This is a sample of some vocabulary about the Israeli Defense Force. In order: army, Israeli Defense Force, entrance exam, soldiers, base, and unit.
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This is a writing sample of some emotion vocabulary.
Since I gave back my book I only have my notes to read from. I read some of my family vocabulary, in order: family, mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin (daughter of aunt), cousin (daughter of uncle), cousin (son of aunt), cousin (son of uncle), step (for step sibling, uncle, cousin, etc.).
This is a brief introduction of myself in Hebrew. It says:
Shalom (hello.
Ani Sarah (I am Sarah).
Ani mi New Jersey, leyad New York (I am from New Jersey, near New York).
My learning at the beginning of the semester did no go as planned (I talked about it in my blog post titled "So Far...110"). So Rachel and I revamped our learning plan and made realistic goals:
1. Learn the alphabet
2. Learn how to read Hebrew with vowels
3. Learn how to write Hebrew with vowels
4. Learn Hebrew numbers, pronouns, and as many other key words as we can get to
5. Have a plethora of vocabulary that we know how to pronounce but do not necessarily know by heart
I think we accomplished all of these goals. I now can read and write Hebrew with vowels (and a little bit without vowels!), know numbers and pronouns, and have great notes with vocabulary and grammar to refer to in the future giving me the opportunity to learn them at my own pace. I am really happy that I accomplished my learning plan, after it was revised.
Final Blog Post: IDF
The Israeli Defense Force was created shortly after the creation of the state in 1949. The draft applies to all citizens who are 18 and not exempt. New recruits are required to pass an exam and then go through 6 months of training. Before beginning training all Israeli soldiers are required to go to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. This is supposed to remind people why being a part of the IDF is so important. Getting into the Special Forces or becoming a spy is very competitive and is very honorable. Deferment is given to those who have not yet completed high school. Exemptions are given to mentally ill, pacifists (as of 2002), and orthodox Jews who are currently studying. There is currently a huge debate if studying Judaism should be a valid excuse not to serve in the army. Something fairly surprising is that people of the Druze community (Druze is a religion you can only be born into – millions of Druze people live in the north of Israel and proudly serve in the IDF.
Serving in the army drastically changes their higher education system. After high school all citizens will serve in the army for 2 to 3 years (2 for females, 3 for males). After they finish their service they will live at home with their parents and work a simple job, like being a waitress or waiter, to save up money for a year or two. After they save up enough money they will travel for a period of time (anywhere from 6 months to 2 years). Most people travel around Southeast Asia because it is not expensive. Then after traveling they will go to a university where they can go directly into their specialization (medical school, law school, etc.).
When serving in the army all of the soldiers live on the base and are allowed to come home infrequently. They normally go home for the Sabbath, Friday and Saturday. This can constrict many of their social lives because the one night they are able to go out and socialize is Shabbat; in Judaism Shabbat is a time for rest and is Friday evening through Saturday evening. So anyone who strictly observes Judaism will stay home and rest on Friday nights. Life on the base can be very fun; most people are between the ages of 18 to 22. There are also many different types of jobs people can do in the army. A family friend of mine is the “party planner” for her unit of 300 people. She organizes social gatherings and makes sure all of the soldiers are as happy and healthy as possible. On the battlefield officers take charge and lead by example. Citizens continue to serve in the army reserves for one month a year for about 40 years. From Israelis I have spoken to about this, they say it is a great break from their daily lives and fun to be in a different environment for a short period of time.
The majority of the Israeli population supports the IDF. Due to Israel’s geographical location they feel having a draft is necessary. It is also something people can bring up in small talk when getting to know someone and many people find common ground with others through their experiences. In interviews it is asked about all of the time. The army is part of the daily life in Israel, soldiers are stationed all around the country and do not only stay on their bases but also are around in the communities. When I was in Israel a couple of years ago I was taking a train and sitting across from a girl my age that was holding a huge gun. I was shocked but no one else even seemed to notice, seeing soldiers around carrying guns is part of everyday life.
American Jews are also very proud of the IDF; when Jewish American young adults go to Israel most people come back with an IDF t-shirt. Many young Jews around the world experience Israel for the first time through a trip call Birthright, or Taglit in Hebrew. Birthright is a free 10-day trip to Israel to any Jews between the ages of 18 and 26 around the world. There are always at least 2 Israel soldiers on every trip and it is very competitive to get those spots because all of the soldiers want to come on these trips. It is a good chance for Israelis to bond with other Jewish people their age around the world and creates long lasting friendships.
