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Culture Post -Sunday, April 26

            One portion of deaf culture that I have heard about in the past, but know very little information on, are deaf clubs. Deaf clubs were originally established during the 1920s through the 1950s to bring Deaf people together. During this time, being deaf was still considered a disability that was to be “normalized” within the hearing society, thus little effort from communities, companies, and the government was made to encourage social gathering of Deaf individuals. In addition, Deaf people often worked in jobs where no other Deaf people worked. Thus, being Deaf seemed to be a sentence of social isolation. That is, at least, before Deaf clubs.

            In a world of hearing, Deaf clubs provided the Deaf with a place to fulfill their social needs. They were safe, unique spaces where Deaf individuals could go and communicate with other individuals through sign language. However, these clubs were not limited to just chit-chatting between friends, but these clubs also organized activates to promote a sense of community. They organized sports teams, hired Deaf performers, held film screenings, holiday parties, and beauty pageants, and etc. In addition to this, Deaf club’s also provided the Deaf youth with an adult who often provided guidance, a meeting place for future spouses, and overall a place to seek aid and friendship. Deaf clubs were also extremely important in the development and creation of shared signs, further contributing to the development of Deaf society and culture. In general, the clubs were located close to large cities, which is where deaf schools were commonly located, or near communities with a high Deaf population.

            Interestingly enough, before Deaf clubs became popular for deaf individuals, these clubs were held in rented spaced and frequently changed locations. It was only after they gained popularity and dues were collected from the members that permanent accommodations were obtained.

                        Luckily, by the mid-1960s these viewpoints began to change and the Deaf communities, which were originally viewed as a disabled group, were identified instead as a cultural and linguistic minority. However, also during this time, Deaf Clubs began to decline in popularity. The civil rights movement promoted equal treatment, and as such, more Deaf people began working white-collar jobs for companies that focused on hiring other Deaf people, thus diminishing the need for Deaf clubs. Alongside this, the emerging presence of technology has also been attributed to the decline of Deaf Clubs.  With advances in technology, new devices were invented that specifically mitigated the lifestyle differences between the Deaf and the hearing. Inventions like the TTY in the 1970’s and wider use of Closed Captioning for movies increased the opportunities of entertainment within Deaf society, thus deaf clubs were not as imperative for entertainment services. Furthermore, Deaf people turned towards a more private lifestyle and they lost interest in the traditional group activities that were accompanied by Deaf clubs. Today, there are some Deaf Clubs still in existence, however, the numbers have decreased dramatically. In America, the majority of them are within the Midwest and the south, but their membership is small and only decreasing with time.

 

Deaf Clubs Today: Do They Still Have a Role to Play? The Cases of Cyprus and Greece https://muse-jhu-edu.newman.richmond.edu/article/425304

https://ifmyhandscouldspeak.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/deaf-clubs/

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discussion post #8

In the video it shows that the languages go extinct since there is no more speakers and there is no more conversations between speakers. The elders with low hearing abilities can hardly make conversation using the targeted language. Therefore it is harder to record and preserve the language for further use. Similarly in the reading article, the language xxx came back to life due to the reuse of language. Also, education system plays an important role in language as well. When there is no curriculum about languages like Siletz, the younger won’t be able to acquire them.

Linguistics can do several things to preserve a dying language. First, they can record the language and document them in a dictionary which give access to the general public without violate their intellectual rights. Second, working with government and including the target language in school curriculum can be also very helpful on preserving a dying language. Moreover, linguistics need to be working with other professionists such as zoologists and biologists to understand the language on its own term. Immediate need of care and support of dying languages make language preservation is a great challenge. Although a lot of dedication is needed, it will be worth it as David Harrison illustrated that there are a large amount of knowledge encapsulated in endangered languages that is highly valuable. The linguistic David Harrison are educating high school students and college students about linguistic and recruiting linguistics to work on dying languages.

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discussion post #9

I have started writing my target language a long ago. Written Korean, like English and most of other languages in the world, are highly related to the pronunciation, therefore makes it easier to write free hand than type. Korean characters are similar to Chinese characters with less type of strokes. The pattern of Korean characters are hard to miss. The vowels are usually placed in below or on the right with consonants on the other half. 받침 are separated with the vowels and consonants. Double 받침 have two parts. In total, there are maximum four parts that consist one Korean character. 

The Korean sentences are really flexible in terms of the order of language parts. Usually it follows the pattern of subject + object + verb. When the subject is obvious in the context, subject is usually omitted in the sentence. The clauses which indicate time, location, relationship, etc, can be put in different order without changing the main meaning of the sentence. 

My main uses of written Korean language are short expressions of emotions. I started to learn how to write simple sentences last week. The following picture shows what I have been working on specifically in written Korean.12746888866?profile=original

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113 Learning Journal #6

For the last week, I created my own lesson as I was not able to meet with my language partner.  I decided to delve into some grammar and sentence making.  I’m not as familiar with adjectives as I am with verbs in Korean, so I chose 12 to study that I would use often such as wet, dry, late, early, etc.  Then I created very simple sentences to tie each adjective to a noun.  I watched a couple of videos on YouTube linked below that explain the two conjugations of adjectives.  I found it interesting that adjectives had to be conjugated like verbs.  The word ‘adjective’ in Korean is ‘형용사’ which translates better to ‘descriptive verb’.  Basically, the conjugation is different if you place the adjective in front of a noun, such as ‘small cat’, or before the noun to form a sentence, like ‘the cat is small’.  To describe a small cat, you take the dictionary form of small ‘작다’, take away the ‘다’ and add ‘은’ in this case to form ‘작은’.  To say, ‘the cat is small’, you just put the dictionary form of the adjective after the noun to make ‘고양이는 작다’.  This is a basic form and can be made honorific by changing the adjective to ‘작습니다’. 

