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Svensk Midsommar-

Swedish Midsummer is very unique part of Swedish celebrations because it reflects how Swedes welcome the change in weather and how the festivities center around centuries-old traditions dating back to Viking era. The Swedish midsummer is celebrated on the longest day at the height of summer. This celebration was central to pagan practices until the 300 A.D. when the church renamed the celebration to Holy Johannes Day. Midsummer celebrations today are very elaborate and are considered a highlight of summer celebrations. Today's midsummer celebrations include traditional Swedish summer food: matjessill, gräddfil and gräslök, fresh potatoes, and strawberries. In addition to the aforementioned foods,drinks known as snaps are always served as well. Snaps are strong fruit based liquor fermented locally across Sweden. In addition to food there is usually a large traditional dance organized around a tall green wreath of which people dance around and sing folk songs. The celebration also includes picking flowers and making crowns of flowers in order to protect from evil spirits according to popular folklore.

In Persian, in reference to telling time, the 12-hour set is used rather than the 24-hour set. The word for midnight does not exclusively refer to 12 A.M. like it does in English. It refers to anytime between 12am and sunrise.

In America, when you want to get someone's attention, you usually point at them or wave them over. In contrast, in Iran, to signal someone over you wave them over with the palm down. Also, the thumbs up notion is viewed as vulgar to many Iranians. Americans will also shake their head from left to right for no and up to down for yes. Conversely, Iranians signal yes by dipping your down with a slight turn. They signal no with a sharp nod up and down.

Dining culture in Iran is very different from that of America. Depending of the stature of the setting, you may be sitting on the floor or at a table.You may or may not have to eat using your hand. Regardless, one eats with their right hand. Also, it is polite to try at least a little bit of everything that is served. Also, in Iranian culture, Taarof is a verbal and non-verbal system of politeness. It's the idea of trying to remain as humble as possible. Compliments are not given often and if you are offered something, even if you want it, you have to first decline it.

This week I accomplished:

* starting the romantic drama novel that I had chosen to read in Hebrew. So far the beginning chapters have introduced the three families that are involved in the plot. The first family is Jewish of Greek descent, the second is a Muslim family from Egypt, and the third is Christian family in the Middle East. 

* finding 30 new vocabulary words and defining them

* finding blended words that are most commonly used in daily language as well as in the military and political science

* reading a politics article from Ha'aretz, daily

* attempting to decipher the political cartoons that are posted on Ha'aretz daily

* reviewing the positions of the main political parties involved in Israeli Parliament while reading about the domestic politics articles

I found the article Figuring Foreigners Out to be really interesting. Some of the topics that were raised about the customs and cultural dimensions of places where foreign languages are spoken seemed to be really difficult to learn just by learning the vocabulary, grammar, and usage of that language. Luckily, I have had the experience of not just visiting in Israel, but getting a true cultural immersion of living there for four years and continually visiting and getting new insights at different ages of my visits. 

I think it is extremely interesting to think about the cultural assumptions of different contexts within a place and language. These would include differing formalities and informalities, differing vocabulary and interactive social customs, etc. When comparing the individualist versus collective society, I think in the case of Israel, society is seen as collectivist in terms of being a young minority small Jewish state in the world, having a collective experience of serving the state through the IDF, etc. However, once you view Israeli society in terms of business, it is very much an individualist mind set. Israel is a capitalist competitive nation where entrepreneurism, research and development, and technology are highly valued. I find that this aspect of society is highly monochronic, while the lifestyle expended on a daily basis values the polychronic view of people lounging at cafes, socializing for hours, and staying out late through the night despite what the next day brings.

I find that when it comes to the nonverbal norms in Israel are very similar to those of the Western societies of the U.S. and Europe. However, when it comes to following the softer laws of daily life, they are taken much less seriously. This may become clear when it comes to waiting in lines at the grocery store, or giving others just enough personal space.These are some of the things that come across as Israeli culture being informal to those who are foreign to the nation. There are things within the language that denote this informality as well. One of the ways this comes through is that the word for a male friend and a boy friend can be one and the same. One has to go out of their way to call someone just a male friend, but the context of the sentence and knowledge of the speaker allows the audience to distinguish between the two.

