In the chapter on communicative competence, I found the section on Functional Approaches to Language Teaching to be very interesting because of the seven function laid out as belonging in an advanced-beginner's language learning textbook. These seven functions are important to master in order to be culturally competent, but as we talked about, there are many other aspects that play into communicative and cultural competence, as well. I believe that person who understands these seven factors, and how they can change in various situations is competent. I also believe, that competence implies minor flaws, and that understanding, implementing, and accomplishing, are very different aspects. A person is likely to commit faux pas in their own culture, so it would be even harder to avoid committing one in another culture. A person can understand the rules and norms of a culture and a language, but implementing may even be able to implement them, but accomplishing that in perfection in very hard. the difference etween understanding and implementing what will make one communicatively and culturally competent, is understanding the difference between the mentality and physicality of an action. It is one thing to know what to do or say, and another thing to actually say or do it.

This chapter on  sociocultural factors was very interesting. I believe that I found the section on 'Second Culture Acquisition' the most interesting. I had learned about enculturation in my anthropology class, but I had not heard of acculturation before. I found it to be a really interesting aspect because it is almost like resocialization, but from a purely cultural aspect. Also, we had, of course, touched on the topic of culture shock after watching the culture shock film. I enjoyed, though, how this section laid out a definition with all possible meanings and emotional effects it can have on a person. My favorite part of this section, and chapter, though, was when they broke down culture acquisition into steps. Sometimes it is hard to puts thing into steps or a series of events, because you run the risk of generalizing or oversimplifying the situation. However, I thought that this summed up the process of second culture acquisition admirably and quite succinctly. I had also never thought of it in such a way, or process, before. I had of course heard and learned about culture shock, but I had never though of it as part of a process of culture acquisition, and I never would have guessed it to be the second step. The word shock seems to imply something that happens instantly, so you would think that culture shock would be something experienced upon arrival in a new culture, but in fact, culture shock sets in after one as become disillusioned of the idea, that this new culture os mostly similar to their own.  I definitely found this section to be the most interesting and informative.

Jewish humor is a relatively new cultural aspect, but it is cultural none the less. Humor in Judaism can date back to the torah and the midrash. However, in more recent times there a pattern of self-deprecating, and often anecdotal humor has appeared. This type of humor originated in Eastern Europe, but truly took root in the United States, particularly during the vaudeville era. This humor was shared through radio, television, film, and stand-up comedy. In fact, a high percentage of comedians in America and Russia have been Jewish. Jewish Humor often relates to many different aspects of Jewish life, culture, and history. Religion, assimilation, self-hating, self-depracating, wits, and the ever loved rebbes are all common joke topics.

The Yiddish language has also played a large part in humor. The combination of hebrew and german often led to words that were found funny by non-yiddish audiences. Yiddish words were thought of as inherently funny due to their funny sounds, and odd letter sound combinations. The phenomenon of Shm-reduplication actually started with the yiddish, language; comedians started adding shm into a word or phrase for humor (ex. fancy-shmancy). many comedians also adopted the practice of ending sentences with questions, which is a Yiddish construction.

Another popular form of humor was the joke that exploited Jewish stereotypes. Jewish mothers, frugality, hypochondria, and the Jewish 'accent' have often been picked out as prime joke targets. My personal favorite idea, though, has to do with the Jewish stereotype of kvetching (complaining). many jokes that center around other themes, still have the element of kvetching. Jewish humor is often self-deprecating, and many people can admit that they kvetch quite often, so its great fodder for jokes.

Jewish humor is not only an aspect of Jewish culture, but it plays on many other cultural aspects as well.

[My favorite joke is: One early winter morning, Rabbi Bloom was walking beside the canal when he saw a dog in the water, trying hard to stay afloat. It looked so sad and exhausted that Rabbi Bloom jumped in, and after a struggle, managed to bring it out alive.
A passer-by who saw this remarked, "That was very brave of you! You must love animals; are you a vet?"
Rabbi Bloom replied, "And vhat did you expect? Of course I'm a–vet! I'm a–freezing cold as vell!"]

Jewish weddings have many traditions and must include certain practices which follow Jewish law. Traditionally and historically a Jewish wedding included two stages the first stage was the kiddushin, meaning betrothal, and the nissuin, which is the marriage.

There are quite a few steps to a Jewish wedding. First, before the wedding ceremony, the marriage contract, or ketubah, must be signed in the presence of two witnesses. The wedding contract outline all the obligations the husband has to his wife. These marriage contracts are often written on elaborately illuminated manuscripts. The marriage contract, or at least parts of it, is then read aloud at the start of the ceremony, under the chuppah, as a was to both separate and transition from the engagement to the marriage ceremony. The chuppah is a wedding canopy and is meant to symbolize the home that the couple will build together. Another tradition that is still kept in many communities today is that of the unterfirers. This is the practice of the two fathers leading the groom down the aisle, and the two mothers leading the bride. During the ceremony there are also the seven blessings, and the breaking of the glass at the end of the ceremony. The seven blessings, or sheva brachot, are seven blessings that are recited by either the rabbi or selected honored guests. Being selected to recite a blessing is considered a great honor. After these blessings are delivered the groom drinks wine from a cup, and then the bride drinks from the same cup. At the end of the ceremony, the groom crushes the wine glass by stomping on it, and the guests shout 'Mazel Tov' to congratulate the new couple.

