Blogs

In my own experiences of culture shock I found that it came upon me in ways I simply did not anticipate. When I went to Japan, people warned us that the food and overall customs would take us by surprise but that was the least shocking simply because with the internet, books, etc it is easy to prepare for concrete cultural differences which can be seen and quantified.

It was the subtle aspects of the culture that threw me into a whirlwind, and honestly had me rather discouraged and reevaluate why I was learning the language to begin with. For example, realizing that developing relationships required a kind of inherent deception, at least from my standpoint it was deceptive, on both sides was bewildering to say the least. Being straight forward was not polite in practically any circumstance (I soon learned many Japanese students complained this was the problem with Americans in general). So because you had to go a roundabout way to communicate and express what you're thinking, (hard enough with a language barrier) notions of friendship were opaque and vague. It was like speaking in a coded language. Then there were many who simply viewed foreigners as accessories to show off to their friends and go out with, which is harmless but ineffective in what I hoped to accomplish, that is understanding one person at a time, not generic exchanges of information.

It takes skill to maneuver in the darkness that is intercultural communication where there are only unspoken rules and those a part of the culture may not necessarily see them as rules but instead just a way of being, the right way particularily. Korea and Japan are not the same but I suspect one would encounter similar situations, regardless.

Like the article said because Korean is a SOV language “…you learn all those annoying word endings,” arguably the hardest part of the language as it is simply completely foreign to my native language. To understand the endings I start off small, i.e. without the constrictions and complexities of the polite speech.

As far as references go, I think reference grammar can be quite useful. I studied Japanese so it is particularly useful in the fact that both languages are obviously not the same but are made up of the same components. Japanese is an SOV language as well, with what seems like an infinite number of endings. Because I already know a language similar to the one I'm learning now I can effectively understand how to approach this new language. Unfortunatley, I have learned that this is typically only achieved through concrete, relentless memorization.

As with many other Asian languages body language and language reflecting the social hierarchy can essentially make or break a conversation, especially with strangers. Bowing is the first that comes to mind. In order to ensure the proper bow for each person, you first have to know their age either by simply looking at them or asking if it cannot be discerned, and it is rather normal to ask such a question early on. One bows upon meeting and leaving.

It is also not uncommon to ask about one’s family, as the family unit is imperative, similarly to other Asian languages. Concepts of yes and no are interesting. It would seem that yes does not always mean yes and in general yes or no questions are avoided. For example, if you want to know whether or not your friend wants to go have lunch with you, you would not ask them flat out as it may put them in an uncomfortable position. Instead one would ask when they would be available to go out or something to that effect.

Understanding the linguistics behind language learning actually created an awareness that was not there before. For example, in the neurolinguistic section it states how “an intention to communicate is followed (or perhaps accompanied) by some kind of conceptualization of the message (176).” I am interested in the intricacies of basic communication, as it helps me to put the pieces of a language together like a jigsaw puzzle. Semantics are also important, in the sense that it relates directly to meaning, and I prefer the organization of meaning as well. It provides better tools to express myself, which is one of my most important goals in learning language. The hope is that there will be real cultural exchange instead of generic exchanges and over-simplified generalizations.

As a language learner I would say that I enjoyed, well, learning the language in general. Pronunciation and memorization proved to be the most difficult but there’s a satisfaction whenever I learn something new AND can actually do it right. According to the FIRE model I am both an Insightful and Rational learner. Rational because I do need that big picture that brings everything together and the personal aspects as well. Insightful because, despite how much I enjoy free ranged thinking, etc, I still need the logical aspect, as in how do I get from point A to B.

Mango fits my learning style because it is well-organized but not rigid in how the language is learned. To expand my learning activities, writing could play a larger role than it does currently.

The last week of the semester, I looked back at all the things that I have learned so far. I realized that I have managed to learn a lot of important things this semester. Firstly, I learned how to give and ask for directions, learned vocabulary concerning directions and names of places, I was introduced to grammar, improved my reading skills and learned vocabulary concerning food and taste. As a result, I thought that a nice way to wrap up the semester would be to do an activity which incorporates all the different things that I had learned. 

I decided to write a small text in Korean describing the campus of University of Richmond. This activity will allow me to use the what I learned about directions and places, the related grammar and the other common adjectives and vocabulary that I know. It will help me apply all the rules of grammar in context and see how all the different pieces fit together. It will also help me learn how to spell new words and help me improve my Korean writing skills.

