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Seollal (설날) is known as the Korean Lunar New Year and it is one of the most important holidays in Korean culture. Seollal marks the first day of the Korean lunar calendar which is typically around the end of January and beginning of February each year (90daykorean.com).  Although Seollal is one day long, the day before and after Seollal are recognized as Korean public holidays, so celebration festivities typically last for three days (90daykorean.com). Lunar New Year is celebrated among many countries throughout Asia, but interestingly each one has a different way of celebrating with their own unique customs and traditions (90daykorean.com). For Korean Lunar New Year, families gather from all over Korea at the house of their oldest male relative to pay their respects to both the ancestors and elders (asiasociety.org). Seollal is a a special time for families to come together through activities such as performing ancestral rites, eating traditional foods, playing folk games and traditions such as Sebae (세배) (english.visitkorea.or.kr). Sebae is the most important of the Korean Lunar New Year traditions and is the act of kneeling with one’s hands on the ground to bow deeply to their elders (90daykorean.org). Younger people such as students must bow to the elders and wish them a happy new year, and the elders return the wishes and give money known as “sebaetdon” (세뱃돈) as a gift to the youngers (90daykorean.com). Typically people wear hanbok (한복), which is traditional Korean clothing, while performing Sebae (90daykorean.com).

Charye (차례) is another important tradition of highly structured ritual of ancestral worship during the Korean Lunar New Year (asiasociety.org). Typically female relatives prepare food which is then served by the male relatives as a gift to the ancestors (asiasociety.org). The most important dish that is traditionally eaten during Seollal is tteokguk (떡국), a rice cake soup (90daykorean.org). Traditionally, eating tteokguk signified turning one year older in Korean culture, so in the past it was only eaten on Seollal, but now many Korean restaurants serve it year round (90daykorean.org). The food is set out behind the family’s ancestral tablets, and everyone bows down to the tablets to show respect to the ancestors (90daykorean.com). The final step is a ceremony called “eumbok” (음복) where everyone eats the food and thereby “gains the ancestors’ blessing for the coming year” (asiasociety.org). The prepared foods typically vary by region, but the rules such as placement of the foods are generally similar (asiasociety.org). Charye is a very traditional ritual performed by many Koreans during Seollal, but it is not quite as widespread of a practice today in Korean culture (90daykorean.com). 

There are also many traditional games that families play together during Seollal. One of the most popular games is yunnori (윷놀이) which is played between two teams and requires four special sticks that are curved on one side and flat on the other (90daykorean.com). The game is a race to the finish as teams take turns throwing the sticks in the air, and the way the sticks land determine how far players move around the board (90daykorean.com). Another popular game is called GoStop (also known as Godori - 고도리), which is a card game played by 2-3 people where players bet small amounts of money using Hwatu cards (asiasociety.org). Hwatu (화투) means “Battle of Flowers” and refers to the beautiful floral images painted on the deck of 48 playing cards (asiasociety.org). The deck of Hwatu cards is split into 12 different sets of 4 cards with each deck representing a different month of the year (asiasociety.org). GoStop is played by matching features of the cards in different combinations to score points, and after earning 3 or 7 points (depending on the number of players), the player must decide whether to continue going or to stop the game (asiasociety.org). Playing these traditional games is a fun way that families celebrate Seollal and look forward to the new year ahead.  

Sources:

https://www.90daykorean.com/korean-lunar-new-year/
https://asiasociety.org/korea/seollal-korean-lunar-new-year
https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=941952

                                  Yunnori  윷놀이                                                                                  Hwatu  화투

Final%20Podcast%20SDLAP.m4a

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gaGigaiA-Nrl6gBclK7U8QUXPZEV33zG/view

Hi everyone!

For my final presentation, I got permission from Michael to do mine a bit differently- it is fully in Bahasa Indonesia rather than English. In addition, I presented it in front of my language partner (Farida) and several other native Indonesian speakers (I was so nervous!). I also answered a few questions from the audience towards the end. Unfortunately, we had some technical issues on Farida’s end, who was hosting the session. She disconnected due to an outage, so I had to wrap up the meeting a bit informally and earlier than expected.

