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There was very little progress made this week in order to actually begin learning Hebrew. Since my language partner, Maya, and I weren't able to schedule a meeting until next week it didn't allow for me to really sink my teeth into a topic in the language and get started. I did explore the Rosetta stone and found the first lesson to be very unlike any way of learning i have attempted before, and i do believe that this type of learning will be beneficial.

The first reading I found to be interesting and in fact relevant to me more so than i ever would have thought. The ways in which the brain functions are fascinating especially when it comes to the way in which it interprets and learns different languages. From personal experience in attempting to learn a different language other than English i can attest to the fact that the brain works very slowly when trying to learn something that is completely foreign to it. The language i had difficulty learning was spanish, and if a language of which every American is exposed to in some way is difficult, then a language in which i know absolutely nothing about is most likely going to be an even more difficult challenge.

I also have an interest in the process of the brain because of a head injury i incurred a few years ago. I was unforrtunately in the hospital for almost a week after fracturing my skull and incuring slight brain damage which left me, as far as i knew at that point, with a significant hearing loss as well as a constant ringing in my left ear. After a couple years of struggling in school I finally seeked out assistance and found after a rigorous neurological testing that I had in fact developed cognitive learning problems that are directly related to the way i take in information. It was concluded that my aility to understand and learn new concepts had been impaired by the injury and that I would have to work harder to understand things that in the past came to me very easily. I think this applies not only to the reading, in terms of the Brains ability to retain information, but also to the format of the class in general that will allow for me to really be able to figure out the best way to learn information outside of a classroom setting.

Besides wanting to learn the Hebrew language, I am also interested in learning more about the Israeli culture. In my first tutoring session I was able to learn many things about Israel and its Jewish people. My peer advisor Maya Tatro explained Israel to me as a “Little America, with better food.” They still have the fast food restaurants that we of course have in the States, but they also have better local food over there. I had always known that Israel was an ally to the United States of America, but I did not know that Israel is by far the most western state in the Middle East. Because they act like a western culture, in an area that does not look kindly upon the west, they are commonly seen as the enemy by their unfriendly neighbors. This is one of the reasons that Palestine and Israel do not get along. One can only hope that the struggle between Palestine and Israel can find a peaceful endpoint within our lifetime. However, as much as we hope for world peace, it narcissistically is not possible.

Another thing I learned was a Jewish American’s birth rite. In one’s late teen years or early twenties, they have a 10 day trip paid for to go back to Israel and its culture. The person doing the trip pays no money and is arranged through the Taglat, a wealthy group of Jewish people that feel as if the birth rite is so important that every Jewish American should experience it. Although Maya has not been on her Birth Rite yet, she explained it as an almost rush week sort of thing. Where the visiting party is showered with happiness and enjoyment, to encourage that individual to join that group. Throughout the ten day trip people are selling the idea of staying in Israel and not going back home to the US. I do not know how effective this is in keeping people in Israel, but as a young adult this sounds like an awesome trip to take part in.

The final thing I learned about the culture in my discussion was about the Israeli Army. Unlike in America, where we do not have to join the army, in Israel every person must join the army for 2 years. It is typically done between high school and college. Israeli’s like Maya still technically have to join the army if she were to return, up to a certain age. If Maya wanted to go back to Israel, she could only be there for less than 6 months lest she be put in jail for avoiding military service. From what I gathered, it is an honor and commonality to join the army when one reaches a certain age, so it is not like people are searching for ways to avoid fighting for its country and culture. As I briefly touched on in the first paragraph, Israel is constantly at war with its neighboring countries, if they were to find peace with these other areas, then perhaps a mandatory service in the army would not be necessary. 

This past week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Maya Tatro. Maya is my learning partner for Hebrew and she is a senior at UR as well. She is a native of Isreal and is fluent in Hebrew. Her kind and relaxed nature makes the tutoring sessions much more enjoyable since she creates the setting of a peer to peer helping session instead of a student, teacher relationship. JT and myself are both beggining speakers so we were just starting off with the basics of Hebrew like hello and what's up. By the end of our hour session JT and I both felt comfortable enough to record an artifact ourselves doing a Hebrew introduction. The words I learned were as follows:

Shalom=hello/goodbye, peace

Moneshma= slang for what's up?