I was wondering, "what makes up the Korean language?" I find Korean to be a very unique language that sounds different than both Japanese and Chinese, but it turns out some Korean words have originated from Japan and China. It makes sense, though. Since Korea is situated next to Japan and China, it is likely that Koreans added Japanese or Chinese words into their language because of their constant contact. The Korean vocabulary consists of approximately 30% native, 65% Korean (Chinese-character based) and 5% loanwords.

One of the first cultural phrases I heard about was "pap mogoso?" Have you eaten? This is a common phrase Koreans use. It's actually used as a "how are you" or "hello" type of greeting. This wasn't anything too foreign to me. Indian people will ask something similar when they say hello, but in Korea, it seems to be more of a "how are you" type of question.

Another cultural thing I'd like to talk about is kinship terms. In America, we don't really use any sort of term to refer to our siblings or our cousins. We just call everyone by their names. In Korean, there are several kinship terms that are used very frequently. Some examples are "oppa," "unnie," "hyung" and "noona." "Oppa" is a term that is used by girls and it basically means older brother, but it is also used to refer to any older male that you are close with like a friend or boyfriend. The other three terms kind of work the same way. "Unnie" is used by girls and it means older sister. "Hyung"(older brother) and "noona" (older sister) are the male equivalents of "oppa" and "unnie."

As for body language, there are several things I've noticed. I'll keep my observations solely on greetings. It is customary to bow when you greet someone. The lower the bow, the more respect you show for the other person. Handshakes are common mostly among men. However, Korean handshakes are a bit different. It is important that you support the hand your are using to shake with your other hand. One should make sure to support their right hand with their left hand when shaking hands.

My goals for week 4 and 5 are to learn how to order food at a restaurant. I know in Korea many people eat beef and there are many dishes with beef in it. I don't eat beef, for religious reasons and would like to avoid accidently eating it when I am abroad in the fa;;. So, I want to learn how to order food and to ask whether or not something has beef in it. As for activities, I'm not sure what I want to do. I usually learn best through memorization and repeating. I think watching Korean tv or movies or listening to music will definitely help me with my pronunciation and vocabulary skills. I could try translating a song, something simple. In order to evaluate my success, I'd like to practice speaking with my other Korean friends because they will honestly tell me whether I've improved or not in any way.

This week I started to learn greetings and initial conversations when meeting people. My personal goal was to be able to call my grandma at the end of the week and speak as much as I know. This gave me the incentive to learn greetings and practice them out loud enough that it would be understandable for my grandma. During the language partner sessions, I was able to practice with other students which was a nice alternative to practicing alone. I am also continuing to practice writing which we did all during my language partner session tonight. I think the Korean written language is really interesting and I like practicing it. The combinations of letters and vowels makes more sense to me now and is helping me learn the vocabulary more easily. I have been learning phrases at one time instead of individual words. My language partner broke down some of the words for me and their translations in English which helped a lot. I'm going to continue reading, writing, and speaking out loud to build on what I have learned. I already noticed that I am getting more out of my new learning techniques than I learned previously with index cards. It really helps to speak out loud so that it becomes ingrained in my brain faster than just looking at the words. My next goal is going to be to write a letter to my grandma.

Farsi Writing Systems

The Persian language uses an abjad writing system consisting of 32 letters only for consonants. Vowels are written with diacritics or a combination of consonant letters. The Farsi writing system is very similar to the Arabic writing system and the alphabet is similar to the Cyrillic alphabet. Farsi is written from right to left with the exception of numerals which are written from left to right. The letters are very artistic and the writing seems as though it is calligraphy.

Reflection on the Reading: "How the Brain Handles Languages"

I found it really interesting to read about the different functions and hemispheres of the brain. It surprising to know that so many parts of the brain play a role in the acquisition of a new language. When I took psychology, I learned that it was difficult to learn a language after a certain age because Broca's and Wernicke's area became smaller. However, the whole brain contributes to the learning of a new languages - not just Broca's and Wernicke's area. For example, speech production and comprehension are two aspects of language learning that rely on various parts of the brain.

