Blogs

Create a learning activity to teach someone else something you have learned in your language; outline this activity in your learning journal. 

• Learning Objectives: Learn how to talk about family in Turkish.
• Step 1: Write and read vocabularies about family including father, mother, sister, brother, and uncle. 
• Step 2: Learn how to say "older" and "younger".
• Step 3: Learn how to say "female" and "male".
• Step 4: Create individual's family tree.
• Step 5: Learn how to introduce family (learning how to structure sentences using phrases). Examples: This is my older brother. I have four people in family.
• Step 6: Practice introducing family each other.
• Step 7: Record and monitor.

Brad: Selamat siang, Pak.
Dosen: Selamat siang, Brad. Silahkan duduk. Ada apa, Brad?
Brad: Begini, Pak. Saya mau memberikan undangannya pernikahan saya. Saya dan pacar saya harap Bapak bisa datang.
Dosen: wah! Selamat ya. Saya pasti akan luangkan waktu untuk hadir. Kapan acaranya, Brad?
Brad: Pada hari Sabtu jam 6:00 sore.
Dosen: Aduh, saya ada acara dari jam 5 sampai jam 6 sore. Jadi saya mungkin akan sedikit terlambat. Saya bisa sampai di sana pada pukul 6:30.
Brad: oh Iya, tidak apa-apa, Pak. Tidak masalah. Anda bisa datang jam berapa saja. terserah pada Anda. Yang penting, jangan datang setelah pestanya selesai ya Pak! (Laugh)
Dosen: Oh pasti, pasti. Terimakasih undangannya ya, Brad. Sampai kan salam saya pada pacarmu. Selamat untuk kalian berdua.
Brad: Terimakasih kembali, Pak. Saya pasti sampaikan salamnya.

This artifact demonstrates the formal language register. Here, a student meets with his professor. Formal styles are used for official business in offices, schools, and other formal settings. Other social factors influence the register type one uses in conversation, like the relationship between the speakers (the social status relationship between conversational partners), the setting, the topic discussed, and the medium (oral, written, electronic). Since this is a conversation a) between a student and a professor b) in a school c) about a formal topic (wedding invitation), then the register type one uses should be formal.

My goals/objectives for these past two weeks:

• Complete chapter 8 “Mendaki Gunung” in Indonesian Grammar In Context;
• Complete chapter 9 “Menyelam” in Indonesian Grammar In Context; and
• Meet with my language partner to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills;

These past two weeks, I have completed:

• Complete chapter 8 “Mendaki Gunung” in Indonesian Grammar In Context;
• Complete chapter 9 “Menyelam” in Indonesian Grammar In Context;
• Met with my language partner for four hours to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills; and

Reflection:

I spent about 4 hours each week completing a chapter.

I finished Chapter 8 in Indonesian Grammar In Context. I learned the following:

• ;
• The conjunction Sedangkan; and
• MeN-kan affix forming verbs of emotion;

The chapter included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

I finished Chapter 9 in Indonesian Grammar In Context. I learned the following:

• Indefinite pronouns;
• The transitive verb memper- + adjective; and
• The durative meaning of tidak + reduplicated verb.

Both chapters included a variety of activities: Oral tasks, written tables and charts, and writing exercises. In addition to these activities, I took grammar notes and listed new vocabulary words.

In addition, I met with my language learning partner for 4 hours -- 2 hours/week. Our time was spent on engaging in oral conversational activities like role play and dialogue chats, as well as going over new grammar points and vocabulary.

     Going forward with my Indonesian studies, I have tried to continue to expand my Indonesian vocabulary by learning more common words and phrases. Slowly, with the help of my language instructor, I have been able to put more complex sentences together that go beyond just introducing myself to others. I have learned new verbs and adjectives that make it easier to express a thought into Indonesian. However, while I am being exposed to these words, I have had trouble memorizing the words and having a clear grasp on them. To help me memorize these new phrases, I have tried making note cards and reading some of the dialogue in our Indonesian textbook. Reading the dialogues found in the textbook helps me further understand how the contexts of the words and sentences structure. 

