This is my final reflection on my independent Hindi studies.
Shiksha Mahtani's Posts (21)
Sort by
Week 1
- Greetings
- Days of the week
- Colors
- Pronunciations
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 2
- Food
- Drinks
- Family members
- Pronunciations
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 3
- Household items
- Pronunciations
- **anything left over from previous weeks
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 4
- Places
- Locations
- Professions
- Pronunciations
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 5
- How to tell time
- Numbers
- Pronunciation
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 6
- Animals
- **anything left over from previous weeks
- Pronunciations
- Culture talk with language partner
Week 7
- Women issues in India
- Related vocabulary
- Pronunciations
Week 8
- India's politics (Basic)
- Related vocabulary
- Pronunciations
Week 9
- India's geography
- Related vocabulary
- Pronunciations
Week 10
- Review all lessons and make sure remember everything
- Watch Hindi movie (no subtitles)
- Talk about movi - Related vocabulary
- Pronunciations
For 105, I was to write a final reflection on my entire self-taught experience this semester. I believe this is exactly what was required for 110 as well. I have attached below the reflection I turned in for 105 as well because my experience was the same for both 105 and 110. If there is some information missing please let me know, and I will provide it. The only information missing from the attached reflection is commentary about the learning plan. So here it is: Looking back after the semester, I would say that I managed to do most of the items on my list. However, I will definitely need to go back and continue to practice all of the vocab words and sentences and phrases that I learned. With practice, it should become easier to say when trying to speak conversationally, whereas right now, I still have to really think about it.
Thank you!
This is an audio recording of my explaining how I make the vegetable and fruit juice that I drink everyday.
This is an audio recording of me talking about my Thanksgiving break. I went on a trip to Hot Springs, VA with some friends.
This is an audio recording of my giving a movie review of Bollywood film - Yeh Jawanee Hai Deewanee.
Video of my listing 10 items in hindi along with their color.
My Powerpoint for my cultural presentation on arranged marriages in India.
Response to reading "Bilinguals are smarter" NYT.
I definitely agree that bilingual people are smarter people. Bilinguals are people who understand and think in two different languages. It makes sense that their mental abilities are expanded, because there is much complexity behind managing oneself within two languages. I have also heard that it is easier for bilingual people to learn new languages because they already have the mental ability to comprehend the differences between languages. The brain is a muscle that needs training, and those who are able to speak more than one language are constantly training their mind to switch between two different modes. I am personally very grateful that I have been brought up to be a bilingual person with english and spanish. I hope to soon become trilingual with Hindi! If being bilingual makes you smarter, I can only imagine what being trilingual makes you!
Read: "Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction" NYT.
This was a fascinating article. It was interesting to read about another language that is on the verge of extinction. It is actually a very sad thought to think that a language can just die like that. I can relate. The type of Indian that I am - Sindhi - has its own language, called Sindhi. However, the language is quickly dying out with my generation. My grandparents and their generation of Sindhis all speak it very fluently. My parents and aunts and uncles and others in that generation are also capable of speaking it, but they dont speak it very often. Now, in my generation, I have heard Sindhi spoken amongst my parents and my grandparents but normally when speaking in an Indian language, Indians just speak Hindi. I am currently trying to learn how to speak Hindi because it is important to me to be able to converse with other Indians in Hindi. However, because not many people speak Sindhi, it is not as useful to learn that language. My personal goal is to first learn Hindi, and then learn how to speak Sindhi, because I think it is very important to keep the language alive. I worry that not many others in my generation realize the importance behind their learning Sindhi. When a language dies, along with it dies the identity of a whole people. A language is a very important factor when defining a people, and to think that a language could just disappear forever is a very scary thought indeed. I hope that I can learn Sindhi and pass it on to my children when the time comes!
Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language.
