MLC 105 Reflection Paper

In this Voki, I first start by introducing myself and saying what I study. I also say my age and where I am from. I say that I like to golf and travel. The reason I chose this artifact was so I could say the next part which is about what I am going to do with my day. I say that in the day I will go to class, in the afternoon I will study, and at midnight I will go to sleep. 

<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMzQ3ODIyNzgzNDQmcHQ9MTMzNDc4MjI4MTUyOCZwPTk3NTA3MiZkPTAwMCUyMC*lMjBWb2tpJTIwV2lkZ2V*Jmc9/MSZvPTE3OWRmYjA3OWVlMTRkOWRhOTI*MjIzMjdmMGFkYzMwJm9mPTA=.gif" />

Artifact 3

I asked my mom to write down a short phrase so I can practice reading it... She wrote the following:

반짝반짝 작은별
아름답게 빛이네
동쪽 하늘에서도
서쪽 하늘에서도
반짝반짝 작은별
아름답게 빛이네

Afterwards, I practiced reading it. She told me it translates to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMzQ2OTc1OTg2MjImcHQ9MTMzNDY5NzYxODg5NSZwPTk3NTA3MiZkPTAwMCUyMC*lMjBWb2tpJTIwV2lkZ2V*Jmc9/MSZvPTE3OWRmYjA3OWVlMTRkOWRhOTI*MjIzMjdmMGFkYzMwJm9mPTA=.gif" />

Week 12

This week's learning task was to learn the weather. I first researched what the common seasonly weather is in Korea. It has four seasons involving a wet monsoon season around the middle of the year. The winters are very cold from November to March. Around September and November, the weather is the warm and sunny making it an attractive time to visit. The spring is also a beautiful time with blooming plants and trees. 

I found a blog that I made into index cards to study some basic common weather vocabulary. http://learn-korean.livejournal.com/228350.html 

I wasn't positive if I was pronouncing all the words correctly so I found a youtube video of weather expressions to aid in my language learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K_hp_6ascM

Week 13

Since there was no assigned learning task this week, I decided to use this time as a review period. I went back through my old journals to find the resources I used for each language learning task. This was a helpful time to remember things from the beginning of the semester that I began to get a little blurry about. I also looked up additional resources through youtube so I could become more confident with my pronunciations. I've also taken this week to work on my fourth artifact that I will be posting soon. I am having trouble downloading my third artifact, but I am asking for help from a friend. 

Week 14

I managed to post my 3rd artifact of writing that my mom sent me to try to read. I did not know the literal translation until she later told me it was the Korean version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She said I pronounced it pretty well, but I have to work on the flow of words better. I think this will come with time and practice as I recognize characters and how they combine quicker. My 4th artifact is what I have been finalizing this week. I will be introducing myself, saying what I like to do, and what I'm going to do today.

I spent this week also reflecting on the past 14 weeks and the work I've put into learning Korean. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to practice the self-discipline of making myself learn Korean. The guidelines for language tasks were a big factor in helping me stay on track. I am still far from perfect in the language learning, but I have learned so much about the culture and ways of life in Korea. In some ways, I think this is almost more helpful then just memorizing words so that when I depart for Korea on May 8th, I will be prepared for the new customs and have less of a culture shock. I am also prepared to continue to teach myself Korean beyond this semester. I realized the amount of resources that are readily available for me to practice learning on my own. I hope that I can master the language in the next few years after college.

How Immersion Helps to Learn a Language

NY TIMES article

This study on immersion compared to classroom learning was great to know. The article's comparison highlighted how both groups remembered words, but the brain functions of the immersed learner were more similar to the Native speakers. It goes to show that learning a language goes far beyond memorizing words and dives into a deeper cultural setting. I am excited to learn this because hopefully when I go to Korea, I will learn even more much faster than I am now. The research for this must have been very extensive and I would love to learn more about the actual methods of the electroencephalography measuring brain processing. This shows the increase in technology and research advances that will hopefully help us in the future to comprehend what the best ways to learn are. I believe I remember Dr. Grove teaching us that after a certain age it is hard to develop certain muscles for speaking a different language. I wonder if research can be done to teach muscle memory for language dialect as well.

