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I shall be brief with this post as I believe that my learning progress has been documented systematically on Ning. 

My goal was simple: to review and complete Let's Speak Indonesian Level 1 and Indonesian Grammar In Context levels 2 a 3. My learning activities and resources included the variety of activities within each chapter: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises.

This semester, I:

• Reviewed how to express pity, how to include additional information in order to persuade, how to express an intention, how to inquire about and explain payment options, how to express gratitude and relief upon hearing good news, and how to politely criticize.
• Reviewed how to express surprise about a situation, how to offer help, how to welcome a newcomer, how to ask someone to wait, how to offer good wishes for a religious holiday, and how to request a favor,
• Reviewed Active and Passive Verb Forms;
• Learned the yang clauses with active and passive verbs;
• Learned the locative function of the verbal suffix-i;
• Learned the prepositions pada, untuk, buat, atas, bagi, sebagi;
• Learned how to narrate from two points of reference;
• Learned the iterative function of the verbal suffix- i;
• Learned the Conjunction untuk and supaya
• The superlative adverb with the expression of quantity;
• The adverb se-asdjective + adjective-nya;
• And much, much more.

With each chapter, I documented my learning by completing most of the activities included in the chapter, some of which were documented on Ning for my artifacts. 

I met with my language partners for two hours per week to go over my oral, reading and writing skills and activities. 

Lastly, I believe that I documented my cultural and (language) learning in my presentation as well as throughout the semester in my cultural posts. More important, I believe that I learned a great deal about the Indonesian culture. This semester allowed me to better articulate my experiences in Bali (attending Gamelan festivals) and playing both Javanese and Balinese gamelan here at UR through my cultural topic assignments.

I look forward to continuing my Bahasa Indonesia learning with the independent study next semester!

This semester, I have been studying Indonesian gamelan. In particular, I explored its (a) geographical variances, (b) its role within cultures (i.e., Javanese and Balinese communities), and (c) its musicality. So, to sum up:

(a) Geographical Varieties

Balinese gamelan is characterized by its virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo. In addition, Balinese gamelan is often accompanied by theatrical dances. And compared to the other types, the Balinese have exceptionally active composers, writing new pieces for their ensembles. Javanese gamelan, on the other hand, largely stemmed from the courts of the 19th-century Javanese rulers. As such, Javanese gamelan tends to be slower and meditative. In contrast to the Balinese style, musicians in Javanese gamelan are allowed to and are even encouraged to improvise.

These stylistic preferences are rooted in both culture and history. The Javanese type stems from a sort of aristocratic elite and thus is top-down oriented. Musicians usually learn with masters who are elders in the community, which reflects to a degree the more rigid social hierarchy in Javanese culture. In Bali, gamelan is more spread out and is, therefore, more egalitarian. Hence the composers are more active in Bali -- as anyone who is competent can write a piece.

(b) Role Within Cultures

Gamelan is performed on important occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries, and religious ceremonies. For example, In Bali, important island-wide festivals, like Galungan, call for ten days of prayer, music, and dance. In Java, there is a saying, "It is not official until the gong is hung." And some performances are associated with royalty, such as visits by the sultan of Yogyakarta. And Gamelan Sekaten is performed to celebrate the prophet Muhammad's birth.

Moreover, the ways in which the gamelan is owned/stored reflects both islands' cultures. In Bali, the gamelan instruments are kept together in a community center because people believe that all the instruments belong to the community as a whole. In contrast, gamelan instruments in Java are usually passed down through and kept in the courts, where gamelan masters have authority over them.

(c) Musicality -- My Preference

Having performed and watched both Javanese and Balinese types, I definitely prefer the Javanese type. From my experience, the Javanese type is much more mellow and soothing but is still able to capture the power of the Balinese type. The singing component between the two is really different too. Whereas the Balinese singing is more folklorish (if that is a term) and high pitched, the Javanese singing tends to be deep, rustic, and powerful. The melodies are different too. The singer's pace in Javanese gamelan is naturally more subdued compared to his/her counterpart in the Balinese type. The Balinese type definitely lives up to its description: extremely fast, which, for me, hits my ear as a bit chaotic. 

It is interesting, however, that those who were born in Bali prefer the Balinese type. Likewise, those born in Java prefer the Japanese type. There is definitely a tribal component at play. But the respective gamelan types are socialized into children via cultural events and school programs. So, it is not too surprising that one tends to prefer his/her local gamelan type. Another reason may also be that Indonesians, on average, travel to other islands less (because of economic factors). 

