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I did my cultural presentation on Turkish sculpture. Turkish sculpture had transition under the rules of the religion. Ancient sculptures usually represented human bodies,  but modern sculptures are more of decorative arts such as reliefs, engraving and inlay. Gravestones and marker stones were the most finely carved and beautifully decorated forms in the Ottoman period. I presented on Ancient Statues Near the Royal Tomb on the Mount Nemrut, Turkey. They are located on high mountain called Mt. Nemrut (2,134 m or 7,001 ft), the ancient statues near the royal tomb are famous for the giant head statues scattered on the summit. They were constructed by King Antiochus First in 62 BC. Historians think the place is a sanctuary and a royal tomb. However, the king’s tomb has not been found yet. The style of these ancient sculptures is Greek and Persian tradition. Mount Nemrut is recognized as a World heritage site by UNESCO. It attracts lots of tourists to this historically and culturally significant site. Since the 1980s, Turkey has been establishing itself as a center of contemporary art with galleries, institutions and local biennials giving artists increased international visibility. What is unique about the contemporary Turkish sculpture is that it is the mixture of the globalized art world and local histories bridging Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic traditions. Contemporary Turkish art is decidedly diverse and often provocative.I researched on Yasam Sasmazer’s Wooden Sculptures Explore Mental Hardship. Yasam Sasmazer, a Turkish artist who works in Berlin, crafts wooden sculptures the deal with psychological hardship and narratives. Series like “Metanoia” take influence from the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung, exploring the journey between mental breakdowns and the evolution that follows. Her use of three-dimensional figures and shadows, both simulated and real, offer an absorbing take on the duality of living.

My cultural presentation: Turkish Sculpture

Learning plans with self-assessment: Learning plans with self-assessment.docx

Fifth Cultural Post:  Reflect upon what you have learned about the culture(s) you have been studying. 

Reflection:

The cultures that I have been studying were the regions, dialect, cuisine, the flag, and some customs and traditions. For the language aspect, I was able to get a better understanding of different dialects of native Koreans. I was able to learn ways to differentiate them into the 6 regions in Korea. Not only being able to know the regions, I was also able to learn more about their specialty cuisine (which I plan to taste when I travel to Korea).

Because Lunar New Year had past during this semester, I was able to learn more about the traditions and customs done on that day. For example, I learned how to properly bow to the elders (to get lucky New Year's Money). It was definitely a big contrast to what I am use to. In Vietnamese culture, we don't usually bow as deep as they do in Korean culture, and we also have to give specific words/phrases/wishes to the elders to get the lucky money.

I think what surprised me the most was the meaning behind the South Korean flag. If I had not done research I would have not known the deeper meaning behind each symbol on the flag. For the most part, I understood the ying and yang symbol in the center, representing wholeness and balance. What surprise me the most were the black symbols/characters on the four corners of the circle (you can read more about it in my other blog post).

What I took away most from this project was a better understand of the culture and language. I was also able to see how the culture and language both influence each other.

Cultural Project:

My Cultural Project is about the different dialects spoken in South Korea. Like how each region has their own speciality cuisine, they also have a distinctive way to speak. My presentation will highlight the different dialects and how to listen to the differences. I will also provide examples of the different dialects in comparison to the standard Korean language. 

My Cultural Project:

South Korean Satoori - Teresa Do

Because I really like BTS (방탄소년단), for one of my artifact, I decided to translate their song "Spring Day" ("봄날"). This artifact took a few days to finish (I had to go back and forth from the translation dictionary). This artifact was also helpful for me to get use to typing Hangul on the keyboard. 

방탄소년단 - 봄날

For the Lunar New Year, Joora taught us how to do a proper 세배 (traditional New Year's bow). It is different for men and women.

For men:
1. Place your left hand on top of your right hand.
2. Stand up straight with your hands resting in front of your stomach.
3. Raise both hands to your chest.
4. Bend both knees to kneel.
5. Place both hands on the floor as you kneel.
6. Bend your upper body and bow your head.
7. Once your head touches the back of your left hand, stand up by raising your right knee first.
8. Raise both hands up to your chest once more before returning your hands to their natural position.

