Blogs

week 7 (March 10- 14)

At the meeting with Niyati we talked about Indian dishes and leisure activities. Famous dishes are Biryani, Chicken tikka, or Tandoori Chicken. We just used google and I pointed out some dishes and explained what they were made out from. This exercise was interesting and I liked working with photos of Indian food. It actually made me hungry.

week 8 (March 17- 21)

I watched some Bollywood songs on youtube and wrote down expressions which occur regularly. For instance, kangan, bracelet and muskana are used quite often. Niyati translated me the songs during the meetings and tried to explain the cultural context too. This was pretty effective as I learned a lot and can now better understand or at least get the basic meaning of a Bollywood song.

My learning activity is teaching someone how to introduce yourself talk about your job, your interests and your favorite thing about India.

The activity was a great success! My student was happy to say some phrases in Hindi and thought that saying those things mentioned above were not very difficult. Basically, I said the phrases first and my student repeated them.

week 9 (March 24- 28)

Niyati taught me how to find my way through a city. As we both know Mumbai, we did a dialogue, where I asked my way to Churchgate station from Infinity Mall. We used google maps to find our way and I think practicing my oral skills was very helpful.

week 10 (March 31- April 4)

We talked about grammar, the present tense and the past tense. It was clarifying to have a native speaker explain me the grammar in an understandable way. I always heard people talk Hindi, but was never quite sure which tense they were using. Niyati used "mindurhindi.com" to illustrate and show examples.

week 11 (April 7- 11)

I revised the vocabulary I had learned and practiced how to ask the way to go to the nearest post office.

There was no meeting with Niyati as she was busy practicing for the bollywood dance performance show.

week 12 (April 14- 18)

That week we focused on how to purchase items on the food market. First, Niyati taught me the phrases I would have to use and then we practiced them, me being the customer and she being the vendor. Typical phrases were "How much does this cost?" or "That is far too expensive." I found talking in Hindi, doing the dialogue, helpful as you get the feeling for the language.

week 13 (April 21- 25)

Last week was pretty busy as we both had some exams and I spent most of the time preparing my final presentation. We did not meet in that week.

Cultural Presentation 

I was really curious about what tourism in Bangladesh meant to the economy and what destinations Bangladesh promoted for tourism, so I decided to do my cultural presentation on that. It was nice to see all the worthy places (and there were many), especially the historical parts of the country such as the remnants from the Mughal Empire. Though I didn't focus on that, I focused on the biggest tourism promotions such as Sundarban and Cox Bazaar. 

Tourism in Bangladesh

SYLHET

সিলেট 

Sylhet is a unique district in Bangladesh for its language and history with religion. It is also known as the city of saints because of the saints that lived there and the influences and teachings they passed down. Hazrat Shah Jalal is predominantly credited for bringing Islam into Bangladesh and is revered even now by the locals. His shrine is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sylhet as well as for the devotees. His Qur'an and robes are still preserved in his shrine. Hundreds of people pray inside his shrine as there is a mosque within the premises. An interesting fact about this site is that there are catfish in a pond inside the shrine and it is said that those catfishes are the very catfish that Hazrat Shah Jalal himself turned the "witchcraft followers" of the Hindu king who ruled Sylhet before his arrival into catfish.

Aside from "saintly" attraction places, Srimongol in Sylhet is home to the largest tea plantations in Bangladesh and not only serves as a great asset to Sylhet economically, but is breath-taking with its scenic greenery, lush vegetation, and rolling hills. The tea is exported all over the country as well as outside of it.

Sources:

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft067n99v9&chunk.id=s1.9.5&toc.id=ch09&brand=ucpress

http://www.lged.gov.bd/DistrictLGED.aspx?DistrictID=61

Since I had done focused on my speaking skills in the two previous artifacts, I decided to show my progress in writing Korean. As a result, I wrote some of the most commonly used phrases and some useful sentences and questions needed for introducing oneself.

