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Hebrew%20final%20presentation%20PP.ppt

Notes and Works Cited:

The second half of the semester has gone well. I think that both Emily and I have figured out what type of work we want to do in regards to Hebrew. I noticed that last semester I didn't do as good of a job working on talking/speaking and pronunciation, so that is something that Emily and I have tried to work on a lot. I am getting really good at spelling, which was one of my goals. I can pretty much guess the spelling for any word in Hebrew - that is a huge accomplishment for me!

I also have become more culturally proficient. What I mean by this is I have gained an ability, I believe, to understand the Israeli culture more than I did before. Through projects such as my cultural project on food, and research on some of the attitudes in Israel that I will post about in my cultural post, I feel more connected to the cultures that speak Hebrew.

I am impressed with my reading skills. I have become very good at reading and I rarely make pronunciation mistakes anymore. I am not sure if this is from just having more than one semester under my belt, or having a background in reading Hebrew from all my years of Hebrew school, but this feels really important. I feel that you can't speak if you don't know how to read, just as I believe that in English, your vocabulary is greatly improved by an ability to be able to read and digest a lot of information. I think it works the same in Hebrew and I am proud of myself for continuing to read and translate.

This has been a tough semester for me, I have been sick a lot and in the hospital 3 different times. I have tried to keep up as best as I can with Hebrew but I think the speaking is what has suffered the most. Even when I am sick, it is easy to look over flashcards and vocabulary, but it is harder to meet with Emily (we have obviously still been meeting) and talk about pronunciation and work on speaking proficiency. 

Finally, I think that I have just become a lot more comfortable with the language. I feel that I have more confidence in speaking, reading and writing and my ability to be comfortable in Israel or another place where Hebrew was spoken (ie a city in America or another country). This was my main goal, to be able to be confident in myself and my Hebrew abilities. I feel that I have reached that! It feels good.

This is me working on my pronunciation by practicing Hebrew prayers.

hebrew%20artifact%204.m4v

“Why Bilinguals Are Smarter” by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee really gives the reader a glimpse into the benefits of learning more than one language. I have personally never considered all of these benefits and truly had no idea about the extent to which research has been conducted in regards to bilingualism and intelligence/cognition. In this day and age, it makes more sense to correlate bilingualism with greater cognition and having a greater adaptability for changes in a new environment, for example. The research findings in this article really blew my mind. In particular, research pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease as well as dementia was quite telling. Those who were bilingual were more resistant to obtaining such symptoms in comparison to those who were monolingual. Therefore I realized that I really would like my children to learn more than one language as they are growing up. It will give their minds a workout and it will help them mentally in the long term, based on this interesting research. 

I want to teach my roommate how to introduce herself in Hindi, and how to ask someone, "how are you?" and the response "I am well". To do this, I will teach her each word, one by one. Using non-verbal communication, I will bow with both hand together and teach her "Namaste", then, I will teach her "AAp kaisee hay" by again saying each word one at a time, and then I will reapeat the whole phrase. I will use body language in this as well by offering my hand towards her when asking "how are you?". Then, after she has that phrase down, I will teach her "meh teek who", in the same process. I will say each word one by one and then repeat the whole phrase, pointing at myself emphasizing that I am referring to myself and saying, "I am well".

My efforts to teach my roommate the how to say "Hi, "How are you?", and "I am Good and you?" was very successful. While I did not time it, I think that in following the strategy I listed above, she was able to master these phrases within 2 minutes. I think what really helped, was the fact that she was putting these phrases into context right away. We were greeting each other, (bowing with our hands together) and then asking the common question that follows in greeting someone. Also, I think my emphasis on each word, repetition of each word/phrase, as well as my non-verbal communication really helped her learn this basic/foundational Hindi dialogue! 

