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For this first learning journal, I wanted to reflect on what I’ve accomplished so far and my goals in the future. I have now finally got set up with my language partner Marco, and we have met twice now. We got going a little late with the process, but the meetings have already been super helpful. However, skipping out on 105 was really a hard decision for me and has left me searching a little as I never got the full time to craft a language plan. This is where I’ve been leaning heavily on my language partner who’s gone through the process. We talked about a real good foundational plan for me to meet my goals of being conversational by the end of the semester. To start, we have been discussing the different pieces of Portuguese I’ll be learning. Portuguese is a very diverse language as I’ve learned, and there are different accents and forms depending on the speaker or part of the world. In order to learn more about the distinctions in the language, my partner assigned me a few chapters in the book titled Portuguese for Dummies. This was an amazing introduction to the language, and although basic, really gave me a background to dialects, types, culture, amongst other things. One of the recurring themes of my learning so far has been the difference between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese and that was featured prominently again. Moreover, in Brazil, there’s actually numerous dialects within the country alone. Therefore, it’s been decided that I will be learning most akin to the São Paulo accent because it is the most neutral form of the language. In addition to this, I learned that the language is 89% lexically similar to Spanish. This means it’s been much easier for me to read so far, as I saw sort of within my cultural artifact post, than it will be for me to understand phonetically. One of the more interesting cultural things I learned from my reading is that in Brazil it’s very common and acceptable to just show up to people’s homes at any time. In the US, that really is not common practice at all, and a lot of times you must get permission before going to someone’s house.

Next, my learning shifted to actually focusing on the language. For the first parts of my learning, my partner wants me to focus on very basic things. I have been learning the alphabet, numbers, and other basic phrases from the language. These are my building blocks to hopefully move further along. The alphabet will obviously take some getting used to and real work, but the most interesting pronunciation for me so far has been the “g”. It is pronounced almost as “a’ga”. As for the phrases, it was interesting to me how the language was like Spanish but very different. Take the phrase “Bom dia” for example, it is like it’s half Spanish and half Portuguese, like my partner was trying to explain. This translates to good morning, and these types of typical phrases are what we focused on. My assignment for the first meeting of next week iis to be much more comfortable w these simple phrases we went over and the alphabet. We will still be dealing w similar topics but for now just getting a grasp on meaning and how to use the words is very important for me. So far what’s been working best for me is hearing the online version of the pronunciations and then the meaning after. I go from a visual aspect and then an auditory component, and it seems to be helping make it stick. My partner has emailed me these components with conversations, pronunciations, and other forms of practice. 

Overall, I’m very excited to finally get started with my language partner. I know it will be a lot of work and I have a long way to go, but finally diving into the language and testing the waters has been great. In the coming month I hope to really have a good basic understanding of common phrases, numbers, familial terms, and things of that nature. As for my plan, I will continue to lean on my partner, but so far, we’ve set up a very logical progression that will move at the perfect pace for me. Practice and repetition are the keys moving forward.

Since it has only been two weeks since learning sessions with our language partners have started, most of my activities so far have been conversational to get a feel of where my speaking proficiency is at. So far, my partner and I have had topic-focused conversations, allowing our conversation to flow with ease. This has been helpful not only because of the overall practice, but also because there are some grammatical/pronunciation confusions that I end up encountering. Many times, when I speak a sentence, some parts end up sounding awkward or just wrong. But I can’t always distinguish whether it is because of my lack of knowledge or because it is my non-Korean accent. Thankfully, my partner is able to correct these mistakes and also offer alternative words/sentences. I can then take mental notes, and by reviewing these, I hope to continually improve. Overall, this learning experience has been positive, and I haven’t encountered any frustrations yet.

Now that my language partner and I have a better understanding of where my speaking proficiency is at, I can better accommodate my needs. As noted on my learning plan, I plan to improve my comprehension/conversational skills outside of the sessions. By interacting with more official/formal korean, such as listening to podcasts or the news, I can better understand korean in a more complex context. Hopefully then, I can also raise the complexity levels of the topic based conversations between my language partner and I. The sessions so far have also taught me some ways I could improve my learning experiences. I realized instead of taking mental notes, I should also start taking physical notes of what I’ve learned, so that I can refer back and not forget. I also wish to utilize online resources, as the ones we have gone over in class seemed very helpful. I also plan to write down any confusing moments of Korean speech I encounter in my daily life, so that I can ask my language partner during our sessions. If my comprehension gets better, I hope to also improve my other skills, such as reading. Reading itself is not hard at all, since as with many other languages, as long as you know the alphabet, you can pronounce words/sentences. It is understanding what the words/sentences mean that is the hard part, and by improving my speaking/comprehension skills, I hope to at least be able to read articles with ease.