The actual presentation was about "Mental Health of Students in the US." I discuss things such as a typical schedule and assignments that college students receive, and how it affects our stress levels, productivity, etc. I also talk about part-time jobs, extracurriculars, and balancing academics/extracurriculars/work. Finally, I introduce some of the on-campus resources such as the Well-Being Center and CAPS.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LhMBjo24SUYRk-Dd9mr7SUr-qgR--Y3V/view?usp=sharing

For my final cultural artifact, I chose to write about Kampung Inggris Pare. This is the “English Village” in East Java. The purpose of this village is for Indonesian people to learn and immerse themselves in English. Everyone in this village makes an effort to speak English at all times, and most of the buildings here are English “courses.” They are called courses, which actually mean school (they are essentially intensive language schools). I watched a video on one of the many courses offered in this village, which is called Kampung Inggris LC (Language Center).

Even though it is technically a village, it is more akin to a college campus or student complex. Most, if not everyone, who lives in Kampung Inggris Pare is a student. As expected, they are mainly from Indonesia, but there are also students from Malaysia, Thailand, East Timor, and more. These students are typically high school graduates who want to prepare themselves for university or the international workforce by studying English. The main modes of transportation are motorcycles and regular bikes. While many of the buildings are courses, there are still restaurants, food stalls, cafés, various stores, parks, etc. Like I said before, it is very similar to a large college campus! From the video, I also learned that there are various extracurriculars and outside activities offered. Additionally, in school, students are expected to do a lot of difficult things like formal presentations, daily assessments, and more. To my understanding, each individual course has several levels of English classes.

This semester, I am taking an ESL Teaching class, which my language partner, Farida, is coincidentally taking as well. As part of that class, students are expected to get hands-on experience teaching. Farida was able to connect our class to BEC (specifically through her friend, Mr. Fuad, who is a BEC administrator), one of the courses in Kampung Inggris Pare, so I have had personal experience with students there. Actually, BEC was the first course ever offered in Kampung Inggris Pare, and if I remember correctly, Mr. Fuad’s father was the founder and one of the pioneers of Kampung Inggris Pare, which is so amazing to me. The students I taught were in the advanced level, so most of our lessons centered around discussions on various topics in order for them to develop difficult and specific vocabulary (in addition to speaking, listening, pronunciation practice, etc.). Since my job was to teach them English, I unfortunately did not have many opportunities to practice my Bahasa Indonesia with them. However, since our class was mostly discussion based, I learned a lot about Indonesian life and culture from the students. Our topics included housing, empathy, compassion, and goals. From our housing topic, I learned that many of the students in Kampung Inggris Pare live in boarding houses with other students. I especially liked our topic of goals, because I learned a lot about the students’ aspirations. Many of them want to become entrepreneurs and start businesses. Other goals included becoming a teacher, airport worker, and psychologist. Though our discussions, I learned that Indonesian students share a lot of similar interests with American students.

This semester, my language partner, classmates, and I watched SKY Castle (SKY 캐슬), a Korean satirical drama about the cutthroat nature of the Korean education system. It mainly focuses on the wealthy, high class parents’ roles in their children’s education and the lengths the parents go to in order to ensure their children are admitted into the top universities. The name SKY Castle is based on the popular acronym SKY, which is used to refer to the three most prestigious universities in Korea: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. In the drama, SKY Castle is also the name of the neighborhood that the characters live in. It is literally a castle, and each family has a very large property. In order to live in SKY Castle, someone in the family has to have a prestigious profession, such as doctor or law professor. SKY Castle is a more recent drama, having aired in 2018-2019. It is the second highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history. I believe one of the reasons SKY Castle is so popular is that it reflects the emphasis in Korean society for academic perfection. Students study nonstop to achieve perfect scores. A single point deducted from exam could be considered a failure. Unlike many American colleges, some Korean universities do not use a holistic admission process. Therefore, a student’s test score could be the one factor that gets them accepted or rejected into an elite university and ultimately have a “successful” life.

One similarity between the characters who are extremely focused on their children’s education is that they use the people around them for their personal gain. For example, some of the housewives put on an act and pretend to be nice to each other, but they only do so in order to hear each other’s tips for their children’s success. They will even harm others in order to secure their children’s and family’s success. One of the most intriguing characters to me was the private tutor that the main character hired to get her daughter admitted into Seoul National University Medical School. The tutor’s fees were so expensive that the wealthy family still had to ask their extended family for money. In return, the tutor guaranteed that she could get the daughter admitted. However, like the housewives, his tutor would use any means necessary to get her accepted.

One common belief among these characters and Korean society is that the children’s success is the parent’s success. I see this mindset even among some of my Korean American friends. However, it becomes dangerous when the children think of it on the flipside: if I fail to achieve academic or professional success, it means that my parents have failed. This is certainly not the case, ever.

