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In prior weeks, I learned the Turkish numbers and how to talk about jobs (mainly questions and job vocabulary), but I did not write about it. But in weeks 8-12 I learned about the weather, seasons, and days of the week, how to talk about age, and the grammar construction for "there is/are" (ex: Is this a pen? What is this?), and a set of adjectives. 

The second to last week of our meetings, Arzu showed me a Turkish song, "Anlıyorsun Değil Mi?" and printed out lyrics to it for me to fill in certain words while we listened to it. We listened to two versions of the song which I will include below. But I absolutely loved this exercise because it incorporated grammar, listening, and writing skills! Grammar because one of the concepts we learned early "değil mi" was in it. Değil mi- mi is used to phrase questions and değil means "isn't" a negation word. I learned how to use "değil" to say if there isn't something and "mi" to phrase questions about whether or not there is class. 

We did a lot of role playing to practice the concepts, as we always do. Arzu gave me printouts to fill out and match as well. I actually had a hard time applying concepts I learned for "there is/isn't" and "this is/isn't" because the concept is different in Turkish than it is in English, especially in negating them. There are different words to use for nouns and adjectives In Turkish, unlike in English where we use "not" for everything.

English/For example: Q: Is there class class tomorrow? A: No, there isn't class tomorrow. 

                                    Q: Is this a pen?                            A: No, this isn't a pen. 

Turkish/Example: (There isn't) Q: Yarın sınıf var mı? A: Hayır, yok.

                              (This isn't)     Q: Bu kalem mi?          A: Hayır, bu kalem değil.

As you can see from the examples, there are two different negations used to answer the questions. The reason why there are two is because there isn't 'is' in Turkish. That always throws me off because I'm thinking in 'is' structure because of English. Again, like most things, exposure and practice will help me overcome making mistakes over this. 

The days of the week were easy to memorize. Arzu gave me a chart to fill out in which I would have to ask questions such as "Is there math on Wednesday?" and she would answer using the grammar construction I just talked about. We alternated roles and filled out the chart through prying for answers. It was a great exercise for me because it was repetitive and visual. We did the same thing for the weather- when we learned about temperature in our next class there was a chart where we asked each other questions to get to the information we needed. 

Arzu and I decided we were not going to get into verbs until next semester because she said they were complicated and may be confusing. However, I found this resource and will bookmark it for future use because it has a handy looking chart for conjugating and I'm confident it will be helpful for visuals.

Despite not learning adjectives, she did teach me how make non verbial sentences.

EXAMPLE:

She is a beautiful girl = O güzel bir kız (third person does not take any suffixes)

I am a beautiful girl = Sen güzel bir kızsın

*The personal pronoun takes to the noun of the sentence in suffix form

We can also see the vowel harmony in the word "girl" where 'ı' takes 'ı' in the suffix. 

These are the suffixes:

I = im

You = sin

You (formal) = siniz

He/she/it = no suffix attached 

We = iz

They = no suffix attached 

Since most of the activities that we do is verbal and minimal writing, this is/was a hard to retain. I am able to memorize it and know it well for a period of time, but as I don't practice it enough on my own, I forget it. I'm a tactile learner as well as visual, so writing helps me retain a lot of what I learn. I rewrote new words at some points to practice, but I wasn't consistent about it. Ideally, I'd take new vocabulary and write it out with the pronoun suffixes and the concept would stick. This is something I need to be better about and can do to review my Turkish over winter break. 

Resources:

VERB CONJUGATION:

http://learnturkish.pgeorgalas.gr/ConjugationSetEn.asp

GRAMMAR INTRODUCTION:

General overview of Turkish grammar that I've learned (sentence order, suffixes) and haven't learned (verbs). 

http://www.turkishclass.com/turkish_lesson_1

BASIC TURKISH VOCABULARY AND PHRASES:

Great composition of the basic phrases in introductions, greetings, and vocabulary that I've learned. I love how it is charted (going with the visual half of my learning).

http://ielanguages.com/turkish.html

            This has been one of the most interesting language-learning experiences I have ever had. I learned Spanish, Portuguese, and a little bit of French entirely in a classroom, but learning ASL was so different, because most of my learning came from interacting with others who spoke the language. I learned a lot of things on my own, but the things that stuck the most were the words, phrases, and cultural ideas that I learned from my language partner and other people in the community who know ASL.