Goals of the artifact:

1. practice writing Korean

2. know what each phrase/question means in English

3. know the pronunciation of the phrases/questions

4. know when to use them

5. know the level of formality of each sentence

During the preparation of the artifact, I had to, at first, revise the alphabet and the rules of writing. One major difference between writing in Korean and writing in English is that unlike English, where the letters in a word are arranged in a sequence, the letters in Korean are arranged in blocks or clusters of letters according to syllables. I also included the romanization of the Korean phrases so that in order to help me remember their pronunciations. In addition, I included the English translations to help me review them in future. 

After the completion of the artifact, I was quite satisfied with my work. The writing looked neat and after one point, I could spell on my own some of the words that I used repeatedly.

Gargi and I decided to do a dialogue on introductions as our second artifact. 

The goals of this artifact were:

1. use sentences to say

- name

-nationality

-age

-profesion

2. ask about the same things 

3. use the proper greetings

4. use the appropriate level of formality

We prepared for the dialogue by using the phrases that we have already learned. At times, we needed to consult online resources as we had to use certain new words for the sake of the dialogue. 

While recording, I struggled at places as I could never be sure if my pronunciation was correct. Also, when listening back to the recording, it always sounded different from how I thought I was saying it. 

After we completed the artifact, I listened to it and thought that although it was not hard to guess that we were beginners, we were pretty fluent as we did not stammer or appear to struggle when speaking Korean. 

The week we completed Artifact 1, my principle focus was improving my pronunciation as I was still learning the letters of the alphabets and frequently got confused about the pronunciations. As a result, we thought that singing a Korean song would be a fun way to get rid of the uneasiness I was experiencing when trying to pronounce certain Korean words. While doing the artifact we had to be careful in choosing the correct song so that it was not impossible for beginners like us to accomplish but also difficult enough to challenge us. 

The song we chose is a very popular song in Korea and both of us loved it. As a result, while recording it, we would do it over and over again to make sure that we pronounced everything correctly as we wanted to do justice to our favorite song. 

However, after completing the artifact, I noticed that there were some improved to my pronunciation. Some of the sounds used in the song came more naturally to me. Moreover, since I listened to the songs multiple times before recording, I could also identify the small details in pronunciation that I had never paid attention to before.  

COX BAZAAR

কক্স বাজার

Cox bazaar was in the running for the 8th natural wonder of the world with its reputation as the longest sea beach in the world with 75 miles. It was named after Captain Cox, a British diplomat of the area in the 18th century. It is one of the most popular tourist locations in Bangladesh as well as a vacation spot for the natives, earning the spot of the tourist capital of Bangladesh. Cox bazaar is renowned for its natural beauty with rolling hills, greenery, and crystal clear water. 

Though Coz Bazaar is an important asset to the tourism economy, tourism is threatening Cox Bazaar's environmental health. Local vendors sell souvenirs made out of sea shells or dead corals to foreigners and the popularity encourages local vendors to continue taking from the environment, which is destructive to the environment. Other environmental concerns are buildings encroaching the beach and mass tourist pollution. There aren't strict rules and regulations regarding the treatment of Cox Bazaar and so plastic bottles and other trash litter the beach. 

I am not surprised by the findings in "Why Bilinguals Are Smarter" by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee. I think learning languages improves executive functioning so it would seem reasonable that the more languages one learned, the more easily and efficiently one could switch tasks, solve mental problems, or avoid distractions. It is interesting to note how the perspective on bilingualism has changed over time- from it being perceived as a hindrance to an enormous benefit. I consider myself lucky because I grew up in a house where English and Spanish were spoken so I became pretty bilingual from a young age. I was always jealous of my cousins though who were raised speaking French, English, and Spanish, which I think provided them with an even greater advantage. One reason I think bilingualism is advantageous is because you become accustomed to thinking in more than one language it facilitates an ability to more adeptly see things from more than one perspective or approach problems with a range of different alternatives.

