Throughout this year, my opinion on my learning habits and preferences did not change significantly. I still believe that I am a mix of a visual and a tactile learner. I understand information better by writing it out, color coding, visualizing, sitting in the front of the room, but I remember it better if I act it out, walk while reading, or arrange it in thematic groups. A few keys habits/needs I’ve noticed in terms of my learning processes are the following: 1) I cannot memorize information that is typed out or written by someone else – it needs to be my own writing. I am not sure if that is because of my handwriting or the way in which I organize information. In the same vein, I tend to understand and retain information better if it is written in blue ben (if color-coded, the basis color would be blue). 2) No matter how good someone is at explaining concepts, I may understand them I the moment they are being explained to me, but if I don’t go back and rework them o my own, I will rarely remember them. I have the same issue when I don’t understand the reasoning/logical continuation leading to an idea or a result. I have a hard time remembering a fact if the why behind it has not been explained to me in a logical manner. 3) I love trees and charts! If there is a way in which I can depict information in a tree, showing the relations between key ideas, then I will do it, because that is the easiest way for me to understand and remember all the information associated with it. Same for charts; pros and cons are a prime example; I would much rather write them as bullet points in two columns than in a paragraph or sentence(s). 

For language learning specifically, I have noticed both with Spanish and English that I learn much faster by being forced to speak (i.e. being thrown into a country that only speaks that language) or by interacting with native speakers; asking them questions, having to paraphrase what I want to say in very simple terms, even including pantomime, because I have no other way of communicating my thought to them. Then what usually happens is they figure out what I’m trying to say and say it in that language. When this happens, whatever it is I was trying to covey, I will not easily forget later on because much time and attention were spent on it, and I tried to figure it out myself (going back to the learning styles). 

Another strategy that I find works really well for me when learning a language (in addition to the ones mentioned before) is listening to songs in that language, looking up the word-for-word translation of the lyrics, and reading along while the song is playing. That way I have the general sense of what the song is about, and more or less what each word means, so when I have to recall said words I will remember them in the context of the song and will hence be much more likely to remember what they meant. 

I really enjoyed the cultural stereotype beat-boxing video, as well as our discussions on the effects of language on learning. The topic of dead languages or dialects reminded me of a similar chapter I did in English literature in high school, where I had to read the story of an Italian family that migrated to the US, and write a diary entry as one of the children in that family. Language is an integral part of a people, and without knowing it, we can never really understand them fully. Thus, regardless of where I will raise my family and what other languages are spoken in the household, I have decided that my children will have to learn Greek. 

We have not covered this topic in the class, but as far as writing versus typing in a foreign language goes, I would presume typing is easier, but writing is more helpful and enjoyable.

When a language dies, a number of things happen as a result. 

First of all, the people the language belonged to lose their mother tongue. This, in turn, leads to the loss of contact with the culture that spoke the language. I am a firm believer that language gives great insight into culture and vice versa, which means that by letting a language die, we close an important window into that culture.

What is even worse, in time, we may even lose memory of the culture. Potentially not all languages and cultures in the world have been documented, which means if one of them were to go extinct right now, with no record of it, the culture would die with it.

This is a dangerous game because, if a language dies and there are not sufficient records of its structure and the culture surrounding it, it is extremely difficult, if possible at all to revive it.

That is why linguists should do what they can to immerse themselves in the cultures, learn and record as much as they can, and help teach the language to others to spread the knowledge.

Greek belongs to the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European language family.

There are a lot of words in Modern Greek that have been borrowed from Turkish during the Ottoman occupation in the late 1900s. These mostly include food names like 'ιμάμ μπαϊλντί', 'γιουβέτσι', 'μπριάμ', 'κεμπάμπ', and others.

Similarly, Greece has borrowed some more modern words from French, like 'κρουασάν', 'ασανσέρ', which mean croissant and elevator respectively. The latter is an interesting case because the Greek language already had a word for elevator which is still in use, but the French version is simpler and prevails in everyday speech.

Of course there are English terms for technology-related objects like 'laptop', or 'playstation'.

This interchange of labguages is very significant historically, in my opinion, as it shows the interactions of the countries throughout time. 300 years from now, perhaps people will be looking into how globalization will have affected languages around the world.

I am interested in the culture around drinking coffee in Greece. In Greece, besides being at the beach (only in the summer), going for coffee is probably the #1 pastime. So much so that, most of the time, when people want to arrange a meeting they don't really say "let's go out". Instead, they say "let's go for a coffee". Coffee is also really big in Greece because of smoking. The majority of the Greek population over 20 years old are smokers, and coffee is directly linked to cigarettes for almost all smokers. 

There are a lot of different types of coffee in Greece, and they are labeled differently than in the US. Initially, this was not in our learning plan, but Dan and I decided to devote a class to learning how to order at a coffee shop. 

There are a few sounds in Greek that do not exist in English, but for the most part, the Greek sounds may consist of combinations of sounds common with English, but which English speakers would not normally combine in speech.

For instance, my name, Smaragda. This is the closest English spelling for it, but it is still not accurate. The 'g' is actually pronounced more like the 'w' in 'wire' but without the 'ou' sound following it. Phonetically, that would be 'ɣ', a fricative, velar consonant.
The 'd' would be pronounced more like the 'th' in 'then'. Phonetically that is the 'ð' dental, fricative consonant.

Even though both of these sounds exist exactly or approximately in the English phonetic inventory, and therefore English speakers are able to make them, they are not found in any words together, which makes it hard for English speakers to make those sounds.

