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This week, i basically had a general review for what i have done through out the semester to just make sure that i have learned them well and didnt forget anything already. I worked with my language partner through some questions that i had and some reviews such as prepositions. In addition, my language partner had sent some great videos for pronunciation which found them very helpful. I have listened to three short videos several times to get the great pronunciation and conversation. It was very helpful both for my listening and pronunciation. I really wish we had more Urdu resources in global studio such as short stories books and professional video lessons. :)
Prepositions%20And%20Their%20Usage%2B%20Sentences%2Bmore.m4a
This article is very interesting because it brings up many points: that our chatter words are like traffic, the word "huh" needs to be very short and it is the only universal word.
Chatter words are like traffic because within conversations there is a set of rules that everyone has agreed to follow. Within this set of rules is that someone answers a question if they asked one and they should respond quickly. There is not a lot of time between different people speaking; if you do not understand something it is important to respond rather than sit there quietly and try to figure it out. The shortness of the word "huh" is perfect for this: it is a quick response that does not interrupt the flow of the conversation while getting a point across. This sound tends to come from the throat and is made without much thought which is also important. And finally since the word is so short it doesn't make it seem like the other person is trying to say something but it prompts the first person speaking to either repeat themselves or elaborate on what they originally said. It is a universal word because it is a sound everyone can make but is still different from most words/sounds in every language, making it distinguishable and not confusing the first speaker that you are trying to say something.
This week I have done a lot of reviewing of terms and words that we did a long time ago in the beginning of the semester. This has been super helpful because it's serving as a refresher of the topics we covered a while ago and therefore are not as present in my memory. I was really excited at the end of our last practice session because Louise had Malory and I have a practice conversation in Swedish and I was very impressed by how easily we were able to converse. I would never have thought in the beginning of the semester that I'd know so much. Even the other day I was talking to my boyfriend about things I was cooking and was able to talk about everything in Swedish! Also, another cool "Swedish" moment that Malory and I had last week was when I need to ask her a very covert question (and there were other people around) so I was able to ask her in Swedish and get an answer without alerting the other people. From this experience, however, I did learn that it's important when you're speaking a non-dominant language among people who you think don't understand that you have to be really careful about what you're saying. You must use your bilingual abilities for good and not evil! You never know who is going to be around and might just understand what you're saying. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the exam and also spending the Christmas break with my boyfriend's family so I can practice all of this Swedish that I have been learning.
I found this article last week about a new phenomenon in Sweden that I think is very reflective of their egalitarian culture. Recently Sweden has decided that not only will their movies have ratings for things like language and nudity, but they will also be rated on a feminist scale. This means that movies that feature two women who are named, the two women must talk to each other at some point in the film, and they must talk to each other about something other than men. The films that do this successfully will have higher rankings than films that don't have named female characters or have female characters who only talk about their relationships with men. I think this is highly reflective of Swedish culture because they have a much more egalitarian society than we do in the United States and therefore they want their media influences to be fostering positive images of women and how women are to be perceived to audiences. Movies where only men dominate the screenplay or where women don't have interests outside of their relationships with men are not culturally ideal for Swedes and therefore will get lower rankings (and the idea is that the lower rankings will dissuade people from seeing the film). Below is the article that talks more about:
http://www.euractiv.com/culture/swedish-cinemas-introduce-femini-news-531648
I have included in one of the pages that I worked on where I had to talk about my I was sick with different illnesses and where I feel sick or hurt.
This article did not really come as a shock to me. If you really think about it, it makes sense that bilinguals would be smarter than monolinguals in a variety of ways. Their brain gets more of a work out switching from one language to the next and having to remember in which context which language is spoken. I think thats why there is such an emphasis on learning more than one language. Yes, there is that whole concept of globalization and learning how to communicate with different people. But by having another language your brain will work a whole new area that one language does not reach. I wonder if the more languages you learn the more intelligent you are likely to be? Or if at a certain point it can hinder your intelligence?
This week has gone by a lot better, in regards to Swedish. I realized a main problem I have is that I get so nervous and I second guess myself way to much. There are a lot of instances in which if I just calm down and think really hard I know the word. But my first reaction is to normally just assume I don't know it and look it up on google translator. We spent Monday reviewing our tests we took and preparing a little for the midterm. Wednesday we formed sentences of what clothes we had on, the color, and what part of the body they were on. At the start of Wednesdays class Louise had Molly and I have a five minute conversation using all the vocabulary we have accumulated thus far. It was nerve racking but Louise said she was pretty proud of all the stuff we know. Maybe it's just self criticism but I didn't think I did THAT well. Using flashcards and repeatedly writing out a word is still continuing to be one of the most effective ways I have been able to grap vocabulary. I think what I need to start doing is using more of them in context, so maybe having more text conversations with molly to help formulate sentences and learn new vocabulary from her responses.