            The hardest part of ASL is the grammar. It is common to see people speaking English and signing at the same time, but that’s actually very difficult to do, because English grammar and ASL grammar are different. Most likely, those people are not speaking correct ASL and are instead signing English Sign Language, which is similar, but is not really a language.

            I have enjoyed every aspect of this experience. ASL is an amazing language and I am still fascinated by how there are so many people who can communicate effectively using only their hands and facial expressions. One thing I really enjoyed was watching the Culture Shock video. I didn’t relate to it as much, because I don’t actually need to leave the country in order to be surrounded by deaf culture, but it definitely made me think about the differences between hearing and deaf culture.

            I am taking SDLC 111 next semester, so I can continuing learning ASL. I have really enjoyed this past semester and I want to continue my learning while I am still in college. I really want to focus more on grammar and making complete sentences, which is something I still struggle with sometimes.  

            I would actually love to learn more about the sign languages in different countries, not because I think it would be particularly useful, but because I’m curious. A friend of mine who knows ASL was recently watching a video about Australian Sign Language and she was astounded because, unlike American Sign Language, they sign the alphabet using both hands. She said the letters often look more like the English letters, but she thought it would be harder to use both hands instead of just one. I would be interested in learning about more of the differences between the different sign languages that are spoken around the world.

            I think I achieved my goals fairly well. I wish I knew more religious vocabulary, but that is not something that is used in everyday conversations, so that will be harder to pick up. I think, however, that I have done well with being able to have simple conversations. I struggle a little with watching people fingerspell, especially if they move quickly, but I am progressively getting better. Learning to talk about music was easier than expected, because many of the signs are the same (ex: music, sing, and song are all the same sign), but I haven’t actually found anyone to talk to about music yet.

I really enjoyed attending church in ASL, but there were always many signs that I just had not learned yet. I was normally able to figure out the basic meaning of what was being talked about, but I had trouble with specifics. My language partner normally sat next to me and whispered to me what was being said.

Trying to guess the signs for things was interesting. A lot of things are easy to guess, like some foods, body parts, things like vacuuming or writing, but others I did not understand at all or I had to think really hard to come up with the sign. I like the way my language partner made me guess, instead of just telling me the sign. It was definitely harder, but because I worked so hard to come with it, it was also easier to remember. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my experience this semester learning American Sign Language and I cannot wait to continue learning next semester. 

I can greet people

I can say farewell

I can introduce myself

I can talk about my family

I can ask someone’s identity

I can answer simple questions about my identity.

I can count

10 Reasons Why I Love Turkish Cuisine:

1. Turkey can produce enough food to sustain its people (one out of seven countries in the world that can do this!)

2. Yogurt is a staple to complement dishes.

3. Dolma. This rice-and-meat-stuffed vegetables dish reminds me of stuffed kusa (squash) from Jordan, but tastes so much yummier. 

4. Rice, wheat, vegetables are staples for Turkish cuisine. My favorite things in food.

5. Among the seasons often used are dill, mint, parsley, cinnamon, garlic, cumin, and sumac. I don't even like dill, parsley, and cinnamon in dishes, but there's something about the way Turks cook.

6. Eggplant, zucchini, beans, artichokes, and cabbage are the most common vegetables to eat.

7. Simit is like a soft sesame pretzel sold on the streets. I could eat them forever.

8. Kebap- grilled meat which is similar to shish kebob. The meat is skewered in between vegetables and onions and flavored perfectly. 

9. Turkish coffee. For coffee lovers, it is definitely something to experience. While the grounds are very thick, part of the experience in drinking the coffee is telling your fortune with the dregs. In order to do that, you put a small plate on top of the coffee cup and flip the entire thing over so that the plate is flat and the coffee cup upside on it. You wait until the cup is cold and then you interpret the globby remnants! 