I applied both conjugations to the nouns and adjectives that I had set up previously to form sentences.  I discovered a Korean translator called Naver to check over my work and see the honorific forms of the adjectives.  I also wanted to learn a few phrases that I caught from a Kdrama I’m watching, Itaewon Class, such as ‘Why can’t I?’ and ‘Are you sure?’.  After writing all of these down, I went through and practiced saying each sentence repetitively and quizzed myself.  It was a bit difficult to remember all of the new words, but I think reviewing it over the next few days with help with my retention.  During my next lesson with my language partner, I want to go over the work I did and see what she thinks in terms of the accuracy of the vocabulary.  Sometimes, different words are more commonly used to say the same thing.  I also want to learn more about the situations in which the different forms of these phrases would be used.  Sometimes, certain forms are strictly for use among friends or people younger than you, so I want to make sure I am familiar with these terms.  I also would like to ask my language partner to go over some phrases with me.  I think those are the hardest to learn through a dictionary as Korean has many ways to say the same thing while only changing the formality.  I want to do more exercises like these so that I am able to produce the language more than just receiving it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbKVdf2qcAA&t=395s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFsfjuMrCSk&t=439s

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Discussion Post #10

If I received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of Korean, I would use this opportunity to study the influence of other languages on the Korean language. As I learned earlier this semester, Korean is traditionally believed to be a part of one of two language families, the Koreanic family and the Altaic family. However, I know that as a part of Northeastern Asia, Korea is also influenced by languages that are not necessarily in either of the two families, like Chinese. I find it really interesting that Korean has a variety of outside influences but still manages to maintain its own uniqueness. The alphabet is easy to learn to read and write and is also extremely simple in comparison to other Asian languages. Korean also borrows a lot of vocabulary from English and Chinese, even if those two languages do not contribute to its phonetics.

After obtaining the above information, I would also try to compare and contrast the different Korean dialects. I am interested in figuring out if certain historic and geographic factors affect how a dialect is developed. For example, if an area had been dominated by the Japanese or if it is located closer to Japan, is the dialect in that region more influenced by the Japanese language in comparison to traditional Korean? Learning about the dialects would also further supplement the initial study and explain how the Korean language developed in the first place. In general, I am interested in exploring how the Korean language came to be and what external factors were greatly impactful. 

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Cultural Post #2

Due to the sudden COVID-19 outbreak, I had to fly home for the extended spring break and a week of school, which eventually turned into the rest of the semester. I typically take two to three flights to and from school since the Richmond airport does not offer any direct flights to Hawaii. Because it was still spring break, I did not have a great deal of work to complete while traveling, so I tried to think of ideas to help pass the time to prevent boredom. Depending on how tired I am when I board my flights, I will usually end up sleeping for a majority of the time, but I was pretty well rested since I had been on spring break for the past week. I decided to browse through the films offered on my first plane and I came across Parasite, or 기생충 in Korean.

Parasite recently won four Academy Awards– Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film– and made history for being the first South Korean film to receive an Academy Award, as well as the first foreign film to win Best Picture. It has also been recognized for a number of other awards but especially made history at the 92nd Academy Awards in February. I personally have heard nothing but positive reviews about the film and had been meaning to watch it for some time now. I was supposed to watch it with Jimin and a few of her other language learning partners but it ended up not working out.

This post is going to be a bit of a spoiler but I’ll try to only discuss the gist of the story. It was basically about the low-income Kim family, who have worked a variety of temporary failing jobs in the past. In the beginning, the son’s good friend gifts him a rock which is supposed to bring him wealth and urges him to take over his tutoring job as he leaves to study abroad. His friend tutors English for the eldest daughter in the wealthy Park family and the Kim son is successfully able to get the job. The rest of the Kims slowly infiltrate the life of the Park family, with the daughter, father, and mother slyly posing as unrelated and highly qualified workers. The Kim daughter poses as an art therapist for the younger son, the father replaces the family driver, and the mother replaces the housekeeper. One day when the Parks leave for a camping trip, the Kims indulge in the luxuries of the Park’s home and celebrate their increasing wealth resulting from their new jobs. Suddenly, the old housekeeper appears and requests to retrieve something that she left in the house. She reveals an underground bunker, where her husband had been living for years to avoid loan sharks. She eventually finds out about the Kim family’s scam but her and her husband are wounded and forced into the bunker when the Park family arrives home early. The next day, the Park family hosts a birthday party for the son and the Kim family members are all invited. The Kim son brings the rock to face the couple in the bunker, but he is attacked by the husband who is enraged by his wife’s death. The husband runs out and stabs the Kim daughter with a kitchen knife to avenge his wife. Her mother kills him and the father ends up killing the Park father after seeing his disgusted reaction to who he thought was a dirty, smelly homeless man. The story ends with the daughter dying, the father retreating to the basement to avoid criminal charges, and the mother and son facing convictions of fraud. The son vows to make enough money so that he can purchase the house, which is occupied by a new family, and eventually free his father.