               I think culture learning in language education is extremely beneficial. In order to perfect a language, one must know the context and customs behind different words and phrases. When you can understand the culture of a group of people, you will be able to understand them better. For example, you may be able to say "Hello, How are you?". However, that simple phrase may be dependent upon cultural norms. Is that phrase informal or formal? Should you say that to someone older than you? Should only say that to people you dont know? Is there a gesture that is commonly used in unison with that phrase? These are questions that could be answered if you are knowledgeable about the cultural background. Moreover, the phrase "Hello, How are you?" might not be beneficial at all if you aren't culturally aware. Also, in almost culture, communication is not solely dependent on language or speech. There are various motions and gestures that can accomodate speech and have many meanings. When learning a second language, in order to perfect communication, one has to learn and practice the culture associated with that language. Learning a foreign-language means learning new behaviors and, sometimes, a new way of life.

                I have studied French for over 6 years and have become proficient in the French language. Because French is a romance language and it is very similar to English, it was not particularly difficult for me to grasp the concepts associated with the language. I was able to learn verb tenses easily and pick up on the accents. However, I know that Farsi will be very different and it may be very difficult for me to learn because it is extremely different from English. Farsi has a foreign alphabet, unlike French, and it uses sounds that dont exist in the English language. I enjoy learning new vocabulary and helpful phrases. I enjoy learning the speaking and listening aspects more than the reading and writing. Therefore, I think I can say that I am not only a visual learner, but an auditory learner as well. I think the best way to learn Farsi is to focus on one or two areas at a time. Cultural aspects play a huge role in the differences between English, French, and Farsi. In each language, sentences are formed in different ways. Verbs are formed differently and pronouns are used in various ways. In addition, the way each language is spoken is very distinct from one another. Some French speakers are very quiet or subtle in the way they speak while Farsi speakers are very expressive and use many hand motions along with the speech.

Since I have never formally studied Swedish the self-language assessment has been very interesting in pinpointing my strengths and weaknesses in Swedish. At the moment my interpretative reading and listening skills are between Developing 2 and Expanding 1. The basis for my Swedish knowledge has come from media sources such as personal blogs, television shows, and daily news. As such, my level of comprehension for daily usage and conversation are quite advanced. In regards to my interpersonal speaking skills I find that I am still Developing between 1-2 because I have become quite comfortable in speaking to particular individuals in Swedish who may be accustomed to my pronunciation and grammatical errors and do not make efforts to correct me. Part of the strengths of having a language partner and being forced to speak to a unfamiliar person in Swedish will further challenge my skills and confidence and utilize the vocabulary that I already have access to. And finally my Presentational speaking and writing falls between Developing 1-2. I am capable of presenting myself in complex situations and defends opinions, but my writing confidence is rather low. Although I may have advanced reading, there are many words that I have become familiar with orally and have never read. It will be important for me to expand my vocabulary and pay particular attention to spelling and gender.

Taking into consideration my language assessment and my personal goals, I see there is room for improvement in engaging in more complex conversation beyond presentations of myself, daily activities, and simple story telling. I believe a true expansion of my vocabulary could come through discussion of contemporary Swedish politics through media programming and text. I will hopefully build up a broader vocabulary and become more confident in expression my opinion in unfamiliar contexts. My main tools this semester will be Swedish television, online newspapers, film, and a novel Ondskan by Jan Guillou.

The readings offered an interesting perspective about the concept of language. I found the reading about how 'language is used to convey meaning' to be helpful to my language learning activities.It is very interesting that most people don't really think about all this information when starting to learn a language. It's true that many languages are familiar to the 'diversity of usage' phrase that is used on page 187. Although, I feel using an English example wasn't the best idea. English is a complicated language and just trying to explain the meaning of "mean" was complicated. I see what the author is trying to explain there, but I felt he/she should have included other language examples as well to tighten up his/her argument. He/she gives the reader a variety of things to think about such as the importance of vocabulary, sentence structure and sense vs. reference, but then ends that last reading by saying that meaning is where we must begin. I think that was odd. He/she explains the difficulties of meaning and suggests ways to get started, but then says that meaning is where one should begin. I think meaning is achieved through study of all those components he talks about, but I don't think that it is exactly a solid starting point because it becomes overwhelming. 

