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Throughout my ASL learning journey, I have often thought about the role deaf individuals play in society. Do most deaf or hard of hearing individuals stay within like communities? Do they join hearing communities and find ways to communicate? What jobs are accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing? The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability, meaning that being deaf is not fair or just cause for discrimination.

However, through education and social norms/structure, I believe people can feel discouraged pursuing specific passions and goals. Either the information is not easily accessible, the journey is too long, or too many obstacles are in place. This applies not just in the deaf community, but throughout all individuals, but in today's discussion, we are referring specifically to death.

My lessons and past research has taught me ASL is a developing language that changes rapidly. New signs are created all the time to keep up with the modern English terminology. Additionally, not all ASL is consistent. Some areas have their own ASL vernacular. Some races have different signs as well (such as Black ASL which originated during segregation in America). However, because of the fluidity and diversity of ASL, there has been a decrease in the development of standardization of ASL signs in specific fields, specifically within STEM.

When a specific word does not have an established sign, translators and sign language users will spell out the word. However, in the STEM field, words such as bioluminescence and glycoprotein, are often long and require increased thought when spelling. Thus the sign for glycoprotein would translate to the spelling -"G-L-Y-O-P-R-O-T-E-I-N."  Now imagine going to a one-hour lecture where large scientific words are used and you have to follow the spelling of these large words in order to properly understand the specific subject. It would be immensely difficult.

So, I began to inquire and research on any standardized development for STEMbased science terms, and here is what I have found. There are several projects out there, such as ASLCORE and ASL Clear, that are aiming to create new ASL signs for the STEM disciplines. ASLCORE is a more user-friendly site with terminology in subject areas including biology, organic chemistry, philosophy, architecture, and even literature! Each one of these subjects then has subdisciplines for terminology on specific areas. For example, under the biology subject, there is specific terminology that has been established to describe the enzymes and processes involved in DNA replication.

Because signs like these are so specific and not used by the general deaf society, many subject-specific terms do not have established signs. I wonder how much of a deterrent this obstacle is for deaf students interested in STEM. If this type of language was incorporated into deaf high schools, would there be a greater amount of deaf works in the STEM field. Although many, including myself, do not see deafness as a disability, being deaf in a hearing world does instill obstacles that may be extremely hard to overcome. I hope that with the development of STEM ASL signs, greater diversity and understanding about the deaf community is brought to the STEM field.

https://www.theverge.com/science/2018/12/11/18133033/science-asl-american-sign-language-jargon-communication

https://www.tlcdeaf.org/services/consultation-research-training

https://aslcore.org/

I have been continuing my studies as usual, going through Farida’s curriculum and learning about various topics. Recently, we have been studying Indonesian music, houses, and daily activities.

During our lessons lately, I have been noticing that Farida will introduce or show me something (video, pictures, article, etc.) related to our unit, then ask for my opinion or understanding. She has always done this from the start, but now I feel that she does it more often, which I enjoy. It allows me to express my opinion and understanding (or lack thereof). It also highlights some cultural differences between the US and Indonesia.

Farida informed me that we are supposed to have monthly assignments in her class, though we actually forgot about the one for February. As a result, she gave me a smaller assignment which made up for the forgotten one. The assignment was about Hari Kartini (Kartini Day). Ibu Kartini is a heroine figure in Indonesia, so Hari Kartini (April 21) is a holiday with feminist roots that celebrates her accomplishments related to the emancipation of women and advancement of their education. As for the assignment, it was to film a video of me singing the Kartini song and delivering a small message to the women of Indonesia. I thought this was very appropriate, given our current unit about Indonesian songs. This video is actually for Farida’s friend, who is putting together a compilation of Indonesian women doing the same (so the end product will be all of us singing together, then our individual messages). I thought it was a very neat project that I was proud to be part of. From this assignment, I got to learn more about feminism in Indonesia. Even in modern days, Indonesia is a country who is a bit behind in terms of gender roles/hierarchy. It has definitely improved, but there are still traces evident in society. So it was very interesting for me to learn about a feminist leader and holiday in Indonesia. Additionally, I learned more vocabulary (especially beautiful, poetic language) from the lyrics of the song, as well as from creating my message for the video.

This month, I have another monthly assignment which consists of me interviewing one of Farida’s colleagues using mostly Bahasa Indonesia. I have actually done this type of thing in her class before, so I am not too worried, though I noticed that while preparing questions, I still have trouble understanding the question markers and production of wh-questions. For example, apa in Indonesian means “what,” and apakah can also mean what, but the -kah suffix denotes a yes/no question. It can be mixed with other words, for example, bolehkah, which asks for permission, “may I…” Even though the concept seems straightforward, I have a hard time internalizing it because when I spoke Indonesian as a child/with my family, I never heard this, or I never realized what it meant. From this experience, I can see how being a heritage learner can be a strength, but also a weakness. It can be a strength because we may already be familiar with a number of grammatical structures, vocab, etc., though it can also be a weakness because we internalize our previous knowledge (which may be fragmented, informal, etc.) and it can be difficult to bridge those gaps.

