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When I saw the title of the first readings “Why Bilinguals Are Smarter” I first felt proud and delighted. I am in fact speaking more than one language and I cannot say that I did not feel flattered. However, after a second thought and before even looking at the second reading I had the same question in my mind what the other title questioned: "Are bilinguals really smarter?"

In fact, being bilingual has great practical benefits. It lets us communicate with a wider range of people and it also eases the learning of new languages. According to research, however, speaking more than one language affects cognitive processes as well. Apparently, the second language behaves as an interference, but it enables the brain to solve internal conflicts, which strengthens the cognitive muscles. Researchers have done several experiments in the recent years that showed that bilinguals have less problems to stay focused, switch attention and ignore distraction. Since bilinguals have to switch languages quite often they tend to be better at monitoring the environment. But does that really mean that speaking more than one language makes a smarter? Is our intelligence measured by the amount of languages we speak? Other scientists argue that it is the executive function that seems to be more developed in bilinguals. The executive function is a system that helps the brain to access certain memories when prompted. What I found interesting is the fact that we do not really mix languages. When I think about the languages I speak it is true that when I speak one language I do not mix up words or the sentence order with words and sentence structure from other languages. True, sometimes I cannot remember a certain word in one language, but I am able to fill in the gap with a word from another language. Scientists argue that for each language we lean we develop a lexicon which tells our brain how to use the word. Thus, the true relation between language and intelligence is unclear, but one cannot deny that languages improve cognitive processes and that beyond all the science of brain functioning, knowing languages makes us global citizens.  

We all have probably heard about “dead” languages - languages that used to exists, but are not spoken anymore. This usually happens due to the influence of other languages that are spoken by a wider range of people and due to the globalization of the world. Tribe languages seem to be on the edge of existence, because of the popularity of the primary language in a country. For example, English has pushed many languages to the brink. Although other countries and national languages have been resistant to the “English revolution”, languages spoken by a smaller group of people within an English speaking country have been vanishing. That happened to the Siletz language in the States. There were less and less people who spoke Siletz and it almost disappeared. Luckily, those that spoke the language found a way to maintain it. One tribe member worked on a dictionary for Siletz  in order to create a record of the language. That enabled other tribe members to practice it, but also enabled them to spread of the language to other countries and waken the interest in learning it. But what if they did not do it, if the language died. We would have not only lost the language, its vocabulary and grammar, but also a part of language history and history in general. For example, Latin is also a dead language that is not spoken, but has been maintained in script. Today it allows us to trace back the roots of modern European languages and find the connection between them.

Since I have a solid everyday vocabulary in German, I focused my studies on academic, historic, and scientific lexicon. I cannot tell in exact numbers, but I have learned on average twenty new words every week. I found several good websites that provide vocabulary on specific topics. I chose the topics randomly. I also did not learn the words in any order, because my level of German is high enough that I already know patterns in words. I would always create a quiz for myself and try to solve it before actually looking at the meaning of the particular words. After my first attempt I would check which words I got right, purely based on word roots, prefixes, suffixes and similar. Then I would go over the words and actually learn their meanings. I would check myself again. Then I would try to do the quiz, but now explaining the words in German and giving examples of their usage. I would do a quiz every week and after about three weeks, I would check myself on words that I have learned earlier and see if I still remember them. Besides, learning vocabulary on a “dry” basis, I have also unconsciously learned new words doing other learning activities, such as listening to German talks and watching shows. That way I also learned how to put words into context. I believe I have realistic goals for the acquisition of vocabulary, given that I already posses good German skills.

Understanding the history of language is crucial. It gives you a better understanding of the structure of  the language and the origins of words. Knowing the language family to which your target language belongs is important. You can try to find links and connections between the languages you already know and the one you are learning. It is much easier to adopt new words, if the origin or the root of them is the same as it is for the words in your mother tongue. For instance, I speak Bosnian and English, both Indo-European languages. Therefore it is much easier for me to learn German, than for example Turkish. Especially the link between German and English enabled me to evolve my skills in both languages. Since I know that there are common words in English and German it was easier for me to understand conversations and talks in either language without knowing all the exact words that are being used. Using my knowledge in both languages interchangeably enabled me to expand my skills. It is also no wonder that Latin is tought in many schools, altough the language itself is death - it is not spoken anymore. However, many European languages have Latin roots because of the spread of Christianity in Europe. Latin was a universal language in Europe and today it is a basis and a  bridge between almost all European languages. Thus, learning those roots eases the learning of other languages. Essentially, by studying roots we learn how to take apart words and use those parts to build new words.

