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“B-I-S-E-S-E, Bisese” I say as I try to articulate my last name. It has never been an easy one for people to pronounce. I remember as I was growing up as a figure skater I would be standing on the side of the ice in my little sparkly outfit, shivering because of the cold and shaking because of the nerves. Then as if on cue, they would mispronounce my name and I would skate out with a plastered smile. 

My last name is Italian, and although I could correct people on the mispronunciation of my last name, there was so little that I knew about Italian culture and the language itself. I never knew my grandmother, and my grandfather passed away when I was six. My father never picked up the Italian that was sometimes thrown around the household, he was self-proclaimed “unable to speak a language, not even English sometimes”. I never felt this though. I always dreamed of travel and excitement, to see people and places but experience them closely without the barrier of my comfortable, but limiting native English. Growing up I took Spanish and I excelled on the quizzes and tests, but it lost its beauty for me. The classes that were offered never offered a look into Spanish culture beyond the occasional worksheet on “Día de los Muertos”. It became boring and the dreams I had to travel to spanish speaking countries dwindled down to dreaming that the class period would finish. 

Then I came to college and everything changed for me. I felt like I had an actual choice. One that went beyond “French or Spanish” and one that said, “where do you want language to take you?”. I remember distinctively thinking, “home”. I wanted to connect with my dad’s family, see the roots of my family tree where I get my thick dark brown brows and curly dark hair. So I enrolled in Italian and it became a part of me. I loved the grammar exercises being intertwined with the culture. I loved the discussions I had one on one with my professors, where they would recommend me news articles to read and tv shows to watch. I loved that throughout getting my COM2 requirement, I was planning an entire year abroad that would entirely change my life path and direction. The quiz I took reaffirmed that I am both an auditory and tactile learner. I have never been one to be able to memorize charts or models. Living in Italy I believe ultimately is what helped me become C1 level. Living in and being surrounded by the language really changed what the language was in my head. As time went on there was less translation and more simple action, I could use the language without thinking about using the language so much. 

Moving forward, I hope to continue this sort of learning where I focus on immersing myself in the language. I think that looking at media, be it news, movies, tv, podcast, etc, is most helpful in helping me obtain the spoken language. Listening to pronunciation is important to me because one thing I know I have trouble with is gaining the confidence to speak. I believe that taking the time to listen and practice, it will make me less averse to speaking. Being creative is also very important to me, I love writing and journaling. I think that it is important for me to incorporate this into my future language-learning endeavors. Especially keeping some sort of daily journal in the language, I think that it is important to know the everyday vocabulary and being able to recount my day would help to acquire words and grammar structures. I hope to apply the knowledge I have acquired for how I best learn languages to French, using cultural media at the forefront, especially as someone who is hoping to use a diverse array of languages throughout a career based in global media and communication.

I agree with most of the first passage as it lists so many facts about how human brain functions linguistic processes. It clarifies how each part of our brain can take certain responsibilities for effective communication. The second passage talks a lot about semantics in languages by illustrating how words express meanings and relationship between words. Language cannot be confined to a purely biological phenomenon. Everyone uses language in a different way. For example, illiterate people would sometimes neglect grammar rules. While others may employ intensive grammar usages which requires learning instead of simple brain processing. According to the first passage, information is sent from auditory cortex to Wernicke’s area which later allows Broca’s area for comprehension. For me, most of the English I learnt is through repetitive recitation which is time-consuming and inefficient. The second passage notices me the importance of incorporating words into phrases for better understanding of senses instead of references. I believe it would be helpful if I can require that kind of sense through daily communication.

The readings were very interesting and provided great insight on the parts I never knew about learning a language. Although I knew that right-handed people had their left hemisphere of the brain to be dominant, I did not know that it was for certain activities. I believe that language is influenced by a biological phenomenon to a point after reading about localization. Since our brain has parts that are significantly built and dedicated for certain abilities, I believe that some people are born with better speaking, listening, reading and writing skills than others. For instance, we are able to take the quizzes that allow us to know what ways help us learn the best. However, language is more heavily influenced by our surroundings and the culture we live in as we adapt to what we see and hear. Especially with speaking, we are influenced by specific areas of the brain such as the Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, and frontal lobe. 

When it comes to processing meaning, it is important to structure the words into sentences. Although the reference is important in learning a language it is important to make
“sense” with words. Words can have multiple meanings to them whether it is in different tenses, meanings, or usages. It is important to specify those words through context. 

