Blogs

Please see Bethany's blog for Journal Entry 6 for our artifacts :)

I really enjoyed seeing what other people had been learning in class. I thought the one on krab-maga was very interesting and the insight into a very different culture was great. I also liked the one on Punjabi music was great because it allowed me to hear the language as well as experience the cultural context of the music. I thought the development and migration of the music through immigration and using newer beats to reach a younger generation and connect them to the older generation was interesting. =) I wish however that more people had used their target language in their presentation. 

In terms of our learning goals, Bethany and I did practice conversation with each other and with Aarti and I think we came out of the experience with a deeper friendship with Aarti. We had envisioned a larger amount of Bible verses to be learned that we did not get to, and we did not have time to put them all into a song - but I still want to do so, and Aarti and we will remain in touch to continue learning even after our evaluation. Some impediments to our learning were the fact that sometimes our meetings got cancelled when, for instance, Bethany had to go home, or Aarti had something unexpected come up, so at times we were behind schedule. I found our discussion of family very interesting  for example to say "I have two daughters" in Kannada is "For me, two daughters are," and this says a lot about how the view family as an extension of themselves. Overall I enjoyed the experience, and I hope to continue learning with Aarti!

I can say! =) 

Hello my name is Bethany

What is your name? 

How are you doing? 

I am well 

I am poorly 

You are beautiful

Your baby/son/daughter is beautiful (there are different verbs for each) 

Your (family member) is beautiful

I like the color of your skin too. 

How is your (fill in family member)

Thank you very much

God is my help

God is beautiful 

You are extremely kind-hearted

You are loved

I want.

I want it all for me

I don't want. 

I like you very much. 

Rice

elephant 

lizard

monkey

one

two

three

four

five

purple

yes

no 

help

very much

It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free

Our badness separated us from Him. Because of our badness we deserved death. Whoever believes in Jesus will not die but will instead get everlasting life. 

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/document/d/1TTQyTqWzJbWV8EhFD3lO8IaI-no72xw0z1FILHvpOtE/edit?userstoinvite=amared868@gmail.com,+jyotired@gmail.com&pli=1

Immersion is so important in learning a language. As a social learner language finds meaning for me in people. I won't always remember I've been studying, but if words and phrases are part of a social or volunteer experience then I retain them. I didn't learn Spanish in school for the most part but rather through short trips to Mexico and Guatemala and I placed into 300 level Spanish. This is not by some particular wonderfulness that I possess, but rather that immersion works better than classrooms. I have learned to understand French through hearing my father talk to pastors form Quebec on the phone occasionally. Even a little bit of immersion can do wonders. Curiosity and neccesity are a language learner's best-friend. 

In thinking about the The Times article about diagramming sentences it strikes me how often I diagram sentences for Kannada and how initially I would diagram sentences for Spanish, but never did so for English. I am a very visual learner and I am an artist so I love using images and color-coding to create a learning template. I think it is important so that languages don't become unspoken and then lost because no one understands sentence structure or understands how the language's grammar works. I think it can be a very useful tool for some people who are visual learners. =) 

My Weeks Activities posts and our cultural presentation are on Heather's blog because we've been learning together and doing the same work at the same time with the same tutor. I've copied the weeks activities here, but I have not copied our cultural presentation. 

Week 4 activities 

Heather and I: 

• met with Aarti and learned more structured sentences and conjugating certain useful verbs such as "I am" "she is", "they come."
• read a short autobiography of a woman from India involving cultural and life differences
• continued to practice our greetings and phrases outside of class time

Week 3 activities

Heather and I: 

• Met Aarti for 2 hours and discussed greetings (both with and without respect), practiced forming sentences with words we knew, and learned vocabulary relating to family.
• Practiced certain phrases by saying them to our friends and each other (for example - "Neevu channda adeeree" - "You are beautiful.") until they felt natural to say.
• Learned about differences between individualistic and communal cultures, and how such practices as greeting with warmth and initiating conversations would be different in India than in America.
• Finished the first section of our learning plan.

