Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
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I learned the vocabulary for a slew of different fruits, vegetable, dishes and things that Indians eat. I knew a lot of these things beforehand because my mom says them but relearning them was important. Also, I learned conjugations of a few verbs that are important to start forming sentences.
I learned the alphabet and the words that go along with it. For example, sort of like how in English we say "A is for Apple".
I Learned the days of the week, how to talk about points of the week. For example, if I wanted to say " Next week" or " 2 weeks from now", I can say that. Also I learned numbers 1-20, 30, 40, 50, 60 , 70, 80, 90, 100 and 1000.
Can Do Statements:
Can count from 1-12
Can say Days of the Week
Can tell time
Can Talk about Food
Can Talk about Family
I can talk about fruits, vegetables, and home stuff
I can talk about sports
I can identify colors
Namaste, mera name Rudy hai. Meh University of Richmond may padatha hoon. Main Chicago se hoon. Mere parivar may meri ma, mere pitha, aur mera chotta bhai hai. Meri Ma ka nam Narayani hai. Mere pitha ka nam Shreekkanth hai. Mera chotta bhai ka nam Aswath hai.
Hello, my name is Rudy. I study at the University of Richmond. I am from Chicago. My family consists of my mom, my dad and my little brother. My mom's name is Narayani. My dad's name is Shreekkanth. My little brother's name is Aswath.
R: Namaste mera naam Rudy hain. Aapka naam kya hain? (Hello my name is Rudy. What is your name?)
S: Namaste Rudy. Mera naam Sanya hain. Rudy abhi kitne baje hain? (Hello Rudy. My name is Sanya. What time is it Rudy?)
R: Sanya abhi gyarah baje hain. Aapko kaun sa rang pasand hain? (Sanya it is 11:00am right now. What colors do you like?)
S: Mujhe laal rang pasand hain. Aur aapko? (I like red. What about you?)
R: Mujhe neela, peela, safed, kaala, naarangi..saare rang pasand hain. Aapko khaane mein kya pasand hain? (I like blue, yellow, white, black, orange...all colors. What do you like to eat?)
S: Mujhe khaane mein dal aur chawal pasand hain. Aur aapko? (I like to eat dal and rice. What about you?)
R: Mujhe khaane mein bhindi, gobhi, tamatar, pyaaz, Baingan,aaloo, paalak, paneer, doodh, roti, rajma...sab pasand hain. (I like to eat bhindi, cauliflower, tomato, onion, eggplant, potato, spinach, paneer, milk, roti, rajma)
S: Aapke ghar mein kitne kamre hain? (How many rooms do you have in your house?)
R: Mere ghar mein paanch kamre hain, saath kursi hain aur teen khidki hain. Accha chalo phir milengay. (In my house there are 5 rooms, 7 chairs and 3 windows. Okay lets go. See you soon.)
S: Theeke shukriya. (Okay thank you)
Reading and writing in Hindi has been very difficult. I do not know how to write that well in the language, so therefore I cannot read or write in Hindi. Those were not my goals going into the class. All I wanted to know how to do was speak. However, when Sanya or I write in my vocabulary journal, we use English letters to make Hindi words. That way, pronunciation comes easier to me. Otherwise, I do not read or write in Hindi.
Being bilingual makes a person smarter in the sense that they can understand new things and process them differently. It does not necessarily mean they are intellectually more gifted. It just adds to the person’s skills in being able to process things in more creative ways. Translating sentences or words from one language to another means you have to think of how one language is structured and then switch it so that it makes sense to you in both languages. People define intelligence in different ways, so I think it is unfair to say bilinguals are "smarter" than monolingual speakers, but it is fair to say they think about the world differently. I like being able to have a cultured background, unlike my friends. I like being able to understand more things about the world around us. Maybe it would make more sense to say that bilinguals have more enhanced language skills than others. This would be a fair thing to say. The second language, just exposes you to a whole new culture than you would know if you were a monolingual.