KoreanWeddings.pptx

This powerpoint includes slides of the details of Korean Weddings. It is important to study because of the Korean Confucianism way of life. Weddings are the most celebrate Confucian ceremony in Korea and they are filled with many traditions. I discussed eligibility, dating, engagement, wedding ceremony, reception ceremony, and overall traditions. I also discussed each topic through a traditional and modern lens to compare them. The sources are at the end of the powerpoint.

I used several Korean words including:

Gyeolhonsig= Weddings

Hangug-eo yugyo= Korean Confucianism

Seon=Arranged Marriage

Gyeolhon jungmaein OR chungmae= matchmakers

Kung-hap= matchmaker's tool to read astrological signs

Yonae=Love marriage

Yakhon= Engagement

Hahm=box of gifts 

Noraebang=Song room/kareoke

Shinbu=Bride

Shinlang=Groom

Peh bek=Ceremony/Reception after wedding

Daechu=jujubes (fruit)

Bride's Outfit includes= hanbuk, korum, maedup, jokduri, yonji konji

Groom's Outfit includes= Sangbok, turumagi, paji, mokwha, samo

Koo Soo Sang= Noodle Banquet

Jung Jong= Korean toast with white rice wine

Kook Soo= Noodle

Dok/Yak=rice cake dessert

The opinion blog on the New York Times website, "A Picture of Language," emphasized grammar in a new light to me. I never heard of parsing before, but it sounds like a frustrating task to help one learn a language. Grammar in Korea is not very strong. It often feels like I'm just plugging words into any order. It is much less complex than the English language. I can understand how diagramming may help some people that prefer learning visually. I do not personally think I could benefit from it, but that is difficult to know until I try it myself. I'm surprised at how successful the book ended up being in this time period. I can't remember how I learned proper grammar as a child, but I know it took many years of practice. The simplification of the Korean language does not require such careful study to break down sentences into these diagrams. I think the best method of learning grammar is to stick to learning the rules and applying them rather than drawing diagrams. 

In the "Sociocultural Factors," article, many relevant topics were discussed in terms of culture and "fitting in." I found the most amusing topic to be the idea of anomie. This feeling of social uncertainty or dissatisfaction is said to be heightened at the time when a person is close to mastering a language. One would assume that a person may like they fit in more because they understand the language, but it is quite the opposite. A person has an identity confusion when they don't know which language and culture is their dominant background anymore. I was intrigued by the four stages of culture acquisition as well. When I studied abroad in Argentina for only 6 weeks, I felt culture shock in such a short time in comparison to my 3 and a half months in Madrid. When I studied in Madrid, I never felt culture shock. I think the excitement and euphoria stage lasted the entire time I was there. I'm not sure why this occurred, but I just felt more at home in Madrid. My korean language learning is still at the beginning, but I look forward to my trip there to see how my culture acquisition plays out.

Week 8 

This week our plan is to learn how to tell time. I learned this a little bit for my second artifact when saying the time to go to lunch. Time is interesting because the Korean language has 2 different ways to say numbers depending on what you are counting. The hours use one number system and minutes uses the other number system. I learned this through a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSnqli_Md2s. The instructor's accent was a little difficult to understand. I also found a different PDF online to help me learn visually. http://images.passva91.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/R6ooZgoKCBkAAFPaK1I1/Lesson%2012%20Telling%20Time.pdf?key=passva91:journal:7&nmid=80949331 

I found both resources equally helpful. 

At this point in the semester, I am realizing the difficulty is memorizing so many topics. It is more complicated than I thought it would be. I am learning a lot, but I also forget some of the words I learned at the beginning of the semester. My greatest accomplishment thus far is understanding the culture more. I learned a lot about life in Korea and priorities of the people that live in Korea. There is a lot of research that goes behind language learning especially when I am not simply following one text book or using one learning resource. The variety of resources all help me in different ways. Videos help my pronunciation, but reading articles helps me learn the culture and reason why people say things in certain ways.