I added two new agendas into my learning plan: dialects and idioms/proverbs. In our SDLC 105 class, we discussed different types of dialects in a country, and after this class, I decided to include learning about the different dialects in Korean. My family in Korea are either from the Busan or Gangwondo area, and I remembered that I sometimes do not understand what they say because they have their way of speaking due to regional differences. I decided to include learning about the grammar, phonological trains, and lexis used by the speakers. I had a lot of fun watching videos learning the different dialects as I tried to imitate the way that they speak. I also created a Quizlet with lexis and vocabulary. Using Quizlet, I assessed myself to see how much dialect vocabulary I could remember. As I was learning the different rules of the Busan dialect, I realized how much my parents speak and text with their dialect. My dad always says “밥묵나?” (bap mook na?), which means did you eat? However, in standard Korean, it would be “밥 먹었어?” (bap meok aut eoh?) I found it really fun to expand my vocabulary through dialect and also learn new grammar, and I hope that this could help me understand my parents and my relatives better. I also found talking tips, which were to add an accent emphasis on the first syllable and the common ways to end questions (~나 or ~노) 

I also had three different grammar lessons this month. The first one focused on conjugating the verb "to be," which is 이에요 v.s 에요. I learned that 이에요 is used if the last word of the sentence ends in a consonant, and 예요 is used if the last word of the sentence ends in a vowel. The second one was learning the difference between passive and active verbs. The two most common ones were 하다 to 되다 and 대다 to 나다. This lesson connected with the previous lesson from last month where I learned the difference between 되 and 돼, and learning this previous lesson first helped me understand better. The last lesson I learned was the Busan dialect grammar lesson. I learned that Busan dialect uses ㅓ instead of ㅡ, such as 엄식 instead of 음식 (food). I also learned that the first vowel is dropped in compound vowels (도서관 to 도서간). 

I also learned idioms and proverbs. At first, I did not include idioms and proverbs in my learning plan. However, my language partner was learning this, and she found it fun and recommended me to add it into my learning plan. I was happy with her recommendation as I had a lot of fun learning about it. Out of the ones that I learned, my favorite idiom was “그림의 떡," which means something you desire but cannot have or afford, and its direct translation is “rice cake in a picture.” My favorite proverb was “뜻이 있는 곳에 길이 있다,” which means “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” and it is used when someone is determined to find a way to achieve their goals. These two idioms and proverbs that I learned really stuck as they resonated with me. I had a lot of fun learning about proverbs and idioms as some of them were funny, and I had no idea such a phrase could have a deep meaning to it. I also continued to watch 2 Days and 1 Night and still am writing my diaries. I also have been reading and writing summaries about articles I find on Naver. I have been using the new grammar rules that I learned in my writing assignments.

Looking back at the past 2-3 months of learning Korean again, I feel happy and disappointed at the same time. I can see myself improving from before I started learning Korean, but it wasn’t at the speed that I thought it would be. However, I realized that I need to be patient and continue to work hard, and know that language is not perfected in a short amount of time. I also feel happy because I get to learn more about my culture and identity as I learn Korean, and I feel proud of myself for trying to improve my native language. I was the most satisfied with the assignments and work I did this month compared to the past.  I hope to continue to find new things to learn about while also achieving my main goals of improving my grammar, writing, and vocabulary.

During the past month, I’ve learned a lot about the Korean language and culture that I’ve never known before. I’ve also practiced and developed my reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Through the Global Studio, I received Korean/English stickers to put on my laptop keyboard, which has helped me type in Korean more often.

For one of our group meetings, my language partner, classmates, and I got Korean food from Choong Man Chicken. We enjoyed soy garlic spring onion and curry snow onion chicken. I have had Korean fried chicken before, but it was still a great cultural experience. Food is a wonderful (and delicious!) way to become more familiar with a country’s culture and language. When I went to Peru, I learned a lot of new vocabulary words and more about what kind of food Peruvians ate through trying different types of Peruvian food. I plan to do the same with the Korean language and culture.

I have also utilized resources from Talk to Me in Korean. I continued to study Korean through its food by watching a Talk to Me in Korean lesson about eating (음식 먹기). This video is part of a lesson on their website entitled “Must-Know Words in Korean,” which I plan on continuing to take. I also listened to a podcast from a lesson in a course called “Short & Useful Korean Phrases for Beginners.” The lesson I took taught me how to use 혹시 + Noun + 예요/이에요? 혹시 translates to “By any chance.” Hence, “혹시 + Noun + 예요/이에요” means “By any chance, is it (noun)?” or “By any chance, are you (noun)?” This is a helpful phrase because it will help me sound more like a native speaker. These lessons remind me that learning a language is not simply memorizing tons of vocabulary words, but truly learning how native speakers talk and even think. This lesson was particularly helpful because it is easy to fit in almost any context.

After listening to a Talk to Me in Korean lesson during my individual meetings, my language partner and I review the content and go over any questions I may have. The Talk to Me in Korean website is particularly helpful because most of the time, under the video/audio portion, there is a written summary of what was taught in the lesson. This is helpful in reviewing the vocabulary and examples.

In addition to building the skills I’ve been working on and expanding my vocabulary, I want to learn more about life in Korea. After graduating in May, I hope to work in Korea. I have wanted to go to Korea for years, but I have still never been there. I plan on reading blogs and watching vlogs of life in Korea. I have also been talking with my friend who moved to Korea a few weeks ago to teach English, so I hope to learn more firsthand experience from her. Moving forward, I think it would be very helpful to focus on learning vocabulary related to daily life, such as ordering food, asking for a location, or using public transportation. These goals also provide me with strong motivation to learn Korean because I hope to live in the country in which it is the predominant language.

