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Cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people from different cultures and different backgrounds. In order to be able to understand cultural competence and the reason behind why people think and behave the way they do, we need to learn one´s traditions, values and norms. What might be considered rude and strange to one group of people, does not necessarily mean that it will be perceived the same way in another culture. We need to be aware of cultural competence, and we develop it by examining our biases and prejudices.

It is crucial to understand communicative competence (CC) because it enables us to interpret and convey messages that are received. CC is the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals. In Canale and Swain's definition, there are 4 different categories that make up CC:

- grammatical competence (also called linguistic competence)- is the ability to use grammar and vocabulary

- discourse competence - is knowing how to interpret the larger context and see a whole picture, for example knowing how to put words and sentences together to create conversation

- sociolinguistic competence- is knowing how to respond to language appropriately, in certain settings and under different conditions

- strategic competence- is knowing how to recognize when communication fails and knowing how to repair it, for example the ability to recognize when I or somebody else is misunderstood and the ability to fix the problem

Nonverbal communication is a very important part of communication as it is sometimes considered more effective than words.We may think that nonverbal communication is universal but it is not. Every culture interprets body language, facial expressions and gestures differently. Therefore it is important to understand nonverbal communication of one's culture. It is important to remember that our body is always saying something even when we are not speaking.

Knowing a language's history can definitely impact how you learn that language, because it provides you with a wider view of understanding. History allows you to compare the language you're studying with the language it descended from, and allows you to see how it transformed along the way. It's also useful to see how your language spread throughout the rest of the world. In my case, studying Italian, history plays a major role. Italian is a Romance language descended from Latin. Out of all the Romance languages, it is the most linguistically similar to Latin in terms of vocabulary. This was helpful to me as a student. I learned Italian originally in elementary school when I lived there, but my middle school back in the US required us to take Latin. Knowing how Italian worked really helped with Latin grammar and similar words, and then I was able to understand Italian vocabulary better because I could relate the Latin roots to them. When I studied Italian for a second time (in college, and then living in Italy again), my four years of Latin background helped make it relatable in addition to the Italian basis I already had. Latin was spoken commonly on the Italian Peninsula until the early 14th century, until the Florentine dialect began to take precedence. This later developed into standard Italian. Italian is also a language characterized by many dialects. This resulted from all of the different regions in the Italian Peninsula being separate kingdoms until Italy's unification in 1861. At that point, Italian derived from the Florentine dialect took precedence as the "mainstream" standard--although only 2.5% of the Italian population could speak that standard language in 1861! Today, knowing standard Italian can help (somewhat) in seeing how the dialects differentiate. Two variations are so different that they're considered "official regional languages" (Sardinian and Friulian). I lived in Sardinia when I was young and didn't experience this too much in the particular area where I lived, but there was definitely a distinction inland in some of the much older towns. Fortunately, both of the areas I lived in Italy (northeast Sardinia and Rome) spoke the central Italian dialect, which is most similar to standard Italian. One of my favorite Roman sayings is the greeting "salve" (pronounced sal-vay), which shows the extent of Latin's effect on Italian...the Roman salutation is also "salve" (pronounced sol-way)!

Placeholder journal...I don't actually have any artifacts since I'm not enrolled in 110! However, the methods I'm using to practice my Italian include watching Italian movies (and trying not to use the sottotitoli!), listening to some Italian songs or news reports, and reading some Italian articles when I get a chance. I also have been following some major current events stories taking place in Italy; namely, the selection of the new pope and the coverage of Elezioni 2013.

It is very important to learn the history of the language you are studying. Language is a very important component of culture, and knowing its history helps in understanding many things. For example, Hebrew shares a lot of its grammar with Arabic and its alphabet is very similar to the Assyrian alphabet. When I first heard my friends speak Hebrew, I could recognize words or whether they are speaking about a guy or a girl. This did not make sense to me because similar languages can share words, but sharing grammar is not usual. Now that I know the history of Hebrew, I know how this is possible.