SDLC%20Reflection%20%232%20Islam%20.docx

This artifact is taken from a homework assignment this semester. In it, I talk about my Thanksgiving plans and my house. It is half fiction and half non-fiction. I think that this work shows the progress I have made with my Bahasa Indonesia. 

Sebelum saya pulang ke rumah untuk berlibur, saya harus menyelesaikan sebagian dari skripsi saya. Skripsi saya tentang tentara anak dan trauma. Saya pulang hari selasa malam sekitar jam empat tiga puluh, dan saya membawa tiga teman yang tinggal di New York juga. Kami tiba di New York tengah malam jam satu pagi. Saya lelah karena mengemudi. 

Rumah saya kecil. Di antara kebun binatang dan pantai, rumah saya punya dua kamar tidur dan satu kamar mandi. Tapi, saya baru saja membeli rumah. Jadi, saya bisa merenovasi rumahnya. Karena rumah itu dekat dengan kebun binatang, halaman belakang bangat bau. Jadi, saya tidak akan merenovasi halaman belakang. Tapi halaman depannya cantik sekali. Di sana, saya akan membuat teras yang bagus. Terasnya Serambi akan punya beberapa sofa dan sebuah meja. Halaman depannya juga akan ada taman dengan banyak bunga. Di dalam rumah, saya akan merenovasi dapur kecil supaya dapurnya nyaman. Di sebelah kanan dapur adalah satu kamar tidur tamu. Karena saya tidak punya banyak uang, saya tidak akan memperbaiki ruangan ini. Dan di sebelah kiri dapurnya, ada kamar saya. Saya akan membeli jendela besar untuk kamar tidur saya sehingga saya bisa bangun ke pantai. Di belakang dapur ada ruang tamu. Dan karena saya lebih suka anjing daripada manusia, saya akan melatakan tempat tidur anjing di sini.

Pagi berikutnya, keponakan saya sangat senang melihat saya dan pacar saya yang tinggal di rumah saya untuk berlibur. Kami memutuskan untuk membawa keponakan saya untuk menonton Grinch di bioskop. Setelah itu, kami beristirahat sepanjang sore. Pada Rabu malam, pacar saya dan saya membantu ibu saya mempersiapkan makanan untuk Thanksgiving. Kami memasak sayur seperti ubi jalar dan kacang panjang. Untungnya, kami tidak harus memasak kalkun. Pada hari Thanksgiving pagi, kami membersihkan rumah dan menyiapkan meja untuk para tamu kami. Setelah itu, saya membawa anjing saya berjalan-jalan di sekitar lingkungan karena hari itu tidak terlalu dingin di luar. Kakak perempuan saya dan pacarnya datang dan makan dengan kami. Pada hari Jumat, keluarga saya lelah setelah merayakan Thanksgiving kemaren. Jadi kami semua beristirahat. Karena hari jumat adalah Black Friday, saya berbelanja hadiah online. Saya hanya membeli hadiah yang sedang diobral. Keesokan harinya, kami kembali ke Richmond.

My goals/objectives for these past two weeks:

• Complete chapter 7 “Keluarga Fatih,” chapter 8 "Mendaki Gunung," chapter 9 "Menyelam," and chapter 10 "Sumatra" in Let's Speak Indonesian Level 3.
• Meet with my language partners to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills
• Watch two Indonesian Movies with Indonesian subtitles.

Reflection:

I spent about 2 hours each week completing the three chapters. I also watched two Indonesian movies on Netflix -- The Raid 1 and Raid 2 (Highly recommend!). 

I learned/reviewed the following:

• Intransitive verbs with the meN-prefix;
• The conjunctions sambil and sementara;
• Expressing ability with the verbal prefix ter-;
• ; 
• Kata Benda Per-an; and
• Kata Kerja PeN-an.

These chapters included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partners for 4 hours -- 2 hours/week. Our time was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary.

In this cultural post, I talk about the varieties of Indonesian gamelan. 

