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Turkish is an agglutinating language. Suffixes change the grammatical meaning of the word. In non agglutinating languages, word order indicates the lexical category of a word. An entire sentence can be conveyed with just one word in Turkish. Ex: Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız, meaning "You are said to be one of those that we couldn't manage to convert to a Czechoslovak." Turkish has no gender, but I’m not getting off easy here because guess what? Turkish has case endings like Latin. Wooo! Grammar is so important in Turkish I don’t think I will be able to go very far without a grammar handbook.

First birthdays, or doljanchi, are celebrated lavishly in South Korea. For a typical doljanchi, the baby would wear traditional Korean attire or his best clothes, and friends and family members would shower him with gifts. During one of the main events of the party, various items are placed in front of the baby and everyone watches as he selects one of the items which will supposedly give some insight on the baby’s future. These items traditionally include money, rice, a pencil, and thread, and more nontraditionally, a stethoscope, a judge’s gavel, a microphone, and a golfball. The baby will never be hungry if he chooses rice; live a long life with thread; be rich with money; and become a scholar with a pencil, a doctor with a stethoscope, a legal authority or lawyer with the gavel, a singer with the microphone, and a professional golfer with the golfball. Some parents may even rent out venues and spend up to $10,000 USD in all expenses including food, entertainment, and gift bags for the guests. Of course, doljanchi isn’t reserved for the upper-class (although they may upscale the event): it’s a common practice among all Korean families. Doljanchi was first practiced during the Korean War, when it was rare for a baby to survive beyond the first year due to the scarcity of food at the time. But today, in a prospering South Korea, doljanchi is still practiced because Koreans regard children as a precious commodity, especially since birth rates have been declining in South Korea lately. Future birthdays would probably be much more low-key, so I think splurging on the first is okay.

Looks like little Chris is going to become a professional swimmer someday.

Kimchi Culture in Korea 

 1. Climate and geographic conditions

     The winter in Korea is long, cold and very dry due to the Siberian air pressure. It is difficult for crops and vegetables to grow in a cold environment. Therefore, Korean pickled vegetables using salt and other sauces to preserve vegetables longer during winter. Kimchi gradually becomes a popular dish in winter. 

 2. Great nutritions 

     Korean Kimchi, the famous fermented food, has vegetables as the main cooking material, and sometimes fruits and seafood and meat are used as ingredients. Kimchi has great nutritions. It has low calorie but high cellulose, vitamin A, B,C. Especially there exist a beneficial probiotics for human body. Kimchi has been praised to be one of the top five healthy food in the Health Magazine by The American Time Warner. 

 3. Kimchi is good for skin care 

    Some people wonder why Korean ladies have good and healthy skin. Kimchi is one of the answers to this question. The professor who has studied kimchi for a long time in Pusan National University indicated that the probiotics in kimchi can delay the aging of skin and lower the level of cholesterol in human body. 

 4. The most important reason is that kimchi becomes one component in Korean culture 

   The history of kimchi has been lasted for more than three thousand years. During Three Kingdoms of Korea, Korean learnt the way to preserve food from Chinese. Korean used fiddlehead, bamboo, eggplant, cucumber and radish with salt, congee, vinegar, alcohol and other sources. 

    Later on, during Kingdom of Goryeo, the technologies of planting vegetables had improved so that more and more new vegetables were grown. Korean added Chinese chives, celery and other vegetables in kimchi. Also, people discovered kimchi soup. 

   During the Kingdom of Joseon, Chinese cabbage became the major material and pepper became popular source of cooking. 

    The cooking history of kimchi has been experienced dynasties in Korea for a long time. It already has been a habit in Korea and involved in Korean culture. 

