Nicole Schreiber

"It makes me really sad to think about how when a language goes extinct, with it an entire body of cultural, scientific, philosophical, and historical knowledge is depleted. Language holds so much cultural value and efforts to forcibly endanger a…"

"I also find typing annoying! Plus, I find handwriting is actually more effective for committing things to memory. Gender is tough, especially in Portuguese where it seems like there are no clear spelling rules or patterns. I have the same problem in…"

"Great job Leo! I am happy to hear how successful you have been in your language endeavors. Ficando sounds a lot like the American “talking stage” haha, perhaps dating norms aren’t so different after all. You are lucky to have so many Portuguese…"

I found both readings engaging, though certain sections left me slightly confused, particularly the reading on how the brain handles language. The basic concept was clear enough: distinct brain regions handle different linguistic functions, with Wernicke's and Broca's areas being used for comprehension and speech production. However it was harder for me to picture how all of these processes actually work together in real time during an actual conversation. This made me wonder why identical language acquisition techniques have dramatically different results across learners, even though everyone theoretically engages the same areas of the brain.The reading on meaning made me think more about how we understand words past their definitions. I understood sense as the meaning of a word within the language system itself, with reference connecting the word to something tangible or real. That helped explain how a word can stay the same but take on different meanings depending on context, which…

For my first cultural artifact post, I decided to research the Chinese civil service exams. I had often heard them referenced in various history classes or discussions of education and government structure, and I was curious to learn more. It was somewhat difficult to find images or artifacts, but the painting I show here is described as an image of Song dynasty imperial exams. Several sources describe the examination system as lasting from 606 to 1905 and undergoing numerous reforms and changes. Various sites and researchers investigate them for topics ranging from Confucianism to the unique opportunity to research them to see the effects of high-stakes testing across centuries, in addition to the information they provide about Chinese society and culture in different eras. The “most common form” involved three stages of testing, and candidates progressed from the local level to testing in the national capital. The tests could be taken multiple times by anyone who had passed the…

Nicole Schreiber

Comments

Language Learning Journal Entry #1

Discussion Post 1

Discussion Post #1

Cultural Artifact Post 1

Note: this page contains paid content.