I thought this particular artifact would be interesting to my classmates. This semester, as a part of Asian Heritage month, I worked really really hard to learn several Indian dances. I joined the Bollywood Jhaktas (an on campus South Asian dance group) and learned some awesome dance moves. I practiced with them for three weeks as a part of a co-ed dance. It was a great time and during every single practice I spoke Gujarati with another dancer named Jay Tekwani. Talking with him was a great experience for me because he isn't my language partner, so he was able to give me constructive feedback on my new language skills and he also taught me new words and slang! Enjoy the video. Bright colored Saris and Kurtas (that we are wearing) as well as high energy and happy music are such integral parts of Gujarati culture. Gujaratis are well known for being an exciting and enthusiastic culture that stands out. By the way, I'm wearing a black kurta (loose falling shirt for South Asian male) and bright purple dupatta (long multipurpose scarf for males and females to wear). Enjoy!
Jamaica Akande's Posts (30)
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This particular artifact shows the breakdown of Gujarati letters with matras, but also broken down into my mastered and "need to work on" areas
MIDTERM
In addition to my wonderful language partners Prachi and Pooja, I have been using Gujarati language books, beginners level children's books, and a book on the Gujarati alphabet and matras. It has been exceedingly difficult for me to grasp writing while continuing to talk in Gujarati, mostly because last semester I wasn't focusing on writing at all. It was much easier for me to understand the language when I'm focused only on speaking, because we spent all of our time in conversation, or me listening to their conversation and trying to pick up on words and context.
At the middle of the semester, the main obstacles were detecting differences in particular alphabets. There are 4 forms of D and four forms of T for example.
Take a look at the versions of D:
Take the
ડ d as in that
દ d as in dream
ઢ dhe as in brother
ધ d as in door
They are really really difficult for me to grasp even now. As are the T's. They have been by far my biggest obstacles in both verbal pronunciation and understanding what letters to write. I have made significant progress though, in that I am correct about 80% of the time with my alphabet selection.
SELF EVALUATION
The book "Colloquial Gujarati" by Jagdish Dave has especially helped me to gradually shift from speaking to writing. I believe that is has been most difficult for me because not only is Gujarati phonetic, however, since English is my first and only language, it is hard to explain to my language partners that I don't grasp word sounds and pronunciation the way they do (both are Gujarati of course) because they grew up knowing these sounds by ear. For example, many sounds from the alphabet sound exactly the same to me. There are also alphabets that don't even exist in the English language. They are created using the throat and the tongue in a way that Westerners do not!
Overall, this semester has been a lot slower than last semester, mostly because learning to write has taken up much more time than I though. I came into this semester thinking that writing would be a BREEZE, not knowing that I would have to juggle continuing to learn the language and speak it so that I wouldn't lose the context of what I was writing. There are some times now where I will write a word, or be able to pronounce a word, and then get frustrated because I have no idea what it means! This is what I mean when I say obstacles. When I graduate in two weeks, I am still going to continue to try to learn Gujarati on my own. I will use the strategies of image to word (Gujarati word and matras included alongside a picture) in order to learn the language. I would do this because I am a visual learner. This fall, I will return to London and attend the Hindu festival of Navratri where I will dance to Gujarati Garba and hopefully converse with many of my Gujarati friends. They can be the judge of how much of the language I have picked up! Although I can't speak it as well as I can speak Spanish, I am still proud of myself for sticking to it for 2 full semesters, learning the alphabet and how to converse with natives!
The Influence of Jainism on Gujarati culture
Jainism is a religious minority in India, with 4.2 million followers. Gujarat is one of the three states of India with the highest Jain population. The peace-loving Jains form a sizable and influential part of the population of the state (12%). Their foremost religious vow is ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) - the simple, but unique weapon that Mahatma Gandhi used against the British in order to gain independence. The people of Gujarat are so courteous that in conversation they add the suffix ‘Bhai’ (brother) or ‘Ben’ (sister) to the name of the person addressed -- hence ‘Jah-bhai’ or ‘Pooja-ben’.
As a result of the Jain religion, Gujaratis are mostly vegetarian as it aligns with the religious vow not to harm any living being. Gujarat has a number of Jain pilgrim centres, including Shatrunjaya near Palitana, one of the holiest. The crest of ‘Shatrunjaya’ hill- ‘the Place of Victory over hatred and worldly things" - has 863 beautifully carved marble temples built over a period of 900 years. There is a constant chanting in the vicinity of the temples which leaves visitors and locals feeling spiritually fed.
