Blogs

Some structural components of Korean that I will need to get familiar with are grammar and syntax. In any language, grammar and syntax is critical, and having that structure or foundation allows one to have a more fluent understanding of a certain language. Like English, Korean vocabularies can hold many different meanings depending on the context or syntax of the sentence. Although I may know what a particular word means, it might be expressed or utilized in a different manner when included in a sentence. As the article from last week (Crystal, D) mentions, syntax is about "the way sentences are constructed" while morphology is about "the way words are constructed." An identical word can mean different things, making it crucial to know the distinct understandings of syntax and morphology in Korean. When speaking or writing in Korean, I do have some sort of understanding of grammar and syntax because I go by a "feeling." While that gut feeling isn't the most reliable form of skill, it does lead me on the right track. To develop a more foundational and dependable understanding of Korean grammar and syntax, I believe that referring to grammar books online can help me with that. 

• Reflect on your language learning so far and the relationship between understanding the target culture and the target language.  What do you need to improve your communicative competence?

I have had quite an interesting learning experience so far. My country borders Turkey and my region and the city are very close to the border. I discovered so many Turkish words and expressions that are used in my dialect as well. Most of those are not part of the written Armenian language but are still used in my dialect. I tried to figure out whether those words and expressions are originally Armenian or Turkish and it was an interesting linguistic experience. 

I have also been reading about lots of Turkish cities, archeological sites, cultural habits, specific Turkish expressions etc. Understanding the culture has greatly helped me in understanding the language overall. I know the major cities in Turkey, I am familiar with some of the cultural differences between the East and the West. My language partner has helped me and my classmates in understanding the Turkish culture very well. 

I have started to do some auditory practice to make sure I am pronouncing the words I learn correctly. I also started to watch Turkish TV series with Russian subtitles. Each episode is more than 2 hours long and it helps me hear the sounds of the language, everyday conversations and expressions, etc. The TV series is also helping me see small cultural features of the country, some of which are the same with my own country.

My target language uses latin alphabet except for a few unique letters, so reading is very easy for me. I'm also able to pronounce all the sounds properly because of being familiar with those from other languages. 

In the assigned readings, I read about grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competences and understood the role of social contexts, grammatical aspects, sentence connections, sociocultural rules in forming an effective communication.I also learnt about organizational and pragmatic competences and read more about the role of strategic competence. I found the 7 functions of languages very interesting especially when it came to regulatory and heuristic functions.It was a little odd to read about the rules of the conversations, since I thought conversations just happen without the necessity of creating rules and structures. I also loved seeing small sections about proxemics and kinesics in the reading and I went to some additional reading materials and asked question to my language partner to learn more about these features in Turkey.

I believe my communication competence is in a good shape and that is because my target language and culture have similarities with my own culture, so we have a similar sense of kinesics, proxemics, etc. We share some of the same body language with the Turkish people, so I am familiar with those as well. I need to improve my use of morphology and syntax in order to understand the language better, however communication competence has always been something that I thought comes from within a person without a specific effort to succeed at it, so reading the material gave me a food for thought about the mentioned terms and concepts. 

Post your sources, the slides you used in your presentation (if any), and a summary of your presentation (written or spoken).

Link to presentation:

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/presentation/d/154FPJ0j7mCv6bD2to6DhkO6OmbTwlpAFpGnAc6qRskU/edit?usp=sharing

Sources:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/difference-between-language-dialect/424704/

http://www.importanceoflanguages.com/learn-korean/korean-dialects/different-korean-dialects/

http://www.101languages.net/korean/dialects.html

https://www.justlanded.com/english/South-Korea/South-Korea-Guide/Language/South-Korean-Language

Summary:

Just as in any language, Korean has several dialects. The difference between a language and a dialect is not clear, but the best way I can explain it is a dialect is a variation of a language that may slow down the efficiency of communication but does not fully hinder communication. A language, on the other hand, is a collection of dialects.

Although the Korean peninsula is mostly homogeneous, there are multiple dialects born from the isolation created by Korea’s mountainous terrain. The majority of Korean dialects are spoken rather than written. Variations in dialects can include vocabulary, intonation, and stress.

Among the various dialects, there is a one which is considered the lingual ‘stand.’ Because of the division between North and South Korea, there are two standards. The Seoul dialect is the standard for the south and Pyongyang is the standard for the north. In total, there are about 9 different dialects on Korean peninsula, and one on Jeju island (although some linguists categorize the Jeju dialect as its own language).  

