Over the semester I have struggled with being consistent on how much time I put into studying french. Once I started using the Duolingo app, which I have on my phone, I found it much easier to get a little bit better everyday. I also found it difficult to use a number of different resources because my knowledge of french was so limiting. I tried listening to french music, but I think that method will help far more in the future when I know more french. My plan for learning french going forward is to continue with Duolingo—after that, I really don’t know how proficient I will be so it’s hard for me to predict my next step. I might decide that I want to learn more french, and find another learning resource to do so. Or, I might want to use Duolingo to start learning another language—dutch or italian—and gain a basis of knowledge for that language/culture. Regardless of those decisions, I know I want to continue to learn a new language because I love having the ability to speak in multiple languages. 

My favorite part of this semester was the discussions in class because of the new perspectives that I heard of on culture, language, and where they intersect. There are so many vastly different cultures in the world that I will never know of until I meet someone that is a part of them, and this class has made me appreciate even those that I am unaware of.

I enjoyed discussing the future of language, and the idea that if everyone spoke just one, universal language that many barriers would be broken down worldwide. I find the idea rather exciting that everyone could potentially speak just one language. Imagine the changes and the connection that the internet brought for people across continents, and how close we can feel to people we know in Europe or Africa right now. Implementing a universal language would create the same change in how close we are to our fellow humans, only on a more personable level. I would enjoy learning more about any person or organization whose goal is to implement or even propose a universal language. Looking at it from an outside view, if I was an alien, I would think that humans are bumbling idiots for not agreeing to communicate under the same terms with one another. From the insights I have gained throughout this course, I understand the power that language has in effecting how we see the world. While many people would be scared of just having one language, and losing all the cultures and languages that we have now, I think that the new language would promote a worldwide culture and only bring compassion and innovation. After all, it is far easier to hate or fear someone you can’t understand than one who you can ask a question. 

I have enjoyed learning french thus far. I think that learning french culture is very intertwined with learning the language, as it would be more difficult to learn french without knowing who speaks it—just as it would be harder to learn any language without knowing which people speak it. Perhaps the most difficult part for me in learning french is trying to learn the pronunciation of the words. It’s a very soothing language phonetically, which differs the most from all of it’s romance language counterparts in sound. This is why TV5Monde, or TV cinc will be such a valuable resource for me as I continue on with learning french. I need to improve knowledge of syntactical elements of speech and reading. French is fairly similar to English in that it uses the same subject, verb, object format for the most part. In order to communicate in a language that I have limited knowledge of, which I have only been able to do with spanish, I need to master the art of circumlocution. Circumlocution is a skill that we never really need to use if we only communicate in one language, but becomes absolutely crucial when we don’t have a full vocabulary at our disposal. I will continue to get better at circumlocution with continual expansion of vocabulary and understanding how someone fluent in french would communicate an idea they did not have the word to express. One interesting way of getting better at circumlocution would be to communicate with someone else who has a limited knowledge of french. This would require both of us to use our finite vocabularies to talk about deeper topics than just by using the words we know.

Learning to read and write in french has honestly not been my focus for this semester. Since I really didn’t know many words besides ‘oui’ and ‘bonjour’ coming into the semester, my learning plan focused on acquiring a knowledge of the french grammar and a basis of vocabulary necessary for future attempts at reading and writing. Writing is definitely more difficult because of the nature of creating the language rather than interpreting it when you read. With both reading and writing, I have found it difficult to understand the use of the different accents because I have never encountered them in any language before french. One example of a french accent is the cédille, which is only used on the letter c. It’s used to indicate a soft c sound (an s sound) in words like ‘garçon’. In theory the accents make sense, but since they are such a new concept to me and I rarely ever think about using them in writing, I will probably forget to use them many times before I know just which words they belong on. Another issue I have found is in understanding the way that pronouns attach to the verbs they refer to. When reading I come across a word like ‘m’aider’ (help me) and have to recognize both the verb and that the ‘m’ refers to the pronoun for me. They are similar to contractions, so it’s not like I have never seen words like these before, but I have had trouble understanding them. One thing that is much harder about learning a language independently rather than in a classroom is that I have to only use online resources while trying to figure out information on when to combine words, when not to, and any irregularities with the rules.

It makes sense to me that learning a foreign language has great cognitive benefits because it allows you to think in a whole new way. I have a friend who grew up speaking spanish, but now primarily speaks english since he lives in the US. He’s told me about how the different dreams he has are in different languages depending on what the mood of the dream was. He didn’t fully understand it, but described his dreams in spanish as being more intimate and personal, while his dreams in english were more stressful and exciting. I found this really interesting as we learned about the effects of learning a second language. My friend subconsciously (or maybe even consciously) associated each language with different types of experiences. 

