During the study of Korean language, I’m able to identify Korean vowels, consonants and simple characters from watching lecture videos online, repeating and rewriting them. Also, I learn the basic sentence structures from reading simple short articles from language sources. I study how to pronounce words and make them into whole sentences according to the sentence structure so that I’m able to do brief self-introduction talking about my name, age, job and hobbies. In the previous study of Korean, I found it was difficult for me to pronounce those words in right tones even following with a native speaker. Some characters are really hard to pronounce and the structures of sentences confuse me because it is different from that in English. Although Korean is a systematic language, grammar is a challenge for me, and there are no tricks to study grammar for a language. Summarizing my study of Korean, I think it will become easier if I practice a lot. Also, I notice the grammar actually has some rules to follow. For example, nouns don't change according to cases and there is no auxiliary verb for action or descriptive verbs. Therefore, I believe practice more will make it easier. For speaking, I desire to have a language partner so that she/he can directly point out why my pronunciation sounds weird, which will be better for learning.
Understanding the culture of a language is beneficial for understanding a language since these two are closely related. Language can be described as a verbal expression of culture. Since language helps to express people’s thoughts that are influenced by cultures, culture is hidden in the language. Culture actually refers to the pattern of human activity including art, literature, language and religion. The cultural values showed up through people’s daily life. It is represented by people’s moral values. Differences in cultures lead to the diversity of people in the whole world, which also lead to different languages spoken by people in different parts in the world. So the language can be viewed the representation of a particular group. When people learn a language, they not only learn alphabets, vocabulary and grammar, but also study the values, behaviors and ways of thinking of the particular group of people. People all need to communicate, and that is why languages are so important in the world. But communicate with different people sometimes need different ways of expressions. An inappropriate way of expression might embarrass people or hurt someone’s feelings. The appropriate way of expression can be related to culture such as education, customs, and religion. Therefore, speaking is not hard, language is not hard, but the right way of expression is significant that is related to cultures.
In order to improve my communication competence, I think there are three major factors. Listening to others and understanding what they talk about is the first thing in communication. Second, asking questions can be an efficient way of communication not only express your concerns but also make others understand you more. Third, making sure the words you use in communication is appropriate. Don’t use any wrong words when talking to someone formally and leave a good impression to people.
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