After meeting with Sharon I have established that my reading comprehension and writing learning plan will focus on the following:

1. Reading a fiction novel and providing brief translations of the story line

2. Keeping up to date with politics articles in Hebrew

3. Establishing a vocabulary list with definitions and using these words in sentences 

This week I accomplished:

* finding and ordering a novel (can be seen at the following site): http://www.text.org.il/index.php?book=0501095

* finding 20 new vocabulary words and defining them

* reading a politics article from Ha'aretz daily

* attempting to decipher the political cartoons that are posted on Ha'aretz daily

* creating a document explaining the positions of the main political parties involved in Israeli Parliament

* establishing that as a cultural interest I would like to learn about environmental initiatives in Israel (in Hebrew) and bookmarking resources to read.

I found the article “How the brain handles language” especially interesting. I enjoyed the use of a diagram in order to understand just how many parts of the brain are functioning in order to comprehend and utilize language. Two years ago I experienced odd symptoms, which led to hospitalization and a diagnosis of inflammation in my brain stem. These symptoms included impaired vision, imbalance, etc. The article has emphasized for me how something simple like speaking or learning a language is an interrelated process of so many different locations within the brain. My experience has accentuated both the fragility of such abilities that we take for granted, and inspired me to take advantage of them.

The article “How we mean” is especially helpful in my case of struggling through reading a novel in Hebrew. Since the sixth grade, when I was no longer expected to read in Hebrew by school, I have not taken up the challenge. I think this can be attributed to the fact that I am not as proficient, it takes me more time, and I do not understand all the words. Being able to put these obstacles aside and focus on the main storyline being conveyed and understanding that meaning will hopefully get me through the reading in a way, which with increased practice will also increase my proficiency and understanding. Being able to take words that I am not familiar with into the context of a novel or the news articles I am dissecting is helpful by providing context and ensuring a level of understanding that I can transfer to my use in conversation or writing.

“How to investigate language structure” highlights the importance of context within language learning. The order in which words appear is important when learning Hebrew because sentence structures are composed of noun and then the adjective describing that noun i.e. car red or “oto adom” rather than the English structure i.e. “red car.” I liked the author’s argument of learning language via meaning and then implementing grammar to explain the meaning. I have learned a couple languages and grammar memorization has never been my strongpoint. I prefer to use the conversational language to a point where I know if a sentence sounds off or not. At that level of usability, I understand the grammar structure better and am able to apply it with greater understanding. 

During this past week, I focused on strengthening my grasp of the Hindi (Devanagari) alphabet, including the consonants, vowels, and matras.  As I mentioned before, it has been somewhat tricky for me since some of the Devanagari letters look similar to Punjabi letters but have completely different sounds.  The way I've been overcoming that obstacle is using the book "Teach Yourself Hindi," which is used in many college courses about Hindi.  In the book, Snell has a list of words that use certain sounds.

What I did during this past week was to rewrite the alphabet several times, focusing on understanding the distinct sounds of each letter, carefully write out some of the words while pronouncing the sounds, learn the conjugations of the verb "to be," and study the beginnings of some Hindi greetings.  I am using  the Five Colleges Mentored Hindi website, which has great culture videos in Hindi (LangTalk) that are about the different greetings. I will upload the artifact I created. Meeting with my language partner was great -- I was actually able to hear a native speaker sound out the sounds I had been confused about, and he helped check my understanding of the alphabet/sounds by doing dictation exercises, where he would say a word slowly once or twice, and I would then write it according to the sounds I heard.  For Hindi, dictation and learning by sound is really important, even if (like me) one is not an aural learner.  This is because in Hindi, the difference in two letters might just be aspirated vs. unaspirated, like a hard "K" sound vs. "khh."  Or, in Hindi, there are the sounds: d, dh, dt, dhh, t, th.  Thus, meeting with my Language Partner was great because he could check the progress I have been making, and it gave me a chance to hear spoken Hindi from a native speaker.    During this past week, I also watched segments of the Hindi film "Once Upon a Time in Mumbai."  It was partially as a way to learn more about Bollywood culture and as a way to check how much Hindi I could recognize.  Although I can recognize the conjugations of "I am, she is, etc..." and recognize some words from my Punjabi knowledge, the actors spoke so fast.  However, I could often use context clues to figure out what was going on.