In my past few meetings with my language partner, I have felt as thought I have made quite a bit of progress. I have begun to confidently form sentences on my own. While forming these sentences I have also begun to write down what I am trying to say. This has helped me to differentiate exactly which Portuguese word associates with which English word. My language partner has also teaching me spelling with Portuguese letter pronunciation. I picked up on the sounds and vowels pretty quickly, except I have issues with the letter i and e. This is because i sounds like e in English so sometimes I get confused.

SDLC Journal 5

삼촌께,

안녕하세요. 요즘 어땋게 지내세요?

저는 대힉생 이에요. 그리고, 2학년 이에요. 매일 한국어하고 경제학 시험이 있어요. 그레서 시간이 없어요.

대학교 캠퍼스는 아주 커요. 학교식당은 기숙사 앞에 있어요. 그리고 잠 싸고 맛있어요. 수요일에 친구하고 점심을 목어요.

이번 여름에는 바다에 갈꺼에요. 삼춘은 여름계획이 있으세요?

크리스티아나 울림

Kevin Journal 4

During the 8th and 9th weeks I planned to learn adjectives, watch a Turkish movie, learn the vocabulary of drinks, be able to order in a restaurant, use excuse me, please, thanks, ask where is the bathroom and whatever is close to the content of this plan. I planned to find a famous Turkish movie on IMDB, as well as practice ordering in the restaurant with my language partner. I also intended to do some listening exercises online, as well as listen to Turkish songs throughout these 2 weeks.

As a result, I watched "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" movie with the English subtitles; learnt the most used adjectives of Turkish and paid a lot of attention on pronunciation. I also learnt some new drinks and food vocabulary and made basic sentences of ordering food and drinks. I revised the vocabulary of "polite phrases" as I knew those from the last semester. I also found a couple of resources offering listening practice of the above mentioned vocabulary and sentences. Using listening exercises was very effective, although the overall Turkish pronunciation is easy for me due to my previous linguistic experiences. In order to be able to memorize what I already learnt and build on it, I may need more speaking practice, which I will ensure to have during the upcoming weeks. My language partner has been very helpful so far in combining language and culture learning. Since I also learnt a lot of adjectives, I am now able to create more sentences and expressions and express more feelings. I found these past weeks very helpful. The only challenge remains ensuring I do not forget the content in the future, but I believe more practice will help me reach this goal as well. 

Below are some of the artifacts I used these last 2 weeks. They were taken from a wide variety of resources as I keep on exploring them. 

• the task(s) you are working on;
• a statement of what you hoped to accomplish;
• the strategies (activities and resources) you used to work on your task(s);
• an evaluation of the effectiveness of your strategies;
• how you will build on what you have learned about the language;
• how you will build on what you have learned about your strategies.

This week I completed task 9 of my language plan by studying lesson 8 of the Living Language textbook.  This discussed words and phrases to be able to get around town in South Korea.  Through this, I wanted to build off of terms I was already familiar with to increase my ability to travel in Korea.  In my language learning sessions, we covered how to get around a campus, so several of the sentence structures were similar but with different vocabulary.  From this, I also knew a lot of the common words such as 'where' and 'how'. 

One strategy I use is to dissect a phrase, instead of memorizing it, to understand the structure and which word means what.  For example if I learn how to say "How do I get to the library?" I make sure I understand which word means library so I can replace it with the word post office or subway station.  This way, I can use that one phrase in multiple contexts.  This is really helpful in understanding the language and separating the phrase from specific vocabulary words.  If I just memorize the phonetics of the phrase, I won't be able to discern which part means what so I'll be able to say "The flower is pink" but not "The flower is blue".  I will continue to pick apart the sentences I learn in this way so I can apply it to later words that I learn.  

Reading and writing in Korean has always been hard for me. I think my reading skills are better than my writing skills but I am still very slow when it comes to reading a text. I also find it hard to differentiate the slang from the proper spelling and grammar that is used because I got so used to texting and speaking in an informal language with my peers. Therefore, since most of my vocabulary is based on everyday language, textbook readings, news, and other formal readings and writings are very tough for me. 