Figuring Foreigners Out was an interesting read. Regarding the idea of collectivism vs individualism, whether it is due to the influence of Confucianism or eastern philosophy, many Asian countries are more collectivist than individualistic, as seen in familial traditions. At least in Korea, it is much more common for children to live with their parents even whilst reaching later adulthood. Although there are many extenuating circumstances, in the states there is some level of bias against adults who reside in their parent’s home past a certain age - there is a certain level of expectation of self achievement and independence. Children are “sent off”, whether it is to a new career or to a higher education, so that they may be able to self-sustain. There are similar expectations in Korea as well, but they are mitigated. A much higher proportion of parents wish their children to dwell with them, even whilst reaching later adulthood. The differences between eastern and western countries are also seen in the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture. The section about nonverbal communication made sense, there are various different cultural contexts for each action and ideals, it is only right that this is taken into account. This is why culture shock exists, and why many tourists may seem rude, especially in more conservative countries. The monochronic-polychronic opposition is very interesting, but besides culture, it seems to also be reliant on the country’s overall status. In capitalist countries, I can imagine time being much more quantified due to concepts of opportunity costs, and overall relationship between money and time. The internal-external opposition seems to be heavily reliant on the culture’s historical roots, such as religion and philosophy. I think the idea of internal locus of control is heavily more prominent in western countries, and it is definitely so in the states.

These oppositions are all very interesting to learn about, and personally, I think I am more connected to the western cultures’ opposition than my native cultures’. That is probably because I was born and raised in the states, and western culture has been more predominant in my upbringing. Going forward, this will allow me to learn more about the culture and history behind my target language, and will let me have a better comprehension of what I am learning.

During the past two weeks I met with my direct language partner, Vivian. In our first meeting we discussed what we did over the winter break in the language of Korean. She told me how she spent time with her family in Chicago and I told her my experience of going back to South Korea to visit my family. We decided to meet on Tuesday and Thursday right after our Accounting class. 

This semester I want to focus on improving my reading and writing skills for Korean. My end goal of college is to be able to test and certify for the Korean language. I believe that having the language certification will be beneficial for me in the future. In order to accomplish my goal, I want to be able to read Korean articles and short stories and be able to reflect on them. Instead of writing Korean from the everyday conversation and text scenario, I want to be able to write it in a more structured way. The texts/conversations and essays written in Korean are very different. 

It was interesting how I am also assisting as a language partner and Vivian became my student. She told me how she wanted to improve her vocabulary skills. I think through helping her learn new vocabulary I will be able to use those in my essay and writings. I am so excited to be able to see how we can help each other improve in the language. 

Recently, I read a book called “Magic” which was translated in the language of Korean. My mother has strongly recommended that I read this book. At first I was very hesitant because I preferred reading English books more than Korean books. However, I tried to take time to read it and noticed how important it was for me to practice reading various books in order to improve my Korean reading skills. I was frustrated at how slow it took me to read the first chapter and how the language built in the sentences sounded so deep with different meanings. 

After reading the first chapter, I wrote a short reflection on what I read. The book actually talked about the power and strength of gratitude. There were different stories of how being thankful changed a lot of people’s lives. How if one is not grateful for the things they have there will be more negative situations that occur. The power of gratitude is very important for success and a change in the way people view life. I thought these stories were very interesting so I decided to try some of their exercises. 

The book contains a 30 day of gratitude challenge where each day there is a different way to be thankful. On the first day, it instructed me to write down ten things that I was thankful for and the reason behind them. As I was writing the list of things I was thankful for I could see a slight change in my mind where a spark of positivity occurred. I was astonished by this moment and decided I would do each challenge and reflect about it by writing my reflections in Korean. 

January Language Learning Journal 

Since this semester started mid-way through January, I was not able to get started on as many tasks as I had wanted to. Nevertheless, meeting up with my language partner did allow me to start practicing my interpersonal communication in Korean; a task that I had hoped to start in January. Although I have not yet used any outside language-learning tools, my language partner has become a great resource for me to verbally communicate in Korean. 

Last week, Ben Lee, Jannette You (my language partner), and I went to grab dinner at a Korean restaurant to start off our SDLC and practice speaking Korean. We read the menus in Korean, ordered our dishes in Korean, and reflected on our experience studying abroad in Korea last fall. When I ordered my food in Korean, I was glad to see that the waitress (an older Korean woman) did not have any difficulty understanding my order, despite my English accent. Seeing that we all spoke Korean, she spoke in Korean to us, as well. This small interaction was an encouraging success for me. 

Having Korean dishes and being immersed in a Korean environment was also a good way for me to re-experience Korean culture while learning. As we ate, we had a conversation in Korean about how eating in a restaurant in Korea was much more affordable than eating in a restaurant in Virginia. We also discussed how the food in Korea was much tastier than the Korean food in Richmond; an observation we all shared. Having a light conversation surrounding a topic like food was an enjoyable and effective strategy for me because it allowed me to retrieve and use words that I hadn’t used in a while. It was also a good way for me to practice my pronunciation and listening skills. 