I believe one of the morals of SKY Castle is that there are so many more important things to life than which university one attends. It may sound silly, but many people in Korean society are so focused on this one goal. The important things in life that SKY Castle highlighted are family, friends, and helping others. It is not the richest, smartest, or most powerful people who are necessarily the most successful or happy. It is those who value their family and friends and help others without expecting anything in return who are truly happy and fulfilled.

SKY%20Castle.jpg

Việt Nam’s [vîət nāːm] governmental structure is a one party system. Since the fall of Sài Gòn [sàj ɣɔ̀n] and Democratic south to the Communist North in 1975, the country has been officially unified under a unitary Marxist-Leninist socialist regime. The current ceremonial leader of Việt Nam is President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc [ŋwiəŋ˨˩˦ swəŋ˧˧ fuk˧˥]. He was recently elected earlier this month to take over from the last president, Nguyễn Phú Trọng [ŋwiəŋ˨˩˦ fu˧˥ tʂawŋ˨˩˨], in recognition of his efficient policies regarding COVID-19 handling. However, as the position of parliament president is a largely ceremonial one, the real power of the state will remain in the hands of the general-secretary of the Communist Party which has been held by former president Nguyễn Phú Trọng since 2011. 

After the war in 1975, Việt Nam suffered tremendous loss in infrastructure and manpower. The economy struggled with inefficient production, imbalanced trade, high inflation, rising debts, and poorly managed supply and goods distributions. In 1986, a decade after the seizure of Sài Gòn and unification of the North and South, Việt Nam implemented an economic reform known as Đổi Mới [ɗo᷉i mə̌ːi] which translates to Renovation or Innovation to transform the former pure command economy to a socialist-oriented market economy. Unlike a strict command economy in which the government has complete central control over production, investment, prices, and incomes, the new socialist-oriented market would allow for some private ownership and market exchange between private and state-owned enterprises.

The Đổi Mới policies prioritized the production and distribution of necessities such as rice and sugar. It also restructured the country’s bureaucracy system in effort to move away from the inefficient centralized economic system and imposed policies that allowed more leeway for independent economic decision-making on a regional and local level. The biggest change brought by the reform was the gradual expansion of economic freedom for merchants and capitalists that allowed the country to make a concerted effort to increase production. 

The result of this economic reform is telling. Việt Nam experienced a miraculous economics transformation in the 1990s with average annual GDP growth of 4.4 percent. For comparison, the United State’s average annual GDP growth rate at the time was around 2%. A practice that was unique to Việt Nam during this growth period was the government’s effort to allocate tax revenue towards developing infrastructure and increasing investment in welfare for areas with high levels of poverty. As a result there was a sharp decrease in poverty level across the country and quality of life greatly improved. 

Since then, however, due to the government’s lack of experience in running a mixed market economy, there are a number of structural challenges that prevent Việt Nam from achieving higher growth. As a result, structural problems such as income inequality, environmental pollution, and negative social effects are serious consequences of such a poorly managed institution. Additionally, despite the government’s effort to reduce the national poverty rate, the rising income inequality as well as lack of support for rural development means that absolute poverty is rampant in mountainous and central coast provinces. 

My partner and I have been wrapping up our semester by going over the extensive list of vocabulary that we have accumulated since we first began studying two whole semesters ago. I am amazed to say that over the last three semesters, we have made an Anki deck of Vietnamese vocabulary with over 430 entries.

In addition to that, we have also been talking about my future plans during the drill sessions. It was something similar to that of an interview session. 

 I am graduating in the next couple of weeks and I fully plan on continuing my study of Vietnamese. I am currently making my way through the Duolingo and Mango Languages courses as a way to supplement my learning and improve my grammar. I have also been interviewing for jobs that would put my Vietnamese language skills to use and have been successful in finding a couple positions in the community that I live in.

