I really enjoyed watching the Cultural Shock video because I have a lot of international friends in UR and friend that have gone abroad. It taught me a lot about what my friends and other international students experience in the U.S and vice versa for those that went abroad. One is an expert of their culture, but not of others despite having taken courses or knowing people from it. I have many Korean friends and currently enrolled in a Korean class, but interestingly I learn something new and shocking about the Korean culture almost every day. I can’t even imagine the huge culture shock I would experience if I were to visit Korea today. I definitely agree that most people view the idea of traveling to a foreign country or studying abroad as exciting and wonderful at first, but reality kicks in later. Not trying to discouraging studying abroad programs or traveling abroad, I think that many people neglect or forget the difficulty in integrating to a society or culture different from ones. However, I have noticed in every case (from my friends and sister that went abroad) that they come back slightly different: more mature and well-rounded. Culture shock occurs to everyone and helps grow this appreciation for one’s culture while comprehension of another culture. I think it’s one of the best ways to educate and foster global awareness and understanding of diversity. Everyone knows the world is diverse, but can’t fully grasp it unless thrust open a situation or encountering that diversity. This comprehension attained from culture shock is different from learning about it in a classroom. I can say I have experienced culture shock in many levels: from different parts of the U.S to my vacation in Europe and Dominican Republic. I liked hearing how the faculty and international students advice the viewers (potential international students or study abroad candidates) of the difficulties as well as the joy in entering a different culture, as well as their experience with culture shock and dealing with it.
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I am doing quite well following my learning plan especially on making notes and watching Korean culture youtube program. Through watching Korean Englishman, I gained knowledge of Korean food culture and daily life. I also made notes every time I learnt a new Korean word while reading articles and talking with my Korean friends. In this way, I could review easily by myself and I found some simple rules of Hangul system while pronouncing words with similar components. However, there are also some difficulties and goals that I did not achieve. For example, since we have not got our language partners yet, it is hard for me to know if my spoke Korean is correct. In my learning plan, I said that I would try to learn and speak Korean to my Korean friends, however we did not meet that often and it is hard to learn something systematically from your friends. Most of the time, they just taught me one of two funny words instead of explaining thoroughly to me. Thus I think the biggest challenge for me and for self-learning a language is that it is hard to persevere and learning systematically without guidance. Since I have realized these difficulties, I will try to adjust the plan and make a special "Korean learning time" for myself every week so that I could keep track of my progress instead of "learning only when I have time".
As I said, I kept reading articles and watching TV shows about Korean culture as well as the daily Korean news. I think the purpose of learning a language is not only to be able to speak it but also to get to know the culture and history behind the language. These two things also help and facilitate each other. For me, by watching Korean TV shows, not only did I gain the knowledge of Korean food culture and daily life behaviors, but I also learnt the vocabs and pronunciations of the food and Korean festivals. While doing research on the Korean language history, I realized that although it has developed very differently from Chinese now, Chinese once had very deep impact on it in the history. Before Koreans had their own Hangul writing system, they used Chinese Hanzi writing system for a long time. And it is very impressive that the King in the 15th century was already thinking of the literacy rate and commissioned the invention of a more efficient and more accessible phonetic script to the common people.
As I mentioned that one of my biggest problem now is that I am not learning Korean in a systematical and organized way, but only when I am free and meeting with my Korean friends instead. So in order to improve my learning plan and communicative competence, I am going to make every Friday 1:15-3pm as my “Korean learning” time and try to meet with my Korean friend once a week to ask her about the questions I have in Korean learning and to show her the records of my spoken Korean. I hope that I could keep track of my learning progress by doing so, instead of learning in a random pace only if I have time.
As I mentioned in the last post that my biggest problem now is that I am not learning Korean in a systematical and organized way, but only when I am free and meeting with my Korean friends. So I am going to set up a special "class time" for my Korean learning. That is, every Friday 1:15-3 PM is my Korean learning time. I will use this time reading Korean learning articles, watching Korean learning Youtubes and record my speaking. Every time, I will also write a summary recording what I have learnt each time. In the next following two weeks, I am going to focus on the writing parting since I have spent a lot of time on speaking part in the past of the semester. I will start from copying the words and phrases first and try to memorize while practicing. Also, I will keep watching Korean dramas and TV shows that I like to keep myself in the language environment and gain more knowledge of the culture and lifestyle in Korean.