10. Baklava- paired with Turkish coffee or tea, not too sweet, not too less, textured...this is the icing on the cake for Turkish cuisine. 

Unlike most cuisines, Turkish cuisine did not happen as an accident. It was the product of its geographical environment, social atmosphere, and thriving empire that indulged in all things lavish- including perfecting recipes for the royal palace. Its cross-roads location between Europe and Asia allowed for an effective spice trade as well as receiving influences from both ends, amalgamating in what is Turkish cuisine today. 

References:

http://www.turkishculture.org/culinary-arts/cuisine/turkish-food-302.htm?type=1

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Spain-to-Zimbabwe-Cumulative-Index/Turkey.html

http://www.weekendnotes.com/interesting-facts-turkey/

National Holiday: Seollal

What is Seollal?

Seollal is the Lunar New Year and it is one of the most celebrated national holidays in Korea. It is more than a holiday for the Korean people. It is a time to pay respect to ancestors, catching up with distant family members and travelling to hometown to get together with family. Traditionally hanbok is worn during Seollal. The holiday is spent performing ancestral rites, playing folk games, eating traditional food and telling stories. Seoul becomes a quiet city during this holiday. Many shops and restaurants close but the amusement parks and national parks stay open and host various events and traditional games for families. The departmental stores and major shopping districts stay closed for two days for this holiday.

The day before Seollal

Very much like Chuseok, celebrating Seollal requires a lot of preparations. This holiday involves exchanging gifts, travelling and a feast. As a result, there are usually a lot of things to purchase on the days before the holiday so the department stores and markets are very crowded before Seollal. Popular gift items for parents include ginseng, honey, health products and massage chairs. Gifts for others could be toiletries and gift baskets of fruits, traditional sweets, or fish. The feast is usually prepared with different wild herbs, meat, fish and fruits. All the ingredients are chosen carefully according to the quality of their shape, color and freshness. Since people travel back to their hometowns, travel arrangements need to be made ahead of time as their is a mad rush for bus, train and plane tickets. There is also heavy traffic at that time. 

On the day of Seollal

The day of Seollal starts with ancestral rites. The ritual table is set up with an ancestral tablet and food according to the laws of the ancestral rites. Family members greet their ancestors with deep bows, proceed with the offerings, pray and bid farewell to the spirits. The goal of the ritual is to show respect and gratitude to the ancestors and pray for the family's well-being. After the rite, everyone eats the ritual food together. The principal dish of Seollal is tteokguk. This is a traditional soup made with sliced rice cakes, beef, egg, vegetables and other ingredients. Next, the younger generations pay respect to the elders with deep bows and present them with gifts. The elders offer their blessings and often give the younger family members sebaetdon (New Year's money) as Seollal gift. The rest of the day is spent playing traditional games like yutnori (a board game). Other games played in parks are jegi-chagi (footbag game), neol-twiggi (see-saw) and tuho (arrow toss). 

I love learning about the history of languages and which languages have influenced one another because it adds so much more context to language learning. In the case of Turkish, I know that Turkish has a lot of Arabic words imported into the language, and that Hindi has taken a lot of Turkish words. One day while I was studying pronouns, it occurred to me that Bengali and Turkish have the same pronouns to refer to he/she, 'o'. I was really surprised by it as it was an unexpected discovery. Moreover, both Bengali and Turkish don't have gender. These similarities piqued my interest furthermore; unfortuntely when I did research to see the correlation, I could not find anything. I will keep searching, however! 

Turkish dates back 5,500-8,500 years. It is in the Turkic language family and spoken in parts of Asia and Europe (Such as in Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Bosnia). It also belongs to the Ural-Altaic family of the Altaic branch and is closely related to Mongolian, Korean, and potentially Japanese. This language family has the following features in common: vowel harmony, lack of gender, agglutination, adjectives preceding nouns, and verbs placed at the end of sentences.

