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For this week, my goal was to learn how to order food in Korean, go to a Korean restaurant and order my meal in Korean. I also wanted to learn about eating/drinking etiquette in Korea.

Though I was able to learn how to order food in Korean, I wasn’t able to go a Korean restaurant to order a meal in Korean due to some circumstances. So this week’s goal was only partially completed. Even though I couldn’t go to a Korean restaurant, I was able practice with some of my native Korean speaking friends.

I had fun learning about eating/drinking etiquette in Korea, but a lot of the drinking etiquette were related to alcohol, so I could not relate at all. Otherwise, it was interesting to see compare the eating and drinking etiquette in Korea and America.

***Update, I was able to go to a Korean restaurant over Thanksgiving break. I ordered my meal in Korean. I later asked the lady how my pronunciation was, she said it was really good!

When a language dies, people could lose their mother tongue and cultural identities. Throughout history, languages have risen and fallen, and today there are several dead languages. The results of the dead language is like the result of an extinction of an animal. We lose memory of histories and cultures. We lose resources. For example, indigenous languages are very important resources to research and culture of a country, people, animals, and even plants.

I think that people do underestimate the importance of an endangered language. Because it isn’t commonly spoken or used, people think that it’s okay to let the language die, but they don’t understand the consequences. Language is a key component to unlocking a country’s history and culture, it could possibly even be related to a deeper history that we might not even now about. Once a language is dead, it is very difficult, maybe even impossible, to revive. I think it is very important to compile all the languages that are close to dying and create a language bank to preserve these languages.

Reflecting my learning experience this semester, I learned a lot about what I wanted to achieve, but I could have done a better job on being efficient and utilizing the learning materials. In the beginning, I decided to sign up for Self Directed Language Class to further develop my skills on Korean as I believed my language level has not improved since I moved to America. I wanted to focus especially on reading and writing on the topics of business and politics.

As a language learner who did not start with a new language like other students in class, it was hard for me to get more in depth with the language skills that I achieved already as a native speaker. Some of the goals that I set up in the beginning of the semester were hard to achieve since I could not practice writing skills as much as I wanted to. On the other hand, I strongly believe that my reading skill has improved a lot over the course of reading the articles and journals. Reading them with the dictionary helped me to understand the sentence structure and their relationship in context as well as it gave me a better sense of comprehension. Having a discussion with Evelyn after the reading also helped to organize my thoughts. Conversation assisted to clearly comprehend on topics of the articles and let myself to express my thoughts in organized and clear manner. I enjoyed getting to know the political aspect of my country as I did not know much about it before taking this class. Evelyn explained very passionately and I decided to research further on this topic of political culture for my final cultural presentation.

I eager to continue the learning process in my level of language achievement in the future by reading more articles by myself and watching the news more often. I noticed that I could get better at it as I expose myself more often to political news and business professional articles. Moreover, I will strive to enhance my writing skills by practicing the grammar rules and structures in real life examples as I hope to become a better written communicator in the future.

The most useful language learning tool were my language partner, dictionaries, and news articles. Having a language partner guided me in a way to achieve my learning goals more efficiently. I was able to learn new vocabulary words by utilizing the dictionary well as well as it taught me to use the words in right context. Lastly, practicing reading with articles challenged me to learn more professional and intermediate stage of language, which contains a totally different content from daily conversation I am used to.

At last, I would definitely like to take this class again if I get a chance in order to develop my language skills further. Furthermore, I am interested in taking a language other than Korean as I watched my classmates enjoying it. It was a great opportunity for me to know my level of language skills and to be motivated to strive for further development.

Learning Journal 2: In addition to discussing the resources (see above: In your learning journal for this week, discuss how BYKI, Mango Languages, and what you have bookmarked in Diigo may be useful to you. In your learning journal for this week, discuss how you may use at least two of these resources.), outline how you have begun to work on your first language tasks. 

Diigo is a good place for putting away the resources that I have found by saving them and allowing me to access them whenever I need. Mango Languages is good for studying Korean whenever I need and for giving me a good plan to stay on track. However, Diigo is only useful if you remember to go back to the resources and Mango language isn’t personalized to your only personal goals.