I am thinking about choosing Korean Dramas as the topic of my culture project. Korean drama is not only something about handsome/pretty idols, it also reflects the belief and values of the current Korean generation as well as the targeted audience. For example, we can see that he topics of Korean dramas have changed a lot in the past 20 years, In the 1990s, most of the dramas were about cancer, car accidents, and sad stories. However nowadays Korean dramas become more positive and have more funny plots. Also more and more dramas focus on the areas of high technology, aliens, doctors and wars. Korean drama develops as the generation changes and it also shows the current trend of the country. Thus I think it would be cool to find the cultural and historical currency behind Korean dramas. 

My learning goal for this week is to figure out how to introduce myself in details. For example, how to say "I am from Shanghai,China. I am studying Business in University of Richmond. I like dancing and traveling." I am going to first search basic self-introduction information online to learn the basic structure of the sentence and then ask my Korean friends for more personalized details. I am going to record this on my phone so that I could show my friends and listen to it again to improve. I will also keep watching the YouTube program and Korean drama to gain more cultural knowledge as well as to get familiar with the language environment.

The video "Culture Shock" reminded me of many things that happened at the beginning of my college life. It is common that international students who study aboard will encounter “cultural shock” and have to step out of their comfort zone. For me, there are no exceptions. I am an international student from China, hanging out with my Chinese friends for eighteen years before I decide to start my undergraduate study in the U.S. When I was in orientation, I found that all other freshman were talking, laughing, icebreaking, only I was left and had no clue what they were talking about. The language barrier was certainly an issue to me, and I was afraid to speak in front of the class. However, all the professors and students were friendly to me, they encouraged me to express myself and gave me confidence. Then I realized that I came to the U.S wanting to embrace, not escape from the cultural difference.  As it is mentioned by the students in the video, I also participated in a lot of clubs on campus such as Peer Advisor and Mentor, Eight Left Feet Dancing Club and Sophomore Scholars in Residence. By participating in these activities, I gained life-long friends from Vietnam, France, England, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Those are the people who have the same interests as me, and they helped me went through the cultural shock.

Language serves as the means of communication across the world. However, language in each country is very different This can be attributed to the historical derivation of each country's language. Each country experiences a different process to develop the current language that they utilize. The final language developed in a country is a product of various historical occurrences. Several of the major factors I have seen in the development of language are the influence of other developed countries on less developed countries, the regional area and environment, and the overall culture of the country. Languages are also heavily influenced by the different customs and traditions in the country. For example, in South Korea, there is a high level of respect towards elders in the culture. When you address someone who is older than you in Korea, you must address them in a way that illustrates respect for your elders. Each country possesses distinguishing characteristics that are not only portrayed in the way they live, but also in the way they speak. 

Understanding a language's history helps you understand the culture of a country. Language serves as the most essential part of any community because it serves as the way people express themselves and communicate. By understanding the language of a country, you inherently learn more about the way you should communicate. 

