When you know a language’s history you will be able to understand where some of the words roots come from and how they have stemmed from other languages. Even though Korean is described as a language isolate, there are many words that are similar to words in Chinese and Japanese. Since Korea has an extensive history with China and Japan, it would make sense that words in Korean have stemmed from these languages. If someone has some history with Chinese or Japanese it may be easier to learn Korean because of the similarities. Many Korean words are also borrowed from English so it may be easier to understand some Korean words if you understand English.
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I always enjoy hearing about culture shock because it is so interesting to see the striking differences between cultures when traveling. When I went to South Korea, I did not experience any immediate culture shock since I was already aware of Korean culture. A few things that surprised me was the amount of things you can get for free there. If you go shopping in a makeup and skincare road-shop they will give you handfuls and handfuls of free samples. If you shop in a convenience a grocery store, so many items will be marked as 1+1 or 1+2 or 2+1 meaning buy one get one free, buy one get two free and buy two get one free. In America it is not that easy to find many things with sales like this but in Korea it would be strange to not see these sales.
I found all of the presentations very interesting. Although I knew about most of the topics being discussed in the Korean presentations like the drinking culture and mukbang, it was still interesting to see how others interpreted them. I particularly liked learning about the Turkish coffee and the spread of the Basque language since these are things I am unfamiliar with. What I found the most interesting was probably the differences in the Basque language. Even though it is such a small country, there are many dialects that are not mutually intelligible. The history with Spanish Basque and French Basque was also very exciting to learn about.
Something I need to know and remember about the structure of Korean is the syntax order. Korean is a subject-object-verb language so I need to know how to fit multiple objects and verbs into one sentence using this structure. I can acquire this knowledge by looking up sample sentences online or exploring sources in the ning. A reference grammar may be useful in some cases but not all the time because many native speakers don’t follow grammar rules specifically. It would be useful to get my thoughts across, but I may sound too stiff when speaking since I would be abiding by the grammar too closely.
Linguistic aspects of the Korean language consist mostly of tone of voice and body language involved while speaking. Koreans show politeness with their tone of voice such as raising their voice in a sing-song manner when speaking to customers, are talking in a light, soft tone with multiple inflictions at the end of sentences. Koreans also often have slow, graceful hand motions when speaking to customers and showing them products. When showing politeness, especially in commercial settings, the linguistic aspects of Korean is usually rather pleasant and soothing.
When we analyze what determines meanings it could help language learning by helping us understand context and formations of words and phrases. We’ll be able to use context clues to understand a word that we don’t know in a sentence. If we are able to make sense of a sentence as a whole, figuring out the meaning of the words and grammar within it will become much easier.
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I am able to identify different types of Korean food by their Korean names. In addition, I am able to hold a conversation during the meal and ask for more food. Below are some of the Korean food that I can identify and name. Below also is the conversation I can hold during a meal.
- Kimchi(김치)
- Samgyeopsal (삼겹살)
- Pork Bulgogi (Bulgogi 불고기)
- Korean Barbecue (Gogigui 고기구이)
- Hangover Stew (Haejangguk 해장국)
- Soft Tofu Stew (Sundubu Jjigae 순두부찌게)
- Mixed Seafood Stew
- Kimchi Stew (Kimchi Jjigae 김치찌개)
A: Jal-meok-ge-sseum-ni-da
B: Ne. ma-ni deu-se-yo
(Yes) (A lot) (Help yourself)
A: Ma-si-sseo-yo
B: Gam-sa-ham-ni-da
A: Jal meo-guh-sseum-ni-da
B: Ne? Beol-sseo da meo-geo-sseo-yo
(Yes?) (Already) (All) (Eaten)
A: Ne, deo ju-se-yo
(Yes) (Give me more)
- Third Cultural Post: Cultural Topic of Your Choice
Like many Asian countries, students always receive extra tutoring outside of school. However, it is especially necessary and now a basic requirement for students in Korea. They would go these after school tutoring center known as hagwons. It has become such an issue that authorities have enforced a curfew and enforcing violations. Children would also enroll in several different Hagwons for different subjects. Hagwons would be a new hangout place for students after school. Hagwons are used for preparation for college entrance exams. For instance, in Taiwan many of us went to prep school for SAT outside of school because at school there is no curriculum specializing in SAT prep.
I find it a lot easier to read the Korean language compared to writing and speaking. If I had to rank these three skills in terms of difficulty level it would be:
1) Reading
2) Speaking
3) Writing
Writing is the most difficult skill for me to master. This is because of spelling—although I may know how to say a word and what it means, it is hard for me to find the characters that match the sound of the word. I can easily recognize the word when I see it, but writing it requires an active participation (as opposed to passive participation of reading) and thus requires more work.
I find speaking to be moderately difficult- if someone asks me a question, I can respond well by pulling out key words and reflecting them back. However, I find it more difficult to speak first. Sometimes, it is hard to express my ideas completely, and I feel I am better at answering questions as opposed to asking spontaneous ones.