During weeks 9 and 10, we learned about the vocabulary that is used at the dinner table i.e plate, fork, napkin. I can read these words and pronounce them correctly, but I chose not to memorize them and their meaning. For me, this vocabulary is useful but not imperative to know before going to the country. I found it interesting to hear about Emily's family meals and how they compared to family meals in the US. To practice my pronunciation of these words, I used Rosetta Stone until I felt that I was pronouncing each word correctly. I practiced these words with Emily, and she helped me perfect my pronunciation. I will build on this in the coming weeks by having Emily test me on the pronunciation of the words.  

When I first developed my goals for learning Hebrew in January, my goals were a bit advanced for what I could practically accomplish in 16 weeks. After adjusting my goals, however, I feel as if I have successfully accomplished most of my goals this semester. I can read Hebrew with vowels and thus would classify myself at a Kindergarten speaking level. With help from Emily and Michelle, I believe I can pronounce words correctly. I have enjoyed reading the children’s book because I think the vocabulary is easy to understand and I can contextually understand the story. I have learned the alphabet, greetings, and farewells successfully. I did not learn how to write a Valentine’s day card, but chose to learn other things instead. I know how to read the vocabulary for ordering food, but I don’t know the words by memory. Finally, I know how to read the words that describe my family, but I do not know them by memory.

The stumbling blocks I encountered were making time to practice my Hebrew for at least 15 minutes a day. There were times when I was away for a weekend or for spring break and found it hard to practice my Hebrew. I think that this made it harder for me to remember vocabulary. Because of scheduling differences, another obstacle for me was finding the time to meet with Emily. Michelle and I had difficulty finding two hours a week that would work with Emily's schedule because of her rigorous course load and her playing tennis. That being said, when the three of us did meet, we were productive and I found I learned the most during these meetings.I was able to overcome my stumbling blocks by using Rosetta Stone and other resources such as YouTube to practice my pronunciation. I also found it helpful to practice with Michelle because we were at the same speaking and reading level. 

What I found to be most interesting throughout my learning Hebrew was the freedom we had in choosing what to learn. I decided it was not important for me to memorize vocabulary and so I focused more on pronunciation and on reading. I enjoyed being able to pick and choose the subjects that I wanted to learn and how these were applicable to me. Knowing that I will be going to Israel on my Birthright, I chose subjects that would be relevant to that experience. What I found to be least interesting to me was learning the grammatical side of Hebrew. Both Michelle and I were not heavily interested in this, so we hardly focused on this in our studies.

I would like to continue my self-directed Hebrew studies post college, but understand this may be difficult with the motivations of a language partner and the resources available to us at University of Richmond. I think that before my trip to Israel I would like to review what I have learned so that I can better immerse myself in the culture throughout my trip. 

For my final artifact I focused on months, dates, and time.

Before conducting my artifact:

Goals:

• Know how to say the date
• Know how to tell time

Tasks:

• Learn vocabulary such as month & day and anything related  
• Learn vocabulary associated with time
• Write the vocabulary out

Evaluation of success:

To evaluate the success of the artifact, I would judge to see if it is written correctly and that the written words correspond with how the word is pronounced. Also I would check for grammatical errors. This artifact is more to test my writing skills than my speaking.

After finishing artifact 4:

Like I said earlier, this artifact is more to test my writing skills. I didn't feel the need to do any speaking nor did I have enough vocabulary to even initiate a conversation. My writing is free of grammatical errors. I asked Alvin and one of my friends to look it over to ensure that everything looks fine, which it was. I definitely got some good practice in writing. Vocabulary is appropriate in the situation.

Korean%20final%20reflection%20paper.docx

Overall I believe that I achieved most of my goals which I set out to accomplish at the beginning of this semester. Based on my learning plan, I can read and speak Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, on a very beginner level, and I can greet people, introduce myself, and say farewells. I can also describe myself and order food, to name a few examples. There are many other aspects of the Korean language which I learned as well yet it is still difficult for me to remember information off the top of my head as a novice learner. I need to continue to progress in my language skill through drilling, using the resources that are available online and on my IPhone, as well as practicing with friends who speak Korean.