Communicative competence combines the structural and cognitive characteristics of communication with social, cultural, and practical implications of a foreign language. It is essential therefore to master not only grammatical competence but also social competence in order to convey and interpret messages and to function in daily interpersonal exchanges. One should adopt communication and the context in which the language is used. Thus, one needs to understand the culture and the way the language is embedded in the culture. For me, it has been particularly important to focus on the socio-cultural competence while improving my German skills, because I have already mastered the grammatical competence. As Larsen-Freeman (2004) would say, we can focus on evolving a bond between the individual and others, namely to become a member of a community. The best way to develop this bond is through conversation. Besides taking a German class and engaging in discussion during the class meeting I am watching German shows (political, historical, but also entertainment). Additionally, I tried to find people I can talk to in German. Fortunately, there are a few German speakers on campus. Furthermore, I tried to keep constant contact with friends I met in Germany, either by text messages, emails or phone calls. All forms of conversation are essential. Text messages and emails enable communication in an even higher dimension because one needs to express himself/herself and respond without seeing the reaction of the contact person. Thus, one needs to understand the meaning of the words used, how they behave in the sentence, whether they are part of some idiom, phrase or expression, but also to distinguish feelings that are behind the words in order to understand the illocutionary force within the context. In the process of learning I also had to understand when my contact person is apologizing, complimenting, thanking, disapproving, or saying yes or no. Hence, to learn the pragmatic conventions it is essential to learn cultural aspects of the target language. It is critical to recognize how body language, gestures and eye contact work. In one of my journals I mentioned that keeping eye contact while talking to someone is important in Germany. It shows not only respect, but also attention from the other participant in the conversation. Learning how the culture uses body language to convey messages is crucial. Luckily, Germans use almost the same body language as other Europeans, and coming from this continent, it was easy for me to adopt the kinesics of the German culture. Still when it comes to kinesthetics I had to learn that Germans, similar to Americans, maintain personal space and do not like to be touched that often when having a conversation. Although I come from the same continent, I come from the southern part, where kinesics involves kinesthetics. Hence, to cope in German, I had to learn and I am still learning how to integrate cultural standards into the grammar and structure of the language. Thus, I believe that the best way to acquire the necessary competence in the language is done by naturally encountering with other Germans speakers.

I have wanted to take the Self-Directed Language course since my first semester. I finally have the space to do so.  I began learning Turkish simply to learn another language. Turkish was intriguing to me because it is unrelated to any language I’ve ever studied. Linguistic textbooks talk about the uniqueness of Turkish extensively. As a linguistic minor, I believe it is useful to know a language like Turkish.

Most of what I know about Turkey is from 7th grade world history. I have enjoyed learning more about Turkey’s rich history and culture throughout this course. This semester I am also taking a history course about WWI in the Middle East. I registered for the class thinking it would be about Arab countries, but it is primarily about the former Ottoman Empire and present day Turkey. It is neat that this course is overlapping into my other classes.

I am able to pick up languages fairly quickly. I can easily imitate the accent and memorize the phonology. In the early stages of language learning I have a lot of enthusiasm. However, if I don’t have enough motivation, I plateau. This is something I will try to work on throughout the semester and into next year. Meeting with my tutor has been so beneficial. I have tried teaching myself languages in the past and have failed, simply because I had no one to practice with.

The Self-Directed Language course actually does provide me with direction. If I were to try and learn Turkish completely on my own, I would not learn about the culture. I am more interested in the language rather than the culture in which it is spoken. This course pushes me to research Turkey’s history and culture just as a formal language course would.

So far, I have had a positive and productive experience learning Turkish through this course. I am really enjoying the language as well as learning more about the culture. Hopefully I will travel to Turkey one day and practice all that I have learned..

As the first time I have ever undertaken independent study that is not research or MCAT related, it has been difficult to really learn Korean effectively and efficiently. I think it is mostly because learning I am trying too hard to learn the language the same way I learned Spanish in school, which was by doing class worksheets and homework, learning the grammar and memorizing vocabulary. That seemed to work for getting me to read, but I could not really have conversations when I tried with native speakers. While my learning goal pretty much includes the same topics as what I learned in my first class in Spanish, I keep forgetting that my objective is to be able to speak Korean and not figure out just the grammar. I was frustrated for a couple weeks because I was learning different phrases but I felt I could not structure sentences because I was missing much of the grammar. I have to keep reminding myself not to get too stuck in the grammar and details and over all try to talk to myself using what I have learned to practice speaking. Sticking to conversation as the main goal has made me progress a bit faster. I think by the end of the semester I will be able to converse enough on a basic survival level at least. I think focusing on learning how to say certain things first also gives me more insight into the way language is structured and I will figure out the grammar eventually. But I also gain insight into the culture.

