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These past few weeks my language partner and I have been working hard on grammar. More specifically verb conjugations. We have worked hard on the use of imperfect, preterite, future, and indicative tense. I am also becoming quite proficient at conjugating ar, er, and ir verbs.  I still tend to struggle with irregular verbs such as ir and ser. Also I we are starting to work with reflexive verbs, which involve a direct object pronouns. I have also sent another email to my friend in Brazil, but this time I did it on my own. My friend in Brazil seemed to be able to figure out what I was trying to say, which I feel is a step in the right direction. 

• Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

I find the origins of Sanskrit very interesting. It derives from Indo-European, just like English and many other European languages. It has been compared to Latin and (Ancient) Greek because of its similar linguistic derivations and its ancient history. Here’s a language family chart that includes Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin:

Sanskrit is derived from the Indo-Iranian language family just as English is derived from Germanic. Many Indian and South Asian languages remain very similar to Sanskrit still in both vocabulary and structure. Hindi is the largest native language of India and it shares many similarities with Sanskrit. There are many words from Sanskrit which overlap in English sounds or meaning, which might reflect the Proto-Indo-European roots or other cultural contact. Some words are strikingly similar between English and Sanskrit, including “Jangala”-Jungle; “Manas”-Mind; “Manu”-Man; “Gau”-Cow; “Matr”-Mother; “Naas”-Nose. There are so many of these similarities, and it still feels really weird to recognize them in their modern English form when I’m trying to read a Sanskrit sentence.

Ten weeks into my self-directed language study I think I have learned a couple hundred words. By this I mean I've been exposed to them through my online study or with my language partner, not necessarily that I'm a master of all these words. I learned these primarily using Mango, Memrise, KoreanClass101.com videos, the internet, and my language partner. Mango teaches lots of words and then helps build grammatical structure by putting them together. I've used KoreanClass101.com videos because they have some specialized ones like "25 Important Nouns" or "How to Talk about Food." I like these because it uses visuals and I get to hear the words pronounced by a native speaker. In addition to this, I've looked up a couple vocabulary sets like "50 Important Nouns" or "Introductory Phrases" to try to specialize my vocabulary learning. With these new words I've been putting them into flashcard form on Quizlet in an attempt to master them. Quizlet is great because it is able to read many different languages so I can have it pronounce the Korean word for me while I'm studying. It's hard to have a realistic goal of an exact number of words I want to learn. Also, in my learning plan I have certain sets of vocabulary I hope to learn such as food or weather or families, but it isn't realistic to believe that I can learn every word regarding food and drink in one semester. That's why I like the specialized lists made by native speakers about the Top ___ Words about ____, because that way I can try to learn at least the most important ones. For example, I think mastering the words for popular Korean dishes and drinks is more important than learning how to say nearly every word for a type of food at a very surface level.

• Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

I am not all that familiar with the history of Korea. However, I do know that Korea has a long history of involvement with its neighboring countries. Because of countries such as China and Japan, Korean language and culture sees a lot of similarity with Chinese and Korean. Korean actually has many root words in Hanja, which is a form of Chinese writing. This writing is still taught in Korean schools but I have not learned it. Learning these root words can help learn Korean better because most Korean words have root words with specific meaning behind them. Hanja and Korean is similar to Latin's relationship with English. 

Before being in this class, I always believed that Korean, Chinese, and Japanese languages were all in the same family, However, I learned that Korean is in the Koreanic family and is fairly unique in terms of syntax and grammar.

Complete Reflection Paper #2 (500 words) and Post to Your Blog in the Ning

Reflect on your language learning so far. How would you describe the relationship between understanding the target culture and target language. What do you need to improve your communicative competence? What other kinds of competence from the readings by H.D. Brown do you need to consider to make tangible advances in your linguistic abilities?

When studying a language, the attached culture becomes just as evident. In fact, the culture is a type of language that communicates a society’s social norms. Untranslatable phrases and meanings help to illustrate the cultural barriers that divide different languages. Therefore, to truly understand my target language I must think outside of my own cultural entrapments. I must reconfigure the ways I understand certain concepts to properly engage with my target language. A small example is the use of articles in French. I’m not saying I force myself to understand the philosophical underpinnings of French article usage, but I certainly have to be conscious of this concept when I’m writing.

This relationship also goes the other way around. From sentence structure down to philosophical semantics, the language quickly becomes the culture’s proxy. Certain phrases and structures in the target language serve as windows into the culture. It’s then my job to ask appropriate questions to be sure that I thoroughly understand the concept at hand. As I described in an earlier journal, Senegalese culture exhibits such communal tendencies that the literal translation of “How is your mother?” from Wolof to English is “Where is your mother?”  This one example along with several others speak to the intrinsic nature of language and culture. There no way you can understand one without at least partially understanding the other.  

Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

            Understanding the history of a language means to understand where certain roots and constructions of from. When you’re able to identify a root, it’s easier to recognize it when it appears again and again. Language is essentially repetition, so once you’re able to hone down on the pattern you’ve learned the language.

            My target language, Wolof, belongs to the Niger-Congo language family. Certain sounds in Wolof illustrate the Arabic and French influences on the culture. Many French words are used or manipulated in Wolof. French is so heavily a part of Wolof that some conversations seem to switch between the languages, weaving them together.

How do languages go extinct? Respond to the reading, reflecting on what happens when a language dies. How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a language ever be brought back to life? 

Languages often die by the hands of other languages that have more power, referred in Kirk Johnson’s article as “linguistic sweepstake winners.” These languages like French, English, Mandarin, Spanish, etc often push out smaller languages through education, religion, and federal policy.

Linguists can help to preserve languages by educating local populations of the value of all languages –both to the speakers and nonspeakers. Linguists must communicate the fact that these languages are valid. They have their own ways of understanding and interpreting life that may by drastically different from English language and culture, for example. Nevertheless, those languages matter. Secondly, linguists help by documenting the languages that are going extinct. The objective is to preserve them so that in the case of a language revival, the appropriate materials would be available. With the right materials and atmosphere, I think a language can definitely be brought back to life. However, the possibility becomes scarce where cultural oppression is the maximized and intercultural understanding is minimized.

Since my language plan starts on week 4, I focused on solidifying the information for my 1st and 2nd language tasks during my 3rd week. In order to learn "classroom/survival language" and "greetings, farewells, and introductions." For task learning 1, I primarily used an online source: Koreanclass101.com. This source provided me with the Korean words for objects such as pencil, notebook, desk, etc., as well as romanizations, and example sentences that included the new vocabulary words. I liked this source because it also included recordings of someone saying the words and example sentences so that I would be able to practice my pronunciation. Furthermore, in order to complete my second language task, I referred to multiple websites and created flashcards with the Hangul form, romanization, formal/informal, and English meaning of the phrases. When I finally got all the information written down I took a few minutes each day to practice reading and saying the phrases. 

This is another conversation between my dad and I. It includes questions and answers about my name, my family members' names and their ages.

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This is a conversation between my dad and about my identity. It includes questions and answers about name, age, birthday, where I live, and birthplace.

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My goals/objectives for these past two weeks:

• Complete chapter 4 “Kesulitan Mahasiswa” in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Complete chapter 5 “Ibu Lia dan Keluarganya” in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Meet with my language partner to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills.

These past two weeks, I have completed:

• Chapter 4 “Kesulitan Mahasiswa” in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Chapter 5 “Ibu Lia dan Keluarganya” in Indonesian Grammar In Context
• Met with my language partner for four hours to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Reflection:

I spent about 4 hours each week completing a chapter.

I finished Chapter 4 in Indonesian Grammar In Context. I learned the following:

• Language registers ;
• Narrating from two points of reference;
• Shifting time frames; and
• The iterative function of the verbal suffix -i 

The chapter included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

I finished Chapter 5 in Indonesian Grammar In Context. I learned the following:

• The conjunctions untuk and supaya;
• The benefactive function of the verbal suffix -kan; and
• The adverb se-adjective + adjective -nya.

Both chapters included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partner for 4 hours -- 2 hours/week. Our time was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary.

• the presence of the verbal prefixes, ber- and meN- to indicate formality and the lack of prefixes to indicate informality;
• word choices (e.g., the formal verb mengatakan vs the informal verb bilang);
• the use of address terms such as Pak, Bu (+name) to add respect or formality; and
• the use of longer and more complete sentence structure to create formality and ellipsis to create informality.

Some examples that demonstrate the difference between formal and informal registers:

• Good morning, Mr...    

           Formal: Selamat pagi, Pak

           Infromal: Heh, (name)

• Want

           Formal: Ingin

           Informal: Mau

Basa-basi ("Small Talk")

When two interlocutors from different social statues engage in a conversation for the first time, it is likely they will engage in small talk at the beginning of the conversation. The primary function of small talk is to show respect and politeness to one's conversation partner. Therefore, the content is not too important. Small talk usually follows a script in which formulaic expressions/answers are given. It is not considered polite for the conversational partners to go straight to the main point of conversation.