Knowing the language's history definitely helps one in learning the language because it helps you better understand the origin of the language and the words that you are speaking. It helps put the language you are learning in context. When learning the history behind Hindi, I learned that Hindi actually originated from the language Urdu (the language commonly spoken by Pakistanis). This actually helped me because a lot of things made more sense knowing this. It is for this reason that Pakistanis and Indians dont have as much trouble conversing with one another. Because the two languages are essentially the same with a few random different words.
When I spoke to my language partner about this, she confirmed it. She related it to the desi community on the Richmond campus. She told me that it is for this reason that the Pakistanis at UofR and the Indians at UofR are always speaking in Hindi because the Pakistanis can understand Hindi perfectly well. Urdu, she told me, is just like Hindi, there are just a few words that are different.
Knowing the history of a language can help in many ways. It can help one understand why people converse in the ways that they do. It can help one understand why the words and the script are the way they are. But it can also help one truly appreciate the language and the culture they are learning. It helps one gain a deeper understanding for the culture they are trying to enter by learning the language.
Reflect on "Communicative Competence".
While this entire chapter was definitely very interesting, the part that interested me the most was when the author said, "What are the rules that govern our conversations? How do we get someone's attention? How do we initiate topics? Terminate topics? Avoid topics? How does a person interrupt, correct, or seek clarification? These questions relate to an area of linguistic competence possessed by every adult native speaker of a language, yet few foreign language curricula traditionally deal with these important aspects of CC [Communicative Competence]" (page 228).
Thinking about this, I completely agree with this! It is so true! There are certain aspects of a language that one really only knows if they are native speakers. This doesn't even only refer to slang. There are many phrases and ways in using certain sentences that reflect certain things only native people understand. In this way, it could be very easy for a foreign speaker to innocently insult native speakers because they don't know any better. For this reason, it is very important to also learn about the culture that relates to the language you are learning. I recently learned (I have not verified and do not know if it is actually true) that it is considered rude in China to say please and thank you to a waiter. Therefore, when the Chinese people come to the United States, they are not used to saying please and thank you. However, in the United States it is considered rude not to say please and thank you.
An interesting article that Professor Grove shared with our class spoke about "Huh" being the only universal word. "Huh" tends to mean basically the same thing in every language. This was a fascinating article to read and reflect on. It is true, there are not many universal words and expressions, which puts additional barriers between people of different cultures, even when they have begun learning similar languages.
Reflect on "Culture Shock"
I was having trouble viewing this video online so I will just talk about my experience with culture shock in general. I have never actually experienced complete culture shock despite all the traveling I have been fortunate enough to complete in my life. I think this is because I try and educate myself on the place I am going to before I go. I try and prepare myself for what is to come. Something I have experienced, however, is having international friends who are not used to the American ways and therefore have trouble with certain things. Whether it be with their english pronunciations, or just the American culture, it is interesting to hang out with international people and get their perspective on the American people. One thing that amazed them is the big portions given at restaurants in this country. Many internationals have mentioned that they don't know how people finish their plates! They are also amazed by the free water. I have many Indian international friends who are uncomfortable drinking from the tap here in the United States despite knowing that the water is very much clean. This is because they are used to having to be careful with the tap water in India. In India, one has to pre-boil tap water, and then put it in the fridge to drink later. It's interesting because when I am with Indians here in the United States, they almost always, ask for no ice in their drinking water, because in India people dont eat ice. Whereas when I am with Americans, they sometimes ask for extra ice! There are so many cultural differences between people, even in the smallest ways, if you pay close attention, they are really fun and interesting to notice!
Here is my powerpoint presentation on the history of Hindi! Hindi%20History.pptx
How are you learning new words? How many new words have you learned? Do you have realistic goals?
In order to learn new hindi words, I have asked my language partner to send me 10 new vocab words every few days. I then put these words on notecards and walk around campus memorizing the words. Then when I meet up with my language partner, we go over pronunciation of the words to make sure that I am saying them correctly. She then helps me use the words in a sentence. This is the best way I have found for me to learn new words.