For women: 
1. Place your right hand above your left hand.
2. Stand straight with your hands resting - in the correct position -in front of your lower abdomen.
3. Release your hands naturally as you bend your knees and sit.
4. Rest your hands in front of your knees, placing them at shoulder's width.
5. Then bow our head as you bend your upper body.
6. Take your hands off the floor as your raise your upper body.
7. Resume standing with your hands in front of your lower body - again in the correct right over left position.

For this cultural post, I wanted to look specifically at the South Korean flag. Every country has a different flag, which has a deeper meaning behind it. To better understand the language, I thought I should start with the meaning behind the flag. 

The red and blue, creating the circle, represents the yin/yang symbol which means wholeness.

Yin and Yang are two halves that together complete wholeness. Yin and yang are also the starting point for change. When something is whole, by definition, it’s unchanging and complete. So when you split something into two halves – yin/yang, it upsets the equilibrium of wholeness. Both halves are chasing after each other as they seek a new balance with each other.

The white represents peace and purity. The black characters that make the 4 corners of the flag represent justice, fruition, wisdom, and vitality. The strokes of each character is explained in the image below.  

This is an interactive map I played with to understand the geography of South Korea (regions and cites). 

First Artifact:  Record and post a conversation that reviews what you learned in SDLC 110 and adds something you have learned in weeks 1 - 3.

Self-Introduction.m4a

During weeks 1-3, we worked on adding more to the original self-introduction I made. 

We started forming simple sentences on what I like and dislike and my hobbies. 

나는 춤과 노래를 좋아합니다. (I like to dance and sing.)

나는 음악을 듣는 것을 좋아한다. (I like to listen to music.) 

내 취미는 자고 있습니다. (My hobby is sleeping.)

나는 공부하고 싶지 않습니다. (I don't like to study). 

Another topic I decided to study is the food specialty in each region of South Korea. 

There are 6 main regions:

1. Seoul & Gyeonggi (서울 & 경기) 
2. Gangwon (강원) 
3. Chungcheon (충청)
4. Gyeongsang (경상) 
5. Jeolla (절라)
6. Jeju (제주)

Each region has their own cuisine specialty, what they are best known for. 

경기도
With easy access the sea, and a mild climate, a variety of dishes are specialities of 경기도. These include galbi, suyuk, samgyetang, and kongkkusu.

강원도
Cuisine in 강원도 is very simple, yet delicious. Popular dishes include Chuncheon dak galbi, gamjajeon, ojingeosundae, and namul.

충청도
충청도 also has easy access to the sea and is watered by the Baengma River which makes it good for growing grains. Dishes from this region include yukhoe, pat sirutteok, byeongcheon sundae, and kalguksu.

경상도
Being close to the sea means that you can find a variety of great seafood here. Dishes that this province is known for include Masan Agujjim, Andong Jjimdak, bupyeon, and dongnae pajeon.

절라도
절라도 cuisine keeps with a lot of tradition from Korea's Joseon Dynasty. Popular dishes include Jeonju bibimbap, ddeokgalbi, dureup bugak, and samhap.

제주도
제주도 has a wide range of seafood to choose from and many other dishes as well. One of the most popular being heuk dwaeji (black pig), as well as jeonbokjuk, tilefish, and jarimulhae

I decided for my cultural post that I wanted to focus on the different dialects spoken in Korea. In my previous culture post, I talked about the different regions in Korea, like food, each region has their own distinct way of speaking.

The most commonly recognized dialect is the Gyeongsang (경상) dialect. Some people also refer to it as the Busan (부산) dialect because it is one of the bigger cities in the the Gyeongsang region.

I tried practicing some of the Busan satoori (the way people from Busan speak). The video I watched also provided the correct way to speak in the dialect (where specific intonations/accents should go).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5IyWUwK__w

First Cultural Post:  What are your cultural learning goals for this semester?

• Which one or two topics will you explore during the course of the semester?
• How do you expect to explore these topics?
• What do you hope to learn through your exploration of these topics?