The readings inspired me to focus more on the day to day casual phrases and sentences, apart from the vocabulary shown in dictionaries or formal grammar books. Having real life practices and experiences will increase my ability to make sense with Korean. Activities such as watching Korean shows, casual conversations with my language partner, and reading Korean stories would help advance my language skills.

Lunar New Year is just right around the corner, and this year, the first day of the lunar year begins on January 22, 2023. Each year, the beginning of the lunar year is different, and starts later than the Gregorian calendar, which is what most parts of the world including the United States uses. Lunar New Year is sometimes also known as “Chinese New Year”, but many other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan celebrate this holiday as well. Lunar New Year in China and some other countries treat this holiday similar to how the United States celebrates Christmas. This popular holiday is celebrated for 15 days in China, and is quite highly celebrated because Chinese people wish to bring in good luck for the new year. There are many festivities that occur during this time such as lion dances, musical performances, prepping for the new year, and meaning of certain dishes. There are a tremendous amount of activities in the Lunar New Year that would be difficult to cover, but some of the most important and interesting ones are highlighted in this post. 

The first day of the Lunar New Year celebrations (also called “Spring Festival” 春节) are the most highly anticipated and requires the most prepping. On this day, many people don’t hold knives or brooms because it would be a sign of bad luck. Brooms are not used for cleaning because it was known in the olden days that using the broom would sweep away all the good fortune that would or have already made its way into the home. Using knives on the first day is taboo, so most of the cooking is done the few days leading to the first day. Additionally, to get rid of the bad spirits that may be lingering from the previous year, there would be lion dances, firecrackers, and lightening bamboo sticks to ward off bad spirits.  

Probably one of the most anticipated aspects of the Lunar New Year is the giving and receiving of red pocket envelopes also known as hong bao 红包。These red pocket envelopes are filled with cash given to children and the elderly. The cash amount would be in multiples of eight because “eight” in mandarin and cantonese is phonetically similar to the word “prosperous”. On the other hand, people usually never give cash amounts that end in the number “four” because it is phonetically similar to the word “die” in both mandarin and cantonese. Therefore, people do not want to wish death to the receiver at the beginning of the year. Red pocket envelopes are not the only items that are given as gifts during this time. Other gifts would be assorted nuts and fruits, especially tangerines, pomelos, and oranges because their Chinese characters are related to the character “luck” in Chinese. Gifts that are not acceptable to give during this time are clocks or watches because they are phonetically similar to the process of funerals. 

Day 2 of the Lunar Year is called 开年 (kai nian), and the main focus is to worship the God of Wealth 财神(cai shen). Most red pocket envelopes are given out, and interestingly, only married men and women are allowed to give and receive red envelopes while unmarried, single individuals can only receive. There is a popular song sung in cantonese called “财神到”, and it is used to celebrate and welcome the God of Wealth into the living space. This day is dedicated to maximizing the chances that the household/personels will be prosperous in the new year. 

Usually after the 3rd day of celebrations, businesses almost return back to normal while people continue to celebrate the new year. School-aged children get this time off, but the length varies depending on the region. The official holiday is seven days long while some children depending on the area get the full 15 days off. 

This is a brief overview of what the festivities look like for the first two days of the Lunar New Year in China along with traditions and customs that Chinese people follow during this time. The types of dishes and festivities may vary region to region, but one thing that can be said for certain is that the main theme of the celebrations is the importance of family gathering.

Resources:

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/chinese-new-year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

I think our biology is the only reason why we are able to have language. We are naturally born with feelings and as we grow older we learn how to express these feelings through language. The ability to learn a language is based on our biological structure. That is why some people are better at public speaking, some are better at writing, and some are better at conversational speaking because those are the areas that people most likely had the most training in when they were young. 

In the reading, it says that right-handed people’s left brain deals with the most physical functions and the right side of the brain deals with analyzing patterns. I think the right part of the brain allows us to understand parts of language such as semantics and the left side allows us to properly execute our reaction and response to what that meaning means to us.

I think is process language very similar to what the textbook says. I use context and other related words to help me understand the meaning of a new word I don’t know and I also use previous experience to help me understand the “actual” meaning of a word or whatever the other person is trying to say. 

This reading made me realize that our physical body has a large effect on our learning. Now it makes me want to try physical methods to try and learn a language and then maybe my brain will be able to learn a language much more efficiently. Also, it made me realize to learn a language I need a lot of “real world” practice, so conversations from textbooks and only reading stories in a different language will most likely not be as effective towards my learning especially because I want to be conversationally fluent in Korean; therefore, I should have conversations with other native speakers and read and watch modern media in Korea so that my language skills can improve. Also, this reading made me think about my English skills, even though English is my first language. It made me think about those “what does this word mean used in this context” questions on the SAT. I would have to use other words and the context of the passage to help determine the meaning of a certain word.

