This article continues to support current claims that learning a language like a native improves language acquisition skills. In this scientists were able to measure how the brain processed the language. It does not surprise me that learning the language through immersion showed signs of native speaker brain activity because the individual is forced to remember the ways in situational settings and react accordingly on short notice. At no other time during my language studies has it helped more than to immerse myself in the language I am learning. This has allowed me to improve my French tremendously at various points in times and also allowed me to improve my Swedish and Spanish. I am convinced by the power of immersion and believe it allows for quicker attainment of colloquial language and stimulates a differen part of the brain.
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The cultural presentations in class were quite interesting. I was only there for one day, given that I usually could not make the 3-415 time slot, but I heard the one about contemporary Indian music and Israeli special services. It was really interesting hearing how Indian music changed over time from the sitar lyrical music to eventual rap with sitar influences. I actually would love some of the music we listened to in my iTunes!
The presentation on how the Israeli special services fight was also very interesting because I knew that all men and women were conscripted in Israel, but I did not know how they were taught or their specific techniques. Overall... I never wish to get into a fight with any Israeli. Seriously, I wonder how the militarization has impacted the Israeli culture positively and negatively. Such a hated country in the Middle East must have many diplomatic struggles in the quest for peace.
What artifacts will you use to document your learning and why?
I will be using videos to document my learning. I will have conversations with Heather so that we can kill two birds with one stone and have the same video. This allows our body language to be shown, subtitles to be added and this way we can hear ourselves speak and our accents. In addition, because neither of us are learning how to write this is the perfect way to document our progress =)
I did not learn Kannada's written language because even in Karnatka the script is not used often. I tried to distinguish between words and letters, but I struggled. I think that's ok because I'm not supposed to be learning how to write. Most people in Karnatka who are literate read Hindi and English, but don't read Kannada, although it is taught in school.
Families in India are extensive. As compared to the United States where one lives with one's nuclear family (mom/dad/children), in India the family unit constitutes the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews as well. The entire extended family lives near each other and supports each other. Family is cherished; it is important to be a help to your family, especially for children who are raised to help provide for older family members. Grandparents are proud of their children and grandchildren, and often family names carry weight and differing levels of respect. Especially in India which has a caste system, your family can determine your opportunities in life; the life of a Brahmin is necessarily different from that of an untouchable, and you cannot change your caste status given at birth.
BODY LANGUAGE
EYES: Eyes are the windows to the soul...you can tell a lot about a person's thoughts or feelings on a subject by their eyes. For this very reason eyes play a large role in our communication. Our body language is often times eye language. Women in rural Karnatka lower their eyes when talking to men. People of lower castes lower their eyes when talking to people of higher castes.
HANDS: In Karnatka people don't kiss one another on the cheek as people do in Europe and in the US (among some people groups...like mine;) Instead people will pinch one's cheek and then the person will bring their fingers together so they resemble a flower bud and then they kiss the tips of their fingers.
FEET: Out of respect one will touch the feet of an elder or someone who deserves great respect.
There are some cultures where time is not so much about the agenda and the appointment, not about the activity or the rendevous, but about the people one is interacting with and meeting. In India, time is less stressed, and people treat time with people as more important than being somewhere on time. If a meeting goes longer than expected because the talking is productive and needs to continue, then it needs to continue until it is finished - and this can go on for minutes or hours. Granted, for official things like trains and business meetings, there is a more Western concept of time, but in rural areas of southern India, time is what you make of it; and you certainly are not looking at your watch every 5 minutes or grabbing food to go.
I loved thinking about the concepts in Figuring Out Foreigners because understanding other cultures is something very important to me. I think that there is good and bad in every culture and that the key to understanding and embracing another culture is to find what is best and most beautiful in that culture. In learning a language it's important to love the culture otherwise you'll end up resenting the work because you won't want to connect with the people and the collective that you'll encounter through the language. I used to go to VCU and when I was there I would use the prayer room in the commons. I'm a Christian and from an Italian family. The majority of the people who used the prayer room were Muslim from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It was very interesting observing their interactions with one another and with me in such a scared sippet of life. Through those observations I was able to form some initial understandings of them (some of which changed upon talking with them, some of which were confirmed) While asking people about their culture is wonderful I think it's very respectful to observe and attempt to understand before you engage in dialogue.
