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Goal of the week: conjugate new verbs

Since I have mastered new verbs, I wanted to learn to conjugate some and begin to use them in  conversation with a Gujarati friend of mine (who is not my language partner) on campus. My language partners and I met twice this week to go over conjugations. I included pictures because they have been such a large part of my learning experience. Whenever I make notecards, I have a picture on one side, and the conjugated verbs on the other. That is how I learn the language. Much like children learn a language directly from associated images of their environment around them as toddlers. I don't want to get bogged down in English-Gujarati translation so this is the most efficient method for me.

to get up - uthwanu

• hu uthwu chu (I get up, wake up)
• thu uthwe che (you get up)
• thume utwoh cho (you formal get up)
• te uthwe che (he/she gets up)
• apne uthye chiye (we get up)

to walk- chalwanu

• hu chalu chu (I walk)
• thu chale che (you walk)
• thume chalo cho (you formal walk)
• te chale che (he/she walks)
• apne chalye chiye (we walk)

to talk- bolwanu

• hu bolu chu (I talk)
• thu bole che (you talk)
• thume bolo cho (you formal talk)
• te bole che (he/she talks)
• apne bolye chiye (we talk)

to cry- rudhwanu

• hu chalu chu (I cry)
• thu chale che (you cry)
• thume chalo cho (you formal cry)
• te chale che (he/she cry)
• apne chalye chiye (we cry)

to read- vaachwanu

• hu vaachu chu (I read)
• thu vache che (you read)
• thume vacho cho (you formal read)
• te vache che (he/she read)
• apne vachye chiye (we read)

At 17:20, Mandy states that American students tend to think that international students don't want to communicate with locals. She believes that American typically fail to understand how international students feel having to adjust to an entirely new culture.

I think this is true. It is easy to underestimate the impact of all those adjustments on the emotional and psychological experience of international students. In my language-learning efforts, I have had a small taste. Expressing oneself in one's native language is hard enough. To have difficult expressing oneself in another language on more basic levels is a formidable challenge to the cross cultural experience. There can be a sense of inferiority, intellectually, to those you're talking to. It really helps to have understanding natives who understand what a foreigner goes through.

On the flip side, the bashing of the native culture and clinging to the familiar (often times in "gangs") is a habit of international students that can make it difficult to build meaningful connections. It's difficult for Americans to befriend or reach out to an international student who isn't willing to risk vulnerability, to make a genuine effort to help the other side understand them. It's certainly not easy to put oneself out there, especially in a foreign environment. But if an international student has a genuine desire to build close relationships, I think this is a must.

Copy of the "Verb Midterm" below:

Midterm: Bosnian

Part 1: Conjugate the following verbs in present, past, and future (Verbal):

1. Razumjeti
2. Piti
3. Vjezbati
4. Jesti
5. Znati

Part 2: Translate the following (Verbal):

1. He studies
2. We could
3. They will write
4. I walked
5. She knows
6. You get
7. You (pl.) lost
8. We understand
9. They will ask
10. You (pl.) loved
11. I ate
12. She is
13. We run
14. He will feel
15. I worked
16. You talked
17. They will love

Part 3: Fill in the blank:

1. Ja_____________(played) fudbal.
2. Nikola i Ana _________(will run) sutra.
3. Jovan ___________________(talks) glasno.
4. Marko I ja ______________(walk).
5. Vi ________________(ate) piletinu.

I found Halliday’s seven types of communication to be useful to my understanding of “communicative competence,” not only in a foreign language, but one’s own native language (223-224). Some of these categories represent skills that any communicator might want to incorporate into their repertoire. For instance, people of all ages might only be well-versed in instrumental and regulatory functions of language. Sadly, I’ve met plenty of these sorts of people. Some people only have the ability to communicate in a way that allows them to try to “manipulate” their environment to make things happen, or express “regulatory” statements that show approval or disapproval. In school, I think we learn to use the “representational” function of communication. That is, we learn to explain and describe knowledge. These are the basic three communicative functions I think most individuals graduating from a university will leave with.

The last four types I think are really helpful for enriching any cultural experience. The first is called interactional function. This is described as the ability to joke and understand folklore, cultural expectation and mores. This sounds a lot like cultural awareness. I think SDLAP this semester has really opened my eyes to the intricacies of Bosnian and American culture. After having to pay close attention to such things in a foreign culture, one becomes much more aware and even creative in the expression of certain idiosyncrasies in one’s own culture. The second is called the “personal” function of communication. It is the skill to express feelings, emotions, and gut-level reactions. It is very interesting to compare the ways in which certain emotions are expressed in different cultures. Similar to the interactional function, one can find studying another culture very helpful in one’s own methods of communicating feelings and gut level reactions. Again, the imaginative function capacity, which incorporates fairy tales, jokes, stories, and other creative work, is really enhanced by knowledge of another culture and language. All of these provide one with more tools in their own cultural tool box, in addition to bringing American phrases into the foreign domain. The last function is called the heuristic function, which is described as the ability to acquire knowledge about one’s environment. It is the inner philosopher in everyone. Learning about another culture and the ways in which they contemplate fundamental questions of our existence is, obviously, incredibly helpful to framing and thinking about such questions in your native language.