Discussion Post #1

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

           I think some aspects of language is a purely biological phenomenon, especially speaking. Speaking can only be processed through listening, which is a natural phenomenon. For example, you can speak other languages by only watching tv programs in that language even though you have no knowledge about words or grammar. However, I also think that some aspects of language are not purely biological phenomena. For Instance, reading and writing is not natural outcome. They need continuous practice to actually learn and get better. Eventually, I partly agree that language is a purely biological phenomenon.

           The left hemisphere is dominant for language for me since I am a right-handed person. Speech production takes place in the utterance, sent to be processed in Wernicke’s area, and to Broca’s area for encoding. The signal for speech comprehension is sent to the auditory cortex from the ear and interpreted in Wernicke’s area.

          Meaning can vary through different words, sentences, and grammar patterns. Because words by themselves are not clear, only vocabulary within a sentence has meaning. Through these readings, I got to think again about how I learned foreign languages and formed a new language. Since I learned that isolated words may convey too many meanings, I will try to use full sentences to express what I truly mean.

Being a Cognitive Science major, the selected readings were nothing short of fascinating to me. The chapter regarding anatomical structures presented biology as a building block for understanding language acquisition. Though not necessary, understanding structures such as Broca’s and Wernicke’s area helps to relate language back to its original roots: the brain. The brain’s ability to maintain a symphony of visual stimuli in both recognition and production is incredible, and the ability to eventually communicate complex thoughts was something I came to understand. Though the, “left” vs. “right” brain discussion is certainly vital, I believe that, in actuality, people shouldn't focus too much on biological differences when learning a language. Rather than getting caught up on the fact that one does not possess strong “left” abilities, everyone also has a corpus callosum and is more than capable of learning language– biology should not be a deterrent.

As for the philosophical debates, I was quite interested in the Plato and Socrates illustrations, due to some courses in rhetoric which I am taking now. Plato’s polemical views on rhetoric stem from an idea that one’s sense trumps all, which is in opposition to the Socratic paradigm. This reminds me of a quote from Dostoevsky and his thoughts on thought itself, using language to communicate said thoughts could be seen as an inherently impossible task, and I conjecture language will never be a perfect 1:1 expression of consciousness. Perhaps this is why I’m ambivalent about Plato and Socrates since both sense and reference are needed, and why I enjoyed this reading so much as it positioned biological principles as a step to understanding varying philosophical premises.

I have learned two languages, other than English, throughout my life including Korean and Spanish. Coming from a Korean family, I have always learned basic Korean vocabulary and phrases from my parents. It was not difficult to learn Korean as it happened naturally, being in an environment that encouraged Korean in the household. But since I only used the basic phrases, it was hard to increase my Korean skills, especially with writing, as I never got the chance to practice and broaden my proficiency. 

Learning Spanish in high school was very difficult. The class offered a load of vocabulary and conjugations, split into categories. For instance, we would have a week of learning past tense in the setting of family. We would learn vocabularies such as mom, dad, family, and siblings and put them in short sentences. It was difficult because I would memorize them in my short-term memory and forget about them once the quizzes and tests were over. My favorite language learning activities offered in the class were watching storylines spoken in Spanish and summarizing what is happening in the videos. Watching, listening, and reading the subtitles increased my ability to actually learn real-life conversational skills.

After taking the surveys I have figured that I am a visual and spatial learner. Reading and looking at pictures helps me the most in learning something new. I think making flashcards, keeping my environment clean, and watching visual videos and imagery would help me learn the language. For Korean, imageries such as K-dramas or K-entertainments would help me advance my conversation skills as well as my reading skill with the available subtitles. For my writing, practicing by creating charts or graphics will help me organize my grammar and fluency skills. 