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Culture Post -Sunday, March 29

When I started the Self-Directed Language Learning Courses 110, I was in communication with my language partner, Reba, to figure out when the best times would be for the two of us to meet. We originally were emailing back and forth, but I shared my phone number with Reba in hopes of faster commination via text. However, after one of my biology classes, I received a call from an unknown number. I answered it and was surprised to hear an initial response somewhat like “Hello. This is a telecommunications relay service. You are receiving a call from Reba. Would you like to accept it?” I accepted and was able to speak with Reba regarding scheduling our class, but after hanging up, I remember I was shocked and confused. How did my deaf teacher just call and communicate with me?

            Well, Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (which took full effect on July 26, 1993) requires all U.S. telephone companies to provide telecommunications relay services (TRS). This policy was originally pushed by the National Association of the Deaf as, prior to this, there were limited services for both free and paid relay services. What does a TRS do though? TRS enables those that are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired to communicate with those who are hearing in a manner that is “functionally equivalent” to the ability of individual without a disability regarding telephone communication. The ADA requires the Federal Communications Commission to enforce these relay service regulations and to encourage “the use of existing technology and do not discourage or impair the development of improved technology.”

            For those that are deaf or hard-of-hearing, the type of TRS that is commonly used is Video Relay Services (VRS). How this works is that an individual with the disability will utilize a device that has a camera and they will contact a VRS communications assistant (CA). The caller and CA will communicate with each other in sign language through a video link and that CA will place a telephone call to whomever the VRS user wishes to call. The VRS CA will interpret the VRS user’s sign to the recipient via speech and then will listen to the recipient’s response and translate said response into ASL for the VRS user. Most deaf people have pre-arranged video relay services with a provider, so if a hearing individual wants to contact a VRS user, the call will automatically be transferred through a VRS provider. These services are free for those with disabilities and the VRS CAs are compensated for their work from the Interstate TRS Fund, which the Federal Communications Commission oversees.  

            By using the VRS, deaf individuals and hearing individuals can have seemingly fluid conversations where the participants can even interrupt each other. This is unlike some TRS systems such as teletypewriter (TTY) in which the party members must take turns communicating through the CA. In addition, because these VRS conversations flow much more naturally, the conversations that take place can occur quicker. However, it is important to know that VRS, unlike the other TRS, relies on the internet connection, not the telephone system.

            Although I was unaware of such services before, I believe it to be important to share this information that I have learned with the general public. Prior to this experience, I had just assumed that it would be rude, or ineffective to call Reba because she was deaf. However, it is important to know that there are policies in place to mitigate communication differences between the deaf and hearing population. I think that if more people knew that there easy, free ways to communicate with the ASL community, there may be less separation between the two groups of hearing and deaf/hearing impaired.

12746888466?profile=original

*Summarized version of VRS system

 

https://www.nad.org/resources/technology/telephone-and-relay-services/relay-services/

https://www.fcc.gov/general/telecommunications-relay-services-trs

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SDLC 113 Cultural Post #3 (with artifact)

June Choi

Dr. Soloway

SDLC 113

March 29, 2020

 

SDLC 113 Cultural Post #3

 

            With the global pandemic of COVID19, I have observed many different responses by country leaders across the world. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to research about the healthcare system and health-related social customs of South Korea. South Korea has been appraised as the “model country” with its approach to the pandemic and its successful efforts to containing the pandemic in a timely manner. Upon looking into South Korea’s healthcare policy, I found that South Korea went from private voluntary health insurance to government-mandated universal coverage that is called Korean national health insurance (NHI) in 1989. The system provides everyone with health insurance, although it does give different groups different coverage. The single-payer healthcare system merged all medical societies into the National Health Insurance Service to get rid of inequity in health care financing and financial distress, and this service is funded by contributions, government subsidies, and tobacco surcharges. Overall, Korea has been successful in mobilizing different resources for healthcare, extending coverage across Korean citizens, pooling both public and private resources to buy healthcare for the entire population, and containing healthcare expenditure. The benefit package of Korean health insurance includes free curative services, biannual health check ups, and vaccinations at public health centers. This system also has mandatory enrollment.

            Based on my experience in Korea, it was very easy for me to visit any type of specialized health clinic for my health problems oftentimes the day I wanted to go without a prior appointment. I recently had to go to a health clinic for my biannual check up/physical. Additionally, visits to health clinics were rather affordable compared to those in the US. I found that many Koreans visit physicians for even minor colds, aches, or miscellaneous health dilemmas. Additionally, many Koreans often wear masks whenever there is heavy pollution or dust in the air, as well as when they are even mildly sick. Koreans are generally very precautious and wary about health problems. Concerning the COVID19 pandemic, getting a test in Korea if a physician decides that a patient does not need it costs 160,000 won (a little less than 160 USD). If a physician does think a patient qualifies for testing, then it is paid for by the government. Additionally, one can receive work compensation for time spent in the hospital. Therefore, people in Korea were more likely to get tested quickly. On the other hand, getting tested in the US costs over 3000 USD not due to the actual testing, but for hospitalization and other related bills . Overall, I think that the universal health insurance system as well as the social custom of wearing masks without a second thought have somewhat helped Korea in its successful efforts to contain the COVID19 pandemic swiftly. Below are some links to articles that I found for supporting information. The video linked below also gives a brief overview on the healthcare system in Korea and foreign travelers’ reactions to it.