I plan to speak in Korean to my language partner as much as possible during our meetings and I plan to build my interpersonal communication skills as I learn new words and start integrating these into my conversations. As of right now, I do not have any revisions to make in my learning plan and my goals are the same. I plan to accomplish eight tasks that will help me improve all four aspects of my Korean language ability. Overall, I am feeling enthusiastic about my language learning journey. I know that I may be frustrated as I come across obstacles in my more challenging tasks later on, but I am excited to see how much I will have accomplished by the end of the semester.

The main idea behind Figuring Foreigners Out is that different cultures have different notions of identity and various ways of communicating. Cultures lean either toward individualist or collectivist. Non-verbal communication can either have no meaning, have the same meaning, or have different meanings in two different cultures. The concept of time is handled differently according to one’s culture. Some cultures regard time as monochronic, while others view time as polychronic. Finally, cultures can differ in the directness/indirectness of communication. High-context cultures rely on the context of situations and non-verbal communication while low-context/direct cultures need to be more explicit with what they are trying to convey. The Hofstede Dimensions of Culture is similar in that it attempts to define a country’s culture according to six dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. 

I predominantly agree with these assessments because from my personal experience, it is very accurate. For example, I can definitely see the United States as an individualistic country since we are encouraged to become independent achievers starting at a young age. South Korea, however, is definitely more collectivistic and people associate success with the well-being and accomplishment of the group as a whole. I noticed that Koreans feel a strong emotional bond with in-group members but are less connected to out-groups. It is important to point out, however, that there may be multiple cultures within a country. Therefore, it may not be accurate to make broad-sweeping generalizations.

Where are you now? What can you do? What do you know?

Interpersonal Communication: Low
Interpretive Listening: Low
Interpretive Reading: Low
Presentational Speaking: Low
Presentational Writing: Low

What is your ultimate goal? What is your goal for this semester?
What do you want to be able to do with this language at the end of this semester and in the future?
I want to be able to speak everyday conversation in Korean with people. Although there may be some words I may still not understand or know by the end of this semester, I want to gain enough vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension to be able to piece together conversations and speak to others.

Learning Objectives:
- Vocabulary, reading, writing
- Tools: workbooks, Quizlet, flashcards

Week 1:
- Review alphabet, pronunciation, and vocabulary
- Worksheets created by Vivian and Quizlet

Week 2:
- Review and learn new grammar structures
- Workbooks

Week 3:
- Read passages from workbooks and everything in Korean (signs, books, menus, etc.). Test reading skills every week to see if reading speed and comprehension increases

I reviewed the alphabet and the sounds/pronunciations. I also reviewed and learned some new vocabulary words

I will continue using the textbook I used for learning Korean 1 when I was at Yonsei.

I want to learn a language with honorifics, which will allow me to understand how language works with expressing high status, politeness, or respect. Also, I want to go back to Korea and be able to talk to more locals and Korean people.

Study abroad, Korean friends, and Korean pop culture.

Language Plan

Overall Structure of Course:

• Reading, Writing, and Listening, each week (Speaking comes later)
• Each week I will watch a movie or documentary in Hebrew and write a written summary pointing out things I notice about how characters speak Hebrew. (To encompass Listening and Culture)
• Utilize Tools Online (Italkie, etc.)

Learning plan will be tentative and only out to week 3 to give the possibility of revision:

Week 1 (basics):

• Alphabet
• Learn each letter, how it sounds, how to write, Spelling of words in English, etc.
• Basic Verb structure

Week 2:

• Alphabet continued (practice writing and speaking *Repetition*)
• Aleph Bet song memorization
• More verb Structure
• Watch movie in Hebrew (One Day in September)

Week 3:

• Recite Aleph Bet Het Song
• Be able to write alphabet
• Begin researching prayers to learn
• Basic Words and phrases
• Watch Movie in Hebrew related to Jewish culture (Possibly the Pianist)

Organization of self directed learning plan and exchanges with community partners:

Each week I look to have goals and tasks in the four categories of learning Hebrew: Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking. Consequently, I will practice those skills in each category with a language partner. I will focus on repetition and hands on learning to try and solidify those skills and help with memorization. Each week I will also attempt to assess the skills I learned prior with my Language Learning Partner.

Individuals and organizations who could advance from my endeavors in learning Hebrew:

-Interfaith center, congregation beth ahabah, I Will eventually reach out to these synagogues and maybe even attend a service to try and conversate and use Hebrew in real time with people that speak it.

How I have been learning so far:

So far I have been trying to learn the Hebrew alphabet, which is harder than I had imagined. I have been doing this using repetition and the four components that I had mentioned earlier.

I have been Writing the letters over and over, practicing the differences in writing the letters like He and chet. Some of the differences are very minute so it is has been taking me awhile to learn.

I have been Speaking the letters, making the sounds of them over and over, reciting the aleph bet het song, and listening to them being said over and being able to read and identify which letter is which.

I attempted to learn verb structure because I had been told it was confusing and quickly saw it was really confusing. The structure is different than every language other than arameyic. I am putting verb structure on hold temporarily.

How I will investigate Hebrew and jewish culture more deeply:

I want to be able to understand prayers that I heard growing up. I also want to be able to conversate with people in Hebrew while at synagogue if I want to. I even hope to go to Israel one day because that is something I have always wanted to do. Overall, I want to have the option to be more involved in Judaism.

