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So far, I have been pleased with how far I have come in Korean. I have learned simple conversational skills such as introducing myself and talking about my family, I can count basic numbers, and I can read a fair amount of the alphabet. I think that my process of finding learning materials on the internet has been a mostly successful one, so I will try to keep doing this until I run into difficulty. My language partner has also been very helpful, because I can go ask her questions about anything that I am struggling with. Having conversation and dialogue as a way to practice with my language partner and writing it down on a paper has been effective for me to practice my conversational skills.

Learning to read and write Korean has been quite a rough experience for me. It is relatively simple to learn the Korean alphabet as compared to learning Mandarin, however it requires consistency and practice to really be good at it. I haven’t been putting enough effort to practice reading and writing in Korean just because I never felt the need to. Some of the vowels sound similar, especially when they are combined to form another sound. It really frustrates me because I rarely use the words that require those vowel combinations. And also, the Korean grammar is different than English whereas the verb comes last. Therefore, it has been quite a struggle to construct sentences.

Many people argue that bilingualism can make you smarter, because it improves some cognitive skills that are not related to languages. This article was interesting to read because it contained a lot of descriptive statistics. However, I think this argument is a very broad claim. What does it mean to be smart? There are many subjective areas that can make you a smart person. The 2009 study led by Kovac claims that the babies who were raised on two languages where quicker to anticipate the appearance of the puppet. But, it is possible that there are other (extraneous) variables and influenced this reaction from the baby, and language may not be the variable. 

The extinction of languages is something that is interesting because as the article says, a language is becoming extinct every day. When a language dies, a form of communication that people used in the past dies. It is upsetting because this is like learning history. We should know the history of our culture and if languages are becoming extinct, there is no way to uncover the history of the land in those places. The extinction of language also can lead to an extinction of the particular culture since language and culture have strong connection.  

This semester I immersed my self into a new language and culture that was honestly quite foreign to me, despite the fact that I come from Greece - a country that borders Turkey. I found the language easier to learn than I thought due to its use of a Latin alphabet. Furthermore, many words in Turkish are used in some manner or fashion in modern Greek, which to me showed a influence of the two languages on each other. Expanding my vocabulary and learning how to count was somewhat more challenging, but through repetition and by watching Turkish programming I was able to pickup the new words. I also noticed an improvement in my accent which I credit to my language teacher Sezgi and the Turkish soap-opera Ezel. I know how important accent is in Greek and so my goal is to one day sound like a natural-born speaker - thoguh I know this is an ambitious goal.

As I stated in my last Cultural Post, I have also learned a lot about the close relationship between Greek and Turkish cultures. Multiple times I found myself and Sezgi talking about how in Greece and Turkey we do the same things or call something by the same name. I found it fascinating that we are so similar. As a result, I decided to present on Turkish town of Anatolia and the Greek and Turkish influence on those towns since I want to travel through Turkey and see these places for myself someday.

Unfortunately I was unable to observe other SDLP students' cultrural projects, so I will  share what I have learned through my cultural project. I learned that despite a long history of conflict and hate, Greeks and Turks share an intertwined history and culture. We are more similar than different and resemble each other in habits and likeness. Looking through towns and cities deep in Anatolia and seeing how both cultures have impacted their structure and namesake is a testimont to are connected past. The key is to focus on the future and cherish the past, not wallow in a quagmire of blind hate. That is by far the most important lesson I have learned from this project. 

My learning goals for this week were an overall review of  what I have learned throughout this semester. I wanted to refresh my mind and kind of tie together everything from the past few months from introducing myself, to counting, to talking about the weather and my family. I did this through conversation exercises in class and also through my own practice at my room. My personal practice consisted of re-reading, writing down conversations, and performing mock conversations with myself. Overall, I feel confident that what I have learned this semester will stick and so now I can start preparing for my final evaluation.

A task that I have recently completed was to watch Ezel and reach a point where I can hear words and understand their meaning. Each episode lasts from 1:30 hours to 2 hours so it is hard to spam episode after episode. This as a result has made it hard to finish the season and also keep up with what is happening in each episode, especially since there is a significant language barrier. But the show Ezel has to do a lot with family ties and after learning about family I have been able to pick-up a lot of words and even understand topics of conversation. This was ultimately the goal of the learning task that involved the Turkish soap-opera. Watching the show has been invaluable to my development as a Turkish learner.