Tove=good

lo tove= not good

lo= no

ken= yes

Metsweon= excellent

Sabbaba= awesome

Bayvackshaw= Please

Bokertove= good morning

Leye Trot= see you later

Shem Shayle= My name is

Eh Karem lay ha= what is your name? for a male

Aknee= I am

Efo= where is

Efozay=where is this?

ata= you (boy)

aut= you (girl)

Toe da la ba= thank you very much

I consider that pretty good progress in learning Hebrew words. Now I just need to be able to pronunciate them correctly which can be a challenge when you have to roll R's and make a huh sound with the back of your throat. 

We were also able to set aside three additional goals besides the one's already required for beginners. The three additional goals are to talk about sports, the weather, and to ask for directions. Each week we plan on achieving one goal, so by the end of the semester we have achieved what we had previously set for ourselves. 

From this week’s reading we learned of how we decipher language when interacting with others. The understanding of language is a multifaceted approach of the visual and sound senses that human’s experience. For the most part the majority of communication can be understood through non verbal communication. That means only the visual is necessary in understanding what one person is really trying to express. So even though I do not know Hebrew, as long as I can read another person’s body language, and they can read mine, then I will be all right in at least having an idea of what is going on. That explains why there is a saying of “actions speak louder than words” because they really do.

As for the sounds part of listening and language, it seems very difficult. Sound and what it means is deciphered upon the energy with which it is produced, the depths of the lungs from which the air comes to make the noise, the pitch of the sounds, and whether it is in a consonant or vowel format. Those are just a few of the characteristics that are necessary in understanding the vocal undertones of communication.

The resources that I have found most helpful in my understanding of language are my interactions with my tutor. Maya is able to immediately correct my language pronunciation and give me the essentials towards reaching the goals I have set forth. Unlike Rosetta Stone, in which you have to learn words not necessary towards reaching my goals, Maya is able to directly address the wants and needs of myself. In addition to the beginner goals, JT and I have set the goal to learn to talk about weather, sports, and ask for directions. We feel that these three things added on with the beginner requirements will help us understand the Hebrew language. 

Not only that, but the Bengali dictionary is actually organized by the tongue placement, which makes it particularly frustrating for foreigners trying to search for words. 

As for increasing my vocabulary, I am having my language partner assign me 15 new words every class, three classes a week.  I review them in between classes, and to practice them even more, I make five sentences with them for every class.  If I keep this pace, I will add approximitely 500 words to my vocabulary by the end of the semester. 

I have met with my language partner twice and have been using the Rosetta Stone a fair amount.  So far I have really enjoyed learning the language. Rosetta Stone has been a unique experience since it teaches me in a completely different type of way than I have been before.  It is as if I wont forget what I am learning the second I walk out of the room.  Overall it has been pleasing.  

This week I will reach my first Rosetta Milestone and I would like to be able to have an extremely basic conversation with a beginning middle and end.    

Over the past week I have learned very limited Hebrew. I was able to get in a few sessions of Rosetta Stone, but JT and I were not assigned a Hebrew learning partner until Thursday or Friday. After we were assigned we then had trouble scheduling a time to meet. After a back and forth of several emails we were able to set aside a time to meet this coming Thursday to establish how we are going to accomplish the goals set forth in the first week of the semester. I am looking forward to working with Maya to help understand the Hebrew language and hopefully gather a speaking ability that will at least make me capable of carrying on a casual conversation.

From the assigned reading of “How Language Works” by David Crystal, I came to an understanding of why a neurosurgeon gets paid the most out of all the types of doctor’s. I know that this thought is something most people would not have generated from the reading, but it is something I cannot help but to mention because if a doctor screws up a surgery on a brain, then that person will not have the same understanding and speaking ability of others. In the text it speaks of how complicated it is in understanding and speaking a language. Even the most simple phrases or thoughts actually take an intense amount of brain power in order to make the thoughts coherent and clear. From knowing my brain I know I am quick witted and intelligent when speaking the English language. However, when it comes to a foreign language I do not have the brain power to catch on to and retain a language very quickly. Even the most easy words and phrases will take a long time for me to remember and be able to affectively convey while speaking a foreign language. In order to overcome the slow retention rate of my brain I will simply have to do many hours of learning until the words and phrases I want to know are permanently ingrained in my mind.

One particular part of the reading that I really liked was how we study grammar. As I have mentioned in other posts, I am not interested in learning grammar, it is something that to me as a novice will have no effect on my ability to speak Hebrew. As the book mentioned “no other subject in this book elicits as many different reactions and attitudes as grammar” (230).  I have a negative attitude towards grammar and that is partly because everybody I seemingly talk to has a negative attitude about grammar. There have been so many different ways grammar has been taught in the last 50 years that it is hard to grasp a certain style to learn grammar. This lack of direction leads to frustration, and for me a lack of enjoyment in learning grammar. What I do agree with book on in regards to grammar is that it should be taught “discovery first, definitions of terms last.” (235) If the learning style had been like that when I was learning grammar then maybe I would not hate grammar so much now. 

