Blogs

In Crystal’s article “How we mean”, she says “If we restrict our view to just one language-our own-we will never truly understand the distinction between sense and reference, because it is natural to think that ‘our’ way of talking about the world is the only one, or the most natural one. ”, a sentiment I totally agree with.

I am a Chinese native speaker with English as my second language. Now I extend my language learning to Korean, the third language. While I am learning English and study abroad in University of Richmond, I truly feel the differences between native speakers and internationals when we speak English. In learning second language, I have to recognized the clarifications in similar words and try to explain the sense of words under different situations and contexts.The more accurately I express the words, the more I aware of the relationship between words and entities or concepts. Hence, when I learn Korean, I would try to put Korean words in appropriate contexts(check with language partners) to feel the meaning of words.

It is interesting that the two articles give different perspectives on bilingualism. In the first reading, it emphasises on the way how bilingual people process things faster because of their bilingual system in their special environment as they grow up. I do agree with that. The second article argues about the vague correlation between bilingualism and intelligence. More importantly, I appreciate the point that the second article addresses at the end: “ It allows a person to understand a different way of thinking, with unique philosophies and assumptions built into how others see the world”(Ossola). Bilinguals have broader horizons and the habits to preserve the world in two ways. The increasing knowledge on different cultures cultivates their critical thinking skills and builds up brain’s new configurations.

In essence,  learning korean has been a great experience so far even though it is not necessary to make me smarter.  It would be even more wonderful for me if  learning a new language will be a way to enhance my intelligence potentially.

I feel like I have good grasp on language learning. I speak another language called Kannada (it's a language spoken mainly in the state of Karnataka in Southern India). Actually, this was the very first language I spoke before I started speaking English. I learned this language when I was a child by listening and communicating with my parents who would only speak to me in Kannada. I also studied Japanese for three years in high school, but I had forgotten most of it by the time I signed up for a semester of it at the University of Richmond. In total, I've studied Japanese for three years + a semester. I have some understanding of the Korean language which I am starting to study through SDLAP. I taught myself how to read and write, but I still need a lot of practice to become proficient. I understand certain Korean words and phrases. 

I think I'm the type of language learner that learns by listening and repeating to communicate. It's how I learned Kannada and how I've been teaching myself Korean. The things you learn in textbooks might not always help in real life. Practicing speech and pronunciation is best for me. If I want to explore a language, I will start by watching movies and dramas or listening to music in that language because it gives me a better sense of the language than learning solely from a textbook. I think I should expand my learning activities through more listening and speaking exercises. 

My first meeting with Brigid, my language partner, was kind of just an introduction meeting. We mostly talked about what I already knew. We practiced a bit of reading since I knew how to read Korean already and we discussed what I wanted to accomplish by the end of the semester. I thought it was nice for us to actually discuss what I wanted to learn and how we would proceed with our coming classes.