As a first time self-directed learner, this semester has been an eye opening experience as to how much I do not actually take control of my learning. I had all these ideas and plans that I would use to further my learning but unfortunately I did not use many of them. I wonder how far I would have gotten with the language had I not had Mirwais as my language partner. This experience has helped me to reconsider how I will go forward with acquiring knowledge within the academic realm but outside of the standard American academic setting to which I have become accustomed.

While I have definitely increased my knowledge of Persian over the semester by ten fold, I feel as though I could have put a lot more energy and effort into having better command of the language. As far as being a self-directed learner, I have found that when I am presented with an agenda from someone else more experienced, I fall back and let them do what they want for the most part. I'm not particularly fond of that but it is what it is and the first step to changing anything is to acknowledge it. I found that I did not speak up as much when I felt like things were moving too fast and as a result, I fell behind due to frustration. This led to me just coasting through the rest of the semester and putting more energy into other courses and my campus employment.

Reflecting upon it now I can see how similar my situation is to that of a student that I mentor at Henderson middle school. Since he has trouble reading and comprehension of what he's read, he gets frustrated with trying and gives up, distracting himself with other things. My experience in trying to learning Persian has helped me to empathize better with my student in regard to his work, this in turn has helped me to get less internally frustrated with him and thus has made me a better mentor because I can better understand where he's coming from. 

All of that being said, there is more work to be done and hopefully I will be able to better accomplish my goals of reading Iranian poetry and translating it in the future as I intend to pursue my self-directed learning after graduation. With less things going on, I think I will be able to have more discipline with my Persian language studies.

While I have definitely increased my knowledge of Persian over the semester by ten fold, I feel as though I could have put a lot more energy and effort into having better command of the language. I wonder how far I would have gotten if I didn't have Mirwais as my tutor since he was really organized and had set plans for each session. AS far as being a self-directed learner, I have found that when I am presented with an agenda from someone else more experienced, I fall back and let them do what they want for the most part. I'm not particularly fond of that but it is what it is and the first step to changing anything is to acknowledge it. I found that I did not speak up as much when I felt like things were moving too fast and as a result, I fell behind due to frustration. This led to me just coasting through the rest of the semester and putting more energy into other courses and my campus employment.

Reflecting upon it now I can see how similar my situation is to that of a student that I mentor at Henderson middle school. Since he has trouble reading and comprehension of what he's read, he gets frustrated with trying and gives up, distracting himself with other things. My experience in trying to learning Persian has helped me to empathize better with my student in regard to his work, this in turn has helped me to get less internally frustrated with him and thus has made me a better mentor because I can better understand where he's coming from. 

All of that being said, there is more work to be done and hopefully I will be able to better accomplish my goals of reading Iranian poetry and translating it in the future as I intend to pursue my self-directed learning after graduation. With less things going on, I think I will be able to have more discipline with my Persian studies. 

To have just started learning Persian a few weeks ago, I feel like I'm doing pretty well with learning how to write and speak. Watching the television show, The Secrets of this House, has helped me pick up words that I am familiar with orally. It's also good to see the interactions between men and women within the family. I'm not doing as much outside learning as I probably should and as a result, I haven't retained as many vocabulary words as I should have. I do know how to say my favorite color in persian though, zard is yellow. I don't know what the rest of the semester will turn out to be like as work in my other classes is about to really pick up. 

For the 105 class, Jensen and I taught the class how to greet someone in Persian. We opened the lesson with an example of how it was done in skit form. Then we broke down the literal translation of the words. I doubt that anyone remembers it now but in the moment, people caught on to it. 

The book is used in tutor sessions which is nice as it is a reference. I'll be honest and say that I haven't spent nearly as much time with the book considering how far I am in it. Since my tutor assigns us work to do in it, I do that work for the most part, but it is last minute and in an effort to be "prepared" for the next session. I know I need to spend more time with it on my own. 

My main resource was the Dari As a Second Language book that Mirwais had us purchase. It is chock full of exercises and new words and conversation scenarios. Aside from the occasional typo, it's really good. I can definitely use this in the future to return to and advance in my knowledge of persian as it has whole paragraphs that I can try to read and translate. 

Lesson Plan

• Write and understand the alphabet
• Learning basic sentences. 
• Learn to write in Persian
  • Write about myself and others

Goals

• Actually be able speak Persian
• Actually be able to write Persian
• Read Iranian poetry
• Write poetry in Persian. 