Since I have decided to switch my language from Bengali to Thai I feel as though it is necessary to respond a second time to this Blog Post.

One year ago, right when I returned from Thailand, I was much more on top of my Thai language skills. However, the more I think about what I learned and quickly review text books I realize that I still remember the majority of what I learned it is just not at the top of my head like it used to be. I feel like a quick refresher with my language partner will catch me back up to where I used to be with my speaking and listening skills (Novice: Beginning 2).

I plan on continuing my focus on speaking/listening rather than backtracking to relearn the Thai alphabet for reading/writing purposes. My goal is to raise my proficiency to a developing intermediate level. Ultimately, I hope to expand my vocabulary significantly so that I can better communicate in a wide variety of situations.

The initial part of this reading really caught my attention, for years i have told myself that i was a math and science person, and the other side of my brain, the creative/language part was not my strong side.  I am a business major, i love math, loved all of my science courses in high school, and even the one i took in college.  Languages always proved to be a struggle for me, I had to work that much harder and pay that much more attention in order to not fall behind in the course.  The descrtiptions/ correlations between our brains/ dominant hand with what our strengths are (language, creativity etc etc) is really interesting and something i appreciated learning about. 

The next section immediately following the brain breakdown, tong slips- the story of my life.  I am always messing up words, and now know why i do that, its not that im dumb, rather this happens often when word are found "within the same grammatical construction of rhythm unit" (178). 

Words convey meanings, how the same word is spoken dictates how we understand the statement, influxes  and various emphasis on syllables can change the importance of spoken words.  Words not only change importance of language meaning can also change based on hand movements, eye contact and much more.  There are different views on meanings and how words are conveyed, learning this was interesting as well. 

How we learn vocabularies, learn meaning, define words, grow our vocabularies, study grammar, classify words (nouns, verbs..) all gave a lot of depth and great meaning to the basics of language i have taken for granted.  I have not given much thought to why i know things, how to organize a sentence when speaking in english etc.  When i learned french, i did struggle with these concepts much more, and reading and learning about how important the fundamentals are, i truly wish i could go back and take french again!

This greater understanding/ reading into the fundamentals of languages are great, and i cant wait to learn more.

I have never studied Farsi before, which of course sets my language skills as Beginning 0 in the novice level...if even that since as of now I don't know much.  I hope to complete the Beginning 2 level of novice this semester, meaning that I will be able to: find specific predictable information in simple everyday material such as advertisements, menus, schedules, and simple personal letters; understand phrases and commonly-used vocabulary related to areas of personal relevance; handle very short social exchanges; use a series of phrases and sentences to describe in simple terms a variety of things such as my family and other people, living conditions, my educational background, and my present or most recent job; and write short, simple notes and messages. 

I am also in the process of creating more specific tasks an a learning calendar.  So far, I believe that getting used to learning and using a new alphabet is going to be one of the hardest tasks.  With language, I tend to have a pretty good memory for things such as vocabulary and grammar so hopefully once I become accustomed to speaking a different type of language, it will not be as difficult to pick these things up. 

This past week I began reviewing the vocabulary that I learned in Rosetta Stone.  This includes recognizing the word visually and trying to repeat it verbally.  I am also trying to fulfill my goal of being able to write in Farsi as well so I began trying to copy the words.  In order to build muscle memory for the new alphabet I have to learn, I created a spreadsheet with practice for myself.  This spreadsheet has all of the letters of the Persian alphabet with multiple copies of each letter so that I can practice tracing them (Kind of like being in kindergarten again). 

I also assesd my current ability in Farsi. I wasn't exactly shocked when the chart told me that I was a complete beginner (Aka "Beginning 0).  By the end of this semester I hope to consider myself a "Beginning 2.  Some of the requirements I would need to fulfill to meet this level would be

-describing my family,background and employment

-reading a menu, schedule, personal letter

-writing a simple letter

These are not all of the requirements but I hope to at least be able to do these.  In order to do this I will need to know the vocabulary involved and understand basic grammar and word placement in simple sentences.  I currently have a tentative Learning Plan which should get me to where I want to be.  The focus is mainly on me learning the correct vocabulary so that I can begin using those words in sentences and becoming familiar with Persian grammar. 

