Blogs

Goal of the week: to make sentences that focuses on greeting and the home (to get myself prepared for the beginners examination)

This week my language partners and I met twice. This will be the last time we meet this semester. I am sad about that but I am looking forward to seeing them again in January for Gujarati part II.  This week focused mostly on making sentences and talking about gender differences in Indian/Gujarati culture. We talked about the differences between males and females in Gujarati culture as well as male privilege. I felt this was necessary because so of the patriarchal society that Gujarat has. It definitely follows Gujarati families even into the UK and the USA or wherever some families decide to move. This inspired me to do further research on Eastern cultures and the ways in which women are treated differently. There are definitely some similarities within the cultures but also unique differences.

As for my sentence structures for this week, I made a dialogue. I feel like I'm progressing in this language:

Aakash: namaste priyaben. avo beso: Hello Pooja, Welcome, please take a seat

Priya: namaste aakashbhai, o ho! tamaru ghar saras che: Namaste prachi. Wow, your house is beautiful.

Aakash: ha bajuma rasodu che. upar pan be ordo chhe: The kitchen is next door. There are two rooms above.

Priya: vah

Aakash: A gal bag che ane pachhal. tya shakbhaji uge chhe: There is a garden in the

Priya: saras. tamari jaga saras che:How nice! Your place is beautiful.

Final%20Presentation.pdf

My final presentation on 4 festivals that play a major role in the state of Gujarat. Click the small comments tab within the PDF to see my comments throughout the presentation! Enjoy!

Artifact%204sm.pdf

Enjoy!

Shir and I met once this week, because of exams and scheduling conflicts.  However, we are making it up together at our Shakshoukah party that is happening on November 30.   We planned the entire party in Hebrew and planned what foods we were going to buy for the party.   It was great.  Also, we spoke to Sharon about getting some books in Hebrew that go over various concepts.   These books will be easy to read and comprehend, but also challenging and will be a good source of beginning reading. 

This week Shir and I met and we wrote down more vocabulary and we reviewed the concept of Time and Birthdays.   We spoke about what we did that past weekend and what we are going to do the next weekend.  Additionally, we finished reading the first page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!! :) :) 

I found this article also very interesting.  I had read a similar article in High School for Spanish Class.   However, I think what was most interesting was the fact that bilingual speakers have lower levels of Dementia and Brain deterioration than Monolingual speakers.   I am working on my third language, I wonder what that means for me?

A great point that was brought up was that bilinguals are more aware of their surroundings and thus are able to be more aware of multiple cultural contexts.  When you are learning a language you have to become culturally aware of the language and you begin to perceive the subtleties within the culture so you can understand people better.   I used to not like learning another language, but all of the evidence shows that learning other languages is very beneficial not only for global context, but also mentally.  

I found this NY Times article very interesting.  There are so many languages out there and it is sad to think that some of those languages, cultures, and histories will be lost forever because we will not be able to bring them back.  This was a very inspirational article knowing that atleast a few languages have been saved from extinction.   Hebrew was once a semi-dead language.  We know how it is spoken, but it was never spoken in daily language because it was lost with the destruction of the Second Temple in the early First Century.   So when Hebrew became modernized in the 1960's it was considered to be revived from the dead.  I also have recently interviewed a friend of mine from the Former Soviet Union and she spoke to me during the Interview about how when she was younger she used to speak "Juli" (A mixed language of Russian, Arabic and Hebrew) with her family.   But now she doesn't remember much and she tries to get her mother to speak to her only in Juli to make sure she doesn't forget the language.   Going back to the article, I think it is great that the high School has now allowed the language of Siletz to be a recognized language to study.  It is a great opportunity for the students.  

I believe that this video, its themes, and the topics that were raised by both students and professionals will help me when I go and study abroad in Israel.  Although Israel is Modern Country and many Israeli speak English, I know that I will undergo a "culture shock" when I go there.  One of the main points of the video was to know that you are not alone.  I think that this is a great point to emphasize, because if international students feel alone then they will probably begin to feel alone and become depressed.  This is a cycle down and is quite the opposite of what the meaning of Study Abroad is meant for.  