I am attaching the lesson I created for a friend in a photo on my page. It was very effective because my friend learned how to say numbers 1 through 10 in less than 5 minutes. First, I went through the numbers and helped her pronunciate each word. Then I gave her a worksheet I made that you can see on my page.

Week 9

This week the goal was to learn numbers and dates. There are two different counting systems that are used depending on the situation. One is known as pure korean and the other is known as sino-Korean because it is based on Chinese numerals.  As I wrote in the discussion post, time uses both counting systems, one for hours and one for minutes. I practiced numbers by a few online activity sites I found. I learned about the counting systems on this website: http://www.learn-korean.net/learn-korean-classes-viewarticle-16.html.

I also discovered Chisanbop, a Korean counting game. It is known as finger math and helps with addition. The instructions can be found at this website: http://www.ehow.com/how_4861020_finger-math-basic-addition-counting.html. There was also flashcards on the Before You Know It application on my computer. Numbers are important to learn also because of the culture of Korea's heavy reliance on comparing ages. I find it hard to keep from mixing up the two counting systems. 

Week 10

Food is an essential part of many conversations in Korea. I worked food into my second artifact conversation with my mom to reflect this. It is the most common thing to plan one's day around in Korea. If you go to a friend's house, one of the first things people do is make sure everyone is well fed. I decided to incorporate food into my cultural presentation because of how often I find food coming up in my research. Every festival also revolves around a certain meal or type of food. A rice cake soup is served at many festivals. Korea is also known for their barbecue which is the basis of many traditional restaurants. Bulgogi is a thinly sliced grilled beef that is a popular menu item. There is also gimbap which is served as a snack or quick meal. I thought the concept was interesting because it is basically like Japanese sushi but not considered a meal. Gimbap is seasoned riced with fried egg, julienned carrots, julienned ham, seasoned ground beef or fish cakes, pickled radish, seasoned spinach, and cucumber. It seems like a very interesting combination. The most shocking food I learned about was how restaurants will serve live octopus while it is still moving. The culture of eating at Korean was something I researched as well. The eldest male is always served first and no one should pick up their chopsticks until everyone is served. Drinking etiquette is also interesting. Each diner is supposed to face away from the eldest male and cover his or her mouth when drinking alcohol. The first drink should also never be refused when the host offers it. I am going to research more about restaurant behavior before I go to Korea to make sure I don't seem rude.

Week 11

The personal goal I have for this week is transportation. I wanted to understand how transportation works before I travel in the area. We will be taking planes to travel throughout Korea and probably walking a lot so I thought it would be smart to learn about directions. I started by researching what popular types of transportation are in Korea before looking up the vocabulary. There is an extensive network of railroads, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes. There is also a subway system in Seoul and the other 5 large cities. I also watched this video to learn more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt9-dWqyjxA. I found another website that has "pre-made" flashcards. It's called flash card exchange and had an entire list of Korean transportation vocabulary. After studying this for a while, I concentrated more on giving and following directions. I found a website with an interactive game to learn left/right, up/down, etc. http://genkienglish.net/speakkorean/koreanleftandright.htm This was good for hearing and identifying the word. I think is a good way to learn so I know I am pronouncing the words correctly before trying to read them on my own.

Week 1

The first week of class I spent looking into new resources to use for the Korean language learning. My goal was to try out a few different resources to see what helped the most. I found that youtube was a great resource so that I could listen to native Korean speakers. The Before You Know it application was great for memorizing words also. Diigo is a useful tool for bookmarks, but I probably won't use it as much as the other resources. I often study by making note cards so that is a technique I will most likely use often. I filled out the Language Partner Questionnaire and will look forward to meeting my new partner. 

My goal for this week is to start learning basic Korean words that will come in handy no matter what the situation is. I learned that yes and no have several different forms depending on the formality. I will look further into differences in formality as a goal for next week. I'm still getting used to all the resource I have been signing up for. We learned a few interesting tools in class for recording voices. These will come in handy for the artifacts. I have not had a chance to meet with my language partner yet. The Korean language learners have a unique situation where there are two language partners that we could be meeting with. We are trying to find times in everyones' busy schedules that will work out best. 