One of the points in the reading for this class that really resonated with me was the importance of understanding word placement and inflection on those words.  My experience with Spanish allowed me to realize how important it is to understand cultural rules of inflection based on the context of the sentence.  Hopefully, I will pick up on this a little bit throughout the semester by working with my language partner.

My current level of competence in Turkish is below Beginning 0.  This is a completely new language for me so all of my interpretative, internpersonal and presentational skills are currently below 0.  By the end of the semester I can be at beginning 0 but I would like to be at beginning 1.  I am more focused on speaking and listening rather than writing.  My goals are:

1. Introductions

2. Descriptions

3. Colors

4. Numbers

5. Food

For my loftier goals I would like to be able to order food at a restaurant, ask for directions and be able to hold a small conversation.  

My current level of competence in Hindi seems to be at Novice Beginning 2.  By the end of the semester, it is my goal to be at the Intermediate Developing 1 category in all areas.  My basic goals for this semester will be to:

1.  Review and solidify knowledge of tenses already learned, especially in speaking/being able to quicky form sentences aloud.

• Present, present progressive, past progressive, present habitual, past habitual, simple past
• I want to focus on speaking because I find it much easier to read or write sentences in the different tenses and much more difficult to produce them aloud myself.

2.  Special verb forms

• "I can..."
• "I like..."
• "I should.."
• "I want..."
• "I need..."

3.  VOCABULARY

• Describing appearances
• Describing feelings
• Health
• Places
• Count to at least 30
• Focus on verbs

As you can see, this used to be color keyed.

Bangla Spring semester Syllabus

Red days are grammar days/Mondays

Green days are listening days/wednesdays

Blue days are reading days/every other Friday

Black days are catch up and writing/spelling days/every other Friday

Mon.              Jan 10                        above, below, beside, under postpositions

Wed.             Jan 12                        conversation topic for 15 minutes, hospital vocab and body vocab review. 5 min.  sisimpur

Fri.       Jan 14                conversation topic:   normal life.  reading Radice 116.  Then role play reading. Practice writing new vocab and health related and body parts.  

Mon.             Jan 17                        conversation topic: chotobelai. Verb conjugation.  Review before class Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg.  142-171

Wed.             Jan 19               conversation topic:  daily routine with o’clocks.  sisimpur teeth brushing. 

Fri.             Jan 21               conversation topic: review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

Mon.             Jan 24                         review impersonal construction. Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg. 485-499

Wed.   Jan 26                converstion topic and listening

Fri.      Jan  28 talk about family. Radice 140.

   Mon.  Jan   31              review comparisons and equals: Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg. 179-189

Wed.    Feb. 2                converstion topic and listening

Fri.       Feb. 4                review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

Mon.   Feb. 7                Verbal nouns and double verbs like “to want something” or “should do something” Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg. 374-385

Wed.  Feb. 9            converstion topic and listening

Fri.      Feb. 11                        Radice 152

Mon.            Feb. 14                        review “anyone, someone, anywhere, somewhere etc

Wed.     Feb. 16            converstion topic and listening

Fri.       Feb. 18            review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

Mon.   Feb. 21             conditional construction: Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg.  403-410. intermediate Bangla pg 272

Wed.   Feb. 23            converstion topic and listening

Fri.    Feb. 25                        Radice 163.

Mon.   Feb. 28            PAP: Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg.  411-422. intermediate Bangla pg 12, 45, 70

Wed.   Mar. 2            converstion topic and listening

Fri.             Mar. 4                        review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

MARCH 7-11

Lomba cha biroti =)

Mon.    Mar. 14              review Bangla particle moto intermediate Bangla pg 117

Wed.    Mar. 16                        converstion topic and listening

Fri.            Mar. 18                        Radice 187

Mon.     Mar. 21            review bangla particle “to”: Bengali a Comprehensive grammar pg. 281-295. intermediate Bangla pg 272-273

Wed.            Mar.  23            converstion topic and listening

Fri.             Mar. 25                        review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

Mon.   Mar. 28            review bole intermediate Bangla pg 45

Wed.            Mar. 30                        converstion topic and listening

Fri.            Apr. 1                        Radice 242 start

Mon.            Apr. 4                        je, she; jara, tara; jemon themon. Bengali a Comprehensive grammar  pg. 510-541

Wed.            Apr. 6                        converstion topic: listening

Fri.             Apr. 8                        review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

Mon.            Apr. 11                        passive

Wed.             Apr. 13                        converstion topic: listening

Fri.             Apr. 15                        Radice 242 finish

Mon.             Apr. 18                        review grammar

Wed.    Apr. 20                        converstion topic and listening

Fri.       Apr. 22                        review vocab, practice spelling, and catch up.