I am bilingual in Korean and English. I do not agree with the readings because I do not feel like my cognitive skills are better than monolinguals. I get distracted easily and do not do well with mentally exhausting challenges so I felt like I could not relate to a lot of the article that was assigned. 

SDLC Journal #3

Family is extremely important in Ethiopian and Eritrean culture. This makes sense since there’s more of a collectivist mindset than countries like the United States. In my opinion, people usually respect their parents and grandparents more than in the United States. I also think that more people know their distant family more than people here do. For example, when I was in Eritrea and Ethiopia, I met some distant family members and I was amazed how my dad knew exactly how they were related to us. I think most people that I know don’t know relatives more distant than cousins and second cousins. It’s more important to know all members of your family and not just the immediate members. It is also very common for people to have their parents live with them when they get older. People are not likely to send their parents to a nursing home and would rather take care of them when they are elderly. Overall, I think family is just a more important aspect of life because its importance is emphasized early on.

In South Korean, the concept of time is slightly different than in the United States. "Korean Time" refers to the widespread tardiness or, more specifically, the relaxed attitude with which Koreans approach appointment times (The Korea Herald). In the United States it is considered rude to be late to formal appointments, dates, and even meetings between friends. However, in South Korea, it is standard to be slightly late when it comes to meeting times. It is usually not necessary to give prior notice to a friend that you are going to be late, and being as late as an hour or more, is not uncommon. Furthermore, being late is so uncommon and normal that it is often that people use phrases like "You can come late too." Furthermore, some even give their friends a meeting time of an hour before they actually want to meet in order to them to get there roughly around the same time. This is in compensation for the habit of being late. In addition, the Korean attitude about time has affected the way people talk about time. For example, when friends talk about what time to meet, they usually use languages such as "what time, roughly?" The "roughly" is an indication that there is no stress on a specific meeting time. 

There is no real consensus on why Koreans are so relaxed about times, but many believe that it has to do with how Korean ancestors organized time. For instance, starting at 11 p.m., the day was split into 12 units of approximately 2 hours each. This means that a meeting time that is set for the sixth hour would be any time between 9:01 a.m. and 10:59 a.m. Also, under a later organization of time, the 2 hour intervals were divided by 8 parts which were 15 minutes each. Some believe that this is the reason why Koreans are usually 15 minutes late. 

Culture Project Topic: Korean Street Food 

My culture project topic is Korean street food. I chose this topic because although Korean culture has numerous important aspects, I wanted to focus a little bit more on a more lighthearted cultural concept. Street food is sold all over Korea and many foodies are attracted to Korea because of the many different food selections. In my presentation, I not only want to talk about the many types of Korean street food, but I also want to talk about the etiquette that should be used when trying to purchase street food. I am getting the majority of my information from numerous Korean food blogs, as well as Youtube channels that specialize in Korean street food. I look forward to presenting! 

Korean Table Manners

In Korean culture politeness is extremely important and it translates into almost every aspect of Korean life, especially table etiquette. Here are a few standard rules for Korean table manners. 

1. WAIT TO BE SEATED

- When you are dining with others, you should wait for your seniors or the eldest person you are dining with to sit down first before you take a seat. Also the honored guest, usually the oldest person at the table, sits in the seat farthest from the door. 

2. BEFORE YOU BEGIN

- It is polite to say that you are looking forward to the meal in a way that indicates that you are grateful for the person that made the food because you are eating well because of them. This is usually expressed as 잘먹뎄습니다 (Jal meokgessuemnida): "I will eat well" 

3. BEGINNING THE MEAL

- Wait for the oldest person to pick up their utensils before you start eating

4. DURING THE MEAL 

- Do not blow your nose at the table! Excuse yourself and go to another room to do it. 

5. DON'T LINGER OR RUSH 

- Try to eat at the same pace as everyone at the table, especially the elders. It is more enjoyable for everyone to eat at the same time and finish at the same time. 

6. SOUP AND RICE BOWLS 

- Don't tilt bowls, keep them on the table at all times. 