I thought it was particularly interested that the Jain religion has had the most influence on Gujarat!
Gujarati Weddings
Gujarati culture is deeply rooted in traditions and customs just as many other Indian cultures are. Gujaratis are very energetic and enthusiastic people who celebrate their special occasions and festivities with high energy and happiness. A Gujarati marriage ceremony is a great example where people dress up in all the lovely colors of the rainbow.
The Gujarati wedding clothing displays their rich and colorful culture. Most Gujarati women choose to wear a sari that is draped in the proper style of Gujarati (over the left shoulder and around the belly starting on the right side of the body). These saris are typically a beautiful, brilliant red in color. It is then accessorized using the appropriate jewelry. Traditionally, a Gujarati groom always chose a dhoti kurta to wear in the marriage ceremony. However, in metropolitan cities currently, this traditional clothing is slowly being changed. Some men are now choosing to use designer Gujarati wedding attire such as indo-western kurta pyjamas. In addition, formal suits are becoming more and more popular as the wedding clothes for the groom.
The wedding consists of many fun-filled rituals along with a lot of food, fun, and firecrackers. The wedding celebration lasts for days beginning with the engagement, or Sagai, to the wedding and the Gujarati wedding reception. This is the ceremony that makes the commitment of the prospective bride and groom to each other official. The bride travels to the home of the groom taking an earthen container, or matli. The matli is filled with gifts and sweets for the groom and his family. Acceptance of the couple by each family is goal of this ceremony. If both families accept, the couple becomes engaged.
Following the engagement are days of blessings (puja), dancing to Garba (a Gujarati specific dance), reception and lots of eating yummy food. Let's just say, if I had a wedding one day, I'd want it to be Gujarati style. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Gujarati Culture, Reputation, Business
Gujaratis are usually conservative Hindus or orthodox Muslims living in a society that rigidly follows traditions and social orders. What binds the communities together is a common passion for business and making money as well as overall reputation. The Gujaratis are renowned for their business acumen. This has developed from centuries of maritime trade and commerce. The native Gujarati has spread to many parts of the world - notably East and South Africa, the UK and USA in search of new business opportunities. It is this spirit of entrepreneurship that has made Gujarat one of the most industrialised states in India. Currently, Ahmedabad which is the capital of Gujarat, is also the industrial capital of India. I found this extremely interesting, but it helped me put two and two together. Gujaratis and Punjabis are two of the largest Indian immigrant communities in the world. Understandably, the entrepreneurial and business motivation has made this group of people and their culture global!
Since this semester I will be trying to learn how to write, I figured that it is certainly appropriate to learn more about the Gujarati language and script even though I know the basics in that it originated and evolved from Sanskrit.
The Gujarati script was adapted from the Devanagari script to write the Gujarati language. The earliest known document in the Gujarati script is a manuscript dating from 1592, and the script first appeared in print in a 1797 advertisement. Until the 19th century it was used mainly for writing letters and keeping accounts, while the Devanagari script was used for literature and academic writings.
The Gujarati script is also known as the
saraphi (banker's script )
vaniasai (merchant's script) or
mahajani (trader's script ) script.
Gujarati is a syllabic alphabet in that consonants all have an inherent vowel. (ie. Ka, keh, kih). Gujarati vowels can be written as independent letters, or by using a variety of diacritical marks which are written above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to. These are known as matras.
Questions
This artifact demonstrates newer vocabulary. Last semester I focused a LOT on Gujarati family structure. Not only am I able to incorporate additional family members into my vocabulary here, but I can write the phonetic pronunciation with the alphabet that I have learned :)
This is me learning to write the script on my own, and remember sounds without help with the pronunciation. Something that I did this semester was repeatedly write out the letters. My language partners encouraged me to do this so that I would become more comfortable with the script. On the bottom of the page you can see a direct line of the Gujarati alphabet. This is how they would test me. They would say a letter and I would have to write it down. The letters weren't given in a particular order.
This artifact shows me learning the basic Gujarati script as well as numbers. Pooja and Prachi "sound out" the beginning of the alphabet and I am able to connect these sounds with actual Gujarati vocab that I have learned colloquially both this semester and last semester. I have the "English sound equivalents" directly beside the Gujarati script.