What first prompted me:

I Grew up going to Sunday school mainly learning about history and always wanted to learn more about the language. I have family ties to Hebrew through being jewish on my dad’s side. My great grandpa was also a Jewish composer.

Learning Plan:

Approx. 12 Weeks remaining

Focus: Improvement of vocabulary, comprehension, and overall conversational ease.

Sessions: 

1. Topic based conversations
   1. Just conversations to improve my speaking proficiency, revolving around some topic. 
2. Review of proper grammatical structures.
   1. Because I’ve learned Korean at home, I never properly learned it. Lots of times when I speak I realize what I said didn’t make perfect sense, or I don’t know how to say a certain phrase due to unfamiliarity with the grammar structure - hoping to learn/improve

Independent Focus: 

1. Podcasts/Radio Shows
   1. Because I can already understand Korean fairly well, I’m hoping that listening to these more official/formal forms of media will not only improve my comprehension, but also expand my knowledge of current Korean events/culture.
2. Switching to Korean
   1. I watch a lot of Korean Dramas, and read a lot of webtoon. If I’m going to waste time on these, perhaps getting rid of subtitles or reading webtoons in Korean will help my progress? I can generally understand without subtitles, but it would definitely make me think a bit at times when I hear an unfamiliar phrase/word.
3. Talking more in Korean
   1. Although I will converse with the SDLC native speaker, I will also make more effort to speak Korean with my friends. Besides the few Korean friends on campus, I also often talk a lot with my hometown friends via facetime/discord. Most of them are very Korean and converse in Korean anyways, and I often use konglish - will try to use pure Korean.

This learning plan was organized to optimize my learning both in and outside the classroom, while not putting too much strain on my time. So far, I have been able to practice my conversational skills, but I plan to review more formal/official material, like grammatical structure and special grammatical circumstances. I think a great way for me and the teacher to connect and have a conversation is to focus on a topic, and so far I am thinking of using Kdramas as a start. Hopefully, with the increase in speaking proficiency, I will be better able to converse with people from the Korean community. Many older generational Korean Americans prefer to speak korean, making it hard to communicate sometimes. I am also hoping to study abroad in Korea, which means improving my speaking proficiency would be very beneficial.

Although I have yet to receive direct feedback from my classmates. reading their ning blogs allows me to get a sense of where I'm at, and what I can improve on.

     SDLAP 110 was an interesting experience for me because the structure of the course provided me with a lot of flexibility that I wasn’t used to in past courses. Therefore because of this, sometimes my schedule was inconsistent with studying Korean. This was also due to the fact that I did not have a detailed syllabus that planned a week by week schedule. It mainly consisted of goals and what tasks I wanted to accomplish. This semester, I created my syllabus on google docs, and there was a feature where the bullet points could be used as check boxes. I enjoy checking boxes off once I complete my tasks, so my syllabus for this semester consists of a week by week schedule of what I am going to do. I only want to plan out two weeks at a time since I don’t know how far I am going to go with the textbooks.

     I have identified some new resources that I am going to use to learn Korean this semester. I mentioned about a podcast called Talk to Me in Korean last semester, and I found their Youtube channel as well! The teachers on the channels are clear and helpful with their bite-size lessons, so I hope to utilize this channel more. The Yonsei University textbook was a great resource that mimicked traditional language textbooks with lots of colorful illustrations, but one thing it lacked was how to pronounce the characters. The Talk to Me in Korean book (from the Global Studios) has the phonetic pronunciations written alongside the characters so it helped me make sure I was saying the characters correctly. I don’t think I will be using the Yonsei University textbook this semester, but rather the Talk to Me in Korean textbooks. Another resource I used last semester was iTalki, and I think it is a wonderful service to use for beginner learners! Unfortunately, it has been suspended for use due to some limits on business account users, but once this problem is resolved, I will be continuing to use this amazing resource. 

     The past two weeks I have been constructing my syllabus, listening to Korean conversations on Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK), and solidifying/reviewing what I have learned in SDLAP 110. I listened to the Level 1 conservation on TTMIK and I was able to understand 90% of the conversation without looking at the transcript! Additionally, I worked on a workbook that I purchased last summer, and I reviewed subject, topic, and object particles which are unique to Korean and a select few other languages. The concept of these particles makes sense because it can emphasize which is a subject or object, but I am not comfortable with applying them when forming my own sentences. However, I think once I get more practice with the particles, they will make more sense to me. In addition to reviewing, I learned a few phrases such as “Please give me _____”, “I will eat well”, “Do you have ____”, and “This is ___”. These are common phrases to use in day to day conversations so learning them now will help me better recognize them when I hear it in the future.