7. DOUBLE DIPPING 

- Take enough for yourself but make sure that everyone else has enough to eat as well. Try not to touch food if you are not going to eat it. 

8. REFILLING YOUR GLASS 

- Always pour drinks for others first, especially elders. The usual time to refill someone's glass is when it is half empty. 

9. OFFERS OF ALCOHOL 

- It is considered impolite to refuse an alcoholic beverage that is offered to you, especially when an elder offered it. 

10. ACCEPTING DISHES OR DRINKS 

- When someone (your senior) offers you a drink, hold out your cup with both hands to accept. You do the same thing when receiving dishes or any other table items.

11. POURING DRINKS

- When you pour a drink for your senior, place your other hand lightly under your pouring hand or under the opposite elbow.

12. PLACEMENT OF UTENSILS ON THE TABLE

- Do not stick chopsticks straight up into your bowl because it resembles traditional ancestor ceremonies and because it is a symbol of bad luck.

13. DON'T WASTE FOOD

- Do not take more food than you can eat because it is considered wasteful. Also, it is polite to clean your plate. (Eat all the food)

14. ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR HOSTS

- It is customary to acknowledge your thanks after the meal

- You usually say 잘 먹었습니다 (Jal meokeossseumnida): "I ate well" 

The standard writing system in South Korea is Hangul (한글). It was created by King Sejong in the 15th century. Just like the English writing system, 한글 is composed of both consonants and vowels, however, 한글 also incorporates double consonants that make a more emphasized sound than the other consonants. There are 14 consonants (jaeum: 자음), 5 double consonants, and 21 vowels (Moeum: 모음). Hangul letters are grouped into syllabic blocks, vertically and horizontally. Also, words are read left to right, top to bottom. 

The 14 자음 in order are : 

1. ㄱ (Giyeok) 

2. ㄴ (Nieun) 

3. ㄷ (Digeut) 

4. ㄹ (Rieul)

5. ㅁ (Mieum) 

6. ㅂ (Bieup) 

7. ㅅ (Siot) 

8. ㅇ (Ieung) 

9. ㅈ (Jieut) 

10.ㅊ (Chieut) 

11. ㅋ (Kieuk) 

12. ㅌ (Tieut) 

13. ㅍ (Pieup) 

14. ㅎ (Hieut) 

The 5 double consonants in order are: 

1.ㄲ (Ssanggieok)

2.ㄸ (Ssanggdigeut) 

3.ㅃ (Ssangbieup) 

4.ㅆ (Ssangsiot) 

5.ㅉ (Ssangjieut) 

The 21 모음 in order are: 

1.ㅏ (A)                           11.ㅐ (Ae)                     21.의 (Ui) 

2.ㅑ(Ya).                         12.ㅔ (E) 

3.ㅓ (Eo)                         13.ㅒ (Yae) 

4.ㅕ (Yeo)                        14.ㅖ (Ye) 

5. ㅗ (O)                          15. 와 (Wa) 

6. ㅛ (Yo)                         16. 왜 (Wae) 

7. ㅜ (U)                          17. 외 (Oe) 

8. ㅠ (Yu)                         18. 워 (Wo) 

9. ㅡ (Eu)                         19. 웨 (We) 

10.ㅣ(I)                             20.위 (Wi) 

This past week, I covered restaurant terminology and phrases.  One of my goals for this semester is to learn how to order food at a Korean restaurant, and I have the materials to do so.  In my last journal entry, I mentioned how it was difficult learning all the vocabulary in every chapter every week.  So one of my strategies is to focus on the words and phrases that I would actually use.  Some of the phrases weren't things I wouldn't say in English, so I didn't write them down. 

The textbook I'm using includes terms such as restaurant, dinner, soup etc. and phrases such as "Can you get me the menu?".  One of the more interesting phrases "We ate well!" relates to their culture.  This is used as a farewell to the restaurant as a thank you.  There are many phrases that use this structure.  For example, the literal translation for "good luck on your test" is "take your test well".  It's interesting to see this pattern in the language.  