I have been able to make connections to the culture when I learn different phrases. For example, the Korean language really emphasizes the informal and formal distinctions when talking and using the wrong way can bring a bad impression. I see it even in dramas, sometimes the characters when they first meet they will start speaking formally even if they are near the same age and then they switch. They really notice when they switch from speaking formally to informally. Thus, I think this says that there is hierarchy in Korean society. Respecting elders is a must. Though, there are a bit formal ways to say things in the U.S. and we think that we should be respectful to elders, but even when I am speaking to my parent’s friends, I do not find that I speak so differently than I would to my friend. One thing I need to keep in mind is not to directly translate right away phrases or words that I learn to English because they might literally mean different things or there might not be an accurate translation of the meaning in English. For example when you want to express that you do not like something you can say “shiro”. It literally means I hate it, which is a bit extreme even if you do not really hate something. I do find it interesting that they use this phrase often for expressing when a person does not want to do something as well. 

As far as improving my communicative competence, I think watching more TV shows is a good start as I am really starting to recognize a lot of key phrases and words that I have learned in different contexts. That will help me learn to know when to use certain words. I think starting to practice with my other peers who are at a beginner level or even better would help as well to reinforce the lessons that I have learned.

I think the hardest thing for me is sticking to a consistent schedule. I'd usually fit in time in the weekends as well as before and after class to try to work on things. I think what worked for me is just having a to do list of chapters and lessons either in Mango or Korean from Zero that I want to work on and try to complete them by the end of the week. Originally when I started doing that, I think I was a bit too ambitious and I only ended up getting through about half the things. So I think going by the learning tasks outlined in the class calendar helps give me a focus as most of those learning tasks are in my learning goals anyways. What I'm really having trouble with is just actually retaining everything. I can start to pick up different grammar points in Korean shows that I watch and that's when I feel like I've actually learned something. But I think in addition to just using the end of chapter review questions in Korean from Zero and Mango, I think I have to come back to each lesson and review what I've learned weekly because I've been moving on from lessons and then realize that I forgot some of how to introduce myself again. So I plan on going over the chapter reviews at least 2 more times after I finish a lesson. As of right now I think I'm not going to change anything in my learning plan topic-wise as I think they are all basic topics that will be covered in the Korean from Zero book since I plan on finishing the book by the end of the semester. I've looked into apps that I could use to practice chatting like Eggbun, but since it's not available on iPhone, I've been searching for others such as Wespeke.

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

For my cultural project I'm really interested in looking into the plastic surgery culture in Korea. It is apparently the plastic surgery capital of the world. I've heard and read that most celebrities have had some plastic surgery and then even non-celebrities also are a part of the plastic surgery culture. I really noticed as I watched more and more dramas that Korean celebrities always look so perfect and I think even more perfect than American celebrities do in movies. Now I can pretty much guess which celebrity has had plastic surgery. I once asked my Korean friends what they think gives someone a beautiful appearance. They all seemed to want to be really thin, really pale, have big eyes, double eyelids. I think what I want to learn about this topic is really the psychology behind putting so much emphasis on certain appearances and having the pressure on people who feel like they have to put so much effort into it. I read that a high school student wanted double eyelid surgery as a reward for getting top marks on her exams. So I think there might be effects on self-esteem and confidence particularly for girls. Another thing I want to know is how the trend started and more on how people feel about the trend and how it is presented to people through media, kpop, etc. 

I find the Korean writing system to be interesting, particularly the way it's structured. I read that Koreans originally used the Chinese writing system, which consists of symbols that represent a word. The current Korean writing system, Hangul consists of an alphabet, but to make one sound of a word, the consonants and vowels are combined to make a block, which I think resembles the Chinese characters. One thing that confuses me about the way sentences are written is the use of spaces. So far I have seen instances where a whole sentence lacks any spaces in between words and than certain sentences where there are spaces between words. I haven't seen much explanation in any of my sources as to when to use spaces and when not to or if there even is a rule. After googling around I saw that general rules are that the noun and verb are separated by a space and same goes with noun, adverb and verb. There are no spaces with particles and verb endings however. 