My learning goals for this semester is too be able to work on my reading, writing, and speaking skills. Last semester, I focused mostly on my reading and writing skills. This semester, I hope to develop a better understanding and be able to communicate using simple phrases and simple sentence constructions.

Two topics I will explore during this semester is Korean culture (traditions and customs) and grammar (sentence constructions). For the culture topic, I plan to 1) learn the basic customs (phrases, gestures, and or actions), 2) celebrate/personally experience those actions (for example, the traditional ways of bowing to elders on New Year's). For the grammar topics, I plan to work more towards creating sentences and being able to conjugate words. 

By exploring these topics, I hope to develop sentences that will help me communicate better (not just using simple phrases, but later developing more complex sentences). I also hope to understand the culture to prepare myself if I do study abroad in Korea.

• First Artifact:  Record and post a conversation that reviews what you learned in SDLC 110 and adds something you have learned in weeks 1 - 3.
• In your learning journal, post an evaluation of your First Artifact conversation.  Evaluate your artifact for accent, cultural appropriateness, and linguistic accuracy.

Here is the introduction that I recorded for this artifact:

Recording%20SDLC%20.mp3

This piece is a recording of my personal introduction. In Portuguese I say:

Me chamo Taiyaba, sou de LA e tenho vinte um anos de idade. Sou uma estudante na Universidade de Richmond. Estou estudando contabilidade. Eu vou trabalhar em Philadelphia ano que vem, em uma empresa chamada Vanguard.

In english, I say "My name is Taiyaba, I am from LA and I am 21 years old. I am a students at University of Richmond. I am studying Accounting. I am going to work in Philadelphia next year, in a business named Vanguard. 

Evaluation:

After recording my first artifact, I realize how important my Spanish comes into understanding, comprehending, and reading Portuguese. However, I see how that it also puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to pronunciation. I was so tempted to pronounce the introduction like it was Spanish and not in Portuguese. I am so used to hearing that Spanish-style of talking and pronunciation of words, that even when i wrote down the Portuguese pronunciations, and practiced them over and over again, I was tempted to revert back to the Spanish way of saying the words because it was more comfortable to me.

I need to work on becoming more comfortable with Portuguese words and pronunciations, and I need to separate the two languages in my head, so I become less confused. I think that this will be a point of contention throughout the semester, and in order to prepare myself, I want to work on creating a list of similar Spanish versus Portuguese words so I can start to see patterns in the two, and be better at differentiation.

• Fifth Cultural Post:  Reflect upon what you have learned about the culture(s) you have been studying.

I have learned so much about Brazilian culture during this semester, that I feel as though I have opened my eyes to a new way of life. First, I want to start off by saying I was not that interested in Brazilian culture to begin with. Like I have said in my earlier posts, I was more interested in learning Portuguese from Portugal as well learning about its customs, food, and music. This was primarily because I always saw Brazil as a huge country that seemed complicated to travel in, unsafe, and very expensive to get to. I saw Portugal as a cheaper flight destination, easier to travel in, more safe, and more English speakers which makes it more comfortable for me. I thought that realistically I would visit Portugal more than I would Brazil. However, having a language partner from Brazil changed my viewpoint. I now see Brazil not as complicated, but as unique and vibrant.It might be unsafe, but that just calls for more precautions and safety measures to be taken in advanced. Brazil is a wonderful and beautiful country sprawling with diversity and funk, and has a laid-back, relaxed lifestyle that it is known for around the world. Brazil is so huge that if you live in the Northern part of the country, it would be faster to take a plane from that area to Miami, then it would be to take a plane from the North to the South of Brazil. It is facts like this that constantly fascinate me about Brazil.

I have also learned that Portuguese is not only in Brazil and Portugal, but spread out in many other countries due to colonization. It is fascinating to know that there are pockets of Portuguese speakers in India, Indonesia, China, and even Malaysia!

Lastly, I learned how similar Portuguese is to Spanish, and I believe that I could get around Brazil and Portugal just because of the knowledge that I have acquired through this course, and my previous knowledge of Spanish. As this was my main reason for taking this course, I am glad that I have accomplished my ultimate goal!