Cultural Assimilation is one of the most common ways that languages go extinct. Cultural assimilation is when minority groups resemble a majority group and assume their values, behaviors, language, and beliefs. This often leads to language and cultural shifts as people try to assimilate to those of higher prestige language speakers, and as time passes, the newer generation’s proficiency decreases. This all leads to the abandonment of a native language. Language also dies when there are no more native speakers left. 

After reading the readings, I learned about how Bud Lane, a tribe member of Siletz who worked on the online Siletz Dee-ni talking dictionary, recorded 10,000 audio entries himself to stabilize the language. The reading explained how the government in the 1850s jammed different tribes into one place, although the groups spoke different languages and had little in common. Lane explained Siletz survived against the other tribes. The Siletz culture became adopted by other tribes as their cultures faded due to their larger numbers, and the other languages ended up disappearing. I was amazed at how the Siletz overcame so many obstacles and are trying to preserve their language. 

Linguists can help preserve a language by having recorded or printed documentation of the language. David Harrison explains that one of the reasons why languages end up dying is because they have never been written down or recorded, so it’s just in people’s memories that makes it very fragile. It is also important to document the culture of the language. As the reading explained, the Siletz survived as they hung onto their cultural anchors in songs and dances. With the help of linguists, cultural groups, and the community, I think reviving dead languages is possible. The linguist plays a crucial part in reviving the language as they are the ones who can go into the community, and absorb and understand the language on its own, which is known as the emic perspective. Because of computers and the modern technology we have today, it became possible to revive dead languages. Currently, technology can help document linguistic diversity more than ever before. With the help of technology, it becomes possible to document and preserve any vanishing native languages and language diversities as the native people could use computers to record their language. It can also be a tool for making dictionaries. Additionally, David Harrison said that if linguistics were taught at the high school level, it could help recruit more prospective linguists. Having more trained linguists can help document the extinct languages before they disappear in humanity.

During the past month, I weekly met up with my language partner, Somyung and another student named Ariana Kim. This month I wrote my weekly diary and noticed that I developed more in reflecting my thoughts and feelings in Korean. Usually, I would have deep thoughts in English even inside of my head because I think I was training my brain through English for the past 18 years of my life. So I did not give room for my Korean thoughts to develop. These diaries really help me express myself differently since Korean and English have different cultures and ways to express things. 

This month my language partner and I had another lesson on proverbs and the idioms. I really like the proverb 우물안 개구리 this translates to the frog inside the well. This proverb has a meaning of how the frog when he is inside his well he thinks that is how big the world is but he does now know how the actual world is bigger. This is a saying that a lot of older adults say to us that the world is a lot bigger and we have more opportunities. A proverb that was new was 첫술에 배부를까 which translates to will you be full on your first shot? This has a meaning of how you can’t be satisfied from the start so there is no point in rushing. I had my own reflection off of this because it is kind of Korean culture too to get everything done fast and quickly so you can rise up faster in society. But doing everything fast and moving on does not mean that we are satisfied at that moment. An Idiom I really liked is 발이 넓다 which translates to “wide feet”. This word is usually used to describe people who know a lot of people. So it is like they have a wide range of connections with a lot of people. 

I also was assigned to write down the Korean National Anthem in Korean. I think I always heard the anthem in Korean dramas or on TV but I never really spend time actually reading the lyrics and seeing what the song was about. The song was written with the intention of love and allegiance to the country as well as the independence from foreign countries. My language partner also assigned me to research about 삼일절 which is the independence movement day in Korea. The holiday could break into three other words where 삼 is 3 in korean, 일 is day in korean, and 절 is festival day in Korean. So the direct translation would be the “3 festival day” and this day is remembrance of the public resistance on March 1 which is also known as the Manse demonstration. The way to celebrate this holiday the Korean citizens in South Korea would raise Korean flags around their homes and the streets. Now that I think about it there were specific days in the year where the streets lamppost would be filled up with Korean flags. Now I know the reason for that.

Currently, my biggest task and challenge is learning different cases of Slovak declension. These cases change a noun, pronoun or adjective according to its grammatical case (nominative, accusative, etc.), gender, and number. The few examples of declension in English are unmatched to the many nuisances of Slovak declension. I find it pretty challenging to learn a grammatical concept that barely occurs in my first language. I never had to learn about declension during my Spanish education or my short experience with Danish. Like many people, I find grammar to be an entirely tedious subject and, often, dread any type of formal education revolving around this topic. For whatever reason, I’ve also do not understand grammar very well, especially in English. My one motivation in learning Slovak grammar, specifically declension, is knowing that observing these concepts will help both in my own reading/listening comprehension and my understandability to other Slovak speakers. If I truly want to carry a flowing, competent conversation, I have to dedicate myself to learning the rules of declension.

