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Throughout this year, my opinion on my learning habits and preferences did not change significantly. I still believe that I am a mix of a visual and a tactile learner. I understand information better by writing it out, color coding, visualizing, sitting in the front of the room, but I remember it better if I act it out, walk while reading, or arrange it in thematic groups. A few keys habits/needs I’ve noticed in terms of my learning processes are the following: 1) I cannot memorize information that is typed out or written by someone else – it needs to be my own writing. I am not sure if that is because of my handwriting or the way in which I organize information. In the same vein, I tend to understand and retain information better if it is written in blue ben (if color-coded, the basis color would be blue). 2) No matter how good someone is at explaining concepts, I may understand them I the moment they are being explained to me, but if I don’t go back and rework them o my own, I will rarely remember them. I have the same issue when I don’t understand the reasoning/logical continuation leading to an idea or a result. I have a hard time remembering a fact if the why behind it has not been explained to me in a logical manner. 3) I love trees and charts! If there is a way in which I can depict information in a tree, showing the relations between key ideas, then I will do it, because that is the easiest way for me to understand and remember all the information associated with it. Same for charts; pros and cons are a prime example; I would much rather write them as bullet points in two columns than in a paragraph or sentence(s).
For language learning specifically, I have noticed both with Spanish and English that I learn much faster by being forced to speak (i.e. being thrown into a country that only speaks that language) or by interacting with native speakers; asking them questions, having to paraphrase what I want to say in very simple terms, even including pantomime, because I have no other way of communicating my thought to them. Then what usually happens is they figure out what I’m trying to say and say it in that language. When this happens, whatever it is I was trying to covey, I will not easily forget later on because much time and attention were spent on it, and I tried to figure it out myself (going back to the learning styles).
Another strategy that I find works really well for me when learning a language (in addition to the ones mentioned before) is listening to songs in that language, looking up the word-for-word translation of the lyrics, and reading along while the song is playing. That way I have the general sense of what the song is about, and more or less what each word means, so when I have to recall said words I will remember them in the context of the song and will hence be much more likely to remember what they meant.
I really enjoyed the cultural stereotype beat-boxing video, as well as our discussions on the effects of language on learning. The topic of dead languages or dialects reminded me of a similar chapter I did in English literature in high school, where I had to read the story of an Italian family that migrated to the US, and write a diary entry as one of the children in that family. Language is an integral part of a people, and without knowing it, we can never really understand them fully. Thus, regardless of where I will raise my family and what other languages are spoken in the household, I have decided that my children will have to learn Greek.
In Greece, construction is very different from in America. For the most part, people live in houses that they or their ancestors built. Nobody buys houses, but they are passed down through the family. The housing market is slim, and the houses themselves are substantially different from American homes. Here, where wood is plentiful, most houses are made of wood; likewise, houses in Greece are mostly made of stone, since it is cheap and accessible. We have received criticism for buying homes like possessions and for building them out of flammable materials. Without going into a roasting session, the ideas of building a home a particular way are as foreign to the opposite sides of the Atlantic as the languages are.
This entry is light, but an observation that seemed strange to me. In English, we are taught the almost limitless importance of etymology, knowing which words come from Greek, Latin, Germanic, etc. While I asked Smaragda the etymology of a particular Greek word, she answered “That’s just what it is. There is no etymology.” I was floored, but then realized that many Greek words were made up by Greeks , and did not have any real history before them. Many other words are just compounds of Greek morphemes, and so the etymology that Greeks care about only extends as far as Greek. According to the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, everything comes from a Greek word, and that’s as far back as it goes.
Smaragda and I recently discussed the Greek military in one of our classes, and I was curious as to the difference between our cultures regarding the military. In North Carolina, many people join the military or are affiliated in some way. Where I’m from, some high school graduates went to work, a small handful went to college, and the majority went straight into the service. It’s a way of life and an expectation that we all serve in some capacity. Greece has a slightly different cultural association with the military. While it is not quite an expectation to join, many of the young men and women enlist for the job security coupled with the opportunity to serve. Greece has come into some hard times, and such government jobs are the closest thing to a guarantee for a job.
Since I’ll be in Greece over Christmas, I will need to know what is happening. With this in mind, Smaragda and I strayed from our syllabus and focused a week on Christmas in Greece. Many of the traditions are not terribly different from America’s, but with a few notable exceptions. While America can secularize even a religious holiday, Greece acknowledges the secular aspects but overpowers them with religious traditions. To name a few, they bake special breads, cakes, and cookies, which are blessed by Saint Nicholas. The young men swim a race to retrieve a wooden cross that a priest throws into the sea, and the winner and his home are blessed well for the year. Everyone goes to church on the three big days of Christmas (Christmas, New Year’s, and Epiphany), and the focus of the holiday is not lost to commercializing a sentiment, but given to prayer and preparation for the new year. Of course, the feasting is not to be overlooked, but the fervent focus on the religious celebration awes me, especially since I am not Greek Orthodox.
Here is a video of the race for the cross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbpwp_3Aq4c
One of my Greek friends, Myrsini, has been an immense help to me in my study of Greek. She wants me to learn as much as she can possibly teach me. Myrsini and I will have lunch sometimes, and during the whole meal, she will only speak to me in Greek. If I ask for a clarification, she just hits me and says “You should know this”. She usually says that much in Greek too. She firmly believes in the immersive approach, and while I do believe that it is a very useful tool. In part, Smaragda admits to putting Myrsini up to it, but wwe all know that she would have been more than willing to immerse me. They call this immersion a baptism into the culture, but sometimes it feels a little bit like drowning. I don’t mind, because when I do come up for air, I appreciate the knowledge and insight I’ve gained from our conversations. I’m counting Myrsini as one of my indispensable cultural artifacts.
