First, I want to start from the bottom and talk about something that really intrigued me this semester: the concept of time.  In past semesters, I have tried to figure out the lunar calendar and make sense of where the Western concept of time falls in comparison. In my Black Vernacular class, we learned that in Africa as well as the Middle East, time is circular. It does not depend on the clock, but rather on nature, which only makes sense. I best made sense of the lunar calendar by relating it to astrology. In Afghanistan, the first day of the New Year is the first day of Spring, which can be March 20 or 21. This is also the first day of the astrological sign: Aries.  This calendar is also about 11 days shorter than what we are used to because the 12 months each have approximately 29.5 days.

   I then wondered about when my birthday would fall during the lunar calendar and more importantly, how are birthday celebrations in Afghanistan and Iran if the calendar slightly shifts each year? After talking to Mirwais, birthday celebrations are more of a big deal for children from the ages of five to 15, so the need to be exact is not dire. Also, the day one celebrates his or her birthday is close to the exact date, so there is not much confusion about this. 

      Moving on, I learned about Buzkashi which is known as the "most dangerous sport." Select males are trained from a young age to be strong, horse jockeys so they can compete in the Buzkashi games. The game involves aggressive, physically fit men riding on horses and trying to carry a sacrificed goat across the goal line. The competitors wear little, if any, protection and whip one another to cause the goat wielder to drop the goat. I used this as part of my presentation and watched some videos about it. I commend those who choose to compete.

      Something else I gained more insight on is the school system in Afghanistan. Mirwais said the school system is still new and has been strengthened in the last decade. There are private and government-run schools, as well as private and government-run universities. Private schools require students to pay tuition and the education is better than that of a government school. This is very similar to private vs. public schools in America, but I would not say that the education gap is so severe in all cases. There is a very important test that students much take before entering a university; it's called the University Entrance Test. I wanted to compare it to SATs at first, but found that it is much more important. The higher the score, the better opportunities he or she has when going to a university. There is also a totem pole in regards to test scores and majors. If someone scores 250 or above, they can have an engineering or medical major; between 250-200,they can have an arts major; and failing is below 200. If someone fails, they can retake the exam in one year or just go to a private university. Government universities are better than Private ones, which was intriguing in comparison to secondary school standards. 

   I was actually more fulfilled by just learning about the culture this semester even though my findings are surface level in comparison to Afghan and Iranian history. 

I formatted the learning activity in word document and emailed it to my sister to see if she could successfully conjugate verbs in Farsi. She is now a Spanish teacher, but learned some Arabic when she attended an Islamic primary school in Washington, D.C. Although, she could recognize the similar alphabet, she was unfamiliar with Dari. Based on my instructions, she was able to conjugate the verbs  correctly for all pronouns with the exception of "they". She added an extra "nun" and "dol."  Verb conjugation is my strong point and I learned conjugations based on simple instructions.

Learning Activity

Goal: To be able to conjugate verbs in the past tense and form simple sentences.

• There are six pronouns used in Dari, find them below along with a phonetic spelling.

من  - (man)  “I”

شما   -(shoma) “You” (formal)

تو  -(tu)     “You” (informal)

ما –(mo)      “We”

 او – (o)       “He/She/It”

 آنه (oanha)  “They”

• In the English language, we deal with irregularity of verbs when it comes to conjugations, which complicates the learning process. However; past tense verbs in Dari are regular as far as I can tell.
• Below, you will find the traditional suffixes for verbs based on the associate pronoun.
• من        Drop “ن” and add “م”
• شما     Drop “ن” and add “ید”
•  تو     Drop “ن” and add “ی”
•  ما       Drop “ن” and add “یم”
•  او      Drop “ن”
•  آنه      Add “د”

Find an example below of a past tense verb conjugation

دیدن : TO SEE

من    دیدم

تو   دیدی

شما     دیدید

ما     دیدیم

او     دید

آنها    دیدند

Now conjugate the verb رفتن meaning “ to come” for all six pronouns.