Goal of the week: to make sentences that focuses on greeting and the home (to get myself prepared for the beginners examination)
This week my language partners and I met twice. This will be the last time we meet this semester. I am sad about that but I am looking forward to seeing them again in January for Gujarati part II. This week focused mostly on making sentences and talking about gender differences in Indian/Gujarati culture. We talked about the differences between males and females in Gujarati culture as well as male privilege. I felt this was necessary because so of the patriarchal society that Gujarat has. It definitely follows Gujarati families even into the UK and the USA or wherever some families decide to move. This inspired me to do further research on Eastern cultures and the ways in which women are treated differently. There are definitely some similarities within the cultures but also unique differences.
As for my sentence structures for this week, I made a dialogue. I feel like I'm progressing in this language:
Aakash: namaste priyaben. avo beso: Hello Pooja, Welcome, please take a seat
Priya: namaste aakashbhai, o ho! tamaru ghar saras che: Namaste prachi. Wow, your house is beautiful.
Aakash: ha bajuma rasodu che. upar pan be ordo chhe: The kitchen is next door. There are two rooms above.
Priya: vah
Aakash: A gal bag che ane pachhal. tya shakbhaji uge chhe: There is a garden in the
Priya: saras. tamari jaga saras che:How nice! Your place is beautiful.
My final presentation on 4 festivals that play a major role in the state of Gujarat. Click the small comments tab within the PDF to see my comments throughout the presentation! Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Goal of the week: to learn vocabulary associated with the weather and the environment
Similar to last week, this week my language partners and I met to simple "talk about the weather". Although it is mainly warm in India with a rainy season, I felt it was necessary to learn all aspects of weather than the language can provide since the Gujarati diaspora has created communities of Gujarati people all over the world (including cold places)
Here are just a few of the words that I learned...
suriya
prakash: sunlight
aakash: sky
buhraav
pavan
vava johdv: storm
veejahri
vadar nu gurgurat: thunder
vursathe
Goal of the week: to learn vocabulary associated with the kitchen
This week I was particularly keen to learn about vocabulary associated with the kitchen and food because food and eating is such a major component of Gujarati culture. Eating brings a family together and a community together. It is important to note that most Gujaratis are vegetarians as the Jain religion has had a profound impact on Gujarati culture and the nature of Gujaratis to abstain from hurting anything. I really enjoyed this section and I will also enjoy eating lots of Gujarati food when I go to London this winter break. Wembley is London's Gujarati capital. Wembley's main religion is Hinduism, although there is a sizable Gujarati Muslim community and a small Sikh community. It will be interesting to talk the knowledge that I have learned from my language partners here in the US, back to Gujaratis in London, UK this winter break. I am eager to if there are any dialect differences.
wadki
chaapu
chamchi
thaari
tel
paalo
pani
naastho
jumvanu
dude
mithai
Goal of the week: conjugate new verbs
Since I have mastered new verbs, I wanted to learn to conjugate some and begin to use them in conversation with a Gujarati friend of mine (who is not my language partner) on campus. My language partners and I met twice this week to go over conjugations. I included pictures because they have been such a large part of my learning experience. Whenever I make notecards, I have a picture on one side, and the conjugated verbs on the other. That is how I learn the language. Much like children learn a language directly from associated images of their environment around them as toddlers. I don't want to get bogged down in English-Gujarati translation so this is the most efficient method for me.
to get up - uthwanu
- hu uthwu chu (I get up, wake up)
- thu uthwe che (you get up)
- thume utwoh cho (you formal get up)
- te uthwe che (he/she gets up)
- apne uthye chiye (we get up)
to walk- chalwanu
- hu chalu chu (I walk)
- thu chale che (you walk)
- thume chalo cho (you formal walk)
- te chale che (he/she walks)
- apne chalye chiye (we walk)
to talk- bolwanu
- hu bolu chu (I talk)
- thu bole che (you talk)
- thume bolo cho (you formal talk)
- te bole che (he/she talks)
- apne bolye chiye (we talk)
to cry- rudhwanu
- hu chalu chu (I cry)
- thu chale che (you cry)
- thume chalo cho (you formal cry)
- te chale che (he/she cry)
- apne chalye chiye (we cry)
to read- vaachwanu
- hu vaachu chu (I read)
- thu vache che (you read)
- thume vacho cho (you formal read)
- te vache che (he/she read)
- apne vachye chiye (we read)