In our class this week, Smaragda told me all about coffee in Greece. She describes it as being necessary as water to Greeks. Greeks drink coffee at least a couple times a day, and never for less than an hour or two at a time. She says that drinking coffee is a very mandatory part of visiting Greece. I drink coffee maybe once every month of two, so I will have to pick up the pace before going over. We built a sample menu for a coffeeshop to help ingrain it in my mind and help me familiarize myself with the different types of coffees commonly available. I’m including a short slideshow as a cultural artifact.%CE%9A%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1.pptx
Learning Plan with Self-Assessment Portion Attached
- Powerpoint Slides
Angella Lee's Cultural Presentation
- Summary of Presentation
My cultural presentation was about my cultural experiences while I was abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea. I talked about the currency and transportation aspects during my presentation because these were two parts of South Korea’s culture that I was uncertain about.
During my presentation, I talked about the metro aspect of the public transportation system because that was the one that I mainly used. I also talked about the different types of currency and how they are different from that of the U.S. I practiced what I learned about these topics by saying in Korean how to add money to your transportation card.
Overall, it was great to apply what I learned in this manner and get to reminisce over when I actually had to use these ideas while I was abroad at South Korea!
Coffee is one of the stereotypical Greek pastimes, but the stereotype is well-earned. They love their coffee, so we couldn’t avoid a unit on Greek coffeeshops and coffee types. I was more than happy to learn about these, since most of the words had English cognates, and coffee is a fun and useful. Beyond vocabulary, I learned the significance of coffee and the respect that each cup must be given, very slowly sipped over the course of hours. Culturally, it has huge significance as one of the universal pastimes in Greece, much more so than in America, so I need to know this for when I go to Greece.
Smaragda taught me about family trees, and all the terms for different members of a family. Some of these are eminently natural, like μαμά for mother. Some needed a little bit of thought, like αδερφός for brother (think Philadelphia), while others seemed to have no English connection, like παππούς for grandfather. I do prefer when everything is a cognate, but I just sat down and memorized some the hard way. This will be useful because I will be introduced to Smaragda’s family in Greek, and will need to be able to keep track of who is who to whom.
Since I will be in Greece over Christmas, I asked if we could do a week studying Greek Christmas. Smaragda agreed, and taught me dozens of words and traditions that mark a proper Greek Christmas. I was elated to be able to converse about the holidays, and being able to wish someone a merry Christmas and a happy new year filled me with joy. This is the first step to really empathizing with Greek culture, by feeling that joy that Christmas brings. Feeling it in the target culture is a gigantic step towards understanding it fully.
We realized fairly late in the semester that if I went to Greece and didn’t know how to introduce myself, then I would have a hard time getting to know anyone. I learned how to tell people who I am, where I am from, who I am with, and make very small talk. Instead of writing, this exercise was completely verbal, which of course makes much more sense, and when I can naturally ask someone in Greek how their day has been, I will be able to do so more gracefully than trying to remember words from a page.
In the second and third week of the semester, Smaragda and I planned to exclusively work on accenting rules and grammar. We broadened that focus to also include a large amount of vocabulary, to start putting the accenting into practice. We laid out a table with the rules, and laid out a long list of words to apply accent marks to. It seems to have worked well, since I can now see and hear words and know how to pronounce them. Before, I used to consistently butcher words, but now, if I suspect that a word has a cognate, I can quickly figure out how to properly accent it. This is useful, since the accenting can help me recognize cases and tenses in some words, and guide me in learning more.
One of the focal points in Greek life is food. Many hours a day are spent either eating or drinking, so to know what I am talking about means I can learn recipes and ask for certain foods at restaurants. Smaragda gave me a list of over a hundred words for fruits, beans, meats, and vegetables, as well as many complete dishes. Being able to navigate the food scene, especially around Christmas, one of the heaviest feasting seasons of the year, will be invaluable.
This week’s lesson focused on nouns. We discussed the names for the various categories, and talked about the genders and cases. Most importantly, we covered how to tell them apart and interpret them. Some of the endings are the same among different genders, so this involves some rote memorization of endings for some words which defy the regular rules. I just had to pound away at them to memorize, but the entire language can’t just come naturally to me, so I am at peace with that fact. Some of these frustrated me at first, but I became more used to seeing the irregularities and accounting for them, and have made the recognition of case, number, and gender much more naturalized.
I recently went out to dinner at a Greek restaurant with all the Greeks at UR. The meal was a very long, loud affair, without a single word of English during those hours. Smaragda had told me a little about Greek dining before we went, and I thought I was prepared for it then, but I realized I was mistaken. I knew what to eat with the hands and what to use a fork for, what things were communal and which I had to take to my own plate. I knew how to pair foods and sauces, and how to slop pita in salty oil and salad juices just right, but none of these seemed to matter. Despite my trying to fit in, they paid me no attention. It seems that something about Greek food reminds them of home, and puts them back into “Greek mode”. The entire time, the table was just bursting with incredibly loud laughter and unbelievably fast talking. I had hoped to pick up a few words during the course of the evening, but I came away far more confused than before. Included is a picture from the beginning of the meal.GreekonCary.jpg
We flipped the syllabus for days of the week and numbers with the week for accenting rules, since we figured that those would serve me better earlier. These lessons, while simple, can be very useful while I am traveling in Greece, and are part of every language class, so we would not are to overlook them. In Greek, the numbers are easy for me to remember because they are loose cognates with numerical words familiar in English, and the days of the week are easy to remember because most of their names are their number (eg, Monday is “second day”). These two topics pair well because of this, and since bth are useful and fundamental, we put them this early in the course.