The Crystal readings reminded me of a fundamental fact: that language is essentially just a collection of sounds that humans assign with meanings in order to communicate. You tend to notice this fact when you repeat a word over and over again, until you begin to notice that it sounds very strange and start to wonder who in the world decided that this specific combination of sounds should mean this idea and so on. But, I don’t think that treating language simply as a collection of raw sounds would help me in my language study, because words are often associated with one another and it would be more efficient to learn related words in groups. Therefore, I think that studying the BYKI lists and Korean Made Simple (KMS) book in focused  chunks (e.g. a chapter a week, a list a day) is the best approach for retaining the most information. Fortunately, the KMS book, like many other language textbooks, present new vocabulary in scenarios so that the reader can process a group of words associated with a likely common scenario, which I really appreciate because I want to learn the practical stuff first.

I also appreciate the fact that our ancestors have made communicating easier for us by creating the alphabet and drafting out the fundamental principles of our language. It makes me wonder how they managed to communicate before a formal language system was established. No doubt they thought long and hard about which combination of sounds would both capture a specific meaning and sound pleasant to the ear. But, I also think it’s wise to be open-minded about language and not to overanalyze the rules, because language is constantly evolving and therefore current 'rules' may adopt changes within the next decade.

The one cultural aspect that I would like to elaborate on is body language. The language that I am trying to improve is German, hence I will reflect on readings about the German culture, but also on my own experience when interacting with Germans.

Germans seem to be very distanced people. Hugging or kissing the cheek is reserved only for very close friends or family. Furthermore, they do not like someone shouting or yelling, but they may be perceived very harsh and arrogant when talking. This might be due to the German language itself which has a rather rough sound to foreigners. The other reason might be their directness and strive for efficiency, but also their rather emotionless gaze. However, they are not aggressive nor rude in any way, although they have a special kind of humor. They are just assertive. Also, they like to keep eye contact when talking to you, and avoiding it may signal insecurity and unfriendliness. Since I come from a culture that also appreciates eye contact too, I have never had a problem to keep up with this, but I have experienced Germans getting angry and annoyed by people who look away. Keeping eye contact translates to: “Hey, I’m talking to you. Would you please listen to me!.” Parallel to this, Germans are very honest and polite flattery is not common. They mean what they say. Moreover, when going to a business meeting, Germans always shake hands. Additionally, they do not like to chat about personal life if they just met you, nor about religion and politics.  It takes time to cross that line.

COUPLE OUTFITS!!

Couple outfits are a fashion trend that started in the the 1990s among young couples in South Korea. Sometimes, they can be referred to as “couple costumes”, but in general most people refer to them as couple outfits. Most of the times couples wear this outfits to show the world that they are together and that they are each other’s and no one else’s. In a way, that want to say to their suppose 넌 내 거야, which means “You’re mine”. This is a form of showing one’s declaration of love, especially among the young couples and newlyweds when they go on their honeymoon. Couple outfits can be as simple as wearing the same coat, having the same shoes, or cutesy t-shirts. Some couples go all out and dress a like from head to toe, which I think is adorable, but requires a lot of coordination and imagine how much money they have to dish out just to buy these outfits. In the Western world, friends would probably make fun of your and your spouse, if you went out wearing couple outfits a lot, but I think that it’s quite sweet, as long as it’s done every once in-awhile, but not all the time. Below are some examples of couple outfits in South Korea. Would you wear a couple outfit with your significant other?

My learning goals for this week are to learn Hangul (the Korean alphabet), so learning how to read the characters and practice my pronunciation of simple words and continue working on my introduction and my farewells. I will go about accomplishing these goals by practicing Hangul each day and by working on my writing of Hangul too.

In Korean culture, there are many things that they do not do which we consider as an American norm or a Western norm. Here is just a basic list of Western norms and how they are done in the Korean culture. Body language is always key in any culture because they can differ extremely depending on the culture.