I want to continue on this journey of discovering Portuguese culture, and I want to start by learning some recipes that I can make at home this summer. Using the cooking website my partner and I found earlier this semester, I will work on making simple recipes to experience a taste of Brazil. I hope in the near future I can experience Portuguese up-close with a trip to Brazil or Portugal!

Brazilian%20Geography-2.pptx

• Fourth Artifact:  Document a learning task that you have completed.

One of the learning tasks I wanted to work on was to learn about animals so that I could talk about them, as I love animals! My partner and I worked on creating a list of common animals, which I put down below. First we had me guess how to pronounce a word based on what I have learned so far from Portuguese and from my experience with Spanish. Then my partner corrected me if I was wrong, and had me write down the word she said, so I able to work with listening and then writing what I heard. Here is the list of animals that we came up with:

Cachorro (cajoho) - dog

Gato - cat

Elefante - elephant

Girafa  -giraffe

Jacaré - alligator

Cavalo - horse

Cabra- female goat

Bode- male goat

Rato - rat (sounds like hato)

Um rato come queijo

Cobra- snake

Lagarto- lizard

dinossauro - dinosaur

Passáro- bird

Passarinho → birdy

Arara → from Rio (Disney movie)

Aranha → spider

Formiga → ant

Coelho → rabbit

Golfinho → dolphin

Tubarão → shark

Arraia → stingray

• Post your sixth bi-weekly report on your language-learning activities.  

Now that we are at the end of the semester, we have begun to look back at the remaining things left on my learning plan, and figuring out what I want to learn before we end our sessions. We have also begun reviewing everything we have learned this semester, and talking about what I should focus on for the exam. I’m glad that we are reviewing everything now, because I am realizing the vast amount of material that I learned in such a short time, and I’m really proud of myself for being able to begin this journey of learning Portuguese. I am certain that I will continue learning Portuguese after graduation through using the skill sets and knowledge I have gained through this class.

I am also glad that we have the opportunity to still talk about what I want to learn for our remaining sessions. I really love traveling and food, one of the things I would love to do in my life is start a traveling vlog eating and traveling my way across the world. I think that Brazil is one of those places I would love to do that in, and so for our next sessions I want to focus on what culture and customs are like in Brazil, and how to get around(transportation), what foods to try, how to be safe, etc. I think this would be real knowledge that I could use in the near future, and that could also help me understand more about Brazil’s unique culture and people.

• Fourth Cultural Post

For this post I wanted to focus on all the Portuguese speaking countries in the world. I am still fascinated by how many different countries throughout the world speak Portuguese, and I would love to be able to share my thoughts on it through this post.

The countries that speak Portuguese are: Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. However, Portuguese is not a primary language in all of these countries: it is actually a secondary language for every country but Brazil, Portugal and, São Tomé and Príncipe. The reason for the existence of Portuguese in these countries is due to colonization. There are other countries throughout the world that have pockets of Portuguese descendants and speakers, but they were not listed because the population is very small and Portuguese is not the primary or secondary language in that country. Some examples include Chaul and Goa in India, and Flores Island in Indonesia.

More than 250 million people worldwide use Portuguese daily. Portuguese is the fastest growing European language after English, and more and more countries are making Portuguese as part of their learning curriculum. For example, Portuguese is already a mandatory language in the schooling systems of Uruguay and Argentina.

It comes to no surprise then, that Portuguese is a high demand language that more and more college students are aiming to learn to increase their career opportunities. Much of this is due to the increasing importance of Brazil’s developing economy and impact on international policy trade. There is huge potential of new market opportunities and expansion in Brazil, and Brazil’s further influence on surrounding countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, makes learning Portuguese even more important.

Working on this post has made me realize the spread and growth of the Portuguese language. I am glad that I am getting this exposure to Portuguese now, because I would love to be part of the ever-growing Portuguese community, that will be so important for business in the future.

• Third Artifact:  Document a learning task that you have completed.

