All Posts (58)
Sort by
This is my updated learning calendar. Now that we have begun learning verb conjucations I feel like I will be able to learn phrases and basic questions more easily. However, because we mainly focused on vocabulary before I had to re-asses my progress. Unfortunately, I think I was a little ambitious to begin with and will have to remove a few topics of conversation from my list of topics. Fortunately though as we move into the last few weeks, this will allow me to focus in on specific conversations and learn the sentence structure and vocabulary that goes along with each one.
I know this is late but here is a conversation that I wrote. It is comprised of basic introductions and phrases. For a later artifact, I plan to record this conversation with another one of the Persian learners, or with my language partner.
This week we began working on verb conjugations. Now with the vocabulary I have learned I have been able to form simple sentences. I still hope to be able to put more time into Rosetta Stone over the next few weeks and continue listening to news podcasts in Farsi. Hopefully by learning more verbs and verb endings I will be able to pick up on more words in the podcasts. This coming week we will continue learning about verb tenses by working with the past tense.
Along with working on the verb conjugations I have continued working on reading and writing. I have been able to write out the simple sentences I come up with. This not only helps with verb conjugations but it also helps me to remember the rules for connecting certain letters to others and remembering which forms of letters to use in different locations of the word. My handwriting has also improved but it still takes me a while to write anything in Farsi because I'm not used to writing from right to left.
Over the next few days I plan to catch up with my artifacts by using writing samples, typing out simple sentences to practice typing and spelling, and recording a conversation between me and another Farsi student.
Since Farsi is also spoken in Afghanistan I thought it would be interesting to study some cultural aspects of that country as well. While greeting new people men and women usually exchange verbal greetings. Women are also welcome to extend their hands in order to initiate a handshake but men cannot do the same for women. Personal space should also be respected. Usually between men and women an arm's length of space should be kept. Between friends of the same gender though this distance is greatly reduced.
Eye contact also differs between the United States and Afghanistan. People of the same gender and age usually look each other in the eye. Younger members of society though should use indirect eye contact with their elders. Women and men should also avoid consistent, intentional eye contact with one another.
Afghanistan seems to be a strange mix of polychronic and monochronic culture. Usually more emphasis is placed on relationships and spending time with each other than actually meeting set deadlines. On the other hand, punctuality in business situations is appreciated and respected.
Afghanistan also has some cultural taboos. A few of them involve feet. Because they are seen as the "lowliest body parts," showing the sole of your shoe, pointing your heel or toe at someone, or moving something with your foot are all considered disrespectful. On a different note, men and women should not display affection in public. Also, like in Iran, refusing tea upon arrival will also be seen as rude. Other customs that parallel those of Iran include bringing a pastry or a nicely wrapped gift to the person's house.
The Overture: Thai Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWojOCWoN44
Thanks to my Netflix account and the foreign films section I have been able to watch numerous Thai movies with English subtitles. Most recently, I watched "The Overture." In 1940 government officials ordered the rapid modernization of Thailand so they outlawed the playing of traditional music. The life of this famous musician represents the conflict between the push for modernization and the desire to hold onto rich traditions tied to Buddhism and the monarchy that still exists in Thailand today. The image of a Buddhist monk carrying a cell phone represents this conflict of ideals in a modern context:
Fan Chan (My Girl) Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yakCHla0oRY&feature=related
It is interesting to see the way in which the Thai media perceives the childhood "games and gangs" of young Thai kids. This particular movie is more indicative of a Thai rural setting than an urban setting because the kids are riding outside together on the open road rather than watching movies or playing video games in doors. Many of the jokes are similar to those used by children in the United States. The boys pick on each other for liking a girl and the big bully tries to boss everyone around. The gang calls the bully “Huan Dom” which is an insulting phrase that literally means "Fat and Brown." This represents the characteristics that are least desirable in Thai culture in regard to weight and skin culture.