Based on “Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction” by Kirk Johnson, this article gave me a new perspective on how languages need to be maintained in order for them to not become completely extinct. A new light was shed on the language of Siletz Dee-ni, an American Indian language with only five speakers left. It is essential to create a pool of speakers large enough so that it will not disappear first of all. Secondly, this article addresses the need for dictionaries for the language to be created officially. It is amazing that this language was able to survive through songs used for native dances. Thirdly, the institutionalization of education systems that teach Siletz Dee-ni has become more prevalent, creating an arena for people to learn this beautiful and ancient language. This structure will help this language to flourish and hopefully, it will thrive with time. Therefore I gleaned alot from this article-so many factors go into keeping a language alive that I have never considered, having English as my first language. In a way, I have taken for granted how accessible and dominant the English language is and it was a neat experience to attempt to put myself in the shoes of someone whose language is on the verge of extinction. This would be a scary and terrifying feeling in my opinion yet I am glad that there is hope for the future of Siletz Dee-ni, based on the findings of this article. 

These two weeks me and Ms. Hanife worked on more grammar and vocabulary. Turkish language has so many rules, that I usually get so confused which tense to use when. During these two weeks I learned when to use ending “-ip” on the verb. Basically, when you perform two actions at the same time, or one action immediately following another we use this tense. So for example if you want to say “I took my jacket and left home”, in Turkish it would be “Jaketim aldip, evimden ciktim”. First, I took my jacket and then I left home. I found this tense interesting and actually useful. More interesting thing is that you use the same “-ip” ending regardless of whether you are talking about yourself, 1 person or several, and then the other part of the sentence can be in present continuous, future tense or past tense. I also learned the difference in using “cunku” and “bu nedenle”, they both mean “because of” but you cannot use them interchangeably. For example, if you say “I want to talk to you because I think you misunderstood me” is when you use “cunku”, however if you wanna say “I think you misunderstood me and because of that I want to talk to you” is when you use bu nedenle. It may seem complicated at first, but when you understand it once, you will be able to apply it in conversations. Practicing this tense these two weeks, I feel comfortable using it and I do not think I might have any serious problems using this tense.

Me and Ms. Hanife also had a session when we read Turkish poems, and talked about Turkish culture. We read some popular poems that Ms. Hanife likes very much and that are not very hard to understand by a beginner/intermediate level students.

I have been talking to my language partner about Turkish culture/traditions to help me figure out what I should deliver my cultural presentation on. Right now, I am planning to talk about hookah and importance of hookah on Turkish culture. Last time I presented on Turkish coffee, and the audience enjoyed hearing about famous Turkish coffee and tea. Considering that hookah/nargila is very popular in Turkey I believe that this could be an interesting topic to do a research. Also, I could compare it to Bosnian culture where hookah is very popular. I talked to my language partner and she said that this could be an interesting topic and that hookah is more famous in certain parts of Turkey and less popular in other parts. I think it would be interesting to do a research on this and see why there is a difference and how significant that difference is.

So far, I like how my Turkish is improving. My Turkish friends say that I have improved a lot, and that always motivates me. However, we are covering a lot of complicated material and a lot of tenses so the more I learn I feel like the less I know. I wonder if I will ever be able to master this language and be able to speak it fluently. There are just so many exceptions and rules that you cannot simply learn by heart but pick up by using the language daily. This is challenging task for me, and that is why I actually like this language and I am determined to learn it no matter how hard it is. It may take me several years, but since i am really interested in the language, I think I can accomplish my goal.

A)   Current Abilities

1. Know the sounds of the letters in the alphabet

B)   Goals

1. Be able to have a small conversation
2. Greet people
3. Talk about myself and my family
4. Ask for directions/get around a new place
5. Tell time and day of the week
6. Pronounce words correctly
7. Talk about my day and ask others questions
8. Talk about my interests/ hobbies (dancing)

C)   Tasks 

1. Watch Hindi movie/listen to songs- discuss plots with language partner
2. Discuss current events and tie in with Indian culture
3. Have conversations with my language partner and friends who speak Hindi
4. Learn everyday slang
5. Learn directions
6. Learn numbers
7. Be able to ask/give directions

Self-Assessment:

I think I have met most, if not all of my goals. However, I am still a bit rough on asking for directions/getting around new places. I can greet people and talk about myself and my family. I found that using flashcards as well as sounding words out loud has helped me improve my vocabulary as well as pronunciation. In addition, listening to Bollywood songs and watching Bollywood movies has definitely reinforced my learning of certain vocabulary and phrases. Looking back on this semester, I have definitely completed all the tasks in my learning plan. However, I need to continue practicing these tasks as I have not retained ALL the information.