My learning goals for this week are to work on being able to talk about family, particularly introducing where they are from, what they do, who I live with, my aunts and cousins. So specific vocabulary I will learn are family members first, and then occupations. I think learning how to say different homes like apartment or house would be helpful as well. I think I will continue to use Korean from Zero as they have vocabulary lists for people. I will also continue using Mango. There isn't really a chapter on how to introduce family, so I will integrating vocabulary and phrases I used for introducing myself to introduce my family. I will also search for different vocabulary lists online in case I miss something from just using Mango and Korean from Zero. 

Based on the surveys I took I am more or an aural learning. I do agree with it because I think I've always naturally picked up languages easier by listening. That's how I learned Thai from when I was little, I never had any formal instruction I was always just surrounded by it. I am better at basic french conversation than I am at the grammar because I learned it through my host family abroad starting as a beginner. Therefore, I think the best way for me to solidify what I learn in Korean is to hold conversations, which having a language partner would help with and also immersing myself possibly through movies, shows, dramas. I find that when I watch dramas I can mimic the accents pretty well and I pick up a lot of key phrases. My learning goals are not very ambitious, but it is mostly because I know that since I'm learning on my own I should be realistic because certain things may take longer to grasp learning through a workbook and having to reinforce it on my own rather than reinforcing it through class activities. I do just want to hold basic conversations, introduce myself, talk about what I do, what my family does and what they are like. I want to be able to ask for directions in case I go to Korea and get lost, and really just learn to ask basic questions like what is this? As for vocabulary, I want to build on food, clothing, body parts, places, specifically. 

I definitely noticed that the first way they teach you how to say greetings in certain books is in the formal way first. Some books do not even go into the informal part. What confuses me sometimes through watching Korean dramas is that with complete strangers sometimes the informal way is used, someone with close people the formal version is used. So I think having a language partner will definitely help to clarify when to use what.  My learning goals for this week are to learn the greetings such as hello and goodbye and maybe follow the first and second lessons in Mango languages to do so. I have looked through various books and found Korean from Zero to be the best. The format is easy to follow and it breaks down the grammar concepts bit by a bit well. I really like Mango so far because it is not so much focused on the grammar but more on getting people to know how to say things. The first lesson went straight into saying things like I am a Korean person and not really breaking up the different parts that structure the sentence. I do see this being problematic a bit particularly if I want more in-depth grammar explanations. But overall for my learning goals, I really just want to be able to say certain things and not over focus on the grammar. I used Byki a bit, but I did not really like the format. I think it is useful for vocabulary but I did not find it so easy to find specific lists for specific categories I wanted to learn from. I think Diigo would be potentially helpful for finding other resources but I do not think I will actually use it that much to bookmark anything. 

My learning goals for this week are to continue the Mango languages chapter 3, which goes into asking questions and asking for directions. I will also start using the Korean from zero workbook that I purchased. I will review the greetings section in there and move on to the next 2 chapters on numbers. For evaluation, there are end of chapter reviews for each Mango chapter. The workbook has practice problems, which I will use to gauge how well I am picking things up. 

My learning goals for weeks 4 and 5 are to solidify what I have been learning, which are numbers, greetings, and introductions and to move on towards being able to ask for directions, which I will learn through Mango lessons. Then building on my grammar skills through the Korean from zero book lessons which will include: this, that, and negatives; descriptive verbs, and pronouns and possessions. If I get through these easily, I will then start learning to talk about locations. To evaluate myself, I continue to use the chapter review at the end of each Mango Lesson to gauge how well I am able to answer the questions as well as complete the exercises at the end of each Korean from zero chapter I finish. 

I think in preparing to make my artifact, I realized how much I didn't know. I had been doing my exercises in workbooks and online and I realized that I couldn't quite remember how to form the sentences. I think my pronunciation is not so bad as I try to mimic the way I hear people speak in dramas. I realized after I posted my artifact that the way I said the my age might be wrong since I used the Sino-korean number version. However, I saw mixed information from my sources. I did create a conversation because I didn't think I had enough knowledge to make conversation. I think so far I'm having trouble keeping track with where I want to go. I have my learning goals, but as I go through my resources I find myself having to spend time more on basic grammar things first. I'm working in my workbooks, but I feel like it will really help to solidify the material when I have a language partner.