            I thought that the national health insurance system implemented in Korea shows Korea’s values of free and equal health coverage to all of its citizens. I think that this is a very valuable custom in Korea, as healthcare is something that no one can live without. Overall, I was very impressed with Korea’s healthcare system, and reading about it in Korean helped me to learn more medical terms as well as political terms.

 

https://blog.naver.com/lskjhc/221808851250

https://blog.naver.com/termpro2000/221832135024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTNxarFT2c

 

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Bi-Weekly Language Learning Journal 3/29

I have successfully finished my first week of zoom classes and in summary, it is different. I have never been one who loves learning through technology, whether that be lectures or online module assignments. Nevertheless, we adapt.

            It has been interesting to study sign language over applications like Facetime and Google Duo. Although I have a one-on-one meeting with Reba, twice a week, this form of teaching does not feel as personal or interactive to the same degree. Now, I understand that with the current situation, social distancing needs to be practiced, and, as such, this is the next best form of teaching. Our first lesson online together was good, but with the extended spring break, I was slow to recall many of the signs. However, by lesson 2, Reba and I were back to our old pace. Recently, the structure of each one of our lessons consists of a quick review of words we learned previously, learning around twenty new words during a session, and then formulating and processing example sentences with the new signs. So far, we have covered family, colors, modes of transportation, furniture, animals, common verbs, and a little bit of terminology revolving around this current pandemic, such as a virus.

            Reba and I have been utilizing the recourses we have used in the past such as the “Signing Naturally textbook”, the “ American Sign Language Dictionary”, and the application “Sign School”. However, I have also recently started using a program/website called “udemy.com.” The website has thousands of courses, all related to different topics, including ASL. I had bought a beginner ASL course several years ago but never completed it, thus I recently went back to complete the course. This online teaching just provides me more opportunities to learn ASL through video-based methods, instead of a book. In addition to this, I have also recently been searching covers of songs in ASL on YouTube. These are really fun videos to watch as the performers add a chorographical component to their signing, making it a hybrid of dance and ASL. As a dancer, I thought this could be a fun and exciting new way to build my vocabulary, as well as get some exercise during the quarantine.

            Reba and I still have yet to go over medical terminology; however, I am really excited and happy about the material we have covered thus far. Although my goal for the course was to be able to communicate with deaf individuals in an emergency medical situation, I have found a passion for sign language that I want to explore. I do not want my vocabulary to be limited to a medical emergency, but rather be included in my arsenal of signs. I love how kinesthetic sign is as a language and the ability to express the degree and intensity of a story through emotions and signs. It is beautiful how an entire non-verbal language has been constructed to convey the same meaning and information that a verbal language does have.

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SDLC 113 Biweekly Language Learning Post #6

Regardless of any external obstacles to my language learning experience, such as a pandemic, I have been regularly contacting my language learning tutor Jimin in order to keep progressing. I have recently been watching a very popular K-drama called “Itaewon Class,” and although the first episode made me unsure if I wanted to invest my time into it due to the violence and tragedy, I gave it another shot. Now, I want to watch it at all hours of the day (which I of course can’t). This drama is quite different from many of the stereotypical and predictable K-dramas revolving around love relationships. It stars Park Seo-joon, an actor whom I am very fond of due to his smooth acting. It portrays the tragic but purposeful life of Park Saeroyi after he gets expelled from school and his father is killed in a car accident, all due to the very powerful and affluent Jang family. Park Saeroyi opens up a pub and is relentless in his journey as he tries to throw down the Jang family and become the owner of a successful franchise. He has a rather refreshing and admirable way of thinking and working as the star is very faithful to his friends/coworkers and also cares about dignity and wants to make the most out of his life. I find all of the other characters are rather diverse, as there is a transgender character, an African-American who has a Korean father, and a 20-yr old genius/rebel. I find that this drama helps me learn more about Korean social culture, as it is about the restaurant culture and also revolves around one of the hottest areas in Seoul- Itaewon. Additionally, just hearing the cast speak in Korean helps me to learn and understand new slang, as well as formal speaking from the Jang family. Overall, watching “Itaewon Class” is a very entertaining way for me to improve on my Korean language learning, even in bed.

            Other than watching Korean TV shows, I have also been keeping up with my language learning by visiting the Korean market called HMart in Philadelphia. I know that it is slightly risky in times like these, so I make sure to wear gloves and a mask. Although it is somewhat daunting to wear PPE whenever I go out due to stares from other people, I feel more at ease when I wear it going to HMart, as Asian people already have the custom of wearing masks whenever one is even slightly sick. I visited the Korean market twice in order to get ingredients for Korean dishes that I prepared. I ended up making ddeokbokki (떡볶이), spicy marinated pork (돼지불고기), and marinated beef (불고기). Overall, it was a success! Oh, I also picked up some of my favorite Korean snacks as well. I was able to practice speaking and reading in Korean as all of the products at the store were written in Korean as well as in English. I thought that it was a very useful way of practicing my language learning skills, as it is a skill that I would need if I were ever to stay in Korea.

            Lastly, I have been facetiming Jimin on a weekly basis to discuss my future learning plans and also to do mini grammar lessons.