1. Shaking hands when you first meet someone

2. Having eye contact when talking

3. Passing of objects to one another

4. Pouring your own drink

5. Tipping people

6. There is no specific spot that you have to sit at

7. Talking a lot during dinner

Bowing is the customarily form of greeting someone, followed up with men shaking hands and women nod their heads towards one another without any handshake. Koreans tend to avoid eye contact as well because they see it as the other person challenging them. In Korea, one should always pass and receive objects with their right hand or both hands and the right hand has to be supported by the left hand. Instead of pouring your own drink, drink as in alcoholic beverage, you should pour drinks for others and have others pour drinks for you. Usually juniors (hoobaes) pour drinks for their seniors (sunbaes). Tipping in Korea is a “no no” and can be considered offensive in most cases. When sitting down, elders tend to sit furthest away from the door and during dinner there is not a lot of talking.

Someone from the Western perspective might think that this is strange, but that is just a part of the Korean culture. Here are some pictures to show the differences in body language

   My learning goal in this week is to memorize the basic Korean alphabets as much as possible. Also, the Korean lecture videos in Youtube is helpful for learning greetings and introductions. From those videos, I study how to introduce name, age, nationality and hobbies in Korean. For greetings, I will know three distinct styles for different levels of people. Also, I'm watching Korean drama "응답하라 1997" that makes me know more vocabularies in school. 

   The Korean language uses honorifics to reflect the relationship between speakers. People use formal language when they talk to older people, strangers, and people who are superior. When talking with someone superior in status, we always need to use a special nouns or verb endings.

   We use honorific nouns to replace regular ones. For example, for food, we use jinji instead of bap. Most of times, honorific nouns are used to refer to relatives. Suffix -nim is affixed to many terms in order to make them honorific. Furthermore, all verbs and adjectives can be converted to honorific form after adding infix -si- or -eusi-. 

   Distinguishing from formal and informal styles is important in Korean grammar, otherwise it will be impolite and disrespect talking to older people in an informal way. 

   I exchanged to Korean high school when I was sixteen years ago and home-stayed in a traditional Korean family. However, I went to international school so I didn't learn Korean at all. We always talked in English in class and also at home. It was my loss not to learn Korean in high school. Luckily, this semester I get the chance to study Korean in college. 

  In this semester, I hope to master basic Korean alphabets and to be able to introduce myself and say formal/informal greetings and so forth. I will pay more attention on listening and speaking skills. At the end of the semester, I wish I will be able to have a 5-10 minutes presentation in Korean. 

   Korean language has special grammar system, honorifics. It reflects the relationship between speakers and audience. Originally, the honorifics were used to differentiate the social status between people, but nowadays, people are more likely to use in formal or informal in social events. 

   We can use honorifics in nouns, verbs and in forms of address. When talking to someone in superior status such as older relative, employer, teacher, customer and strangers, we always use honorifics. Today it is most commonly to use honorifics in most formal of situations like business meetings. Using wrong levels is likely to be considered as disrespect and insulting. You can always use honorifics ,but it will be weird if you talk to close friends or someone who is younger than you. 

   So there are three categories of speaking. The first one is the deferential polite/formal way of speaking. People use this form in formal speech and also when they talk to older people. This form ends in "in minda" (ㅂ니다). The second form is the standard polite/informal form. It ends in yo (요). The last form is the common/informal style. When talk to younger people or close friends, using this informal speaking style. 

   Here is an example, when we say "Hello", we can have three ways: 

   1. Deferential Polite/Formal : 안녕하십니까 (annyeong haseumnikka)

   2. Standard Polite/Informal: 안녕하세요 (annyeong haseyo)

   3. Common/Informal: Common/Informal: 안녕 (annyeong)

   Understanding the culture is the first step to learn a new language. Korean is not very easy to master, but hopefully it has a system to study. 

