So far, I think my progress of my learning plan has been subpar. Despite keeping up with the plan semi-successfully, I don't think I'm improving as quickly as I had hoped, perhaps because my goals were harder to achieve than I thought, or my knowledge of Korean wasn't as solid as I had previously thought. Either way, I don't think my mastery over the Korean language is improving greatly. I don't wish to lower my expectations, but I may need to maybe strengthen the basics that I am learning each week more often and making sure that I understand and am fully capable of using comfortably before moving on.
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Previous to the reading, I had never really imagined that a language could die. I had never expanded my thoughts outside of the big languages of the world, and was shocked at the fact that a language even had the potential to die off. Reading the article has definitely helped me understand what is lost when a language dies. Not only is the language itself, the characters used, the sound of the language, lost but more than that, the culture of the language speakers. The article focuses on the Siletz language which has about 5 speakers in the entire world, and that fact alone was more than shocking enough for me. It feels like to me when the language dies, the person dies along with it. The culture that the language represented dies along with the language. It is forgotten and lost in the memories of the past never to be brought back, and the idea of that is extremely saddening. That feeling is magnified because of the fact that I had never thought of such languages dying off, and was blind to the countless languages out there on the brink of extinction. The methods which they used to bring it back was interesting for the least to say. The idea that young kids found it fascinating to be able to spit using the language was funny, but it's the simple things that keep the language alive, and I think that speaks to deeper levels.
I think my progress so far has been good. I have consistently been adding more to my learning plan on different aspects of the Korean language that I think would be helpful. For example, I never thought about learning Korean slang until Mingkyung recommended the idea. It dawned upon me that if I were to study abroad in Korea it would be beneficial to understand some of the common slangs that the college students there would use in real life and through text. I think I will continue to adjust some things in my plan to incorporate some aspects of Korean communication that I did not think of before. I realized that there is so much more to fully understanding the language and that it is difficult to grasp the many grammatical concepts and apply them to daily interactions. It seems hard to keep up with the many grammatical rules that I am constantly learning weekly. There is also the many vocabulary words that I still do not know. However, through my activities and learning partners I can see my progress slowly, but surely getting much better and I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the language. It was also interesting learning more about my culture and its history when doing the learning journals and in-class presentations for 105.
Asking and answering questions about identity
I think my first artifact conversation went well. My accent still does not sound authentic and I would hope to perfect it by the end of the semester. Besides that I think it is culturally appropriate because I tried to incorporate the formal rules that are heavily applied in the Korean language. The linguistic aspect is fine as well.
My goals for weeks 4 and 5 were achieved. My parents evaluated my Korean literacy when I texted them and they said I was doing well. I applied what I learned in the past weeks such as requesting favors by asking them to buy me something on Amazon. For the goal of week 5 I watched a Korean movie called The Man from Nowhere. I was satisfied with how much I was able to retain and understand. There were still many words that I did not understand, but I was able to put together what was happening with the few words that I did know.
Greeting, introduction, and farewell
My learning goals for this week was to research on trendy voca which is also known as common slang that is used in daily Korean interactions. I plan on studying abroad in Korea next year so it would be nice to know some common sayings that Koreans who are around my age use. By learning these words I would not be so out of the loop. I was provided a website by Minkgyung that is very trendy with Koreans where they post on forums about a variety of topics. I plan on reading these discussions so that I can see slang and other types of Korean phrases that are not part of the traditional vocabulary. I will try to look for other sources such as youtube or on Google. I think learning these things would be interesting since it is an informal aspect of the language and it will allow me to have a insight on how young Koreans speak to each other.
When a language is lost, an important aspect of that specific culture is gone as well. The cultural identity becomes disfigured and and the linguistic heritage is forgotten. The language of a culture contains the words and ideas that a particular group uses to describe and interact with the world. This allows them to be diverse in this multicultural world and provides them with an identity. If a culture's language dies off, it would be difficult to even imagine how the culture can flourish without its language keeping it together. If a culture adopts a different language, it would just not be the same. The cultural identity would still be lost and its traditions and ideals would become tainted. There is a lot that is at stake for a culture when a language dies off, so there should be a great deal of precaution in the preservation of nearly extinct languages.
- Learning Journal 9: State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.
My goals for this week were to:
(Finished Unit 4: Happy Birthday)
- To learn how to tell time
- To learn how to ask for the time
- To learn how to say the time
- To review the times of the day and their corresponding category (i.e., morning, afternoon, etc.) -- which is important because Indonesians use the 24 hours model
Grammar:
(Chapter 1.1)
- To learn the subject plus predicate word order of the basic Indonesian sentence
- Learn the two basic types of predicates: verbal and nominal
(Chapter 1.5)
- Learn how to use the existential verb ada to ask and answer questions
- Learn how to use the negation of the existential verb, tidak ada, to answer questions
Culture :
- To learn about Yogyakarta, a bustling city located in the island of Java. It is also an important cultural location in Indonesia for a variety of reasons: politics, food, and music.
- Learn about Indonesia's national motto: Unity in Diversity
- Learn about languages within Indonesia, its 300 ethnic groups, and why Indonesian became its lingua franca overtime
To Accomplish:
I used two sources to accomplish my goals for the week. First, I finished unit four from Bahasa Indonesia Untuk Komunikasi International Tingkat A-1, sourced from Indonesia's Ministry of education and culture. In it, I worked on my oral, reading comprehension, listening, and writing skills in order to learn how to tell time in Indonesian. Next, I used Indonesian Grammar In Context to work on Indonesian grammar. I used this book to delve into the culture too as it has sections devoted to culture.