My self-directed studies placed me within the context of the Korean language. As my studies progressed, I gained a greater consciousness of the subtilties of a language, like the existence of dialects in Korean. Finally, my studies have increased my ability to research and understand topics concerning language and linguistics. 

Post Final Reflection Paper 

Reflect on your learning experiences this semester.

(a) What insights have you gained about yourself as a language learner and cultural explorer?  What did you find difficult?  What have you enjoyed?  How will you continue your learning?

My way of thinking and perspectives on languages, especially the connection to cultural has changed drastically. Before coming in my focus was just learning the language. I was in a competition with myself to learn languages at the quickest rate possible without any regards to the culture. In fact I thought learning the culture of a language was irrelevant and a waste of time. However and I dig deeper into learning Hebrew, I realized that languages, especially Hebrew, have a lot of context which helps you learn the language quicker if you have even a bit of cultural context.

A simple example is "shalom", the word hello and goodbye. It also has the meanings of peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility. I have talked to a lot of native Hebrew speakers and many have told me that the meaning of shalom is not clear cut like the English word of hello and goodbye. Shalom has multi-dimensions. In other words shalom depending on the context (sometimes not even) can convey the 7 meanings listed above. Shalom will show up in many context with completely different meanings. Ma sh'lom'cha literal translation is “What is your peace?” and is the English equivalent of “How are you”, whereas means peace upon the person is commonly referred to a deceased person. In this context the peace and harmony is conveyed but the completeness and tranquility is also present in the phrase. So understanding the cultural background information aids in learning the language quick and more importantly correctly by knowing the right time and place for the language.  

I surprisingly enjoy finding the background knowledge about the topics that I am about to read. I see them as context clues that help understand the topic I am learning about in the big picture type. With the extra cultural context I am able to zoom out and have a bird eye view of the language because they smoothly connect together. I will continue my studies through the use of Mango and Duolingo even though I know that they are not the best resources out there to seriously learn a language. I find that as an accounting major student, Mango gives me enough encouragement to make me have small progresses while not overwhelming with too much to learn. All the topics presented in mango is relevant and things that I am able to use with everyday life. It covers all the context, language that I am interested in. It gives me the pronunciation, written, words, breaks up chunk by chunk and gives reviews at the end of each chapter. Hopefully I can also sign up for SDLC 110 to continue my language learning next semester. A language partner will be extremely useful and helpful in my process.

(b) Which readings and learning activities did you find most useful?  What would you like to learn more about?

I found that the linguistic analysis was useful but from time to time I found myself trying to find the semantics and pragmatics of the language to help me further understand the language. I like how we went back to the basics and asked yourself simple questions such as what is a word. I enjoyed learning about morphemes and finding the differences between morphemes and words. I also found that learning about the anatomy, physiology, and acoustics of the human vocal tract interesting. We learned about them in the beginning classes. Realizing that different positions of the tongue and lips make different sounds and is what changes one vowel sound and another. I get concerned about how my larynx is behaving and if it is the correct way to pronounce a certain sound or word in Hebrew. I wished we learnt more about children's language development. I found that topic interesting and oftentimes frustrating because we know that children especially toddlers are great at picking up languages unknowingly while adults dedicate countless of hours, energy, and money to learn a language and still struggle while the child can be comparable to a native in a same situation.  Overall, I enjoyed all the articles and topics we covered in class. They were interesting and relevant to the average college student struggling with learning languages. Thanks alot Dr. Soloway for a fun semester!

• Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language.   
• Trying to read Hebrew so far has been easier than writing. I can read Hebrew but I won't know what it means, especially in classical Hebrew, aided with nikkud, then reading Hebrew and pronouncing them out loud is easier than comprehensions them. I am able to recall hebrew vocabulary much easier when I see them. If I see the same words on Duolingo or Mango, then I am able to read and correctly pronounce them and know their definition and what the cause/senescence means but if I were to try to write it again by myself I won't be able to do it, even with bits and pieces as hints. I think the reason is because there are many similar sounds in the aleph-bets and I am not  at the point where I have a strong enough foundation to be able to tell which letter I use for this type of word. Another small reason is also because I don't practice enough the words. I can incorporate the words I used in my daily life much more but I only review and go over hebrew about twice a week. Frankly, sometimes that number goes down to one when I am swamp with other work. Lately I been keeping up with Hebrew/Israeli culture because of the holidays that are happening. Rosh Hasanah (Jewish Holiday) and Sukkot was some major holidays that just happened. I am more motivated to study Hebrew when I learn about the culture in addition to learning the langauge opposed to just learning about the language. 
• In class I tried teaching my classmate how to read a basic word, shalom,
  
