To show that I have progressed in soccer vocabulary I said some more advanced soccer terms in Portuguese such as
juggling-embaixadinha
dribbling tricks-dribbling
bicycle kick-bicicleta
rabona-letra
dummy run-corta luz
stutter step penaly kick-paradinha
nutmeg-coreta
After reading the articles for this week, I do believe that bilinguals are more intelligent. For starters, it is incredibly difficult and challenging to relearn two languages. The most fascinating part of the article was when it discussed how being bilingual can change how your brain is wired and how bilinguals have more brain activity because in order to respond they have to repress one language. I also found it interesting how it could potentially prevent dementia. Overall, I enjoyed how this article had a variety of statistics and looked at different research on this topic. It definitely encouraged me to want to master another language and reiterated the value and purpose of this course.
I enjoyed watching the Culture Shock video because it brings to light the daily trials and tribulations that abroad students encounter in America and specifically on U of R's campus. As natives to America, it is easy to forget how even the smallest cultural differences like the way you greet someone or how you dress can be a major cultural challenge for a foreigner. It also reiterates the importance of being accepting, open minded, and curious about learning their culture so that you can better understand and make foreigners feel comfortable. Above all, I think it is important to remember that even if we have never studied abroad we have all been in the same boat whether we are in a new community, school, team, etc. where it has been challenging to acclimate to a new environment. We should pay attention to what made us adjust and feel welcomed and do the same for abroad students studying on our campus.
This reading opened my eyes to how languages die when the speakers of the language are very few, and when there is no written record of the language. I learned that it is more common for oral languages to die permanently, since there is no proof that it once existed. Especially when a language is only spoken by a few of people and is not seen as useful, it easy for it to get lost generation after generation. This is especially seen in children who have immigrant parents. If the language is not spoken at home, it will most likely not be part of their vocabulary and as the family line continues, the language will no longer be a part of the norm. At the end of the day, when the language dies, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to bring it back. There is a whole culture that dies along with it. People lose cultural identities, richness, and diversity of humanity's linguistic heritage. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain the language by having a group of people who speak the language generation after generation to ensure that the language does not die out.
By examining Ukrainian patriotic music, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of how Ukrainians think about their difficult history, and how they make sense of the current state of corruption. Based on the music they produce, there is a significant amount of anger about past oppression and current corruption within their own government. The music also demonstrates an impressive amount of fortitude, as these people have faced trial after trial, but still try to rally together to make changes. The influence of oppression is deep in Ukraine, but somehow Ukrainians have managed to grab onto usable elements of their past (Cossack myths, traditions with vyshyvanka, and the preservation of the Ukrainian language) and use these elements to remind people that, as the national anthem states, Ukraine is not yet dead.
The biggest challenges that I have had with trying to write in Turkish is not knowing the correct vowel harmony to use. I tend to confuse vowels for one another and this is problematic especially because switching a vowel could create a completely different word. I do not have as much difficulty reading in Turkish especially since the Turkish alphabet is similar to English (latin). And while I do not think it is hard to sound out the words, I overall struggle with pronouncing words in other languages so I think that with practice that is a weakness that I can definitely improve on.
I taught my friend how to designate specific days in Korean. I played the activity with her and she found it really helpful. My friend is also Korean, but she was born and raised in the United States. She grew up speaking English with her parents so these were terms that she did not know before. I'm glad she found it fun and helpful, so next time she needs to make an appointment or refer to a specific day in Korean, she can. I also think the visual timeline made it easy to learn the terms.
일 월 화 수 목 금 토 일
-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4
그끄저께 그저께 어제 오늘 내일 모레 글피 그글피
After learning the few additional letters that exist in the Turkish alphabet and reviewing the way in which each letter is pronounced, reading Turkish words has not been too challenging. However, I want to continue working on perfecting my pronunciation of Turkish words. I do find it more challenging to write in Turkish. Turkish is more difficult to write because the sentence structure differs from English in terms of the order that you place the subject and the verb. Additionally, each pronoun requires that you add a particular suffix to the end of a word. I am still trying to identify the patterns that exist in the Turkish sentence structure but I am beginning to get a grasp.
For the last week of class we reviewed what we learned this semester. So we practiced greetings, how to talk about the weather, reviewed numbers, and how to have a basic conversation in Turkish. I was so surprised by how much we learned in such a short period of time. Even though I have seen progress in learning the language, some key weaknesses that I realize that I need to work on moving forward to the future are pronunciations, vowel harmony, and developing sentences. Some strengths that I found were vocabulary, listening, and having basic dialogues in Turkish. Overall, this week was great preparation for our final evaluations next week where I can truly test how far I've come this semester.
It seems that the question of whether or not bilingualism makes a person smarter or not has been a controversial topic throughout the years. However, based on the articles there truly is no definitive answer being that it depends on one's own definition of intelligence. While a bilingual individual may struggle during childhood constructing two different vocabularies, researchers suggest that they are able to make up for this hindrance later in life because there are long-term cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Although bilinguals experience a lot more interference with switching between language, the brain is able to take this frequent interference and use it to strengthen cognitive functioning. Overall, this is not to necessarily say that bilingual individuals are smarter than monolingual individuals, however bilinguals do seem to reap some benefits from knowing more than one language.
Cultural Project Women's Rights
For my cultural project I focused on women's rights in Turkey. I am very inspired by how Turkey has come along way in their fight for gender equality and given the current cultural climate surrounding the topic I am intrigued to see how Turkey has served as a leader or in a way a rebel in the Middle East for breaking the status quo and granting women their legal rights.
