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The reading and the interview definitely caught me off guard because the topic of languages dying is something that I have not considered as much. I often forget how many languages that there are in the entire world. It is great that here are initiatives to preserve these languages because we can learn so much about history and culture through language. I thought that it was really nice that the article acknowledges how there has been institutions set in place in the United States with the goal to limit language. This makes me wonder what minority languages were already lost before the Living Tongues Institute was able to step in.

Also, reading the article made me think about another similar initiative to preserve languages called Wiki Tongues. I have seen Wiki Tongues’ videos on YouTube in which people would speak Spanish and Catalan. I have seen that there a lot of other languages and dialects on their YouTube page but it did not occur to me until now that the point of the initiative is to preserve the languages! I think that this is so powerful and necessary!

           As you know from my previous blog posts, I am completely determined to learn how to speak this language! For the majority of the semester, I was not pleased with my growth in the language because I had hoped that I would know how to communicate and contextualize the world around me more in Turkish by that point. In order to pick up the           pace of my learning, I scheduled more meetings with Gökhan, in which we would cover more material and form more complex sentences using the past, future, and conditional tense. I believe that this was definitely the highlight of the semester because it gave me more confidence in the language. At the same time, I felt more motivated to learn more words because I would learn how to form more relevant sentences that are a part of everyday speech. For days, I would study different verb tenses and collect more words. It even reached a point where I had to limit my study of Turkish so that I could focus more on my other classes.

            Overall, I believe that the course has inspired me to be more strategic in my approach to language learning. I have studied other languages in the past, but I did not have any structure or organization about what I would learn. I would just study whatever I could find. However, I now realize how important it is to have a plan to follow it faithfully in order to ensure success in the learning process. That being said, I think that the greatest challenge that I faced throughout the semester was being more consistent in my learning plan. Every week brought about a new challenge with outside commitments and it was a very difficult finding time to study outside of my classes at first. Thankfully, I was able to get into a good groove over time.

On another note, I found the activity in which we found out the meaning of words in Swahili from the definition of the suffixes very useful because it inspired me to be more of a critical thinker when analyzing sentences in Turkish. Like Swahili, Turkish is also an agglutinative language so the activity was very relevant to my study of the language.

            Aside from continuing the class in the spring, I am going to start writing short stories over Winter Break so that I can work to expand my vocabulary and my creativity at the same time. I told Gökhan that I will be staying in contact with him over the break so that he can double check what I work on. Also, I am going to continue listening to my Turkish podcast and watching videos of Turkish vloggers that I found on YouTube. I hope that this will help my listening skills get better. When I get to a more conversational level, I intend to make a video of me speaking Turkish all day around campus to friends. I saw video of a student at Stanford on YouTube doing the same thing and it inspired me. Hopefully, I can make a lot of improvement over winter break so that I can realize this dream.

To be honest, I am not 100% satisfied with my growth in the language thus far. I feel as though I was overly optimistic about my proficiency in the language by the end of the semester. After watching a video on YouTube of two polyglots who studied Turkish in seven days and could speak and impressive amount, I assumed that I could at least reach their level by now. However, I did not take into account how much my outside commitments would challenge my trajectory. I also thought that my previous experience with studying languages would facilitate or quicken the process, but the other languages that I have studied have more proximity to Spanish. Now, I realize that it is not so easy building a new vocabulary over again.

            In class, we have covered a lot of basic vocabulary (ranging from numbers, weather, introduction, etc.) but we have not yet covered how to create sentences. I believe that this is the main source of my lack of unsatisfactory thus far. I am overly anxious to start putting pieces together and forming sentences. I have learned how to conjugate a few verbs in the present tense, but I just need a little more clarity of sentence structure. For example, I know that seviyorum means “I like” and that yemek means to eat. I wonder if you can merely put them together to create (elmalar yemek seviyorum?) “I like to eat apples” or if there is another grammatical factor that I need to consider before forming this sentence. I am going to be in contact with Gökhan for guidance in this.

            With regards to culture, I believe that I have learned a great deal. As I have mentioned before in my other entries, I had little to no understanding about Turkish culture prior to this semester. I think that its ironic that I am studying the language now because there are two charter schools in Little Rock owned by Turkish business people. I remember distinctly when the schools came to Little Rock because I was told that they taught Turkish as one of the language requirements and I thought that that was so random. Also, I did a small search on Google and found out that there is apparently a Turkish food festival in Little Rock. I find this so interesting because I feel as though I grew up in a very homogenous Little Rock. I am looking forward to finding out more about this Turkish community hiding within my hometown and putting to test what I have learned thus far.