One stumbling block which I encountered was adapting to a language which does not write letters in a line from left to right but from top to down in a block format. One has to be able to understand which characters are consonants and which are vowels and figure out the placement of each character. This is a unique way to form letters which I think is beautiful. Yet it was something new to adjust to. I encountered my second obstacle the day that I realized that Koreans use two different number systems: the Sino-Korean and Native Korean versions. Sino-Korean is used for many situations such as money/currency, math, phone numbers, and for any number 100 or higher among other occasions. On the other hand, Native Korean is used for one’s age, counting physical objects, and hours, to name a few, key examples.

Therefore I had to overcome these obstacles by taking on the challenge and putting in effort to learn and memorize the placement of characters and when to use which number system. Working with Sun for accuracy and simply practicing on my own showed improvement in how much I would retain.

I found this entire SDL Korean learning experience to be interesting and fun. I would describe this educational experience as holistic because I was able to learn so much more than simply how to say and write words in Korean. I also learned about the culture of Korea through my own cultural presentations and those of my peers who are also learning Korean. Therefore this was a very holistic course which brought in aspects of Korea’s economy, LGBTQ community, cosmetic surgery culture, dating culture, etiquette, and so much more. I really enjoyed this aspect of exchanging information about the same culture and language which we were studying with my peers.

In the future, I want to continue my study of the Korean language. I will need to remain determined and consistent with my practice in order to advance in my skills yet I know that this can be achieved with perseverance and enthusiasm. I am very glad that I took this course during the final semester of my senior year, and I am very blessed to have been under the guidance of such wonderful professors and tutors.   

সুন্দরবন

The Sundarbans consists of the world's largest mangrove forests with about 78 species of mangroves. Naturally, it contains a rich ecosystem of vegetation, minerals, resources, and animals. Most of the Sundarbans are within Bangladesh's territories (64%) and the rest in India (34%). The most significant populations of animals are the Bengal tiger, Irrawaddy and Ganges River dolphins, king cobra, migratory birds, and other endangered species. Interestingly enough, the Bengal tiger adapted to the land-water environment and is very amphibious in nature in that it can swim for long distances, and hunts marine animals. This amphibious nature is very dangerous for the locals that frequent the Sundarbans for fishing or gathering other resources such as honey and firewood. From 1975-1982 about 45 people were killed annually. For this reason, the Bengal tigers have a reputation as man-eaters in the region. The Sundarbans are an important facet of Bangladesh because it serves as a natural storm barrier, which is highly helpful during monsoon seasons, shore stabiliser (important because of rising water levels), and nutrient and sediment trap. 

Sundarban (সুন্দরবন) vocabulary:

If I were to teach something to a friend in my target language, I would like to teach him/her about the family tree and the name for particular family members. I would teach them about the key words: halmeoni (grandmother), harabeoji (grandfather), umma (mother), appa (father), hyung (boy’s elder brother), nuna (boy’s elder sister), oppa (girl’s older brother), unni (girl’s older sister), and dongseng (younger sibling). The outline of my activity would include making a family tree on paper with the terms in English, Romanized Korean, and Hanguel written next to each designated member of the family. Then I would let my friend watch a YouTube video (which I have uploaded on the Ning) which showcases the spelling of the words in Romanized Korean and Hangeul and helps the learner to obtain the right pronunciation of each term. After teaching this activity to a friend, I found that my activity proved to be very effective. My friend Rubi found the video to be very interactive and informative as it also provided pictures to go along with each family member. Therefore this was a very helpful resource for a visual, novice Korean learner, in my opinion. The speaker in the video spoke very clearly and slowly which was great as well. Rubi also enjoyed the topic because she found it to be fascinating that the Korean language is so specific in regards to one’s age and sex. This relates to how Korean grammar uses an extensive system of honorifics to reflect the speaker’s relationship. Honorifics are used to differentiate between formal and informal speech based on the level of familiarity between the speaker and listener. This was a fun learning activity overall! 