Learning Journal #10: Cross-Cultural Experience and 260-282
I had numerous cross-cultural experiences that reinforced the major differences between text analysis and discourse analysis. Text analysis requires excellent reading capabilities and a background knowledge of the language and culture being studied. Discourse analysis, on the other hand, requires a certain sense of familiarity with the customs, beliefs, and expectations of a place and a people that allows you to react properly in social situations. This is especially difficult in scattered dialogues, as opposed to monologues, when multiple individuals take turns in contributing to a conversation. There are certain bodily clues and cultural nuances that allow one to fit properly in this type of conversation. Many times during my stay in Thailand I felt as though I understood much of the vocabulary and sentences being spoken around me. But at times, during a meal for example, I still felt entirely lost in conversation and unable to contribute.
The cross-cultural experiences were most difficult for me not at the outset, rather after I had already displayed a level of language and cultural competence. A prime example of this is when I sat down for a meal with a Thai family having already had short introductory conversations with many of the individual family members. As the food was passed around, the “scattered dialogues” began and I was not able to keep up. All of the sudden everyone is looking at me and I have no idea what they want or how they expect me to react. It is at this point when I learned to admit failure and simply laugh in hopes that they would laugh along with me. Luckily, they usually did.
Cultural Competence and 289-335
What I found most interesting in this week's reading was the way in which the author differentiated between Accent and Dialect. In the past, even in previous blog posts for this class, I have used these words interchangeably. Now I know that accent refers to the distinct pronunciation a person makes when speaking. For example, a person from Alabama may be distinguishable from a person from the Northeast because of his or her "southern accent." Dialect, refers to a broader meaning which includes the grammar and vocabulary the speaker uses as well.
The discussion of accent and dialect pertains directly to the idea of "cultural competence." Accent and dialect play a major role in gaining added meaning out of something a person is saying. This is why language competence and cultural competence go hand in hand. Being able to decipher meaning from picking up on distinct accents and dialects is crucial in determining the speaker's background in terms of geographic location, socioeconomic status, level of education, employment, etc.
In order to raise my cultural and language competence I am continuing to try to reach out to any Thai resource and/or person on campus. Recently, I ate lunch with a Thai student who spent a lot of her childhood in Singapore. As a result, she definitely had a slightly different accent and dialect than other Thai people I have met. Additionally, she had a unique perspective of Thai culture relative to the other Asian cultures she has been a part of. Hearing stories like her's is very helpful for me in understanding Thailand's role in southeast Asia and the world as a whole. I will continue to reach out to others in the Richmond area to raise my "cultural competence."
We also had an awesome listening class. This class I realized how much I had learned this semester because I was able to pick up so much of the dialogue. It was very encouraging to notice that much of the vocabulary used, I had learned this semester.
On Friday of this week, we spend the meeting making two different artifacts: one on the pronunciation of different Bengali letters learned the previous week, and another on Bengali counting. In the Bengali counting video, I could from 1-40 on the creases of my fingers. Although one might think of counting is an easy task in a language, in Bengali, this is not so. There is not a distinct pattern for counting, (the 30s do not have the same pattern as the 20s) like English, Japanese, or Spanish. This makes remember the numbers very difficult remember, so difficult in fact that my language partner even struggles with them. My goal is to learn all the numbers through 50 by the end of the semester, and after that all the 10s and 5s.
This week was great. We spent the majority of one of our classes working on pronunciation especially of the different D sounds in Bangla. As you will hear in a artifact I will be posting soon, the Ds are very similar. My language partner was very good at explaining to me the mouth physics required to make the sound possible. Now although I still have to concentrate I can produce correct sound.
Not only that but for the reading this week, we read about a foreigner talking about his inability to pronounce different Bangla sounds. Now not only can I pronounce them, but I can talk about my ability or inability to do so!
We were unable to do a listening clip this week because another class had taken over our normal meeting place. Instead, we had an extended conversation class.
Two classes ago we spoke about how accents and different dialects help individuals pinpoint where others are from within a country. The various features of pronunciation are shared and referred to as the study of areal linguistics. How these areas develop is interesting because it is suggested that somewhere along the lines different pronunciations and dialects were adopted. Variations took hold a certain area and it became unique and fairly significant there.