According to the levels of competence document, I believe I am between Beginning 2 and Developing 1.  My goal this semester would be to move up to the next level.  Practically though my goals are: 1.  Be able to functionally use of all the grammar I already know. 2.  Significantly improve my vocabulary.  3.  Improve my reading speed. 

The reading part will be accomplished by sheer practice.  Also as my vocabulary improves so will my reading speed as I start to recognize more words.  To accomplish goals 1 and 2 though, I need to be speaking a lot and consistently trying to add words to my vocabulary. 

From my evaluation of the levels of competence I am a beginning novice in all parts of the Hebrew language. From interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational Hebrew, I honestly know nothing. The only word I know in Hebrew is Shalom, which I think means hello. Based off the fact that I know zero Hebrew, I have set my goals to be primarily speaking oriented.

1. I want to be able to say dates like January 20, 2011 and be able to count to 30 or 40.

2. I want to engage in introductory communication like “Hello how are you today?” “I am great how are you?”

3. I want to know how to say 10 animals, like cat, dog, lion, bear, etc.

4. Knowing the Hebrew alphabet could be helpful and some adjectives would be beneficial to learn. Some adjectives I really want to learn are happy, tall, big, small, fat, skinny, beautiful, cold, essentially things that are used on an everyday basis in English.

5. The only non-speaking part of Hebrew I want to learn is the ability to order off a menu, like Chicken pasta.

I believe these goals are fully reasonable for me to be able to learn throughout the semester as the Hebrew language is not the easiest language to speak nor understand.

Current Level of Competence: Novice Beginning 0

Desired Level of Competence: I hope to reach the Novice Beginning 2 stage in the Speaking and Listening sections without improving the Reading/Writing sections.

Goals in sequential order:

1. Be able to hear, identify, and create the basic sounds of the alphabet

2. Greeting, introductions, description, family

3. Basic Questions and Answers (simple sentence structure)

3. Numbers

4. Food

5. Colors

6. Animals

I am much further along in my Thai language abilities than these goals, but I hope to refresh Thai as I learn these basic aspects of the Bengali language to ensure that I retain both languages.

I come from a Spanish-speaking family and began learning Spanish in school in 6th grade.  I have really enjoyed being able to communicate with my family in Spanish and practice my pronunciation with them.  One of my favorite ways to learn Spanish has been to trick myself into learning it.  Instead of always working on grammar or pronounciation I will listen to Spanish podcasts or read Spanish versions of books or news articles.  While doing this I passively absorb idiomatic expressions, nuanced pronunciations of words from different regions, and a better understanding of grammar and sentence structure.  I have also focused on written excercises to help my grammar.  These become tedious after a while but I know they help me learn actively. 

In order to learn Farsi I am going to try to imerse myself in the written and spoken elements of the language.  I can do this through podcasts, and news articles.  While I do not expect to understand things right away, I do hope that I will develop an ear for certain words and pronunciations and also begin to identify written words on sight (outside of a visual context that Rosetta Stone provides).  Understanding sentence formation in new languages is one of my biggest goals.  Knowing vocabulary doesn't help me very much if I don't know how to use it correctly in a sentence.  I hope to be able to work with my language partner on this.

In the FIRE Model I am an F2, I2, R3 and E5. 

F2- I think I value practical knowledge because I view it as applicable.  While learning things I want know that I have some use for it.

I2-  I like to have a clear idea of what I will be learning and how each element fits into the next section or topic.  In planning I am able to see the need to focus on seemingly insignificant details that will help me later.

R3- I really like hypothetical situations where I get to take what I have learned and apply it to another situation or question. An example of this is in the Rosetta Stone program where it gave me four pictures.  All but one of them had a description written in Farsi above the picture.  I had to look at the fourth picture, which incorporated elements of the other three, formulate a sentence in Farsi and then say it into the microphone.  It was actually kind of fun to be able to do that 30 minutes into learning a new language.

E5-  I like smaller groups or classes because it allows us as a group to communicate with each other.  Especially while learning a language, having someone else to bounce ideas or questions off of is crucial. 

One thing I hope to do going forward is find some source of gramatical exercises. It may be too early for those exercises to really be effective but I would like to understand how grammar works in Farsi, especially because Rosetta Stone presents information within the context of full sentences.