I also read the article in the New York Times demonstrating that people who speak two languages are actually smarter than those who only speak one. From my own experiences I know that when you can speak more than one language it opens up possibilities for expressing yourself more clearly/more exactly and also for greater understanding of the world. I know that sometimes when I hear the Anderssons speaking Swedish they might jump to English every once in a while in order to capture a thought they couldn't in Swedish (much like you would say the English word for frustrated in Turkish in order to express that emotion). I also found it interesting in the article that bilingual people are actually quicker to solve mental problems and are less likely to develop Alzheimer's when they grow old. This makes sense because people who are bilingual are more likely to have to use more of the synapses in their brain when jumping from one language to the other. Also, I find it interesting that the article mentioned that traditionally in education people thought that knowing two or more languages would actually be detrimental to learning rather than make your kids smarter. Personally I wish I had started to learn another language earlier in the my life when it would have been easier to acquire. I would be very important to me for my kids to learn both languages but I do understand where those theorists were coming from because I once babysat a three year old whose family members spoke Dutch, English, and Arabic and he never knew in what language he was communicating and often couldn't figure out why I didn't understand his requests! However, I think it's obvious that this child is going to have a very enriching cultural home life and background that will likely make him "smarter" than the average person who only speaks one language.
Today I read the New York Times article about a Native American tribe that is actively working towards saving their dying language. A total of about five people currently speak Siletz Dee-ni and one of these speakers specifically has enlisted the help of the Living Tongues Institute in order to help him keep this language alive. He is creating an online dictionary that has a library of 10,000 audio entries so that non-speakers can learn the language on their own time. This article reminds me of the conversation we were having in class the other day and how we were commenting that having a language is so important to maintaining/creating a specific culture. For instance, the new state of Israel needed its own language if it was ever going to be successful. Likewise the speakers of Siletz Dee-ni are fearful that the last of their culture will be stamped out once no one else living can speak the language. This also reminds me of a movement I am pretty familiar with because of my Jewish background. Yiddish used to be a widely-spoken language in Eastern Europe that began to die out after the Holocaust. My grandparents do not speak fluent Yiddish but they both communicate a lot with Yiddish words that have been passed down from their parents. A rabbi from my hometown in the last few years has started a project similar to the Living Tongues Institute that focuses on keeping Yiddish alive by preserving it in a dictionary. It is important to the Jewish people that Yiddish stay alive because it is a keepsake from before the Holocaust and because it defines the culture of Eastern Europe prior to World War I. This is why it reminds me a lot of the Native American language preservation and I truly do believe that preserving their language will enable the culture to thrive long after those five speakers are gone.
Knowing the history of Hebrew is helping me learn the language in a few ways. The first way being that it makes me feel proud of my people and motivates me to learn the language. Hebrew is the only language to be revived from the dead and come back strong; it has also helped create the state of Israel and a home for the Jewish people. Having a language is very important to having a strong country and culture. The second reason why this knowledge is helping me learn Hebrew is because I understand its origins better and can now understand why certain things within the language are the way they are. Right now Yiddish is dying out and some of the words are used in colloquial Hebrew which is important to be able to understand. Hebrew is a language that is always fighting for its place in the world and it is essential to keep it growing strong.
Power Point Presentation: The History of the Hebrew Language
Last week we were talking about Swedish culture in terms of eating habits and general manners/etiquette. When I am with the Anderssons I notice that they hold their knives with their right hands and eat with their fork in their left hands whereas I, as an American, tend to cut with my right hand and then put down my knife and then pick up my fork in my right hand to eat. Also, when I drink wine with the Anderssons I notice that they all hold their wine glasses from the stem while I tend to choke the glass with my whole palm. My language partner was telling me the other day that it is a tradition that stems from the vikings that you cannot eat with your other hand in your lap because the vikings took that as a sign that you could be holding a knife in the other hand and attack your fellow eater during a meal. Although obviously I am not going to attack my Swedish friends, they still value that you not hold your hand in your lap while you eat. I am confident, however, that the Anderssons are impressed enough by me (and contrary to popular belief Americans might eat differently but we still don't eat like dogs) that they might notice that I hold my wine glass differently but that they won't judge me for it.
Here is an interesting article about manners in Sweden:
http://www.etiquettescholar.com/dining_etiquette/table-etiquette/europe-w_table_manners/swedish.html
Although some of these pointers seem to be unique to Sweden or Scandanavia, I think for the most part they are basic etiquette tips that apply to any country. For instance it just makes good sense that at a business lunch you would wait for your hosting party to bring up business before jumping right in, lest you seem rude as a guest. Also, the basic table manners like passing to the left or keeping the salt and pepper together as a pair seems to make good sense too.
