Blogs

Photography is hugely popular among middle- and upper-class Indians. My fiancé got into photography about 10 years ago, and he has worked very hard to build a photography company over the past 3-5 years. It is called Snapoholic, and he describes it as a "global community for photographers". He teaches photography workshops, leads photography walks (called SnapWalks) and photography trips (SnapTrips). (His work is also published in National Geographic and has been displayed in European exhibitions, but that is neither here nor there.)

He often collaborates with Fujifilm, a major photographic equipment company, to organize workshops. He had one called "Travel Companion Workshop," and he used a photo of me (and his hand) from Rajasthan as the background for the flyer!

Marvel movies (like Avengers and Wonder Woman) are HUGE in India. My fiancé tried to get a ticket for first few days of Avengers Endgame in Noida (near New Delhi). The ticket sales opened at midnight, and they were all sold within an hour!!

Here is a screenshot of my fiancé and I texting in Hindi about Marvel movies. I'm not a big fan, but he is a HUGE fan so sometimes he tries to explain it to me. The transcript is below.

Me: What is her name?

Him: Her name is Captain Marvel

Me: You like Marvel very much. Is Spider-Man Marvel?

Him: I like [Marvel] very much

Me: I read a Spider-Man book.

Him: Spider-Man was originally Marvel. But now the rights belong to Sony.

This past week and a half, Abhi and I have been working on skills related to time and transportation. We discussed how to bargain for a rickshaw trip, how to tell a driver where I want to go, and how to tell time.

Telling time in Hindi is a little different than in English. Whereas Americans may say "It's 6:45", an Indian may say "pona saat", which means "quarter til 7". They use a lot more "quarter-til," "quarter-past", and "half-past" than we do.

In Hindi they also have an assumed 1:00 when telling time. Thus, if you want to say 12:45 (quarter to 1) you simply say pona (quarter to). Similarly, there is a special word for 1:30. Instead of saying sare ek (half past one), you say a unique word der which is used only for 1:30 o'clock.

I have an idea for an activity to tie together a lot of the topics I have studied this year. I can write a one-day journal with many entries. Each entry would contain the following:

• the time
• my location
• what I am doing

Tigers do not ordinarily like to eat people. However, when a tiger is injured, old, or otherwise disturbed, they may adopt a diet of eating humans. In 1906 Jim Corbett, a British big game hunter, was called to India to protect the villagers from the man-eating tigers and leopards. Over the next 29 years, he killed a dozen of these animals which together had killed at least 1,500 villagers of northern India.

In the area where this all happened, India has enacted a national park called Jim Corbett Park. Oddly, it is a nature sanctuary and in particular a tiger sanctuary. The man who is famous for killing tigers got a tiger sanctuary named after him!

I have not directly visited Jim Corbett Park, but I have driven on a highway through it. It is beautifully preserved land. At one point during out journey, we saw a group of corn-roasters on the side of the road. We stopped and got to eat delicious freshly roasted and buttered corn in the middle of the jungle. The whole time there were monkeys watching us, and when we finished we threw the corn cobs into the jungle. The monkeys ran to gobble up the bits of corn from the cob. I hope next time I visit the north Indian mountains I can go to Jim Corbett Park.

Above is a picture of a tiger at the park. As you can see, safaris (jeep and elephant) are available.

The Indian railway system spans from the lush tropical areas of southern India to the much colder Himalayan mountains in northern India. It has historically been viewed with romanticism and a little bit of mystery. There are of course the famous pictures of overcrowded trains, with people hanging onto every surface of the train - inside and out! Then there is the gourmet service of first-class trains, with delicious Indian meals brought out on fancy dinnerware. You can experience the extremes of SES on an Indian train, from the non-air-conditioned (with 120F heat!) 3rd class, to the luxurious 1st class. Each train is a little microcosm of India. Everyone from an illiterate villager to a high government official rides trains. In fact, if you ever get a chance to go on an Indian train, and especially a second-class sleeper train, you may notice a certain passenger has an armed guard accompanying him. That passenger is most likely a politician, and is guarded at all times to keep him safe.

Below is a picture from Business Insider showing how crowded Indian trains (especially 3rd class) can get. Good luck getting a seat there!

https://www.businessinsider.com/indias-trains-are-insanely-crowded-2016-2#11000-trains-are-operated-every-day-in-india-3

This past week I mostly followed my learning plan. I completed my goals for Duolingo and Mango lessons, and I wrote two essays totalling about 280 words. I also learned the construction for "I want/do you want?" and I can use it to ask for basic needs.

Originally I had planned to study both household/hospitality and transportation last week, but Abhi and I decided to study home vocabulary both meetings. After we reviewed pronunciation of the words, we practiced using them by role-playing a hotel guest scene. Home vocabulary (rooms, household items, kitchen items, cleaning supplies, etc.) is very important for me because I will be managing a household in India.

This coming week I plan to solidify the household vocabulary and practice them by writing another essay and a written dialogue. I plan to practice with both Abhi and Ashish (my fiance).

