Over this semester I have learned a lot about myself as a language learner. I originally planned on largely avoiding the Korean writing system in favor of focusing on oral communication, but over the semester these goals have changed a lot. One aspect of learning Korean that I found very difficult is speaking the language, as due to my background in Mandarin I have been told that I often pronounce words in the Chinese style and with an American accent. On the other hand, I have found that I am actually very interested in the Korean alphabet and writing system, perhaps because of how surprisingly intuitive and simple it ended up being. Because of this I ended up shifting my language learning so that I have a stronger foundation of reading and writing Korean. I think this was the right decision overall as it allows me to use tools like language dictionaries to their fullest and really prepares me for a continued independent study of the language. Moving forward after this semester I will be able to look up new words and use websites and other resources that I initially wasn’t able to use as they require an understanding of the Korean writing system. Furthermore, it is also really helpful to be able to sound out words as in many cases the names of modern items in Korean are Koreanized American names.
Throughout the duration of the semester I felt that the resources my language partner provided were very useful and that our meetings were very productive. The competitions she held incentivized mastering the new vocabulary and the different challenges helped develop both my reading and writing skills, as well as my vocabulary.
As far as 105 goes I found many aspects of the class to be really interesting, like the class on the language tree and the history of language, and often enjoyed class activities like culture presentations and activities. The discussions were interesting and I learned a lot about languages in general. I also found the resources the class introduced me to at the beginning of the semester to be very helpful throughout the semester. It was also helpful for me to set language goals for the semester and to plot a course towards achieving those goals, and things like the learning journals did a good job of keeping me on course. I found the activities we did in class to be fun and engaging and would recommend that future classes incorporate more of these activities into the schedule. On the other hand, I occasionally felt like some of the readings were not as related to our studies. It seemed like there were two parts of the class, one where we were given instructions and resources for learning a language, and the other where we discussed languages as a whole, and while both were interesting I feel like it would be more advantageous to devote more time to the former and less to the latter. Overall I would recommend more activities and class time dedicated to learning about different cultures and presenting on our different languages, and less related to linguistics and language theory.
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