On the Taglit Birthright website they call this experience an "educational journey". "One of the primary objectives of our trips is to motivate participants to explore their Jewish identity through a peer educational experience of historic and contemporary Israel".
Birthright is not about brainwashing people to think or act a certain way but to educate them on their religion and state. This is not a mandatory trip in any way, it is a privilege to have this opportunity and it is up to the individual whether or not they would like to participate. In fact it is not always easy to get on one of these trips, most people are rejected the first time they apply because spots are limited and you have to meet the eligibility requirements. There are a lot of factors taken into consideration that decide if you are eligible such as age, previous Israel experience, whether or not they are involved in a Jewish studies program and of course Jewish heritage. Since religion in our present time can be a complicated thing to define for an individual, Birthright lays out a guideline on how they define having a strong enough Jewish heritage to be eligible for the trip: you must identify as Jewish without practicing another religion, have at least one Jewish birth parent or have completed Jewish conversion and be recognized as Jewish by one of the denominations of Judaism.
The program was first founded to address the growing divide between Diaspora Jewish youth and the land and people of Israel. Judaism is unlike most other religions in the way that is not only a faith but also a culture. If people of a culture are spread all across the world how can you keep that culture as one? To preserve our culture it is necessary to bring our people together to learn, grow and form bonds that keep our culture and loyalty so strong.
"Taglit-Birthright Israel aims to change the course of Jewish history and ensure the continuity of the Jewish people by strengthening Jewish identity, Jewish communities, and solidarity with Israel via an educational trip to Israel for Jewish young adults around the world". So does this disturb the natural evolution that Borris speaks of? Perhaps. Did the Holocaust disturb the natural evolution of the Jewish people? Absolutely.
Borris compared the natural progression of people losing their Jewish identity to the fact that more and more Muslims are moving into France and the number one religion is changing from Catholic to Islam. So what he is trying to say is that if Birthright did not exist, the number one religion in Israel would not be Judaism, or not for long at least. These are in fact two very different situations. First of all people in France are choosing not to practice religion which is driving the population of Catholics down drastically. Second of all there are more Muslims moving in who practice another religion. The difference between France and Israel is that France is not based upon a religion while Israel is. So if the number one religion in France changes that does not directly change their politics but it would in Israel. Another difference is that the people who go on this trip do not live in Israel so do not affect the population of the country unless they decide to move there (which sometimes happens but is not the main purpose of the trip). Also it is extremely difficult to continue a culture if the people are not physically together, making this trip a necessity to keep it alive.
Israel is the state of the Jewish people - the only country built off of religion. This puts Israel and its people in a very different category than most other countries. The Jewish people are also fortunate enough to have this unique opportunity to learn about their heritage and religion which is fantastic. Can you really disagree with a people for wanting to educate their youth and pass on ancient traditions?
Today I presented on the Israeli Defense Force (IDF); the two other students who presented had topics about video gaming in South Korea and the Swedish Education system. These three topics do not seem to have much in common but as I was watching these presentations I kept finding things that could relate to my presentation.
Before I share my train of thought I would like to touch on the other student's presentations. I thought both of them were great and they clearly know a lot about their topics. The way Sweden's education system is laid out is very unique and I have heard of nothing like it. I wonder if it discourages or encourages more people to continue their education (to higher ed) because high school ends much earlier (age wise) than the typical education system we are used to. The video gaming was very interesting and actually makes me angry how segregated the sport is because it seems like only men are recognized as typical players. Yes there are females out there but the only mention I heard of a female and gaming throughout the whole presentation was about the "love seat" where a boy can invite his girlfriend to come watch him play video games...not play, just watch. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that most of these games are so violent and involve killing other people.
While listening to the education system presentation I was thinking about how being drafted into the army at 18 affects the Israeli education system. It certainly affects the high education system as I mentioned in my presentation but I am curious to know if it also affects the elementary through high schooling because most Israeli citizens are preparing to go into the army. I am sure it does and will talk to my language partner about it.
