Through SDLC 105, I’ve learned about the amount of diversity and possibility in the world’s languages. While I knew many languages existed, I now have a much better understanding of the linguistic diversity in the world and the struggle to preserve many dying languages. Truthfully, I took the class because I wanted to study Moroccan Arabic. I was not interested in learning about other languages, initially. But hearing every week from my classmates about their language journeys and then learning about the differences in phonetic inventory, morphology, and syntax between languages made me interested in learning more about language as a concept. Specifically, I was interested in how languages can affect our perception, both physically and mentally. The video of the African tribe being able to distinguish different shades of green – which I could not discern – amazed me. I want to continue studying language and its effects on human understanding. Next semester, of course, I’ll begin my independent study of Moroccan Arabic and continue studying Modern Standard Arabic. I hope to use the analytical tools I’ve gained from SDLC 105 to notice the differences between MA and MSA in phonetics and grammar and the slight nuances of MA which can lead to me developing communicative and cultural competence. In the future, I would be interested in continuing my languages study and possibly helping to preserve some of the world's dying languages.
One of my favorite weeks of class was discussing Culture vs. culture during week 4 and exploring certain methods for analyzing culture such as Hofstede’s tools. Truthfully, we were not able to really discuss these tools in class, but I found them very interesting. I think adding in discussions about the problem of linguistic or cultural dogmatism and the problem of Orientalism or similar views would be helpful. I think how a culture/language is understood by outside actors is just as important as how locals understand their culture/language. I also enjoyed discussing language families and how languages are grouped because it allows for students in the class to see their language as part of a larger family. Specifically, since I’m studying Moroccan Arabic, the grouping system seemed a bit dated to me. MA is simply identified as another Arabic language. Yet, its status as a creole is not taken into account at all. Overall, I really enjoyed the topics covered by the class. I do think future classes could benefit from more interaction between students outside of the three presentations. While I really enjoyed the presentations, I only learned really learned about what my classmates were studying on those three instances. I think classes could maintain the same topics (language families, phonetics, etc.) and include a few minutes for sharing how the topic related to each student’s target language. This would allow for student-to-student teaching/learning on a weekly basis.
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