Two Global Studio resources I have found useful are: 1)the books in the Global Studio and 2)the private rooms in Global Studio. I am the type of person that likes to practice out loud in a quiet space. I have been renting out Korean books from Global studio, and reciting the alphabet in the private rooms so I can have privacy, and record myself on the computers at the same time. This allows me to see where my flaws are in speaking and reading Korean, and practice to make myself a better speaker.

This week I have been working on learning the alphabet. We have been working on the alphabet in class, and I am trying to get ahead but learning to read and speak words with the alphabet already. I have been looking over our worksheets from class and reciting out loud the alphabet in order to stay on track. I am going to practice everyday until I can naturally recite the alphabet front and backwards!

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

This semester I learned how to read, write, and speak beginner Korean. From being confused by the simplest character, to now being able to read in a medium-paced manner, I believe I have made great strides this semester. I truly believe that after all the work and practice I did this semester, I have become a good Korean speaker with an excellent foundation in learning how to learn my new language on my own.

The most important thing in language learning is practicing in different and numerous ways. Youtube, Wikipedia, and Quizlet were essential to my learning. The number of videos I have watched that explained Korean grammar is close to 80 (probably). I have practiced and practiced the same material I have been given, over and over again. I probably redid the Korean workbook sheets about 6 different times. It is exhausting and annoying to do so, but I have honestly learned so much about Korean that I will not be able to forget. The key to my progress was also following my learning goals and making sure I hit all of the ones that I could. I believe at this point I have accomplished of my goals. My learning goals weren’t easy to write. I redid my plan three times in total. But each time I redid my plans, I knew I was getting closer to the essence of what I needed to do to learn Korean.

It was difficult to learn Korean in a large group. I personally would have preferred a 1-1 setting, in which I could set the course to my own pace. However, I learned a lot from the others in my group as well, and I am thankful for that. I truly believe that I can do anything I put my mind to after completing this course, and I can’t wait to start learning the next language I take at Richmond. If there’s any lesson that I’ll bring to the next course it is to: practice and practice whenever and however many times as possible.

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

I learned a lot about different specific aspects of Korean and Turkish history that I never knew before. Many interesting and powerful presentations were played in class, and I am thankful that this was the final project. Some things I learned were: how Turkish cinema evolved, what are common Turkish phrases, about solitary Korean life, about Hebrew phrases, about KPOP culture in Korean, and about schooling in the Korean system. These are just a few of the presentations I saw too, which goes to show how powerful presentations can be.

I believe that in addition to learning more about Koreans that I did not know, these presentation allowed me to see how other people viewed Korean. I got to see what aspects of Korean interested my classmates, and why did interested them. I got information about things I would have never known to look up, and that is the real power of our cultural presentations: learning the unexpected things. After the presentations I looked up some of the topics I found interesting, and I learned more about Korea and Turkey. I think I will watch more of the presentations so that I can see the other interesting topics about this countries that I did not know about!

Here is the link to my cultural presentation:

Korean%20Presentation.pptx

Learning Journal 13:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

My goal this week was to hold a conversation with someone over their day. I knew this was going to be hard for me to do. I know a few conversation topics, so it is manageable, but I still knew it was going to be extremely difficult to accomplish. I messaged my Korean friend from back home, and asked if she wanted to do a conversation with me in Korean, and then we both facetimed one another. It went good in my opinion.

I asked about her day, how she was feeling, what the time was, and the date. I also asked about her personal life such as her age and her major, and it worked out perfectly. It did make me wish I knew wider topics like talking about if you had a bad day or good day and why. I am going to research more words in Korean so I can be able to do that later on with practice.

Learning Journal 11:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

My goal this week was to learn how to order Korean food in a Korean restaurant. I chose to go to the restaurant we went to for our class field trip, and practice ordering there. Before I went I looked at the menu online, and then I made a script of what I would say to order at the restaurant. Though I was nervous, I believed that the workers would appreciate me trying to speak Korean. I then went to the restaurant and ordered food. I will be honest, I was so nervous that I forgot what I was ordering. But then the lady helped me out, and I made sure to thank her and tell her a little bit of my Korean lessons at school. I think it was a goal accomplished! I definitely felt good about talking to an outsider about food. I think next time I will feel less nervous, and will be able to order on the spot!