There are many other traditions though that have either been forgotten or adopted. After the wedding meal is finished, and the Birkat Hamazon, grace after meals, has been said, there is the tradition of the bride and groom each taking a glass of wine and pouring it into a third glass to symbolize their union and the creation of their new, combined, life. This tradition has become more uncommon, as has the yichud, which was the Ashkenazi practice of leaving the bride and groom alone for 10-20 minutes directly after the wedding ceremony to complete the wedding ceremony. There is also the common practice of lifting the bride and groom in chairs during the reception, and dancing around with them. This practice is a more contemporary addition. It is possible to place it in with the various traditional dances of Jewish weddings, such as the hora, mitzvah tantz, the gladdening of the bride, or the mizinke.

No matter whether a family is reformed, conservative, orthodox, ashkenazi, or sephardi, Jewish wedding traditions are abundant, and you can be sure, that many will be included in the wedding ceremony.

After learning about how many different Jewish ethnic division there were while researching my cultural project, I decided to do some further research on the Jewish ethnic divisions and subcultures of south and east Asia. In south and East Asia there are many different Jewish ethnic divisions. Among these groups are the Bene Israel, Cochin, Paradesi, Nasranis, Bagdhadi, Bnei Menashe, and Bnei Ephraim Jewish people who settled in various parts of India at various times. Most of these groups have migrated to Israel, though there are still some to be found in India. You also have the Pakistani Jews of Pakistan. There are some small Jewish communities in Krea and Japan, as well. Finally. In China there are many small groups of Jewish people, but the largest Jewish ethnic division in China are the groups of Kaifeng Jews.

I found the history of the Kaifeng Jews to be the most interesting, and so I decided to look into it a bit more for this culture post. The Kaifeng Jews were a small community of Jewish people who lived in Kaifeng in the Henan province of China. The Kaifeng Jewish community is believed to have been established sometime during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and have continued until the late nineteenth century. Today there are not many Jews in China but may of those who are have begun to reclaim there Jewish heritage and some have are once again claiming the title of Kaifeng Jews.

One of the most interesting thing I found in their history was the story that during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), a ming emperor gave seven surnames to the Jewish people, which are Ai, Shi, Gao, Jin, Li, Zhang, and Zhao. I found this interesting because in western societies there are some traditional Jewish names that are quite distinctive, such as Himmelfarb, Kaufman, and Steinberg. In fact, there many traditional surnames which end in either -stein or -berg. 

Not many people know about the Jewish divisions in south and eastern Asia, and I found learning about them very interesting.

I really enjoyed working with Shir this semester as I learned Hebrew. working with a language partner was definitely the most helpful aspect while learning this language. The materials available at the Global Studio were not that helpful to me. I found that by working with a language partner, picking topics to talk about, and creating vocabulary lists relevant to these topics I was able to learn more , and learn more efficiently. Shir was also helpful with grammatical and usage corrections, which much of the time I am a stickler for. a book or computer program can't really fix the way you are speaking, the pronunciation, or the wrong tense or gender of the word the way a human can, because they do not realize that you are making a mistake, or that you intended to say something different. Also, when talking with a person face to face, I feel that I process language differently. I search for the words I know in order to say something, because I am responding to someone's comment or question then work of their answers to gain new vocabulary, whereas with a book you can look up new words and figure out what you want to say. But, with a book these words will not stick as well, because you are not reusing them or actively associating them with conversation, statements, and as parts of your vocabulary. I found having a language partner the most useful tool available as part of the self-directed languages.

Shalom Rav Translation

The document attached to this blog post has a translation of the lyrics of my favorite Hebrew song. Shalom Rav is a song and a prayer that I learned in kindergarten.I've loved this song because of it's beautiful tune. I have been hearing it for years, and I've always understood that in context the song is about healing and peace, but I haven't been able to understand the individual words of the song. On of my goals for the semester was to understand the words to this prayer, so that the next time I hear it in temple I can truly understand it and appreciate it. I've put the words into an order to make sense, rather than a literal and direct translation. Also the words that are in brackets are words inferred in the message of the sentence, but not actually said in the lyrics.

I watched a clip of sesame street that was entirely in Hebrew. In Israel Sesame Street is also known as Shalom Sesame. What I understood from this episode was that grover was trying to learn how you are supposed to greet different people base on various factors such as age, time of day, and formality. I did not understand every word in this episode, but I found it easy to pick up the general gist of it. While listening I recognized the phrase בוקר טוב (Boker tov) which means 'good morning', but at some point people started responding בוקר אור (Boker or). I had never heard this second phrase before, so I decided to look it up. When some one say Boker Tove, or good morning, to you, you can either respond with the same phrase, or you can respond with Boker Or which directly translates to 'Morning (of) Light'. When you respond Boker Or you are in essence saying something along the lines of 'may you have a day of light' and such. To me this seems like it would be a way to greet someone you know well or care about greatly, because rather than just saying good morning back, you are saying that but also wishing them a light filled day.