One of the tasks in my learning plan was to listen to a Portuguese song and translate what it was saying. We did that for a Portuguese song, but then decided to flip the concept on itself, and translate a English song to Portuguese and try to understand how different it was afterwards. We decided to translate the English song. “Bad at Love,” by Halsey to Portuguese. I have listed the translation below. Through this task I learned about what words fit what situations in Portuguese, I learned a lot of new words, I learned how to pronounce these words, and most importantly, I learned how to translate English words to Portuguese words on the spot. I think this exercise really helped me focus on what words to use in Portuguese, and develop my comprehension ability.

Bad at love:

Got a boy back home in Michigan

Tenho um cara lá em MIchigan

And it tastes like Jack when I'm kissing him

E o gosto é de Jack quando eu estou beijando ele

So I told him that I never really liked his friends

Então eu falei que eu nunca realmente (sounds like he-all-menche) gostei dos amigos dele  

Now he's gone and he's calling me a bitch again   | (the -ing from EN becomes -ando in PT)

Agora ele se foi e ele está me chamando de vadia

There's a guy that lives in a garden state

Tem um cara que mora no “Garden State” (Garden ⇒ jardim; State ⇒ estado)

And he told me that we make it 'til we graduate

E ele me disse (sounds like djisse) que nós vamos durar até que nos formemos

(to last ⇒ durar) and (graduation ⇒ formatura)

So I told him the music would be worth the wait

Então eu falei que a música valeria a pena a espera

(to be worth it ⇒ valer a pena)

But he wants me in the kitchen with a dinner plate

Mas ele me quer na cozinha com um prato de jantar (dinner ⇒ janta)

I believe that we're meant to be

Eu acredito que nós fomos feitos um para o outro

(fazer ⇒ to make, feito ⇒ made) (um- one, para- for, o- the, outro other)

But jealousy gets the best of me

Mas o ciumes me vence (beats me)

Look, I don't mean to frustrate, but always make the same mistakes

Olha, eu não quero te frustrar, mas sempre cometo (to make [mistakes]) os mesmos erros (ehos)

I'm bad at love but you can't blame me for tryin' You know I'd be lyin' sayin'

Eu sou ruim com amor, mas você não pode (poge) me culpar (to blame) por tentar, você sabe que eu estaria (I would) mentindo (menchindo) (lying), dizendo que

You were the one That could finally fix me
Você era o único (only one) que poderia finalmente (finalmenche) me consertar (to fix)

(could ⇒ -ia at the end of words)

Got a girl with California eyes

Tenho uma garota com olhos de California

And I thought that she could really be the one this time

E eu pensei que ela poderia realmente ser "a pessoa certa" (the right person) dessa vez

But I never got the chance to make her mine

Mas eu nunca tive (tchive) a chance de fazer ela minha (mine ⇒ meu/minha)

Because she fell in love with little thin white lines

Porque ela se apaixonou com pequenas e finas linhas brancas

(paixão ⇒ passion, then apaixonar ⇒ fall in love)

London girl with an attitude We never told no one but we look so cute

Garota de Londres com uma atitude (atchi-tu-de), nós nunca contamos para ninguém, mas ficamos bem juntas (to look good together)

Both got way better things to do But I always think about it when I'm riding through

Nós duas temos coisas (things) muito (way) melhores (better) para fazer (to do), mas eu sempre penso em nós (think about us) quando estou passando por lá

• Post your fifth bi-weekly report on your language-learning activities.

These past weeks we have been focused on food words and their alternative sounds, and the difference between: É and E. Food wise, we talked about common foods in Brazil and then looked up recipes online. We used this website: http://www.tudogostoso.com.br to look at recipes and talk about how to make some of them. We also read some recipes and I learned some cooking terms, measurement terms, and also learned what Brazilian foods are popular! Everything looked so delicious! Afterwards we came up with alternative spellings of words, what I mean by this is that we came up with a list of  words that sounded differently to me than they were written. I have written the list that we came up with below. Doing this made me realize the difference between hearing “ge” and “che” “je”. Finally, we looked at the difference between É and E. Though subtle, the accent makes the difference between the two vast. É means ‘is’, and E is ‘and’. This concept took me a long time to comprehend because I was so confused by the subtle difference. At first, they sounded like the exact same word to me, and I kept mixing up which word had the accent. However, I finally remembered that É means is by focusing on the fact that it has the accent because it is trying to define something while E is trying to put two words together, making it more subtle. This might not make any sense, but it is the way I got myself to remember the two.