Part One of First Artifact: Brief Monologue 

I was confident, as I should have been by now, in greeting listeners, stating my name, age and where I am from. I also said that I was a student. I incorporated new words dealing with clothing and shopping that I learned in the beginning of the semester. I also said that I have a big family as a way to try to be more descriptive. Furthermore; I told my parent's names, which I could not put into a sentence before. My accent sounds much more believable now in my opinion, but a native speaker may disagree. I feel more fluent in my speaking ability because I am more confident in what I am saying. I think I could improve the sentence about my family being large by using less formal words ( whatever those may be). I search for words in dictionaries and do not know how relevant they are in regards to a typical Dari conversation. What I truly want to work on is expanding my vocabulary. I have a lot of personality, so using basic words to describe things that are interesting will not do. That is a goal of mine for this semester.

Parts Two, Three and Four : Alphabet, Numbers and Days of the Week

Alphabet: It took me  a very long time to memorize the alphabet in order. I used to say all the letters and just count in my head until I got to the final one. Now, I have made sense of it. I am very proud of this as it is the groundwork for language learning. I still struggle with saying a few of the letters, but think I tackled them all in this recording. I have trouble saying " ق غ" in most cases. The goal is to be able to say both of them with as much confidence as I use in the remainder of the alphabet.

Numbers: I cannot count past 40 because I do not know how to say 50,60,70,80,90, etc. Learning numbers is not in my learning plan, but it is necessary so I will try to weave it in. 

Days of the Week: I am still unsure on how to pronounce these perfectly. I think I am just saying them with an American accent and Friday is the trickiest. I  still do recognize the days in conversations.

I will work on improving all my issues by asking questions to native speakers about pronunciation, saying the words aloud and researching the language.

FinalLearningAssessment_LailaHart.docx

I filled in information on the original chart and added an overall assessment at the top.

Thank you,

Laila Hart

SUMMARY: I had planned the entire semester to present on what young adults in Afghanistan and Iran did during their free time. That plan got changed as I found that the forms of recreation were very similar to that of the U.S. and that made me lose some interest. I quickly found another topic: cultural celebrations. I know that religion is very important in the Middle East and wanted to explore a few of the big traditions. This, in turn, helped me learn more about traditional culture than an exploration of what people do for fun would have. I explored four events : Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Buzkashi and Nawruz. My presentation featured an oral trip through each tradition fused with relevant videos and two discussion questions throughout to engage  the audience. I ended the activity with a brief, fun quiz.

Find Links to the Presentation Below: 

Cultural Presentation

Cultural Presentation Activity

LINKS USED FOR PRESENTATION

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/eid-al-fitr-2012-celebration_n_1792570.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKDAUGq-a8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNbmwcOrIWE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/islam/eid_haj.shtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pvv8wAgR2Y

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UB3eA8B4qI

  During this final section of learning, I spent the session talking to Mirwais about the cultural project. My initial goal was to talk about the lives of young adults in Afghanistan and Iran. I wanted to know if the idea of fun was similar to the United States. Going to clubs, restaurants, movies, skating and more are typical ways to blow off steam for young Americans. Prior to meeting with Mirwais, I read a New York Times article about what a young man did in Iran for fun. That example was a bad one, or a less common one I should say, because this man did drugs and drank. 

   Upon speaking with Mirwais, I learned of what he and his friends do for fun in Afghanistan. The activities are as follows: swimming in lakes, climbing mountains, playing sports, watching television at night, shopping and going to restaurants. I was informed that clubs were not a part of life in Afghanistan and that the popularity of hookah is growing. 

       I ultimately decided to change my topic to cultural celebrations because I could not find more information about young adult life from reliable sources. 

       The process was an interesting one nonetheless and I definitely learned more about the culture, which was obviously easier to digest than the language. 