I am doing quite well following my learning plan especially on making notes and watching Korean culture youtube program. Through watching Korean Englishman, I gained knowledge of Korean food culture and daily life. I also made notes every time I learnt a new Korean word while reading articles and talking with my Korean friends. In this way, I could review easily by myself and I found some simple rules of Hangul system while pronouncing words with similar components. However, there are also some difficulties and goals that I did not achieve. For example, since we have not got our language partners yet, it is hard for me to know if my spoke Korean is correct. In my learning plan, I said that I would try to learn and speak Korean to my Korean friends, however we did not meet that often and it is hard to learn something systematically from your friends. Most of the time, they just taught me one of two funny words instead of explaining thoroughly to me. Thus I think the biggest challenge for me and for self-learning a language is that it is hard to persevere and learning systematically without guidance. Since I have realized these difficulties, I will try to adjust the plan and make a special "Korean learning time" for myself every week so that I could keep track of my progress instead of of "learning only when I have time".
Knowing the history of the language is no doubt very useful for my learning of Korean. While doing research on the Korean language history, I realized that although it has developed very differently from Chinese now, Chinese once had very deep impact on it in the history. In the ancient time when Koreans did nit have their hangul writing system, they used Chinese hanzi system and almost all the Korean literatures at that times were written in Chinese character. And although we have very different characters now, I can still find the Chinese origin in many Korean words pronunciations. Learning a language is not only learning how to speak it, but also to know the history and culture behind the language. The reason why the hangul writing system is so important is that it contributed to one of the highest literacy rates in the world. And it is very impressive that the King in the 15th century was already thinking of the literacy rate and commissioned the invention of a more efficient and more accessible phonetic script to the common people.
Respond to the readings, reflecting on what is lost when languages die.
A language contains words and sounds that represents a particular group. The particular group uses the language interacting with the world, and the language helps the world to identify the specific group. If the language dies, the identity of the group disappears and as a result, no one will know or remember there was a particular group existed many years later.
Also, language guides people's thoughts. It is a bridge to share our experience and knowledge. Lost of a language is the lost of knowledge, creativity and imagination. Every language may have its unique way of expressing emotions, ideas, logics and myth. It is a medium of expressing human soul and different languages portray various pictures. When a language dies, the cultural picture lost a color overall. So the richness and diversity of human linguistic lost when a language dies.
Furthermore, I think language is a gift from the elders. Language allows new generation to receive benefits from the knowledge by the elders. It is tool and a gift from adults to children. Therefore, children should cherish the treasures from their parents.
Reflect upon your progress to date, consider the effectiveness of your learning plan and activities, and discuss what changes -- if any -- you will make to finish the semester
So far, the learning progress is good and I follow the schedules I made earlier. I keep listening Korean conversations, studying vocabularies and trying to order and ask questions in Korean restaurant. Spending some time every day reviewing and continue study the new materials. I think the learning plan is very useful to keep the learning progress.
If there is any changes need to be made, I will pay more attention on Korean conversations. Vocabulary is important as well, but for now, I'd like to learn as many daily conversations as I can. I want to understand and be able to answer when Korean people greet me, ask questions and request my answers. Therefore, in later on study, I will change my focus on daily conversations such as ask directions, order food, greetings, and identify somethings.
I have learned many words in Korean, but a lot of them I already knew from music, watching Korean dramas, and going to eat at Korean restaurants. Thus, I know a lot of food words and words if I were to get angry at someone and start yelling or if I were falling in love. I do want to learn more practical words though, so words that I can use daily to get through life or at least be able to survive for a couple of days in Korea.
My learning goals for this week is to continue learning hangul and learn how to say the numbers and dates (i.e. months and days of the week) in Korean. I will accomplish this by using my Korean from Zero book, resources that I found online for vocabulary words, and just constant review.