I have mentioned earlier that my mother is fluent in Italian and she has a sister that lives in Northern Italy. Her sons of course, grew up Italian and have a distinct accent to American ears. One that undoubtedly and unmistakable sounds Italian. To my mother, who has the ear for Italian since she spent a majority of her childhood and teenage years there, can tell that they sounds Northern Italian and may is even able to pinpoint a major city close to where they live.
It helps at Italian restaurants as she always ends up using this little trick. As for myself, I am able to fairly easily distinguish between Spanish and Italian because of my immediate and extended family background. Mother is Italian and brother's fiance is Columbian. They have emparted to me, by the way they speak their languages, they stylistic deliveries that each language has. For the most part they are unique and easy to identify. To come back to the same point as before, the way Italian was delivered, my mother could tell Norther vs. Italian and which major city.
Using my cousins and soon to be sister-in-law I can better understand and see the Ethnic side of protecting a language. Both sets of relations speak their languages and find it important to keep speaking their languages. It is a common theme that everyone in the culture have the same language. As it is shared everyday part of the culture is consistently preserved. There are even backlashes in the United States with the amount of Spanish speakers there are. I have heard many times people say, "just speak english." However, that is how Americans should be in other cultures as well. It should be important for everyone to learn one another's language, or at least something about it.
The beginning of this week's reading was especially interesting. I liked how the book distinguished between dialects and accents because sometimes they seem to be used interchangeably. Dialects though, can encompass many different accents. Whereas a dialect includes grammatical traits or specific words that distinguish it from another dialect, accents are simply a different way of pronouncing words.
I also thought that dialect continuums were very interesting, end evident especially in my own experience in Spain. Castillian Spanish varies widely between the north and south of Spain. The closer a person lives to the south of Spain, the easier it is to understand the Andalusian accent native to the south. But, those who live farther north have a harder time understanding Andalusian speakers. Another example of this dialect continuum is an east to west continuum from Portugal to France that the book mentions. Most of this continuum occurs in Spain. If you begin with Portuguese then one of the official languages in Spain would be next on the continuum. This langage is Galician or "gallego" in Spanish. It is heavily influenced by Portuguese but is also very similar to Spanish. You could say that regular (Castillian) Spanish language comes next, followed by Catalan (spoken in Barcelona) which is a sort of mixture between Castillian and French. Finally French would be the end of the continuum.
Another example that I enjoyed (because it was talking about Spain again) was the example of the illegalization of the Basque language. For the Basque, their language is not just a language, it is a very important part of their identity, just like the book says. The other aspect of linguistic suppression in Spain is that the government also declared the other regional languages of Spain (including the abovementioned examples of Galician and Catalan) illegal during Francisco Franco's dictatorship.
This section on the book can also be applied to Farsi as a dialect of Persian. Farsi, Dari, and Tajik are all regional dialects of the Persian language. From what Maroof has said, Farsi and Dari easily facilitate intercommunication. Tajik though uses the Russian alphabet so it might be possible for a Farsi or Dari speaker to understand a Tajik speaker but impossible for them to communicate in written form because of the different alphabets.
With my language partner this week we worked on body, fruit, and color vocabulary. We have also continued practicing my pronunciation and reading ability by typing vocabulary words on the computer and reading them out loud. I have started making my own vocabulary lists as practice so that I get experience writing the words and making my own associations. I have also started listening to the Farsi podcasts again from the BBC and I hope to be able to get back into Rosetta Stone later this week. I spent a little time trying to catch up on the cultural studies for MLC110 and plan to get together with the other Farsi students to try to create a recorded artifact where we have a conversation together.
In Iran, people tend to do business with people they know because of the family-centered model of business. If you are someone who wants to do business with an Iranian who you do not know personally, you should spend time getting to know that person first. Personal relationships become the center of your ability to do business. In order to make a good impression you should also dress well and stay at a high class hotel. This is because status is very highly regarded in Iranian society.
When planning for the meeting, it is prudent to schedule the meeting six weeks to one month in advance and then confirm the appointment about a week before the appointment. As stated in an earlier post though, business slows down during Ramadan so meetings should be avoided during this time.
When arriving for your appointment it is respectful to be on time! Again, this is another example of how Iran represents a monochronic society. Initial meetings will usually not have anything to do with business. Instead the meeting will most likely focus on building a personal relationship between you and the Iranains. It takes some time for Iranian business people to become comfortable with foreign business men. Because of this you can expect to be treated in a sort of cold or formal manner.