Studying Korean has been a great experience so far. I had a great group to work with and an amazing and very helpful language partner. We started off with learning the Korean alphabet, or the Hangul. The Hangul is character based where there are several letters with different sounds, and a letter on its own does not have a meaning. Letters have to be combined to form meaningful words. Therefore learning the Hangul helped me a lot with pronunciation because if I know the sound of every letter in the word, I am able to connect the sounds and know how to pronounce the word as a whole.

Sun taught us the alphabet and their pronunciation by making us re-read the script she printed out for us in bright colors.

Our language partner taught us how to introduce ourselves and greet people next. She also taught us about the family tree and the use of honorifics in the Korea language. Next, we practiced introducing and greeting each other. We practiced two more conversations (how to ask a guy out, and order food at a restaurant). I was studying vocabulary and grammar on the side, and would ask her doubts and questions during every meeting session.

Sun's way of teaching us basic conversations involved making a dialogue that we would all participate in in turns.

With my language partner's guidance and my learning plan goals, I developed a structured plan to learn the Korean language. I am quite pleased with my progress so far, and believe I have developed a stable base which I can build on over the summer to better develop my Korean skills.

March 20- 27, 2014

I had an extended spring break to spend time with my niece since she and my sister were planning to go back to Bangladesh before I would come home for summer break, so me and Sabrina did our class session over skype. We began by talking in Bangla about our breaks and then I downloaded a Bangla keyboard and chatted with her over skype messages. She couldn't write to me in Bangla because she couldn't find a keyboard that worked for her computer so she answered me over the webcam. There's more on the conversation in one of my artifacts. It was helpful making myself familiar with the Bangla keyboard because I plan on talking to my cousins in Bangla through Facebook for the ones that don't speak English very well. I've had very brief conversations with them in Bangla. Here's an example:

• কি আপু তোরকি খবর।ভালোত? What's going on with you, is everything good?
  
• November 29, 2013
• 

  11/29, 10:20pm

  Noraya Razzaque

  ভাল অছি ভাইয্যা, পরিখা ছল্চে অর স্ত্রেস্সেদ অমি. কিন্তু দূই হপ্তার পরে ঘরে জাব​! I'm doing okay, it's just exam time so I'm stressed out. But after two weeks, I will be going home! 

  তুমি কেমন অছ​? টুমার হাতুর ওবস্তা কেমন অছে? But how are you? Is your knee okay? (Had gotten into an motor vehicle accident before).

• November 30, 2013
• 

  11/30, 9:28pm

  Mahamud Hasan

  আমি ভালো আছি।tor ki kobor apu. I'm doing fine, how are you?

  
  It's a little hard talking to my cousins sometimes because the conversation tends to be circular...

April 3-10, 2014

We spent these two class sessions reading more of "Aaj Himur Biye" and I was able to read it a little faster than normal! Consistently reading the same text every week has been helpful in identifying words because some words appear often and then my eyes become accustomed to the word or the style of the word, which helps me read words with similar structures later. Another way that it's helpful is that it enables me to contextualize the reading and understand it better instead of pausing and going back and rereading it several times to figure out what is happening. A lot of the times when I read Bangla, I concentrate on the letters so much that the meaning eludes me, which is why I end up rereading it a lot and taking up more time to read than it should actually take me. I've been working on that with my reading. 

In the reading, Himu's aunt calls him up and tells him that the boy Renu, the girl, had an affair with was sitting outside the house waiting for her to come out. She tells Himu to come over immediately to take care of the situation. She compares the boy to a monkey and Himu jokes that he'll stop by and bring a bunch of bananas to give to him and he'll munch on it like a fatso. Himu's character is very comical and so he says a lot of other random things. 