Link to my Learning Plan: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xOBpX0ZcPLKCpxXdWtWxpiQQ59TvgdvmgH9VxVUm8k0/edit?usp=sharing

I organized my self-directed learning plan by breaking my goals down into eight smaller tasks that I can feasibly accomplish. All of these tasks will help me improve the four aspects of my language skills. So far, I learned that learning a language is may not be as hard as I thought, especially with all the resources that are available to us on the internet. I also realized that language learning does not have to be boring. I do not plan to read any textbooks about Korean because I think I learn better from active engagement and fun activities. The ‘curriculum’ that I set for myself will allow me to investigate my target language and culture more deeply because the majority of my learning activities include interaction with some form of Korean material, whether it be Korean movies, dramas, music, or news article. Using these as tools for my language learning will allow me to learn more deeply about Korean culture. 

I became interested in furthering my Korean language skills because as a Korean-American, I am heavily engaged with my Korean community at home. I want to be able to confidently speak Korean to other Koreans, especially native Korean speakers. For Korean-Americans, it can be considered impolite to speak in English to an older Korean adult who is talking to you in Korean. This is because no formality exists in the English language. I want to avoid these types of awkward situations and have everyday conversations with other Koreans with ease. Studying abroad in South Korea last semester also motivated me to gain a deeper understanding of Korean culture and my heritage.

Growing up as Chinese, I’ve had the privilege of being raised in a multicultural home and visiting my home country Shanghai in China often. My parents were Chinese immigrants, which gave me the chance to explore the complex layers of my Asian-American identity. The thing that captivated me the most was the duality of being able to coexist within different cultures and experiences. From universal ideas like our bond over family and food, there is nothing more important than accepting and understanding not only what brings us together, but what makes us unique as well. As a result of my parents speaking Mandarin around the house, I picked it up quickly, which became my first language. However, when I started to attend school, I had to switch to learning English. This was a difficult transition for me because since my parents were immigrants, they did not know much English themselves so they had a hard time introducing me to the language and practicing at home. The only exposure I got of English was during school. Up to 1st grade, I was also enrolled in ESOL, which is a program to help children whose first language isn't English learn the language. This program helped me tremendously, as it was an additional exposure and time to practice English. However, as I got older, I used English more than Mandarin so my Mandarin skills started to go down. I try to keep up these days by watching videos in that language and reading books. During high school, I had the opportunity to learn Russian. I remember I was captivated by the Russian alphabet. When the Olympics happened in Sochi, I remember looking at the banners and wondering how “Cо́чи” spelled “Sochi”. As a result, I wanted to learn more and successfully learned the alphabet and how to read at an elementary level. However, because of the timing, I was only able to take 2 years of Russian since it was only offered at my high school. During the Fall 2021 semester, I had the opportunity to study abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea. While I was in Korea, I had the opportunity to take a Korean Language introductory course, which taught me the alphabet, grammar, and basic conversational skills. I really enjoyed expanding my knowledge in languages and thinking in different ways. I think it works a different part of your brain when you have to think or speak in another language vs. learning another subject in English. However, learning languages is difficult and hard to keep up, especially if you are studying on your own.

I am an insightful thinker and a visual learner, therefore I learn best when reading and seeing pictures. For example, this may include learning vocabulary with photos. I also believe that the surveys accurately reflect my learning styles because I like to think of new ways to do things or shortcuts to things that are already done. I think I should expand my learning activities by hearing as well as seeing. During my trip to Korea, I realized that hearing sentences over and over again has a big impact on memorization. Combining hearing and seeing learning styles together could help me better understand the language.

In order to communicate intent, language to some extent is a must for a species to survive. I believe language in its foundation to be a purely biological-phenomenon, as seen by the various forms of language used by other living species, but it is because of our sophistication/intelligence that we have refined it to what it is now. No doubt our semantics, interpretations, and concepts are all a reflection of how our language has developed beyond the point of calling it a biological-phenomenon, but at its core that is what it is.

The multifunctional view of language in the brain made a lot of sense. Language triggers memories, determines how we analyze/interpret things, and overall guides our whole way of thinking. Having our linguistic abilities localized to just Broca’s and Wernicke’s area wouldn’t make sense.

An interesting thought I had while reading the texts, although it may be off-topic, is the semi-recent development of Neuralink, and what it intends to accomplish. Neuralink intends to enable paraplegics the ability to operate computers with their neural activities through the incorporation of machines into the brain. But if eventually our brains become able to process information and formulate ideas at the speed of a computer, and transfer information/feeling to another individual, would language remain what it is today? Of course, language would probably still remain due to logistical and various other reasons, but it's interesting to think how the need to verbally communicate, formulate thoughts verbally, and have an “inner” voice would greatly diminish.

The readings made me understand the importance of variety when learning a language. By focusing on all aspects of language, such as reading, writing, and speaking, both hemispheres of the brain will be stimulated more often, which would probably elevate the learning process. And because the brain is all interconnected, attempting to improve at various aspects of the language may also greatly improve a target aspect, rather than single handedly focusing on one aspect.