As expected, while writing the text, I realized that, there is a great difference in practicing Korean verbally and in writing. When speaking, everything seems easier than they actually are. Also, when I was writing words, I noticed that I had actually imagined the breakdown of syllables very differently than how they actually are. As a result, writing the words also helped me understand the pronunciation of words a lot better. 

Moreover, while making sentences, I also faced difficulty applying the grammatical rules that I had learned. This required me to do more research on them, look at more examples on their applications and thus helped me understand them better. It made me realize the significance of endings in Korean grammar and that it is an integral part of the Korean language. 

My own experiences of culture shock on this campus happened during my freshman year when I was expecting to enter a very vibrant, diverse environment but was disappointed when I realized that the school is dominated by many privileged, white students hailing from the North. I think I had this idea of college that resembled a lot more like VCU's community but that was absolutely not the case with the University of Richmond. I think my experience of culture shock was stronger when I first moved to the suburbs of Northern Virginia from the city of Manila. Everything up there (and here)   is so much cleaner and more orderly. Neighbors seemed friendly but didn't have the same feeling as community as in the Philippines. Ultimately the notion of individualism is clearly reflected in the United States, because in a way, I think people here are generally more self-interested, even though generally everyone is. It's just a lot more emphasized here. Another culture shock experience I had was when I went to Dublin to study abroad. I had this idea that people were going to be a lot more different than they are here, and to my surprise Ireland and the US are pretty similar. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the individualistic mind-set of most of the Western world. I think it's hard for me to relate to people from here and other Western places because I grew up with a collectivist mind-set, and have a bit of an open, warm personality that might seem intrusive to people who aren't used to blunt honesty. 

 Reading and writing in my target language has been a fun, re-learning experience for me because I haven’t had to do it in such a long time, and it has evoked a stronger interest and passion for my own culture, something that I’ve lost over the years. It felt a bit tedious at times to read the news in Tagalog, because there are other news sources that were written in English but it was fun being able to read something about events happening in the Philippines in that culture’s language. I found myself thinking in Tagalog a lot this semester, just because I’d say something in English, realize that I could translate it to Tagalog after having recently learned it, and then thinking of ways I could use it in other scenarios. I also keep a personal journal and found that I would randomly write Tagalog phrases, so it was like I was writing in Taglish. I still have a difficult time speaking a sentence in straight Tagalog just because I haven’t really had anyone to talk to about politics or the news around here, but maybe I can impress my family when I go back home with my new found knowledge about random events happening in Manila. 

I think being bilingual actually does make a person smarter, but not in the way that they’re intellectually more superior than others. It just adds to the person’s skills in being able to process things in more creative ways, because in translating sentences or words from one language to another, you have to think of how one language is structured, and then re-arranging it so that it makes sense in another. Also I feel like being fluent in more than one language exposes you to a whole slew of vocabulary that adds to your language library. But it all depends on how people define intelligence, and maybe it’s not fair to say that bilinguals are smarter. Maybe it would make more sense to say that bilinguals have more enhanced language skills than others, that could possibly extend to other areas in their lives. At the same time, the exposure to different cultures that turns a person bilingual could mean they are more open and aware of other cultures and ways of life, but that still does not necessarily mean they’re smarter. “Smart”or “intelligent” are very subjective words, and if I were monolingual, I would be very offended if people thought bilinguals are smarter. In a way, I agree and disagree with the concept but being bilingual does add cognitive-processing skills. 

Getting into the habit of reading news articles in Tagalog taught me a lot of new words. I would say that I’ve probably learned 50-75 words that I have heard of being spoken, but never really knew what the exact definitions are. It’s funny because a lot of the words sound very violent, and I have always thought they meant something negative but they can mean something as simple as ‘set’. The tagalog word “itinakda” means set, and I always thought that word meant getting stabbed. I learned these words by coming across them, and immediately translating them into English. However, many of the words I learn are a bit sad or negative, because the news tend to focus on stories that are traumatic in a way. Basically there are a lot more sad news to report than happy, exciting ones. I do have realistic goals for vocab acquisition, but I’m realizing that I should probably read more than just the news because if I were to have a conversation with someone in Tagalog and tried to incorporate the words I’ve learned from news articles, our conversations would focus on heavy topics like death, or natural disasters.

cultural%20project_Sihan.pptx

I’ve worked with Sun for a whole semester to learn basic Korean words and sentences. At first, I wanted to learn Korean because I planned to travel to Korea this summer. Also I wanted to learn Korean because I want to better understand the Korean drama and the daily conversations. So when I made my learning plan, I mainly focused on the Listening and Speaking. After one semester, I am so proud that I can speak basic words. I am also impressed that I know how to do the greetings and how to look at the menu, how to identify the numbers…etc.