The link below is a Youtube link for Episode 5 of Ezel. The Youtube channel has all the episodes in order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2wP691L2do

My learning goals for this week were to focus on learning the days of the week and describing the weather. Talking about the weather is a common small-talk conversation point and so it is important if I am planning to travel through Turkey in the future. Learning the days is mainly memorization and repetition and so I used similar tactics to when I learned how to count in Turkish. I simply went about my day and would state today is "Friday" or "Cuma". I also coupled this with the weather. So if it was cloudy on Friday I would say "Cuma hava bulutlu". An important aspect here was understanding also how to say "today" or "yesterday", which we went over in class. Another task I did to reach my learning goal for this week was to simply state the weather during the show Ezel. So if it was sunny I would say "today is sunny" or "Bugun hava gunesli".

I really never imagined that I would actually grasp a language in such a short amount of time. Spanish is my second language and Chinese my third and both of those languages have taken me 5+ years of intensive classes and cultural immersion to pick them up. It was surprisingly easy for me to have a basic handle of Turkish with the help of Sezgi and a few apps. As a language learner, I have learned skills and approaches towards learning and remembering vocabulary such as repetition and flashcards that I will be able to take with me and employ if I decide to travel to Turkey or anywhere else I learn a language. I test myself every weekend after I go over what I learned in class that week because I want to know that I am remembering what I learned and I am able to make use of it on command, without much thought. In that way, I also learned that I am better at learning languages with others. Conversation is the easiest way for me to apply my language skills. In reviewing for our final, I have learned that I can answer questions relatively easily and understand exactly what is being asked of me, but in thinking of a monologue, I have a little bit more trouble recalling what I wanted to say or thinking of topics on the spot. That is not to say that I am not remembering those topics, but I am not able to bring them to the forefront of my mind without being asked about them.

I reaffirmed what I already know; international politics and religion seriously grasp my attention. I think that those two topics are excellent cultural markers and I learn a lot about a country and I can infer a lot about the culture of a country based on the historical contexts of their political structure and religion. It points to values and virtues and how important tradition is based on how richly a country's history plays into their present circumstances. For instance, Turkey's return to Islam is especially important considering the history of the Ottoman Empire with religion and the elimination of religion in government after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

I think I will continue to learn about Turkish history, culture, and language, because I am intrigued by the traditional aspect of the culture and the fight to modernize while respect the roots of the Empire. To continue learning, I may keep in touch with friends of mine who speak Turkish, follow Turkish news, and stay committed to daily participation of my Turkish-learning app.

Some things I found most useful include:

• having a native speaker teach
• homework/reviewing on your own by creating quizlets
• listening to myself speak to gain confidence in my abilities
• using an app
• individual work in the classroom is what I am best at, but I really enjoy going over it all as a class
• being introduced to music
• being introduced to the culture/history of the Empire

Reflect on your learning experiences this semester.
(a) What insights have you gained about yourself as a language learner and cultural explorer?  What did you find difficult?  What have you enjoyed?  How will you continue your learning?
(b) Which readings and learning activities did you find most useful?  What would you like to learn more about?

As a language learner, I found it will be very hard to improve the communicative competence without practicing with a local friend in target language. Luckily, we have a Korean teacher to practice with this semester, so I have made a little progress so far. And as always, I really enjoy exploring Korean culture all the time. Not only by watching their dramas, but also by listening to their songs, watching their TV broadcast, and also the most important thing-making local friends. By these learning process, I understand their culture deeper than before. What’s more, through the SDL105 class, I also learned a lot cultural aspects by watching the cultural presentations. I think this is really a good idea to present one’s target culture to other people. From these presentations, I not only have learned more about Korean culture during the preparation, but also learned other country’s cultures as well, which I think is really good and I really enjoy at the same time. I will continue my learning by going to cram school in Taiwan after I go back home. Since I will graduate this semester, I won’t have chance to take the Korean class at my college, thus my only way to learn from a teacher is by going to private cram school. Besides this method, I will also continue learning by continuously watching Korean dramas online, so I can practice my listening. Another method I will use is to practice with my Korean friends, although they will all go back to Korea since they will graduate with me at the same time, I still can practice with them by getting in touch with them.

The most useful learning activities so far is really by watching Korean dramas. It is because there are so many Korean dramas I can find online that I can practice by watching them everyday. Also, by watching Korean dramas I can learn more about Korean cultures as well, which will be very helpful for me to know more about the culture I am learning. And the most useful reading activities is by reading the lyrics. It is because that by reading the lyrics and listening to the songs at the same time, I can learn the lyrics and also feel the emotions behind the lyrics. Also, it will be more efficient for me to learn because knowing the lyrics definitely won’t bored me at all, so I can keep practicing by this method without getting tired and give up in the middle. What I would like to learn more is to speak Korean more frequently. As I mentioned before, it is quite difficult for me without being in a good learning environment, buy I will do my best to achieve my personal goal in the near future.