With the upcoming Lunar New Year, there are many Korean customs and traditions that I would love to talk about, but I specifically wanted to discuss the concept of sebae - 세배. Sebae is a tradition in which people wish their familial elders a happy new year, all whilst wearing hanbok and bowing in a procedural manner. Males and females have separate bowing procedures, and the phrase “새해 복 많이 받으세요”(May you receive many blessings for the new year) accompanies the bow. Occasionally, elders may provide some deokdam(덕담), or some remarks of blessings. Children often receive sabaetdon(세뱃돈), which is given in colorful envelopes or pouches and is generally given as a form of allowance/gift. If this sounds familiar, it's because it is - this tradition is commonly seen in Eastern Asia. Both China and Japan also have a similar tradition, where elders give children red envelopes containing money during the Lunar New Year. The reason behind this widespread presence is heavily accredited to Confucianism, and so the custom of giving sabaetdon probably originates from Chinese tradition. Besides just Lunar New Year traditions, Koreans ideals and customs are heavily reliant on Confucianism. The idea of bowing to elders and wishing them a happy new year stems from filial piety, which in Confucianism is the respectful and obedient attitude/mindset towards elders.

For me, I got all my sabaetdon money taken away by my parents, which I’m sure is a common occurrence for many of us. But receiving sabaetdon was still something to look forward to besides the other Lunar New Year activities, and sebae added a sense of formality to all the fun. 

For my first introduction into the language of Portuguese and the culture around it, my language partner and I thought it a good idea to start off basic. We have not had much time to meet to facilitate learning, so this first post was used as more of an introduction to the language and some cultural aspects we’d try to focus on. The first piece of media that I looked at was an article about the sports culture in the region of São Paulo, Brazil. This article immediately drew me in and was a great starting point because of my love for sports. The article starts out with very common knowledge to me: that in Brazil soccer is almost like a religion. Like many places across the world, in Brazil and Portugal, soccer reigns supreme. However, what was news to me was the growing influence of basketball in Brazil. The NBA has been making steady inroads in Brazilian culture, and in the first quarter of 2021, fandom of the league grew by 31% within the Portuguese speaking county. The statistics peg the large country of 213 million at about 45 million identifying as fans of the league. This is a notable number considering the league only first started outreaching to Brazil in 2004, and many locals have noticed the difference. They now see much more NBA memorabilia especially the jerseys of “jogador” Lebron “King” James. This whole article was super interesting and gave me an insight into the sports landscape of Brazil along with some first-hand accounts from São Paolo residents. Since most of this piece was in English, I didn’t struggle too much with picking up on anything linguistically, but one thing my language partner helped point out to me was the differences in types of Portuguese that are spoken around the world. There’s Brazilian Portuguese and then a European Portuguese which have slight, but noticeable differences between the two. This is something that we’ll be exploring more as we continue to work together.

The next piece of media for this post was a short soccer news update article from “Ojogo.pt”. Ojogo.pt is a major sports newspaper based out of Porto, Portugal. The article I chose was a short sports update on a soccer player contracting Covid-19. Upon first glance at this article, it looked almost impossible to tackle. The whole article is less than 3 paragraphs long and it was difficult to get started, but I eventually started to dissect it slowly. At closer look, it was actually shocking how similar the language is in some respects to Spanish. This is where I was able to leverage my previous knowledge of Spanish to muddle through the article. Certain words like “totalmente”, “finalizar”, “transferência”, and “arguardar” were recognizable. Eventually, with some help from my partner, I was able to work through the meaning. Brazilian league center-back Tiago Coser was supposed to fly in for his signing at the Portuguese soccer club of Benfica, but he tested positive for Covid-19 before his flight. He will now have to quarantine, and the transfer will have to wait. This article was a great piece to look at introductorily because it’s similar to something I’d consume daily if I were a native speaker or Portugal resident. I was genuinely surprised at how I was able to navigate through this article using contextual clues and words I could discern from my history of speaking Spanish. This really left me hopeful for what’s to come as I have more time to work with my partner.

Overall, these two pieces were great to introduce me to the language of Portuguese and a little bit of culture from where it’s spoken. I was really surprised to learn that there’s a difference between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese, and I will look to explore that further in my learning. As for the language itself, I was surprised at my ability to navigate through a relatively short piece of content, but I definitely still have far to go. In this early stage of my learning, I am going to have to keep relying on my Spanish background and other things to navigate around all that I do not know.

Sources:

1. https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/basketball/basketball-in-brazil-where-football-reigns-nba-makes-steady-inroads
2. https://www.ojogo.pt/futebol/1a-liga/benfica/noticias/tiago-coser-acusou-postivo-a-covid-19-e-viu-viagem-rumo-ao-benfica-adiada--14516083.html

South Korean Cultural Artifact #1: Tteokguk (떡국)

Since Korean New Year is coming up (February 1, 2022), I thought it would be interesting to talk about a traditional Korean New Year dish, called tteokguk (떡국). Korean New Year, called Seollal (설날) in Korean, is the first day of the Korean calendar which originated from the Chinese lunisolar calendar. South Koreans celebrate this important national holiday by visiting family, wearing hanbok (한복 - traditional Korean clothes), performing ancestral rites, playing folk games, and eating traditional foods. One traditional Korean dish that is always served on Seollal is tteokguk, or rice cake soup. ‘Tteok’ (떡)  means rice cake and ‘guk’ (국) means soup/broth in Korean. As the name suggests, tteokguk consists of a beef or anchovy stock with thinly sliced rice cakes, beef, and garnished with thin julienned cooked eggs, marinated meat, and dried seaweed laver (gim). Often times, Korean dumplings, or mandu (만두), is added to the tteokguk. This variety is literally called tteokmanduguk (떡만두국). 