I have learned so much these past weeks, and I’m excited for the finale! I understand so much about Brazil and Portuguese now, that I am bursting out to talk to someone about what I have learned! I have accomplished most of the things I wanted to do in my learning plan, and I think in the next few weeks we will be looking at culture again and reviewing everything learned so far.

Some words and their “alternative spelling” for pronunciation purposes

pode (poge) → can

mentindo (menchindo) → lying

finalmente (finalmenche) → finally

realmente (he-all-menche) → really

De (dje) → from

atitude (atchi-tu-de) → attitude

disse (djisse) → said

tive (tchive) → had

• Teach someone using the activity you created in Week 9; reflect upon the effectiveness of the activity.

This week I did the activity that I came up in Week 9, I taught someone the common mistakes between Spanish and Portuguese words to help them understand what are the prevalent patterns found between the words of the two languages. I have posted the list I used below.  I then said Portuguese and Spanish words to my boyfriend, who learned five years of Spanish, and asked him what he thought was the Spanish word or Portuguese word. Even though he knew all of the Spanish words, he was confused by the subtle differences in the two, for example, “tiempo” v “tempo”, or “pior” v “peor.” After I asked him about all the words on the list, I then showed him the list and then taught him the commonly made mistakes. I taught him how Portuguese uses more “is” sounds and shorter versions of spanish words, and how “mas” may mean ‘more’ in Spanish, but it means ‘but’ in Portuguese. I helped him learn more about the trickiness that occurs when you know both languages, and in the end he really understood what the differences were. This activity also made me realize deeper insights as I was teaching it, and I memorized the differences in my head as I was talking about them, without even realizing. This was a really cool assignment, and I am happy I got the opportunity to do it!

1. But:
   1. Mas
   2. Pero
2. Time:
   1. Tiempo
   2. Tempo
3. Many/much:
   1. Muito(s) ou muita(s)
   2. Mucho ou muchas
4. I had:
   1. Eu tinha
   2. Eu tenía
5. More:
   1. Más
   2. Mais
6. I am
   1. Eu sou/estou
   2. Eu soy/estoy
7. We
   1. Nosotros
   2. Nós
8. `Siblings:
   1. Hermanos y hermanas
   2. Irmãos e irmãs
9. Better:
   1. Mejor
   2. Melhor
10. Worse:
    1. Pior
    2. Peor

• Third Cultural Post

Something I have always been curious about is the diversity of Brazil. As one of the most diverse countries in the world, Brazil has an interesting mix of food, culture, music, and religions all in one country. I wanted to explore the regional differences and races within Brazil, as I don’t know particular much about this subject and would love to educate myself on it.

I learned that Brazilians trace their origins from five sources: Europeans, Amerindians, Africans, Levantines, and East Asia. Brazil also has a population of about 208,862,818 people, and is the fifth most populated country in the world. The distribution of the population is very uneven however, as most Brazilians live along the coast line, and the interior surrounding the Amazon Basin is almost bare. Most of Brazilians came from three main places: 1)Europe: these are mostly ethnic Portuguese who were forced to convert to Christianity 2)Sub-Saharan Africans 3)Indigenous People (Tupi and Guarani).  The population of Brazil based on ethnicity is as followed: White 47.7%, Mulatto 43.1%, Black 7.6%, Asian 1.1%, Indigenous 0.4%. Most European immigrants live in the southern states such as Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, and São Paulo. São Paulo alone has 30 million white people. In the northeast, the majority of people are of African or mixed-race decent, mostly on the coastline. Brazil also has the highest number of Japanese descendants outside of Japan, with about 1.8 million Japanese-Brazilians, most of whom take up residence in São Paulo.

These were some of the many facts I have learned about Brazilian ethnicities, and I can’t wait to ask my partner more about her personal experience surrounding diversity in Brazil.