Indonesian gamelan is generally grouped geographically, with three main styles:  the Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese. One important style of Sundanese gamelan is Gamelan Degung, which uses a unique subset of gamelan instruments with a pelog scale. Balinese gamelan, however, is characterized by its virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo. In addition, Balinese gamelan is often accompanied by theatrical dances, like Kecak. Moreover, compared to the other types, the Balinese have exceptionally active composers, writing new pieces for their ensembles. Javanese gamelan, on the other hand, largely stemmed from the courts of the 19th-century Javanese rulers. As such, Javanese gamelan tends to be slower and meditative than the other two types of gamelan. In contrast to the Balinese style, musicians in Javanese gamelan are allowed to and are even encouraged to improvise. It is not an improvisation in the Western sense of the terms, but more in the sense of being able to develop, embellish and "improve" a piece as it is being performed. Balinese music, however, is strictly composed and there is very little space for improvisation.

Having performed and watched both Javanese and Balinese types, I definitely prefer the Javanese type more. From my experience, the Javanese type is much more mellow, but still captures the power of the Balinese type. The singing component between the two is really different too. Whereas the Balinese singing is more folklorish (if that is a term), the Javanese singing tends to be deep, rustic, and powerful. The melodies are different too. The singer's pace in Javanese gamelan is naturally more subdued compared to his/her counterpart in the Balinese type. The Balinese type definitely lives up to its description: extremely fast, which, for me, seems a bit chaotic. 

Sources:

http://www.musis.ca/matsu_take_eng/3_AMG_Java_Bali.html

The attachment is my reflection paper #2.(The Final reflection paper)

Reflection%20paper%20%232.docx

My goals/objectives for these past two weeks:

• Complete chapter 4 “Kesulitan Mahasiswa,” chapter 5 "Ibu Lia dan Keluarganya," and chapter 6 "Mencari Pekerjaan"  in Let's Speak Indonesian Level 3.
• Meet with my language partners to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills
• Watch two Indonesian Movies with Indonesian subtitles.

Reflection:

I spent about 2 hours each week completing the three chapters. I also watched two Indonesian movies on Netflix -- Headshot and Galih dan Ratna. 

I learned/reviewed the following:

• Narrating from two points of reference;
• ;
• The conjunctions untuk and supaya;
• The benefactive function of the verbal suffix -kan;
• The accidental function of the verbal prefix -ter; and
• The conjunction sehhingga.

These chapters included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partners for 4 hours -- 2 hours/week. Our time was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary.

In this cultural post, I talk about wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) and its relations to gamelan. The art of shadow puppetry spread to Java with the spread of Hinduism. Shadow puppetry consists of shadows thrown by puppets manipulated by rods against a translucent screen lit from behind. The puppet itself is made from ornately painted leather. The plays that use shadow puppetry are set in mythological times and dramatize episodes from the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. These performances usually occur from late at night until early in the morning. The person who manipulates the puppet is called the dalang (puppeteer). 

Wayang Kulit appear on television and radio and recordings are available in stores. Most major dalang are descendants of the families of traditional performers; however, in the twentieth century there began to be performers who were not trained by their own elders.

Wayang plays are usually featured on important occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. In addition wayang kulit performances are usually accompanied by gamelan orchestras wherein dalang and the leader of the gamelan have to be in sync in order for the play to run correctly. The musicians sit behind the dalang. The performances are accompanied by female singers (pesinden) and male singers (wirasuara).

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/art/wayang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang_kulit

http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-information/history-indonesian-puppet-theater-wayang

For my third artifact, I chose to write about Indonesian history -- starting from 1900 until 2000. The 20th century was a seminal time period for Indonesia. It secured its independence, recovered from a coup, and witnessed genocidal violence against supposed communists. In the artifact below, I work on narrating events, shifting time frames, the verb + -kan suffix, and the passive di- prefix.