I've had a number of experiences with different languages and cultures. I am originally from Ethiopia, a country in the horn of Africa where more than 100 languages are spoken. That is where I had my very first experience with language-my mother tongue of Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia). Until I was about four years old that is all I knew how to speak. Soon after my family and I moved to Russia where I began to acquire the Russian language, at least to the extent that a four-year-old attending an Indian preschool can acquire the Russian language. When I was around six years old I moved to the United States and had my fourth experience with language, the English one at that. This was the hardest language experience I've experienced, mostly because of the insane pressure put on a six-year-old to learn such a complex language in a matter of months. Additionally, American culture was also one that tolled with my perception of my identity the most, perhaps because it was the most different from all my other experiences. Lastly, starting from third grade to my junior year in high school I have been learning Spanish in the classroom; my fifth experience with language and culture. Weirdly enough, even after all those years of instruction, I still don’t know how to actually speak Spanish and most of what I do know of the language is through my Spanish-speaking friends that I’ve had for just as long, This, I believe, is a testament to the point made in the How to Successfully Learn a Language This Year blog post about the detriment of viewing language learning as an academic pursuit. My sixth experience as a language learner began here at the University of Richmond where I spent all four of my years as an undergraduate student learning the French language. I made the decision to start fresh rather than continuing my pursuit of Spanish because French is the “language of diplomacy” and as an International Affairs student, I believed learning it would serve me well in the future. It doesn’t end there. Ironically, instead of studying abroad in France during my junior year, I decided to spend three months abroad in Italy where I had my final experience as a language learner. Though the program required us to learn Italian in the context of a classroom, it was so refreshing to be able to take what we learned in the classroom and use it as soon as we stepped outside the school building. I realized there that, for me at least, that is the best way to truly acquire a language rather than merely having small unproductive encounters with multiple languages. That is how I enjoy learning a language-using it outside the context of academics, seeing the language through the people that speak it everywhere I turn. This is in alignment with the learning style that best matches me according to the survey-visual and auditory. It extracts the pressure that is associated with academics and the desire to be motivated by grades rather than learning the language even if it means failing at times. Academics doesn't provide me the comfort of failing. 

I often find myself perplexed by the fact that I was able to learn English because right now I can’t imagine speaking another language at an advanced level. When I was in Ethiopia this past summer, I almost lost hope in my pursuit to learn Afaan Oromo because it felt like it could never happen without living amongst people that only spoke that for a year or more (a situation that isn’t realistic for me right now). But through this class, I think my hope will be restored. I need to speak and practice. I need to let go of the idea that I will only speak when I’m “perfect”. I will use what I know about myself as a learner to foster a language-learning environment that will best serve me. For instance, some learning activities I hope to use is listening to music in Afaan Oromo and using both the context of the music video and the words/lyrics being said to discern what story the music is telling. 

I began to admire polyglot since a very young age when I consorted a foreigner speaking fluent Mandarin. We conversated a lot about his travelling experience in several countries. He kept modest even when he pointed out that he can speak more than three languages which allows his travel unimpeded. From then on, I have been dreaming about packing my stuffs and stepping around the world with my talented language skills. However, the reality is so tough that I start to adverse the toughness of remembering all the vocabularies and grammar rules in English, my second language.

After finishing survey and looking carefully through the FIRE model, I found myself a visual learner and body person in most cases. According to the websites, visuals learners are recommended to use flashcards to learn new words and draw pictures to illustrate new concepts. Another important advice is that visual learners should attempt to see things, not just hear things, in order to learn well. In the meanwhile, learners with “Body Movement” traits should use magnetic letters, or letters on index cards to spell words. In addition to that, constantly changing place for writing and tools to write is also note-worthy. There are similarities between suggestions given by the two websites based on the analysis of what kind of learner I am. I need to make my study movable, which means that the medium I use for no matter remembering vocabulary or taking notes should be portable and easily accessible. I also fall into the category of “Insightful” within respect to the Fire Model. I find role playing, case studies, and opportunities for debate suits my initial study plan. All these descriptions and accompanied suggestions help me find the frame that fits me the most.

Therefore, I can expand my primitive study activities based on all this information. I need to first set up my goals. This goal should not be too broad for a single semester’s study, so daily communication scenarios such as shopping and greeting are practical objectives. I need to find an instructor who is willing to help me and point out mistakes I would make while studying. In addition, I should also utilize online resources for picking up both vocabulary and sentences. I would love to attend cultural events about Korean since I found it beneficial when immersed in the atmosphere considering my previous English learning experience. According to the visual learner advice, combing concepts and pictures can be a good choice for both learning and remembering. I plan to integrate daily conversations into videos that I can take out and review for so many times thanks to modern technologies. In short, the short term goal for me is daily communication which does not require sophisticated languages which renders more flexible study plans. Moreover, I should combine visual resources into my study and have someone to point out my mistakes whenever possible. At last, find a native speaker of Korean and keep in touch with he or she would improve my accent and courage of using the language.