• the relationship between the speakers (the social status relationship between conversational partners);
• the setting (e.g., at home, on the street, in an office, or at a mosque);
• the topic discussed (e.g., academic discussion or casual chat); and
• the medium (oral, written, or electronic).

The outlined bullets above will be my guideline for how to explore this topic further. For example, I will explore the register type used in each bullet point, across different settings: in offices, schools, or in informal settings, which can include among friends.

Indonesia prescribes a strict protocol for a host of topics, language is one important manifestation/product. I would like to explore the reasoning behind this strict protocol and perhaps what happens when the boundaries are crossed. In other words, are there social or professional implications for individuals who do not adhere to the norms and customs guiding register type.

Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

By knowing Korea's history, it helps me learn the language because it allows me to understand why certain phrases or words are used. Some expressions and words are shaped by Korea's history. It also helps me because when I am reading a book or a newspaper, some of them refer back to past history. If I have knowledge of their history, it helps me understand the meaning of the newspaper based on context. Additionally, Korea also uses an older form of language called 'hanja' which has its influence from china. Therefore, knowing some of Korea's history may be helpful in learning hanja. 

Korea belongs in the Koreanic language family. Korea has some vocabulary overlap and grammatical similarities with Japan. This led to a hypothesis that Japanese and Koreans are related. Korea also borrows a lot of their words from China and again uses an older language called hanja which is heavily influenced by the Chinese. This exemplify periods of contacts since there is evidence that Ancient China administered Korea around 100 BC. 

My target language is Korean. I was born in South Korea so I am technically a native speaker. However, I have moved to the United States at a very early age. While I have not completely lost fluency in the language, a lot of my vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension still needs work.

I have some parts of the basics down already in Korean. I can speak fairly fluently with friends and family. However, things like formal language and grammar still need a lot of work. Learning these skills in Korean is particularly difficult because of the culture. The Korean culture is a very collectivistic culture that pays special respect toward elders and tradition. There is a separate posture, gesture, and even vocabulary that changes depending on who the individual is talking to. For example, it is common courtesy in Korea to gently grasp your own wrist or forearm when pointing or shaking hands with someone that is older or in a higher position. In addition various words are different completely when directed to those that are older.

In order to better learn my target language, I have to be culturally aware of these changes when talking in a formal setting. I have to be aware of my current communicative competence and how to improve them further. I am already proficient at talking with classmates and friends in Korean. However, with the change in diction and gesture, I struggle a lot when talking to those that are adults or people that I have just met. Despite being seemily close in age, when meeting someone new, it is courteous to use a different mode of speech than the one used in an informal setting. I will need to spend as much time as possible with native speakers to really help my target culture become more intuitive. This will not be easy since I only see my language partner once a week. Because of this, my language partner introduced me to several resources such as Korean movies to become more culturally attuned with the Korean culture. In addition to movies, my language partner also recommended several reality TV shows to help with learning the dynamic of casual conversations.

In addition to cultural awareness, I really need work on other competences as well. Grammatical competence is an important one for me because I was not in Korea long enough to learn the grammar of the language. Korean is structured very differently than English. Many of its sentence structures differ and the proper use of punctuation is completely unclear to me. I would like to consult a basic Korean textbook to take time learning the structure of Hangul and have some level of proficiency in that as well. With grammatical competence, I would also like to eventually strive toward discourse competence. This is the language competence that deals with big picture meanings instead of small details. I would eventually like to learn how to read and understand lengthy documents. Things like a whole movie, a novel, and even a long conversation are some of the things I really would like to get better understanding.  

This week I watched a YouTube video explaining how to tell the date; the link to the video can be found in my lesson plan under task number 5.  This method of learning was fun and simple because it changed up the ways of a typical textbook lesson and everything is explained to you as you see the content.  It is very helpful for me in that way considering I'm an auditory learner. 

The content of the video contained Sino-Korean numbers, those derived from the Chinese number system, the names of the months, and structures of a date.  It was interesting to notice patterns in how the numbers are put together.  For example, the words for 20, 30, 40 etc. are like saying 2 10, 3 10, etc.  For the names of the months, they use the number of the month and put it in front of their word for month such as 1st month and 2nd month.  That makes it very simple for someone learning the language.  The video explained any and all changes to spelling, which I don't believe would be to common in every day life; however, it is very useful to have that tool under my belt for a situation that requires that knowledge.  For practice, I wrote down how to say my birthday.  In Korean they put the year, month, then day which is quite different from our month, day, year.  