In one tutoring session, Lena went over some phrases on how to specifically order food in Korean.  I'm allergic to sesame which is sadly used in most Korean dishes, so I'm learning to say that in Korean to get past any language barriers.  It was really helpful to be able to ask questions and learn how to say more precisely what we would want to say.  I will continue practicing and hopefully I'll be able to go to a Korean restaurant with Lena and Yixi before the semester is over. 

Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. Are you bilingual? If so, would you agree with the arguments made in the two readings on bilingualism?

I can’t say with certainty if I am bilingual just like I can’t say if I agree or not with the claims from the articles from the readings. That is because the definition of bilingual is not clear enough for me and my definitions of ability, intelligence and knowledge are too fluid – Some days I feel confident that I “know” things (be it English, Portuguese, even math), others, not so much…

I think it is never as “clear cut” as we wish it would be – at least for the sake of our hypotheses…I understand these are almost impossibly complex issues and that breaking the systems down is the only way to tackle the questions, but I am afraid this makes it too easy to forget to look at the “big picture.” But I am thankful some scholars are mindful of that:

“Bialystok has been researching the bilingual brain for decades, and she is adamant: Bilinguals aren’t smarter than their single-language counterparts. “I think it’s a real problem that [my work] may be interpreted that way,” she says.” (from ScienceLine article)

Another major personal issue I have with these readings/topics is the intertwining of so many unanswered questions/grey areas: we don’t really know what “intelligence” means, how to measure it, and much less what drives it – of course language can/would be one of them, as well as 10000 other things, like educational opportunities, modes of learning, personality, even nutrition!

One thing that I cannot deny is how much Portuguese has helped me read Catalan thought. I guess the statement that I would be the most comfortable making for now is: learning languages/of cultures is like adding valuable instruments to our personal toolbox and the skillset they provide is valuable regardless of age, life/work path, or field of study.

How many new words have you learned in your target language?  How did you learn them?  Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary?

In my tutoring sessions, we have two vocabulary charts per chapter, each having an average of 20 terms.  They include nouns, adjectives, verbs, and particles of which I usually recognize about 5 from past Korean studies.  All of these terms add up to about 120 vocabulary words we have covered.  Every lesson, we have a quiz on the past week's vocabulary chart to test how much we remember.  This is really useful because it makes us look over the words and helps us learn more in the long run. 

In my personal lessons, I have learned the Korean words for colors, days of the week, months, family vocabulary and more.  The most helpful strategy to remembering these terms is to write them on sticky notes and put them around my room.  It's the most effective when I can correlate a word with an object, for example putting the word for black on my black microwave.  This way, I am constantly looking at them and processing the words multiple times per day.  

At the beginning of the semester, I had unrealistic goals for how many words I would learn per week; especially with the tutoring sessions and my learning plan lessons combined.  Because I can only learn so much material, I choose certain terms and phrases I want to learn from each chapter of the textbook I use for myself.  This way I can learn more specifically what will be most helpful in achieving my language goals. 

How many new words have you learned in your target language?  How did you learn them?  Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary?

In my tutoring sessions, we have two vocabulary charts per chapter, each having an average of 20 terms.  They include nouns, adjectives, verbs, and particles of which I usually recognize about 5 from past Korean studies.  All of these terms add up to about 120 vocabulary words we have covered.  Every lesson, we have a quiz on the past week's vocabulary chart to test how much we remember.  This is really useful because it makes us look over the words and helps us learn more in the long run. 

In my personal lessons, I have learned the Korean words for colors, days of the week, months, family vocabulary and more.  The most helpful strategy to remembering these terms is to write them on sticky notes and put them around my room.  It's the most effective when I can correlate a word with an object, for example putting the word for black on my black microwave.  This way, I am constantly looking at them and processing the words multiple times per day.  

At the beginning of the semester, I had unrealistic goals for how many words I would learn per week; especially with the tutoring sessions and my learning plan lessons combined.  Because I can only learn so much material, I choose certain terms and phrases I want to learn from each chapter of the textbook I use for myself.  This way I can learn more specifically what will be most helpful in achieving my language goals.