I have learned a lot of new vocabulary words in Hindi. Most of them relate to my home, family, how to tell time and sports. They are things I came into this Hindi class wanting to learn and therefore memorized a lot of those words. The way I learned them, was basically do like a self- quiz. I would learn a few words at a time, then I would ask myself to do them over and their meaning. All of this was in my head, but it helped me learn the necessary vocab. This was a very realistic goal for my vocabulary skills because they are not too many words, but they are the ones I wanted to learn.
I learned that my best ability in Hindi is being able to pronounce words well. It comes from being able to listen to similar languages in India and listening to the music. Already, being Indian, I had a sort of advantage in pronunciation as I have been listening to Hindi since I was young in Bollywood films. I also definitely would not consider learning languages as something I am very good at. I am not a very good student in that aspect because in order to learn the language, you need to be able to work at it everyday. This was very hard for me to do. In fact, I think I am slower than most language learners in my language development. Memorization does not necessarily come hard for me, but constant relearning of vocabulary and grammar is very difficult. I can definitely say I enjoy the cultural aspect more than learning the language. It is very important for me to know Hindi, but it is much easier to understand and become immersed in a culture as opposed to a language. Being Indian, I obviously know about the culture already, and that is one of the most interesting things for me when learning the language. Sanya explaining to me how India has changed and the different contexts were very interesting. The things I disliked about the idea of learning Hindi was the grammar. The grammar is, in my opinion, so much worse than learning English. All the conjugations are very confusing and really made it difficult for me to start forming sentences.
The readings I enjoyed the most were the readings on the language learning process and how to process things better. I also liked the articles about how languages are going extinct. I enjoy thinking about how languages are affected by other languages and how they are all interconnected. I enjoy picking apart the components of a language to see exactly how it works. Language processes are very interesting to me and how they have evolved. For example, Noelle gave her presentations on Tagalog and I found it very interesting how Spanish language and culture were an integral part in the Philippines.
I would like to learn more about the cultural aspects of other cultures. However, I learned that learning a language at my age is very, very difficult, I can say that I am very mad at myself for not keeping my knowledge of Hindi when I was a child, to the present. My language learning skills have evolved though; I am very good at memorizing vocabulary. However, grammar aspects and sentence structure need a lot of work. I can now comprehend how intertwined Indian culture is with Hindi, and that it is very important for me to focus on learning this language more in the future.
I first learned that my strongest suit is still pronunciation. I guess it just comes from often listening to the language within natural contexts i.e. films. I also definitely would not consider learning languages as something I am skilled at. In fact, I think I am slower than most, but that is just how I feel, mainly because concrete memorization is difficult for me, and I would say about 90% of learning a language is memorization. Also the fact that I am learning an Asian language factors in. I have never learned any other language that uses English characters. It is highly possible that I struggle with languages like Korean because they have no basis in my native language or any language I grew up hearing. I can confidently say I definitely enjoy the cultural aspect more than the language. I wish the two were not so intimately intertwined. It is far easier to become ‘fluent’ in a culture as opposed to a language. I certainly enjoy Korean culture, mostly for historical reasons. I do not know why I have an affinity for the history as opposed to modern day culture. Perhaps it is because I find it more appealing in the sense of how unique it was. Because of globalization a lot of cultures are taking on certain aspects of globalized culture that simply were not present before, which gives the appearance of homogeny. People are very quick to praise globalization but I am far more hesitant. It’s message is quite nice but the consequences are not some of the time, as it is with all things, I suppose.
The readings I enjoyed the most to my own surprise were the earlier ones about the language learning process. I enjoy picking apart the components of a language to see exactly how it works. It is kind of like building a computer. The final product, when bought whole, can be taken for granted but when you painstakingly get piece by piece and understand how one part connects to another, its all the more enjoyable and offers both a better understanding and control of the language in general because you know how it works not just what it looks and sounds like.
I would like to learn more about the intercultural communicative aspects of Korean culture. I mentioned earlier how in Japan the inability to form deep relationships because of ‘unspoken rules, etc.” gave me more culture shock than the actual culture itself. I think I would benefit from scholarly essays that examine the psychological aspects of the culture, how they play out, and why they play out in such a manner. I’ve talked about how fascination with Korea stems from its history (the same goes for Japan), but I did not say that I typically end up having far less interest in the people of the culture, which is what always happens. In learning another language I am reminded of how important both the people and the language of the culture are.