We also talked about Logan’s future plans. He is currently towards a degree in Economics with a concentration in Accounting. As a graduating Economics major, I gave him some pointers, although I had a lot of trouble with economics-related vocabulary so most of our conversations regarding this topic was done in Viet-Lish. The drills for these past sessions were very interview-like and I greatly enjoyed it despite being quite bad at articulating the words. However, thanks to that, I was able to pick up another couple of vocabulary words for the Anki Deck:

• Kinh tế học [kɨn˧˧ te˧˥ hawk˨˩˨] : Economics
• Chính sách tài khóa [ʨɨn˧˥ ʂat˧˥ taːj˨˩ kʰwaː˧˥] : Fiscal Policies
• Kế toán [ke˧˥ twaːŋ˧˥] : Accouting
• Tổng sản phẩm trong nước [təwŋ˨˩˦ ʂaːŋ˨˩˦ fəm˨˩˦ tʂawŋ˧˧ nɨək˧˥] : Gross Domestic Products
• Chính phủ [ʨɨn˧˥ fu˨˩˦] : Government

It was during one of the sessions that we found there are different Vietnamese words for the various meanings of the word “Economy”

• Economy as in sparing or careful usage is Dành Dụm [jan˨˩ jum˨˩˨]
• Economy as in the wealth and resources of a country or region is Nền Kinh Tế [nəːŋ˨˩ kɨn˧˧ te˧˥]
• Economy as in cheap is Hà Tiện [haː˨˩ tiəŋ˨˩˨]
  • Apparently this word has a heavy negative connotation and should only be used in extremely informal occasions and not to refer to someone of a higher status as it can be seen as disrespectful.

Something else that we also talked extensively about is how I will continue my learning from now on. I plan to continue consuming Vietnamese media to keep up with my exposure to the language. Logan also recommended that I try to keep in touch with him or someone else my age to keep the conversations going since it might be difficult or awkward to practice with my parents. I have also considered the possibility of even teaching or helping someone else learn Vietnamese as a means of practice. Afterall, teaching is a form of learning and I believe it can help me further internalize the language on a level higher beyond memorization and repetition. 

Korean Mythology is a very interesting aspect of Korean culture. Although there are many similarities to neighboring cultures, Korean mythology is its own area that is frequently explored in media. There are heavy ties with Korean religion and its thoughts on gender roles and the afterlife so I thought it would be an interesting topic to delve into. This presentation goes into more depth than my previous look into Korean ghosts and I hope it will be interesting to you as well.

Box Link to Presentation

My favorite readings of the semester include Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction and “Family Tree of Language Has Roots in Anatolia, Biologists Say”. I found the conversations and reading about dying languages extremely interesting after learning the number of languages across the globe and the number of languages losing more and more speakers each day. The intervention of linguistics and language speakers to rescue dying language is extremely interesting as they take inventory of the sounds and vocabulary of the target language. Independently of SDLC 105, I learned about the intervention by native Hawaiians to save their language from extinction, an effort that began in the 1990s. Their mission was/is to recategorize the language as a symbol of national pride and create/maintain Hawaiian language schools. Their efforts give me hope for the preservation of the Hawaiian languages and other languages at risk of going extinct. Additionally, I enjoyed the readings and conversations surrounding the origins of language. The history of language has always been a very interesting subject as it seems extraordinary that a multitude of different languages can come from the same source. I have also always enjoyed identifying cognates between languages and the subject of language origins seems to feed into that idea.

I mentioned this in my language learning podcast, but circumlocution and word processing were my two biggest challenges this semester. It’s a really strange experience to have well-developed skills in one language while operating at a beginner’s level in another language. As opposed to my previous experiences with learning my first language (English) and my second language (Spanish), I have a greater understanding of linguistics and a greater expectation for my language production. When I was first learning English and, sometimes Spanish, as well, I was still developing as a person and, therefore, all of my cognitive abilities were operating on the same level, including my language production and comprehension abilities. Sometimes, when I spoke, I felt like my thoughts developed much more quickly than the Slovak words that I could think and produce verbally. It became frustrating to know that I could produce complex sentences in English while I could only produce basic sentences in Slovak. In response to this frustration, I remind myself of my progress in my target language and compare it with my attempt to learn Danish, a language that I can barely remember even though I lived in Denmark for 6 months!

Despite my frustrations with my circumlocution and word processing abilities, I definitely feel a lot more confident with my pronunciation abilities in Slovak as compared to my abilities in Spanish or Danish. I think the emphasis on properly learning the phonetic inventory and then reinforcing it throughout the semester helped in ensuring proper pronunciation. With Spanish, after the first two or three years, my teachers seemed to correct us less and less on pronunciation and did not put much wait in reviewing the phonetic inventory. Essentially, I could get away with speaking in Spanish with a Midwest/Chicagoan phonetic inventory.