The people who are typically playing these video games are high schoolers according to the presentation. Most of these games involve killing and there is such excitement about it (as we saw in the video clip)...there is something very wrong about cheering someone on while they are killing other people/beings in the game. Yes it is only on the TV screen but who says a video game cannot influence life offscreen? Most people in the IDF are right out of high school, not much older than these gamers, and are out on the battlefield and in the streets with guns in their hands. Although the Israeli government has good intentions putting a gun in an 18 year old's hands sound pretty dangerous to me. If these gamers are so excited to kill their enemies...why wouldn't people halfway across the world and about the same age have the same feelings?
I support the IDF and do not think this is of huge concern since they all go through intensive training but the presentations brought up these interesting points for me.
While reading this article I kept relating it to being in good shape. Exercising the body (being in shape) through physical activity and exercising the brain by speaking another languages. All of the health benefits that the article talks about are also health benefits one has when he/she exercises regularly - less likely to get dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, able to switch from one thing to the other quickly, being focused and using less energy to complete activities.
When you are in good shape it is easier to do other physical activities, it does not require as much energy to complete most activities. This is why I equivocate it to speaking another language. Speaking another language is an exercise for your brain that uses parts of your brain that you might not use otherwise. Knowing that speaking another language does not only have an emotional benefit but also a physical benefit is motivating me to work harder at being more proficient in a second language.
This article is very interesting because it brings up many points: that our chatter words are like traffic, the word "huh" needs to be very short and it is the only universal word.
Chatter words are like traffic because within conversations there is a set of rules that everyone has agreed to follow. Within this set of rules is that someone answers a question if they asked one and they should respond quickly. There is not a lot of time between different people speaking; if you do not understand something it is important to respond rather than sit there quietly and try to figure it out. The shortness of the word "huh" is perfect for this: it is a quick response that does not interrupt the flow of the conversation while getting a point across. This sound tends to come from the throat and is made without much thought which is also important. And finally since the word is so short it doesn't make it seem like the other person is trying to say something but it prompts the first person speaking to either repeat themselves or elaborate on what they originally said. It is a universal word because it is a sound everyone can make but is still different from most words/sounds in every language, making it distinguishable and not confusing the first speaker that you are trying to say something.
While reading this article, there was a question in the back of my head that was consistently nagging me and I kept pushing it away. I was almost upset that I kept asking it because for some reason it is an innate emotion to want to keep this tribal dialect alive but my question was still legitimate. The question was: why? Why is keeping this language alive so important? Does it matter if it becomes extinct? My first reaction is, "of course it matters! How could you ever think it wouldn't?!" It seemed as if letting this language go extinct was letting something die - and in a way it is. But why does it matter? Will the world really change without this language that barely anyone speaks anymore? Probably not.
But what if we let it happen to many languages...what if we let more and more languages become extinct and then what will we have? Mandarin probably...so is that what we want? Obviously we are not at this point yet but it is something that is possible. Preserving all languages is important to keep our world diverse and unique and exciting!
In a way it reminds me of art. There are so many different types of art from the past, present, and heading towards the future. Art in all forms is valuable in our society because it is interesting and mind opening. Preserving historical art is crucial to our global society; we have created thousands of things related to historical art including museums, careers, special exhibits, books, and so on. Imagine if we stopped making oil paintings...and then clay statues...until there weren't many types of art left at all. This is how I think of preserving languages. Languages are art and it is essential for us to preserve every single one of them.
Knowing the history of Hebrew is helping me learn the language in a few ways. The first way being that it makes me feel proud of my people and motivates me to learn the language. Hebrew is the only language to be revived from the dead and come back strong; it has also helped create the state of Israel and a home for the Jewish people. Having a language is very important to having a strong country and culture. The second reason why this knowledge is helping me learn Hebrew is because I understand its origins better and can now understand why certain things within the language are the way they are. Right now Yiddish is dying out and some of the words are used in colloquial Hebrew which is important to be able to understand. Hebrew is a language that is always fighting for its place in the world and it is essential to keep it growing strong.
Power Point Presentation: The History of the Hebrew Language
Something from the reading that really resonated with me is this: language - the means for communication among members of a culture - is the most visible and available expression of that culture.