In the Culture Shock video, some of the student reflected on what it was like to first step on the university’s campus because it was an unfamiliar place. At times I could tell that it was perhaps difficult for them because they’re in a new environment with people they do not know, so it would take some time to get used to. Also, sometimes things that other students would say, especially the American students, they would not understand because it may be a joke that only Americans would understand or people who are more Westernized would. That is one thing about culture shock is that a lot of the language, including jokes or metaphors, a person may not understand, but also mannerisms. For me I do not recall experience culture shock prior to my class trip to Russia in January 2014. One thing that surprised me about the Russian culture is that they do not smile in their photos, which coming from America where it seems as though everyone smiles, this through me off guard. However, just as in America, people are quite proud to be Russian and they take great pride in their arts. One of the expectations that I have for those experience culture shock is that there would be other people who would be willing to help those dealing with culture shock get adjusted to the society better, by befriending them or providing resources for them.
To Koreans, the concept of time is closely related to human communication, especially having an influence on a society’s lifestyle. The time that we use to work and the time that we use to play has increased significantly over time. In the Western culture, we have certain hours of the day when we work, which is usually known as 9am-5pm or “working the 9-5”. However, in the Korean society, students and workers tend to work longer hours, especially high school students who sometimes stay in school from 8am until 10:45pm. Since Korea is presently Westernized, they are more aware about punctuality and the English phrase “The early bird catches the worm”. However, in the traditional Korea, there was no concept of punctuality, so due to the current Western influence, Koreans concept of time has changed. Koreans and those of Western society tend to be past-oriented people, meaning that they “place high regard on the past, the reliving of past events, and cherishing past happenings”.
This week I am working on lesson 9 from Korean from zero, which is one asking for things and counters. It also goes into describing objects. Once I get through this, I plan on reviewing the past chapters and particularly the grammar and vocabulary, which I'm not sure is solidified in my head yet. I think in general I have a grasp of the past chapters and I can definitely say more complete sentences and describe things already, but at the same time, it's hard to know if I really have mastered everything. I will also continue to chapter 10, which goes into future, past, and present tenses, which I feel will take me the rest of the week to get a grasp on.
I think when a language dies out, a culture dies out along with it. In the article it discussed the native american languages that were dying out, there was even one where there is only 5 people left who speak it. So the issue they have is trying to preserve the language, for example establishing online resources where people can come to learn the language. It must be particularly difficult for people whose language is dying out because, it is a part of the culture they identify with, so it would be like losing your identity or a part of it. For me, since I also speak Thai, I know that there are certain feelings that I can express better in Thai than in English and vice versa. So when a language is dying out and there are not a lot of people left who can understand the words you express best in, it could also feel like you have lost a way to connect with others. With the native americans, they have such a rich and long cultural history that it seems if their languages die out all of those memories will too. New generations of children may not be able to connect with their ancestral cultures as previous generations did. It is shame that so many languages are dying out because other languages are taking a more globalized role and have therefore been deemed as more important and useful to learn. I think to everyone their specific language is important to them and having so many different languages and cultures is what makes the world unique. Even though it may be more useful and convenient if everyone started speaking English as their main language, we all lose the uniqueness. With Thai, there a lot of English words that have become common vocabulary that people use nowadays and my mom was explaining to me that modern Thai kids these days are less Thai. I think I am definitely one of them, being more American than Thai, but at the same time having the Thai culture really enriches my experiences and how I see things. If we just had one culture people would see things for the most part the same way and that makes for boring conversations. With all of the unique identities and languages, we have interesting conversations and our lives are richer.
One of my favorite things about ASL and deaf culture is that they have a whole set of sign specifically for children. Just as hearing children learn simple words (and sometimes even make up their own words for things), deaf children are shown simplified signs for the things that would need to say the most often, like “mom,” “dad,” “yes,” “no” and others.
Even babies who are not deaf can often understand sign language far before they begin talking and many parents recommend teaching babies ASL so they can communicate before they are able to use their voice. There are also some studies that show that children who learn how to sign as babies have a higher IQ and greater literacy as adults, but there hasn’t been a lot of research on the subject yet.
Even though all babies can learn ASL, it is especially important for deaf and hard-of-hearing children to learn ASL, so they do not run into any (or fewer) learning delays later in life.