• I think I have a good grasp of where to start for basic to teach someone hebrew. I told them that hebrew was read from right to left. There are 26 basic alphabet called alephbet and there are vowels called nikkud. It is easier for beginners to read with nikkuds showing because we do not know the rules of what or how to pronounce with different alephbet. we quickly went over the 26 alphabets then I walked them through on how 

  שלום

• New York Times:  Why Bilinguals are Smarter
• ScienceLine:  Are Bilinguals Really Smarter?
• My first thoughts without reading the article was that that bilinguals aren't "smarter" as in IQ or EQ but they are able to switch from one language to another easy, so they have the fluid cells allowing them to switch from one thing to another easily. It helps in other activities that uses the same cells such as music, learning other languages, art...etc. I personally speak 3 languages fluently, but then I don't think that I have the same type of fluency in the three languages. I definitely speak and read English better than Thai and Chinese. I feel like I can improve my English at a much faster rate than Thai or Chinese because my foundation in English is much stronger than my Thai and Chinese. I think my level of bilingualism went through both coordinate and compound bilingualism. Coordinate bilingualism is learning a language through school and at home. So my way was that I learnt English at school and a bit at home but what I learn most was Thai and Chinese but more Thai. Thai was more prevalent because Thai influences and culture was much more stronger. This way it would be compound bilingualism. 
• After reading the article, I assume I was on the right path. Being bilingual helps with the executive functions and aid with functions such as planning, problem solving and other mentally demanding tasks. Bilingualism allow people to minimize distractions as in focus less on them. The example they gave in the article was be able to remember words while driving. I think the reason why people who speak more than two languages are able to concentrate and learn better with less distractions is because they are always constantly filled with unnecessary words to aid in their everyday conversation. it became practice so when there are actually test, then people with two or more languages fare much better than people with just one language. 
• Compound Bilingualism: In Compound Bilingualism there is no such dividing line; the individual learns the languages in the same environment and context and they are often used concurrently or even interchangeably. Sometimes known as additive bilingualism, an example of this would be when a child is raised by bilingual parents and both languages are used in the home. In the individual’s mind, the languages are not separate and can be switched between at will, even while speaking. 
• Because the languages are not separate and can be switch at will so sometimes a con of bilingualism is that because you can switch between two or more languages so easily that you get confused and switch between languages when talking during the same phrases. Another cons of knowing two or more languages is that how you logically think about something may not be how others with only one language process it because it you are exposed to more "juices" more ways of thinking due to exposed culture and ways of thinking. However because bilingualism are exposed to more then when they are thinking in one languages sometimes (unhelpfully) the other language pops up when. 

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week we returned to numbers, but instead of learning the Sino-Korean system, we learned the Native-Korean system. The Native-Korean system is very irregular, so it was more difficult to learn because there was more memorization involved. Native and Sino-Korean numbers are used in different cases. For example, when telling the time, Native are used to tell the hour and Sino is used to tell the minute. Native is also used to tell a person’s age. To learn these numbers, I used a number chart and wrote the words several times to help reinforce them. I also used time in class to practice using these numbers in questions and conversation.

We also talked more about verb and adjective stems and how to conjugate a word from its stem. The conjugation attached to the stem depends on the type of vowel inside to the verb or adjective stem. Almost all of the stems act regularly except for a handful. The ones I have learned so far are common words, such as ‘to be,’ ‘to go,’ and ‘good.’ The conjugations are fairly straight forward but I’m still working on nailing down the basics. I will have to keep practicing saying and writing these conjugations.

Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. 

Each letter in the Korean alphabet is made of three basic strokes that can be reorganized into different configurations, so learning how to write most of the letters was simple; however, several Korean letters look the same as or similar to some characters in the Japanese writing systems. Although several letters looked the same as or a mirror image of a Japanese character, the letter’s reading is very different. Because I am so used to associating certain ‘signs’ with Japanese sounds, even now, I will sometimes misread or miswrite a Korean letter. These mistakes don’t happen as often now, but I still have to be careful.

