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Culture Shock Film:

The Culture shock was very interesting and informative . The video was about how international students felt coming to America. As an international student coming to the United States, i knew what it really meant because i have gone through the same things.when I arrived in Richmond. The campus seemed huge because universities are not usually as big as Richmond in my home country. The week of orientation was just overwhelming and something that I did not even imagine because there were too much to learn. In the first few weeks, i was just kept thinking that it is impossible to be here because everything was different, the food, environment, language, system of school, and even small things. When i got the syllabus in the class rooms, i was just shocked about the amount of work that we had to do in the classes. After watching the movie, i felt that everyone will feel the same way when they go to a new place. So pretty much, i have felt the same as the students who have been interviewed in the Video and as the professors talked and explained the situation of international students. I am glad that the International Department has made this video in order to show and educated many about going to a new place. It is also like a good advice for those who want to go and experience aboard and how to deal there.

My language partner and i met this week. We worked on pronunciation of the words, making short sentences, reading of short sentences, and practiced the usage of propositions. The usage of propositions very complected and different in Urdu language. So i had to practice them alot in order to learn them. I also tried to read and translate some  sentences with my language partner. Having a language partner is very helpful because helps me a lot to understand so many new things that i have no clue about their explanation. We also talked about food and learned some basic conversation about food such as how to ask for food. I also learned some names of the food in general. In addition, i tried to learn new vocabulary as always and have learned some new ones.

This week due to midterms was a little easier than most weeks, so we had no test or anything. On Monday we had to have a basic conversation of introducing ourselves and talking a little about ourselves. I think one of the hardest parts was not knowing the material but rather speaking it. I mean its good that we meet with Lousie and are able to practice speaking but I still get so nervous when I try. After that we mainly focused on days, months, and time. I still don't understand their time entirely. Sometimes they will use military time but another time they will be like half past 12, I don't think I have ever said that in English so it will be weird trying to change my time to the British way. I think something that will help or hopefully will is this Swedish grammar book that came today, it is supposed to explain a lot of things that google just isn't doing. Our homework for break is to write in a journal everyday of what we did, and if we don't know a word we must look it up. I think it's a good way to keep practicing our Swedish without doing anything too advanced. IMG_20131009_192200336.jpg

Originally I had some pretty ambitious goals. I wanted to be conversational in Hebrew and know how to read and write. Unfortunately it is taking longer to come back to me than expected but I am working at it. I was trying so hard to drive right into it but needed to take a step back and take it one day at a time.

Now I have similar but more realistic goals. I want to be able to read and write with vowels and have basic conversation skills. I think this is very attainable but we will have to see how quickly I can absorb the information. My language partner also made me realize how difficult Hebrew really is and that most people do not even get past one small workbook in a semester. So my goals may still be ambitious but I would rather set higher goals than lower ones.

Culture shock. That was the focus of this weeks class. Watching the video on how international students felt coming to America. It was actually really interesting to me to watch this movie. You would assume there would be a little bit of getting used to but you don't realized how much these students have to deal with. After I watched the movie I asked some of my international friends if they thought they felt culture shock when coming here and a lot of them said no. But then as I went on to describe in the movie a lot of students went though a honeymoon phase of loving it and then became somewhat depressed questioning why they were here, a lot of my friends said that is exactly what they went though. So I think almost everyone going to a new place goes through a bit of culture shock whether they realize it or not. It also made me slightly nervous. I plan on studying in Sweden for a year if not more, and naturally I guess I will go through a period of culture shock. Mind you it might be a bit easier for me because yes they speak Swedish there but almost everyone speaks English as well. But still just the slightest little differences do add up.

Target language & cultural diversities

Cultural differences are probably more important that we would think. Every aspect of our life could be different in another culture, the timing, the way people greet each other, the dress code and even having a coffee with someone could have a several meanings depending on the country you are.

One thing the article warns us about are the generalizations; even if some stereotypes are sometimes somewhat true, we should always be careful when using generalizations.

I learned a bit more about the Korean culture talking to some Korean students directly and reading some articles.

In Korea, every time you meet someone formally you will have to bow, and the older the person is, the lower you will have to bow. It is interesting to know that in Korea, the younger people respect a lot older ones and will most of the time listen to because they are wise and experienced. Koreans are always on time, it shows an important sign of respect but also will give you a firm handshake with a smile when they meet you. However, one thing they do not do, as opposed to the Western culture is small talks, if they are genuinely interested about something they will ask you, but rarely they will talk about the weather or ask about the health of your dog. 

If there is something that Swedes absolutely love, it's music. There have been multitudes of popular groups emerging from Sweden in the 20th and 21st centuries: ABBA, Ace of Base, Peter Bjorn and John, The Cardigans, Lykki Li, The Hives, and many more. More recently, however, Swedes seem to be taking over the techno/house music scene. The likes of Icona Pop, Basshunter, Avicii, Alesso, and Swedish House Mafia are all Swedish DJs/artists who are pumping out club hits that are adored all around the world (not just in Ibiza!). Recently my Swedish language partner went to a concert in D.C. to see only one of the members of Swedish House Mafia perform (the group has recently split up). Music is very culturally significant to Swedish people and I get the sense that there is also a lot of pride in home-grown Swedish music from Swedes who live outside of Sweden (they call themselves utlandssvensken, literally Swedish foreigners). It is also interesting to note that like residents of other countries take to American pop music, those who live in Norway and Denmark also look to Sweden for their music icons and hits. All the evidence I have gathered from research and person experience leads me to believe that the music scene is highly active in Sweden and that Swedes both home and abroad take great pride in their musical icons (especially when they gain success outside of Sweden). Below is a sample of music from Sebastian Ingrosso, formerly of Swedish House Mafia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuAtcpFQpMw

Njut! Enjoy!