This coming week I also plan to complete another 3 topics in Duolingo and another chapter of Mango. I also plan to ask Abhi to write a short dictation exercise using the home vocabulary, to help me practice writing. For specific topic goals, I want to be able to do the following at the end of next week:

1. Ask for transportation (ie rickshaw)

2. Give/ask for directions

3. Clarify what time and place an event is 

These goals are very relevant because I will need to travel places in India (like to my language school in New Delhi) and Hindi is helpful to speak with rickshaw drivers.

This week I wrote up a learning plan for the last four week of this semester. I used the ACTFL Can-Do statements to assess where I need the most work. I also reevaluated my practical goals for what I need to know to function in India. I wrote a 4-week schedule, with goals for each week in Duolingo, Mango, essential practical skills, vocabulary topics, and language partner meeting activities. 

I have been using Duolingo a lot, but it is getting tedious. All of the work is translating sentences to and from Hindi. While it was very helpful at first, it is now getting annoying to keep translating sentences like "Does she live in India or America?" and "Those men do not eat apples." over and over. I discovered that I could take the little tests to jump up levels, instead of slogging through every sentence. As long as I learn some new grammar and vocabulary, I still think it is helpful.

This week I also wrote a short writing assignment (160 words) introducing myself, my family, and my occupation. I did it in English script only because I don't know how to type in Hindi, but I know I should practice the Hindi script too. Because I use almost all online resources which have word banks, I am quite good at reading Hindi, but not at spelling and writing. If I want to test out of the beginner Hindi class in India, I will need to up my writing game.

I also need to start focusing on more vocabulary. Now I have a basic sense of how the language is put together (it's weird) so I really need more vocabulary to fill in the gaps. 

Bi-weekly Learning Report

We learned about money expression and how to describe the time period of the day. We also studied expression about different seasons and how to describe people and object by numbers.

새벽: dawn

아침: morning, breakfast

점심: noon, lunch

저녁: afternoon, dinner

밤: night

오전: AM

오후: PM

그제: day before yesterday

어제: yesterday

오늘: today

내일: tomorrow

모레: day after tomorrow

봄: spring

여름: summer

가을: fall

겨울: winter

날씨: weather

춥다: cold

덥다: hot

Money: 만오천원 (15,000 won), 십오만원 (150,000 won), 천오백원 (1,500 won), 백칠십원 (170 won)

Number of things: 영개, 한개, 두개, 세개, 네개…열개, 스무개, 서른개…

Age: 한 살, 두 살, 세 살, 열 살, 스무 살, 서른 살….아흔살

# of people: 한 명, 두 명, 세 명, 네 명, 다섯 명, 열 명, 스무 명, 서른 명…

Bi-weekly Learning Report

We continued to learn time expression and easy sentence to describe the time. We also learned how to ask and answer questions like “what day is your birthday?” and “what time it is now?” and “what date is today?”

Time expression:

Hour: 시

Minute: 분

Second: 초

For example:

(1)1:00 한 시

(2)3:10 세 시 십분

(3)4:30 네시 삼십분(네시 반)

(4)5:45 다섯 시 사십오 분/여섯 시 십오 분 전

(5)12:55 열두 시 오십오 분/한 시 오분 전

(6)9:15 아홉시 십오 분

Phrase:

What time it is?

지금은 몇시입니까?

What day is your birthday?

생일이 몇 월 며칠이에요?

Bi-weekly Learning Report

In the first two weeks, we learned about how to describe date and time in Korean. These phrases are commonly used in everyday life.

Month:

January／February／March／April／May／June／July／August／September／October／November／December

일월／이월／삼월／사월／오월／유월／칠월／팔월／구월／시월／십일월／십이월

Week:

Sunday／Monday／Tuesday／Wednesday／Thursday／Friday／Saturday

일요일／월요일／화요일／수요일／목요일／금요일／토요일

    My main accomplishment for this semester is finally finishing the book that my learning partner and I have been working on! I was warned that this book will have a somber ending, but I am rest assured because I heard that the second book of this series has a more cheerful ending! I might pursue reading this book during this semester or I might even just continue reading it after this semester and after I graduate to continue developing my reading skills!

    I also worked on reading comprehension because after I finished reading the book, I was given homework questions based on the book. This was a great way to apply what I learned because as mentioned in Bi-Weekly Report #3, I struggled with answering the initial questions because they were based on the beginning parts of the book, which I had trouble remembering. However, it got easier to answer the questions as I went along!

    Overall, I feel like my progress is going well as I am able to accomplish my goals and learn about new cultural ideas. For example, this semester, I have been learning a lot about “Hanja” as discussed in some cultural posts and I really enjoy learning about this because it helps make connections between the Korean language. As a result, I am happy with my progress so far and I’m looking forward to learning even more this semester!

