My language learning experience has been very exciting so far. I started from a very dark place without knowing a single thing about Urdu or the culture of the countries that use Urdu. I only knew of the existence of Urdu through a few of my friends who spoke it. Looking back, the first few weeks were pretty tough; I did not really know how to start learning a language. Sensibly, I started practicing the alphabet since it is the foundation in which most languages are built. The alphabet was significantly different from any other alphabets I've tried seen before. Each individual alphabet had a unique curvature to it. I was not sure if I could replicate the alphabets at all. Pronouncing the alphabets had numerous challenges of their own; Urdu required me to make sounds that I was previously not used to making at all and it was tough. Worst of it all, even after having practiced for days, I would not know if I had the alphabets right because of the feelings of foreignness and powerlessness the new language presented me with. I always felt like I was doing something wrong even if I was doing things right. I've come relatively far with the help of a lot of internet resources and Hadee, my language partner, but still the feeling of foreignness prevails when I think about Urdu.
Even though I haven't advanced far enough into learning Urdu to completely understand the relationship between the target culture and target language, I've seen glimpses of how they influence each other. Pakistani culture is a culture that greatly values respect towards your neighbors. Oye means hello or hi but it is extremely informal and should not be used with just any random person you see. You need to use it with respectful suffixes like Bhai (brother) or Dost(friend). There are informal words that are suitable for casual encounters with friends and there are formal equivalents of the informal words that are for elderly or your family. One thing to note is how in Pakistani culture, family comes before anyone or anything else and that is reflected in the language. In the United States, most people address their family informally or casually but it does not seem to be the case in Urdu. Coming from Korea, this type of culture to language influence is not foreign to me. In Korean, there are almost always formal counterparts for informal words; the formal words are often reserved for when you talk to an elder. It was interesting to see the similarity in the two culture and languages.
In order to improve my communicative competence, I need to first learn enough phrases that can be used in daily conversations and learn to pronounce things more authentically. I can say basic things like hi, how are you and such but communication requires more than just the formal greetings. Communications include being able to describe my physical self, my emotions, my desires, and also being able to understand the other person. To reach this level of communicative competence, I will need to enlarge my vocabulary pool by a huge amount; I don't know nearly that many words or phrases yet. In order to enlarge my vocabulary pool, I will just need to keep practicing following internet resources and keep exposing myself to things like music, literature, movie and friends who speak Urdu.
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