Adriana introduced two cases of declension to me: nominative and accusative. Nominative typically applies to quantities of 1-4 and looks to answer the questions “Who?” or “What?”. The declension of nominative cases in masculine nouns, pronouns and adjectives can get a little confusing. In the context of nominative declension, any masculine word must be categorized by its animation and its number. For example, “koleg” (colleague) gets sorted into the category of an animate, singular noun; “koleg” requires an “-a” at its end in order to match the nominative declension so “koleg” becomes “kolega”. However, “počítač” (desktop computer) gets sorted into the category of an inanimate, singular noun and requires no changes to match nominative declension. When the words “kolega” and “počítač” are made plural, they are again separated into their separate categories of animate and inanimate. In the animate, plural category of nominative declension, “kolega” becomes “kolegovia”; in the inanimate, plural category of nominative declension, “počítač” becomes “počítače”. These slight differences in nominative declension mean that I must pay extra attention to the small details and ask myself “what is the quantity of this noun?”, “is this noun inanimate or animate?”, and “what is the proper ending for this plural noun?”. Luckily, feminine and neuter words are a little less complicated than masculine words because with these two categories, the language learner does not have to worry about inanimate versus animate nouns.

Despite the difficulty of declension, I do feel a little more confident in my listening comprehension as I can better understand radio programs and better understand my tutor during our lessons. Adriana also recommended an excellent resource that helps with my goal of listening comprehension, a YouTube channel called “Slovenčina ako cudzí jazyk” (Slovak as a Foreign Language”. On this channel, a woman teaches Slovak by telling stories in a slow, clear manner while drawing relevant images on a whiteboard behind her. It definitely helps me pick out familiar words, learn new words, and find a little more confidence in my progress thus far.

I’m so excited that I’ve finally moved past learning the alphabet and actually know how to form words now! Once you know the Korean consonants and vowels and how to pronounce them, it’s so easy to understand the structure of the block shapes and how to use those to construct words! A “block shape” (I’m not exactly sure if this is the formal phrase to describe this) is the combination of 2 or 3 letters, but always at least 2, to form a syllable that will be used as part of a word. The syllables always start with a consonant, so the format will either be consonant-vowel or consonant-vowel-consonant. When the syllable is just a vowel sound, the consonant will have the placeholder of the letter ㅇ (ieung) as it is a silent consonant when combined with a vowel such as ㅏ(a). So to correctly write it, you would combine ㅇ+ ㅏto make 아, which would sound like “a” as a syllable when pronouncing a Korean word. It is also important to understand the other use for ㅇ (ieung) in the block shape when it is used as the last consonant. The last consonant of any Korean block shape goes at the bottom underneath the other 2 letters and is called 받침 batchim, or “supporting floor.” For example in the block shape 앙 , the letter ㅇ (ieung) at the bottom is not silent anymore and has a “ng” sound since it is used as batchim, so it would be pronounced as “-ang” ( ㅇ(silent) + ㅏ”a” + ㅇ”-ng”). 

Here is an example from one of my sessions with my language partner Jannette when I first learned how to form block shapes and put the letters together to know how to pronounce them. For #1, the sound is “gok” (“song” in English) as it combines the letters ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅗ (o) + ㄱ (giyeok - g/k). Later I’ll explain why the same consonants has different sounds depending on where it is placed. For #2, it’s a little hard to tell but there are actually 2 block shapes combined so 기차 “gicha” (“train” in English) as it combines ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅣ”i” for the first block and then ㅊ (chieut - ch) + ㅏ(a) for the second block, so it combines “gi” + “cha”. I also learned a different way of writing the letter ㅊ (chieut - ch) as it is shown in the blue writing; apparently ㅊ this is the modern way of writing it and what shows up on keyboards, but the way it is in blue is the more traditional way and it used just as often. And lastly for #3, the sound is “gan” (“liver” in English) as it combines ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅏ(a) + ㄴ(nieun - n).

However, I’m still learning some of the grammar exceptions that seem to be characteristic of every language. For example, in my weekly lessons with my language partner Jannette, I was mind blown to learn that the reason 2 different sounds are indicated for a consonant such as the letter ㄱ(giyeok) which is often written as making a g/k sound means that when it is used as the first consonant it typically has a “g” sound, and when it’s used as the batchim it has a “k” sound. But as I studied outside our lessons, I quickly realized that there are exceptions to that rule, as well as with other consonants; for example in the word 공 (kong), which means “ball” in English, the first sound of the syllable is actually a “k” sound and not a “g” sound. Interestingly, when I put it in google translate, it writes it as “gong” and it says it means “zero”, but underneath it shows other translations where the word “ball” appears but it is written the same way. 

Overall, I’m realizing that although for the most part I can easily pronounce block structures, there will be some exceptions to the sounds the consonants make, especially when they are combined with other syllables to form words. Going forward, I’m excited to start learning some vocabulary words, but I’m realizing memorizing many words may be challenging. I think what will be most effective for learning Korean words is remembering the ways they are pronounced so that I can sound it out to spell the words almost accurately as I expect to come across different cases of exceptions.

When a language goes extinct, it means there are no longer any active native speakers of that language. Many times there are few native speakers remaining, but they often don’t practice the language as much and it becomes lost in their memory. As certain languages become more dominant and popular within a certain region, it often pushes aside other unique languages of smaller subcultures as they have to assimilate to the dominant culture and learn its language. Politics and colonialism has also impacted the death of languages as government policies during the 1850s displaced Native Americans tribes together that spoke many different languages and had very little in common (Johnson 2012). In this instance, the Siletz tribe became the dominant language and culture as they had the largest population of all the other tribes, which resulted in the gradual loss of culture of those tribes (Johnson 2012). So, as a language dies, so does the culture of its speakers. Therefore it is so important to preserve languages as it gives us a greater understanding of the diversity within our world. It is through language that we can understand the way of life and customs of a particular culture; it gives us insight into what makes them unique and distinct from other cultures that we may believe are similar to theirs. With advancements in technology, linguists have been working to preserve languages through electronic archives of audio entries to create online dictionaries for these endangered languages (Johnson 2012). In addition, increasing the number of speakers of the language helps to keep it alive as well. This often starts with native speakers of that language who may have already had to assimilate to the language of the dominant culture. Schools have typically been a key institution impacting the death of languages, so initiatives to teach students within their schools native Siletz as a foreign language can help increase the amount of speakers to preserve the language (Johnson 2012). Once a language dies, it’s nearly impossible to bring it back to life in it’s true cultural form without the input from native speakers, which is much harder if there’s not much interest from them in preserving their culture and customs.