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Discussion Post #9

I began my language learning experience with already knowing the Korean alphabet and how to generally write in Korean. However, writing is definitely one of my weaker points and it is something that I knew I wanted to improve on this semester. I am not very comfortable with writing and because I don't really have much practice with it, my handwriting is crude and looks quite awkward. I strongly prefer to type and am somewhat familiar with where the hangul characters are located on the keyboard, but it is also definitely something that I could also work on. I try to type in Korean when I communicate with my mother or grandmother as often as possible so that I can gain some practice.

Most of my knowledge in Korean comes from speaking informally with my family and I have difficulty translating what I read, hear, or speak into written words. Since I also do not have a strong foundation in formal Korean language, sometimes my sentences are improper or incoherent. I am definitely able to understand a lot more through reading or listening than putting forth those words myself. A writing exercise that I have done was to write a short biography on myself. I don’t currently have access to what I actually wrote since I left my notebook at school but it basically consisted of a simple introduction, what my interests are, how I was that day, etc. I think it was an effective exercise because it broadly demonstrated my level of writing and also any relevant vocabulary that I knew.

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Cultural Post #3

I recently finished a Korean drama called Itaewon Class. It’s a drama about a guy who wants revenge on the owner of a big company so he opens a street bar in Itaewon with people he encounters that help him make it successful. Street bar or pub in Korean is called Pocha or 포차. I thought it would be interesting to look more into street bars in Korea because it’s a major part of their drinking culture. 

Normally in Korea there are food stalls or carts outside called Pojangmacha or 포장마차. These stalls are tented spots where people eat while drinking late at night. The literal translation of Pojangmacha is covered wagon. Pocha is the abbreviation for Pojangmacha. Many of them have evolved to become indoors now. Both the outdoors and indoors Pocha have shown up often in Korean dramas. Itaewon Class is all about the newer indoor Pocha in Itaewon that is opened by the main guy and his obstacles. The newer indoor modern Pochas are very aesthetically pleasing compared to the older outdoor Pochas. 

I was looking up more information about these Korean pubs and found this very helpful article from people who visited Korea as tourists with tips and also learned some new Korean words. Typically when you go to a Pocha hungry with a group of people, you should order anju or 안주 based on how hungry you are so if you are really hungry, you could order spicy rice and fish cakes because those don’t last long. If you want to order a small snack cause you’re not hungry, you would order dried squid. A good choice of food to eat with soju and beer is some sort of stew like kimchi stew or jjigae (김치 찌개) because they are kept on a burner so it’s kept warm. The two common alcoholic drinks that people usually drink are soju and beer. People will play Korean drinking games with both. The drinking culture in Korea is big where there might be societal pressures to drink because most people do and a lot of times you might have to drink in a work setting. The article that I found also gave tips on avoiding drinking if you are not in the mood or it’s just not your thing. The first tip is to pour water in your shot glass when you’re pouring water into your water glass. Another tip is to throw your shot over your shoulder or on the ground when everyone is throwing back their shot. The last option is to throw your shot in a water glass before anyone notices. 

I find the concept of Pocha to be really interesting and the evolution was also really fascinating. I actually went to a Pocha in New York City in Ktown. It was pretty nice and everything that I had thought it would be but I think I would like to go to an authentic older outdoors Pocha one day in Korea. 



Here is the link to the article: https://www.eatyourkimchi.com/how-to-survive-a-korean-bar/

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March 15 Blog Post #5

Now we are transitioning to narrative style manuscripts, specifically books of Miracles. I decided to try this style because I felt like I should learn to translate different types of texts. Also within narrative style you get a context that you  may not have with poetry. The chronological nature and the specific actors within a story lend itself to a more informed translation. While outside references may be considered the most important thing is the content of the narrative which is not always the case to understanding poetry. 

We are starting with a story from the book of Miracles of St Urael which outlines the life of the author Abba Giorgis zeGasicha. He is one of the greatest authors who wrote original works in Ge’ez. Of course they are all considered inspired and he is a saint of the Church, but he created a large body of work that changed the history of the Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some of which are used in daily praises such as Anqetse Berhan “The Door of Light”, Widasie Mesqel “Praises of the Cross”, Seatat “The book of Hours”. Authorship is a very obscure thing in Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox texts because out of humility, authors are known to ascribe their writings to someone else or completely omit a/their name. However, Abba Giorgis includes a miracle that tells of his life in this miracle book that we are translating. Though, this piece has already been translated and it is serving just as a means to practice by. Abba Giorgis names himself in some of his works as the lowly servant of God and includes many important facts about himself such as birth place, lineage, and upbringing. 

His style can be described as heavily using repetition, obscure references, amazing vocabulary (in Ge’ez, Greek, Hebrew), both capturing hymnology and theology in his works.

We are using a transcript compiled by Getatchew Haile which compares 4 different manuscripts using one as the primary text. It is absolutely fascinating the work that goes into this. “Getatchew Haile is an Ethiopian-American philologist widely considered the foremost scholar of the Ge'ez language alive today. He was acknowledged for his contributions to the field with a MacArthur Fellows Program "genius" award and the Edward Ullendorff Medal from the Council of the British Academy.” My language mentions him a lot but I never realized how much of a leading scholar he is! Looking at his body of work, recognitions, vast deep and wide experiences, and continued work till this day is amazing. His work may be a project I want to look in for my final project. It actually makes me even more interested to study linguistics even further into my career whether it is in a self directed fashion as I am now or a formal way. This is definitely something I am interested in exploring. What I know for sure is that I don’t want to stop learning Ge’ez and working on translating. 

