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Omer Genosar

Reflection Paper #2

My Hebrew learning has definitely given me a chance to re-connect with my Israeli background. I would definitely look at the Hebrew language and Israeli culture and say that the two are symbiotic; this is mainly due to common sense and geographical reasons. Israel is the only country in the world with a majority Hebrew speakers. That means that as Israeli society develops and grows, so does the Hebrew language. Of course, one might think that Hebrew is not that connected with the State of Israel but with the Jewish people. Yes, Hebrew has been written in the different Judaic sacred texts for thousands of years (I would suggest looking at the Sarajevo Haggadah in the library first floor). I think because of the long use of Hebrew in Judaism, we tend to discount how modern Israel affects the language. In fact, the last (almost) 70 year history of Israel has probably brought upon a larger change in the spoken language than the previous thousand years. The main reason for this is that Hebrew only began to be spoken again at the turn of the 20^th Century. Basically what I am trying to say, is that the more spoken Hebrew I absorb and learn, the more of the Israeli culture I am embracing.

That being said, the more I reflect on my language learning the more I begin to see the impact that Israeli culture has. Most of the words that I am missing from my vocabulary are fairly new words (in terms of when they began being spoken) with some having older roots and some having younger roots. Another problem I see that keeps recurring is that when practicing conversations, my main problem is figuring out more complex words. An example of this is if I wanted to say International Studies or hierarchy; instead of saying international studies I can say worldly learning and for hierarchy I could say top to bottom and the meaning is relatively the same. But in order to take my language to another level, I need to know how to really say those words instead of substituting simpler words. This is one of my more important learning goals if I am to move up in my Hebrew speaking and be able to sound truly native to the language.

Before I began the class, I thought that I would focus on reading and writing. Since I have started class, I have focused much more on being able to speak what I think and do complex tasks such as analyzing and summarizing articles. I thought that these tasks would induce my reading skills, and while they have done that, I find that what has grown is my ability to turn my thoughts into words. This has probably been my main motivation for taking this class. Being able to discuss my thoughts and feelings with my family or another Israeli has been my main goal and I feel as though that goal is getting closer and closer to being achieved. In retrospect, spending a few weeks in Israel would do much more for my speaking skills than any class, but this class has really allowed me to hone in translating thoughts into words.

This week I focused on more basic but necessary vocabulary such as weather and family. I already know the vocabulary for close family members such as 아빠, 엄마, 오빠, 할머니, 할아버지 which mean dad, mom, older brother, grandma, and grandpa in the informal style. I learned the vocabulary terms for extended family members and other family terms such as cousin (사촌), mother-in-law (시어머니), father-in-law (시아버지), nephew (조카), niece (조카딸), sibling who are brothers(형제), siblings who are sisters (자매), younger brother (남동생), younger sister (여동생), and more. As for weather, I expanded my vocabulary by watching Youtube videos and practicing through a helpful Quizlet I found that had more specific weather terms such as sleet, drizzle, and etc. The videos and quizlet I used are linked below.

Family Phrases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy0Hk7zNouI

Weather: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMf6r4KI80

Quizlet for weather: https://quizlet.com/21134045/korean-weatherseasons-flash-cards/

I really enjoyed the presentations that my classmates delivered, which I found are both educational and fun. Though the majority of the presentations are about Korean cultures, I still found something new and interesting in the presentation. I really like Sequioa’s presentation on Korean skincare. She showed us there are 10 steps of skin caring before a normal Korean girl go to bed. Later she showed us her Korean skin care product. I was surprised to know that there is such a Korean market in Richmond. Other cultures also interested me a lot. I really like the Pakistani mythologies told by David Kim. I found there are some common plots in various culture’s myth. I thought the presentation on German Carnival was very informative as well. Before the presentation, I only knew that German for its drinking culture.

This week I focused on improving my proficiency with basic vocabulary related to dates and seasons. While I am familiar with the numbering system and how to properly say the month and days of the months, I practiced by translating the dates throughout this week in Korean while also trying to think of important future dates in my schedule in Korean. As for seasons, I simply practiced with the vocabulary repetitively. Effective methods of practicing that I implemented included going on Quizlet and finding electronic flashcards of the months and seasons in Korean which helped me improve my speed in translating. The quizlets and videos I used and watched are linked below.

Quizlets:

https://quizlet.com/29789514/korean-months-and-seasons-flash-cards/

https://quizlet.com/87190635/pure-korean-monthsdays-flash-cards/

YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lddlrWPwajw

violence%20in%20school%20South%20Korean.pptx

Before taking this course, I did not have the proper approach when trying to learn a new language. I thought you could simply study the different characters and learn the vocabulary to become more fluent in a language. However, my perspective has changed since taking this course. I have realized all the different components of a language that must be understood. The most important component is immersing yourself in the culture because culture provides the insights that you would normally overpass. For example, understanding Korean etiquette helps you understand how to address elders. There are different words used to address people who are older than you and people who are younger than you. It is important to understand this differentiation.  Furthermore, it is vital to put yourself in situations where you can learn languages. The different environments you can expose yourself to will give you more solid foundation when approaching different situations. An example would be going to a grocery store and trying to use the language to identify different foods. The day-to-day use of language is much easier to learn when you are actually in the situation.