April 17-24, 2014

We kept forgetting to look for Facebook pages and Bangla websites to contextualize my knowledge of Bangla reading at Sharon's suggestion, so this week we searched for Facebook pages and websites. This is what we found: http://www.kishorkanthabd.com/

We found the facebook page for this initially which led us to this site. I'm not sure how to describe this website since it has a lot of different parts that make it up. I think it's just a cumulative site with sections about Bangladeshi lifestyle or culture. There are sections about sports, religion (Qur'an and Hadith), stories, and more. It was hard for me to navigate the webpage without Sabrina because I didn't know what all the links or tabs were saying since I didn't know the Bengali words for them in English. There were some terms that were strange/unfamiliar to Sabrina as well, so we just guessed what they meant in context or by clicking on them and figuring it out. It was hard to find a Facebook page that would update with Bengali statuses or things that I could read because it was too advanced/news-like or too long. We both wanted something shorter and engaging. We figured that I could read the statuses my relatives from Bangladesh posted on Facebook and what they'd share from Bangladesh media. 

The next session, we read a story about a king and loud foxes. Here's the text and my translation for it: 

রাজা ও মন্ত্রীর কথোপকথন ১ম রাত্রে The king and the minister had a conversation on the first night
অসুস্থ রাজা : শিয়ালগুলো ডাকছে কেন? King: Why are the foxes calling?
মন্ত্রী : শীতের রাত তো তাই। Minister: It’s a cold night, that’s why.
রাজা : তাহলে ওদেরকে রাজকোষ থেকে কম্বল দেয়া হোক। King: Then give them some blankets from the coffer.
মন্ত্রী : জি হুজুর, আগামীকালই দেবো। Minister: Yes, sir. I will tomorrow.
২য় রাত্রে (Second night)
রাজা : মন্ত্রী! শিয়ালগুলোর ডাক থামেনি কেন? King: Minster! Why didn’t the foxes’ cries stop yet?
মন্ত্রী : কম্বল পেয়ে ওরা হুজুরের শোকর গুজার করছে। Minister: Receiving the blankets, they’re praising you, sir.  

৩য় রাত্রে (Third night)
রাজা : মন্ত্রী, ওরা কতদিন শোকর গুজারি ডাক ডাকবে? King: Minister, how many days will they proclaim their appreciation?
মন্ত্রী : যতদিন ওরা আপনার দেয়া কম্বল ব্যবহার করবে। Minister: For however many days they use your blankets. 

Artifact 4 is on how to say the months and dates as well as time. The system requires me to use my knowledge of the 2 number systems that I had learned earlier. The artifact is a good way to show my writing skills.  

Before conducting my artifact 3:

Goals:

• Learn phrases related to restaurants
• Learn how to order
• Be familiar with words that will be said in a Korean restaurant

Tasks:

• Based on previous experiences to Korean restaurants, I kind of new what should be said when you first enter and make eye contact with an employee.
• I would ask friends what they say when going to a restaurant
• I am going to write down the information into my notes
• I need to learn vocabulary related to food since there are so many food options available
• I need to understand the grammar in asking the questions.
• I need to learn phrases related to restaurants and ordering
• create a conversation with the phrases

Evaluation of success:

To evaluate the success of the artifact, I need to judge whether the phrases have been pronounced correctly. I will be asking friends to listen to the recording to ensure that it sounds right. If it doesn't, then I'll get them to tell me what was wrong. Then I would go back and fix what was wrong. I have to ensure that the conversation is culturally appropriate such as it is in the formal form and is polite and is appropriately said in a tone that is clear and acceptable. Recording is free of any grammatical errors.

After finishing my artifact:

While it would have been ideal to do the artifact at a Korean restaurant, I didn't really have time to do so. Therefore I had a conversation with a friend and made it seem like I was speaking at a restaurant. The recording posted is after several tries. I had so much trouble with saying "I ate well". For me the problem was that I kept messing up the pronunciation because of a reflex that I didn't intend to do. I would say meog ess instead of meog eoss. But the final recording is free of any grammatical errors, phrases are pronounced accurately, the tone is clear, and is in the formal form. Throughout the recording, how I said it was polite but when I said excuse me, it kind of came off as being aggressive which should be polite. Therefore that's one little issue with the recording but other than that, the tone is acceptable.