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March 1 Blog Post #4

Now we’ve moved on to translating the Easter service rites. This is different because it draws from a lot of different resources for example it starts off with the daily book of prayers, then into a poem called “the Image of the Praises”, then it goes into the readings of the day from the Holy Bible, finally the part of the rites that are specific to the day draw almost completely from the Book of Psalms. Once we figured out that that’s where the phrases were coming from, we were able to look up the verses in the Ge’ez and English versions of the Psalms to locate the verse and contextualize it in the translation.

Because the document we were working on was compiled but another party, we were also going through and fixing common spelling mistakes and forms. 

One big lesson I got from this project was the importance of identifying object markers. These are the different object case markers in Ge’ez:

They are seen at the end of the noun; if the noun ends in a 6th order it will go to 1st order, 3rd order → 5th order, adding a ḥā on proper nouns and names also makes it an object, 

Object markers: for example with sī (3rd order) → sie (5th order) bi’sī to bi’isie, man subject form to man object form. This changed one sentence we were working on and because the sentence order was also off we needed to spot the case change in order to make the most sense of it.

I made some stylistic notes as well like using exclamation marks in the presence of an imperative or a plea. Putting these notes into action as well as reiterating simple grammatical lessons like common prepositions really feels like I’m getting the best of both. In this lesson, I learned a new term “clictic” which refers to prepositions. “In morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but depends phonologically on another word or phrase. In this sense, it is syntactically independent but phonologically dependent—always attached to a host.” One such example is im- which may also be seen as i- depending on the noun that follows it in the word. The word itself means from, originating.

I also just realized the difference between perfect and imperfect verbs and how they are used in Ge’ez. The distinction doesn’t always make a difference in translation. Perfect is for a completed action while imperfect is an ongoing action.

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Biweekly Journal 5

These past three weeks can be summed up essentially with one word, chaos. With the unbelievably rapid rate that the COVID-19 is spreading across the world, daily life for everyone is becoming affected. The University of Richmond has decided to transition into online classes. Thankfully, it is not just our school that has decided to transition to this form of teaching. As far as I know, every school in the United States has decided to either close or transition to online education for the rest of the semester. This is very concerning, since I have no idea how this will impact my education, but I am almost certain that having classes online will only make learning more difficult.

            As far as this course goes, the professors have decided to essentially keep the curriculum exactly the same, which makes sense since this course is primarily a self-directed learning course. One major change is that we will no longer be able to meet our language learning partners face to face, but rather rely on communicating through webcam. Though this may be difficult to some, since I am primarily focusing on practicing communication and pronunciation this will make the online transition much smoother. But for this biweekly journal I want to talk about what I have done in the past weeks and what I am planning to focus on for the upcoming weeks.

            During these past few weeks of spring break, I was able to come back home in California and be with my family. My family primarily speaks Korean, so I had the opportunity to really be immersed in an environment that only speaks Korean. I believe that during my time here, my ability to think and speak in Korean has become much more proficient and natural. I find that I am able to confidently express what I want to say to my parents without having to stand there stumbling for words. In addition, over the course of the break, I watched a Korean drama called Itaewon Class. This was a very fun drama that was released on Netflix. I made it a goal to watch the drama and try not to rely on the English subtitles that they provide. I found that I was able to understand a majority of what they said, but I found it difficult to understand once they started to use slang and curse at each other, which are parts of the Korean language that are constantly changing. But overall, I enjoyed the drama very much and I learned a lot of new vocabulary as a result.

            Looking towards the future, I realize now that I will be home for the rest of the semester, which is something that I am not totally against. While I am here with my family, I will try my best to continue to speak Korean and practice my Korean speaking, while being quarantined. In addition, I will try to get in touch with my language learning partner and continue our weekly meetings.  

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Bi-weekly Journal 5

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, I was unable to meet with my language partner. In addition, I travelled during spring break, which further prevented me from continuing my Korean studies. However, I was able to get in contact with my language partner and review the lesson plans that she personally outlined for me in the beginning of the semester through Kakaotalk, a messenger application that is popular among Koreans. This review eliminated some of the uncertainties that I was experiencing in regards for the continuation of the self-directed language program and helped me to reevaluate my learning goals.

 

My language partner and I decided that it would be best for her to continue her original teaching style. I agreed with this method because it would reduce the amount of variability in my learning experience and would save time by reducing the time of experimenting with learning styles. In the past, my language partner would give me two to three news articles and video links for me to translate, understand, and discuss. This has been the most effective way of learning for me because I get to simultaneously read, write, listen, and speak Korean. In other words, I am currently at an advanced level where I can multi-task with numerous language material. The only topic that we did not discuss was the date, time, and method of recording the podcast at the end of the year. There is still much time left in the semester, so we decided to review that topic later.