From top to bottom:

Salam. Shoma chetor hasted?  Hello. How are you?

Man khob astam. Wa shoma? I am good. And you?

Man khob astam. Tashakor. I am good thank you. 

Only knowing english fluently, I have always felt disadvantaged amongst my peers who knew two or more languages fluently and this article validates my feelings. Lol. I have also always wanted my children to know multiple languages so  I have found that this article has reinforced my inclination to expose my children to another language at a very early age. Hopefully I'll be in a situation that allows for it to be maintained in the household. That either means I need to become fluent in a language other than english or find a partner who is bilingual and we can all learn together... within the next fifteen years. 

This article has also connected with my biology class: Biological Basis of Neurodegenerative Diseases, as we have looked at Alzheimer's Disease briefly. This article indicates that the studies conducted have been between Spanish and English bilinguals. While this doesn't necessarily tie into the approach of the research studies discussed in the class, I'm curious to what kind of insight these finding may have in the field... it may change where scientists are looking within the brain in order to find the biological origins and mechanisms. 

Despite how awesome it is that the Siletz community has been able to bring back their language, I cannot get over the irony of the revival in that it is in development to be taught in high school as "a foreign language in the place where it originated." This has begun to alter my previous conception of what a foreign language is. I guess since I am AMerican born and bred, and come from an English speaking household, the notion that "foreign language" denoted a language from another country served as the foundation of my understanding. I was not even conscious of this until reading this article and being forced to again recognize the extent to which the relocation and genocide of the American Natives has and continues to reach, even today. 

It excites me, for reasons unbeknownst right now, that the article mentions people communicating via text in Siletz Dee-ni. The fact that the language has been incorporated into modern day activities, something as basic, to my generation at least, as texting shows some promise. Because of it, it even traverses geographical boundaries as Jen Johnson is, as indicated by the article, is located on the East coast, Pennsylvania to be specific. I hope that other languages suppressed due to colonization are able to use this model of revival to bring back or at least document the existence of their native tongues. Only time will tell though. 

Even though the film was made seven years ago, the issues discussed in Culture Shock are still incredibly relevant.  Some of them I’m very familiar with, while others introduced different matters that I had not heard put in words before, yet had experienced it. Issues such as how to respond to American greetings like “What’s Up?” or the role of silence in different cultures.

The matter of how to respond to greetings like, “What’s Up “or “How are you?” in America is one with which I am quite familiar. Since I am American, I have the luxury of the cultural knowledge behind the various contexts in which the greeting does come up and how to respond appropriately. I sympathize with international students that find themselves in awkward situations when they realize that the person that asked them the question doesn’t actually want the real answer. One student from the film recounted his experience in that situation. Aside from being frustrating trying to figure out when to actually answer and when to fake it with a thoughtless, “I’m fine,” people are faced with the feeling that people don’t actually care about how they are. That can be even more isolating when someone is in a new place different from their home.

Although I am an American, I too have problems with the greeting customs. I found myself nodding with the comments from those interviewed, how insensitive Americans are, why ask if they don’t really want to know. These are all statements that I’ve made in conversations with fellow American friends. While I don’t find myself feeling isolated, I do share the same frustrations even though I was actively perpetuating the issue. For years I’ve been trying to avoid adding the “How are you” after the initial “Hey” when I know that I’m not interested in chatting or don’t have the time to really listen and engage with the person. It has taken me years to be able to do this and I still mess up from time to time.

Another issue brought up was the role of silence in different cultures. This is something that I’ve never confronted in this context, but makes a great deal of sense.  Going back to the matter of greetings, those can be answered via silence. Personally it drives me absolutely mad. Prior to the segment in the video, I had never really thought about the role of silence across and within cultures. I’m looking forward to asking my tutor about how silence is interpreted in his culture. I wonder if there are any gender-dependent differences even though Persian is a genderless language.

Something that did bother me about the film were the comments from one of the deans of the school at that time. She spoke on how valuable international students were to the American students in that they can teach them about their culture. She was calling for international students to reach out and take the first steps to engage with domestic students. While I understand the good intentions behind the comments, I couldn’t help be put off slightly, given my “minority” status in this country. I don’t think it is the responsibility of an international student to teach the “ignorant” American students of their culture; especially if they are the ones who have to initiate the conversation. While there is definitely something to be said about owning one’s experience and taking the first step, I think reciprocity should be considered as well. I find it to be asking quite a lot of people to come to a new country and then start putting yourself out there. Where is the compassion for human vulnerability? At one point in the film American students seemed to be defended for being shy or withdrawn around international students. Where is the defense for the international students? I think both sides should be encouraged to engender intentional engagement with each other. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the minority group.