In regards to the cultural presentations, my presentation helped me learn more about Korean history and how the Korean alphabet originated. It is vital to understand the roots of a language because it gives you an opportunity to learn more about the country and why the language was created. Additionally, it really inspired me to be more curious. In an article I was reading in Korean, I did not know that different countries utilized different names in the Korean language. I am visiting South Korea after graduation and it is important for me to understand how to pronounce certain countries in Korean because I will be traveling to other Asian countries.

Not only has this class sparked a curiosity to learn more about Korean culture and language, but also it has increased my interest in exploring other cultures. I really enjoyed all the other presentations on different countries. The presentations gave me different insights and outlooks that I previously did not know.  In the future, I hope to utilize this newfound curiosity to learn about the various cultures and people in the world. 

In regards to linguistic principles, I grew up in a Korean household so I already felt fairly comfortable with the language. For me, the big emphasis of learning is vocabulary. There is so much vocabulary that I do not have because I know more day-to-day words. As mentioned before, my strategy to learn new words is putting myself in situations where I’m forced to learn new words to be coherent. I definitely have learned a lot about how to approach learning a new language. Overall, this course has been very valuable in teaching me different strategies and methods when trying to learn a new language. From understanding different perspectives and cultures to more structured language learning, I feel much more confident when trying to immerse myself in a new language. I also feel much more adventurous and hope to utilize my curiosity to explore more. 

Korean%20Drama.pptx

Korean%20Language.pptx

At the beginning, I was really afraid that writing Korean would be too difficult for me to learn, since I never had exposed to it before. But soon I found that it is better to know the character in order to remember the Korean word. It is because that what you write in Korean is how your pronounce it. Unlike Japanese and Chinese, which have more than thousands of characters, Korean only have 24 characters in the alphabet and the composition of these produce every words in Korean. I initially found a website that contains all the consonants and vowels in the language and it also provides some tip on how to pronounce it and how to remember it. Another thing I found very useful is the youtube lesson, called “Hana hana hangul”. The video series consist of twenty lessons, through which I got a through understanding of Korean alphabet, Hangul. The video not only provide helpful tricks for memorization, but also correct stroke order and proper usage in the common Korean words. It provide me a start reading and writing Korean. Though it is not a purpose for me to read in Korean, I found that I could understand some simple sentence and get the meaning of it by reading it out loud.

Reflection%20%232.docx

Attached is my reflection paper.

SDLAP_learningplan213.dotx.docx

I am very skeptical about the conclusion that bilinguals are smarter. First of all, it is how to define what is smart.  There is not exact function can determine one’s intelligence. Though being able to speak more than one language, bilinguals may have a reduced vocabulary in each language.

Speaking of my own experience, I cannot agree more on the second report. My original language is Chinese. When I had never been immersed in an English environment before, I remembered that every Chinese characters has its own images in my mind and my speed of reading was so fast. I love reading literatures and I can understanding every subtle meanings behind the words. But after I focused more  

This week I focused on improving my proficiency in telling time. Though I know how to properly tell and ask time in Korean, I have always had trouble telling time proficiently since the hour and minutes are distinguished by two different numbering systems. The numbering system for the minutes is relatively easy for me to say since the words for the numbers 1-10 are only one syllable words and the pattern after 10 is repetitive and easy to follow. But the numbering system for the hours has always been difficult for me to remember since it is based off of the native Korean numbering system, which consists of some two syllable words for some numbers and also similar sounding numbers.For example, 5, 6, and 8 sound relatively similar since 5 is “daseot”, 6 is “yeoseot”, and 8 is “yeodol” and I often still get confused. I worked on my proficiency by first reviewing through YouTube videos such as the one linked below, and then I practiced throughout the week by simply thinking of the time in Korean whenever I looked at my watch.

The different numbering systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IJ_r--02hs&index=6&list=PLABF2F59A4530A359

Telling time in Korean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0kC1Pf763s

Recently I have learned a few new vocabulary words about Dom and Hyo Comics. The most recent I learnt is the word to express my feelings and emotions such as happy, hungry, angry and anxious. Reading the comics is a great way of learning language. First of all, the words are directly linked with the picture which help me lot to memorize it. Secondly, these little cards are so reader-friendly that each of it does not contain much words, so it does not upset me too much for being too difficult to learn. Lastly, I really like to print so of the common ones so that I could learn the language from time to time. I think the design of the comic fit a lot with my of learning Korean, for casual and daily purposes. For example another card I find very interesting and also might be very useful if I am going to travel to Korean is the “Popular chain names in Korean”.