  Another excellent thing that I really enjoyed about the video was all of the "firsts" that are so integrated into my daily life that I do not give them a second thought.   Additionally, I thought the study method differences of the academics was also a great point made because study methods around the countries are different.  For instance, my International friends this semester had a very hard time adjusting to the concept of homework and assignments being due weekly.  For me, this is quite natural, because I have had homework due all the time.  

One of the great tips I thought was provided by one of the students was to keep busy, getting a job to meet new people and not dwell on what you miss from home, and also plan your travels and goals while being abroad. International Adviser, Kritika Onsanit followed up on this concept with recommending getting active within clubs and organizations that are offered by the University.

Finally, I feel like this would be a great video to watch prior to a study abroad trip, because students need to be prepared for their world to be shaken when they go abroad.

The reading for this week was on Cultural Competence and the importance of understanding culture.   I think it is very important to understand various cultures, especially when you are going to be interacting with it.   For example, when I went to Peru for a Medical Missions Trip, we spent weeks talking about the cultural of the people and political climate of the country.  Many things come into play when talking about culture and trying to understand it.  However, some cultures are far removed from our American culture that we can hardly try to fathom, understand, or appreciate such a different culture without an open mind and spending time immersed in that culture with someone to guide you through the culture. As long as you leave behind all of your preconceived notions and go into a new culture with a clean slate, I think that you will be fine going into a new culture as long as you can follow those around you.  However, if you reserve your preconceived notions such as Genital Mutilation (as mentioned in the paper), and try to tell the people to stop then you are impending a culture of its cultural significance and tradition.  

Goal of the week: to learn vocabulary associated with the weather and the environment

Similar to last week, this week my language partners and I met to simple "talk about the weather". Although it is mainly warm in India with a rainy season, I felt it was necessary to learn all aspects of weather than the language can provide since the Gujarati diaspora has created communities of Gujarati people all over the world (including cold places)

Here are just a few of the words that I learned...

suriya

prakash: sunlight

aakash: sky

buhraav

pavan

vava johdv: storm

veejahri 

vadar nu gurgurat: thunder

vursathe

Culture and Language

There are many ways in which the phenomena of language and culture are intimately related. Both phenomena are unique to humans and have therefore been the subject of a great deal of anthropological, and sociological study.

H.D Brown in his book “principle of Language Learning” writes that sociocultural factors such as stereotyping, attitudes, second culture acquisitions, social distance, culture in classroom, and language thoughts, and culture are the important parts of learning new language. He also writes that Social factors may affect a language, depending on a person’s status in society. For example if you are poor and cannot afford an education or you were raised to believe schooling wasn't important or you grew up in a rural area where proper grammar wasn't encouraged, your way of speaking might be different or not as eloquent as opposed to someone of higher standing.

I think that there are many ways in which culture really does determine language, or at least certain facets thereof. For example, in different languages we notice that you cannot find a specific word, just because that word is not simply a part of that culture. In Afghanistan for example, there is no word for “dating” because there is nothing like “dating” in this culture. And therefore, people do not know what to call this word. Or the new generation that now know what this means to them they use the English name for it. In the same vein, there is no word for “depression” in Farsi just because people are not in this situation ever, they are either sad or happy and there is nothing like “depression”.

Another part, which I think is really interesting in language and culture, is the word restrictions. Our culture does, sometimes, restrict what we can think about efficiently in our own language. For example, some languages have only three-color terms equivalent to black, white, and red; a native speaker of this language would have a difficult time expressing the concept of "purple" efficiently.  

Linguistic differences are also often seen as the mark of another culture, and they very commonly create disagreement among neighboring peoples or even among different groups of the same nation For many people, language is not just the medium of culture but also is a part of culture. It is quite common for new language learners to a new country to retain their old customs and to speak their first language amongst fellow language speakers, even if all present are comfortable in their new language. This occurs because the native speakers are eager to preserve their own heritage, which includes not only customs and traditions but also language.  