Finally, I met with my language learning partner for two hours to practice what I have learned this week.
Expressing preferences, talking to new people, asking for help in public.
Greeting each other, introducing myself, complementing peers.
We continued learning Korean particles "eun" ""neun" "i" "ga"by using them in different texts, and learned how to express our preferences. Here are some basic sentences and words that we use to express our preferences:
- jo a hae yo: I like it
- an jo a hae yo: I don't like it
- ne: yes
- aniyo: no
We need to notice that there is a distinguished difference from English when answering with "yes" and "no". In English, if somebody asks you"Don't you like coffee?" and you would answer "Yes, I do like coffee" or "No, I don't like coffee". However in Korean, it is the opposite. You would say "ne, an jo a hae yo" which is "Yes, I don't like coffee" or "aniyo, jo a hae yo", which is "No, I do like coffee". It seemed very confusing at the beginning, but after practicing them for several times with each other, I can now use these words in a correct order.
I watched a youtube video called "The Political Culture of Korean Pop Music and it's impact to the Philippine Culture". It talked about how the pop music industry in Korea has changed the post developmental society of Korea as well as Korea's relationship with other countries. It used the Philippines as an example that many Philippine girls and boys were so obsessed with Korean idols and dreamed to be a super star themselves. The Philippines is not the only country that is affected by the "Korean wave", as a matter of fact, Korean pop culture has become trendy in most Asian countries and even many countries in Europe and North America. More and more teenagers love to listen to Korean songs and watch Korean dramas, which as a result benefits the Korean economy in some respects. They tend to buy clothes and cosmetics from Korean brands and travel to cities in Korea. However, it is important for the government of Korea to control take good advantages of the"Korean wave" instead of letting the economy relies to much on the pop music industry.
Video link:
In these two weeks, we have learnt how to greeting each other, how to introduce friends, how to describe our habits and how to ask for help. We practiced speaking these dialogues with each other in class and Minkyung introduced new Korean words and characters in every class. In addition, we also started learning grammars such as particles 이 and 가 in sentences with 있다(To have/to be), and 를/을, which is attached to an object which verbs describe. Following is a list of Korean particles we have learnt:
Subject particles: 는/은 and 가/이
Object particles：를 and 을
Time particle：에
Location particle：에서
I felt more confident to speak and organize sentences after learning Korean grammars. Also, it helps me to differentiate verbs with nouns, plurals and singulars while reading the texts.
North and South Korea share a border, but there are many differences between the two countries. It is important to understand the specific culture and eco-political character of each country, I would like to compare the difference between North and South Korea political culture in this cultural post.
South Korea is a Republic, and as such operates under a system of government that allows for the election of a president. The president is elected through a popular vote system, and after election, will serve a five year term. South Korea also has a National Assembly, which is also selected by the public. They have a Supreme Court which heads up the independent judiciary system. Meanwhile, North Korea basically operates on a system of socialism, which is basically communism, especially compared to the capitalist country of South Korea.
Although the people of North and South Korea speak the same language, they have many different ideas and cultures that have developed after the two countries split apart. The market economy of South Korea has done a lot to improve the overall economy of the country. In contrast, the economy of North Korea has had many challenges, largely due to the self-reliant and closed economic system that they use. Overall, the government and economy of South Korea has been more prosperous and successful than North Korea. Much of this is due to the fact that in North Korea, they have a completely closed and centrally planned economic system which tends to inhibit their growth.
Reference:
This week we started learning Korean alphabet and Korean characters.We wrote down the English meanings for Korean words and practiced speaking to each other. After class, I watched the Korean Alphabet learning video on youtube and practiced writing Korean characters by using the book recommended by Minkyung. Through watching the video and practicing in class, I developed a better understanding of the structures(vowel+consonant, vowel+consonant+vowel ), which greatly helped me memorize the pronunciations of Korean characters as well.
Korean Alphabet learning video:
In regard of my first artifact, I think I did a better job in pronunciation and proficiency. I was quite bad at combing different words together and would stop several times in a sentence. But after practice, I now feel that I could speak more fluently with even more local tones.
This week, we learnt how to count and tell the time in Korean. We learnt the two different number systems in Korean and practiced by singing the number song. We also watched the Kiyomi Song video on youtube and performed to each other. After class, I tried to tell time in Korean to my Korean friends and practiced telling them "what do I do in different time of a day" in Korean. I would like to use these time and number knowledges in my future conversations with my Korean friends and focus on Korean writings and characters in the following classes.
Korean number song link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vvsGG_NgoQ
Kiyomi Song video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtAjjYwwopU
I have learned culture knowledge about Korean food, etiquette, festivals, as well as daily life, and I would like to explore some deeper topics such as Korean politics and public policies. Recently, the Korean president for the leak of official documents to a family associate involved in a growing corruption scandal. It made me feel that a country's culture can have a big impact on its politics and vice versa. I would also like to explore more about how the cultural difference between South and North Korean contributes to the difference in the political system. I am going to explore these topics by reading Korean news everyday and asking my language partner for more information. I hope that by learning more knowledge about Korean politics, I could develop a deeper understanding of the development of Korean history and its impact on the current political system.