Hebrew was not spoken since the second century CE. It became the language of the Hebrew scripture only and it was read a few times a year. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a movement was initiated to restore Hebrew as a spoken language. The initiation was based on the religious importance of speaking Hebrew. The majority of modern Hebrew is based on Biblical or scripture Hebrew, but a lot of the grammar and words are taken from Arabic, English, Russian, and Latin. The alphabet used in modern Hebrew is the simple square alphabet that originates from the Assyrian Aramaic alphabet.

This past week, Milica and I decided to taste some Eastern Europe. Last semester, we went to Balkan Restaurant. This semester, we visit two food markets here in Richmond: Aida European Food Market and 2M Mediterranean Market and Deli. I am happy to say that I used some Bosnian, and the store owners were very receptive and amused. The host at 2M fed us free hummus. It was delicious. And he bragged about his adopted Guatemalan son in elementary school, who is loved by all women, loves going to Bosnia, is sweet, straight A award winning student. It was one of the cutest promotions I've ever heard. A picture of the man is attached in the word document. marketPics.docx When they heard an Asian man speak their language with some decent pronunciation, it looked as if though they were doing all they could not to burst out laughing. Anyhow, the food was good and I thought the people were friendly. I am now familiarized myself with some Eastern European (and some Western European) food/dessert delicacies. I've attached a word document with some pictures.

I believe that learning a language's history can definitely help you learn the language. Language is not only about memorizing vocabulary and grammar, but exploring culture, its people and tradition. In the first place, there must be something intriguing about the country or culture that made us want to learn the language. We need to know the history of language because it is the key to the understanding of the way things are and why they are that way. History is a major component of learning a language, and it is, to my mind, one of the most enjoyable aspects of acquiring a new language. If you choose to learn about a language's history, it will not only make your learning process more interesting, but you will get to appreciate little things about your target language that will definitely keep you motivated to work harder. 

Here is a quick history of Turkish language:  

Turkish language belongs to Ural-Altaic family of languages. The Ural-Altaic languages are distinguished from the Indo-European by: 

•  the absence of gender
•  adjectives precede nouns
•  verbs come at the end of a sentence 

During the Ottoman Empire (1453-1920), there were 3 languages used at that time:

• Arabic- language of religion
• Persian- language of art and literature
• Ottoman Turkish- language for the business administration 

These three languages belong to 3 different language families: Semitic, Indo-European, and Ural-Altaic. These languages are very different in terms of grammar, pronunciation and spelling, and they caused many difficulties in spelling and writing among people who spoke it. For these reasons, during the 19th century there was a reform of the language. The aim was to create a language that would be easier to read and write and would contain more Turkish words. 

Turkish leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had a goal to create a language that was more Turkish, and less Arabic and Persian. His goal was to produce a more modern language that would be easier to learn and pronounce. This process was accomplished by switching from Arabic alphabet to Latin alphabet as well as purification of the vocabulary. 

In May 1928, numbers that were up to that time written in Arabic were replaced with Latin alphabet. Transition from one alphabet to another one lasted only a few months. On January 1, 1929, it actually became unlawful to use the Arabic alphabet to write Turkish. 

Today, Turkish possesses rich vocabulary and is spoken by more than 70 million people throughout the world. Turkish speakers reside primarily in Turkey, Germany, Cyprus, Bulgaria and other parts of Eastern Europe. 

I've attached a review of Balkan Ghosts:

balkanGhostsReview.docx

In these last two weeks, I learned ~40 vocabulary words. These words included country names, common environmental features (road, steps, glass), words to describe the architecture or landscape I'm likely to see (peaceful, magnificent, trademark), and miscellaneous words I heard in songs or was just curious about (shame, power, addictive, things, busy, message, always).