The custom of eating tteokguk on New Year's Day originated from ancient times when families would perform ancestral rites by serving tteokguk to their ancestors. It is a tradition to eat tteokguk on New Year’s day because it is believed to grant people good luck for the upcoming year. The white broth symbolizes a clean and pure start to the year and the coin-shaped rice cakes symbolize prosperity. Eating tteokguk on Korean New Year also serves an important role in the Korean age reckoning system in which you gain a year of age on Seollal. According to Korean tradition, you don’t officially gain a year of age on Seollal until you have a bowl of tteokguk. On Seollal, a person may ask you, “Did you have a bowl of rice cake soup today?”. This question would be the same thing as asking, “Are you one year older?”.

As a Korean-American, my mom makes this dish for my family every Western New Year's Day (January 1). Usually, we make our own mandu at home ahead of time to add in our tteokguk to make tteokmanduguk. Although tteokguk is traditionally a seasonal/winter dish, it is a popular dish that is now eaten at all times of the year. When I studied abroad in South Korea last fall, it was not uncommon to walk into a Korean restaurant and see tteokguk on the menu. Koreans love this dish because it is delicious, nutritious, and easy to make. 

Sources:

https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/tteokguk 

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

Language is both non-biological and biological. Things like words, grammar, senses, and references are man-made, hence the differences between languages. At the same time,  language is impossible without the biological functions of the brain. As explained in Crystal’s “How the Brain Handles Language”, different parts of the brain work together to enable humans to effectively communicate through language. For example, people with damage to the Wernicke’s area, the area of the brain that plays a large role in language comprehension, are unable to understand language and may speak in sentences that have no meaning and consist of made-up words. This language disorder is called Wernicke’s aphasia. The Broca’s area is the part of the brain most important for the production of speech. A person with Broca’s aphasia has an impairment in which they cannot produce normal speech. 

I think one way we conceptualize or process meaning is based on the context in which words are used. For example, one of the texts talked about how the word “mean” has so many meanings because it can be used in a variety of ways. But knowing the context in which it is used based on its relationship with other words can distinguish the senses and help us process the meaning of the word. 

Learning how people neurologically handle language is motivating because it shows how capable our brains are of processing and learning new languages. By continually practicing Korean, I believe that I’ll be able to strengthen the neural pathways in my brain so that I’ll be able to retain and recollect new language information to advance my Korean skills.

One of the best ways to learn about a culture is to learn about their festivities and holidays. In South Korea, there are numerous holidays that South Koreans celebrate ranging from Lunar New Year to dedicating the whole day for children. Through this research, I was able to find overlaps between South Korean holidays and Chinese holidays perhaps due to the shared similarities between the two cultures. 

One major holiday that is coming up is Lunar New Year, which is celebrated this year on February 1st. Depending on the lunar calendar, Lunar New year falls on a different day each year, but is generally between late January and early February. The Korean Lunar New Year is three days long, and this is arguably one of the most holidays in Korean culture. Traditional clothing such as hanbok is worn, food, rituals, and games are played during this three day celebration. Due to the popularity and importance of this holiday, the travel volume increases significantly. Furthermore, prices of fruits and produce skyrocket during this time of the year due to the high demand. A special ritual called sebae is when the younger children wear their traditional hanboks and perform a special bow to the elderly and wish them a prosperous and great new year. The elders usually in return give the children some money and wish them a great new year as well. Examples of foods eaten during this period include tteok and jeon. Tteokguk is a rice cake soup and jeon is similar to a pancake but can be filled with fillings like vegetables. 

I think one special holiday that South Koreans have is Pepero Day. Pepero Day is on November 11 every year and is dedicated to eating chocolate covered sticks. Pocky is the same concept but the bread stick can be covered with strawberry, oreo, banana, chocolate, or matcha favors. Pepero day is on 11/11 because the chocolate covered sticks can arrange to form that date. In addition to Pepero Day, South Korea also has Children’s day. Children’s day is dedicated to children, and many families spend the day going on children-friendly excursions such as amusement parks, zoos, parks, etc. This day is on May 5 every year. Similarly, Children’s Day is also another popular holiday in China, but the date is June 1 instead of May 5. 

Another major holiday in South Korea that is shared with China as well is the Mid-Autumn festival or in Korean, Chuseok. This holiday is on a day in September when there is a full moon and this year, it is on September 10. With this special holiday, foods and beverages such as hangwa and songpyeon are typically served. Hangwa is a collection of sweets made out of tteok. Songpyeon is another type of sweet that is shaped like half-moon rice cakes filled with red bean paste, sesame seeds, or brown sugar.