Omer Genosar

Reflection Paper #1

            My experience as a language learner has actually been quite extensive and a very complex story. My native language is Hebrew as I spent most of my early childhood in Israel with Israeli parents. When I moved to the United States, I struggled mightily as a young child but I eventually transitioned to the point where my English surpassed even my Hebrew due to me using it more. Then from middle school through parts of High School I had to learn Spanish and now in college I am learning Arabic as well as “rekindling” with Hebrew.

Personally, I have had more downs than ups when it came to language acquisition. I would say that the best part of learning a language is being able to use it and the joy and surprise that other speakers of that language have when they hear me converse (or attempt to). My difficulties with learning languages is that I have a very hard time memorizing information. Unfortunately, most language acquisition courses are built on vocabulary lists and memorizing grammar rules and facts. My inability to efficiently learn through memorization and my short attention span has led me to really struggle with retaining the vocabulary. Regardless of my struggles, I believe that with the right amount of effort and possibly a different way of learning material will allow me achieve my language goals. Of course this is more pertaining to Arabic, for Hebrew I am at a point that I have never experienced before. How do I increase efficiency and depth in a language? All the other languages I have learned through school have looked to get the basics down, the “shallow” part of the language. For the first time I am dealt with having to increase proficiency in a language. How will I be able to do it?

The answer seems to be through using alternative techniques to teach myself Hebrew. Instead of vocabulary lists and memorization, maybe I could try a more personalized learning. I think that looking at the FIRE model, I could piece together how to achieve a personalized goal. The FIRE model makes it easy for me to envision myself as an evaluative learner. What this means is that activities such as conversations and piecing different materials together will help me the best. I believe that the best way to expand my learning activities is to fill in the gaps of what I need to know slowly and piece together sentences and conversations. My plan is to throw out the vocab lists and to simply work on completing sentences. If I miss a word, instead of writing it down I can simply move on until I miss it again and again and by the fourth of fifth time, I will have acquired that word because it is a necessity to my speaking. I feel that this is not necessarily time efficient, but instead “word” efficient. I will begin to be comfortable with only the words that I need to focus on. Overall, expanding my learning activities to be dominated by conversation and speech and not vocabulary lists seems to best fit my goals. 

History of Modern Hebrew

Hebrew first presentation Hebrew - McDonalds

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vj2Mx87s9DnnlxNy7gC0iT0QXmxV7tRyEvZi0RCVE4s/edit#slide=id.p

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cLjX8cZJJncTSFHiMgZhSDPKP9_hTt7T0VRqCdbQoSE/edit#slide=id.p

The opportunity given to me to advance my knowledge of my mother-tongue has been incredibly fulfilling despite the challenges I faced during the semester. Although I cannot say that I have reached my goal of being able to write an academic paper in Greek, I can say that I am well on my way of achieving this goal. I have definitely improved my speaking and reading skills through the assistance of my language partner and various learning activities. My reading of advanced Greek comes far more naturally than it did at the beginning of the semester and I have begun to see patterns and similarities in words that are found in common, modern Greek which helps a lot in deciphering  the meaning of words and even entire texts. As for speaking, my language partner has noted a dramatic improvement in the clarity of my speech and the quick use of vocabulary. This was important for me because I used to often find myself stuck in the middle of conversations trying to remember Greek words for certain things or actions, which in my perspective was embarrassing when Greek is technically my mother-tongue.  I decided to stop my writing lessons relatively early on in the course for two reasons. First, because my writing abilities are far behind my speaking and reading skills it would be hard to try to learn advanced Greek and then have to revert to simpler, everyday Greek for the sole purpose of practicing spelling, writing styles, and grammatical rules. Second, I found that learning to read, understand, and speak academic level Greek was a major task and adding writing to that list would be overwhelming and discouraging due to the sheer amount of work I would have to invest. Outside of the actual results of my Greek learning experience, I was able to gain great insight on the type of learning activities that help me learn. After viewing movies in Greek, watching the news, and reading historical books I found that the latter method was the most effective. This is because I was able to see the spelling of words which helped me in pronunciation and also in deciphering meaning from related or root words. Furthermore, seeing the words and sounding them out in my head or out loud helped me memorize a great deal of vocabulary. Lastly, I found the books very enjoyable which motivated me to continue reading, as well as, immensely educational since they taught me a great deal about Greek modern diplomatic and military history. As a result, as I continue my study of Greek I plan on continuing to read historical books. Thankfully, I am studying abroad in Greece next semester and I am taking several advanced Greek language courses which will allow me to further develop my language skills along with the readings. All this exposure to the language will hopefully one day translate to the privilege of having to decide whether to write my research papers in Greek or English. What an incredible conundrum that will be!