Paragraf ini adalah tentang sejarah Indonesia dari tahun sembilan belas lima puluh hingga tahun dua ribu. Pada tahun seribu sembilan ratus, Belanda menguasai Indonesia. Pada tahun seribu sembilan ratus empat puluh dua, Jepang menginvai Dutch East Indies dan selama perang dunia kedua, Jepang menduduki Dutch East Indies. Pada tahun seribu sembilan ratus lima puluh lima, Jepang meninggalkan, dan pemimpin nasionalis Sukarno menyatakan kemerdekaan. Dari tahun seribu sembilan ratus empat puluh lima hingga tahun seribu sembilan ratus lima puluh sembilan, ada perang kemerdekaan antara Indonesia dan Belanda. Pada tahun seribu sembilan ratus empat puluh sembilan, Belanda mengakui kemerdekaan Indonesia. Dan pada tahun seribu sembilan ratus lima puluh, Soekarno menjadi presiden dan Indonesia adalah anggota UN. Paragraf ini adalah tentang peristiwa penting dalam sejarah Indonesia dari tahun sembilan belas lima puluh (1950) hingga tahun dua ribu (2000). Pada tahun sembilan belas empat puluh sembilan, Indonesia menjadi independent. Soekarno, presiden pertama, menjabat sampai tahun sembilan belas enam puluh tujuh (1967). Pada tahun sembilan belas enam puluh lima 1965, ada kudeta yang gagal dan banyak komunis terbunuh dan dibersihkan. Pada tahun sembilan belas tujuh puluh Sembilan (1979), Timor Timur menjadi mandiri dan Indonesia menginvasi Timor Timur pada tahun sembilan belas delapan puluh (1980). Pada tahun sembilan belas sembilan puluh sembilan (1999), pemilihan bebas diadakan untuk pertama kalinya, dan Abdurrahman Wahid menjadi presiden.

My goals/objectives for these past two weeks:

• Complete chapter 1 “Teman Lama,” chapter 2 "Dua Sekawan," and chapter 3 "Hidup Baru"  in Let's Speak Indonesian Level 3.
• Meet with my language partners to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills
• Watch two Indonesian Movies with Indonesian subtitles.

Reflection:

I spent about 2 hours each week completing the three chapters. I also watched two Indonesian movies on Netflix -- Filosopi Kopi and The Night that Comes for Us. I had an easier time watching the latter with Indonesian subtitles as it was mainly action scenes. With Filosopi Kopi, I paused frequently throughout to read the subtitles as the informal register was mainly used. Plus, the informal registered was heavily influenced by Jakartan slang.

I learned/reviewed the following:

• Nominalization of verbs using -nya;
• Indefinite pronouns formed from question words plus saja;
• Possessive noun phrase: Noun + yang + noun + -nya + adjective;
• Yang clause with the passive verb;
• The locative function of the verbal suffix -i; and
• The prepositions untuk, buat, atas, bagi, sebagi

These chapters included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partners for 4 hours -- 2 hours/week. Our time was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary.

My progress to date has been smooth and steady. In the main, I have been on schedule. My learning plan has been effective. (In the past, my learning plans have been too ambitious. I think that I do this intentionally at the beginning of the semester so as to push me throughout the semester.) For each chapter, I have completed activities that are tantamount to language artifacts.  It is an excellent source for activities -- be they written, oral, and listening. For this reason, I chose to stick closely with the books I have selected and not be adventurous with other sources. However, the volume of the material could be deceiving for someone who is learning independent of a classroom environment.

I have met with my language learning partners consistently every week. In our meetings, we cover reading, speaking, and writing activities. Meeting with both Ibu Juli and Thalia is definitely effective. First, it gives us students more speaking practice, which I think is my weakest aspect. Second, Ibu Juli mainly covers the formal language and Thalia covers both the formal and informal language registers. So, I think they complement each other nicely. A

I will stay the course for now. I do not anticipate any changes I will make to finish the semester. 

Untuk artefak kedua saya, saya akan menulis tentang arti "Malaikat Juga Tahu," sebuah lagu Indonesia. Lagu ini tentang seseorang yang mencoba membantu teman yang memiliki autisme. Teman mengatakan bahwa orang lain melihat tubuhnya, bukan kepribadiannya. Teman itu juga kesulitan menjadi teman baik. Temannya meminta dia untuk membuktikan kepadanya bahwa dia memiliki cinta sejati. Jadi teman itu tidak mau meninggalkannya sendirian. Tapi, teman itu mengatakan bahwa para malaikt tahu siapa pemenangnya, artinya, orang-orang yang baik. Jadi, dia menyuruh temannya untuk terus berjalan. Saya suka lagu ini karena saya bertemu orang-orang dengan skizofrenia di Bali, Indonesia dua musim panas lalu. Mereka membutuhkan teman untuk mendengarkan dan bersama mereka. Orang-orang di komunitas baru saja melihat penampilan mereka. Tapi, mereka pintar dan bagus. Dan para malaikat tahu siapa pemenangnya.

For my second artifact, I chose to write about the meaning of a beautiful Indonesian song. The song is about someone who tries to be a good friend to a person with autism. While others in the community may judge him to be mentally challenged and ugly, the singer says that the angels know who the real champion is. 