Week 9

    Shir and I met this week at the Balkan restaurant on Patterson Avenue.  Because the waitress at the restaurant is our friend, we ordered our food in Hebrew and spoke Hebrew to her.   Shir and I talked about our week, what we did the past weekend and what we were eating.   At the restaurant we also talked about the various countries that make up the Balkans and how each country has their own version of the same food.  For instance, in Israel Bouyeka is a pastry, but Bouyeka for some countries in the Balkans is more similar to a calzone.  

Week 10

   Shir and I finally finalized a date for our Shakshouka party.  We are meeting on Nov. 30.  We met on Shir's birthday and I was able to sing to her Happy Birthday "Yom Holechet Sameach".  After we met we read some more Harry Potter.  We finished the first page of the book!  

Goal for the Week:

Review Vocabulary

Converse and Comprehension

Result:

Done

Film: Montevideo, God Bless You

Method:

I sent my language partner a long list of vocabulary words to review in preparation for next week’s vocabulary midterm in combination with verb conjugations in past, present, future tense. So she drilled me and asked me questions on vocabulary words. We also did an exercise where I was asked to think about a vocabulary word and describe it. It went slowly, and I wasn’t able to speak in complete sentences, but it was tremendously helpful. She would also think of a word, while I was expected to guess what the word was. I was stronger on listening/comprehension. We will continue this next week.

The movie was titled Montevideo, God Bless You, a Serbian film made in 2010 about the Yugoslavian national soccer team’s efforts to participate in the FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay in July 1930. It felt good to recognize and understand words here and there. There were also some very pervasive Serbian cultural themes: nostalgia, trust, honor, brotherhood, teamwork/unity, and national pride. They are reflective of struggles and hopes of the people.

Goal for the Week:

Recover

Experiment with the Croatian textbook.

Result:

Done

Two Chapters from the textbook.

Method:

I’ve found the first chapter of the elementary Croatian textbook to be a fantastic resource. It’s really helpful to be able to listen to native speakers talk about simple subjects, but at a very high speed. There is a sense, especially in the beginning, that you are struggling to keep up and end up falling out of the conversation. Familiarity with vocabulary is clearly only the first step. After working through the conversations, I did the exercises. These included English-Bosnian and Bosnian-English translations and fill in the blank present tense conjugation. It was basic, but really reinforced what I was learning. For instance, I knew the verb “govoriti” (to speak) well. I knew how to ask questions (Da li… or verb li…). But after listening and speaking the thing so many times it’s become more “automatic” in my head.

Goal for the Week:

Past, present, and future verb conjugation drill

Verb Midterm

Result:

Done

Method:

During the week, I practiced conjugating many different verbs. Sometimes, she would state a pronoun and infinitive verb, and I would conjugate it in a specific tense. Other times, I would be provided the verb, and then asked to conjugate it.

We had the verb midterm on Saturday, November 27. I got 105/110. Will post the midterm when she sends me an email copy.

Goal of the week: learn useful verbs

My aim this week was to become more familiar with verb that I can use in conversation. My language partners and I met twice this week to discus verbs and how I could use them in sentences.  These are some examples of what I worked on.

to get up - uthwanu
to drink - piwanu
to sleep - suwanu
to go - jawanu
to walk - chalwanu
to run - dhodwanu
to eat - khawanu
to see - jowanu
to study - vanchwanu
to speak - bolwanu
to cry - radwanu
work - kaam
to do work - kaam karwanu
to laugh - haswanu
to wash - dhowanu
to dry - sukovwanu
to throw - nakhwanu
to make - banawanu
to meet - malwanu

All of these verbs are useful in basic conversational Gujarati. I am eager to use these in conjuncture with other sentences I have mastered without the help of my language partners.  In addition to the   vocab that I am learning from Pooja and Prachi, I'll be able to converse for hours!

My learning plan for the semester is attached in the link below:

SDLC 111: Learning Plan--Pamir

While weeks one and two of the semester allowed me to review what I learned in SDLC 110 and catch up on some of the things I might have lost effectiveness in over the summer, I was excited to begin learning new material. Weeks three and four were split creating / structuring sentences and reading / listening comprehension, respectively. Mirwais (the FLTA for the course) used week three to gauge everyone's ability to read and write; given their prior experience coming into the course. One activity we did was practice writing sentences in Dari that Mirwais said in Dari. Building upon the meetings from week three, week four was spent on comprehension. As a result, we read--or at least attempted to--read sentences in Dari and then summarize (in Dari) what the sentences meant. To aid our language learning, and add a different perspective, Mirwais had us watch the pilot for a popular Afghan drama / soap-opera called  "Raaz Hai Een Khana;" which translates into "The Secrets of this House." The episode was just under ten minutes and Mirwais had tasked us with trying to listen intently to the show's dialogue and then (i) provide a brief synopsis of the episode and (ii) note any words we were not familiar with. I thought this was a great task since it not only was designed to improve our ability with the language, but also provided a level of exposure to Afghan culture since the "Raaz Hai Een Khana" is arguably the most popular show in Afghanistan.