During meetings it is very disrespectful to look at your watch. If you constantly worry about the time you will be considered untrustworthy. Meetings in Iran are also interrupted frequently so you will need to be patient as well. In order to remain professional, do not remove your jacket unless asked to do so. Also, as a matter of courtesy, present all written documents in both English and Farsi.
Iranian business negotiation can be hostile at times. Iranians tend to show emotion or even walk out of meetings if they do not like your proposals. You should be careful not to "drive a hard bargain" this will mostly work against you. Also, if you are under a time constraint, be careful how much information you divulge about it. Iranians will use your time constraints against you if they are aware of them.
The biggest thing to take away from this section of the reading is to not judge a book by its cover. While people have carreers that study dialect, that can pinpoint someone as to where they are from just by listening to them speak, there is more to a person than where they are from, eastern Long Island or Chicago. I might sound like i am from one place but in reality i might have not lived tehre since a child, but my voice, my dialect represents the first place where i lived. Along the same lines, my skin might be one color when in fact i do not relate with the race of my skin. The topic and subjects of dialect, culture, and all issues surrounding where we are from are touchy. Chapter 48 in my opinion is the best chapter in this text for it talks about th social issues around how e know what someone is. Assumtions can be correct, but when incorrect they can cause harm and hurt feelings.
In class we discussed the differences between dialects a lot, how one part of scotland is much different than another, how someone from connecticut has a neutral dialect whereas someoen from alabama certainly does not. All of us have different syles and and dialects, it is part of what makes us all so unique. I have learned so much through speaking with people from all over the country, adn all over the world. I believe that i have cultural competence, i have traveled to many places in the world and have surrounded myself with people who are unique and interesting. While i might have understandings of some cutlures i am certainly ignorant and uninformed plenty about others. I do not claim to know a lot about everything, but i try to know a little about a lot. And if more people took the time to learn, there would be a lot less racisim, ignorance and hatred.
Earlier I talked about certain cultural norms to observe if invited over to an Iranian person's house. Here I will talk about a few of the cultural aspects of being invited to dinner.
At first I was caught off guard by the first stipulation the website mentions (still the same website from the first culture post). This rule is to check whether the host is wearing shoes or not. If they are not, you are to remove your shoes at the door. After I thought about this though, I realized that this is something I do subconsciously already. I think it's because my mom was always strict about us taking our shoes off in the house. I guess I got used to looking around at my friends' houses to see if I was allowed to keep my shoes on when I arrived.
I greatly appreciate the second aspect of Iranian dining norms. It is to arrive punctually. It's not that I'm an extremely punctual person but coming from a monochronic society, I think it would be difficult for me to figure out when things actually started in a polychronic society.
Before arriving you should also check to see if your spouse is allowed to attend becasue normally conservative Iranians don't entertain mixed-sex groups. When you do arrive though, you are supposed to greet the elders first and shake everyone's hand. You should also accept offers of food or drink but only within adhering to the "taarof" stipulations of politeness.
When you are about to sit down you should wait to be told where to sit. Meals are generally family style so you should take a little bit of everything that is served and eat only with the right hand. Because Iranian hospitality includes having an abundance of food, you will probably be offerd more. You should accept some more but again, only after adhering to "taarof" or Iranian politeness standards first. When you finish eating you should also leave some food on your plate (which shouldn't be an issue assuming you will have already accepted more food than you can eat anyway). Finally, in restaurants there are usually two sections. One is for women and families, the other is for men only. Tipping in Iranian restaurants is usually between 10 and 15%.
As promised, in the next post I will talk about business negotiations in Iran.
English Translation:
My friend Sara and I are in this photo. We are in Jaipur. I like Jaipur a lot - I think it is the best city in India. Sara and I are wearing saris for a party. Our saris are both blue and very beautiful. My sari was old but Sara's sari was new. We ate Indian food with our friends and in the evening we danced.
Skills Used:
Present Progressive Tense
Past Tense
Adjectives
Devanagari Script