With the influence of Islam, the Kara-Khanid Khanate and Sejluk Turks took a lot of Persian and Arabic loanwords for their administrative language. Not only that, but this extended to Turkish literature, especially in the Ottoman period. Historically, the official language of Turkish in this period (1299-1922) is called "Ottoman Turkish" (mixture of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic). This was similar to the language of prestige because it was unintelligible to the average Turk who spoke "rough Turkish" or kaba Türkçe as they say in Turkish. Rough Turkish is closest to the modern Turkish spoken today. Ottoman Turkish changed with the establishment of Turkey under Ataturk and the Turkish Language Association in 1932. The association sought to replace the aforementioned Arabic and Persian loanwords and purify Turkish by beginning a language reform. In doing this, many "new" words were derived from Turkic roots, but when an equivalent could not be found, Old Turkish unused for centuries were utilized. 

As a result of this change, there was a shift in older and younger generations' vocabulary. Generations born before the 1940s continued speaking in Ottoman Turkish while the younger generations used the updated/purified modern Turkish. 

Fun fact: In 1927, Ataturk's speech to the new Parliament needed to be "translated" to later generations a total of three different periods (1963, 1986, and 1995) because his Ottoman Turkish was so archaic to the listeners.

Source: http://www.turkishculture.org/literature/language-124.htm

LYRICS.docx

Since my tentative plan is go to Ankara, I wanted to do a culture post talking about Ankara! Unlike popular belief, Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey, but rather Ankara. It's an easy mistake I made in the past- and why not? Istanbul is a central point because of its geographical location between the East and the West, is a splendid city, and the largest city in Turkey- it could certainly be the capital. Ankara holds a lot of history spanning from the Hittites, Greeks, and Romans to Byzantines and Ottomans.

Climate: Similar to the northeast U.S. in its hot summers, cold snowy winters, rainy in the spring and autumn. 

Tourist attractions: 

• Anitkabir: Location of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of Turkey's mausoleum.
• Temple of Augustus (Augustus Tapinagi): Built in 25 BC, has inscriptions of Augustus on the walls. Has other attractions nearby such as Julian's Column (Jülyanüs Sütunu).
• Kocatepe Mosque: Fully completed in 1987 despite having a lot of halts, can hold up to 100,000 worshippers. Many view it as prime Islamic architecture because of its neo-classic Ottoman style. 
• Ankara Kalesi: a stategically placed citadel. 

Population: 4.588 million

Geographical location: Central Anatolia, northwestern part of Turkey, south of Black Sea.

Ankara is second to Istanbul in almost everything- size, industrial manufactering, and tourism. The service and tourism industries are expected to grow. In terms of manufacturing, the production of wine, beer, floud, sugar, macaroni, biscuits, milk, cement, mosaic paving, construction materials, and tractors are entrenched in the city. Since it is the capital, government is the city's central. 

Fun fact: Ankara was formerly called Angora! Ex: Angora wool, Angora cat, etc comes from Ankara.

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In one of the previous tutoring sessions with Suyeon, we read the lyrics of a Korean song, discussed the meanings of new worlds, talked about the sentence structures and different endings used. It helped my vocabulary and showed my how to use different words in context. As a result, we decided to look at the lyrics of another song. This time I chose a song whose lyrics were much simpler and which used words that I was more familiar with. Before meeting Suyeon, I looked at the lyrics and translated it to English by myself. I did not use internet for the words that I did not know but instead I derived the meaning based on the context. It turned out that there were only a few things that I was not able to translate. After I showed my translation to Suyeon she only found one or two mistakes in the translation. Moreover, after she explained the meaning of the parts I could not translate, it turned that I knew them but could not figure it out as I was reading them incorrectly. This really helped boost my confidence in my knowledge of Korean language. Next we decided to watch the music video of the song and describe the actions in the video. This activity helped me identify my weaknesses. As I tried to described actions in complete sentences I discovered that my vocabulary of nouns is very lacking. Since my vocabulary is built based on watching Korean TV shows, dramas and songs, I know a lot of expressions used in daily life. I am also good at having conversations and understanding what others are saying. However, I still lack the skills to describe things, talk about cause and consequences, explaining something and expanding on my opinions. These are the things I would like to focus on when I take SDLC 113.