 A new strategy that I have just started is changing the language of my iPhone to Korean.  This way, I will constantly be exposed to new words and terms which will make it faster in memorizing them.  It's an interesting change, but I'm up for the challenge.  This connects to what I've learned in this lesson through seeing the date change every day and using the calendar app to set up all my reminders.  As always, I'm excited to learn more about the language and the culture and I think this tiny step will make a big difference. 

Language learning is definitely an uphill battle. I felt very confident in my progress as soon as I had mastered the alphabet, only to feel discouraged when I realized that was only the preliminary step to even begin learning to read, write and speak. However, it is going well. It can be hard at times to find the motivation to study hard and dedicate all the time I need to in order to make significant progress in learning Korean. I really enjoy using Mango to help my language learning; it nicely builds off itself and makes sure you don't forget certain phrases just because you already "mastered" that chapter. It also makes you learn more complex sentences, which has helped me learn the sentence structures of Korean and notice patterns within the language. I think this is more helpful than just memorizing sets upon sets of vocabulary. That being said, I have been trying to do more flashcards and general vocabulary building, to give me more breadth when speaking the language. I really want to be able to get a point across if I try to speak Korean, and so I think knowing more words will help me more than having perfect grammar. I believe communicative competence, like H.D. Brown talks about in his article, is more important than linguistic competence, especially when learning a language without the purpose of using it in a strictly academic sense. If I were planning on writing academic or professional essays in Korean, I would probably focus more on proper grammar and whatnot. Learning grammar is very important when learning a language, but for me, I want to put more emphasis on the discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence that Brown talks about. Grammatical competence is important for creating discourse, but mastery of grammar is not necessary. I don't even use perfect grammar when speaking in English, but I can obviously converse interpersonally because I know the sociological rules of the U.S. and how to get around my imperfect knowledge of the language in order to get my point across. I think learning a breadth of vocabulary across different topics will help me advance toward communicative competence.

            Also there is definitely a relationship between culture and language, so learning more about my target culture can only help me improve my cultural competence. This is especially important for the sociolinguistic competence that Brown talks about because it is important to know how to talk properly given the setting and to whom you're talking. For example, knowing that Korea is a hierarchal society with a lot of emphasis placed on respect for elders, I know that learning the formal tense is a crucial part of learning the Korean language if I want communicative competence. It's also important to learn about the target culture so that you learn the most valuable words and phrases in the language. It wouldn't do me as much good to learn the word for "pizza" in Korean as it would to learn the word for "rice." Languages are created and developed from within a culture, so there is a strong relationship between the two.

The topic of my cultural project is going to be daily life of a young adult (college student or 20-something year old) in Korea. I want to focus on a lot of different aspects of Korean culture, and this way I can do that and through a lens through which I can compare Korean culture to my personal experience with American culture. My learning goals for this project are to learn the different areas of vocabulary and culture that a Korean person in university of recently in the workforce would know and use. This would include talking about school, jobs, transportation, work ethic, pop culture in younger generations, formality and colloquialism, relationships, and more. Since my overall goal with learning some Korean would be to help me get around if I were to go visit, hopefully this project and my goals around it would assist me in conversing with others my age. Since my topic is so broad, I won't be able to go too in depth with any of the specific areas of vocabulary or culture, but that's okay because I would rather build a breadth of knowledge to start out with this semester.

Languages go extinct when not enough people find value in continuing to teach it. In the case of Siletz and other American Indian languages, a big part of the languages' demises was that Indian children were sent to government boarding schools where they were not taught the language. This also happens because certain languages are more popular and useful to learn such as English or Spanish. When a language dies, it takes a lot of effort on the part of native speakers in order to preserve it. In the case of Siletz, one speaker took it upon himself to create an online dictionary for the language with thousands of recordings of himself saying the words. By crossing into the digital world, it makes it easier for a language to persevere; it won't necessarily die with the native speakers, it can be accessed online even after native speakers are nearly gone. K. David Harrison talks about his job as a linguist to document languages, as a large portion of the 7,000 languages that exist will go extinct with their last native speakers. So, he can make recordings of these last speakers to try to preserve parts of the language. It is very difficult to bring a language back to life because it takes a lot of effort and commitment; many people simply don't care enough about small languages to put in the effort to revive them. Siletz is an example of a tribe who went from non-existent to federally recognized, and with this the language had a better chance of surviving. With the digital age, it is increasingly possible to preserve a dying language by documenting it online, but it is very unlikely that a dying language would be revived to the point that it is widely spoken.