In preparation for our next class, our language partner instructed us to find a news article on a topic of our choosing, read it, and come prepared to explain what it consisted of. I chose a news article on my favorite Korean actor, 하정우 (Ha Jung-Woo), which covered his preparation for an upcoming movie. The article discussed the challenge of having to learn English for his role, and how he practiced and learned English four months prior to starting production. It also provided details on his co-star 이선균 (Lee Sun-Gyun), who had the role of a North Korean. I was able to understand most of what the article talked about, and hope to start reading Korean articles on a more regular basis.

article: http://m.hankookilbo.com/news/read/201812191876042023?backAd=1

Staying on the topic of Korean history, our language partner provided us a section of a Korean learning textbook from the library. We read a section on Horace Grant Underwood, a missionary who helped develop Korean society and Christianity. Underwood founded the Chosun Christian College, which later became Yonsei University, a well-known top-3 educational institution in the country. We then looked at famous Korean paintings called the 일월 and 연화도. Each section was followed by a short quiz (fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, true or false). The activity required a dense amount of reading and analysis of the texts to answer the questions correctly. 

Writing Korean is like combine sounds into syllables, and since I have learned the vowels and consonants in Korean, I can already spell some easy words by listening to it without knowing the meaning. The way learning Korean and Chinese is so different because the Chinese words and pronunciation are two different systems which you cannot write the words by merely listening to its pronunciation without memorizing them before. So I prefer to type because there are still many words I forgot how to write them in my daily life, even I used a lot in everyday conversations. Smart computers can help me with that. By typing the Pinyin, hundreds of characters that pronounce the same will pop up, and I can easily find which I want.
In the previous classes, I learned how to say a simple sentence which means “I am…” in Korean. (eg. I am a student 나는 학생이다.)Last class, my teacher taught me how to say “I am not…” (eg. I am not a student나는 학생이 아니다.)and “Are you…”(eg. Are you a student? 학생 교사에게 있습니까). All of these sentences share a similar structure, so I believe that the complex sentences are combining simple sentences.

Moving on the the topic of Korean history, our language partner found a Korean comic book that covered the history of 3/1 절, the day that commemorates the March 1st Movement in 1919. The national holiday passed recently and I did not know of its significance or the historical context behind it, so as a Korean, it was definitely important for me to learn about it. On March 1 of this year, 33 Korean nationalists and students declared their nation's independence in Seoul from colonizing Japan. It started a nationwide civil protest and was a catalyst for the establishment of the Korean government. Although it was a comic book, the context and dialogue were factual statements on the history. As we went through the comic book, we asked questions on the meanings and events, simultaneously jotting down notes of the timeline, events, and notable people in preparation of the final exam.

To study the idioms (광용어), our language partner came up with a list of idioms and we carefully went through each one trying to guess what they mean by looking for familiar letters. We wrote down the idioms and its meanings right next to it. Following the idioms, we worked to expand our vocabulary by doing the same thing. Our language partner provided us with examples in sentences to see when it would be appropriate to use such terms. We are looking to be quizzed on these terms and idioms. 

IMG_2838.HEIC

Although South Korea's geography is very simple, I wanted to know more about the cultural offerings and what each province or city was known for. My language learning partner put together a powerpoint slide that covered each province's notable facts such as the size of the population, agricultural/industrial contribution, tourist attractions, and history. I learned that although very close to one another, each province was very distinct and had different things to offer. For instance, the southern province of 전라복도 (Jeollabuk-do) is widely known for its food. People from that province are known to be great cooks and have deep knowledge in Korean cuisine. In the south east, the province of 겸상남도 (Gyeongsangnam-do) is known to have 420 little islands off its coast. The province of 강원도 (Kangwon-do) is home to the country's best quality Korean beef called 한우 (Hanwoo). It is interesting to see how each province differs from one another despite the small size of the country, and it is equally as important to know the significance of the cities outside of the capital of Seoul. 

Discussion Post #9

What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?

For my last semester in SDLC, I hope to keep expanding my general knowledge of the Korean language and culture. Beyond the basic study of the Korean language, I wish to learn about the every-day communicational style such as commonly used slangs and idioms. To expand my knowledge of South Korea as a country, I am looking forward to learning more about the history, geography, college culture, social relationships, and hierarchy system. 

I have not yet learned how to write in Korean, but I suspect that I would prefer to write free hand. This is because typing would add the extra step of trying to find each individual character on the keyboard, whereas I could write quicker free hand. Although, if there are software-augmented shortcuts for Korean, I may prefer typing over writing free hand.

I do know that Korean words are often short. This is because each Korean word is comprised of only a few characters. This makes Korean much simpler than English, which can have ridiculously long words, such as “antidisestablishmentarianism.” I researched what the longest word in Korean is, and there are words with 41-46 Korean letters, but they describe incredibly specific things, such as a ceramic bowl from the Goryeo dynasty. Other than a few outliers, most Korean words have no more than five characters. This makes Korean much easier to learn after learning the alphabet.

Korean sentences are structured as either “subject + verb” or “subject + object + verb.” For example, the sentence “Eden plays” is structured the same in Korean and English, but “Eden plays violin” would be “Eden violin plays” in Korean. Therefore, directly translating a sentence from English to Korean would make no sense! As for writing complex sentences, the best way I have found is to break them up into simple phrases.