            I believe that I have a long way to go until I can exercise communicative competence because I am still learning how to form sentences. At the same time, my Turkish interactions have been almost exclusively with Gökhan. I believe that I need to interact with more Turkish people in order to gain understanding about social aspects that come with language. I am going to schedule more class times with Gökhan so that I can start forming more sentences. I believe that this would connect the dots for me and also allow me to continue on to more verb tenses and other grammatical components of the language.

Knowing a language’s history can definitely help in identifying different grammatical elements that are present in the language. For example, I have a very limited understanding of German but I can assume that there are plenty of lexical and syntactic similarities between English and German because of their similar ancestry. If I were to study German, then I believe that a good starting point would be to explore the similarities between English and German first because it would give me more confidence knowing that I can recognize certain aspects of German from the start. I have done the same when studying Portuguese, Italian, French and Catalan. Over time, I have been able to use these patterns to help me form sentences and communicate.

• Customize your personal page in the SDLAP Ning
  • Use as much of the target language as possible.  For example, you may upload an audio or video clip to introduce yourself, create a slideshow of places your have visited/want to visit in the target country, etc.

Link to my Korea travels powerpoint:

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/presentation/d/18F5j9EXM34u4MU-TfdSoKiO8DmJRn3SQ-stp6uGqeM8/edit?usp=sharing

제 이름은 정 지아입니다. 엄마 병원에서 일 해요.나는 언니가 하나있다.

자매는 사업에서 일합니다. 아빠는 과학 실험실에서 일합니다. 우리는 캘리포니아에 산다.전부탁드립니다!

My name is Jung Jia. My mother works in a hospital. I have one older sister. My sister works in business. My dad works in a science lab. We live in California. Please look after us.

Here is the elevator speech about myself that I practiced for Korean:

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Here is the introduction I worked on:

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Post Final Reflection Paper (500 words):
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?
(b) Which readings and learning activities did you find most useful?  What would you like to learn more about?

As I reflect of my language learning journey for this semester, I think that I have grown tremendously. Before starting this journey, I did have prior, limited knowledge, from my previous language journey during middle school. However, I think that now that I am older and relearning the basics, I find myself understanding concepts and ideas better.

Beginning with my writing. Before starting this journey, I was able to write out the Korean alphabet and write simple things, like my name. Now that I have reached near the end of the semester, I can tell that I have grown. I am now able to write words, simple sentences, and even some complex sentences. So, not only has my writing improved, but also my grammar. During the 110, my language partner gave us several dictation quizzes, which were difficult at the beginning of the course, but is a lot easier to do now.

Reading in my target language has definitely improved as well. I find myself reading every Korean word/phrase/sentence I encounter on a daily basis. Before this journey started, I was able to read very limited words and read them very slowly. Now, I am able to read familiar words/phrases/sentences with ease, though some words may take a little longer, I am still able to read them.

As a language learner and cultural explorer, I find myself, now, more eager to delve into the target language’s culture. I also find myself thinking about a target language’s “big C” and “little c”. As a language learner, I definitely enjoyed learning about the language itself, but also the history of the language and the language culture. I still do find it difficult to completely understand the true nature of a language, but it is still enjoyable when I don’t dwell too deep. Compared to being a language learner, I think being a cultural explorer was more fun and rewarding. Though language is a huge part of culture, I find learning more about the culture of a target language was more interesting and covered unique topics.

Now that I have completed the 105 and 110 course, I plan to continue onto the 111 course, and study more about the Korean language and culture.

The readings that I found most helpful was actually the bilingual articles. Though the understanding of the brain and functions was very intellectual, I find that the articles were more relatable and easier to follow. The learning activity I found most useful was the activity when we were given a vocabulary chart of words, and break the words apart to find out what each part meant (I don’t quite remember the language we were doing). But, it was fun, and I have used that technique when tackling a word I don’t know. By breaking up the word into smaller words, I was able to define it without a dictionary.

I don’t have anything specific that I would like to learn more about, but I am open to learning about new things.

Eighth Cultural Post:  Reflect upon what you have learned from the cultural projects presented in class.

I have learned a lot from the cultural projects presented in class. It was very nice and interesting to see everyone’s individual cultural interest. I could tell that everyone put in a lot of time and research to create such great presentations.

From the cultural projects, I was able to learn more about robotics in Korean culture, which I had absolutely no idea about. David’s robotics presentation was very unique. Jessica’s presentation on the Korea education system was very thorough and well-researched, it was something I wanted to learn more about. It will showcase the rigorous Korean education system. Manya’s presentation on common phrases/sayings in Turkish were so cool and her Kahoot activity was also very fun and interactive. When she told us the meaning, I was constantly shocked by the meanings of the phrases.

I have learned so much from these presentations, like Brenda’s presentation on the isolationism in Korean social life, which I will probably watch again to prepare myself for when I study abroad

These are just a few of the presentations, but all of the presentations were above and beyond. It made me want to learn more about each cultural topic. They all covered ideas that I would have not thought to research or look at.