Week 2

I had my first class with my language partner, Joon Kim. We decided to meet Wednesdays and Sundays at 7pm. I started to study the writing system of Korea. It is called Hangul and is made up of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. They combine to make new "characters." I want to memorize the sounds associated with each character soon so that I can pronounce more words. I made note cards to do this. The hardest part is that the sounds do not necessarily reflect a letter in the English alphabet. One character makes a sound between an R and an L making it very difficult for me to pronounce. I'm also having difficulties with all the vowels because many sound similar to me. The note cards are less effective than I thought because I need to hear the sounds of each character and not just read it. I found a lesson on youtube that I watch for additional help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djB05a4ntQ4

This was much more effective than the note cards. My language partner was also helpful in reiterating the sounds of each character and to practice with.

Week 3 

I looked further into the differences of Formality and Informality this week. I learned that there is a huge difference in formality depending on what age a person is. One must ALWAYS be formal with someone that's even just a year older than them. Joon Kim was telling me about the way birthdays work in Korea. It seems confusing, but from what I understand, everyone has their own birthday, but they consider themselves one year older on the Korean New Years. A common way that most words became formal was adding "yo" to the end. The more formal phrases were usually longer or just had additional words added on to the informal phrases. A lot of my learning just came from researching the topic online. I learned several words while doing this which will help me get ahead for next week when we study greetings. Joon Kim also put two textbooks on a USB drive so that I can research more information through that as well. My first language tasks this week were to learn the alphabet and greetings, farewells, and introductions. I continued to use the same methods as last week to learn the alphabet. I practiced writing more also. Each character is written a specific way whereas I would normally just write it the way that seems the quickest. I researched why it was supposed to be done a specific way and learned that it would help later when combining the letters into the characters they can form. Joon taught me many greetings and also helped me figure out what greetings are most commonly used. I hope to learn things that will be most beneficial when traveling in Korea so if no one uses a certain phrase anymore, I would rather focus on other words. 

Week 4

This week's goal is to learn more conversation topics that go along with introductions, greetings, and farewells. Small talk can cover a variety of topics so I tried to learn what would be most interesting and useful for when I travel and meet people. I also like to learn things that I can ask my grandma at home. I used the textbooks on the USB for more information and they were really helpful. I just have trouble memorizing all the phrases. I make flashcards often and have to practice so I don't forget it the next week if I move on to a different topic. Flashcards help me evaluate my success because I can test myself until I get it right, but at the same time, I'm afraid of forgetting the information so I want to look into other ways to learn. I found an iPhone app that is similar to flashcards and the BYKI software. It pronounces the words so I think that hearing it helps me learn it easier. Our first artifact is due so I'm making something I can use in real life. I made my grandma a birthday card and sent it to her. In order to do this, I had to learn the formal ways to say Happy Birthday and other things like "I miss you" and "I love you." I researched what common birthday cards would say and found a lot of information. Joon Kim also taught me that it is normal to wish someone a year in good health so I learned how to say and write that as well.

Week 5

I took out a bunch of blank paper and practiced writing letters. I combined consonants and vowels in all the possible combinations. I downloaded an iPhone application where you practice writing by tracing the letters. This helped a little, but it was not as effective as just practicing writing over and over again. My learning goals for week 4 and 5 went well. I learned a lot, but there is always more to learn with the greetings, introductions, and farewells. Some phrases are used less often than others so I tried to narrow my learning to master the most commonly used phrases. My writing has improved greatly in just two weeks. I went from looking at the Korean writing system and thinking it was going to impossible to understand to being able to combine all the consonants and vowels in less than two weeks. I'm proud of this accomplishment. My artifact of a birthday card with a greeting to my Grandma was very appreciated. I am glad she could understand everything I wrote. I am going to continue writting letters to her for the practice and she can help evaluate them.