I am unaware as to exactly how many new words I have managed to learn, however, I can definitely see improvement in my Hindi speaking. Not only do I learn from my notecards, but also when I meet my language partner, I ask her how to say things that I find myself saying in my everyday life. I have also been watching Hindi movies and listening to Hindi music to keep my ear used to the language.
Working on learning Hindi, I have realized how much harder it is than I originally thought. My goals have become more realistic in that I know I will not be a fluent speaker by the end of the semester. However, having taken this class, I have learned how to teach myself the language and I plan to continue to do so even after the semester ends.
Reflect on Presentations of classmates.
The presentations of my fellow classmates were very interesting!! I loved learning about the Swedish coffee/tea time - called "Fika". Although I must admit, it was definitely making me a little hungry! The presentation about Rakshabandan was also very interesting. Although I already knew a little bit about it, it was interesting to hear more details about it. All in all, it is always interesting to learn something new about a different culture. It was nice to see some pictures instead of just talking about it as a change of pace. I love having the opportunity to talk to my fellow classmates about the cultures they are learning about because it helps expand my own personal knowledge about the world.
Body Language/Linguistic Aspects
A major linguistic difference between English and Hindi is the alphabet. The Hindi language is made up of approximately half the vowels and double the consonants of the English alphabet. The Devanagari script consists of 10 vowels and 40 consonants. In other words the sounds phonetically and otherwise is completely different to that of the English language. It is for this reason that Hindi speakers have a difficult time pronouncing the difference between "photOgraph" and "photOgrapher", for example. However, it is also very difficult for the English speaker to get accustomed to making sounds and hearing sounds that they are not used to ever hearing. While I have been learning how to make the sounds in the Hindi language, I have personally been having a hard time making all of the sounds correctly, and making sure I hear the differences between sounds. My language partner informed me that it is easier for Hindi speakers because they have been learning the differences since they were children. However, with practice, I hope to improve!
The following link begins to explain some of the differences between english and hindi.
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/language/index.pl?read=2206
Reading "Figuring Foreigners Out" was very interesting because I could personally relate to a lot of it. Having grown up in the United States in a typical Indian household, one could say that I have had the best of both worlds. I would go to school and be American and then I would come home and be Indian. However, that is not to say that there were never times when certain behaviors and manners would overlap. I feel like I was good at keeping both my worlds balanced but reflecting on my own behaviors it is true what the article is saying about different cultures. The American society is an individualist society. Always worried about themselves and pursuing their interests and goals. Not knowing exactly how to explain it, but having grown up within the American culture, it is obvious to me that the American people, including myself, are very self-sufficient and independent. Whereas within the Indian culture, it a very collectivist society. The people in your family will always be there no matter what and you can always depend on them. In fact when you don't ask them for help, they will force themselves upon you. As an Indian you also have certain responsibilities towards the members in your family. There is a close tie between you all and it is a tie you must respect.Who you are as an Indian, is directly reflective of your parents within the Indian society, not of you. The interrelations amongst Indians are very deep and very complex, interrelations nonexistent amongst Americans.
Another interesting point made in the article that I could relate to was that of monochronic versus polychronic. Having studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 6 months, I was able to full embrace the latino culture, not to mention that I was born in Santiago, Chile, and have been well attuned to the latino culture all my life. While studying abroad in Argentina, however, one thing struck me as extremely different, more different than any other observation I made while living there, and that was the Argentinians' sense of time. Having grown up and spent most of my life in the United States, I am accustomed to the fast paced lifestyle of Americans. Americans are always thinking about what's next, they never pause to appreciate the moment they are in. In comparison the Argentinians never think about what's next. They are extremely calm and relaxed. They spend 3-4 hours at dinner, for example. They also don't worry about being late to meetings or classes, whereas in America it is a big no no to be late. Their motto is to enjoy life and to figure it out as they go. Having grown up in America, this drove me crazy because it was hard for me to just stop and relax and enjoy the moment. I realized that I would stress myself out for absolutely no reason. Having come back to the states now, I am trying to combine both lifestyles within my own.