This past week was challenging for me because we are getting to the point where we know so many words that it's hard to remember them all! We had a quiz this past Wednesday and although I did well I felt like there were so many combinations of words that Louise used on the quiz that I wasn't familiar with. That said, at the same time she purporsefully put trick words on the quiz that she thought we would be able to guess intruitively. For instance, the word "visp" was on the quiz and I knew that it was probably just "whisp". There are also many different ways to say different kinds of beef/meat in Swedish (just like in English) so I thought it was challenging when she put "oxkött" on the quiz (meaning beef meat as opposed to a different kind of meat) when the word she had taught us for beef was "nött". But, I guess now I know two different ways to identify cow meat! We also went through last week all different parts of the body and words for different clothing items. Again, this was just a lot of information to process but I think with some flash cards and thinking rationally about the cognates and using the words in context I will be able to commit them to memory. Overall I'm proud of how far we have come as we approach the end of the semester.
Tribe revives language on verge of extinction.
The story of a language that was recognized as dead by the United States and that survived due to the creation of a dictionary is extraordinary. From the article can be addressed several key points. The first is that one should not underestimate the power of words. Words represent the bricks that construct the immensity of a language, and to a further extent, to a culture. The tribe mentioned in the article could be mainly identified by the use of their own language which distinguished themselves from any other tribes. In other words, language constitutes an important part of their identity.
The second important point of the article, to me, is that writing is crucial and fundamental to the survival of a culture. What we know from the culture of our ancestors thousands of years ago mainly come from the manuscripts, papyrus and texts of the time. Because writings can be spread and learned more easily than oral words, that can be easily distorted, a larger amount of people can get to know more about a culture by reading its writing. That is what exactly happened to the tribes that decided to put part of what identified themselves on a piece of paper that could be shared with the world
Something from the reading that really resonated with me is this: language - the means for communication among members of a culture - is the most visible and available expression of that culture.
This reinforces why learning a language coincides with learning about the culture. It is so important to not only understand words and grammar to communicate in another language but to also know the dynamics of that culture. Something we discussed in class at the beginning of the semester was that one sentence can have many different meanings depending on its context and intonation. If you do not understand the cultural norms and societal values you can completely miss the meaning or a statement or offend someone without meaning to and the list goes on.
Israelis, for example, are very straight forward and aggressive (from our American point of view). It is very easy to mistake the meaning of what they say because it is not "PC" and may make others feel uncomfortable. Having realistic expectations for people is very important in relationships and even simple conversations; so knowing that an israeli person is going to be blunt and honest is a good thing to know and expect.
The "Tribes" article was very interesting. It shows the importance of having one motivated and dedicated language learner, and how just this can change a language's course of history, in terms of going extinct or not going extinct. In this article, Mr. Lane saves the language from just a handful of speakers by basically creating his own dictionary, which he spreads far enough around that now the language has been "resurrected" and has a healthy following. I think how languages ebb and flow is fascinating. Yiddish, for example, has all but died. Part of this is because most of the people that spoke it perished in the Holocaust. When I was in Poland, we met with a group of people who are trying to bring it back. However, this is difficult to do without a written use for the language, a place where it is spoken and a context and which it is spoken. This article on Mr. Lane and the Siletz people do show that this can be done though - all it takes is one person in the right community and a language can be resurrected. In terms of Yiddish, however, I think the community is too big to ever be influenced by just one speaker.
This week, I learned about the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and how their military works. It is really interesting to think about how the very same principles that have created a draft in Israel have led to a lack of draft in the US. In Israel, their "necessity" for military service is why they have a draft. They need people to serve and for that reason, they have one. But people like to serve - they like the army, support the army and do not have moral opposition to it (for the most part). They understand that their their territory is threatened and they feel a deep need to defend it. I think that this is so fascinating. In the US, we also feel that our borders are threatened - but maybe not in the same way. And, we think that it violates our personal liberties to have a draft. In Israel, I guess less is threatened so they are not as concerned about their personal liberties - they do not have room to be. I don't know. In a political manner, this is just really making me think. It is fascinating to me that some countries can create a draft and some don't. Additionally, in many ways, Israel and the US are the same. They are both very Western (the US really is and Israel is "Westernized"), and these cultures create similar thoughts about issues - usually. However, based on geography and military threat, Israel and the US have developed very different opinions on the military and the draft. Just something to think about. I like this stuff.
This article was a very interesting one to me. It spoke of how this tribe's language went from being declared dead by the United States to a federally recognized status due to a dictionary that was created. I have a lot of doubts from time to time learning Swedish. It isn't like Spanish where it makes sense to learn to because there are a lot of countries who speak it and it is becoming prevalent in the business world as well. There are only a select group of people (the swedes) and then some various other Scandinavians who can actually speak the language. So logically it may not be the smartest move for me to learn Swedish, but I like it. I like it a lot. I think thats what the article was talking about a bit. That although learning those tribal languages many not be the most efficient practice, there are people with passion who want to learn. And through making a dictionary and making it accessible to people, it went from 5 speakers left of the language to 4900 enrolled members. I think globalization is the best and the worst thing for languages. The best because it allows a teenaged girl who goes to school in Richmond to learn Swedish and be able to use it in a variety of contexts. But it is also the worst because it would logically make more sense for that girl to take a spanish or Chinese to be able to adopt quicker, to a globalizing world.