Week 6

The language tasks for this week are to ask questions about identity and to also talk about your own family. I learned that there are different ways of calling people depending on formality/age. The same person will either be called one of two names depending on if the person speaking is older or younger. It is a form of respect to identify someone correctly. I learned how to say what I am doing or what I already did. The form of the sentence stays the same, but now there are just many verbs and nouns to learn that you can insert into the sentence. I'm learning the words that I would use most like I am going to class, I am hanging out, etc. When someone asks you a question, the response usually involves repeating the question. A question and statement differ by the tone of voice you use. If it is a question being asked then the voice will get higher as opposed to a statement where the voice generally stays the same pitch. I determined that my culture project will be about weddings. I wrote about that in a cultural post.

Week 7

I used this week to review a lot of the things I already learned. It's difficult to remember the things I learned in the beginning so its always good to review. I practiced by reorganizing my notes and rewriting the notes into a more organized form. This is a study technique I often use because when I rewrite things, I tend to learn it faster than just looking at the words. Since my first artifact was a card that I wrote to my grandma for her birthday, I chose to make my second artifact a recording of a conversation between my mom and I. I will post this on the website next. The conversation entails saying hi and asking how each other is doing. We talk about going out to lunch at a korean restaurant and incorporate telling time. 

The "Culture Shock" video contained a lot of information that I was not aware of from an International student's perspective. I think it would be a good video for all students to see or something that should be incorporated into all students' orientation to the University of Richmond. I believe we hold a responsibility to the International students to make sure they are comfortable and enjoy their experience in our country. Many students come to Richmond so concerned about making their own set of friends that they ignore the fact that so many students are also trying to do the same thing on top of adjusting to a new country. The International students' opinions on the academics at Richmond was also amusing. I have always been used to discussion based classrooms even in high school so I did not realize so many other countries taught by lecture only. I also realized how difficult it must be to not only take the difficult languages at Richmond, but also to have to translate all the reading if it's a students' second language. This is definitely a video everyone could learn from. 

Communicative Competence is a term to deepen the understanding of languages. It exemplifies that language is more than just knowing words. Learning a language requires a complex set of skills beyond memorization. The dynamics behind learning a language must be built up over time. It takes a good amount of time and practice to master the four components of second language teaching that Canale and Swain defined: grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. The last category, strategic competence, is definitely one that comes with years of studying, practice, and research. It took me about 3 years of Spanish to be comfortable with the organizational competence which includes everything from vocabulary to rhetorical organization. I have learned a lot about the Korean language, but I know it will take time and practice beyond this semester to be fully confident when speaking. The complexities of all languages are so great and so unique to each separate language.

The most interesting section in this reading to me was the seven functions of language. Language goes beyond just needing to talk to someone. Communication is vital for purposes that are instrumental, regulatory, representational, interactional, personal, heuristic, and imaginative. It is difficult to put a limit to these functions because language is so useful in every sense. I have never heard of several of the terms used in this article, but knowing the words to these concepts that I have been thinking about is very useful. 

The_Culture_of_Beauty_in_Korea.ppt

This was my cultural presentation that I worked on with Claire and Sheetal. I learned a lot about the unnatural culture of beauty that many Koreans hope to look like. It is far from the common face where they would prefer double eyelids as opposed to the one-lid they are normally born with. They also prefer the lightest skin tones and s-shaped bodies. The western culture inspired much of this change. 

Korean_Language_History.ppt

This was my language history presentation that I worked on with Claire and Sheetal also. The most interesting thing I learned was about the development of the Korean language. The western culture also influenced much of this especially when it comes to "Konglish." Konglish is a term used to describe the Korean words that were borrowed from the english language and pronounced very similarly. Learning the history was a useful aid in learning the language. 

After researching the Korean language and its history, I think I will be able to learn the language with more understanding. It's important to know how a language developed over the years in order to fully comprehend why somethings sound the way they do. Korean changed over centuries starting with Proto-Korean than to Old Korean, Middle Korean, and now finally, Modern Korean. Konglish (Korean words from English words) was a very interesting subject to learn. It also allowed me to understand why Koreans have such trouble pronouncing some English words. Not all the characters and sounds in English are represented in the Hangul alphabet. 