I'm through about one half of Ivo Andrič's The Bridge on the Drina. I have been told that if I can understand this book, I can not only understand Bosnia, but the story of the Balkans. I'll write a review for an artifact at some point. Nevertheless, I'll go ahead and write my thoughts/what I've learned thus far. First, the bridge on the Drina river by the town of Višegrad is important. The author comes out and says that "the story of the foundation and destiny of the bridge is at the same time the story of the life of the town and of its people" (21). Second, the bridge was built on the command of the Ottoman Empire. It was extraordinarily costly and was in large part, built with the unpaid labor of Serbian Christian peasants and better treated Bosnian Muslims. Third, fear, cruelty and brute force are terrifyingly powerful weapons. Within the first one hundred pages, a man named Abidaga, the Turk responsible for completion of the bridge, quashes a small rebellion by private, and then public torture. There were nails torn from hands and feet, and a live impaling. The impaler was paid extra for avoiding major organs, so as to keep him alive for as long as possible. Fourth, and this is connected with the last comment on fear, is a theme of powerlessness in the face of misfortune or fate. It's heartbreaking. The ideal story is that of a the story of a young girl who kills herself, as what she sees the only option, rather than marry against her will (110). There are also heads of decapitated rebels and forced baptisms. It's quite irking. The final theme I've noticed is about the impermanence of sensation, memory, pain, all things essentially as a solemn, rather than embraced truth. The book has moments of intensity that sort of fade out-- the author makes a special point to emphasize impermanence, using the bridge as a sort of still anchor.... a sort of helpless feel to the story.... it's depressing.

As in the last meetings, Milica and I would talk about our days or weekends, and then jump into the flashcard game. This week, we reviewed commands, also called the imperative form. We'd have fun telling each other to listen, come over, write, read, etc... We've also started to discuss famous places in Bosnia. So this time I read about Sarajevo, and then we talked about it in Bosnian. I learned that Sarajevo, the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is famous for several reasons: the bridge on which Franz Ferdinand was killed (ignited WWI), an eternal fire commemorating the victims of WWII, famous religious landmarks, and a famous market that smells like Turkish food, according to Milica.

For a long time I have been thinking what artifacts I will use to document my learning. I have thought of using Audacity, as it is recommended by this blog. However, I have realized that the choice of my artifacts will depend on what goal I achieve. For example, I used Audacity when I learned how to correctly pronounce words in Turkish and read simple Turkish stories (which I not necessarily need to completely understand at this point). I believe that audacity can be a very helpful tool in recording my voice while reading a specific story because I (together with my partner) can just listen to it afterwards and hear where I make mistakes. I can also record the same story after a certain period of time and compare the old audacity file with the new one. This way, I can grade myself and realize whether my Turkish pronunciation improved and whether my reading became more fluent.

I am also thinking of creating iMovie where I can use video camera to record a specific scene/event. For example, I can record myself being in a class where I speak to a friend in Turkish about our classes and weather. This is what I would do when I learn words related to school and weather. I could also use iMovie to make a short video on ordering food and drinks at a restaurant. I love food, and that is always a big topic for me. So I will definitely create an artifact (iMovie) when I learn the words related to food and ordering at a restaurant. However, I might not go to a Turkish restaurant and record myself ordering food, but I could do it in dhall or Passport or just create a scene of me being at a restaurant. 

I think once I learn basic grammar such as present simple or continuous, I will set out a goal to write a certain amount of sentences using that tense and scan the documents and keep it as my documentation of achieving a goal. I believe this is a good artifact because this way I will be actually writing down sentences and translating them from English to Turkish and/or vice verse, and I might even try to write a small essay using the words and tenses I have learned. I believe that when I actually write down sentences using correct grammar and spelling that come directly from my mind without using dictionary or somebody's help I can say that my Turkish really improved. This is a very good motivational factor for me that keeps me working really hard towards achieving my goal.

Another artifact I may use is taking a you tube video of some characters or animals and deleting their voices and inserting my voice instead. I could record a dialog of me and my friend at a market place shopping for new clothes. This would actually require a combination of audacity and iMovie or even some different applications such as Final Cut Pro. This artifact might be very interesting for the audience as well, as they see animals/flowers/cartoon characters speak in an unfamiliar human language.

This week, I got a taste of Balkan popular and traditional music.

The first artist Milica introduced me to was the Croatian pop-star Severina. We watched her hit video titled "Uzbuna." Basically, it's about the delirious, frantic, but light-hearted panic of Severina not waking up next to her love interest. She misses him terribly. I thought the piece was incredibly catchy. Very enjoyable. I will likely never forget some of the vocabulary, nor the tune, repeated in that song. I've been humming it for days. I suppose music, as Dr. Grove had mentioned last semester in SDLAP 105, is certainly an effective means to learn some words or cultural concepts. Severina also had a sextape scandal with some wealthy business video. This video was also interesting, but not as culturally informative.