    This time was spent mainly on different verb tenses, specifically the present tense. I had a tiny idea about these verb conjugations being more difficult as I remembered the irregularity of "رفتن" ( meaning : "to come") and its changing to "میروم" (present-tense first person). Once  I was able to figure out the irregularity, I was able to conjugate for the subsequent pronouns.  This task seems like one that takes years to learn as you hear the language, it is easier to gauge what is correct.  The verb meaning "to see" is "didan" (دیدن), but when conjugated in the present tense, a "ب"  after the  "می"  ( present tense prefix). "Budan" is the verb meaning "to be." If I conjugate it in the past tense, it is regular ( i.e. Man budam, tu budi, Mo budame, etc.)  However ; the present tense is very different and spelled "میباشم" ("Mebasham") for the first person. 

   This task will be best learned by listening to conversations with native speakers ideally.  

Hello,

 This week I was taught the many familial terms in Dari. There are a lot and it gets so much more specific than the English language as you will see. For example, there are specific words for "child of your sister" ( as opposed to niece/nephew) ,  wife's brother, father's brother, etc. It will definitely take me a while to get used to all of this. Below, I have listed many of the words I have learned to build a family tree.

پدر: Father

مادر: Mother

خسر: Wife's Father

خيا شنه: Wife's Sister

کا کا: Father's Brother

ما ما : Mother's Brother

شو هر: Husband

زن: Wife

بچه: Boy/Son

رختر: Girl/Daughter

I also learned about some new phrases for questions, as well as been refreshed on what I already learned in past courses.I was already familiar with "why" ( چرا), " what" (چي) and" who" (کی). I learned that I can add "دیگر" in front of who and what to ask ( who else? and what else?).

I also learned that "با" means "with," which was helpful as I responded. 

  Recently, I have been learning about prepositions, which has been helpful in forming more complex sentences. 

 The word for "preposition" is   حرفرباط.  Please click on the following link to see  the Dari  prepositions and sentences I have written using each.

Prepositions

Sentences using preposition

 The comprehension portion continued as I was given a reading about a little girl who got a dinosaur game as a gift. I was expected to read this out loud, which I did at a much slower pace than  a native speaker understandably. It was hard to understand what was going on considering I do not have an extensive vocabulary. Also, I appreciate the comprehension portion, but it would be nice if my learning  plan was considered as per my many requests. That way, I would actually be interested and engaged with the information I was "assigned" to read. Maybe next week. 

    During the first week of this, I was( refreshed) about verbs. The Dari word for verb is فحل. Below you will find a list of some verbs I learned and I conjugated each one for all six pronouns( من  شما   تو  ما   او  آنها) OR ( "they" "he/she/it" "we" "you(inf.) " "you(formal)" and "I"). Instead of uploading that for each, I will choose a verb and conjugate it for an example.

دویدن : To Run

پحتن : To Cook

خندیدن : To Laugh

چشیدن : To Sip, Taste

لمس کردم : To Feel 

جوابیدن : To Sleep 

دیدن : TO SEE

من    دیدم

تو   دیدی

شما     دیدید

ما     دیدیم

او     دید

آنها    دیدند

We focused on conjugating them in the past tense and there were no irregular verbs that I noted. 

During the second part of this, we learned some adjectives and how to write superlatives in Farsi.If you look below, I will write a set of three sentences and indicate the superlatives.

جدی سریی  دوید.   (ADJECTIVE)

سلیم  سریی تر دویدو  ( Superlative for "better" in this case "faster")

محمد   سریی ترین دوید   (Superlative for "best" in this case "fastest")

  This week during class, we watched " Raz Hai Een Khana" ( "Secrets in/of This House"),  which upon research, I found is Afghanistan's first soap opera. Click here to view The goal of viewing this was to see how much Dari we could comprehend when it was being spoken by natives at an obviously normal pace. We were asked to write down familiar words or phrases we heard while in class. I picked up the following words ( dakhtar-daughter, bood-was, chetor hasted- how are you, Salam Alikum- Formal Greeting, Tashakaar-Thank You, Rafti America- You came to America). I was faily impressed with myself considering the pace of the speed fused with my delay in comprehension. 

     On a cultural level, this showed the communal relationship among Afghan people. The men in the first part of the video spend plenty of time asking how each man is doing, as well as how their families are. The general message I gathered from the portion of the selected episode is that one of the men's daughters is getting married. There is some serious tension that comes from the women and although it is not directly stated, their facial expressions tell it all. 