It is a very sad thing when a language dies. Languages are an integral part of a culture, so it is a reflection of a culture fading from existence when people no longer speak the language. It is a sad byproduct of globalization that there will be less and less indigenous languages are time goes on, as more and more people speak major languages. With that being said, increased connectivity also gives indigenous groups a greater opportunity to spread their languages to people all over the world. As a result, less people will speak indigenous languages from birth, but potentially more people will learn them based on interest.
So far, learning Korean has been a very interesting process for me. It is completely unlike any of the languages I have learned before (Spanish, French, and German) not only in word-order, but also in the way that its alphabet functions. The Korean language is also very different than other languages in terms of its alphabet. You read the alphabet from left to right, as would in English, but it is unique in that characters are stacked on top of each other and grouped in numbers of two to five. It has 28 character, 17 of which are vowels and 11 of which are consonants. These letters can be combined to produce some sounds that do not exist in the English language, but there are also some sounds that the Korean language does not have (like ph).
Understanding the culture of the Korean language is helpful in understanding the language itself, because you begin to realize why certain words may sound different, or why there are two different numbering systems. For instance, the Han’ja Chinese words may sound very different than the Han’gul traditional Korean words. Understanding the culture of the language also helps, because you can understand why there are many endings for when you refer to people of different ages or social statuses. Understanding Korean culture is especially important when talking to others, because you want to be sure not to unknowingly offend anyone or say something that does not translate well into their culture. In a way, a language is a complete reflection of a given culture, because it tells you not only what they value, but also how they view each other. Each language has things that it communicates better and worse than other languages, which tells you if more or less importance was placed upon it. Korean has lots of different endings for different social situations, which tells you that they take social distinctions very seriously. As a result, it may be seen as a much larger blunder if you refer to someone in the improper form than it would in English.
In order to improve my communicative competence, the most important thing is to improve my vocabulary. It is impossible to communicate if you do not know the words of the language, so that is the best place to start. Also, it would be helpful to know more about Korean culture, because that will give me a better understanding of which social situations to use which words in. It would also help a lot if I could improve my ear by listening to Korean radio and TV.
Knowing a language’s history can help you immensely in learning a language. It teaches you not only how the language relates to other languages (which can give you cognates), but also teaches you how to apply the given language. For instance, if you know how important class and social distinctions were in ancient Korea, you can have a better appreciation for social distinctions in modern Korean culture. You also develop an understanding for why so many endings exist in Korean words, because you know how Confucianism affected the language. Knowing the history of a language can also help you learn which words and phrases have gone in and out of vernacular. In every language, there are certain phrases that would have been said a couple hundred years ago, but which would sound very strange now.
Something I learned in Korean is how to introduce myself and how to ask and answer questions about my identity.
To teach someone both these things, I would:
- Make flash cards with the Korean pronunciation of Korean words that relate to ‘introduction’ and to ‘identity’ on one side of the flash cards.
- Then, on the back of the flash cards, I would write the definition of each of those words in English.
- The, make the student learn the Korean pronunciation of these words with its English definition
- Finally, I would mix up the cards and have the student try to form comprehensible sentences in Korean by using as many flash cards as possible.
I think this would be an effective way of learning the Korean language because it does not make students memorize sentences. This activity will allow students to understand better what each word means, so they can be able to form sentences on their own with other words instead of having to rely on memorization.
For example:
On the front of the flash card, I will write “jeonun”
On the back of the flash card, I will write “I am”
On the front of the flash card, I will write “miguk”
On the back of the flash card, I will write “American”
*****I would do this for many different words that pertain to “introduction and identity” and the student will be able to make sentences after learning the words and their English meaning.
Knowing a language’s history can help you learn the language because language influences culture, so learning a language helps you to understand how other people think, and it also helps you get a general understanding of our world and the many people and cultures that inhabit it. Language is probably the best window we have on the workings of the human mind. All of our thought processes are conducted in language, so really our entire existence, or essence, or soul, or however we phrase it, is inseparably bound to and with the languages we speak. In the Korean language history, words were developed that conveyed to people that they are honored and respected. In other words, in Korea, you cannot say ‘hello’ to everyone in the same way because some people (like the elderly people) are honored and respected more than others. Therefore, there are specific words in the Korean language that one must use towards these people who are highly honored or important because if you don’t then you would be considered disrespectful and insulting.