My favorite part of the "Uzbuna" was the folk elements, specifically the use of the accordion and this really fantastic sounding guitar. I decided to explore for myself, Bosnian folk music. As I was perusing, I stumbled on a famous, traditional genre called Sevdalinka. Apparently, the topic in this genre is almost always love or longing. My favorite piece was Đorđe Balašević's "Sevdalinka." First, I listened to the song first, without any effort to understand what was said. On first impression, I thought that this piece was perfect in describing this surrendering, melancholy, nothing I do makes a difference attitude in the face of an unjust, cruel fate, as the singers voice indicated to me. Yet, as the accordions consistent melody shows, the world goes on as if nothing happened, even joyously. Anyhow, I thought this was a beautiful song that captured some Bosnian humor and a pervasive attitude/worldview. The song is in fact, a melancholy reminisce of multiple topics.

Making the first artifact with Omar was a blast—so much fun. First we brainstormed what we wanted to say in the conversation, planning a flow of greeting, introduction, and finally farewells, using phrases that would be the most common in the context of meeting someone new.  I was very happy with it too.  Omar and I discussed pronunciation after the take.  One thing that wasn't stellar was that it didn't sound "natural".

In terms of my learning goals, I was able to learn them well in the short term.  In order to maintain long term proficiency I will need to regularly use the phrases.

TURKISH TEA

Drinking Turkish tea is a daily routine. I experienced this ritual several times a day when I visited Turkey. People drink tea everywhere, in the street, in restaurants, at a hairdresser..  You will even have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... I believe Turkish people drink more tea than Brits. I was even offered a tea as a visitor to a shop.

Tea is usually served in a tulip shaped, ornate glass with two tiny sugar cubes on a saucer. It is important to serve sugar cubes with the tea rather than put sugar into a glass while preparing it. This is different from making Turkish coffee where coffee served is already sweetened. In addition to two sugar cubes, you get a small spoon to stir the tea with.

Turkish tea is usually black and it is consumed without milk. At first I thought the same tea was served everywhere but I was really surprised when I realized the variety of taste of Turkish black tea. Tea does look the same but it tastes differently. For example, tea tastes differently in Istanbul than in Bursa. Turkish tea is produced on the Black Sea coast.

When Turkish people prepare tea, it is really a special event. You will not usually find people using tea bags and pouring water into cups with a tea bag. Preparing Turkish tea is something completely different.

First of all, Turks usually use black tea leaves and not tea bags. They use caydanlik to prepare their tea. Caydanlik is part kettle, part teapot. The bottom part is basically for the boiling water while the upper part is for the tea brew. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes for the tea to be ready to drink. Turkish tea can be served in different ways, anywhere between koyu (strong, dark) and acik (light, weak) depending on how many leaves you use to make a tea. The tea produced is usually very strong, but the remaining water in the kettle is used to dilute the tea on individual basis. If, however, you prepare a very weak tea, it might be considered an insult to a person who you serve. Therefore, it is very important to know the exact amount of leaves you need to put to prepare a tea.

When drinking Turkish tea you have to hold the rim of the cup, rather than the middle portion of the glass body, or otherwise you will burn your fingers. It is the best not to fill the cup entirely, so that you can basically hold the glass without burning your fingers and minimize the heat at the top.

Interesting fact about Turkish people drinking tea is that according to a research in 2004, Turkish people consumed 2.4 kg (approximately 5 pounds) of tea per person, and United Kingdom follows with 2.1 kg (approximately 4 pounds) of tea consumed per person.

turkish%20tea.jpg

I am very happy with my progress. I believe I move very fast. To my mind, Turkish is a really interesting and fun language to learn. Since the beginning of this semester, I have been watching Turkish soap opera "Dudaktan kalbe" with subtitles in my language. It was extremely hard in the beginning and I would hardly understand a word the actors spoke. However, in week 5, I can proudly say that I do not only understand random words that the actors in the soap opera say, but also some short sentences. I think this is a great improvement for me and a great motivational factor to keep up my work.

