Reflection Paper #2

[Mary Chang]

Although I’m not taking SDLC 110 simultaneously with 105, I found the lessons that Professor Soloway taught us very helpful in simply understanding what language itself is. I realized in learning English, Korean and Spanish, I never really approached learning a new language from the perspective of morphology, semantics and syntax. So learning about a structure of a new language was a very new experience for me. Learning a new language whether that was English, Korean or Spanish, I simply memorized the rules of grammar and a list of vocabulary and expanded on such knowledge to improve myself. But I realized while taking this class that I definitely lack a lot of foundational knowledge about structures of language because I used to simply memorize what I was told to instead of truly understanding the concepts. In learning Spanish which was the third language I learned, I especially learned that language without truly understanding the structure or the culture of that language and my knowledge was majorly based on memorized rules and vocabulary. Because of that, I have almost forgotten most of Spanish except for a few phrases and words because I learned it by memorizing instead of understanding. I also learned from 105 that learning a new language is not just learning to speak, understand, read or write the language but is also about learning the culture of the country that speaks the language. Knowing the culture of a target language better prepares me to have the ability to use the language in proper manner in appropriate situations. Since I took this class with a few other students like Tana who is learning Hebrew and Chris who is learning Farsi, it was very interesting to learn about other cultures. Learning about them made me question a lot of things that I had not asked about Korean culture. For example, I didn’t realize how the culture of strong hierarchy of Korea was embedded in its language so much and I also didn’t realize how its collectivism culture was well represented in its language as well. For instance, because hierarchy is so important in Korean culture, there is a long list of two ways of saying the same word depending on whom you are talking to. For ones who are older than you, you have to choose the words carefully and use different suffixes as well to show respect. Collectivism is also portrayed in its language because while Americans say “my wife” “my family” “my house,” Koreans often say “our wife” “our family” and “our house” even when they are referring to “my wife” “my family” or “my house” because the well-being or interest of a group as a whole is prioritized before individual interests. To improve my communicative competence, I should definitely expand on the breadth of my vocabulary and also the understanding of the culture to apply the changes that have occurred in the culture on the language I use.