While Turkey has come along way, I also realize that just like in the States there is an ongoing battle for equal pay, access to education, as well as treatment of women. The number of women in parliament is at an all-time high of about 17 percent, and Turkey has made considerable progress in education, almost achieving gender parity in education of children. There are more girls in school today than ever before, and there are also more females attending Turkish universities. Yet when it comes to protecting Turkish women against violence, ensuring their rights of education and employment, and even their right to choose their own spouse, women face layers of discrimination. This goes to show how there is still so much work left to be done in their fight for equality.
This project relates to learning the Turkish language, because if I am going to learn the language I should learn everything about the culture and as a woman I should have an understanding of the legal rights afforded to them. Knowing the language is powerful because I have the opportunity to communicate with other Turkish women about their rights, to join forces and serve as an activist, or even spread the word among my peers in America about what is going on in Turkey to spread awareness and hopefully spark change.
At this point in the semester, I would estimate that I have learned somewhere between 150-200 words. A majority of these words I have learned from the lessons with my learning partner Sezgi, with the rest of them coming from apps that I have on my phone like Duolingo and Mango. So far, my goals have been in line with the information I have been learning. My vocabulary currently consists of greetings, common classroom objects, numbers, occupations, and places. This list of vocabulary will aid me in engaging in small basic conversations and I intend to expand upon my vocabulary within the final weeks of the semester.
After reading this weeks article, I was surprised to learn how common it is for languages to die. The prevalence of languages going extinct is sad because it not only means that a form of communication has been lost, but it also means that the culture has been lost. Without the language, future generations are unable to understand the traditions and customs of the particular lost culture. Therefore, the history of a group of people remains unknown and is unable to influence other existing cultures and people.
Knowing a language's history provides a cultural understanding on where the language comes from and the types of customs or values that might be associated with the way in which the language is spoken. For example, throughout their history, the Turks have always seemed to have certain signs of respect for people of different statuses or ages. This historical tendency is also demonstrated through the Turkish language. When addressing someone that is older than you or someone who may have more power like a boss or a professor, it is important to use formal language. However, if you are speaking with someone younger than you or a friend, it is appropriate to use more informal language.
After the first few weeks of trying to teach myself the Turkish language, I have realized that there are a number of different challenges associated with independently learning a new language. Although the University of Richmond offers an abundance of resources available to students interested in self-directed language courses, the student is ultimately responsible for allocating time to engage in learning the language. I have found that you can not truly learn a language simply by studying vocabulary and copying sentences from a textbook, but it is a much more active process. Learning a language involves gaining a cultural understanding that may be achieved by watching videos that are native to the language you wish to learn or engaging in conversations with native speakers. In this way, an individual is able to learn the colloquialisms that are associated with the target language. For example, in Turkey, it is not appropriate to address an elder in the same way that you might address a friend your age. Similarly, it is not proper to speak casually to someone you have just met. Therefore, it is important to note the distinctions in formality and informality in speaking the Turkish language. However, these rules are not necessarily something one might learn from studying words off of an application but rather it is something that requires a deeper understanding of the Turkish culture. A lack of such knowledge can cause confusion and may be offensive to some native speakers.
In my past experiences of trying to learn to speak Spanish, I was able to travel to Spain where I was immersed in the Spanish culture. From living with a native Spanish speaker to leaving the house and having to ask for directions in Spanish, my brain was constantly active in trying to better my understanding and production of the language. Therefore, my current experience of trying to learn a language varies greatly from my previous experiences. However, I found that the more I surrounded myself with the unknown, the more I was able to learn. In order to improve my communicative competence, I think that it would be helpful to try incorporating the Turkish language into my everyday life as much as possible. One way I can do this is by allotting a specific amount of time per day to watching Turkish television shows or news broadcasts with subtitles. Additionally, I can try having conversations in Turkish with native speakers like my learning partner Sezgi. Finally, I can conduct some of my own research on the traditions and customs of the Turkish culture by focusing on the way in which these cultural aspects influence the language and the way that it is spoken. Such strategies would enhance not only my ability to identify and pronounce Turkish words, but they would also allow me to pick up on aspects of the Turkish culture. By becoming more knowledgeable on the cultural habits and norms of Turkey, I can develop a more diverse understanding of the Turkish language.
The culture shock video really made me empathize more with exchange students here at the University of Richmond. Sometimes it can be difficult to truly understand the basic struggles that a person from another country may experience on a daily basis. Not only are they trying to further develop their understanding of a new or unfamiliar language, but they are also trying to get a grasp of the cultural differences. One thing that really stood out to me from the Culture Shock movie was when one of the students was talking about how another student gave him a friendly "what's up" while passing him one day. Naturally, the exchange student responded by providing more information that what the American student expected because culturally the phrase "what's up" can serve as another way of just saying hey. This confusion indicates the need for people travelling to another country to have some cultural understanding that applies not only to traditions but also to language and simple every day life tasks.
I will summarize a news video that I have watched. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFK7cRCwlkA
The news broadcast is reporting on a Broadcast jockey from a popular streaming website, afreecaTV. This broadcast jockey was said to be speeding excessively just to earn 100 won, $0.10 equivalent, balloons from his viewers. The car is an expensive Porsche sports car and burned to ashes. The reason why he sped so much is because of the 100 won balloons. Few thousand balloons can be transacted every day and is a way to be more interactive with the audience. There was also other issues like discrimination and since there are hundreds of thousands of broadcasts going on at once, it is difficult to monitor every single one of them. This is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed.
The self assessment for each learning task is in the learning plan itself, but I will go over my self-assessment in a more broader detail. I believe that this semester was a successful semester in learning Korean. Simple things like being able to write a letter to my parents in Korean was a big improvement for me. I have learned many different, useful vocabulary. I also reviewed far better, because of the pressure of a quiz that Joora has put on us. This semester, I have found that the difficult part of learning Korean was the lack of passion for it during the middle. I started to lose my passion for learning Korean and I believe that passion is the most important part of learning Korean.