Seventh Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture

Family is very important to Koreans. Family comes above all in Korean society-- or it used to. For Koreans, being born creates a duty to repay your parents with gratitude, sacrifice, and hardship in anyway that demands it. In traditional Korean families, the eldest son was usually the one given the most responsibility. The eldest son had to provide for his family if his parents could not, and he would have to take care of his elderly parents in their old age. Eventually the eldest son would also inherit the wealth of his parents, and it was his duty to ensure that the family would prosper. Females in the family, on the other hand, were not that important to everyday life. They were expected to do household chores and cooking, but it was expected that they would eventually get married off and join a new family, and after that she was her husband’s responsibility, not the family’s. To this day, Korean families are still very close together. Korean family members are very dependent on one another, and it is expected that for all of life they will continue to help each other. As female and male traditional roles have changed, so has the standard of living for families changed. With the advent of international work and college, I believe the standard Korean family no longer has a standard definition, though they are still very family-oriented.

Learning Journal 12:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I wanted to learn how to read an elementary Korean book. I rented “Goodnight moon” for the Global Studio and I practiced reading the words and sentences in the book. I definitely made a lot of progress in reading it. It definitely wasn't too hard reading it because I have had a lot of practice in reading Korean by now. So I am glad that I got this opportunity to see how much I progressed so far already.

I also learned a lot of new vocabulary which was cool! To make this goal effective I read Goodnight Moon about 8 times. It took a lot of time and effort, but it is definitely a goal I feel proud of!

Learning Journal 10:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I wanted to learn how to sing/read a popular Korean song. I thought it would give me an idea of what Koreans liked to listen to, and help me understand Korean culture a little bit. I looked up korean song on Youtube, and find found the lyrics of the song. I translate the words of the song to English, so I could know the meaning of what I was reading. I read the lyrics over and over again while I listened to the song. Finally, when it was stuck in my head, and I could sing along too it, I knew I had accomplished a new insight on Korean culture, while also finding a new music genre I could jam to.

This week, Evelyn, Angella, and I played a game of Settlers of Catan. However, we had one rule: we were only allowed to speak Korean. It was fun because it is a game we all enjoyed. It was also a challenge because I found that I wasn't able to voice what I wanted to say as effectively compared to English. 

It was a blast though. We collected our resources in Korean, traded in Korean, and called out the numbers of the dice in Korean. I think after a while it became much more easy to listen and understand each other. I felt very professional for being able to speak more fluidly, confidently, and pronounce words more accurately.

One funny coincidence was that both of the number 10's were placed on the sheep tiles. In Korean, 10 is pronounced "sheep." We all had a laugh about it because it was a funny coincidence. 

I also learned about Korean history as well. Evelyn shared with me what had happened with President Park and why that had such an impact on South Korea. It was a level of corruption that eroded the public's trust in the presidential system. Furthermore, I also learned about Korean relations with other countries, including China and America. 

Lastly, I learned about the monetary system in Korea. It was so confusing at first because of the extra 0's. However, Evelyn shared that it was a cultural thing, and that no money system can be considered the "standard." To be honest, learning about money is still challenging for me. However, I hope to learn about it more to understand it better. 

Learning Journal 9:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

This week I wanted to ask for the date and time in Korean. I needed to learn the days of the week in Korean, and how to say time numbers in Korean. We went over this in class, so I had vocabulary written down, but I also looked online for more resources to help solidify my knowledge for how to ask for the date/time. This was a simple task to research, though it took practice to know how to say that date and time perfectly. After practicing, I made sure to write the words all over my alarm clock so I could remember how to say the date and time each morning I woke up.

I think I have learned a lot this semester. I learned so many new vocabulary words to describe the world around me more concisely, boosting my confidence to speak Korean. I feel like I can go to any market now and say what all of the produce items are. I also feel confident in being able to say what colors I'm seeing. I think this was a simple thing, but it makes me excited to use these vocabulary words. 