     We were then told to spend more time on the film and to write down words that we did not know. That was an issue because if I do not know the word apart from hearing it in an episode, then it is hard to decipher. The words blended together, so I was unsure where one word ended and another began. 

   The plus side to the film was just more exposure to the flow of the language.

I finally learned prepositions! I have attached sentences that I created using Dari prepositions

.Artifact 4

Throughout the semester, I have been trying to figure out what young adults do for fun in Iran and Afghanistan. The topic of hookah came of particular interest to me because its origins are in Persia and India. 

I recently read an article entitled " Hookah Smoking from It's Middle Eastern Roots to It's Collegiate Prominence Today" by Michael Holt of Yahoo!. He noted the hookahs' roots in the Middle East and how this form of recreation now popular among  U.S. college students .

Holt described hookah as follows : " The hookah functions in such a way that a coal is placed on a screen which is affixed atop of a clay bowl filled with a fruit/sugar molasses and tobacco mix known as Shisha. When the coal is lit ,it glows red hot as you inhale from the hose and receive water-filtered fruit flavored smoke. This smoke is inhaled like cigarettes and often the smoker does "O's" and other smoke tricks while exhaling."

When I visited Aladdin and Eko Lounge in Richmond for hookah, I found that they offered many different flavors. I usually try the tropical flavors or U.F.O., which is a blend  of all different types of fruits. Most places only offer hookahs that are filled with water, but Eko is different. They allow participants to replace the water with Red Bull or White Wine to enhance the flavor of the tobacco and to boost your "high."  I could not find any information on whether that is an option in the Middle East.

The popularity of hookahs is evident in the fact that most cafes in Iran and Afghanistan offer hookahs. I think that may be better than smoking cigarettes in establishments because the smell is not so strong and disgusting. I also read that hookah is healthier than smoking cigarettes, but the jury is more than likely still out on that. 

Holt  said, " Compared to cigarettes the hookah takes a long time (an hour) to smoke a bowl, cigs are for the busy people they say. The hookah also has less nicotine due to the water filtering is effective in the hookah in removing some damaging material though not significantly healthier when used as often as a cig smoker would smoke."

I spoke to Mirwais about hookah and he did say that it is regaining popularity in Afghanistan.

This is a form of recreation for people in the Middle East and has no negative associations as far as I can tell.

I conjugated all of these verbs in my free time and countless others. Here is a section of that. 

Artifact 3

As I already stated, I am learning about what youth do for fun in Iran and Afghanistan for my cultural product. I chose to surf the Internet for more information on this topic and came across a  New York Times article. The link follows:  In Iran, They Want Fun, Fun, Fun. Nicholas D. Kristof, a columnist, is well educated and has traveled to four continents.  Well, I expected something different from his article and was highly disappointed.

Kristof opens the article by stressing that Iranians are not the "religious fanatics"  that we take them to be in the United States. That opening prepared me for the overgeneralized article that was sure to follow. He goes on to tell readers that half of the Iranian population is under 25 and they seek fun just like anyone else in that age range. Then, he throws a big curve ball when he tells tales of a 23-year-old Iranian man he spoke with.This guy, as described by Kristof, drank alcohol and was on drugs until recently.Both of  which are illegal and if I am not mistaken, alcohol is just completely against the religion. This bothered me because "fine" readers know that every human is not perfect, so if this one guy did participate in illegal activities, we can understand his case. The problem came when Kristof followed up that story by saying "Iranian officials suggested that perhaps 10 percent of the population has used drugs." Maybe this just my journalistic background, but who are these "officials." If Kristof was going to provide such stunning facts, he better have a reputable source listed and  not a vague term like "officials." 

Kristof gets even worse as he talks about prostitution in Tehran and how he saw men in flashy cars pick up the women. Yet again, something so disrespectful to the culture should come equipped with cold hard facts. Kristof should have at least given the number of times he has seen this occur, if truly at all. 