Apart from watching soap operas, I have also been pronouncing and reading in Turkish. I did not have any trouble pronouncing Turkish and my language partner said that I do not have an accent which really motivated me to work even harder. Of course, some letters took me more time to learn how to pronounce them as we do not have them in our alphabet, but with constant repetition I finally learned the right pronunciation.

I found a very interesting website with Turkish short stories.On this website, the stories are also recorded, so sometimes I would just play them in my room. Link to this website is provided at the end of the journal. These short Turkish stories are about Nasrettin Hoca, who is a very popular character in Turkey known for his wise, witty and funny stories. In the beginning, as I started reading in Turkish, I would just pronounce the words but would barely understand their meanings. However, over time as my vocabulary expanded, I would recognize certain words that I had either memorized before or they just seemed familiar to me so I was able to understand their meaning from the context.

For example, when I was reading one of the Nasrettin Hoca stories, I understood that the story was about Nasrettin Hoca's friend who was moving to another city and asked Nasrettin to give him his ring so that he can remember him every time he looks at his finger and sees the ring. However, Nasrettin Hoca said that his friend might lose the ring and therefore forget about him. Thus, Nasrettin Hoca said that he is not going to give him the ring so that every time his friend looks at his finger he will not see the ring and therefore he will remember Nasrettin. I understood this story by using dictionary and translating the unknown words, as well as looking at the pictures that are provided with the story. 

I would also keep track of words that are unfamiliar to me. For example, while reading I would keep an open word document and write down the unknown words. At the same time I would use Turkish-English dictionary to translate the words that I do not understand. Sometimes, I would use examples to describe the meanings of the words. This way, I created my own dictionary and anytime I could go back to the words and revise them.

I cannot say how many words I have learned exactly but I believe I learned about 50-60 so far (excluding numbers). I think this pace is good for me because I also study grammar and explore Turkish culture at the same time. I do not want to focus only on vocabulary, because I believe that other aspects such as exploring and learning culture, learning grammar, reading and writing are as important as learning vocabulary and therefore I like to keep balance between them.

http://www.princeton.edu/~turkish/reading1.html

artifact%201-%20greetings%2C%20farewells%2C%20introductions.mp3

My goals and tasks for weeks 4 and 5 are twofold.  I want to be able to introduce myself conversationally and I want to be able to identify and talk about my family members and friends. I will use LiveMocha to learn introduction, and practice with Omar. I will use Byki to learn how to identify and talk about family, again practicing with Omar and asking him questions that come up.  In terms of evaluation, I am going to focus on pronunciation, memory, and being able to respond appropriately to something Omar says.  He will help judge competency.

So far, I have learned Turkish alphabet, I can say that I pronounce Turkish words very well (according to my language partner). Also, my language partner said that I do not have an accent and it was very motivating for me. I had a trouble pronouncing some letters, but I practiced a lot until I finally learned how to pronounce them correctly. I also learned numbers and some colors. I think I am quite comfortable with greetings/farewells. I had to memorize which greetings are formal and which are informal so that when speaking to someone who is older than me I would not make a mistake of using informal language.

I am still watching the Turkish Soap opera "Dudaktan kalbe" as well as listening to Turkish songs. I think it is still very early to try to understand the soap opera without the subtitles, so I will still stick to subtitles. I found some really great singers and I listen to Turkish songs in my room, in the gym...

My goal for the next two weeks is to first learn about family. I also want to be able to lead a basic conversation with my language partner. I want to start working on my grammar, for example the first tense I want to learn is present continuous. This will be very helpful in making simple sentences. I will use my Turkish dictionary to learn the words as well as other resources that are available to me. I will also use the websites I found for building my vocabulary and the YouTube video I found that explains Turkish grammar very well. I also want to be able to learn to tell the time, as it is one of the crucial components of a language. I would be very embarrassed if somebody knew I was taking Turkish and was not able to tell the time in Turkish. Therefore, I want to learn how to tell the time as well. I do not know if I will be able to accomplish all of these goals in the next two weeks, but I consider myself very ambitious and am planning to do my best to achieve those goals. Also, my language partner is a great help as she helps me with all the difficulties I encounter during the learning process.