-सिमरन :) (Simrun)

The workings of the human brain are immensely individualistic and complex.  When analyzing this fact in the context of language speech and comprehension, the complexity only increases.  Everyone’s brain works differently when it comes to learning a language.  For most right-handed people, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language, whereas there is a mixed dominance between the left and right hemispheres for left-handed people.  Similarly, every language has its own unique phonetics, phonology, grammar, and semantics, making it seemingly impossible to find consistent rules to follow by.  As the article by David Crystal states, “different languages talk about the world in different ways (188).” 

Now comes the big question: Is there a best direction for the study of a language?  For me, I think the answer is a big resounding yes.  As I alluded to in my last blog entry, I have figured out that I learn languages best by hearing them in practice; whether they be in movies, songs, or everyday conversations.  Before learning the grammar of a new language (the typical first step in language learning), I like to acquire a “sense” of its sounds and words.  Individual words do not make sense in and of themselves, but they are a pertinent step in the process to finding meaning.  Thus, I often listen to music in other languages without understanding a single word.  Despite the fact that I don’t understand the words, I am often able to sing along to the song and imitate the sounds.  Slowly but surely, I discover that the meaning eventually makes itself evident to me, through visual associations and other contextual clues. 

British linguist J.R. Firth says it best, “you shall know a word by the company it keeps.”  For example, I listened to many Brazilian songs before arriving in Brazil without knowing a single word of Portuguese.  I watched accompanying music videos and live performances that gave me insights into the general ideas the song wanted to convey.  Unknowingly, I had learned some of the collocations (the tendency of words to work together in predictable ways) of Portuguese and was more apt at understanding various phrases when I heard them. 

My language learning style is undoubtedly unconventional, but for now it seems to work.   

Check out the picture below of a concert I attended in Brazil by the internationally renowned Brazilian artist, Seu Jorge.  As you can guess, I listened to his music WAY before I went to Brazil :)

After focusing on learning the Hindi (Devanagari) alphabet for the past two weeks, it has been very illuminating to start to actually be able to recognize words, although it takes me a while to remember the consonant sounds with an attached vowel.  It's a little tricky since so many of the letters look just like other letters in Punjabi, which I am much more accustomed to seeing -- so for instance, the Hindi consonant representing "gh" is the same as the Punjabi letter for "b."  Thus, it's taking me a while, but it is very exciting just to be able to start to read and recognize letters.  I also learned how to write my first name in Hindi, which would be: सिमरन (Simrun).  It was pretty easy since my name in Hindi only has four consonants and one vowel at the beginning, but it was still interesting to put my study of the alphabet together to learn how to write my name.

In terms of the Level of Competence document, I think I am at a Novice Beginning 0 level for Hindi.  I can understand words that are similar to words in Punjabi, but I do not know how to say the words in Hindi, with a different tone.  Thus, my recognition skills are helpful in hearing and understanding spoken Hindi, but I need to work on my own ability to speak Hindi. I am meeting with my Language Partner tomorrow to review my learning plan and to see if he has any suggestions for me.  Following that meeting, I will post my updated learning plan to this blog.  Currently, my learning plan is focused on certain key goals: learning how to read, write, reviewing words that I think I  can recognize (colors, numbers, names of animals), learning new vocabulary related to health, food/menus, transportation/travel, family, home information, hobbies, and writing a personal letter.  I want to learn the pronouns as well as the spoken and written present/past tense.