With reading, even if I do not find some words familiar, I can use context clues (ie words I do recognize) to guess what the other words mean. Sometimes, I read a word and repeat it out loud, recognizing that I have seen it somewhere before, and test my memory to see if I am correct. Then, I check to see if I am right using my English/Korean dictionary.
Many people argue that bilingualism can make you smarter, because it improves some cognitive skills that are not related to languages and also may improve against dementia. This article was interesting to read, because it contained a lot of descriptive statistics, citing research studies that have looked at this phenomenon. However, I think this argument is a very broad claim. What does it mean to be smart? People who are bilingual are smarter in what, exactly? The New York Times article cites a lot of studies that have done puzzles on participants, but there are many factors that can influence these results. How was the sampling done? The 2009 study led by Kovac claims that the babies who were raised on two languages where quicker to anticipate the appearance of the puppet. But, it is possible that there are other (extraneous) variables and influenced this reaction from the baby, and not language. As a student who has taken many statistics and social science research courses, I have become weary of articles that make broad claims!
In the beginning of my language-learning journey, I made flash cards and regularly tested myself with them. The best way to learn vocabulary is to match the word with a picture to work both the left and right side of the brain. I would create sample sentences with the vocabulary word, so that instead of merely remember the sound of the word and it’s corresponding meaning in English, I would be more likely to remember it in context. For example, one of the words I had trouble learning at first was the word for library (dosogwan). By pairing it with the word study (gonbu-hada) I remembered both of them.
What helps to remember vocabulary is not whether or not you make flashcards, but rather your exposure to the language. I can estimate that I know at least 300 vocabulary words.
In the future, my goal is to continue making flashcards (I have stopped due to a number of reasons and because of this, I have stagnated in my progress) and sample sentences. I hope to learn 100 more words this winter break.
The New York Times article about the verge of extinction of a Native American language called Siletz Dee-ni reminded me of my own tribal language that is spoken by my parents. Languages die when the speakers of the language are very few, and when there is no written record of the language. It is much more common for oral languages to die permanently, because there is no proof that it once existed. For this reason the Siletz tribe, like many other tribes with oral languages, is trying to create a dictionary to preserve it. When a language is only spoken by a handful of people (or even more than a handful) and is not seen as useful, it easy for it to get lost generation after generation. This is especially common in children who have immigrant parents. If the language is not spoken at home, it will most likely not be part of their vocabulary and as the family line continues, the language will no longer be a part of the norm.
The culture shock video demonstrated the feelings of international students when they come to study in America. For a lot of international students, university is their first exposure to American culture, and a lot of times it is their first time stepping foot in the United States. I feel as though I can relate to a lot of how they feel. Being a third culture kid, I often have to ask myself where I fit in. My parents were born and raised in Ethiopia, but I consider myself more of an American than I am an Ethiopian. In this case, the “third culture” is the gap between the two different worlds that I am thrusted in- I find it hard to figure out where I really belong, and to meld the two cultures and norms together.
I have personally experienced culture shock when I went to Ethiopia. Even my parents, who have immigrated to America only 20 years ago, are still faced with culture shock when they go back to where they were raised. They ask themselves how they were ever raised in these conditions, and are in awe. I expect to face some culture shock when I go abroad to South Korea next semester. Living in a homogenous country is going to be a lot different than what I am used to.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Zzl_pF3kCXK0SB-suTi9ZdkPYECFhZ6i7HQyo7yA13g/edit#slide=id.p
Over the course of the semester, I learned a lot about myself. I had thought that keeping myself on track and following my self-set schedule would be a lot easier than it actually turned out to be. I also thought that I would have a much harder time learning from Amaia than I would learning by myself, but the opposite turned out to be true. I surprised myself to learn how much the learning process differed from other language classes that I've taken, not necessarily for the better. That said, I did actually learn a lot about the language, and I'm proud to be able to say that I even speak a little bit of Basque. Even though keeping myself on-task has been pretty hard, I've had a wonderful time learning from Amaia, about the culture and the language. I'm hoping to continue my learning through the Aurrera workbook and Memrise, and I hope that some of my favorite language learning sites like Duolingo will be able to help teach me Basque soon as well. Personally, of all of the readings that we did, I found "Figuring Foreigners Out" to be the most useful, because it helped me to understand the Basque language from a cultural perspective, and although I'm already pretty familiar with Basque culture, in made sense in comparison to that of the U.S. As for learning activities, I really liked doing the cultural presentations. It felt good for me to be able to share my culture with the other students in the class, and I found it really helpful in learning about Basque culture too, because I was inspired to research more than I normally would have. Overall, I think that this experience helped to teach me to be a better language learner in general, and now that I have more of a background in Basque, it is something that I will continue to learn and study for the rest of my life.