I am also planning to record myself and later on listen to myself to hear where I make mistakes, I will also talk to my language partner in Turkish and ask her if I am making any progress. I am planning to play some games to memorize the vocabulary I need to accomplish these goals, such as flash cards or online language games. I will evaluate my success by memorizing the vocabulary and practicing both vocabulary and grammar with my language partner. Also, I believe that my language partner will be the best choice to evaluate my progress and success. 

So far, I am very happy with my progress, and I hope I will have such a good experience in the following weeks as well.

SDLAP_learningplan213.docx

To my mind, Turkish is a very interesting language to learn and its culture is really fascinating. Even though my country Bosnia and Herzegovina shares some common characteristics with Turkey, there are still various aspects in which these two countries differ.

As I already wrote a little bit about nonverbal communication in my previous journal entry, here I will write more broadly about body language in Turkey. 

There are several nonverbal communications that are very common in Turkey. For example, when Turkish people want to say "no", they do not necessarily need to say no, but they use body language instead. They click their tongue and accompany this gesture by a quick upwards tilt of the head and raise their eyebrows. This is a very common gesture among Turkish people. I have seen it so many times when I was in Turkey, so at that time I asked my friend the meaning of such gesture, which she explained to me. 

Turks may also express their confusion by using body language. For example, when they are confused they shake their head. This means that they are confused.

What I also found interesting is that it is very common to see two man walking with their arms around each other, and sometimes even holding their hands. This gesture does not indicate anything about their sexuality, but implies that they are close friends.

I also found it interesting that it is normal in Turkish culture to stare at someone. This might be particularly awkward or even scary for foreigners in whose cultures it is rude to stare. However, when I was in Turkey, I did not notice that many people stare at each other. This might be a stereotype.

When your palm is up, and you bring your fingers towards thumb it means that something is good, for example food, new item or even that a woman is attractive.

When it comes to kissing, it is very common to kiss one another on cheeks, regardless of whether it is man to man, woman to woman or man to woman. Kissing implies that they are close friends. For example, close friends kiss each other on cheeks when they meet. If, however, two people are not very close, they might only shake their hands. Man's handshake with a woman is usually very soft. Also, if somebody is very religious then, there would be no hand shaking or kissing. Also, younger people kiss hands of older people to show respect.

Gestures that should be avoided because they are considered rude include:

- OK hand gesture (which means that you are accusing someone of being a homosexual)

- blowing your nose loudly is considered very rude in Turkish culture

- pointing your finger at someone

Assessment of Abilities at Beginning of Learning Process and Goals

The LinguaFolio self-assessment checklist gives a detailed picture of the level of proficiency in Urdu.

Regarding Interpretive Listening skills of language, at the beginning of my studies it is not in my ability to do any of the things listed well, but they are all goals. With listening particularly, I do not want to meet these bench marks by being able to understand a recorded voice on the computer, but a real person with a real accent.

Regarding Interpretive Reading skills of language, at the beginning of my studies it is not in my ability to do any of the things listed well, but they are all goals.

Regarding Interpersonal Communication skills of language, at the beginning of my studies it is not in my ability to do almost any of the things listed well, but they are all goals. I am able to say hello and goodbye in a very basic manner.

Regarding Presentational Writing skills of language, at the beginning of my studies it is not in my ability to do any of the things listed well, for I am wholly unfamiliar with the script, but they are all goals.

Regarding Presentational Speaking skills of language, at the beginning of my studies it is not in my ability to do almost any of the things listed well, but they are all goals. I am generally able to imitate sounds I hear well, but there are some sounds required in speaking Urdu that do not exist in English, and I am not presently able to generate these sounds at this point without much difficulty.

I will not be using Rosetta Stone in my studies of Urdu.  That said, the bookmarked sites on Diigo and BYKI will be very useful as I explore them. I can learn much from these resources. One site in particular will help with interactive memorization of the alphabet's characters. Another site looks very helpful in learning common phrases. All of the sites I have used have been beneficial in their high degree of interactivity. What most of the resources I have looked at so far lack is the real person interaction—the invaluable linguistic interactions with a real human being who speaks the language as their mother tongue. This is why having a language partner is so invaluable for my learning experience.