Post Final Reflection Paper
Reflect on your learning experiences this semester.
(a) What insights have you gained about yourself as a language learner and cultural explorer? What did you find difficult? What have you enjoyed? How will you continue your learning?
My way of thinking and perspectives on languages, especially the connection to cultural has changed drastically. Before coming in my focus was just learning the language. I was in a competition with myself to learn languages at the quickest rate possible without any regards to the culture. In fact I thought learning the culture of a language was irrelevant and a waste of time. However and I dig deeper into learning Hebrew, I realized that languages, especially Hebrew, have a lot of context which helps you learn the language quicker if you have even a bit of cultural context.
A simple example is "shalom", the word hello and goodbye. It also has the meanings of peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility. I have talked to a lot of native Hebrew speakers and many have told me that the meaning of shalom is not clear cut like the English word of hello and goodbye. Shalom has multi-dimensions. In other words shalom depending on the context (sometimes not even) can convey the 7 meanings listed above. Shalom will show up in many context with completely different meanings. Ma sh'lom'cha literal translation is “What is your peace?” and is the English equivalent of “How are you”, whereas means peace upon the person is commonly referred to a deceased person. In this context the peace and harmony is conveyed but the completeness and tranquility is also present in the phrase. So understanding the cultural background information aids in learning the language quick and more importantly correctly by knowing the right time and place for the language.
I surprisingly enjoy finding the background knowledge about the topics that I am about to read. I see them as context clues that help understand the topic I am learning about in the big picture type. With the extra cultural context I am able to zoom out and have a bird eye view of the language because they smoothly connect together. I will continue my studies through the use of Mango and Duolingo even though I know that they are not the best resources out there to seriously learn a language. I find that as an accounting major student, Mango gives me enough encouragement to make me have small progresses while not overwhelming with too much to learn. All the topics presented in mango is relevant and things that I am able to use with everyday life. It covers all the context, language that I am interested in. It gives me the pronunciation, written, words, breaks up chunk by chunk and gives reviews at the end of each chapter. Hopefully I can also sign up for SDLC 110 to continue my language learning next semester. A language partner will be extremely useful and helpful in my process.
(b) Which readings and learning activities did you find most useful? What would you like to learn more about?
I found that the linguistic analysis was useful but from time to time I found myself trying to find the semantics and pragmatics of the language to help me further understand the language. I like how we went back to the basics and asked yourself simple questions such as what is a word. I enjoyed learning about morphemes and finding the differences between morphemes and words. I also found that learning about the anatomy, physiology, and acoustics of the human vocal tract interesting. We learned about them in the beginning classes. Realizing that different positions of the tongue and lips make different sounds and is what changes one vowel sound and another. I get concerned about how my larynx is behaving and if it is the correct way to pronounce a certain sound or word in Hebrew. I wished we learnt more about children's language development. I found that topic interesting and oftentimes frustrating because we know that children especially toddlers are great at picking up languages unknowingly while adults dedicate countless of hours, energy, and money to learn a language and still struggle while the child can be comparable to a native in a same situation. Overall, I enjoyed all the articles and topics we covered in class. They were interesting and relevant to the average college student struggling with learning languages. Thanks alot Dr. Soloway for a fun semester!
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