Religious Freedom in Turkey

My presentation on religious freedom in Turkey is based on my curiousness of the subject of what it means to be able to believe whatever you wish in a given society. Additionally, I look at government policy as a way to influence/suppress a given religion and why secularism is important for a government's success, specifically concerning Turkey.

Learning Plan Completed

This may seem like a worksheet for a child in kindergarten but because I am a beginner in the Korean language I thought it was appropriate for me. I thought these simple worksheets would serve me best because they help with writing and reading the alphabet which is one of my goals I set myself for this semester. This particular worksheet is for spelling native numbers. 

Artifact 3 - Introduce yourself and family

Hello! My name is Eunbin. I have a younger sister and I have an older sister. My older sister lives in Blacksburg, my younger sister lives in India, and my mother lives in India. My older sister is a student and my mother is an engineer.

Artifact 2- Questions and answers about identity

Hello! What is your name?

My name is Eunbin

Eunbin are you American?

No, I am Indian

Are you a student?

Yes I am a senior

How old are you?

I am 22 years old

Artifact 1 - Greetings, Farewells, Introduction

Hello! My name is Eunbin (my Korean name gifted by My Korean teacher). I am a student and I am a senior. I am an Indian. Bye!

My learning experience has been eye opening. I learned vocabulary much easier than I thought I would. I still find it hard to remember vocabulary despite practicing it however, I have progressed farther than I thought I possibly could. Looking back at my first reflection for 105, I mentioned I was a bad language learner because of my memorization skills. Learning the Korean alphabet was as easy as I expected it to be even though I struggle with the harder vowels. According to the FIRE model, I am a rational learner as well as a bit of a factual learner. I realized when I was learning the Korean alphabet and vocabulary, I tended to use story-telling and mnemonic techniques to memorize them. Through this course, I found that, practicing it every day made it easier to learn a language rather than just hearing it every day without proper studying. I was, of course, aware of this simple concept before I even signed up for this course but practicing it in terms of language learning was different. In other words, I finally believed this concept. The phone apps really helped particularly because they were easily accessible at any time of the day. The articles from Talk to me in Korean really helped me in my learning process as well because they were easy to understand and I did not need to access them too often once I got the basics down.

When it came to learning culture, I was a bit surprised with myself. I learned that I approached culture differently. For instance, I never thought of time as a cultural factor. I grew up in India which is a laid-back country, not very strict with punctuality so when I came to the US, I was a bit taken aback with the emphasis on time keeping and punctuality. Back then I thought India was wrong because they did not have the same mindset when it came to time as the US does. After having studied and learned about different cultures through presentations and readings, I now understand that it is a matter of perspective and therefore, culture. It is not about who is right or wrong because neither is right or wrong. It’s just a matter of culture. Growing up, I knew imposing one’s culture on the other was wrong but I saw it through the medium of colonization. This course showed me that even in the little things like how daily life is conducted based on time there is not right or wrong and there should be no imposing of one on the other.

When it comes to language I plan to use story-telling and mnemonic techniques more because it has proved to be successful. I also plan on developing a regular practice habit not only in hearing but actual studying and regular testing if I have to learn a language again.

Trying to write in Korean has been easier than reading in Korean especially in times when my brain is not at its prime functioning hours. For example, trying to read Korean after I had just woken up proved to be harder than usual. However, compared to the beginning of the semester, reading Korean has become relatively easier, perhaps because I am more used to attaching sound to a symbol. I may not understand what I read but I am still able to recognize the sounds of the words most of the time. I do not know why writing is easier. Perhaps because I have already seen the word when I read it so it I can access it in my head as I write it down even if I know the sound does not match the spelling. Reading is tougher because sometimes the Korean alphabet that sounds like ‘g’ in the word ‘kimchi’ sounds like ‘k’ even though it’s a ‘g’ sound or a ‘t’ sound even though it's a character that sounds like ‘s.’ 

Frankly, these readings were surprising because I do not go through the same “bilingual experience” as the articles discussed and I am a bilingual speaker. However, I should add that I am not a professional in either language, that is, English and Khasi. Apart from these studies mentioned in the two articles, there was another study done that showed children who are bilingual are more likely to be empathetic than children who know only one language. This is because children must learn the context in which specific terms are allowed and such. The study mentioned in the article by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, discussed the ability to track changes in the environment which made me wonder if being bilingual increases one’s ability to multitask. I do not know if this would make one smarter or more intelligent but it would definitely improve daily functioning.