This reinforces why learning a language coincides with learning about the culture. It is so important to not only understand words and grammar to communicate in another language but to also know the dynamics of that culture. Something we discussed in class at the beginning of the semester was that one sentence can have many different meanings depending on its context and intonation. If you do not understand the cultural norms and societal values you can completely miss the meaning or a statement or offend someone without meaning to and the list goes on.
Israelis, for example, are very straight forward and aggressive (from our American point of view). It is very easy to mistake the meaning of what they say because it is not "PC" and may make others feel uncomfortable. Having realistic expectations for people is very important in relationships and even simple conversations; so knowing that an israeli person is going to be blunt and honest is a good thing to know and expect.
This article really touched on some points that I have talked about in class (and in blog posts as well I believe) that I think are very important when speaking a language.
When it comes to speaking a language there are the hard skills such as grammar and vocabulary and there are the soft skills such as body language and intonation. The article talked about the importance of the soft skills when speaking because it highly changes the meaning of a phrase. The example they gave about saying, "I don't like this casserole" could be interpreted in many different ways (an insult, apology, sad, joking, etc.) and neither the grammar of vocabulary influence this.
Last year when I was at the French Food Festival in Richmond I sat down at a table with a family speaking french. They turned to me and spoke to me in french as if I were a native too. We chatted for a while and then they asked me when I moved to the US, I said I was born here. They they asked me how many years I lived in France for and I said only four months. They were all shocked, they thought I was a native because I spoke like a french person even though we only talked about simple things. This was mostly do to the soft skills I learned while living in France with a french family. The article talks about how a native speaker as a natural inclination to speak a certain way and I think it can be learned because it seems that I learned it last year.
Also I thought the diagrams in the article made a lot of sense; my pragmatic competence is definitely higher than my organizational competence and the skills they related to those two types of competence held true from my experience.
I think the video is very interesting and thought provoking. It has brought up a lot of points I haven't thought about; even the smallest of things can cause the biggest issues. It is also making me rethink the way I criticize international students and making sense of their misunderstandings.
Orientation: how overwhelming! That is a lot to handle coming into the country. I feel comforted by being so busy and having plans all of the time but many of the international students do not like to learn and experience so much so quickly to feel comfortable.
Classroom culture: not speaking in class seems to be the norm outside of the US. When other students do not speak up in class I tend to think poorly of them but knowing that it is the way of their culture makes more sense. I thought it might be a confidence matter but it is simply unnatural for them. They are also intimidated because of language barriers and that their ideas may not be worth sharing.
Reading, writing, and thinking in another language: this is incredibly hard. I experienced this when I took a class at the Sorbonne in Paris and the professor cut us a lot of slack (luckily). I was not fluent in french and really needed that. If my professor expected the same quality of work from us as from the french students I would not have done well in the class because it took so much effort to even read the assignment, writing a term paper at the end of the semester was another story. I now have a lot more respect for international students after taking that course and being in their positions. I know that most international students here are fluent in english so it is not exactly the same situation but I can understand how hard it is to keep up with the rigor of work.
The problems that people are having about the smallest things is so interesting. The way that americans aren't comfortable with silence, language connotations and colloquialisms, and other things I would never think about. A topic they brought up that I have actually been thinking about a lot lately is that americans are always so busy, and it is desirable to be busy. That can be very difficult to deal with on a day to day basis and a huge difference in culture. Adjusting to the way people act, manage their time, and plan their social lives is focused on staying busy. Coming from a laid back culture to this uptight, structured society must be unnerving.
It makes a lot of sense that international students would get along better with each other than americans because they have more in common. Their biggest common point is that they are different from the culture they are in and can bond over their differences from their one similarity.
My Hebrew learning has not gone as planed. I used to know how to read and write hebrew no problem when I was 12 years old. Did I understand what anything meant? No. But at least I knew the written and pronunciation part. Since my Bat Mitzvah I have done little to no Hebrew reading and writing so I decided to take this self directed course to get back my skills and hopefully learned what some of it actually means.
Unfortunately I had a rude awakening when none of it seemed to come back to me. I couldn't even remember the alphabet song! Something so basic! I spent a couple of weeks deciding to learn script or print since no one really writes in print anymore and the alphabets are very different (for me at least). I decided I want to learn print since most of the signage in Israel is in print and so are most religious texts. When you learn the alphabet you also have to learn the vowels. There are over 10 vowel signs in addition to the alphabet that you need to learn when starting to learn Hebrew but after about first grade they are never written. I have not take the step of not using vowels and do not know if I will be able to do that this semester.