Here is attached my cultural presentation related to "Doing Business in Korea"PresentationKorean.pptx

During the first half of the semester I accomplished approximately half of my learning goals (including being able to introduce myself, talk about my background, being familiar with numbers) and so my instructor and I focused on the following remaining goals: 

-Being able to set up a meeting (day, month, hours, minutes)

-Being able to express my feelings

-Being able to go through a basic conversation in the corporate world 

Regarding the ways of arrange a meeting, the key was to understand the korean numbers, which I became relatively good at it after a lot of practice but also to become familiar with the days of the week and the months. My instructor and I would go over all of them during a couple meetings to make it almost automatic for me to know them.

The big challenge of this second-half of the semester was to be able to read the time and give the time accurately. The numbers used for hours are different than the ones used for the minutes so it quickly gets complex. We proceeded in few steps; the first one was to learn the set of numbers for the minutes and then the set of numbers for hours. We finally associated them along with the notion of "AM" and "PM" to make it complete. Then I was able to associate the days/months with hours/minutes for a complete time scheduling.

An important thing everyone should be able to say in the country they are is the way they feel; for this reason we dedicated few lessons towards how to say "I feel ..." and "I ... you". Once I understood the structure I had to memorize and learn the adjectives and that was it! Obviously it took a bit more time to adjust the pronunciation.

Finally, my instructor and I allocated some time towards the few phrases that can occur in business conversations. So I am now able to say what I am doing for a living , in which industry I am working on etc... (as well as ask them to someone).

Family Vocab

In this powerpoint, I demonstrate my ability to identify and introduce members of my family as well as say one thing about them. I use family vocabulary words which include the word for: family, mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, and step-grandpa.

Charlie%20Dryer%20on%202014-04-23%20at%2020.49.mov

My friend Charlie from U of M who also takes Swedish agreed to have a Swedish conversation with me.

For my fourth artifact I decided to show how to express your feelings in Korean.

Fifth Cultural Post: The Concept Of Kibun

Kibun is a central concept in the Korean's business world; there is not any literal translation in english but the term indicates pride, face, mood or state of mind. When hurting someone's kibun, you hurt their pride and dignity which is one of the worst thing that can happen to a Korean.

Since the interpersonal relationships rely on the principle of harmony it is important to maintain a peaceful, comfortable atmosphere at all times. It is preferred over any kind of confrontation/aggressivity, even if it means telling a "white lie".

A concrete application of the kibun in the business world would be if a manager criticizes his subordinate in public; at the same time if a subordinate does not show proper respect to his superior, he will damage his superior's kibun.

Having the ability to judge the state of someone else's kibun,  how to avoid hurting it while maintaining your own require some skills but is a very valuable one to have. People mastering this skill are highly considered by their peers.

The ability to determine another person's kibun by using the eye is called "nunchi". It is accomplished by watching body language and listing to the tone of the voice. It is mainly for this concept that in Korea, people are very aware and attentive and rarely loud and obnoxious.

Through the semester I learned to do the follow things in Korean:

-Meeting a person for the first time

-Purchasing/selling something 

-Understand numbers and prices

-Read all the characters

-Express my feelings

-Talk about my background

-Set a meeting/appointment

-Read dates and time

Korean Cultural Presentation

ChristyLearningplanSpring2014.docx

http://prezi.com/3pans_qrmsn2/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

by Allan Peng and Christy Buranaamorn

Malory and Molly Can:

-Introduce ourselves, talk about our families, our backgrounds, and our academic interests.

-Ask questions of others such as their age, occupation, family, area of study, etc.

-Talk about the time.

-Talk about food we like, clothes we wear, things we like to do.

-Answer interview-like questions about our future, our strengths, our weaknesses, etc.

-Ask interview-like questions of others.

-Talk about various countries and nationalities.

-Express our feelings at any given moment.

-Talk about why we like Swedish/why we are studying Swedish.

-Talk about Swedish culture, food, TV, etc.

-Speak Danish, norwegian, finnish, and icelandic fluently (kidding…)

Looking back at my first conversation in Korean, it is fairly easy to point out the flaws:

-My pronunciation is very westernized which makes it clear I am not a native speaker

-The uncertainty of some expressions creates some interruptions in the flow of the conversation

-Overall I thought it was much worse than the recording I just listened to but it is important to notice that I improved my pronunciation