This week I have focused on researching for my cultural presentation and determining which areas I will focus on, in addition to the vocabulary and media I will employ in my presentation. I look forward to hearing from the other students who I have not yet met and learn more about how they have been studying their languages and what they will be focusing on in their presentations.

Lesson Topic: Greetings in a Coffee shop

Method: Outside classroom setting/in a familiar coffee house setting

Focus: Audio Learning

For my learning activity I decided to teach my friend how to learn basic Swedish greetings in a familiar setting that would focus on conversation and basic vocabulary associated. The purpose is not to stress memorization but rather build reactionary vocabulary to a particular social situation that skips the classroom setting and focuses on situational competency.

Greetings to learn:

Hej! = hello!

Jag heter...= My name is..

Vår kommer du frå?= Where are you from?

Hur mår du?= How are you doing?

Är du törtisg? = Are you thirsty?

Är du hungrig? = Are you hungry?

Vill du ta en fika?= Would you like to have a fika?

Tack!= Thank you!

Mjölk= milk

en kaffe= coffee

en te= tea

Class:

I began by introducing the situation and discussing common greetings. We practiced repetition of the basic greetings and then asked her to ask the cashier in Swedish even though they would not understand in order to experience what it would feel/sound like. We pointed out various objects related to bumping into someone in a coffee shop.

Response:

My friend's pronunciation was very good. She was only focusing on the sound and thus was very concerned with the pronunciation of the words. She was also very conscious of intonation and speed. These are characteristics that advanced speakers usually demonstrate after a few intense months of language learning or even years. She remembers almost all the new words and was able to employ them comfortably at the end of class period.

Reflection:

Focusing on audio had noticeable benefits for the quality of speaking and comfort in expressing herself in the environment she would most likely use the vocabulary. A combination of the setting, its practical usage, and repetition all contributed, I believe to successful language learning.

I found this video very interesting. It supports my successful experience emphasizing the oral/audio part of learning a language. Quickest Way to Learn a Language

Identity can be very closely tied with language. I speak English and have an identity as an American citizen. Additionally, I speak quickly like a New Yorker. I throw in random Southern Italian slang that my immigrant family uses like "metz a metz" when I'm feeling so so or not so great. I started going to Latin America regularly to do humanitarian work alongside my pastor dad and counselor mom since I was in 7th grade. I grew to love Spanish and I'd use Spangalish with my English speaking friends, wear brightly colored bracelets, and bags from South America. My identity is tied to my language and my language to my identity in a chicken egg way. What comes first? Was I always the fast talking, sassy, New York-Italian-American type girl? or did that come from the language that I spoke? Did learning Spanish add to my identity or did if confirm a affinity for Latin American culture that was naturally there? Personally, I think that my language learning has impacted my identity or at least my superficial identity. I talk with my hands, like reggatone, want to live in Guatemala and Italy, enjoy spicy, jungle grown chiltepe peppers and salsa dance (poorly;) because of the culture of language that I was brought up in. However, I think that deeper identity is not effected by language. My love of people, my love of working with children, most importantly my love of Jesus and His good news for people, is not in anyway effected by language learning or changes in my superficial identity. I believe that if one has a higher identity, an overarching belonging that is stronger and more important than words or cultures then language acquisition may change pieces of the superficial identity but not the deeper person.  

Communicative competence is more than understanding how to say words and having a large vocabulary and correct grammar. It is understanding how one's words communicate an idea to one's intended audience. For example, in Spanish "adios" can be literally translated to "to God" as in commending someone to God, but to a Spanish speaker there is no sense of religion or God connected to these words though perhaps historically there was. Where as when one says "inshallah" in Arabic which is literally translated "if god wills it" but is used as "hopefully" or "maybe" or "I'm planning on this" the connotation of god willing and working in daily life is felt. This is the difference between communicative competence and just understanding words. It's understanding what words mean to their hearers. Another example is "namaste" which in Nepal is a very serious greeting  denoting that you see the "inner light" in someone whereas in India it is merely "hello". Thus communicative competence is important in something as small as greeting someone. =) 