 At the beginning of the semester, I was identified by the Learning Style Test as a visual learner in which it suggests me to learn language by using symbols, graphs and charts. Thus, I have been using software called memrise where they have pictures for each vocabulary aside to assist learning. Also I used Mango app to enhance my learning experience which can correct myself from the wrong pronounciation. I have to thank Melody to send us the recording that Sun makes for each lesson so that we can practice and correct our pronunciation after class. Language partner is also a great resource to have when we encounter grammar questions. Sun would clarify our questions in the plainest language in which saves us the trouble to go through grammar book or search online for explanation. Also if we three found something we wanted to know more, we can directly ask Sun to expand more.This self-study class has also allowed us the freedom to learn what interest us and learn the most useful phrases. Also the course is really interesting, because Sun can tell us a lot of cultural facts as a Korean. This enables me to gain the insight of Korean culture from a true Korean.

I love Korean drama before I learned Korean. Over this semester, I watched three Korean dramas. They are all different themes and topics. One is about the journalists in Korea, One is about a love story in Korea and One is about the Spy in Korea. So I learned some specific words in those three types of dramas. I tried to not look at the Chinese translation at first and to see how much I could understand from the conversation and then make comparison. If I found one conversation most useful, I just listened to the conversation again and again. I found Korean films are interesting too but they are too difficult for a beginner to learn vocabulary but they are really good to learn the Korean culture. Like my cultural project, I focused on how the criminal series reflect the society. Other love story in Korean film also reveals the dating cultural and formal speaking in Korea.

One thing I could improve in the future Korean learning is on the writing and reading side. I found writing and reading will help the speaking and listening. They provide a  formalized way to learn Korean and once you master all the alphabets you are able to identify the pronouciation through the alphabets. And my main purpose is not to get lost when I am traveling to Korea so I have to be able to read basic Korean!

I believe that in general my artifacts have been helpful. They help me hear things like my thick accent as well as the lack of fluidity in my speaking skills-- things I still need to work on. For the most part I can improve on them by making them longer. However, I enjoy the fact that they are interactive and that I feature native speakers because it helps me distinguish between sounds and how words are said and phrases are delivered. My last artifact is where I spoke about myself for a while. Here, I was able to think about things that I wanted to say and execute it on my own. My artifact about food was also brief but I feel as though it captured the focus of the conversation. Some of my artifacts are actually pictures in which I went beyond my goal expectations and learned how to write a little. In the future I would like to create more animated artifacts.

March 2015

My learning experiences this year have been very interesting. As I have previously mentioned in past posts, this journey has been very challenging at times. Urdu is a language that I had only started to hear very recently after I met my Pakistani friends here. Although I had gone to an International School in high school, I had never before encountered anyone that spoke the Urdu language. This meant that I was challenging myself to learn a language that I was not even familiar hearing. This made the start extremely slow and very difficult. Most of it consisted of repeatedly exposing myself to the sounds of the Urdu language as well as focusing on hearing tone, pauses, and what sound people make when they don't know what to say. I found that interestingly enough, once I payed closer attention, it stopped sounding so foreign and instead began to sound like an actual construct of words to me. This was very encouraging.

From this specific experience, I have learned that I as a language learner require practice and person to person exposure. This was crucial to my language learning because if I did not have as many people around me to help me practice, I don't think I would have been able to as easily accomplish my learning goal of being able to hold a simple conversation with someone. Having the option to engage in practicing randomly, at any time of day, and with random individuals (given that I ran into a Pakistani at some point in time) allowed my brain to truly exercise itself. This meant that I would come out of a Math test, spot a Pakistani friend, and immediately have to switch my brain into practice mode-- a true indicator of how much I actually knew. 

I will continue my language learning by hopefully continuing to keep in contact with my friends. Since most-- if not all-- of my resources that I used were online, I have very easy access to more learning opportunities wherever I go. This means that after I graduate and move away from college life, I will still be able to continue my language journey with Urdu-- or perhaps try and start a new one as well with another language. I found that the readings that had to do with how different humans learn and experience language in general were most useful. Many times, understanding these concepts would help me understand something about myself as a language learner-- pushing me to try something new or be more lenient with myself. I would like to learn more about expressions and general tone when speaking the Urdu language. This was something that I was not as easily able to pick up on, and something that in turn may be a little more advanced because it requires developing a sense of "native speech."I feel that after reading the articles and papers that this can be achieved, even if you don't have as much vocabulary. If I can learn the little parts of the language correctly from the start, it can help me get better at all of the complicated parts and build up on things like vocabulary and sentence structure. 