As Professor Bialystok explained in the article, bilinguals aren’t necessarily smarter than those who know one language. I would think that they have a unique experience in learning, comparable to learning how to program a computer, or calculus, learning a new language gives you another unique way to interpret the world. I think of it in the same way I view the experience you gain from reading a book. After you finish a book, you become a different person because of the experience, but you aren’t necessarily smarter than you were before. 

I found it weird that the article brought up the question of why bilinguals never slipped up and used the wrong language at times. If someone is bilingual then they can effectively communicate in both languages, so why would they get confused as to which one they were currently using? Rarely, if ever, do people use two different languages within the same sentence or even conversation, so it makes perfect sense that bilinguals would be able to use only their desired language.

I have probably learned about 300 words of french since I started learning it this semester. The large majority of which I learned through the online application Duolingo. What the application does is teach small lessons that introduce a small number of new vocabulary words. Most new words are introduced as part of a phrase or sentence, rather than just simply memorizing new vocabulary words. I recognize that eventually I will need to do more extensive vocabulary expansion exercises, but since I have such a small vocabulary and grasp on the grammar of french, I’m not ready yet to just start learning a huge number of new vocabulary words. Along with Duolingo, I also used lists of cognates from both spanish and english to help me learn similar words, but also to become accustomed to the differences between the languages.

I don’t have any specific goals for learning vocabulary as far as number of words, but rather sufficiency in reading comprehension and speaking ability. As long as I have a large enough vocabulary to effectively communicate by circumlocution, then I will be happy with my speaking vocabulary. For reading comprehension, I often have a hard time with any sentence that I haven’t read before just because I have such little experience with reading french. The only way I see myself getting better with reading is to continue to read and expand my vocabulary. 

When a language dies, so does the culture that created and used that language. Since languages connect people to their specific cultures—including their traditions and beliefs—those disappear with the language. All languages have words and phrases that are completely unique to the language. For example, any inuit language would have words to describe unique weather conditions and hunting traditions that we would never think to have in our english language.

The future of language is really exciting to me. As technology continues to change every single aspect of our daily lives, it also is quietly shifting how humans communicate with one another. With revolutionary technology like online translators, we are moving towards being able to talk to people who, without technology, we could not have a conversation beyond the use of body language. The article points out that while a few languages such as mandarin, english, and spanish are becoming increasingly spoken, others are becoming extinct—but saved by new technologies. So what our new capabilities are allowing us to do is to accept the darwinism of languages and allow these languages to die, but not allow the culture of the languages to go with them. I imagine that in the future we will have the capability to program computers to know every single language known to man. What’s beautiful about this is that the culture will still exist even though those who created it are now gone. 

Developed from the Latin spoken in northern Gaul after the fall of the Roman Empire, it experienced deep phonological changes, diverging more from Latin than its sister languages. From the end of the 17th century until after World War I, French has been the language of international diplomacy and culture replacing Latin in that role. Spoken in every continent as a first or second language, French is one of the major world languages. It wasn’t until the 16th century when it became mostly standardized because of written language. In 1635, President Richelieu established the Académie française to promote and police the French language. They agreed that the language had become too impractical and flowery, and therefore decided to make the plural “s” silent.

French history is very rich—both the history of french culture and of the french language. While this history helps me understand french better, perhaps the most important thing about the history of the language is that it is a romance language. For that reason it has so many cognates and has many of the same roots that spanish, italian, portuguese, and english (although not a romance language) all have. This is incredibly important because it helps towards learning the language and common expressions become easier to pick up on. You’d have a harder time learning french if you didn’t know any other romance language.

The Culture Shock video was interesting despite how slow it was at parts. It definitely illustrates the idea of culture shock and the adjustment that occurs afterwards. Culture shock is very apparent anytime you change settings. Even when you’re used to hanging out with one group of friends, and decide to hangout with a completely different group, there is an immediate culture shock. Yes, a microcosm of cross-country culture shock, but still the same idea. I have never experienced culture shock to a large extent, but can understand it due to small microcosms. My realest experience of culture shock was probably coming to Richmond since I’d never really lived anywhere besides Maine for my whole life. It wasn’t so much the culture of the state of Virginia, but the culture of the University of Richmond that shocked me the most. I didn’t have very many expectations because I just didn’t know what to expect, but I found the culture here to be quite different. My school in Maine was public, so I grew up with all of the kids in my school and had known the majority of them since kindergarten. Going to classes here is completely different, and so I act in a fully different manner. I actually found it empowering because I was free to be whoever I wanted to be. Since everyone at a public school knew exactly who each person was, there were expectations in place for how everybody was probably going to act. At Richmond there aren’t. The biggest adjustment that I had to make was to decide what expectations I wanted my peers to eventually have about my behavior. Once people know me, should they expect me to be a kind, well-spoken gentleman, or an obnoxious, haughty kid. The difference between those options is why understanding culture shock is so valuable.