Reference:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/us/siletz-language-with-few-voices-finds-modern-way-to-survive.html

Clearly, imperialism, white supremacy, and colonization of the past and the present are fully (rarely partially) responsible for the extinct or endangered status of many languages. At least within American history, white colonists subjugated Indigenous cultures and languages to justify the dehumanization and dissemination of these Indigenous populations. When a language becomes endangered or extinct, the world not only uses the grammatical structures and vocabulary of the language, but the world also loses the cultural nuisances and historical significance behind these structures and words. In other words, the historical, linguistic, and cultural identity of a population is almost completely wiped from the face of the earth. More importantly, as K. David Harrison says, “We don’t even know what we are losing”.

I recently listened to a podcast that reminded me of Johnson’s article and Molaro’s video. There is a great NPR Podcast called “Code Switch” that republished an episode on saving the language of Hawaii Natives. The hosts of the podcast visited the Big Island and toured the first Hawaiian-only school, founded in 1998. By Hawaiian-only, I mean that the students are taught in the Hawaiian language and only use English in specific English language classes. With the occupation of Hawaii by white Americans, the native population were frequently punished for speaking their first language, wearing traditional garb, and following their cultural traditions. This campaign against Hawaiian culture and language meant that many elders refused to teach their children and grandchildren Hawaiian because white Americans perpetuated the idea that you needed to speak English to be successful and respected in the new Hawaii. With the opening of Hawaiian-only schools, native Hawaiians actively reclaimed and reclaim their ancestors’ language and culture.

A language goes extinct when all of its speakers pass away, and no comprehensive records of the language are leftover to be studied by future generations. Computers/technology help in reviving dying languages. However, communities must encourage their youth to learn the language themselves and spend time learning from elders in the community, specifically those that speak the traditional language as their first language. In understanding the efforts of Hawaiian natives and Bud Lane, it becomes clear that rescuing a language from imminent death takes a lot of time, effort, and resources. It is a mission that a community member, linguist, etc. will likely spend the rest of their life pursuing.

Hello everyone and welcome back. The month of March has flown on by and we just have a little over one month until my last, official ASL class at the University of Richmond!

       Nevertheless, my ASL classes during March have been spectacular. Reba and I are meeting one on one, twice a week. Although I enjoyed having additional students in the class, the individual one-on-one sessions have been much more helpful as the teaching is targeted to my own ASL level, and Reba and I have direct communication with each other for the full hour.

       Our primary focus has been reviewing and practicing the material from the red ASL book, “. This book has been extremely helpful as it goes into greater depth in regards to ASL grammar and sentence structure. Oftentimes, Reba and I will begin a conversation following an example sentence from the book. However, the two of us will then elaborate on the story. I think this method to be great practice as it allows us to imagine likely scenarios and practice how to communicate in said situations. For example, Reba and I had a conversation the other day that involved me having to justify why and that I did not steal a cookie from her. In such conversations, I also notice that my ASL speed has increased and I do not have to think as deeply about what sign is what.

       Another key skill the two of us have been focusing on is the use of facial expressions. I have talked about the importance of facial expressions in ASL in the past, but I do not feel as though it was until recently that I started really getting the hang of facial expression incorporation. When I first began ASL, and throughout my first few semesters of ASL, I would often forget to incorporate facial expressions since I was heavily focused on remembering which signs to use and the order to place them in. Since my vocabulary and sentence structure have begun to improve, I am gaining a greater ability to sign with my face while still being able to sign ASL.

       One aspect I am still struggling with within ASL is finger dexterity, flexibility, and mobility. Many of the signs that involve specific finger manipulation leave my hands feeling tired, sore, and uncomfortable. I have never played an instrument, and besides typing, I have little experience using my fingers for fine motor skill activities. Although, now, ASL seems to be a chance to improve such dexterity, especially when signing numbers. Depending on the shape, arc, and position of the hand, numbers change between single, double, and triple digits. It can be frustrating seeing as how something so “simple” as numbers could prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of ASL thus far.

       In terms of topics, Reba and I are primarily just working on strengthening the vocabulary I do have and relay focusing on improving my ASL sentence structure. I would rather fix my grammar and sentence structure now and then learn additional terminology later than vice versa.