-I can introduce myself

-I can ask others about themselves

-I can greet other people

-I can talk about family

-I can ask others about their family

-I can talk about my hobbies

-I can ask others about their hobbies

In general I feel as though I have accomplished a lot, considering I tried to learn a language that is has been completely unheard of for me, especially since I have just started being exposed to it within the past year or two. I am still at an extremely novice level, but can get by in conversation and can understand simple conversations in Urdu. Since I concentrated in being able to accomplish just that, I believe that I have done a good job. 

My Overall goal is to learn to be able to hold a full conversation with a native speaker in which I basically conduct a monologue in which I explain my hobbies, where I am from, and other interesting facts about myself. I do not plan on learning how to read or write. 

I want to be able to say the following phrases: 

My name is ...

I am 21 years old..

I am from ...

My favorite sport is ...

I enjoy doing ... 

Hello, what is your name?

Where are you from?

Do you speak English?

What is your favorite sport?

I go to the University of Richmond

I am an International Student

I also expect to be able to:

Speak about my family to others

Speak about my general interests

Respond to a person telling me something

Plan

Week 1-2

Learning the alphabet (hearing sound differences)

I would start the whole process by learning Pronouns

Week 2-4

Learning descriptor words/adjectives 

Learning verbs and grammar construction

Week 4-6

Putting what I learned together into sentences

Learn how to correctly construct sentences

Later weeks

Continue to build up sentence structure

Practice, practice, practice with friends and online sources

My Resources

* Interactive websites (like Learn101.org) concentrate on speech and pronunciation

*My friends will help me practice Urdu verbally, since I am a K learner this will help me

*My language partner will help me with questions, suggestions, phrases, pronunciation

Now,I really enjoyed learning Korean. I followed what I wrote in the learning plan that I learn better if I am immersed into Korean-speaking environment. Therefore, I watched Korean drama on a daily basis and watch korean films regularly.i listened to talk shows and music programs , I also could make language-learning much more fun by watching running man. Having listened to Korean on a regular basis, I start to pick some words and phrases up from what I have learned. As time goes along, the more words I could pick up, the more I wanted to learn Korean, and I am curious about how much I could pick up at the end of this semester.

Understanding Korean culture has helped me learn Korean more easily. Knowing that Korean minors need to bow to elders when they greet and leave, I can understand how important it is to remember to add an extra word in the end of each sentence when talking to elders. They often use lots of words to show respect like the formal wording. I have learned that Korean language was invented in a very recent time, late fifteenth century, comparing to other languages. The King Sejong of the Korea wanted to have their own written language and not dependent on Chinese whenever they have to write something. Thus, the King Sejong invented Korean in a consistent and scientific way, structured on the orientation of sun and moon, so that Koreans could learn the written language easily and swiftly. After knowing the origin of the language, it helps me learn the vocabularies easier. In addition, in Korean, the numbers can be pronounced and expressed in two ways, one is Korean own way and another is imported and modified from Chinese way. Koreans tend to mix the two ways when they express numbers. This piece of knowledge also made sense to me that I need to not only learn one or another way of expressing numbers, but both ways, so I would not be confused when I order things.

Communicative competence consists of four aspects: grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. So far, I am working on the first aspect. Out of Halliday’s seven functions of languages, I have learned how to introduce self and other people and family members, how to greet people, how to order food, how to exchange personal information, and apologize and thank people. I need to learn about how to give commands, identify and describe people. After becoming competent in grammatical level, I will dive into the discourse aspect of communicative competence. Discourse competence involves analyzing the background context on the words or sentences other people said, and being able to come up with a proper response within the context. In order to know how to respond properly, I also need to become more familiar about Korean’s culture.

Here is my final project : presentationPresentation1.pptx

Sources are attached in the last page of my powerpoint.

My Can-Do Statement:

I can greet others, introduce myself, and ask others about themselves.

I can ask\introduce family.

I can ask\introduce hobbies.

I can say the days of the week, the month, the year, and count from 1 to 100.

I can ask\say seasons and time.

I can ask about ordering food and the price of things.

I can ask\say about colors.

We have spent more time in food and time-related topic, so that there are a few topics we have not yet explored, such as direction, weather and jobs.  But, I think we have learned some useful communication phrases and I am happy about my progress in learning Korean. I have met my goals of being able to talk with a stranger for three minutes and to write basic alphabet and words.