A learning activity I would create for someone learning Korean involves both listening and reading. This would require knowledge of an adequate repertoire of Korean words and knowing how to read. I would record someone reading a text or record a conversation about a topic. I would insert blank spaces for missing words in the text or transcript of the conversation and give it to the person doing the task and provide choices for each black in the form of multiple choice. The objective of the activity will be to listen to the recording and complete the text or transcript by choosing the correct answer from the options provided. This activity will basically test the listening and reading skills. However, it can be adapted to test grammar, vocabulary, spelling among other things by having verbs, endings of words, adjectives or nouns as missing words.   

The tutoring sessions with my language partner helped improve my listening and speaking skills a lot. Therefore, we decided to practice writing in Korean. I wrote a small paragraph about my sister in Korean by myself at first. Writing the paragraph helped me review and apply most of the rules of grammar that I had learnt so far. I had to remember the basic Korean sentence structure which is 'subject + object + verb'. I had to use the proper endings like 'neun', 'eun', 'leul' and 'eul' based on whether the word is the subject or object. I also used past and present tenses, and the vocabulary I have learnt so far. There were also some words which I only knew how to say but did not know the spelling. However, I still wrote the text without any help. After Suyeon read it, she said that I had spelled the words phonetically. I had group the syllables to form words the way I pronounce them. She did not simply tell me the correct spellings but she pronounced the words in a way that helped me deduce the spellings. Also, as she was saying the words I realized that I had been pronouncing the words slightly differently which led me to use the wrong consonants and vowels in some cases. Overall, this task has helped me learn the spelling of some common words that I use frequently, review the grammar and the alphabet. It also made me realize that I should spend more time reading Korean besides listening to it. I realized that it is one way to know the spelling of words besides rote memorization. Moreover, I will also remember them better that way.     

We learned how to say “hello”-“안녕하세요 annyeonghaseo” and “good bye annyeong” as the beginning of teaching. I also taught her how to make a brief self-introduction and something about shopping, because she wants to travel in Korea one day. Except language learning, we talked a lot about the cultural aspects, such as individualism and collectivism, Korean movies, Korean hip-pop culture and Korean economy. Teaching language to someone is different experience that I never experienced before. I need to figure out how to make my pronunciation correctly. This teaching activity is really effective, because now I can have a small conversation with my roommates about shopping and greeting.  

I can introduce myself (name, age, nationality,grade,major)

I can ask someone’s identity (name,age,grade hometown,major)

I can answer questions about my identity.

I can greet people

I can say farewell

I can count one to ten

I can order foods (at least 10 Korean food vocabularies)

I can talk about my family members.

I can list some school majors and some jobs.

At first, I tried to use as many as resources for Korean language such as Mango, BYKI. With the help of language partner, I picked these two primary resources for learning Korean language.

https://www.zkorean.com/english-korean-dictionary

This is a free online English to Korean and Korean to English dictionary service. It helps me find word definitions and its usage in Korean and English. I can look up Korean words and phrases by simply typing them into the websites. However, this website only offers audio and romanization to premium member exclusively.

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=phrases

 This website brings useful phrases and vocabulary to help travelers learn to communicate in Korean. It teaches me basic and useful conversations in stores, hotels and airport. It is definitely a good resource for travelers. But for general language learner, it lacks varieties on topics. For example, I want to learn some school related stuffs or cosmetics-related conversations which is not available on this website.

My language partner used to meet up every week. We used to set an agenda before every meeting of ours. This agenda was aimed towards inching me closer towards the goals that I had described in my learning plan. We started off with something very simple which was names of numbers, days and months. We then moved on to advanced concepts such as sentence structure. Sometimes, the weekly agendas were decided by language partner based on how I was performing. We used to cover areas that I found difficult more throughly are more often. 

I used in sit in on Skype conversations of my language partner to track how I was doing. At the begging of the semester, I did not understand any of the conversations. However, as I gained more knowledge, the conversations started to become clear. Given that I had made much progress, I also practiced speaking the language but I would put my language partner to tears every single time.

culturalproject-ceciliasun.pptx