Parasite, or 기생충 in Korean is a highly acclaimed South Korean movie directed by Bong Joon-ho who co-wrote the film with Han Jin-won. The film explores the issue of class disparity in South Korea by following the fictional life of a poor family that infiltrates the home of a rich family as unrelated individuals. Parasite uses a mix of dark humor and thrill that keeps the audience on their toes with anticipation. No spoilers in here because it is really a film to experience first-hand. What is phenomenal about this film however is how well received it was worldwide. Parasite received the Palme d'Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most, if not the most prestigious events globally and the fact that a South Korean film won this award was publicized greatly. Parasite also won numerous and spanning victories at the Academy Awards. This movie was also considered one of the best movies of 2019 by many critics and the common audience, with a nearly perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Its box office numbers were also fantastic as it grossed over $258 million worldwide despite only having a budget of about $15 million. Despite all the hype about the awards and recognition that both the film and the director received in 2019, the real talking point here is the subject of the film. Social classes are something that is often explored in films so Parasite is not exactly original in that respect. In fact, the director Bong Joon-ho also directed Snowpiercer, an American Film from 2013 that showed the consequences of oppression and rebellion. Parasite seems to be an attempt to carry the success of Snowpiercer to the South Korean market in a relatable way. Not relatable in that every viewer has a magnificent estate or is in crippling poverty, but to illustrate the subtle struggle between the wealthy and the poor in a way that was not possible with the dystopian plot driving Snowpiercer. It is no surprise that the narrative that Bong Joon-ho presented in Parasite has some mass appeal because South Korea has growing economic inequality despite being one of the most equal countries in the world. This issue has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic all around the globe and South Korea is no exception. 

One of the main things that stands out in Parasite is the fantastic action sequences and the music. There is a famous scene in this movie that really demonstrates the effectiveness of professional directing in influencing the audience's emotions. There are various YouTube videos that break down the masterpiece that is this sequence that I would highly suggest anyone interested to watch after viewing Parasite. In conclusion, Parasite is a fantastic movie that tackles the issue of economic inequality in South Korea using dark humor and thriller scenes that exploded into the global film scene in 2019 by winning multiple prestigious awards at a myriad of film festivals/ceremonies. 

It has been a month since my last learning journal and I have learned quite a bit about the Korean language and culture during this time. Although I spent my first two weeks reviewing content that I learned the previous semester, that did not stop me from learning new things weekly. One of the main differences between this semester and the previous was that I now have a dedicated textbook for learning Korean and specific topics in the Korean language. This textbook is called Alive Korean: Speaking Korean for Beginners. My language partner, Jannette gave me a digital copy of this textbook so that I could follow along during lessons and also study independently. I have found that having a textbook, though digital, can be very useful for planning ahead in what I want to learn and is useful in leading discussions. Although it has become a sort of guidebook, I don't want everything I learn to solely originate from that book. What I have learned from the book has been self-introductions, countries, places, and prepositions, in that order. Self introductions have been more complex than just giving a name, we went over the specific occupations that might be mentioned in this scenario. Regarding countries, we went over the appropriate Korean names for the U.S, France, Russia, China, Japan, and Korea. Some occupations we went over were cooks, teacher, and doctors. During this self-introduction snippet, I found that combining these vocabularies in the sentences helped me retain the memory of them much better. In terms of prepositions, the textbook provided a diagram with a sphere in different positions around a hollow cube. For prepositions, I found that the easiest way to remember them was to map a pattern of prepositions in my head while imagining the sphere's position around the cube. This pattern was above, inside, below, beside, in front, behind, and between in Korean. The chapter about prepositions also introduced more grammar to complement this sentence formation and new relevant vocabulary that focused on furniture and items typically found within a bedroom. The next chapter that I am currently starting on will focus on purchasing items so there will be even more interesting sentences to build.

During this month I have also zoom chatted with other students learning Korean this semester with Jannette. I have found the experience to be quite fun and engaging. We have watched Sky Castle, a Korean drama, together, and have had Korean Fried Chicken as a cultural experience of sorts. A topic of concern has been the general increase of hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in America, not to mention the ongoing pandemic and how it had affected our lives on campus. Although these are trying times, I hope we will persevere through it and I hope that people will embrace cultures like the activity in the SDLC program. Looking forward to learning more Korean during this next month and onward!

P.S.: I wonder if Korean BBQ would be a good experience for SDLC students once this pandemic ends. I won't be here to experience that but I sounds like fun.

Looking back on my presentation of my learning plan from the beginning of the semester, I’m realizing that it may take me a little longer than I anticipated to achieve my language learning goals. So far I have achieved learning the alphabet and I know a couple of phrases to use in casual conversation such as “hello” or in Korean annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요), but my vocabulary is lacking a lot as I’m currently learning grammar and syntax so I can form words and be able to construct sentences. In addition, I also had to re-evaluate the tools and resources to use to help me reach my language goals. For example, I quickly discovered that Duolingo made it more difficult for me in the beginning as I was trying to learn the alphabet since it started to throw me random topics that I did not know yet, especially without even knowing the alphabet. So far I think watching YouTube videos and using online websites such as KoreanClass101.com have really helped me a lot in understanding grammar structures, and I definitely think it will be helpful in the near future as I work on expanding my vocabulary. Listening exercises have been most helpful for me in learning Korean, and practicing my pronunciation with my language partner has increased my confidence in my speaking abilities. I’ve found the phonetics unit most applicable to my language learning as I learned to deconstruct parts of words in their simplest form such as in phones and vowels, which really improved my understanding of grammar structures in Korean. It’s almost like completing a puzzle by connecting different segments of language together and understanding how it changes the sounds that are made. In addition, learning about the characteristics of different cultures has really expanded my understanding of the relationship between language and culture, such as individual vs. collectivist cultures as this has given me greater insight into the ways my language and grammar must adapt in different contexts when communicating with native speakers. Based on readings by H.D. Brown, I think the grammatical and sociolinguistic competences have been emphasized the most so far in my language learning plan. I think it will take me awhile to implement discourse competence as I don’t have much vocabulary and reading/writing/speaking skills to engage in back and forth conversations, but as I become put in these unfamiliar situations this will definitely help me to improve my strategic competence as I progress in my language learning goals.