While there are many other holidays South Koreans celebrate throughout the year, these are just a few that I found interesting or have shared similarities between China. During SDLAP 110, I was able to find interesting overlaps between the two countries in terms of language and culture. I hope during this semester, I continue to learn more about South Korean culture such as what an average work week looks like, skincare clinics, history behind the Korean flag, etc.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_New_Year

Language learning is my most idealistic hobby. I often refer to polyglotism as a real life super power. For as long as I have been conscious of the differences in ways people communicate, I have tried and tried to emulate the sounds and mannerisms that produce such effects. I was famously the first to lose my Nigerian accent, for better or worse, when my family immigrated to the United States in 2005. I picked up Standard American English at that time, and later adopted African American English Vernacular through socialization. Along with my native Standard West African English, my extremely novice Korean, and somewhat less, but still nevertheless, novice French, what I have enjoyed most about language learning is the way it allows me to adapt to my environment.

Yes, learning languages has allowed me to adapt to new environments. However, language learning has also caused me to stick out, not like a rose rising from concrete, but like a sore, pus infected nail on a hand model's finger. This is all to say that what I dislike most about language learning is the amount of time it takes, and further how unattainable any fluency let alone the desire for native levels of fluency can often be. Even today, 15 years after immigrating, people point out knicks in the way I say certain things. Also juggling the different connotations words have in all the types of English I speak and further the code switching at times required both inter and intra the languages at times becomes socially exhausting. 

 I am by nature a perfectionist. Which is a nice way of saying I am impatient. I am impatient. So much so that the prospect of not completing tasks well in a succinct amount of time is enough to discourage me from ever making an attempt. My parents speak Etche, and Ikwerre which are to Igbo not quite in the same way Farsi is to Dari, but not quite in the same way Portuguese is to Spanish. Etche and Ikwerre, per my understanding, are not quite as similar as most dialects but are, for most speakers, mutually intelligible. There are even more nuances within each language’s own regional dialects. Understanding what these languages are is in itself, a gargantuan task. Trying to find a starting point for learning Igbo or Etche or Ikwerre without the intuitive understanding of their key differences most native speakers have often leads to gibberish. The task becomes even more daunting when the native speakers are my family and close friends who lack the reservations about sharing harsh criticisms more distant friends and teachers may have. However, I am quickly getting over the fear of spewing gibberish and receiving criticism. 

As I begin pursuing languages not directly related to my immediate environment or heritage, failing is becoming a lot more manageable. I have found that the best way for me to learn is simply to do. The multiple intelligences and learning style surveys confirms this. I have been flagged as a tactile learner with my top three intelligences being in language, social situations and self. The FIRE model is a bit too structured for my naturally impulsive way of learning however there are a few aspects of the chart that I believe may be beneficial in my language learning journey and I enjoy having a gauge for what concrete approaches most appeal to me. I believe the best way to expand my learning activities will be to regularly schedule activities that involve executing concrete tasks. For example filming a video speaking my target language every other week, reviewing media I enjoy, and so on. I look forward to applying these methods as naturally as possible, as the goal, albeit a bit unrealistic, is to speak the languages I learn as naturally as I can manage, gibberish and all. 

Besides my primary languages, the only language I formally learned was Latin, which I took for a few years in high school. It wasn’t too difficult, since English and Latin share many similarities. We would go over literature, vocabulary, work on worksheets, etc. which were all very helpful. There was nothing in particular that I disliked, but I did notice that some parts of the class seemed less effective. Watching videos and documentaries, for example, didn’t help much with the language. I was better able to understand the culture of the Ancient Roman Empire, which I understood was still important for the learning process, but in terms of language, it seemed a bit redundant. Because Latin is currently rarely spoken and rather used more for terminology, I found myself reading and writing quite a bit, but scarcely speaking it. Sometimes I would converse with the teacher, but it wasn’t quite helpful. If I had been able to converse, had continual practice, and was immersed in an environment where the language was prominent, that would have helped me in the most effective way. I noticed this with my Korean as well. My parents would only speak Korean in the house, forcing me to continuously practice conversation and vocabulary, which I believed helped me to get much better at speaking. Being raised in a Korean community meant the same thing -  I was able to converse with other Koreans and immerse myself into the environment. I am still lacking in many aspects, but continuous usage of the language was definitely the most productive practice. 

Going forward, I am hoping to apply this insight with improving my Korean. Of course, I understand the importance of reading and writing as well, but I hope that I will be able to converse with speakers who are more proficient in the language. I understand the Korean community at Richmond may be more limited to what I am used to, but I believe I can immerse myself into a Korean environment through other ways, whether it be reading articles daily or listening to podcasts. I think continuity is the most essential to my learning, even with other subjects. I hope that I will be able to expand my conversational skill through continuity, and that such improvement will guide my reading/writing skills. I plan to also take a step back every so often to really soak in what I have learned, to really connect the meaning with the word/phrase.