Language is the fundamental step of communicating and influencing others, through the medium of reasoned discourse, to tell others what we believe or act. I enjoy earning a new language. Besides my home language, I learned English and Japanese. My experience learning these languages is fantastic. Getting new foreign friends, listening to the foreign song and watches their TV shows are approaches that I started language learning. During my learning experience, there are some points I like while others I dislike.

I enjoy learning language by myself because I always insist that interest is always my best teacher. Take my Japanese language learning experience as the example. I love a girl group named AKB48 and I listened to lots of their song. From listening to their song, I started to learn some Japanese vocab and tried to mimic the voice they are making. Moreover, I watched a lot of Japanese TV show. From this ‘active learning’, my Japanese vocabulary accumulated. I find out that the vocab I gained through the active learning can be memorized more deeply and I will use them during my talking practice with Japanese friends. However, this kind of studying process is time-consuming and the vocab gaining speed is really slow. Considering watching TVs and music are my interest and I love Korean group and K-pop music, I will definitely use this learning strategy when I am self-learning Korean this time.

Another good strategy that makes my Japanese language learning easier is that many Japanese words I learn have the same meaning in Chinese. This is called cognate, basically meaning you are finding common words. Asian language is similar at many points, both in vocab and grammar. In this case, because there are many common words between Japanese, Korean and Chinese, I will make a vocab list and try to record all these words down. I find this process really interesting and can help me learn the language efficiently.

Besides learning alone, I really enjoy talking with my friends. When I was studying Japanese, I hang out with my Japanese friends weekly. I never feel shame or awkward when I say Japanese wrong because I know it is too normal to make mistakes during learning a new language. Talking with others is always my favorite part of language learning. They shared their life stories with me and talked about their culture. I love social, so taking part in group discussions or discussing a topic one-to-one with my friends are my strength. I believe language is the tool to help me communicate. In all, my final goal of language learning is always communication.

I also learn from my Japanese language learning about my weakness which I am going to improve during my Korean learning. I don’t like making plans and strictly following the plan, which makes my studying less efficient. This time, I believe that I need to make some short-time goal and long-time objective to track my studying process. Moreover, after doing the learning style survey, I find out that I am a visual learner and I received lots of good advice from the website. I will use flashcard to learn new words and write down keywords, ideas or instructions. The most important advice is that I will definitely use during my Korean learning is that I will draw pictures to help explain new concepts and then explain the pictures. I think this will improve my understanding of the new concept.

Nowadays the most popular music genre in Korea is hiphop. Hiphop is originated from America but trending all over the world. However, Korean hiphop is quite differently from American hiphop. Instead of gangster and rebellious lyrics, Korean hiphop is more about people’s emotions. Actually because of the cultural difference, most of Korean songs are ballad type music.

Generally speaking, Korean people care a lot how they look. Because of the prosperity of entertainment industry. Korean people are highly influenced by how the actors and singers dress. My friend told me a story of himself. He is a Korean but raised in the States, so he is rathe casual about what he is wearing. One time he went back to Korea to visit during summer, because the temperature was too hot so just put on a tank shirt and went out. He told me people are giving him weird looks wherever he goes. After that, he always spends a lot up dressing up before going out.

My friend told me in Korea, High school and Middle school, even Elementary school students face huge academic pressure. Because of the population of Koreans and limited amount of good schools. Young students face severe competition to get into a good college. I was told that Korea has the highest high school student suicide rate in Asia.

I find the Korean bowing culture really interesting. Not like in the states, bowing is a very common courtesy in Korea to greet elders and to show respect. Especially when a young boy/girl meet someone in his/her father age, they bow 90 degrees to show respect, and the longer you bow, the more respect you show. In some very traditional areas if you do not bow, you even get yelled at.

Here is a conversation I had with a Korean friend, Brenda.

Basically we are chatting randomly. She asked me  “How are you doing.”. I replied “Doing alright, I have a test tomorrow.” Then she said “What test is that? ” “Math” I replied.  Then she wished me good luck.

On the first day of class our language partner Evelyn showed us how to write my name in Korean. My Chinese name is 段博文 (Duan Bo Wen). Evelyn struggled when trying to translate my name into Korean, she told me that my name sounds a bit weird in Korean, people rarely use this name. The meaning behind my Chinese name is “Reads a lot and knows a lot”.