 

For the past couple of days, I was able to see the results of changing my default language to Korean on my computer. My mother encountered an issue with her computer and needed my help in resetting the default settings. The task was challenging at first because I had not practiced using Korean on my computer during Spring Break. With enough time, however, I was able to translate most of the settings in my head and reset the computer for her. I was very proud upon completion of this task because I never actually demonstrated this ability to anyone other than myself. While the task itself didn’t add much pressure, considering that I was helping my mother, I was still nervous because I was not sure if I could reset the device on my own. This experience validated my Korean skills and my ability to use my Korean in uncertain and new scenarios.

 

Since the last two weeks were technically considered Spring Break periods, I relaxed and watched several Korean dramas in one sitting. People who know me and have read my bi-weekly journals in the past know that I love learning Korean while engaging in an activity that I enjoy. The dramas that I watched were Itaewon Class and the second season of Kingdom. These two dramas take place in two different time periods. The former takes place in our current time while the latter takes place in a more ancient setting. While watching the dramas, I learned words like 박새로이, 순두부, “왜!”, and much more.

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Cultural Artifact #2 February 23

During our sessions, my language partner and I worked on this poem; “The Image of the Icon”. This is one of the paragraphs we translated and analyzed. This is my language partner’s finished edit. 

The Image of the Icon (Malkəʾā Śəʿəl)

ኦርኅርኅተ፡ ሕሊና፡ አፍቅሮተ፡ ሰብእ፡ ልማዳ።

ሰአሊተ፡ ምሕረት፡ ይእቲ፡ ማርያም፡ ሐፁረ፡

መስቀል፡ ዘየዓውዳ።

ንትቀበላ፡ ንዑ፡ ለወለተ፡ ዳዊት፡ ዘይሁዳ።

መጽአት፡ ነያ፡ ኅቡረ፡ ምስለ፡ ወልዳ።

ናንፈርዕፅ፡ ቅድመ፡ ሥዕላ፡ እንዘ፡ ንሁብ፡ ጋዳ።

ለለጌሠሙ፡ ትመስል፡ እንግዳ።

Orəḫrəḫta ḥəllinā afqərota sabəʾ ləmādā.

Saʾālita məḥrat yəʾəti māryām ḥāṣura masqal

zayaʿāwdā.

Nətqabalā nəʿu lawallata dāwit zayəhudā.

Maṣʾāt nayā ḫəbura məsla waldā.

Nānfarʿəṣ qədma śəʿəlā ənza nəhub gādā.

Lalageśamu təmasl əngədā.

O compassionate of mind, whose custom is to love mankind, / Thou intercessor for mercy, Mary, who

art encompassed by the rampart of the Cross. / Come, let us welcome the daughter of David of

Judah! / Behold! She has come, joined by her son. / Let us leap with joy before her icon, giving

offerings! / Every morning she resembles a guest.

O compassionate one, whose habit is to love mankind?, Mary is the beseecher of mercy, who is surrounded by fortification/palisade/rampart of the Cross; come let’s receive her, the daughter of David of Judah/the Jews?; Behold, she has come here together with her Son. Let’s jump with joy in front of her icon/image as we give her gifts; (for regulars?) everyday she looks like  a guest

I would like to highlight some words that we discussed in length. 

“Lalageśamu” which quite literally means morning by morning to indicate repetitive context. Also in Ethiopian/Eritrean culture, guests are very honored. Receiving guests is an event and is observed by all members of the household. Thus, St Mary is likened to a guest who is received into the home. 

The concept of being compassionate in mind is hard to pinpoint in English. In Ge’ez rəḫrəḫta ḥəllinā can also be translated as compassionate one, compassionate conscience; loving, kind, can also be used.

In this stanza, we can also note the rhyming of each line, ending with the “ā” sound. In this stanza the lines don’t have a syllabic consistency, with some lines holding 12 and others 20, but it fits very well with the melody of the song.

As I described earlier, the way we went about the translation is by doing independent research on the context and meanings and coming together to orate the translation. There we would discuss alternate meanings and how the translation can best fit the audience I am translating for. Namely, young, native English speakers with a simple background in Church services. This informed the formatting and definitely has an impact on how I choose to do transliterations as opposed to my language partner. His work is more for the academic setting and his audience are scholars of Ge’ez. Thus his work consists also of comparing manuscripts and their small differences as well as providing a more comprehensive contextual explanation.

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February 16 Blog Post #3

February 16:

These past two weeks have been really great and I have learned a lot! We have gone over very important things like verb categories and other grammatical concepts like forming clauses without a verb. One exercise that we have done is a translation exercise with the Epistle of St John in Ge’ez. This was new to me. I would start off by reading aloud the group of verses to practice my reading and pronunciation. Then I would vocally exercise translating on the spot. My language partner would suggest some things or point out important grammatical markers and I would thus improve my translation. Another way we did it is by preparing more with the text to spot out vocabulary I didn’t know or conjugations I could mark. Then, during our session, I would use that knowledge to reform the translation along with the feedback of my instructor.   We also are trying to translate Melke’a Si’il which is a piece of poetry. The subgenre is “Melk” or portrait. The style is archaea poetry. It isn’t very easily translated in English but it is a type of poetry in which God, the saints, and events are characterized physically. The stanzas are typically 5 lines and the number of syllables in the line are very important to the piece because it is sung in melody. Each stanza ends with a rhyme and keeps one rhyme in the stanza. Thus, words are often rearranged to make the rhyme fit. The order of subject, object, verb is often moved around in comparison to a typical narrative script. The poems are often long, having around 30 stanzas or more. 

