This semester I learned my strengths and weaknesses as a language learner and how to utilize and combat them respectively. I knew from the start of the semester that I have a harder time understanding spoken Spanish and formulating more advanced spoken responses on the spot, so those were the two skills that I focused on the most over the past few months. I actually found understanding the Spanish television that I used to practice my listening skills more challenging than I imagined, but at the same time it was an enjoyable experience. I have to keep Spanish subtitles on sometimes to help me understand what is being said, but only when the person speaking talks too quickly or is hard to understand. I am pretty satisfied with the improvement that I have seen in my listening comprehension skills this semester, and I believe that I have a solid base to continue improving my abilities in the future. In regards to my speaking ability, I am definitely more comfortable having a conversation in Spanish now than I was at the beginning of the semester. My vocabulary and use of more complex grammar still could use some improvement, but I am confident that I will be able to functionally converse in Spanish this summer when I am in Spain, which was one of my goals for the semester. I hope to continue improving my Spanish speaking skills in the future, so I am planning on speaking Spanish on a regular basis so that I don’t get rusty. The one component of language learning that I did not fully appreciate before this semester was the importance of your target language’s culture. The culture shock video along with our reading about the study of culture both were extremely valuable resources in my discovery of this concept. There are so many cultural components that contribute to the effect of a language, and I did not really understand this concept before watching, reading, and discussing these resources. Especially if you are trying to live in a country where your target language is widely spoken, a strong understanding of the culture is necessary to truly feel like a local. Aside from actually learning how to speak and listen to Spanish better, I want to learn more about Spanish culture in general in the future. I focused on Spain this semester, but I am interested in learning about the other Spanish speaking regions as well. Luckily there are a multitude of great resources online, so I don’t think this task will be too difficult. As far as learning the actual Spanish language better, I am confident that the skills I have gained in this course will allow me to craft a learning plan for my next step in learning Spanish, and maybe other languages too. 

For me I find reading in Spanish to be much easier than writing, listening, or speaking in Spanish. You still have to know vocabulary and understand the structure of the language when reading, but you need to really have the rules down if you want to produce writing yourself. It is easy to forget little things like accents or vocabulary words in general, so I would say reading is the first step in language learning, with writing as the second. You also have more time to process the language when your are reading and writing versus listening and speaking. My reading and writing abilities in Spanish are solid, so I personally have been focusing on listening and speaking more. 

I personally am not bilingual, but it would make sense that in certain ways bilinguals are smarter than those who only speak one language. The ability to think and express those thoughts in multiple languages seems like a skill that would translate to other tasks, such as multitasking, especially if one has the ability to code switch well between languages. I think saying that bilinguals are smarter in general does not paint an accurate picture, but there is obviously evidence that the ability to speak multiple languages translates to other tasks as well. 

So far I would say that I have learned about 100 new words in Spanish, mostly from using flashcards. I focus on the vocabulary that will be most relevant to me while in Spain this summer, such as dining, navigation, and entertainment so that my time is spent efficiently. I hope to learn about 100 more words before the end of the year, which I think is realistic. I know I won't improve my vocabulary drastically overnight, but with consistent practice I think I should be able to achieve my goal.

It is sad and shocking to hear that a language dies every day, because once a language dies it is very hard for it to recover. Since language and culture go hand in hand, losing a language also means that a a big part of the culture is lost as well, thus making the world a less diverse place. Language reveals a lot about the people who speak it, so those who speak languages that are no longer spoken must feel as if they lose a part of themselves. I can't sympathize with this feeling because English and Spanish are both very widely spoken, but it is still sad to hear nonetheless. 

It is important to know the history of a language in order to fully understand why certain rules governing the language exist. A large proportion of language learning requires memorization, but having a background in a language's history allows this process to be a bit smoother. A language like Spanish has many cognates similar to English words, but for those words that are different it definitely helps to know where they originate from. It is especially important to know why grammar rules are the way they are, since grammar is responsible for the structure of the language itself. Language learning can be daunting, but understanding a language's history can make it more manageable. 