As a language learner, I’ve come to realize that doing is improving. I remember downloading dozens of apps, purchasing textbooks, and perusing the internet for any “hacks” that would get me to learn as quickly and as efficiently as possible. While those methods did indeed help me, the practice that was most imperative was practice itself, and it was a matter of finding someone I felt comfortable enough to talk to and make dozens of mistakes in front of where I had initial hardships. Based on the intelligences test, I scored highest on social, followed by language and self– which seems like a recipe conducive to language learning success. Being able to connect with someone socially about their experiences pairs nicely with an intrinsic drive to learn more about the syntax and etymology of a language. Though textbooks are a great supplementary tool, and perhaps the most direct way of learning the grammatical structures of a language, I find that textbooks preparing me for flawless writing typically don’t work out the best for me. In my learning of Korean, for instance, the textbooks produced by Yonsei university are a terrific start for those partial towards sound Lexile ability, but books honed in on refining conversational ability, such as those from Seogang university, help tremendously since I want to improve my conversational ability– which ties into the goals aspect of learning. 

Learning a language is a very broad pursuit, language is immersive and omnipresent, so targeting a specific goal saw my learning improve drastically. When I began, I simply compared my abilities with those of my English faculties, failing to recognize equal prowess in all aspects of English or any other language (speaking, writing, reading, etc.) is not possible, so I devote myself to the spoken portions during language pedagogy. The number of words I feel comfortable speaking, but could definitely not spell in Korean is embarrassingly high– but I don’t really mind since exemplary spelling was never my goal. So for this reason, shadowing is a practice that was most beneficial to my learning. The act of hearing a phrase, recognizing patterns, acknowledging intonation and pronunciation, and ultimately reproducing said phrase gave me the confidence to use it in the future without fear of being completely erroneous (since I still misused the phrases occasionally). This repeated exchange works in conjunction with my visual learning style, repetition from flashcards to learn more vocabulary is unbelievably useful. Programs like Anki and apps like Memrise do a phenomenal job of reinforcing definitions of words, and I particularly benefited from Anki when I used cards containing some of the most ubiquitous words in the language I’m learning. Though complexity is inevitably limited, there is plenty someone can say by just using 100 or so words, and this philosophy is how I think I should expand my learning activities.

For example, in Korean, Hanja, the Korean word for Chinese roots has palpable impacts on modern-day Korean. Similar to the relationship romance languages have with Latin, understanding these roots and seeing them used in novel words provides at least some semblance of familiarity which will ease comprehension and further retainment. The history of a language gives insight into its present, and this principle is one I will take advantage of with other languages that pique my interest.

Reflection Paper #1

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

The most satisfying moment of language learning is when I succeed in using new expressions with native speakers. I still remember how my grandfather laughed at my “Gyongsa nanne”(‘It’s a feast’ in Korean). I was born in New Jersey to full-Korean parents. My family moved back to Korea, and my Korean was not fluent back at that time. When my grandparents visited us, they brought a lot of good-looking food. That was when I used the magic words, and it surprised all the adults. Interacting with other people through the new language material that I learned is the most enjoyable part for me.

In contrast, I did not like how I learned Chinese in high school, which was learning without any real experience. Our class would learn and repeat certain words and phrases each class. However, that method of studying was not helpful for me. I had no chance to actually use what I learned. After quizzes and tests on those materials, I would almost immediately forget all of what I studied. I have studied and memorized language for a short hurdle, not for myself. When I start my language learning at University of Richmond, I want to learn and study seriously to improve my language ability.

By taking the “What’s Your Learning Style?” survey, I got to know that I am a visual learner. I prefer learning through visual examples, such as graphs and images. It is much easier for me to understand and remember any concepts or materials by sight. A class that is instructed by a teacher who writes notes or shows visual materials were much more effective to learn. Also, that way of learning pulls out aspiration and interest inside me. When someone only provides oral explanations, the difficulty of the class or material becomes extremely higher. I usually keep my notes and studying process neat and clean as much as I can. I try to understand the important contents written in my notes by imagining them in my head. This helps me in the same way when I receive visual explanations. However, explaining to my peers is sometimes more helpful for my study. Using visuals, images, and examples is necessary when I explain to others too. As a visual learner, language learning activities related to visualizing suit my learning style. I used to use flashcards to memorize difficult English words when I studied for the ACT test back in high school. Visualizing what I hear or read is also an efficient way of learning. I usually take my own notes of keywords and ideas and color code what I learned.

Throughout my life, I had a passive attitude toward studying languages. I only followed the teacher's instructions and gave my least effort. So I naturally feel that I am lacking in the linguistic part of myself. It is also important to follow specific language learning activities. However, I realized that I should not only study to complete my realistic goals but also continue my learning even though it does not give me any credit. Beyond learning in a school course, I pledge to take an interest in my study progress and lead myself well.

S23 Syllabus for Cantonese