As far as what I've learned, I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I thought I would. I think that I might have been setting my expectations a little high, because at the time, I wasn't sure how well I would learn, or how my plans would change each week. My future goals are to be able to reach the level that I am supposed to be at in my learning plan, as well as continue to review the things that I've learned through Amaia. The sentences that I'm able to form at my current level are very basic, but my comprehension has grown exponentially, and I hope that through some more practice listening, I'll be able to improve my Basque organically as well.
I started my Korean language-learning journey during winter break of my sophomore year. I feel as though I have made a lot of progress. While I could not even string a simple sentence together last year, I now am able to speak coherently and also understand what native speakers are saying. Throughout this journey, I have learned a lot about myself. For one thing, I learned that I have an innate ability for languages. Not only that, but I also learned that through motivation and persistence, anything is possible. A lot of people say that they want to learn a language, but they rarely follow the steps that make it possible. I am glad I participated in the self-directed learning language program at University of Richmond because it taught me that language learning is something that should be a life long skill, because one can never learn enough languages.
What I found the most difficult, was finding time to practice my speaking. The only time I had to practice my speaking skills was twice a week with my language partner. I discovered that language learning is not a passive process like we students are so used to, but rather an active one that requires both giving and taking. It is impossible to learn a language by simply watching a video, reading a grammar book, or listening to a lecture. It is necessary to have hands on, face-to-face speaking practice so that one can gain confidence in their accent and mannerisms. Language is not only about the words that are spoken, but is also about culture. It means nothing if you can speak a language but have not had contact with native speakers.
I enjoyed seeing myself grow and learning that I have an intrinsic motivation to learn Korean. This could possibly be because I am going abroad to South Korea next semester and wanted to get the best out of my experience, but it could also be because of my general interest in Korean culture and my desire to learn a second language. I wanted to impress my family and friends, and also impress myself. I have enjoyed pushing myself outside my boundaries and my limits; typically, I do not like uncertainty. During the beginning stages of learning, I felt myself being very tense because I was ashamed of making mistakes. However, throughout this experience I realized that it is impossible to learn a language without making mistakes and feeling embarrassed. In fact, making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn.
I will continue my learning my watching Cyber University’s Korean lectures online and practicing during my own time. I will also purchase Talk to Me in Korean’s workbooks, as a lot of foreigners said it has helped them. I have learned from other friends that increased exposure is the most effective way of learning. Whether it be through dramas, conversations I over hear, or other methods, I will make a conscious effort to be exposed to the language (which will not be difficult when I am abroad) so that I do not stagnate.
I found it very useful when we had to design a learning activity for the rest of the class. Through designing the activity, I was able to learn myself. They say that teaching is one of the best indicators of knowing that you have mastered a skill. I definitely feel more confident knowing the days of the week now, because of that activity. I recommend you keep this activity for future language learners as well, as it will force them to know something well enough to teach the class, and thus learn it themselves!
Person 1: Hello!
Person 2: Hi!
Person 1: Where are you going?
Person 2: I am going to the library to study for Korean. Where are you going?
Person 1: I am going to my dorm!
Person 2: What are you going to do in your dorm?
Person 1: I am going to sleep!
Person 2: See you later.
Person 1: Goodbye!
Monologue: Hi, my name is Timaj. I am a student. Next year I will be going to Yonsei University. Let me introduce my family. My mom is a really hard working, she is usually in the kitchen cooking food for the family. She loves to cook. My dad usually watches the news after work, and my brother plays computer games after school. My sister studies after she comes home from school. Artifact%203.wav
Person 1: Where did you buy that bag?
Person 2: I bought it at F21.
Person 1: It's really pretty! I want to buy it.
Person 2: Really? Yeah, it's pretty.
Person 1: Yesterday I went shopping and bought a lot of clothes.
Person 2: Really? I really like shopping too.
This semester, I was able to expand my vocabulary surrounding both complex and simple matters. The vocabulary surrounding complex matters such as opinions and thoughts on political affairs, current events, and human rights was extremely helpful to me because I can now foster a conversation with a native speaker. I can comprehend much more when I watch the Pakistani or Indian news because I was able to pick up on the formal vocabulary and manner the news reporters talk in. In addition to this, I have also learned how to interpret the formality with which someone is asking me a question with and reflect that same formality back in my tone. I am now able to communicate about simple matters as well such as time, weather, furniture, and family. The expressions and terms regarding these topics are used on a daily basis in Pakistani households. By learning the simple vocabulary associated with this, I can be better integrated into the language and culture.
The difficulties that I encountered were in writing and reading because I have no experience or background in that aspect of Urdu. There are many grammar rules that come as you read that cannot be taught beforehand. This unstructured part of Urdu that is integrated in the language posed the most difficulty for me. However, Zaka explained it in Urdu and wrote it down Urdu and after writing a side note in English by the rule I was able to refer back to it when the grammar rule came up again. The reading speed that I intended to be at was highly optimistic. I was only able to able memorize few repetitive words in short riddles. I did notice my speed picking up the more I read.