So now I finally relearned the alphabet, vowels, and some basic words. Hebrew is much more specific than English in many ways; for example there are 4 ways to say you (one for a singular female, plural females, singular male, and plural males). Learning these basic words have also not been easy but I think we are about to start learning some more words to put together basic phrases. I am excited to get more conversational but it is not a walk in the park.
I spoke with my language partner today about Israeli culture. Something I did not think about is how the army draft affects the culture. It is a topic for small talk, you will probably be asked about it in an interview, and it changes their high education. Once you finish high school you are drafted into the army for two or three years (2 for women, three for men). Then people typically work at a restaurant or a cashier to save up some money for a couple of years. Then they travel, typically around Southeast Asia because it is less expensive, for a couple of years before heading to a university. So by the time they start their higher education they are around 23-25. Their universities are also focused on a profession; for example if you want to be a doctor you wouldn't have to get an undergraduate degree before going to med school, you would just go straight to med school.
Israelis are know to be straight-forward and aggressive so I wanted to read a bit into it. The first blog post I read had a more negative experience it seems but the next article I found explains it all. Their culture is simply different and things they view as the norm we, as Americans, think are rude. It is important to make sure to understand the people before making any judgements. The second article hits a lot of key differences between Israelis and Americans and made me reflect on a lot of interactions I have had with Israeli people I know and how they may have perceived me as well.
In Hebrew there is script and and print writing, most signage is in print but everyone writes in script so it is important to know both. Something I find interesting is that words like the, to, from, at, etc are not typically their own words but an addition to another word. For example putting a lamed (L sound) in front of a word means "to" and then whatever word you say. It is very different from English in many ways: first of all it is written from right to left, many of their sentences start with the verb and then the subject, and it has sounds that we do not have in English (like the chhhhh sound in your throat). There are many more differences between the languages that are difficult to adjust to.
http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2008/12/two-looks-at-typical-israeli.html
http://israelnewsagency.com/crossculturaltipsdosdontsdoingbusinessisraelus489051207.html
Reading Hebrew is different than any type of romance language because, for the most part, the vowels are not in the alphabet; they are their own category of signs and are only use in writing for kindergarten level. So i guess I am a kindergartner. It does not make sense to me how you can see a word and know what letters will make what sounds. For example, when you see a "bet", you know it will make some sort of sound that begins with a B but you do not know if it will sounds like ba, bu boo, bo, bi, be, bee, etc. In Hebrew they just know because of context and different patterns in the language. As a beginner, this is way over my head. So I am sticking with the vowels for now.
When reading "Figuring Foreigners Out" I thought of a class I took with Professor Scinicariello called "French at Work". It was a class about how the business world works in France. We learned about many cultural differences which ranged from eating dinner to giving gifts to punctuality. That class really showed me how important it is to be culturally aware when interacting with people from other places and that actions you may find rude or inappropriate are commonplace for them.
For Israelis specifically there are a few main differences to be aware of: their straightforward and blunt attitude, their concept (or lack) of being politically correct and their informality. Attire for a wedding in Israel consists of jeans and naots (the Israeli version of birkenstocks). That is unheard of in the US and would be insulting unless you understood where someone else is coming from; it is also good to know if you are going to a wedding in Israel (it would be awkward to be the fanciest person there!).
This reading enforces the importance of cultural relativism and being self aware. Two things that are not only important when living in such a global and interconnected society like we do today but also important for those of us learning another language and wanting to travel to new places.
Originally I had some pretty ambitious goals. I wanted to be conversational in Hebrew and know how to read and write. Unfortunately it is taking longer to come back to me than expected but I am working at it. I was trying so hard to drive right into it but needed to take a step back and take it one day at a time.
Now I have similar but more realistic goals. I want to be able to read and write with vowels and have basic conversation skills. I think this is very attainable but we will have to see how quickly I can absorb the information. My language partner also made me realize how difficult Hebrew really is and that most people do not even get past one small workbook in a semester. So my goals may still be ambitious but I would rather set higher goals than lower ones.
