The beginning of this reading talked a lot about dialects and accents. I had always noticed that there was a difference in the two words' definitions, but had never really stopped to think about what this difference was. As I learned from the reading, accent refers to distinct pronunciation whereas dialect refers to spoken grammar and vocabulary. Additionally, people of the same dialect can have different accents. What I found to be interesting from this part of the reading was the part about the chain of dialects. In studying different languages, I have noticed the similarities that exist between them, and have often wondered if people who spoke similar languages would be able to understand one another. As the reading pointed out, people who live in adjacent areas will usually speak dialects of the same language or different languages, so, someone who lives on the border of Spain and Portugal may speak a dialect of Spanish that is similar to a dialect of Portuguese spoken by a neighbor so that, although the two speak different languages, they would be able to verbally communicate.
This reading also talked about the connections because nationalism, ethnicity, and language. In particular it discussed the case of the Basque language and its role in forming a national identity.
This week I worked on learning different parts of the body and names of family members, as well as some simple verb conjugations. With this new vocabulary and grammar I am able to form some simple sentences, such as saying "I have a brother" or "My father's name is Jeff". I am still finding that my language learning has slowed a bit, and this has been very frustrating for me. In the beginning of the semester, it was easier to go to the global studio and spend a few hours on Rosetta Stone, but I've found that as the semester has progressed, my other classes have become more consuming and so it's harder to actually find the time to go to the studio. I really wish that I would have been able to use Rosetta Stone from my own laptop in my room (I know this isn't possible because of licensing) because I know that I would have used it a lot more. This way I could have used it everyday for an hour, but somehow needing to go to the Global Studio (especially as a senior who doesn't take many scheduled classes and has other commitments) has proven more difficult than I would have thought.
Work has continued to progress with my language partners. Typically we'll go over what I've been practicing each week and then they help me with pronunciation and spelling. I was initially very excited about having two different language partners, but it's actually been more difficult having two than one. Since my partners are from different areas, they pronounce letters differently and sometimes use different words. Also, it does take up more time because I must explain my progress to each partner and they like to work the sessions in different ways. For this reason, I'd suggest that in the future, students only have one language partner. I believe that there should still be a group meeting and then an individual meeting each week, but that each student should have the same partner for both meetings to keep consistency and lessen confusion.
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