MLC 105 Learning Journal #2: Reflections on the Readings & Research on the Writing Systems of Hindi

With regard to the Hindi writing systems, Hindi has a really interesting writing system, as it is written in the Devanagari alphabet which is considered an "abugida," meaning that each consonant has an inherent "a" sound attached to it, but the sound can be changed depending on which other vowels are added to the consonant. If consonants are joined together, the inherent vowel is suppressed.  Devanagari is written from left to right, and the alphabet consists of 33 consonants along with 14 vowel sounds.  The sounds of Hindi also distinguish between "aspirated" and "unaspirated" consonants.  Hindi is usually written in print, so I've never seen any of the manuscript writing. There are related writing systems -- since Hindi uses the Devanagari alphabet, Hindi is also similar somewhat to Nepali and Sanskrit.  Additionally, certain letters in the Devanagari alphabet remind me of Punjabi letters (Gurmukhi), so it is somewhat tricky to remember the differences between the two.

Here are my thoughts on this week's readings:

1.  "How to investigate language structure" -- I thought this reading was quite interesting, especially in the beginning, where the author starts out by discussing all the things that are happening as we speak a short sentence -- such as focusing on meaning ("station" vs "beach"), the order in which the words appear, the tone of voice, and more. It's interesting to think about how much is going on when we use language.  I also found the idea of "levels" useful in helping us focus on understanding the different structures involved in utilizing language, particularly for people who have suffered brain damage and lose linguistic ability at one level, but not another.

2.  "How the brain handles language" -- Since I am majoring in biology, I really liked this reading about the brain's roles in language.  I thought it was quite important how the author emphasizes that we should avoid oversimplifying the contrast between the left hemisphere and right hemisphere (with regard to left-handed people or right-handed people).    I also found it interesting to read about the difference between damage to Broca's area vs. damage to Wernicke's area, because in a psychology class, I actually saw a documentary about the different types of damage and found it very interesting.  I also thought the section about slips of the tongue was also quite interesting, because I never realized that they were not random.  It was neat to see how tongue slips can also explain a lot about underlying neurolinguistic processes.

3.  "How we mean" - I found it quite interesting to consider how different languages have diverse ways of talking about the world.  For instance, as the author wrote, English doesn't differentiate in the words for "mother's brother" or "father's brother."  In many Indic languages, however, there are different lexical treatments given to these biological relationships, just as the author writes about the Australian language Pitjanjatjara.  In addition, it was also interesting to think about how we explain the "sense of the word" with other words (like how we would explain the word 'furniture' vs. the word 'wooden' if we were pointing to a wooden chair).

These readings will help shape my language learning process because I now understand the larger context in which I am learning a different language.  I now see how the different levels of language could also be used in understanding how I want to approach language learning, whether it's through first understanding grammar or sentence structure or focusing on the meaning of words.  In addition, I have also learned not to limit myself in thinking about the world primarily through the way English describes it -- such as thinking of the word "aunt" as a one-word concept.  In other languages, there are many different words for "aunt" (mom's older sister, mom's younger sister, etc).  So I would try not to limit myself when I am learning a different language.

Farsi follows an abjad writing system; meaning each letter represents a consonant with the reader determining when a vowel is needed. In addition, Farsi is read and written from right-to-left. There is also no significant difference between manuscript and print.

The Farsi alphabet consists of 32 letters, written in a cursive style, that changes depending on the context of a letter (i.e., the structure of a letter changes if it begins a word, ends it, lies somewhere in the middle, or is isolated). 

The writing style and names of letters in Farsi are similar to that of Arabic; however, reading and speaking Farsi is completely different than that of Arabic. Also, uses four extra characters compared to Arabic.

The readings provided plenty of interesting insight into language and language learning.

"How the brain handles language" detailed the complexities of language in our minds. The most interesting part of the reading, and what I found most applicable to my experiences with language, was in the section "Neurolingustic processing," which begins as follows, "a snatch of dialogue (How are you?, Fine, thanks) takes place so quickly that it is easy to forget the complexity of neurological planning and execution involved in the process" (176). I find it easy for me to stay simple phrases in Spanish and Farsi without much thought; however, when I move onto more difficult phrases I tend to lose my grasp over the language. For instance, I may think about a phrase in Spanish in trying to say in Farsi, or how to say something in English when I mean to say it in Spanish. 