Korean syllable blocks were something that I’ve never since before during my study of foreign languages. Rather than being written in a line, Korean words are broken up into syllable blocks which are made of 2-4 individual Korean letters. To read a word, you have to read each block right to left, top to bottom and then string that syllable to the next. At first, I had to work out the sound of each letter to read a block, but now I can read a block as a whole unit. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but overall, I know that my reading and writing skills have improved considerably since the beginning of the course. 

• How many new words have you learned in your target language?  How did you learn them?  Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary?
• I try to  learn about 10 vocabulary words a week but lately I been slacking off because I am not officially in the 110 SDLC class.  So far I have about 80 vocabulary words. I learned them through a list that gave me all the basic Hebrew words. They are organized through root words. All the words I know now have root words that begin with א (Alepf). א is the first letter of the alep-bet. I am not sure of their similarities beyond the א. It is difficult learning even basic words because each word has a different name depending on who's using it and who it's referring to. For example saying They have the pie.. The word "They" can be female or male and it depends on who they are. If they have all females then use the female version of they. That is pretty straightforward and it is the same for male. However if the group is a female majority but has even just one male then male version of "they" is used. So Hebrew is a romance language and tends to lean towards men when both gender are involved. 
• My goals for acquiring vocabulary is not really realistic right now. I just try to read what Duolingo has for me each day but I don't think it is an effective learning technique. I often forget the new vocabulary I learn after I move on to the next chapter. Also Duolingo does not do a good job in building a strong step by step foundation to learn a language. They words they introduce through the chapter are often unsystematic and do not relate in anyway. 
• A more realistic way of building vocabulary-personally- would be to have a language partner work with me by keeping track of my process and help connect them with other relevant words. Right now I am learning vocabulary that can not be used in a single conversation. The words I know are like 

  ad	a-ba	אבא
  watermelon	a-va-ti-akh	אבטיח
  Spring	a-viv	אביב
  but	a-val	אבל
  thumb	a-gu-dal	אגודל
  walnut	e-goz me-lekh	אגוז מלך
  pear	a-gas	אגס
  red	a-dom	אדום
  or

• As you can tell they are start with the same base letter but have no relevance in anyway beyond the א. I think this is not the most efficient and easy way of learning a langauage. So my 

• Respond to the reading, reflecting on what is lost when languages die.  (You might want to watch the interview with David Harrison posted to the front page of the Ning.) 
• Instinctively I would think what is lost is small specific things such as the accuracy of the lost language being pronounced if it is revived back again. It is incredible to think how there are only a handful of people who speak a language and they are trying to revive it back, however if some had some mispronunciations and was adamant that it was correct even if it isn't correct then even if people thought it was incorrect, they don't have a reference to debate over it. All the references are based on unofficial sources.
• Additionally, what is lost when a language dies is more about the exterior factors than the languages itself. As people evolve, move from one place to another and lose languages then parts or sometimes unfortunately all of the language's culture and history connected it changes or is lost. Languages is like a puzzle piece. It contains many local knowledge about secrets, wisdom, ecological problems, weather and climate problems, spiritual attitudes, artistic, and mythological histories. An example would be the Yiddish phrase of "Oy Vey"; is it directly translated as "oh dear" however those growing up with a strong jewish-yiddish culture can tell you that the"oh dear" translation does not convey the feelings and full meaning that varies from sad, hurt, to worried and aggravation. 
• When a tribe moves, dies out or gets conquered, then a new language is usually forced upon. The new language becomes the main language communicated in public and over time becomes the official language. When this happens then how we process and sees the world changes. Each language makes us think differently and hence process the world differently. If that language dies, then the thought process is eradicated. 
• • Respond to the reading, reflecting on what is lost when languages die.  (You might want to watch the interview with David Harrison posted to the front page of the Ning.)
  • When a language dies or comes close to dying, leaving only a handful speaking it, then many aspects of the language and culture is altered. Some examples is the writing, pronunciation, definition, grammar to name a few changes.
  • Writing, pronunciation,, definition, and grammar could be altered when reviving a language because the only handful of people who do know a limited knowledge of the language could be pronouncing, writing, using, defining the language in a biased and possibly incorrect way. 
  • Relating it back to Hebrew, Hebrew has gone through 4 stages of development: 1. Biblical (before 0 CE) 2. Rabbinic (~0-700 CE) 3. Medieval 4. Modern. Medieval Hebrew was a literary language and mostly differs from rabbinic Hebrew because of the adoption of new words from Greek and Arabic philosophy. 
  • So when reviving an old language, there might be new influences from modern cultural into the language, and hence why reviving the language will never be the same, or come close to the original language. 
  • Old hebrew and modern hebrew is a good example. In terms of writing, old hebrew and modern hebrew is fairly the same. Pronunciation, depending on who you ask is also the same or completely different. Modern hebrew does not care as much to differentiate the subtle sounds whereas old hebrew does. Grammar is also less strict and constricted. Old hebrew has vowels known as nikkud to guide readers whereas modern hebrew does not. Modern hebrew also does not have as many vowels or alphabets as old hebrew. Modern Hebrew employs the same grammatical system as old hebrew, but has a contemporary vocabulary.