Over all, I believe that culture and language have a very strong relationship. As second language learners we have to be careful about some common errors and generalization that people make about a new culture and new language.  As Brown concludes that “It appears possible to talk about anything in any language provided the speaker is willing to use some degree of circumlocution, every natural language provides both a language for talking about every other language, that is a metalanguage and an entirely adequate apparatus for making any kinds of observations that need to be made about the world”

Goal for the Week:
Do what I feel like.
Result:
Watched about 45 videos of the “Angry Serbian” on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/itsabrainhumor
Reexamined why I am learning Bosnian and my plans for it.
Method:
This last week, I was tired, slightly burnt out, and decided to take the week off. While I met with my language partner, we were mostly making light-hearted banter. I found the Angry Serbian videos absolutely hilarious for a while. Every culture has its stereotypes, some accurately characterize a large part of the group’s population, and some do not. In any case, I think there were some funny, and true observations made by the youtube author based on my interactions with the people of the Balkans. The guy is a Serbian in his early twenties. He lives in Canada and makes videos that mock typical Serbian habits or mannerisms. What I found most striking was the videos describing interactions with American culture. Some of the most pervasive themes included American ignorance (cultural, geographical, lingual, historical), American exceptionalism, American attitudes about Serbia, and typical Serbian behavior (guys, girls, parents, dress, dating culture, values). The guy mocks Americans for things like mistaking Serbia for Siberia, spending excessive money on Halloween, their conceptions of Serbians post-Bosnian War, and Americans’ seeming inability to learn or empathize with other cultures. He mocks Serbians for their predictable dress, swearing, views on women, etc…
This video, along with my interactions with my language partner, was how American and Serbian culture seems to clash head on with particular disdain from the Serb side. Bosnian Serbs cannot stand Americans’ sense of superiority. This stands out because other cultures I interact with do not share the intensity of disgust. My guess is that Serbia, being a particularly nationalistic and exceptionally proud country itself, is insulted at America’s attitude to them. How could anyone not know where Serbia is? How could anyone not recognize us as great world nation? WE ARE SERBIA (disgusted spit to the side and fist pump). Any how, this is just my personal observation/guess.
I ran into an educational existential crisis earlier in the week. Thoughts of “what if I don’t get the Fulbright” entered into my head. These thoughts always enter at the most opportune times! In a stroke of good luck however, I ended up skyping my uncle in Malaysia for the first time in 7 to 8 years. When I told him that I was hoping to go to Bosnia next year, he said that Malaysians and Bosnians have excellent relations! During the war, Malaysia, a Muslim state, welcomed Bosniaks into the country. Malaysian universities in fact, are quite accommodating to Bosnian students, students who wish to learn Bosnian, and people who could speak fluent English! Plan B!

Week 12:

I am planning to work on my final presentation which is the concept of dowry and weddings in Pakistan. Also want to try talking about weather and asking questions with my language partner.

Week 13:

in this week I am planning to review all the short sentences that I have learned so far. Also would like to find an urdu speaking student and try to talk to him/her just to test my abilities in Urdu language speaking.

Week 14:

In this week I am planning to finish up everything that is due in this class, do a final review with my language partner and reflect on others culture presentations from SDLP 105.

For Week 9:

I learned numbers from 100-1000, pronunciation and writing them, make short sentences and used the numbers. Also learned about the calender and telling the date in Urdu.

Week !0:

We talked about different types of food, since I already learned how to order food in previous weeks so it was easier for me to talk about food. My language partner and I both talked about traditional foods in our home countries and the importance of food in any event.

Week 11:

In this week, I tried to read the short poems and understand the meaning, as my goal was to read and understand short poems, and  I guess I have fulfilled this goal by now.

“Why Bilinguals Are Smarter”

NY Times writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is convinced that learning to be bilingual increases cognitive capabilities, making an individual “smarter.” Holding two languages at once evidently forces the brain to continually “resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.” More specifically, Bhattacharjee reports that these muscles included the ability to ignore distractions, focus, switching attention from one thing to another, memory, and conscientiousness and adaptation to new environments.

I think this is an interesting concept. It harks back to the challenges we’ve talked about as an international student. As someone new to a culture, one learns the necessity to suppress certain expressions and adopt new ones. Naturally, I am sure that the muscles the author describes are certainly at work. These muscles seem essential to one’s ability to survive in a foreign environment, let alone thrive.