These are some of the questions we discussed:

I think understanding a culture may be more important that understanding the language. Over half of communication is body language and body language changes based on culture. Additionally, dressing the part and acting the part is half the battle. If you know a language but dress differently, don't pick up on social norms, and do what is taboo your mastering of the language is of little value to you other than to mop up your social mess. However, in understanding a culture and engaging with that culture in a respectful manner even if you have very little in the way of verbal ability to communicate your respect, sincerity and good will can be communicated without words. It reminds me of Hudson Taylor the first foreign missionary to China to adopt the native dress, hair color and hair style. This allowed for him to connect to the Chinese people in a way foreigners fluent in Chinese never could. When I was in India last I couldn't speak much Kannada at all but through appropriate body language and dressing in the clothing I was able to connect with a lot of people =) 

Due to my personal interest in public health and personal health, my language partner and i decided to explore the topic of personal health a little further and to reinforce my vocabulary in this area. We spoke specifically about the importance of sleep, different types of food in our diet, exercise, and addictions.

Vi prattade om personlig hälsa (motion, vad man ska äta, eller undvika att äta!) 

My sister and I experiencing dysphoria and culture shock after a few weeks in Karnatka. 
In the Culture Shock video I was struck by the idea that the shock is not just the initial realization of difference, but it is the dysphoria that can come after the excitement of a new place has worn off. I experienced this when I was in India. I have traveled throughout South America and Europe and I've never really had a culture that caused dysphoria before going to India. Initially there was excitement about wearing the clothing and the new food and how different the people and the landscape and the culture was, but by the end of my three weeks there I was "over" India in the initial excitement and Karnatka had become difficult and daily and normal to some extent.

This week my language partner and I spoke about immigration in Sweden and racist extremists. We spoke about this most recent trend in Sweden and why there seems to be such a sudden reaction to immigration in Sweden. We spoke about the growth of immigrant communities in Sweden and the problems of integration that the Swedish government and society is facing.

We watched several news reports and discussed the main arguments presented against and for immigration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIoUPfDlCc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

- Är motdemonstrationer det bästa sättet att uppnå ett öppet samhälle med respekt för olika kulturer och folk och utan rasism? (Are counter-protestos the best way to open up an open scoiety with respect for different cultures and people without racism?)
- vilket land är mest racistiskt, Sverige eller USA? Varför? (which land is more racist, Sweden or USA, why?)
- hur ser den anti-rasistiska utopi staten ut? (how does the anti-racism utopian state look like?)

I Europa är det många som vill se förbud mot religiösa kläder - särskilt heltäckande slöja på kvinnor. Vi läste många artikler som forklarade situationen.

http://www.newsmill.se/node/15746

http://www.dn.se/ledare/huvudledare/nej-till-kladforbud-

http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/skolor-far-infora-visst-slojforbud_6762145.svd

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/varlden/article1604253/Slojforbud-aven-i-Nederlanderna.html

A few questions we discussed:

Varför vill man förbjuda slöja? (Why do some want to forbid religious clothing?)
Vilka vill förbjuda slöjor? (Who exactly wants to do this?)
Varför ska man inte förbjuda slöja? (Why shouldn't man forbid religious clothing?)

Nazis in Lund, Sweden

Articles Read:

Understanding the languages history can help you to understand why some words are used and other words are not. It also can help frame phrases that otherwise would not make sense. For example, the British expression "Bob's your uncle" is a reference to nepotism in the House of Lords. A member of the royal family named Robert was particularly nepotistic. Thus if Robert or "Bob" was your uncle things were bound to go well for you. If a language outsider heard "Bob's your uncle" without the historical context they wouldn't understand and they'd potentially get it wrong and say "Tina's your aunt" or "Henry's your cousin" because they didn't understand the rooting that this expression had in history.