State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I learned new vocabulary to describe the flavor of food. Youngmin introduced the lesson on food by bring in some ddeokbokki chips for us to try. They were very good. That aside, were learned words like salty, sweat, spicy, and the like, so now we can both name various foods and describe them as well. In addition to adding new vocabulary, we continued to practice describing the position of an object. I think that I’m getting used to describing position in Korean because I feel as though I can comprehend and explain an object’s position faster than I could the week before.

We did something different this week and we watched a Korean movie, Ode to my Father, with English subtitles. Youngmin chose this movie because it’s famous in Korean and it covers Korean history starting from the end of the Korean war and ending around modern day. The film was dramatic to the point of comical, which was a bit distracting from the movie’s actual content. The film followed the life of one man to represent how Koreans fit into historical, global events. For example, this character escapes to southern Korea before the DMZ was established, worked in the German coal mines, and was injured in Vietnam during the war. Practically, it seems impossible for one person to be at so many historical events during the course of their life, but if you view this character as a device to bring us to different historical events, this character’s miraculous life makes more sense. 

Religion is Brazil is very diverse in comparison to most South America countries. The main religion is Brazil is Christianity as it dominates 64.6% of the Brazilian population. Christianity was originally brought over by the Portuguese as there was a heavy migration from Portugal to Brazil in the past. However, the Portuguese also brought slaves over from Africa causing a mixture of cultures and religions in Brazil. The melting pot of cultures as created what is known as the Brazilian Roman Catholicism. This overarching term is mostly commonly characterized by Brazilian festivals such as the Rio Carnival. The Rio Carnival marks the beginning of Lent. Another religion that is found in Brazil is Protestantism. It is approximated that about 22.2% of the population is Protestant. The introduction of Protestantism was mostly due to American missionaries who arrived in the late 19th century. 

For this cultural post, I decided to explore the Korean culture on plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery is a major phenomena in Korea. Kids as young as 13 get plastic surgery and is seen as a simple procedure that everyone has. These simple procedures can include double eyelid surgery and nose lifting surgery. These surgeries are so common that some parents even offer these surgeries as graduation gifts. Because of this, cosmetic surgery is a major industry in South Korea and even sparked a cosmetic surgery tour to Korea because of the high level of Korean cosmetic surgeons. 

This obsession with beauty can be led back to multiple things like Kpop and just Korean culture. In Korean culture, many people are traditional. Korean girls need to get married and depend on their husbands. Although this is changing, the culture encourages girls to strive for beauty. The increase in popularity for KPOP does not help this increasing "problem." Kpop girls are often times idolized and this creates an unrealistic standard for other girls to strive. With these growing problems, cosmetic surgery will be a growing industry in South Korea. 

For my cultural post, I decided to focus on the scandal of Park Geun Hye and Choi soon-sil. 

The whole situation needs some background. Park Geun Hye was the South Korean president and she was the daughter of a past military leader of South Korea. She was elected as president and news broke out that Choi Soon Sil was heavily involved in potentially every presidential information and decision that Park made. Choi is the daughter of a leader of a cult and was accused of influencing the decisions of Park. The whole news started to break out when there was a protest against Choi's daughter. Choi's daughter was accepted into a prestigious university with poor grades. She also never showed up to class and still managed to receive a B+ average. This was outrageous to the public and because of this the news broke out. The whole situation seems to involve more people and even corporations like Samsung. Park ended up being the first South Korean president to be impeached and is currently detained and waiting for court. 

For these two weeks Joo and I have decided to learn about the history of Korea as well as some trendy vocabulary that is used in today's culture. 

For the history part, we talked about modern history about President Park Geun Hye and Choi Soon-Sil. This history lesson made me more interested in this topic and I have decided to do my Korean Culture project on that. I have learned the massive problem with corruption in Korean politics and how corporations are involved in politics when they should not be. This can be tied back to the movie we watched, Inside Men. This gave me more insight to what is going on in South Korea and it also gave me a talking point for conversations with my parents. Having more insight on problems like this allows me a topic to introduce my opinions on. 