"My road trip across Iran leaves me convinced that change will come here, too, if we just have the patience not to disrupt the subterranean forces at work: rising education, an expanding middle class, growing economic frustration, erosion of the government monopoly on information. My hunch is that if there is no war between Iran and the West — which would probably strengthen the regime — hard-liners will go the way of Mao, and Iran will end up looking something like Turkey."

That is the problem. Why is he striving to change a country that he has no roots in and no true reasoning for this change? Then, he throws out suggestions for what would make it better and hopes it will soon resemble Turkey. Iran is its own country for a reason and that is the problem with the world. Worry about yourself and do no assume your way of doing things is what is right for everyone else: it's not. 

Kristof had an article full of B.S. and I hope other readers did not take his rant seriously. 

Please follow the links to see my documented learning tasks.

Artifact Front Page

Artifact Back Page

For this week’s cultural post, I will take a look at the flags of the two countries in which Persian is spoken: Iran and Afghanistan. I wanted to explore the meaning behind each flag and every color/symbol on it.
Iran’s flag was adopted on July 29, 1980, which is pretty recent for a country so rich in history. The flag is green, white and red with Farsi writing and an image representing the five pillars of Islam. Green is said to represent Islam. Islam is the monotheistic religion, whose followers are referred to as Muslims, and the Qur’an is the book of the religion. Muslims look to Allah for guidance in the path of leading a fulfilling life. The white in the flag represents “peace,” which made me wonder when white became the color symbolizing serenity and why? I will have to look that up on my own, but it is definitely of interest to me. The red represents courage, which I respect. Often time, red is associated with anger, hostility or physical aggression. I appreciate it standing for something else this time.
There is a symbol in the center of the flag said to represent the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars are listed below with brief descriptions.
1. The Shahada: the declaration of faith and the acknowledgement of Allah and Muhammad as his chief messenger.
2. Salat: the five daily prayers associated with Islam
3. Zakat: charitable giving/ selflessness to give to others to reduce inequality if one is able
4. Fasting : three types ( ritual, for repentance and ascetic)
5. Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca should be completed by all at least once in his/her lifetime
There is also red and green script on the flag, appearing 22 times to be exact. It says Allah Akhbar, which means there are no words to describe how great Allah is.
Now, I will learn what the Afghanistan flag means.
Afghanistan adopted its flag in January 2004, which is even more recent. The flag features three equal lines of red, black and green. There is a white symbol on the red, center bar; it is the coat of arms. It also features a line saying “There is Allah and his prophet is Muhammad; Allah is great.”
The Islamic faith evident in each fact shows how important religion is to people in both countries.

Attached, you will find the link to my first artifact. It is  a brief version of some things I learned in previous semesters mixed with a little bit that I learned during the first three weeks. 

First Artifact Part 1

After that, you will hear a few other items that I learned in previous semesters ( i.e. the alphabet, numbers, days of the week).

First Artifact Part 2 Alphabet

First Artifact Part 3 Numbers

First Artifact Part 4 Days of the Week

I am so curious about what young adults do in Afghanistan for fun. It is so hard to find truly fun activities apart from the standard party, go to the mall or movies in the United States alone, so I’m interested in seeing if it’s the same there. I will explore this topic by talking to Mirwais and Susan, my former language partner, and seeing what they do when at home for a good time. As a subtopic, I also want to learn about subcultures in Afghanistan. For example, we have the hood rat subculture, the emo subculture, nerd subculture, etc. So do groupings like this happen in Afghanistan? I will do online research of Afghan pop culture blogs and such to try to map this out. If the subtopic proves to have a lot of supporting information then I may allow it to take precedence in my cultural project. I have a feeling that I will be dependent on interviewing students from Afghanistan to get the most accurate accounts of this. This has all sparked my interest because in the U.S., the media has gotten so many people wrapped up on Afghanistan being a war zone and it is sickening. There is life beyond that and I am only scratching the surface by my personal exploration. I am looking forward to getting the interviews started and learning all that I can for a successful, informative final project. Maybe I can even get some photographs of young adults engaging in this recreation.