Before taking this class, I did not fully realize how important it was to understand the culture of your target language in order to fully utilize the language in the real world. I have taken Spanish courses before, and although interesting, I never found the attention to cultural aspects of the language to be very important. Through videos such as Culture Shock, I discovered how strange it can be for a someone to be immersed in a new culture, and understanding some of the cultural differences related to a target language allow you to focus more on improving your communication skills. I have a particular interest in learning Spanish from television, and after listening to game shows and news broadcasts this semester I can definitely notice an improvement in my ability to comprehend spoken Spanish. It is still difficult to understand fast speakers, but my comprehension level for average speed speakers is getting better. I have also been working on my speaking skills, but I find it a little more difficult to practice this skill. My friend and I converse in Spanish sometimes, but I definitely notice a difficulty in code switching to Spanish from English since I almost always speak English. It probably won't happen this semester, but if I truly want to become fluent in Spanish I think I need to dedicate time every day where I either talk out loud by myself, or preferably find someone fluent in Spanish that I can talk with on a consistent basis. One of the skills not commonly taught when learning a language is the relevant slang terminology, and I find game shows specifically to be helpful in this regard. Most native speakers do not strictly adhere to the formal way of speaking taught in classrooms, so it is valuable to experience people speaking Spanish in the real world. For me personally I would like to be able to use Spanish when I am in Spain this summer, so I have been looking at some vocabulary that I think will be relevant, such as directional, food, and entertainment terminology. I know I can't learn a large amount of vocabulary that I will actually be able to implement in practice, so I am focusing primarily on what is most relevant to me. I have also been watching some soccer in Spanish, because I have a strong interest in sports and a lot of the terms in soccer are applicable to other sports. Apart from learning the language itself, I am very excited to be immersed in Spanish culture this summer. I find Spanish culture to be fascinating, and the more I learn about it the more I want to improve my Spanish language skills as well.

Although I have not experienced culture shock to this point in my life, I have had multiple friends who have. For example, one of my eventual good friends during high school moved to Pennsylvania from Mexico with just a basic knowledge of English, so I was able to see and hear about some of the struggles involved in assimilating into a different culture. Obviously having a different accent makes foreigners stand out a bit, but this difference was never something that affected my friend much. For him, other than actually learning English, the subtle social nuances were most difficult to pick up. However, everyone handles culture shock differently, so it is important not to generalize one person's feelings. I will find out what culture shock feels like when I go to Europe for the first time this summer, but hopefully I will be able to adapt quickly.

It was very interesting to hear about the different cultural aspects of Korea, Turkey, Czech, and Portuguese during the presentations. Different countries have many unique aspects of culture that is not always apparent, such as food, clothing, dance, clothing, etc. I didn't quite understand how meaningful a drink or an item of clothing could be to a group of people, but these presentations made it clear that many people value things unique to their country. It made me think about certain aspects of American culture that I hold dear, and it's weird to think that some of our behavior would be just as strange to someone not from here as vice versa.

I know a decent amount about the structure of Spanish, such as adjectives come after nouns, verb endings change depending on the subject, pronouns can be attached to verbs, etc. There are also plenty of online resources to learn more about the language structure, so I have numerous ways to learn more. I think a reference grammar is useful in learning a language faster, and English is a suitable reference language for Spanish. There are many cognates between these two languages, so vocabulary is a little easier to learn. 

Spanish is one of the romance languages, so it has many aspects in common with languages such as French and Italian. Additionally, Spanish stems from Latin, so it shares similarities with many other languages too. Verb endings change depending on the subject, adjectives follow nouns, etc. Many words are cognitives to those in English, so it is easier to learn than other languages that don't. 

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The information provided in these articles elaborates on how complex the brain is, and more specifically the aspects of the brain involved in language learning. A language is much more than just a finite set of words used to convey meaning. Without some form of structure and context, memorizing a large amount of vocabulary in a given language is pointless. Instead of trying to memorizing grammar, verb endings, vocabulary, etc.; I will derive the underlying rules of the Spanish language so that its structure makes more sense. In my past attempts at learning Spanish, I have purely memorized only the information relevant to examinations and homework assignments, which resulted in a weak understanding of why these rules work the way they do. This semester I will focus on learning about the Spanish language itself, rather than merely translating English phrasing into the correct Spanish form.

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I received formal education in Spanish from 2nd grade until freshmen year of college, so I have a strong background in language learning from a relatively early age. However, I never felt like the structure of these courses was conducive to actually gaining the skills necessary in order to reach proficiency in a language. For instance, I did not feel it was helpful to learn vocabulary words that were not relevant to me, and I wish I could've focused on the areas that were. I did like some of the different activities involved in class, such as learning about different Spanish cultures and conversing with other students. Based on the FIRE model, I would say I am a factual learner, so it will be important for me to set a detailed language learning plan and stick to it. I am naturally good at memorizing information, but I would like to improve my speaking skills and need to focus my plan toward this desire.