Lastly, this semester reinforced my preferred methods of learning: visually and through action. One of the most helpful strategies was either drawing out (freehand or on the computer) charts of grammatical concepts and lists of related vocabulary words. The practice of making these guides helped in actually looking over the information and understanding it while I made a resource for future review. In the end, I created two different PowerPoints: one separating vocabulary into separate categories and another mapping out grammatical concepts. They do not include everything covered this semester, but they became helpful resources as I reviewed the concepts and vocabulary while putting the new information into the most digestible form for my own learning strengths.

Ultimately, I am very grateful for this opportunity to learn Slovak from a native Slovak speaker and learn more about my ancestral roots. I am hopeful that I can continue to learn more of my target language through watching Slovak media, practicing on Mango, and referring back to my notes from this semester.

Hello everyone,

I cannot believe that we have reached the end of the semester! My language sessions this semester consisted of me, my friend Nibras and our language partner Ms. Kaye Wise. Our podcast serves as a trip down the memory lane where we discuss our triumphs, our failures, and our future plans of continuing ASL learning. We also talk about the upcoming ASL class this fall, which Ms. Kaye Wise will be co-teaching with our another ASL language partner- Ms. Reba Poole. What an exciting time to be an ASL learner at U of R!

Nibras and I have LOVED working with Ms. Wise.  We also greatly benefitted from Ms. Poole’s lived experiences as a Deaf person and as an ASL instructor. Nibras and I went into ASL not knowing much about it and have managed to develop an incredible love for the language, and a strong passion for Deaf rights advocacy. We hope that shines through in this podcast! Enjoy!

https://richmond.box.com/s/gauupior92mlpczyzar5zc1pyqm2hvj4

Unlike other spoken languages in SDLC, the American Sign Language (ASL) does not have its separate cultural components like foods, festivals, cultural practices etc. ASL seems to be influenced by both the Deaf culture and the American culture. So, when it was time to prepare a presentation distinct to ASL, I wanted to do it justice by touching on issues that are exclusive to the Deaf community. In this presentation titled “The Politics of Deaf Identity”, we have tried digging deeper into some of the biggest challenges that deaf communities face today. They are relevant, thought-provoking,and raise a question about what hearing people can do to help the Deaf communities navigate these challenges. We hope you like it!

**This was a combined presentation with my friend Nibras, who has also been taking ASL alongside me this semester.**

https://richmond.box.com/s/g1fcf6yiskpc7j93rz2jvj2jj55bgp5y

During my thirty-six hours in Bratislava, my friends and I visited Hrad Devín (Castle Devín), a castle on the edge of the city known for its important role throughout Slovak history. It also serves as an important monument to Slavic identity for Slovaks and Czechs. Hrad Devín is even featured on Slovak stamps and out of circulation coins. The castle is now considered a ruin and visitors must buy a ~five-euro ticket to enter the grounds. The ticket provides visitors access to views of the border between Slovakia and Austria and the convergence of the Danube River and the Morava River. Due to its location overlooking the river and elevated structure, it would become an important fortress and military base.  In my opinion, the views from Hrad Devín rival the views from atop the Eiffel Tower and the views across the Danube River at the Pest side of Budapest. The natural beauty of the view is something to behold.

Hrad Devín also holds a centuries-old role in European, Slavic, and Slovak history. Scholars believe that the first major settlement in the area dated to 5^th century B.C. The castle was originally named Dowina, derived from the word “girl” in the proto-Slavic language. Written records of the castle first appeared in 894 while under the control of the Great Moravian State. After the fall of Great Moravia, the Hungarians came in possession of the castle. It changed ownership multiple times but one of the castle’s most noteworthy owner is the Báthory Family of Hungary. They owned numerous castles throughout Slovakia with an infamous member of their family, Elizabeth Báthory, occupying much of her time in these castles. Elizabeth would eventually become notorious for torturing and killing 600 Slovak young women. In 1809, the Napoleonic Army blew up the castle, leaving it in its current state as ruins.

It would also become an important part of the Cold War and Soviet control over Slovakia. From 1948 to 1989, the Soviets patrolled the Iron Curtain separating Slovakia and other Soviet states from Western European countries. Part of the Iron Curtain ran along Hrad Devín’s grounds fence in an attempt to keep Slovaks under Soviet control and Western Europeans outside of Soviet territory. This fence was composed of barbed wire and charged to electrocute anyone looking to escape. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 after the Velvet Revolution. Today, the Gate of Freedom Memorial honors the Slovaks and Czechs murdered while trying to cross from Soviet territory into free territory. The names of these victims are carved into a stone plaque. Due to the violence surrounding the Iron Curtain and its restriction in the freedom of Slovaks, the monument is a white gate riddled with bullets and broken iron bars to symbolize the eventual independence of Slavic states from the USSR. Visitors can walk the path of Soviet soldiers guarding the Iron Curtain. Additionally, along the path lining the river, there is artist Daniel Brunovský’s “The Heart of Europe” (2009), a sculptural heart made of barbed wire from the Iron Curtain. Brunovský created the sculpture to honor the 20^th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the successful uprising of Czechs and Slovaks against Soviet rule. However, the original version of Brunovský’s sculpture was created in 1989 to sit at Devín, later destroyed by flooding in 2002.