I also learned briefly about introductory phrases and sentences in the first week of school. I think I need to work on being able to recall what I learn better. It is difficult to reiterate phrases in Korean compared to English. I also learned to grasp the main ideas from watching TV shows and movies in Korean. I think I will challenge myself more to find little snippets of details.

I also got better at reading Korean chapter books. Evelyn brought in one of her favorite books as a child and challenged me to read it. Though it was hard at first, I think I got much better with understanding what was happening. 

I think speaking English has influenced my Korean accent. However, I learned this semester how to pronounce words that I do tend to american-ize. I think it happened in the little ways- when I spoke, read out loud, or shared my thoughts, Evelyn would patiently tell me how to say the word. 

I think it is disappointing that I was not able to complete many other tasks on my language plan though. I did not improve very much in my writing skills. I think that I learned how to spell a little bit better, but I do not think I have made much progress in being able to write how I could in English. Furthermore, I did not really study Korean phrases. I remember talking to Evelyn about them a lot, but some were too high level that I did not understand them. However, with the few phrases I learned, I realized Koreans love puns. For example, they give students "dduk," a type of sticky rice cake. They do this because they hope the students will "stick" the test, and do well.

I think overall this was a great semester of learning. I think I know what I want to learn now for future classes. I am excited to keep learning!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1saZ4QVjqjB

For my final artifact, I decided to sum up everything I learned.

I spoke about my daily schedule and what I did today.

I woke up at 10 am, ate breakfast, and went to a meeting. We talked a lot during the meeting about future plans for the next semester. After that, I ate lunch. For lunch, I ate spicy chicken. After eating, I studied at the library. I then went home at 6 pm to eat rice and eggs for dinner. After dinner, I went to a Christmas party where I exchanged gifts with people and had a good time. I then came back to the library to study. 

I think speaking in Korean limits my ability to speak about my thoughts and small details in my day. However, I think that I have gotten a solid foundation down. 

I decided to try out Dr. Marsh-Soloway's idea of labelling things around my desk to help me learn.

I put various color tags on objects on my desk. Hopefully it will help me process learning colors faster!

Sixth Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Time in the Target Culture

Time in Korea is more of a loose concept. While in America, when someone says “I’ll meet you at 7:30,” they mean for you to actually meet them at 7:30, Koreans use rough approximations when talking about time. For example they can say “I will meet you around 10 mins,” and that gives them a greater variation of time to meet someone.

In America if you are late consistently, people think you are disrespectful, and they will not think you can be trusted with important tasks. However, Korean time is much more relaxed. It is okay to be tardy in Korea. It is not seen as a sign of disrespect or disregard, but a common behavior of most people. After researching this further, I personally believe it has to do with the culture and what is emphasized in the workplace. In America, responsibility and independence is emphasized. You always have to work hard for yourself, otherwise people will take your spot. No worker is irreplaceable, and people can either choose to work hard or not. However, in Korea, I believe it is a different mentality. I think people in the workforce know they have to provide for those dependent on them. I think it is more of the norm for everyone to work as hard as they can in Korea, because they have greater people relying on them for support. Therefore, they do what they can do the best of their ability. Some responsibilities come before others, and sometimes times have to be malleable. That is my personal take on it. I can definitely wrong about it, just a disclaimer.  

Learning Journal 8:  State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.

My goals this week was to learn about vegetables and fruits in Korean, and how they taste. I think this is important for my own knowledge, and for ordering in restaurants. We went over some of the words in class, and on my own time I looked up each word in the Korean dictionaries online and then memorized them using flashcards. It was a pretty fun learning goal. I think if I were to go to a restaurant, I could describe the food I was eating! I also looked up pictures of fruits and tried to say the accompany name of the fruit and the taste of it to practice. It was a fun activity overall, and I will continue this type of work!

I have been writing weekly journals to help improve my comprehension and spelling.

For my second artifact, I have attached a journal entry of what I understood from a TV show. I talked about what happened, what the characters did, and my feelings about what happened. I watched an episode of the drama, Boys Over Flowers and documented what happened.