In learning my first few language tasks I have been relying heavily on the Mango Language App. It has been very helpful and I especially enjoy the feature that allows me to record myself and compare the sound bits to the correct pronunciation. I have discovered that there are many allophones that English speakers consider to be one phoneme but Hindi speakers consider to be two separate phonemes. For example ट [ta] and ठ [tha]  (imagine the h as a superscript indicating aspiration) are different phonemes. It is very difficult for me to hear the difference between these two sounds but I know that learning it will be integral to mastering this language. Some words are exactly the same except for aspirations on certain sounds, making differentiating these phonemes very important for understanding and communicating. Taking a linguistics class has really helped me to recognize that these differences exist and Thomas is very helpful in attempting to differentiate certain sounds. However, when I have Bishan or Adil try and say the different sounds for me, they usually end up sounding the same. Also when I try and say the two sounds myself they end up sounding the same, even to my teachers thus I must not be making them correctly. That being said, the Mango app displays what you are supposed to say using actual Hindi letters. I think it will help me to recognize the different phonemes if they are transcribed using different letters. All in all practice with these sounds is definitely required.

There a couple Korean dramas about students in school that I have watched and each one seems to point out the hierarchy that is set in place and the competition among students. Even in non-school dramas, it seems that being at the top, successful, and having a good appearance are all very important in Korean culture. When I googled, Korean competitive culture, there were a lot of articles centered on the pressure placed on society from being a success-driven culture. One article I read talked about how South Korea has no natural resources, so they just have human capital, which contributes to the success-driven mentality. I think it is good that everyone is trying to be successful, but I think the negative side that comes out of having so much competition is that everyone wants to be the best and so they compare themselves to other people. Being over competitive might result in people treating each other badly, such as bullying in schools.There are also people born into situations that favor them being successful and those people are at the top of the hierarchy.

In terms of Korean language, I found an article by chance on phrases that are not directly translatable to English. There are a couple of words used to describe characteristics of people. There is hoon-nam or hoon-nyeo for a girl. This describes a man or woman that is both physically and innerly attractive, the perfect man or woman. I think relating back to the culture, it kind of represents the high standards that society has. Another word that relates to this is eomchina. This term is used for the annoyingly perfect son of someone your parents know when your parents are discussing about that person and the higher test grade that he got. I am sure under all of the pressure that Korean students are in, this term would describe their circumstances at times well. Perhaps the stress becomes so bad that it feels like your life is worst it can get. Well there is a word for that too and it is mak-jang. With a hierarchal society, it also makes sense that there are words to help define the family tree as family ties are among the most cherished elements in Korean culture. The words chon or chonsu are used to measure out family ties. This way one’s place is defined. For example, if you have a father who is successful, your tie to her may define you as successful. Learning about the hierarchy and the success-driven culture makes me feel like I would have to watch how I act and speak to people if I were to go to Korea. I am so used to the English language where there are not really any formal and informal sayings. You would say hi or hello just as you would to someone at a job interview as with your elders or friends. 

As I read the sections “How the Brain handles language”, “How we analyze meaning” and “How we mean”, I could not help but reflect and connect with my studies in biology with the brain and my studies with other languages. In the section “How we mean”, the writer highlights the complexity of the word “mean” as it has different uses. I found the brief explanation of the two different natures of the word mean: Natural (abstract) and conventional (sound and reference). I found it interesting the distinction between sense and reference. I was always told that learning multiple languages not only broadens your ability to communicate, but opens many opportunities.  Interestingly, this article mentions knowing multiple languages increase your understanding of your own language, and provides a stronger sense and reference.  It also explains the impact of vocabulary and sentence structure in shaping meaning. The interaction between words and sentence structure forms our sense. In the section in “How we analyze meaning”, I liked the explanation of lexemes and collocations along with the different sense relations (synonym, antonym, etc). These two sections is helpful in shaping our language learning process because it makes us aware of how we interpret and mean stuff in our language and possibly in other language. The knowledge from these sections inform us in understanding meaning and process of meaning, which as a languages learner is useful in setting goals and forming connections with different  languages. In the third section, “How the Brain handles language”, the writers illustrate the complex city of the brain in explain the individual parts and functions of the brain to the mechanism of learning a language. It is interesting to read this section as my prior exposure to the anatomy of the brain in psychology and biology courses reiterate many facts. The usefulness of this information for the language learners is outlining the actual process of learning a language. From the step by step neurological process to tongue slips, the learner can use the information to form better lesson plans and methods of learning. 

