Over this past semester, I definitely enjoyed actively trying to reconnect with my language of heritage/culture. My objective was to increase my communication proficiency, something I feel like was able to accomplish via multiple topic based conversations and external resources, like podcasts. I also tried to improve my Korean knowledge in general, such as strengthening knowledge of grammatical structures, application of certain affixes, and expanding my vocabulary. While I definitely enjoyed my time improving Korean, I was also very much interested by the concurrent class I took, SDLC 105. I never had much interaction with the actual structures of language, I had only tried to learn different ones. The closest I got to analyzing language at all was probably in highschool English class, and we never really delved into the structure of a sentence. I was pleasantly surprised with the class, and I learned that I enjoy learning about linguistics. The things I found difficult pertained more to self learning than classes/sessions, such as not remembering to correct errors in enunciation or grammar. I would attempt to solve this by writing notes and reviewing such notes occasionally. Thankfully my language partner was accommodating, and I never felt like I lacked practice. I plan to continue my learning via study abroad in Korea next semester, but with constant practice when I come back. I can also probably keep continuing to listen to communicatory audios, like podcasts and radios.
I think the reading which introduced us to the opposition of aspects between languages, like collectivism vs individualism, etc. was really interesting. I also enjoyed reading about extinct languages, and all the processes taken place to revive a dead language. Although I don’t know exactly what I would like to learn more about, I think less technical articles and those of more interest suit me the best. When articles had too much terminology or were complex, I definitely had a harder time comprehending them. Overall, though, all the articles were interesting and it was great learning about the various aspects of language.
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Honestly, in my opinion, linguistics is one of the most interesting subjects that I have ever studied. I love studying how languages are similar and different from each other. Even down to the smallest units of morphemes and phonemes and seeing how these things give meaning to words. The evolution of humans has come a long way.