The second part of the lessons for these weeks was trendy vocabulary that was used in South Korea. We started with basic ones that are pretty universally known. In english, the equivalents would be "LOL" and "WTH" (what the heck). Learning these words can help me understand casual writing and helps me to communicate with my parents more effectively over text. The way Joo taught us was to put the words in context and it helped me understand it. During these past few lessons, I started to realize how important context is when you learn a new language.

For these two weeks, we focused on Korean cinema. We talked a little bit about how it became well known around the world and the culture behind it. Then we delved into the culture by watching a recent movie that is very critically acclaimed in South Korea. The movie is Inside Men and it is about political corruption in Korea during a presidential election. During the movie, I was trying to see how people used the language in dialogue and how it was used in a conversational and formal way. During the movies, I asked my language partner about words that I did not understand and wrote them down. The movie took roughly 3 classes to complete and we had a discussion about the movie to debrief what happened. 

I believe that this is an effective study tool because it gives context to words instead of a list. This allows me to memorize the words better and understand the intricacies of how it is used. It also taught me about the Korean culture and how likely this movie was to happen. This led onto the story of the recent South Korean president and how it affected South Korea. Overall, I enjoyed this way of learning because it was entertaining and effective. 

• Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language.   

Reading in Korean was not too difficult for me. Due to the fact that Korean is a phonetic language, once you memorize the sounds of each character, it is relatively easy to read Korean. However, understanding what I am reading, and attempting to write is hard for me. There are so many different types of words to describe one thing: for example there are two ways to describe a relative: in honorific terms or in plain terms. Furthermore, the age and if a relative is an only child changes the word used to describe that relative. The sheer amount of words used for one subject is hard for me to grasp. Sometimes, I don’t know what words to use in a sentence because depending on what the sentence is about, all the words, subjects, and particles used can be changed. I have started using charts to organize the different words used in different situations and it has helped me organize my thoughts much more.

Writing is difficult because I have just touched the basics of Korean, and feel as though I do not have much exposure to Korean writings outside my textbook. For now, I can write words and sentences that I memorized, but my next goal is to be able to form sentences on my own. I believe I will be able to do this my exposing myself to more Korean writings outside of the textbook.

• Respond to the readings

In addition to the scientific information I read in the readings, I would like to add that bilingual people are not only smarter with their brains, but with their body language. Learning another language is a cognitive exercise and a cultural exercise. It is an act of using more brain power and taking time to learn the history, customs, how the people of another language talk and think. I believe it expands people’s willingness to be part of foreign cultures, and makes them want to travel, see more of the world, and talk to others who speak their foreign language. I am a proud trilingual who loves learning travel and exploring new foods and customs. Learning different languages pushes me to travel and see the world. There are endless benefits of speaking more than one language, and I am glad this knowledge is becoming common knowledge. Furthermore, I don’t feel as though knowing more languages has hindered my ability to speak English at all. It has actually enhanced my understanding of English grammar and structure. I only learned what “participles” and “conjugations” were when I started learning Spanish grammar. I would say that I don’t have trouble with mixing my languages, though at times I find that there is a specific word in either English, Bengali, or Spanish that I want to use to describe something but I can’t seem to find the equivalent of the word in the other two languages. This aspect can be hard, but it is always interesting to realize that the same words don’t exist in all languages.

-I decided to gather a list of trendy vocabulary and phrases used in Korea today. These words and sayings are popular among teens and young adults so I thought it would be helpful to learn these new trends to keep up with what’s current in South Korea.

-Some examples of these trendy vocabulary words consist of words that are abbreviated. In America, there are a lot of abbreviations but those are only used in writing or texting, not in personal conversations. In Korea, these abbreviated words are used in writing, texting, and speaking. For instance, the Korean word for “part-time job” is 아르바이트 (pronounced ah-reuh-bah-eeh-teuh) but it is abbreviated to 알바 (alh-bah). Basically, barely anyone uses the full word. Often times, when I use full words that are usually abbreviated, people correct me with the abbreviated word. Learning these words will definitely prevent any breaks or pauses during conversations in Korean.

-I want to utilize what I’ve learned in texting my parents and friends that I made when I studied abroad in South Korea. There are so many of these trendy words that I will be able to learn a new phrase or vocabulary every day. I will always be on the lookout for these new words.