One of the first important comments that I got from translating this poem is identifying infinitives. Identifying subjunctives, verbs in perfect and imperfect “tenses” is another difficult exercise that we do while translating. And actually I found out that the sense of tenses in Ge’ez is much more dependent on the context of the sentence than just the verb alone. Imperfect tense for example can have a future implication or a subjunctive implication when translated into English. 

Another great thing thus far has been the resources that my language partner has compiled for me including grammar guides, dictionaries, and dictionary guides. I have been primarily using Holmstead’s Introduction to Ge’ez. It has small lessons that I take weekly and come back to our sessions with questions. I really like how the information is organized in the textbook. It is very easy to follow and includes graphics and exercises to apply the lessons. It also includes a dictionary and verb conjugation guide. 

So far, I really like the format of this class. I am able to apply the concepts that I have learned, work on projects that I am really passionate about, and discuss the application of the Ge;ez language in a larger social context. I can’t wait to see the future projects we choose, because the ones we’re looking at now are really applicable to my daily service in the church as well.

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Learning Journal #5

I hoped to learn build upon what I’ve been learning on for the past two weeks, as well as learning some new material. I think I was able to complete these goals these past two weeks.

The past two weeks have been pretty hectic considering the situation that is going on around the world. I was able to meet with Professor Kim once for the past two weeks, before spring break. We were able to review what we learned about the date. She always begins class by asking us how our week has been and what we did today, or yesterday. These conversations at the beginning of the class are always nice, since it is a good refresher before we begin learning. It also helps us practice our speaking and listening skills. Since spring break, Professor Kim has emailed us and attached some handouts to help us practice. She gave a list of vocabulary words that we’ve been going over and another worksheet about grammar particles.

I was able to meet with Jannette these past two weeks. One week, we did our usual practice by reviewing and practicing the things that I learned with Professor Kim. As usual, Jannette taught me new vocabulary here and there. We try our best to have as much conversation in Korean as we can. Since I am just a beginner, we don’t speak in Korean for a majority of the time, but it is always good practice and forces me to draw on things that I’ve learned in the past that might not be as fresh in my mind. Besides our usual meeting, we also watched a movie. Jannette held a movie night with all of her language partners, so I was able to meet people who are also learning Korean. We watched 200 Pound Beauty, which is a Korean movie. It was very informative and actually was a very good movie. It touched upon some issues in Korean culture and was funny, but at the same time informative.

In order to practice what I’ve learned these past two weeks; I will look over the handouts that Professor Kim sent me. I will also use other resources to learn Korean, such as different language apps on the phone. There is also a website I’ve used in the past, so I think that I will go back to that. Our classes with Professor Kim will also continue so I look forward to those. I will continue to try to incorporate Korean into my conversations with Korean speaking friend. I also hope to continue having practice conversations with Jannette in our future meetings.

I think my strategies have been effective so far. I’ve found that things are sticking, and I am starting to pick up more and more Korean. After laying down a foundation, I’ve been able to continue to build upon it.

In order to build on what I’ve learned so far, I hope to learn more useful vocabulary and new grammar points. I plan to find different ways to practice Korean and learn more about the language, even though I’m home now and don’t have the same resources. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the semester will be like and find more sources to learn Korean. These resources will be helpful for me after I graduate and hopefully continue my studies in Korean.

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Biweekly journal #5

Over the past few weeks, a lot has happened across the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a result, I was unable to officially meet with my language partner and discuss about Korean. On the other hand, I actually was able to still practice and learn Korean on my own time because the covid-19 situation gave me great incentive to listen to news surrounding current events happening not only in the United States but also in South Korea. I actually never had that much of a motivation to listen to Korean news channels because usually the events that were happening in Korea were mostly political and did not really interest me that much. However, currently, due to the coronavirus hitting South Korea so hard, I was really drawn to listen to the broadcasting coverage daily. So, although I was not able to meet up with Jenna, I actually feel like I still am improving on my Korean even more because I was listening to the news (sometimes even for 3 hours) and trying to comprehend the news everyday.  

In the news, I learned a lot about how this pandemic affected the stock market and how much it affected businesses especially private contractors. I think through Korea’s news, I was able to pick up on new vocabulary terms like “증상,” “사회,” 발생,” “국경봉쇄,” and e.t.c. Of course I did not understand the news to the entirety, however, when I could, I made sure to search up a few vocabulary words that I picked up from the announcer and I translated it so I could remember it for the next time I come across that word in the news. 

Another result from this pandemic was that I had a lot of time on my hands at home since we are encouraged to stay quarantined. This is why I actually started a Korean drama (something that I really do not do because of lack of time) called Itaewon Class. This drama starring Park Seo-joon, Kim Da-mi, Yoo Jae-myung and Kwon Nara is about the story of ex-convict Park Sae-ro-yi whose life has been turned upside down after he gets expelled from school for punching a bully and his father is killed in an accident. Following his father's steps, he opened his bar DanBam (Sweet Night) in Itaewon, along with his manager and staff, striving towards success and reaching greater heights. This drama actually was not only very entertaining, it also was very informational regarding how restaurant businesses work. I was very intrigued about the amount of investors, correct management, staff, and leader, and money a business needed in order to expand and thrive. Overall, I am going to just continue to listen to the news and watch this drama in order to keep up with my learning plan during this quarantine process. 



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