*Attached is my Cultural Project.Family and Kinship: Terms and Relationships.pptx

Family is a very important aspect in Korean culture. Though Korea has an independent culture, but family is a very dependent culture.

In American culture, once you are 18, you are legally an adult and can leave the family. Some American families have their children move out at 18 to help them get a sense of the real world. However, in Korean culture, kids are expected to live and stay with their family until they get married, but some still stay in the main home after marriage.

Since young, children are taught the idea of filial duty. Things like treating parents respectfully at all times, taking care of them in their old age, mourning them well at proper funerals, and performing ceremonies for them after their death. Filial duty is the way for children to repay their debt to their parents for giving birth and raising them. Aside from the actions/performance that are done as filial duty, to completely repay the debt in full, the children must have children to continue their family line.

Sixth Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Time in the Target Culture

“Korean time” is a term used to describe the tardiness or the relaxed attitude towards appointment times. In Korea, it is common for people to be a few minutes late without giving prior notice, but even being over an hour late is common.

In contrast with their fast development and very fast internet, Korean’s generally have a relaxed attitude and run on their own time.

Korea is very similar to Japan, an extremely time conscious culture. Korea emphasizes on time management and efficient lifestyles. Instead of worrying about being on time, they worry about what can be done in that time. This leads to feeling less rushed and frustrated.

Fifth Cultural Post:  Identify a topic for your culture project and your learning goals for your topic.

The topic for my culture project is family and kinship in Korea.

My learning goals for this topic is understanding relationship and terms between immediate and extended family, and to understand the roles in a family and comparison to American culture.

With family and kinship, I want to be able to know the terms to call everybody in the immediate and extended family. I started researching a bit into some extended family terms, and it is very complex, and there seems to be a different term for everybody (like there is a term for your second uncle’s wife).

I also want to research the importance of family in Korean culture and the role each individual plays.

Fourth Cultural Post: Target Language's Writing System

The Korean language writing is a phonetic system. Structurally, the letters are placed into square syllabic blocks, which are combined to form words.

The Korean alphabet consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

14 consonants: ㅂㅈㄷㄱㅅㅁㄴㅇㄹㅎㅋㅌㅊㅍ

10 vowels: ㅛㅕㅑㅐㅔㅗㅓㅏㅣㅠㅜㅡ

The characters are written in vertical columns from top to bottom and right to left, or from left to right in horizontal lines.

When written the vowels cannot be written alone, so you place the consonant ㅇ(“i-eung”) in front of the vowel and is silent. For example,

ㅏ(“a”) + o (“i-eung”) = a

Couple Culture in Korea

In Korea, couples really like to “show-off” that they are couples. Wearing matching clothes, shoes, accessories, socks, backpacks, etc. is a common norm for couples.

Couple rings is a very normal thing for couples to exchange while they are dating. This is very different to American culture, where you usually exchange rings after a long and committed relationship. However, when they get married, there are some couples that don’t wear their rings, which is the opposite in American culture.

Anniversaries and important days are different in Korean culture. For dating couples, they celebrate days like 100 day anniversary, 200 anniversary, 1000 day anniversary, etc.  and it continues.

In Korean culture, couple holidays seem to fall on the 14^th of each month. For example:

February 14^th- Valentine’s Day (girl gives chocolate to a guy and if he accepts, he has to give her something for white day)

March 14^th- White Day (guys give gifts to girl^)

April 14^th – Black Day (Singles’ day)

May 14^th - Rose Day (guy gives girl a rose)

June 14^th –Kiss Day

July 14^th - Silver Day (exchange of rings)

and so on.

Second Cultural Post:  Formality and Informality in Target Language

In Korean, speaking in formality and informality is an important part of their culture. Korean has six formal speech forms and one informal speech form, showing different levels of respect in the language.

In Korea, it doesn’t matter if a person is a year older than you, they are still older than you, and you must speak in a formal and polite form of speech to them. If you are born in the same year, you are considered 친구 (friend) and can use informal and impolite form of speech (반말) with them. You are also able to speak 반말 those younger than you.

Not using formal or polite speech to someone elder is considered rude and disrespectful. So, you should also speak in a formal or polite form of speech to someone older, unless they tell you otherwise. This is common when you become closer to someone and they don’t mind you speaking on a casual level with them.

The level of formal speech depends on who you are talking to:

1. Extremely formal and polite- traditionally used when addressing a king, queen, or high official; now used only in historical dramas and the Bible
2. Formal and polite- Used commonly between strangers
3. Formal, of neutral politeness- Spoken form used nowadays only among some older people.
4. Formal, of neutral politeness- Generally used only by some older people when addressing younger people, friends, or relatives.
5. Formal, of neutral politeness or impolite- Used to close friends, relatives of similar age, or younger people
6. Informal and polite-Used mainly between strangers, especially those older or of equal age.
7. Informal, of neutral politeness or impolite- Used most often between close friends and relatives, and when addressing younger people.