Greek seems to contain all of the structures in Aitchison's diagram. In our classes, Dan and I have covered most of phonetics and phonology, and have touched on some syntax, morphology, and semantics. In our general discussion in and out of class we have also seen some pragmatics through translating songs or talking about Greek history and culture. It is my opinion that you have not truly learned a language until you have put it into context. For this reason, when I am helping Dan learn Greek, I try to explain not only how a sound, a word, or a sentence are formed or structured, but also why they are this way, how have they evolved and changed when compared to ancient Greek, and what was that context around which they were formed. For example, the reason there are 5 different letters/diphthongs that today make the same 'ee' sound is because in Ancient Greek, which was a more melodic language, each of those had a different length associated with it that affected the rhythm of the word. Same for 'o' and 'e' (as in bed) sounds. 

The reason I choose to teach Dan in this way is because I noticed that my understanding of the Greek language was significantly bettered when I learned Ancient Greek, and it also made spelling and complex syntax much much easier. Dan is also a logic learner like me, so it helps him learn and/or remember something better if he understands why it is the way it is.

The readings primarily deal with organizing different countries/cultures in categories based on the traits the authors/researchers consider most informative.

Figuring Foreigners Out

This reading has chosen to categorize based on five habits/characteristics; Namely, level of individualism, verbal communication, sense of time, relationship with control, and level of directness in communication.

These categorizations are useful in my opinion for the following two reasons:

1) They point out aspects about cultures that many people may not have payed attention to prior to reading this article, not realizing that these are things that actually make a difference.
2) It puts into words ideas that other people  may have intuited but had not consolidated.

By doing this, these categorizations and their explanations help us understand more about other cultures, our own culture, and our selves.

However, as with any information, in contact with these categories lies the danger of sciolism. When reading this article, people who have no previous exposure to thinking about these topics can fall in the trap of not being able to distinguish other categories, in addition to these, or opposing to these, because in their mind these were the first ones to be established, therefore they must be correct.

Geert Hofstede and the 6D Model

Hofstede's Model uses a different set of traits than F.F.O. Namely individualism, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence. The same applies here as above, with the exception that the 6D model rates countries on these attributes on a 1-100 scale. Here lies my major disagreement with this model. Although I am a research as well and I understand the limitations to getting answers to certain questions these days, I also understand the importance of uncertainty, subjectivity, and generalizability. There is a limit to how correct these ratings are and how indicative they are of each country's culture. I have used this model in my research, so I am not trying to discredit it; I think however that the results should be taken with a grain of salt.

For this semester, the learning plan for Greek for Daniel Kunath will be organized like a very basic grade school course.  Beginning with the simplest tools and developing into more advanced vocabulary and usage as the semester progresses, it should bring me up to an almost conversational level of Greek proficiency by December.  It includes some weeks set aside for understanding the Greek culture, in the past and present, to grow a greater understanding of Greek life and people.

My first contact with a foreign language was towards the end of 1^st grade, when my parents found out we would be moving to California for two years and signed me up for English classes. For those two years, I learned English through interactions with classmates and teachers, and with some help from an Australian – Greek tutor. I’ve been speaking English ever since. I started learning French in 4^th grade at a language school in Greece. I continued my French studies until the end of 9^th grade when I got my last French certificate. In 11^th and 12^th grade I took IB Spanish at school, which put me at the same level in Spanish that I was in French. Although Spanish is significantly easier as a language than French, I partly attribute my success in the former to my previous experience with Greek, English, and French.

Throughout my years as a language learner, I drew several conclusions about my learning habits and preferences. One of the first things I noticed was that I am, as the Learning Styles quiz also suggested, a mix of a visual and a tactile learner. I understand information better by writing it out, color coding, visualizing, sitting in the front of the room, but I remember it better if I act it out, walk while reading, or arrange it in thematic groups. A few keys habits/needs I’ve noticed in terms of my learning processes are the following: 1) I cannot memorize information that is typed out or written by someone else – it needs to be my own writing. I am not sure if that is because of my hand writing or the way in which I organize information. In the same vein, I tend to understand and retain information better if it is written in blue ben (if color-coded, the basis color would be blue). 2) No matter how good someone is at explaining concepts, I may understand them I the moment they are being explained to me, but if I don’t go back and rework them o my own, I will rarely remember them. I have the same issue when I don’t understand the reasoning/logical continuation leading to an idea or a result. I have a hard time remembering a fact if the why behind it has not been explained to me in a logical manner. 3) I love trees and charts! If there is a way in which I can depict information in a tree, showing the relations between key ideas, then I will do it, because that is the easiest way for me to understand and remember all the information associated with it. Same for charts; pros and cons are a prime example; I would much rather write them as bullet points in two columns than in a paragraph or sentence(s).

For language learning specifically, I have noticed both with Spanish and English that I learn much faster by being forced to speak (i.e. being thrown into a country that only speaks that language) or by interacting with native speakers; asking them questions, having to paraphrase what I want to say in very simple terms, even including pantomime, because I have no other way of communicating my thought to them. Then what usually happen s is they figure out what I’m trying to say and say it in that language. When this happens, whatever it is I was trying to covey, I will not easily forget later on because much time and attention were spent on it, and I tried to figure it out myself (going back to the learning styles).

Another strategy that I find works really well for me when learning a language (in addition to the ones mentioned before) is listening to songs in that language, looking up the word-for-word translation of the lyrics, and reading along while the song is playing. That way I have the general sense of what the song is about, and more or less what each word means, so when I have to recall said words I will remember them in the context of the song and will hence be much more likely to remember what they meant.

Overall, I enjoy a variety of learning and retaining strategies, general ones but also ones specific to language learning, which I believe I have identified and am hopefully utilizing the correct way.