This is an example of my Hebrew writing. Here I used the script rather than print lettering.

I found Nikolina's culture project on Rikshawalas very interesting. It was very interesting to look at the ideas of taxis, transportation, and one's interaction with them and the driver's as aspects of culture. I thought it was very original to look at the subculture of rickshaws. I thought Nikolina did a very good job giving a brief overview of the Rickshaw culture, explaining how one would go about getting and riding in a rickshaw, and giving us a brief vocabulary that relates to a rickshaw ride. 

Laila's presentation on food made me hungry to say the least. I did not realize how many different foods there were that were traditionally attached to the cultures associated with the Persian language. I also really enjoyed that Laila not only taught us relevant language, and the names of some of the more popular foods, but that she also taught us how to write these words and foods.

I did not get to see all of Danielle's presentation because I had to get to my next class though. What I got from the parts of her project that I did see, is that Persian engagements are weddings are both lengthy and intricate processes. There are so many aspects to consider when finding a spouse and planning a wedding. I really wish I had been able to see the rest of her cultural project presentation because it seemed very interesting. 

I really enjoyed the culture shock video. I found it really interesting, because we heard things about American culture that aren't really though about by natives everyday. 

It was coo, hearing about the different social aspects that are different between other cultures and ours. for instance, I had never thought that the way we greet each other in passing could be so confusing to others. What I found most interesting though, were the differences in educational systems and practices. I took it for granted that when you were writing a paper you were supposed to create a thesis and analyze the article, book, or issue that is your topic. In elementary school we are taught to write book reports, then as we get older and progress in school we are taught different methods of analysis to utilize while writing papers and reports. I had never thought that in other cultures this may be different. Hearing one person tell of the first time he had to analyze a book in a paper was interesting. It was part of our enculturation to develop opinions about something, and to think that this is an aspect of culture shock for someone was very interesting. This idea made me revisit our discussion on collectivist and individualist cultures, and think about how the formation of an opinion can be affected by which idea of self the culture promotes. 

The Sephardi Ashkenazi Split

For my cultural project I decided to explore the split between the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi Jews. I had always known that there were differences between these two sub-cultures, and that they identified largely with different geographic locales. However, I had never realized before, how many differences there were between these two subcultures, nor that there were so many other Jewish subcultures besides Ashkenazi and Sephardi. The most interesting thing I learned during this project was about the various Jewish subcultures located throughout Asia. I had never learned a lot about Asia before, and I had never even heard about Asian Jewish cultures.  I truly enjoyed looking into the history of these groups and learning about how there traditions, history, and experiences were different from western groups of Jews. 

For my sources I used information gained from an interview with my Rabbi as well as:

History of Hebrew

This PowerPoint reviews a brief history of the hebrew language. It explores and sums up the various periods of transition that Hebrew went through. It also looks at some of the different current alphabets, and the different forms and populations of Hebrew spoken today.

In this article culture is explained as it relates to the scale of individualism and collectivism. I really enjoyed this article because it not only corresponded with my language learning and cultural understanding of my target language, but it also corresponded with some of my other classes, such as sociology and anthropology. Now in this article collectivism and individualism are explained as being the two poles--or extremes--at the end of the scale, and most culture fall in between them. The individualistic culture focuses more on the identity, needs and subsistence of the self, while the collectivistic culture focuses on those of the primary or immediate group, such as one's family, or a group one is greatly invested in. I've learned through this article and my other courses how important it is to look at all aspects of a culture, and not label them using a general term. most cultures fall somewhere between the two ends of this scale meaning that they adopt a subtle mixture of both collectivistic and individualistic ideals. This attitude translates to a few other aspects talked about in this article. Monochronic and polychronic ideas, internal versus external beliefs, and direct and indirect communication.

This article talks about how different people and different cultures relate monochronic and polychronic perceptions of time, external and internal views on the locus of control, and directness or indirectness of communication in a culture. In this article each one of these aspects is tied largely to either the idea of an individualistic culture, or that of a collectivistic culture. However, when you think about how most cultures fall in between these two definitions, you also have to think that as it relate to these other cultural and communicative factors, cultures must adopt a majority of their practice from one idea, yet traces of its opposite must likely be evident in small parts of each culture.

When I took a psychology class we touched on the various areas and parts of the brains and how they connected to various mental and physical tasks. We touched briefly on how they brain learned and processed language, and of course touched on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Broca's area, and Wernicke's area. I don't think I realized at the time how many different areas of the brain were involved in language, though. I also found it interesting to learn about these different aspects of language and then how they apply to learning and speaking foreign languages.

I found the section on slips of the tongue very interesting. I know I make then often enough, and I found it interesting to think about how they might happen in other languages. It is intriguing to think about how the slips we make in English may never be made in a different language, because the the similarities between words and phrases would be different, thereby affecting the sounds, syllables, words, and units of grammar differently.