The presentations from last week opened my eyes to some big cultural differences from cultures around the world. I learned that in Hindi they use a causative verb tense to describe actions that had been done upon them, similar to how we would describe getting our hair cut in english. But instead of saying “I got a haircut” it translates more closely to “I had my hair cut.” I found it interesting that the Caste system in India actually manifests itself in some formalities regarding body language. Indian people tend to view the body as being similar to a Caste system in that the head is the holiest part, and the bottom of your feet are seen as dirty. Younger people will even bow their head to the feet of their elders to show respect, showing that the holiest part of their bodies belong near the feet of their elders. Conversely, showing someone the bottom of your feet is an act of disrespect.

I also enjoyed the presentations on Korean culture which focused somewhat on the materialistic culture that exists and how it differs from American culture. These differences can be seen at the governmental level, with the Korean government requiring that every store accept credit cards, and also at the individual level with Korean women holding the value of always looking their best. I’m not sure if that is the reason why Koreans tend to brush their teeth more often after every meal, or if it is more because of a value for oral health.

One difference between english and french is the use of masculine and feminine nouns. In french, every noun has a gender and must be learned this way. Along with this, the adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in gender. Another difference is the endings of verbs for different persons. In english, I run, you run, we run, they all run. In french, cours, cours, courons, courent. These are the most basic grammatical differences between french and english, but since I know spanish fairly well I won’t have much difficulty in picking up on these differences.

I plan on continuing to learn more and more vocabulary and phrases in french and hope that I have the grammar knowledge I need to understand and construct the language. I’ve been using Duolingo, which has grammar notes along with all of the lessons which I have been using as I go along to get a better grasp on the specifics of the language. I don’t think I will need to use a reference grammar for my learning, simply because the grammar differences are slight and few.

One thing that I found out about French people concerning body language is the frequency that people smile. I think it is more true in Paris, but French people are less likely to smile if they don’t actually mean it. They’re not being rude, they’re just being real, but it might come off to tourists as being unfriendly. People in positions of customer service (cashiers, secretaries, receptionists) who would typically be friendly to most people in the US, would not make as much of an effort to smile in France. This is important to know so that you don’t feel as though these people are being unfriendly, and so you can realize that getting smiles out of people is more valuable.

French culture is also much slower-paced than life is in the US. Whereas in the US we live in a more monochronic environment, the French have more polychronic tendencies. For example, meals tend to be longer in France, with less of a focus on fitting your meals around the rest of your schedule, but rather enjoying them as part of your daily routine. Children at school often have a much longer break for lunch during the day then we do in the US. This completely changes the values that people have for time—both how it is spent and how it is wasted.

I see language as a very powerful tool. It can also be a very sheltering obstacle when trying to communicate with someone in a different language. Naturally, the opportunities and perspectives that come from learning a new language have intrigued me since I was a child. I have found learning a language to be unique in that there is an immediate broadening of one’s perspectives as soon as you begin to learn it. What I would look at and call a shoe, hundreds of people would look at and have their own name for that inanimate object. Languages have the power to both separate and bring people together.

Unfortunately, my only exposure to learning foreign languages has been in a classroom setting. I studied Spanish throughout high school and took Latin as well. Reflecting on my growth as a language student is the main reason why I did not want to stop learning a new language now that I’m in college. What is somewhat disheartening is that I know I learn best when I am actually doing something (playing a new sport, eating with chopsticks, etc.). It’s disheartening because I will likely not be traveling to a foreign country for years to come; however, I’m excited to be learning a language on my own and not in a classroom. Because I have a very poor idea of which methods will best suit my language learning progress, I am prepared to entertain every method possible to find the best for me.

I found the naturalist vs. conventionalist idea really interesting. It is something I have thought about before but never knew there were two distinct views on the subject. Crystal writes: “…we have to recognize that many words do exist containing some element of real-world symbolism in the sounds they use - as in splash, jiggle, quack, teeny-weeny, and slime.” I don’t think that this is true for these words other than quack. For example, the word splash is used to describe the noise or action of something hitting liquid. I think it could easily be called “pamp” or “yutt” and no meaning would be lost when trying to convey the noise or action of something hitting liquid. In french, the word for splash is ‘éclaboussure’. Language is a beautiful thing because we would like to think that there is some innate reason that objects and ideas have certain names—but their isn’t. I think that keeping this idea in mind will help me to not take learning languages too seriously but it also will help me understand why it will benefit me to learn french.