Looking back at my language learning plan, I gathered what I have accomplished, what has changed, and what should improve. Comparing myself to the beginning of this semester, I noticed that my writing skills have improved a lot. I do not hesitate as much when writing or typing. I also stopped hesitating when reading Korean out loud due to my article summary readings. I am still learning different grammar rules and incorporating what I have learned through my diaries and article summaries. I have also been consistently watching 2 Days and 1 Night, and allowing me to listen in Korean and learn more about Korean history and culture. One thing I have not been doing as often is listening to the radio stations. As the semester continued, I included different things in my learning plan as we went through our classes. After our class on language families and dialects, I started to get interested in learning about the Korean dialects, especially Busan and Gangwondo. My language partner suggested learning about proverbs and idioms in Korean because of how interesting the topic was. I realized that I didn’t have anything related to learning about proverbs and idioms, so I included this in my learning plan. At the beginning of my language learning experience, I did not assess myself on how much I have learned. After you recommended us to assess how much we know, I included it in my learning plan, and I have been getting assessed with the new vocabulary words (and now idioms/proverbs) that I have learned.  In my language learning plan, grammatical and sociolinguistic competence has been emphasized in my plan. Discourse competence is also included, but it is not as emphasized as the first two. To improve my communicative competence, I would need to focus more on talking in my language outside of my Korean lessons. I would also have to learn more about grammar and semantics to improve my grammatical competence.  

Gallaudet University is a federally chartered private university that is located in Washington, D.C. The university has provided higher education for the deaf and hard of hearing since 1864, and was originally a grammar school for both blind and deaf children. It was the first advanced educational institution for the deaf and hard of hearing in the entire world!

Because of the nature of the institution, one might think that the President of the university would be representative of the student population. By this I mean the president of a deaf school should be deaf, or hard of hearing, as the President should be a manifestation of the school itself. However, the University has had seven presidents since its foundation that have all been hearing. It was only in 1988, that the first Deaf president was selected by the and his name was I. King Jordan Jr. This decision, although, was not originally done by choice. Before Jordan's selection, the University’s Board of trustees had announced that the next president would also be hearing, despite advocation for a deaf person to be named president by students, facility, alumni, and members of the deaf community at large. In response to the Boards selection of a hearing candidate, Elisabeth A. Zinser, students, faculty, and staff shut down the campus. The students presented the Board of Trustees with four demands before the campus would resume.

1. "Elisabeth Zinser must resign and a deaf person elected president;
2. Jane Spilman must step down as chairperson of the Board of Trustees;
3. Deaf people must constitute a 51% majority on the Board; and
4. There would no reprisals against any student or employee involved in the protest."

The protest lasted a week, and after, Jordan was selected as the eighth president.

Since Gallaudet has made a greater effort to selected presidential candidates that are representative of the university. However, immediately after Jordan's presidency, another hearing individual was selected for the role, Robert Davila. He served as president from 2006 through 2009.  The following presidents, T. Alan Hurrwitz (2010-2015) and Roberta Cordano (2016-Present) are both deaf. Additionally, Cordano identifies as female and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to be installed into the position.

I write about Gallaudet University because I am pleased to announce I have received a position as a medical assistant with a large dermatology clinic located in Alexandria, Virginia called Capital Dermatology. Being so close to Washington D.C., I plan to continue my ASL education through Gallaudet and will talk about the application process below.

I will most likely apply as a non-degree student as I have a full-time job and not be able to take a full course load. Regardless, the application requirements are as followed. Applications are $50 and include one written essay, a video essay in ASL if the student is hearing, one letter of recommendation from an academic teacher, an interview, and a letter of verification from the college/university the prospective student is enrolled at. Gallaudet also offers course options for exchange students, online special students, visiting students, and graduate programs.

https://www.gallaudet.edu/undergraduate-admissions/im-ready-to-apply/visiting-or-non-degree-students#visiting

https://www.gallaudet.edu/about/history-and-traditions/deaf-president-now/the-issues/history-behind-dpn

Though I am still working on stringing words together, I feel relatively confident in my individual pronunciation/my understanding of the Slovak phonetic inventory. One of my major goals at the beginning of the semester was focusing on my pronunciation and accent. My continual practice of listening to the Slovak phonetic inventory while repeating each phone. I found an especially helpful YouTube Channel called Avimeto that focuses on basic skills such as proper pronunciation, common words, and letters unique to Slovak.

Slovakia Today, a podcast mainly in English helps both with my cultural and auditory comprehension. I try to listen to the podcast five days a week in order to truly understand the state of Slovakia, their reaction to the coronavirus, and important political changes. Additionally, the podcast channel will include special segments on Slovak culture and history. For example, I listened to an episode on the collaboration between Slovak and Australian Archeologists as they excavate a cave in the Carpathian mountain range to better understand the lives of Neanderthals from 40,000 years ago. The podcast also allows quotes of Slovak speakers to fully play out; this helps in my ability to recognize learned vocabulary and pick out new vocabulary used in a more formal, academic environment.