I’m curious as to what we would consider a different language or cultural context. In other words, to what extent is exposure to the culture shock experience beneficial? One might argue for instance, that initiation into a professional environment is an introduction into a completely different cultural context than one is used to. True, one can convey direction, commands, or other objective, factual information. The English might be the same, but the various mannerisms, cultural cues, rituals, and meanings might be so different, that you might as well be speaking a different language. How about in interpersonal communications? How about a college party environment, versus an academic gathering, or a club? I think one could argue that the language that one should speak in these different places to have a fun time is very different. What in other words, is the exact benefit of taking the effort to become “bilingual” in the popular sense? To go to one country or the other? Is it exclusively a matter of degree of foreignness? That one has to be extra alert in a foreign country? What is the difference between the bilingual experience and learning how to be a professional ballroom dancer, princess, or Catholic as a monolingual immersed in the respective culture?

Cultural Project

For the cultural project, I am interested in perceptions of American and Bosnian relations today. I aim to understand these perceptions through an analysis of three different narratives of the Bosnian War: Serb, Croat, and Bosniak. Knowledge of these three different narratives I hope, will allow me to better understand how and why the United States holds various reputations among the three different groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The four questions that will guide my analysis are as follows:

1. What happened?
2. How was it resolved?
3. Why was the resolution effective or ineffective?
4. What was the United States’ role in the conflict?

To answer these questions, I will consult three sources. First, I plan to interview three Bosnians from three different ethnic groups for this project: a Bosniak, a Serbian, and a Croat. Using university students as source material may not be the most factual or reliable in terms of historical accuracy, but they are helpful in my efforts to identify popular conceptions and assumptions of Bosnians’ own history. After all, it is too commonly these uninterrogated assumptions that define our prejudices and emotional ties to certain events or people.  Second, I will consult an academic source titled The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention by Steven L. Burg and Paul S. Shoup. This will provide a rigorous and professional account of both the war in Bosnia and the role of America. Third, I will refer back to the Youtube videos and movies that I’ve seen. Cultural output is useful and fun means to glean insights into a society’s account of historical events.

Ultimately, the goal of this project is to further my understanding of the three different realities that exist in Bosnia Herzegovina. By the end of this project, I hope to be able to identify similarities and differences between them. As I plan to travel and potentially conduct federally-funded research in Bosnia, I am also interested in understanding where the United States fits into these narratives.

I finally learned prepositions! I have attached sentences that I created using Dari prepositions

.Artifact 4

I consider knowing other languages a “blessing in disguise” (Why Bilinguals are Smarter). As a person who know multiple languages, I gave this article a lot of thought and access how my mind treats the languages I know. For the most part, I think in English. However, there are certain words that I don’t know the names for in English. In these cases, my mind automatically thinks of Gujarati. When my mind switches, it automatically starts to think in that same language for a while. Then it switches to the language that I use on a regular basis.

Overall, this article provided me with a lot of insight. However, I do wish that they had expanded how the brain is impacted by multiple languages? I know more than two languages and I would like to know more about how exactly my mind processes the information it receives. I believe that there is certainly a cutoff point after which knowing more languages won’t make you smarter and “smarter”. 

I strongly believe that it is absolutely crucial to preserve languages.

I found the story of this language revival extremely interesting. However, this article did leave me with some questions. What is the practical use of this language? If no one can actually “speak” the language, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a language? It is great that a record and a dictionary are kept of this language but what about the culture that comes with the language? How will that be preserved? Can a culture be really “preserved”? 

The culture shock video reminded me of my transition to America.

I came to the US in 2005 when I was 11 years old. I entered school in seventh grade. As a foreign student I was able to relate to the experiences of the exchange students in the video. I distinctly remember not being able understand English at first. I went to an English medium school in India but the English I learned din school was so much different than the English spoken in America.

After the language barrier came the solitude. I moved to the US with my immediate family and yet I had a hard time with living in a completely different environment. I wanted to interact with others but I simply could not. I didn’t know their language properly neither did I know their culture. I came from a culture that was polychornic and collective. This was much different than the American culture. I did not get used to the American culture till after spending almost five years in the States. Even today, there are times when I feel extremely uncomfortable in some surroundings because I don’t know the American culture!