This was a tough week for the Swedish learners! This was the first week that we really tackled grammar (outside of our lessons) and it's been rough. I found that learning pronouns was not as easy as I thought it would be and that a lot of them are very similar so I ended up mixing a few of them up on our quiz! An interesting feature of the Swedish language is that rather than just having one word for "mine" or "your", there are actually three different words you could use (for each) depending on the noun they are modifying. For instance you could say "mitt namn" for my name or "min mamma" for my mom or "mina föräldrar" for my parents (plural). Although I found learning the differences of these to be challenging I do appreciate that Swedish is a language of specificity and therefore there is no ambiguity as to how many things you are referring to when you say min/mitt vs. mina. 

On a brighter note, we started putting together basic sentences and questions and actually having conversations with one another and I felt as if this was very practical practice! Now that I know the question words, word order in questions, and the most basic tenses of verbs, I can formulate many questions to ask the Swedes I know! I am pleasantly surprised by how quickly we are progressing and am looking forward to the weeks to come.

This week seems to be a little more frustrating than usual. We are starting to get into grammar more and more. I am terrible at grammar, I can do vocabulary in almost any language easily. But as soon as you start adding grammar my head begins to pound. I keep getting all the forms of the pronouns confused. For vocab writing the word over and over helps me learn how to pronounce and how to spell the word, but that doesn't seem to be working with the pronouns. I am not quite sure how to help drill this into my mind. I am an auditory learner, so maybe if I found something that made a song out of that it could help. We also had our quiz today, it wasn't as good as I would have hoped for but not as terrible as it could have been. Right now I am just feeling very overwhelmed. With so many things to learn both concepts and context, it just seems slightly impossible. I just have to keep reminding myself that, I didn't learn English or Spanish overnight, Swedish isn't going to be any different...IMG_20131002_130337635.jpg

Swedish%20Fika%20Presentation.pptx

One of the things that I have been realizing about Israel's culture since I started this course is how much of Israelis' attitudes and personalities are shaped by their current political situation. Israel has been in a precarious political situation since the creation of the state in 1948. Throughout countless wars, their statehood has been threatened, and they live in a geographical area in which they are constantly surrounded by hostile neighbors of a different religion and hugely different political attitudes.

I have never really thought about how political and military culture could actually shape civilian's personalities. However, I think in Israel, this might honestly be the case. Israelis have to be very defensive. They are constantly defending their religion, their country, their way of life to everyone - to the entire world at some points in time. This creates an atmosphere that is very tense, and one in which people are on high alert all the time. I think this would make me feel rushed, blunt and stressed too. 

So many of the personality attributes that we associate with Israelis - being overly direct, blunt, aggressive, animated, intense, stressed even - these are all things that go hand in hand with people who are on high alert. This is psychologically similar to people with PTSD or people who have been through a traumatic experience. Israelis are constantly in that situation. They are always living and always have lived with a very hyper-sensitive attitude. This alert atmosphere has been passed down over the past few generations and this is what makes Israel, Israel. Right or wrong, I really believe that the hostile nature of the Middle East has affected the basic traits of the people that live in Israel.

Israelis use a ton of body language when they speak. I remember when I went to Israel last summer, I was struck by how vibrant they appeared to be. First of all, there is very little personal space. They are always in your personal bubble and their animated way of speaking is one of the manners in which they intrude on one's personal space. Israelis talk with their hands. They are very direct, blunt and honest people, and they show their feelings. They use their bodies to help convey their feelings. I think it's interesting that in the US, stoicism is usually encouraged. In Israel, this is not the case. Israelis are tough and you don't often encounter them crying or being emotional. But Israelis are emotionally charged. One of their favorite body language expressions that I remember is putting their hands together over their heart and shaking them, almost as if they were pleading for something. This intense expression of "please listen to me" - it is sort of of nice way of asking for attention or begging - could be used in the US. However, it is very common in Israel.

Another thing that Israelis do is appreciate directness. They do not like people who are not direct. I had a conversation with a businessman while I was there about how they don't often trust foreign businesspeople because they try to be so polite and indirect in an effort to please Israelis. He said something to the effect of "we just want people to tell us what they really want in a business deal". I thought that was interesting. I have that general attitude, and I don't know why more people don't. I think I should move to Israel!

To sum it up: Israelis are actually very friendly and relationship-oriented people, but they are punctual and time oriented and this makes them appear pushy to foreigners. They are animated and direct and actually just some of the coolest people to be around, but you just have to see what is underneath their porcupine skin. 

For this week's journal entry, I tried to do some reading in my target language. I know how to "read" Hebrew in that I know the phonetics of the letters - I know what sounds they make, I know what direction I should be reading, all of those things. However, I do not know the meaning of what I am reading, and that obviously makes reading difficult. I figured that for my first reading exercise, I could try reading something that has meaning that can easily be applied. I decided to start with an online Israeli newspaper. I figured a newspaper is a good place to start because I can become familiar with the labels of different paper sections, and by looking at the content of each section, I can guess what the label might mean.

For example: מזג אוויר was the link that lead me to a map of temperatures and weather around the state of Israel. When I plugged this word into google translate, it means "weather". Additionally, דעות was the link that brought me to a picture of Obama shaking hands with Mr. Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. I guessed that this had something to do with international or political news. When plugged into google translate (sidenote: I admit this is not necessarily the most reliable site), the translation was "opinions". That is a hard one that I never would have guessed. 

I think the online newspaper tool is a really good idea. It provides enough context that you can figure words out. For someone like me, being able to read and pronounce things without knowing meaning provides a perfect background to use an online site like a newspaper. I need to try more of these sites more often!

http://vocaroo.com/i/s117NuPOI8FW

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1bvHcLTnOIR

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1T86z0uPcQy