First Cultural Post:  What is your interest in 'your' language and what do you hope to accomplish this semester?

My interest in Korean is the language, culture, pop culture, social life, history, just about everything about Korea is interesting to me.

My interest in Korea started around when I was in 5^th grade. I started listening the Korean pop (K-Pop) music then and started to grow an interest in Korean music and entertainment. During my middle school days I started dancing to the K-Pop and started watching Korean dramas. When I was in 7^th-8^th grade, I started my Korean learning journey. My science teacher assistant, a Korean exchange teacher, at that time, was a good resource and helped me on the side. I’m going to be honest, learning a language by yourself, with no guidance, just textbooks borrowed from the library, is very difficult.

When I got into high school, I had to focus more on the language course I was taking at school, French, so I had to push my Korean language journey to the side.

 This semester I hope to improve my Korean and start again from the basics. This time, I hope to build a stronger foundation (with the basics), then build upon. This semester, I hope to be able to not only read and write in Korean, but also work more on the speaking aspect.

Complete Reflection Paper #2 (500 words) 
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?

So far, I have been jumping around on my learning plan, because in the 110 course, we some of the topics overlap with other dates (weeks) on my plan, so I have had to adjust some things around. However, I do think that I doing great progress and am relatively pacing myself with the learning plan. The learning plan is very effective and makes sure I am staying on track, which is usually difficult because this is a self-directed course.

All the activities I have arranged in the learning plan have been extremely helpful. The Mango languages lesson help me learn new vocabulary, and review the older ones. The videos were fun and supplemented my lessons for the week. They were also good for a study break. This is my second attempt at a self-directed language, and I feel that I am taking on a lot more than I can handle, so the videos are a fun and good de-stressor.

I think some of the topics on my plan will have to be pushed back to next semester. As I make progress in the language, the vocabulary gets more difficult as well as the grammar. There is also a lot to cover in a topic, and I don’t think that a week is enough to cover all of it. As of right now, I won’t change it, because I think I can manage it, but if it gets too difficult in the coming up weeks, I might have to modify my plan.

So far, the relationship between understanding the target culture and the target language has been quite easy. I haven’t encountered too many problems. My learning plan has, thus far, been on track with the cultural learning part, so when I am studying or learning a lesson, I find topics that overlap with the cultural aspect. But there are some culture topics that I would like to explore, but don’t correlate with my learning plan. I will most likely just research and study it on my own. I am finding myself getting more interested in the cultural aspect of my target language, rather than the actual language itself.

Communicative competence is the ability to understand and use language effectively to communicate in authentic social and school environments. To improve my communicative competence, I will need to learn more vocabulary. I currently vocabulary bank is very small, so, to be able to communicate more effectively I will need to increase my vocabulary.

Understanding more about Korean culture will also improve my communicative competence. Learning more culture will help me have more awareness in nonverbal behaviors, social rules, and cultural references.

To also better improve my communicative competence, I will need to work individually in sections of: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. After working and improving on the process of each section separately, then I can say that my communicative competence has improved.

Learning Journal 14:  Summarize your work this semester, the progress you made and the difficulties you encountered.

Overall, I think I made a huge progress in my Korean language learning journey.

When I started, I had limited knowledge of Korean. I only the Korean alphabet, simple phrases, and spoke at a really slow-pace. Now, I can say that I know the Korean alphabet, simple phrases, speak at a relatively quicker-pace, have a larger vocabulary, can form simple and some complex sentences.

A lot of work was put in to make me get this far: meeting with the language partner (in class), studying outside of class, researching on my own, using several resources to build my vocabulary. It has been a long journey. It wasn’t that easy either. I had to stay on track and follow through with my learning plan, but I also had to study other topics in class (if they didn’t already overlap). I had to do additional lessons on the Mango Languages to get practice. I had to modify some of my learning plan because I was jumping the weeks. Some weeks were easy, some hard, and some manageable.

However, I was able to complete at least 80% of my learning plan, which makes me absolutely proud of myself. When I first create my plan, I thought that I was being too ambitious, so I simplified it, but then it didn’t seem like a goal. Finally, I came up with my current plan, and I did think some parts very a little too ambitious, but I made it.

There is no learning lesson/goals for this week because of Thanksgiving Break.

I have, however, began studying for the final because it about 2 weeks after I get back from break. I have started reviewing the number systems (in both Sino and Native Korean). I practice all of the information on my self-introduction daily, so I don’t forget it. I am practicing conjugation of verbs and usage of particles for the writing section.

Overall, I am just reviewing this week, but I will give myself a little break because it is Thanksgiving Break.