"How to investigate language structure" provided great information for language learning. Touching upon my the confusion I often encounter between languages, the reading discusses selective focusing; which requires attention to each aspect of a language--referred to as "levels." Implementing levels in a language breaks its down for easier learning, and fosters the ability to find patterns more easily. There are four levels to languages; which are phonetics, phonology, grammar, and semantics (182). I believe that using "levels" as a means to learning Farsi will be useful in keeping my mind focused on the language, and preventing any confusion that may arise from reverting back to English or Spanish while trying to speak Farsi. 

"How we mean" is a good reading for recognizing and understanding the nuances in language. The reading provides important examples of why languages differ by highlighting the differences in words for family members in different languages. For instance, the word for uncle can apply to a paternal or maternal relative, but that is not the case in other languages. I realize it is going to be crucial for me to quickly learn the meaning behind each word or phrase in Farsi so that I can build a solid foundation early on; therefore, I will not have to struggle later on with confusing the meanings of the things I try to read, write, or speak. 

From the readings that we were required to read I was reassured that structure is very important when learning a language since every language has its own structure, phonetic and grammatical pattern. I have noticed this pattern when learning new languages in school and comparing their structure and patterns in retrospect of the languages I already knew well. When I learned Spanish I saw that, similarly to what was stated in the readings, sentences could mean completely different things depending on sentence structure, a grammatical misplacement or a missing hyphen. It is easier to learn of these patterns by distinguishing fields make memorizing structure easier. When learning a language our top priority should be delivering meaning through our words and this cannot be attained if our structure is prone to errors. Words, capitalization, spelling and sound are all components of meaning and interpretations of a language. Each language applies these differently in their sentences and words, that is why we must not solely compare the language we are learning to the language we know but study the new language's trends while avoiding the trends and patterns that we are able to notice in our own language. Semantics plays a large role in the interpretation of words but in some cases we must avoid the rules of semantics and apply lexemes since they show how words with similar structure can mean different things. It is also important to classify antonyms as gradable, non-gradable, or as converse terms since some words simply cannot be altered in the same way as others to have a similar meaning, especially in different languages where the alteration of words is permitted and not permitted in various scenarios.

My goal this week is to understand the writing system and start memorizing the alphabet. I realized the complexity of this goal because the Korean writing system, Hangul, is much different than ours. Consonants and vowels combine to form something that looks like one character. This would be my initial step into starting to memorize more complex vocabulary and phrases. I made note cards of each letter on one side and the pronunciation on the other. Several characters have different sounds depending on the placement in a word. This was a complication I was not expecting at first. The note cards helped a lot, but I wanted to mix things up to ensure that I recognized the letters when they weren't in my own handwriting. I downloaded an application on my iPhone to practice writing letters. It's a program made for young children to practice, but I found it very effective. 

After reviewing the levels of competence, I concluded that I am at the Beginning 0 Novice level. Although my mother and her side of the family speaks Korean fluently, I have never understood any of it. Even the words and greetings I thought I knew, I soon realized I was pronouncing wrong. I studied the alphabet frequently this week to memorize all the characters. I understand how the writing combines consonants and vowels together, but need more practice in writing each letter. I recognize some characters more easily, but it takes me a while to translate and pronounce the words. 

The small phrases I thought I knew were only off by a couple characters, but I can understand why native Korean speakers would not comprehend what I was attempting to say. After reading the levels of competence and studying the alphabet this week, I decided another goal by the end of the semester is to be able to read and pronounce words with faster recognition so that I could read words out loud immediately after looking at it. I think that being able to read the words faster will also help me memorize common words and phrases much faster.

The readings from this week were interesting. The vocabulary was complex in learning how the brain functions, but it gave me a better understanding of the biological and scientific aspect of learning a language.The chapter on investigating language structure helped me to realize that studying language is beyond memorization. It involves growing intellectually through new vocabulary, grammar, and phonology. I look forward to not simply memorizing words through learning Korean, but also to have a new understanding of a culture my family is so intertwined in.