My next artifact will be a recording of me reading a letter from one of my family members. I would like to do this to represent my understanding of the pronunciation of the letters. I might not be able to understand all the words and phrases, but I hope that if I can read the writing, I will also be able to ask someone what the meaning is. 

I have been practicing reading the Korean hangul language as I have been learning. I learned the complexity of sounds and how it's difficult to relate English letters to Korean characters sometimes. The vowel pronunciations don't change like English vowels depending on the word. Some consonants in Korean change sounds depending on where it is within a character. One of the symbols that looks similar to a backwards S (except with straighter lines) makes a sound between an R and an L. I find that the most difficult to pronounce. When I read, it takes a while to put the sounds together, but I can eventually read most words. I feel very accomplished in being able to do even this little by reading slowly because a couple of weeks ago, Korean letters just looked like scribble scrabble to me. My goals of an extensive vocabulary does seem more difficult than I had imagined. I need to overcome the struggle with simple words before I can move on to much longer phrases. I think my goals are still realistic, but it will just take a lot of practice. 

My first artifact was well received by my Grandma. She loved it! My mom is visiting soon and will be bringing a letter for my grandma and her response. I would like for my next artifact to be of a recording of me reading the letter to show that I have learned to pronounce words better. I will also post the translation of the letter. My goals for week 4 and week 5 were to understand how to ask questions and how to answer questions. My goal was to be able to know answers to common questions and responses for what to say when I don't know what someone is asking. My language partner taught me what is most commonly said and questions that are most commonly asked. I learned that Koreans often mention eating in conversations because it is polite to make sure people are well fed. I achieved my learning goals with the help of my language partner and by additional research online. I learned that responses to even yes or no questions vary depending on how formal one person must talk to the other. Hierarchy is very important to every conversation even what would seem to be a casual small talk conversation. There is definitely more for me to learn because questions and answers and endless. I am confident with the words I did learn and think that I am on the right track towards my ultimate goals of communication with my Grandma and also traveling in South Korea. 

This week I learned the number system which I believe to be more complicated than English. There are two sets of numbers to use depending on the situation. The first set I learned (il, e, sam = 1, 2, 3) represents counting numbers and is also used in telling time. These are used for the minutes of each hour. The hour in time is represented by the other set of numbers (hana, dul, set = 1, 2, 3). In this set, it is most important to only know up to about 50 even though it surpasses this. This set of numbers can be used to count people or tell age as well. To tell the time, the hour is followed by the word "si" and the minute is followed by the word "boon." They separate time into 4 parts of the day rather than in English where we have AM and PM only. Their times are early morning, morning, afternoon up until sunset, and night time after sunset. 

Another interesting linguistic aspect is the change in body language. There are many different changes from the gestures we use in the United States. Koreans often bow to a 20 degree angle and shake hands rather lightly when greeting someone. Same gender friends are much more affectionate in Korea also. They will sit on each other's laps and link arms while walking. Eye contact indicates a challenge to a superior person and it is better to express humility by looking slightly down. Respect is a very important part of the Korean culture especially for ones' elders. Another sign of humility or humbleness is offering items with both hands. This is useful in cases where someone is handing over a business card or gift. Body language is key in Korea for acknowledging respect and humility so it is essential to learn before travelling there.

My first artifact is the photo attached of a birthday card I made for my Grandma. It is our first form of communication in Korean. I researched typical things to say in a birthday card and learned to wish the person a year in good health. I memorized the characters of the Korean alphabet and constantly practiced writing them by combining the different consonants and vowels as my language partner suggested. The card says my Grandma's name at the top, "Bok Soon Yoo." It is followed by "Happy Birthday, Grandma. I miss you. I hope you have a healthy year. I love you." Lastly, I signed it with the traditional symbols that follow a card which is pronounced "ga" and the Korean word for granddaughter, "Sohn-nya."

My%20Learning%20Plan.docx