Formality in the Korean language is purely hierarchal. From the bottom rung, you have banmal, which directly translates to ‘half-speech’. This consists of common informal speech used mostly by the younger generations and among people of the same age. Also, Koreans speak banmal if the two parties have a close relationship, such as those among parents, siblings, and children. However, speaking banmal can be seen as disrespectful unless an informal status has been mutually established between the two parties.

On the second level is jondaetmal, or 'formal speech'. This is the default type of speech Korean use when meeting a stranger or when addressing someone of a different age. Oftentimes, you hear titles like 'oppa' (older brother) and 'unni' (older sister) used to address older males and females and 'sunbae' (senior) and 'hoobae' (junior) to address certain classmates in school. Basically, the level of formality depends greatly on one’s age and, like many other cultures, greater seniority calls for greater respect. I see this as the safety net of formality.

We then upgrade from jondaetmal to super jondaetmal (I don’t think this is the actual term, but I think it captures the concept well). Koreans use super jondaetmal when addressing someone who evidently deserves high respect, someone with an established title, like the CEO of a company or business client. You may also hear super jondaetmal on radio talk shows and news broadcasts, where there is a public audience of varying ages and statuses. Commonly used super jondaetmal sentence endings include ‘-hamnida’ and seumnida.’

And then the greatest of them all, extreme jondaetmal (again, work with me here). This type of formal speech is reserved for people of greater power than the modern CEO, people like emperors and empresses. Now, South Korea is a democracy and no longer has a royal family in power, so you don’t really hear this type of speech in everyday life except maybe in historical dramas or plays. But, I think it’s still interesting to study the roots of a language so that you can see how the language evolved into what it is today.

The Greek language is one of the oldest still spoken languages in the world, although it has changed a lot since Plato and Aristotle. It is unique, yet it has influenced many languages including English, but these are not the reasons I'm interested in further developing my Greek language skills. I have a strong connection to Greece being that I grew up there and only due to some unfortunate circumstances did I immigrate to the United States. Most of my family still lives in Greece and I still have friends in Athens. Due to my connection to the language and culture I want to make sure my Greek is at the same level of fluency as my English. My goal is not to be able to simply hold a conversation because I can already do that without a problem. I want to be able to write college-level essays and hold complex conversations in professional environments.

The brain is vast web of interconnected wiring that allows us to absorb and analyze vast amounts of information. The Crystal readings focused on this concept and attempted to shed some light on how our brains perceive language. Due to the complex nature of our brains, which is revealed in the reading, it is clear that several techniques must be used in order to learn a new language. By this I mean that the learner must use listening, speaking, writing, and reading as tools to learn a new language in order to ensure that information is entering multiple areas of the brain and is being retained or learned. It is important that I make sure I utilize all of these techniques if I am to learn Greek at a superior language level.

Based on the “Levels of Competence”, I would classify myself bellow Beginners 0 in terms of Korean because I have no knowledge of the Korean language. I am an extreme novice because I have no background therefore my goals:  

1. Learn basic vocabulary words (commonly used words) such places, actions and objects in order to used in conversation
2. Be able to greet people with formal and informal greetings like hello, good bye, and how are you
3. Gain proper pronunciation of greeting phrases and vocabulary
4. Learn how to say some numbers or quantifiable expressions which can be used to tell time and
5. Learn to ask simple basic questions in order to engage Koreans in dialogue
6. Obtain an understanding of Korean alphabet system structure in comparison to the Spanish, French and English alphabet
7. Learn how to have a basic conversation in terms of comprehending what’s being asked of me and responding (speaking)

Korean has a pretty complicated system of formality and informality. Based on a person's age, social status, position, or the context of the situation, different greetings and sentence endings are required. It seems like the polite form requires you to end a sentence with the word "yo", but there are also deferential endings for very formal situations with different endings. For a conversation between friends, it is fine to drop some of the politeness words, but this would be considered very disrespectful when talking to a teacher or anyone older.