Overall I came to really enjoy the film. I appreciate everyone who shared their stories and experiences, even if they didn’t really want to. While I have had the opportunity to experience my own form of culture shock when I studied abroad in New Zealand, I found that this video reinforced and added to my experience. I would propose that this be screened to all incoming students, domestic or international, in an effort to spread awareness and encourage people, especially those familiar with American culture to lend an open ear or helping ear to others who may be struggling with the adjustment. 

I like the notion of looking at language as an interactive communication among individuals, each with a sociocultural identity. Given my minor in WGSS, I was particularly drawn to the segment titles, "Language and Gender." As an American english speaker, I don't find it odd that gender is considered a pragmatic factor in affecting the how well someone grasps cultural competence of a language. The examples given referencing gender differences within the American context is familiar, however the remarks on Japanese differences has me intrigued. Prior to reading this, I didn't know that there was a difference between how men and women spoke - well so much so that it could make or break a business deal in addition of the expense of an individual's dignity. 

Given that Persian is a genderless language, I wonder how or if this is relevant? I would think that the differences between men and women would come up in some respect to cultural competence. If not directly in the language, then perhaps in gestures or non gestures.  

One of the most significant ways knowing the history of a language is helpful is that is can link help us better recognize or understand connections between the language being studied and the language(s) already known. As the article uses the example for mother and how similar it is in other languages from the same family. 

It's also interesting to start to consider the sharing of terms, and the distinctive alterations that the terms may or may not undergo. As far as Persian is concerned, there are quite a few words that have been taken from Arabic, an afro-asiatic language, such as 'salaam' in stead of 'dorood' for greetings and behtar which, interestingly enough is very similar to the english better. 

I'm going to be using pictures and audio recordings for documenting my learning. I have already started to take photos of my writing of the alphabet and construction of sentences. I think these forms will be the most logical and relevant for the purposes of my language goals. 

At this point I think I would say that I know about 30 or so words... I must admit that I think I was a bit ambitious thinking that I would be able to write the language. I'm getting there slowly, but I struggle a bit with writing backwards in addition to the form of the letters. 

I'm a very slow writer, and I find myself getting frustrated often. Practice. Practice. Practice. 

Within the Iranian culture, there is a custom called 'taroof" that is a form of civility grounded in self-deference and social rank - essentially it's an interplay of propriety that is done through verbal and non verbal communication. It has been incorporated in many different interactions such as business, dinner invitations, or inviting someone over. One example that would be incredibly out of place in an American context takes place in a grocery store. The cashier will tell the customer that they don't have to pay as they customer has already honored by their presence. Meanwhile the customer insists on paying and ultimately pays for their groceries. In an American context, this would not make sense unless the cashier and customer really knew each other and it was understood as a joke... however I don't think it's meant to be taken as a joke in Iranian culture... although I could be wrong. 

A very common display of taroof is when guests have come for dinner. The host will offer food, drink, and comfort in abundance to the guest. The guest will return the taroof as well, declining all of it initially, only to accept it in the end.

This reminds me of Hojam's story about the woman who stayed with her family on her visit from Turkey. When the woman was asked if she wanted to go to DC, she declined, however Hojam knew that she actually meant yes. Had Hojam's husband been the one who interacted with the woman, the DC trip would not have happened. 

From what I have been exposed to thus far, I would say that the Persian culture is collectivist, monochronic, and indirect. I do not know how the internal/external aspect works right now. 

Collectivist makes sense with the culture's foundation of loyalty towards family and it's honor. Nepotism is often practiced when dealing with business negotiations. Interestingly enough, the families tend to be small with one or two children, however extended family is very close. 

In Iran, business etiquette calls for meetings made 4-6 weeks in advance with a week early confirmation. Since punctuality is considered a virtue, monochronic definitely fits this culture. It is however rude to track time whilst in a business meeting or other type of interaction. 

Given the custom of taroof, a system of politeness that calls for superficial self-denial in an effort to appear humble, I would definitely consider the culture to be indirect. For people unaware this is rather confusing, however those that live and function within it understand it clearly... which can be said of anything.