The author discusses an interesting topic, namely that there is no one part of the brain connected with language, but that rather the part of the brain that controls listening, speaking, memorization and contextualization are all used. This is very interesting in learning a new language because it shows how multi-faceted language learning really is. It made me think about how when one learns a language the actual words and grammar structure is only one facet of the learning, but that cultural context, gender roles and accent are just as important in one's learning process.
"We are a cursed community. Men use us and throw us away," she says. Applying talcum powder to her daughter's face and tying ribbons to her hair, she says: "I am going to die soon and then who will look after her?"
- Parvatamma, a Devadasi in Mumbai
There is a practice in India, which although outlawed, is prevalent. Families give their daughters to the goddess Yellamma, the Hindu goddess of fertility. In ancient times, the practice was instituted to dedicate young girls, often wealthy, to local temples. They would be married only to the goddess and then take care of the temple. In addition, they would perform for wealthy locals in arts and dancing. This practice continued for centuries, but the Devadasi came to be used as mistresses of the Brahmin or other rich patrons. Essentially now the Devadasi are treated as prostitutes, who serve the temple and their sexual services are treated like having sex with the goddess. The Devadasi cannot leave their profession; they are considered unclean and untouchable by society and have no other life opportunity open to them. Once dedicated to the temple, they are sex slaves for life; often their children are too.
http://www.oodegr.com/english/anatolikes/indouismos/devadasis.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8008562/Indias-prostitutes-of-God.html
The findings of this study - that immersion helps to learn a language like a native speaker better than class work - makes perfect sense to me. After learning in the classroom and by immersion, I realized that I tend not to use words I have learned unless I have to. For instance, learning French in an English class is good while you are immersed in it, but when you want to order a sandwich after class, you dont need any French vocabulary to do so. When you are in France, and you want to eat, you have to scour your brain for that vocab word or you dont get what you want.
This lesson was bittersweet. I felt that because of my family issues this semester and because I was constantly in NY and California and Richmond that I wasn't grounded in the language and in conversational situations that would have been helpful in learning Kannada. That said, I formed a friendship with my language partner outside of class which was wonderful both personally and for the language work because I am a social learner. Additionally, working with Heather outside of class was wonderful. I think that the biggest benefit of this course was in understanding how I learn a language so that I can better learn in the future.
1. the audio clip of introductions and other lessons
2. interviews about korean beauty with language partner
3. powerpoint about blepheroplasty and the market in South Korea in particular
4. post about trip to Emory University for Asian-American Pacific Islander Youth Summit
I really enjoyed getting to know my language partner. She was an asset to my learning because of her insights as a fluent Korean speaker. Her background was interesting - although she was raised in Korea, she also spent a significant amount of time abroad, so she was able to develop a very worldview of culture and language, which she conveyed through our lessons when we talked about differences in both of those things. She was extremely helpful for my questions about things like beauty and food, which I ended up using for my projects and presentations. Her firsthand experience with those aspects of Korean culture were invaluable.
Our meetings were divided into different lessons based on things that I listed as part of what I wanted to learn overall in the beginning of the semester. We broke it down into subjects and then part of our lessons would be to learn the vocabulary, and the other part would be to use it in conversation. She was very helpful when it came to brushing up my pronunciation and also picking up mistakes I made (and had been making for awhile).
My favorite lesson was probably when we went to the Korean restaurant with the other language group. It was great to be able to integrate food into our lesson, for obvious reasons. I ended up realizing how passionate I was about Korean cuisine during this visit because it reminded me of home, and my parents' stellar culinary skills. Consequently, I did my final presentation about not just food, but the culture of Korean cuisine.
Brigid helped me with the culture aspect in particular. I knew a pretty good amount of things about food in general, but I didn't know things about the culture as much, because my family raised us in an American eating style. It was interesting to learn the other aspects of it!
This was a great experience and I'm so glad that UR offers this kind of specialized language and culture learning. I really enjoyed it and I have recommended it to many of my friends!