Though it may be a basic skill, I need to work more on my listening comprehension in order to improve my communicative competence. I must identify and understand the subtle nuisances within a conversation in order to comprehend the fulling meaning behind an interaction. It is especially necessary to build up my listening comprehension in the context of sociolinguistic competence because formality and hierarchy are very important in social situations. It would be a major faux pas to accidentally address someone’s grandmother with “Ako sa máš?” instead of “Ako sa mate?”. Addressing someone’s babka with “How’s it going?” instead of “How are you?” would not make a great first impression. With my intended use of Slovak, I want to focus on the sociolinguistic competence in order to maintain polite, kind interactions with strangers and new people.

The history of the Korean language family is very complex as there are different theories about its origin. It is widely debated whether the Korean language belongs to the Austronesian language family or the Altaic language family because of Korea’s long history of contact with Chinese and Japanese (mustgo.com). The Austronesian language family covers a wide geographic area and are spoken in various countries such as Cambodia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam among many others (mustgo.com). The Altaic language family derives its name from the Altaic mountain region where it is believed these languages originated from, with most of these languages spoken in Central Asia (mustgo.com). The Altaic Language family consists of three major groups: Mongolian, Tungusic, and Turkic, and it is believed that Korean and Japanese originated due to extensive borrowing and long contact with these language families, which is why there is great debate whether they belong to the Altaic language family (mustgo.com). These differences have led to the creation of the Koreanic language family, which consists of Korean and Jeju -- a language spoken on Jeju Island (wikipedia.com). Interestingly, Jeju is often described as a dialect of Korean but is distinct enough to be classified as its own separate language (wikipedia.com). All modern varieties of Koreanic languages descended from Old Korean in the state of Silla, which was the first historically documented stage of the Korean language (wikipedia.com). I honestly think it is fascinating how languages can mesh together and evolve over time as they come in contact with speakers of other languages and of different geographical regions. I also found it interesting that Korean and Japanese don’t exactly fit into the Altaic language family which includes many languages spoken in China, which I believe must be due to the vast size of the country which has led to the creation of thousands of different spoken languages and dialects, although they have derived from the same origin. Overall, learning about Korea language families has made me realize the similarities and differences in language structures of its neighboring countries such as China and Japan.

References:

https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/korean/

https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/austronesian-language-family/ 

https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/altaic-language-family/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreanic_languages

The Korean language did not evolve from a single language. In the past, many different groups populated the Korean peninsula. They merged into homogenous people with a single language during their unifications during the 6th to 14th century. In the 15th century, the Korean language developed into the language we know of now. 

There are different theories about which language family Korean belongs to. The Altaic theory states that Korean belongs to the Altaic family, and this theory talks about how Koreans came from the north. The other theory is that Korean belongs to the Austronesian language family and that Koreans came from the south. 

Before the current writing system, Hangul, Koreans used Chinese characters to represent the sounds of Korean. However, Chinese characters could not denote Korean speech as well. Additionally, only the elite people could afford the time and money to study the Chinese characters, which meant that not many common people knew how to read. As a result, King Sejeong created hangul, consisting of 24 letters (14 consonants and 10 vowels). 

Korean today reflects China’s significant influence because a lot of Korean vocabulary was derived from Chinese. Despite the word borrowing, modern Korean is distinct from Chinese in sound and sentence structures. Understanding the history of anything allows us to understand the present better. Therefore, learning about Korea's language history helps me understand how the language came to be and Korea's past culture.

Language changes are affected by technology and new inventions as words and phrases are created to describe things that have never existed before. An example of this change would be texting. Texting has created many new different words with meanings that we have never seen before. Language could also change when the meaning of old words changes into a new meaning. It could also change when we meet people from different locations. If we spend a lot of time with someone who may not be from the same area as you, we tend to pick up words and phrases that the other person frequently uses, and the chain continues. Linguistics could track and predict these changes through the use of technology. Many digital analysis researchers can pick up many subtle patterns in language changes.

Slovak is one of many Indo-European languages; more specifically, it developed out of proto-Slavic and is categorized as a West Slavic language like Czech, Polish, Silesian, Kashubian, and Sorbian. It is closely related to Czech, and speakers of both languages can generally understand each other. Polish and Lower/Upper Sorbian (languages of eastern Germany) are also related to Slovak. The language has an Eastern, a Western, a Central, and a Lowland Dialect. There are few examples of Slovak written language before the 17^th and 18^th centuries. It was not considered a literary language until the early 19^th century. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Slovak has been more conservative phonetically… Slovak has retained long syllabic l and r and a series of diphthongs”.

The relationship between the Czech and Slovak languages exemplifies their close cultural and historical roots but each country’s desire to establish their own identity. Though these countries may have many similarities, current-day Czech and Slovaks do not want to continually share their national or cultural identities. In regard to the status as a literary language, the Slovak languages short history as a literary language creates a challenge for tracking the linguistic origins and changes experienced during centuries pre-dating the 19^th century. However, one of the benefits in the similarities in Czech and Slovak is that the Czech language can offer some insight into the development of Slovak.

https://academic-eb-com.newman.richmond.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Slovak-language/68226

https://effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/slovak-language/

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_language