countries on less developed countries, the regional area and environment, and the overall culture of the country. Languages are also heavily influenced by the different customs and traditions in the country. For example, in South Korea, there is a high level of respect towards elders in the culture. When you address someone who is older than you in Korea, you must address them in a way that illustrates respect for your elders. Each country possesses distinguishing characteristics that are not only portrayed in the way they live, but also in the way they speak. 

Understanding a language's history helps you understand the culture of a country. Language serves as the most essential part of any community because it serves as the way people express themselves and communicate. By understanding the language of a country, you inherently learn more about the way you should communicate. 

My main motive to take this linguistics course was to learn about different strategies that would help me learn languages in the future. I have always related culture and language together because I believe that they are very intertwined.  I am currently only enrolled in SDLC 105, so I am not doing language learning like the students in SDLC 110. However, I grew up a native Korean speaker, so I have had the opportunity to see how different aspects of culture impact how language is used.  In this course, I have been able to connect the dots and understand why certain cultures possess certain mannerisms and personalities. It is interesting to see the world from such a different view considering how Westernized my upbringing has been.

As I have continued to delve into Korean culture, I have had the opportunity to put more meaning to the Korean traditions I have participated in the past. For example, I have been celebrating Korean New Years for 22 years of my life, but never really grasped each tradition. In this course, I have learned about cultural norms and implications, which have helped me understand my culture much more adequately.  It is eye opening to see where these major traditions stemmed from and how these traditions have evolved into the present.  It has definitely given me a clearer outlook on my culture and upbringing.

In regards to communicative competence, I have always had the ability to communicate in Korean. I believe there is still room for improvement. Growing up, I went to Korean Sunday school and had the opportunity to learn the very conventional way to speak and write Korean. However, the way people actually speak Korean is quite different. Different regions have different dialects. I did not understand the different dialects until I got a little older. Just like in the United States, different regions in Korea have different ways that they communicate. For example, my grandparents in Busan have a different accent than my family members who live in Seoul. It is interesting to see how regional language can be in different countries.

Learning more about Korean culture has helped me become more adequate in speaking Korean. The major lesson I have learned so far is that understanding the culture is a good portion of learning a language. You can learn all the grammar, vocabulary, writing, and reading you want, but it will never fully translate into fluency until culture is understand. The main reason is because culture affects the way we interact and speak.

Overall, the language learning process has provided me an opportunity to explore another aspect of Korea. I had the opportunity to learn the conventional way of Korean when I was younger and now I am having exposure to the more qualitative aspects of language learning. The best advice that I could give myself for the rest of the course is to continue to expose myself to new information and to continue to connect language and culture.

Culture shock has different progressions. When a person initially arrives in a new country, he/she is exposed to a world that looks and feels different. The beauty of different cultures is naivety to different cultures. I have personally felt culture shock. During the winter of my freshmen year, I had the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is fairly modernized, so it was not the appearance that threw me off. I found the food and the people much more different than what I was use to. At first, I enjoyed adventuring and finding new opportunities to try new things. However, as I got deeper into my trip, I quickly realized I missed what I was used to. 

The underlying things I learned about traveling in a country with a different country were:

• Embracing the change
• Understanding that everything is an experience
• Finding ways to connect your culture with the culture your visiting
• Going in with no expectations

Overall, I believe that culture shock is self-imposed. If you go in with the right attitude, you should be able to navigate through a country in a fluid way. 

The classroom presentations provided a great opportunity to learn about the different cultures/languages that are being studied in our class. It was interesting to see what topics different students decided to speak about. In my opinion, I think the more advanced speakers chose topics that were more difficult, while the less advanced speakers choice topics that were more easy to investigate. Overall, the project proved to be a great opportunity to learn more than just the language of Korea, but about underlying themes and lifestyle choices of Korea.

Korean is a complex language that has many influences. The structure of Korean language is easier than what most people believe. The Korean language consists of 40 letters: 10 pure vowels, 11 compound vowels, 14 basic consonants and 5 double consonants. Linguistically, Korean is similar to Japanese and has is distantly relative to Mongolian, Finish, and Hungarian. As a native Korean learner, I found it easy to incorporate terminology. However, sometimes my slang Korean can confuse non-native speakers.  In addition, different regions in Korea use different dialects. My family is originally from Busan, so I speak more like that region. Any language is complex and provides cultural obstacles. Korean is no different, in that different regions and areas have different dialects.

I hope to continue to immerse myself by speaking to other native Korean speakers from different areas of Korea. Personally, I believe a reference grammar would greatly help me learn more about the structure of the Korean language. 

The power of language within a culture is invaluable. Language helps communication and expression in a culture. Korean serves as the primary language for over 80 million people. Its structure is unique, but has drawn comparisons to other Asian languages. The Korean alphabet is composed of 14 consonants and 6 vowels and can be written horizontally and vertically. In regards to linguistic aspects, Korea is known as a traditional country. Therefore, it is common for Koreans to have a calm and relaxed demeanor when speaking. 

Overall, Korean proves to be a language that is very intertwined with its culture. As Korea continues to progress, the language and culture will evolve. It will be interesting to see how things change in Korea. 

The three articles expressed the interactions that languages have within science and the brain. There were several interesting learnings that came from the learnings. First and foremost, I found it interesting that your dominant hand played a role in what type of thinker you were. The hand you use is dictated by what region of your brain is being utilized. Furthermore, one of the article investigates the origin of tongue slips. Apparently, tongue slips are voluntary and are engrained in our brains.

In addition, one of the articles talks a lot about how we make different, distinct meanings. Language is a tool used for communicating meaning to one another. Different cultures have different meanings for certain objects, which make it difficult to always translate language. Languages also have ample exceptions and caveats, which may also make it difficult to fully understand a language. Overall, it seems that the meaning of different languages must be interpreted in different ways.

Overall, I think that I can use this information to become a smarter learner. Different psychological and mental techniques may prove to be extremely beneficial when I teach myself a language. 

            Language has always been something I’ve been interested in because I used both English and Korean in my household. Growing up in bilingual household was more than just using two languages. It entailed learning the culture and cultural norms that exist in American and Korean culture. Initially, I was embarrassed about the Korean culture that I had adopted at home. I was nervous about what others would think about my use of chopsticks for every meal or the Korean food that I would eat for dinner every night. However, as I got older, my culture was something that gave me a different perspective and made me unique.

            Throughout my life, I have always been an active learner. I enjoy participating and actively getting involved in a topic. I do not mind learning audibly, but I have always learned more proficiently when seeing images. According to the Multiple Intelligence test, my three highest scores were interpersonal, bodily/kinesthetic, and naturalist. I believe that these characteristics align well with a more active learner. Furthermore, on the Learning Styles Test, I was characterized a kinesthetic learner. When approaching a new topic, it is recommended for me to take on a hands-on approach.

            Overall, I believe it is vital for me to constantly find ways to incorporate language into my life. Personally, I believe the best way to learn a language is finding new ways to implement vocabulary in day-to-day activities. I plan to utilize some of the new learning habits that complement my personality.