I agree with the readings. It’s no secret that being fluent in two languages can only benefit the individual. In Benefits of Bilingualism, I agree the most with the idea that being bilingual lends itself to “a higher ability to monitor an environment.” Inherent self-awareness and awareness in general is practically doubled in this way, giving the speaker an unusually well-rounded experience in the world.
I think the other article takes an interesting approach, from the standpoint of intellect or simply being smart, a word that is problematic in and of itself. Similar to how the executive function is described in the article, I once listened to a podcast about learning a second language. In a survey conducted among bilinguals, it would seem that people are more prone to taking risks in another language than if they use their own language. When learning a second language it would seem as though the individual is taking on a separate identity, which pretty fascinating.
I believed I have learned around 50 words. My learning plan stems more around learning phrases and basic grammar as opposed to vocabulary, which is something I also want to focus on but time is pressing and I fear that not only will I not be able to achieve what I set out to do if I set my goals too high, but will also only reach a mediocre understanding of the language if I spread myself too thin.
I learned many of the specific words in phrases with my language partner and a learned a great deal from Mango, love that program.
I also have recently started using Rosetta Stone as well. It has the same format as Mango but takes different approaches by simply throwing you into the language without explanation until later.
My absolute favorite part of the languages I learn is their cultural history. I am not necessarily sure simply knowing the history will lead to a better grasp and therefore use of the language, but I do think it can be motivating if you're into symbols, meaning, etc.
For example, Japanese kanji characters, which are simply Chinese characters, typically have stories to go along with each character. They sometimes, not always, symbolize the meaning of the actual word itself. I feel more compelled to study a language when I know there is something behind it all, and I'm not just memorizing randomly placed lines that mean one word for no real reason.
When a language dies so does the expression in that language. I talked in a previous post about how intertwined language is with culture. Loss of language not only does away with how one communicates with others but with how one expresses themselves, their ideas, thoughts, etc. I think the article focuses more on the external effects when it comes to losing culture, which can be equally devastating.
One thing I can say I am proud of is my pronunciation. Because I have been watching Korean films for years now, I think I have unconsciously picked up on the style and tones. Even when I did not understand what was being said, I always recognized certain expressions and the general ways in which words were spoken. Now that I am actually learning the language, what used to be simply sounds to me are fleshed out and given life. I have enjoyed finally understanding exactly what I heard was being said instead of just a series of sounds that I could mimic.
When it comes to the relationship between the target language and target culture, I would say it reminds me exactly of Japan and the Japanese; although, most Korean and Japanese people I know would say otherwise, as each culture has certain nuances that I just do not differentiate between or are not profound enough for me to notice as an outsider to both cultures. The overall resounding idea is that both the language and culture are so intimately intertwined that it is virtually impossible to understand one without the other. The speech reveals just as much about the Korean culture as basic Korean culture does. The hierarchical language is the best example of this. By using this form one is expressing notions of respect that stem all the way from Confucius.
In order to improve my communicative competence I will first have to extensively broaden my vocabulary. I know basic questions and statements now but self-expression is my goal. If I cannot express myself in the Korean language it, in my opinion, lessens my own experience of the language. Others may be able to understand what I am saying but if they cannot understand me, cultural exchange will only be exchanged in one direction and not the other. This is especially important to me as an African-American. Black culture is so grossly misrepresented in both Japan and Korea. If I can’t articulate how this is problematic in a way they can understand I am not helping the situation. I digress. As I said before I need to first and foremost expand my vocabulary, not just in the most general sense, but in an intentional and deliberate way, meaning I need to learn certain words not all words. The basics are important but I find that often in these textbooks they organize the chapters based on social situations one may find themselves in. While workplace appropriate language is important, I do not believe I need to know how to handle going to a veterinarian with a sick animal (I have actually never seen anything like this but it’s usually something to that affect). This is the direction textbooks typically take after running out of beginner lessons.