The grounds hold a mishmash of buildings, chapels and more spanning from the 4^th century to the 18^thcentury. Some of these structures include a monument dating to the Roman period, a 4^th century tomb, a 9^thcentury Great Moravian church, and a 15^th century Gothic Garay palace attached to a 16^th century Renaissance palace. The best views are seen from the Virgin (Maiden) Tower, a 13^th century guard tower (renovated in the 15^th century) connected to the rest of the castle by a bridge. Its name is inspired by tales of beautiful virgins jumping to their death off of the tower. This summary of Hrad Devín’s historical and cultural significance is extremely basic. It is barely scratching the surface of this castle’s complex history and importance in solidifying Slovak identity.

*all pictures are my own unless otherwise stated*

View of the Rivers from Devín Castle; The Danube River is the body of water with the boat on it, curving into the distance. The Morava River is the body of water in the lower right corner of the image.

View of the Hrad Devín Ruins 

Part of Gate of Freedom Memorial, Plaque commemorating the

victims of Soviet violence

Gate of Freedom Memorial

*not my picture

Daniel Brunovský’s

“The Heart of Europe” (2009)

https://www.slovakia.com/castles/devin-castle/

https://slovakia.travel/en/devin-castle

https://medievalheritage.eu/en/main-page/heritage/slovakia/devin-castle/

http://monuments-remembrance.eu/en/panstwa/slowacja-2/55-the-gate-of-freedom

https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20034558/barbed-wire-heart-of-europe-is-unveiled.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Bathory  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wnpCmgZqpGkdzcsX0q8ja_cdmBl1TUPI/view?usp=sharing

A very popular sport in South Korean culture and society is baseball. In fact, one of the oldest teams in the KBO League, the Lotte Giants, set a new record for achieving the highest attendance in all of South Korean sports history. This new astounding record was set during the 2009 KBO baseball season, and they drew approximately 1.38 million people to watch their games inside the Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium and the Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium. Let me remind you that the population of South Korea in 2009 was only 49.31 million people. Baseball is believed to have been introduced to South Korea in 1905 by American Christian missionaries. It’s actually also believed that the U.S marines played exhibitions against the Seoul Athletic club. It was the 1980s that initiated the prominence of baseball in the lives of South Koreans. In 1982, seven Korean teams were formed: the MBC Chungyong, Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions, OB Bears, Haitai Tigers, and Sammi Superstars. And eventually in 1994, one of South Korea’s own, Chan Ho Park( a pitcher), made his debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was a huge deal not only for Korean Americans but also all asians as asians are underrepresented in major sports leagues in the U.S. Chan Ho Park’s success made way for more Korean baseball players to have a chance at a career in the MLB. Some of the Korean baseball players after Chan Ho Park are: Hee-seop Choi, Byung-hyun Kim, Bong Jung-keun, Shin-Soo Choo, Hyun-jin Ryu, and Jung-ho Kang. I actually remember when I was in middle school, I went to an Indians baseball game at Progressive Field and I was able to watch Shin-Soo Choo play! There was a scarcity of Korean athletes I could look up to so seeing a Korean play at the highest stage for baseball were a big deal and great encouragement. I remember even screaming out his name after the game hoping he would recognize me. Just like baseball in the United States, the game extends outside the professional leagues and into high school and college. Just like the MLB’s minor league, South Korea also has a farm league called the Korea Baseball Futures League. Baseball is significant to Korean history because the popularization of baseball allowed South Korea to get involved with international affairs like the Olympics, World baseball classic, and the Asian Games. In fact, South Korea has been very successful in these international baseball bouts. During the 2000s, South Korea has won second place twice in the World Baseball Classic. Not to mention, the South Korean Olympic baseball team also won the bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics which was hosted in Sydney, Australia. Even though South Korean baseball lacks the talent American baseball may have, people argue that South Korean baseball is more fun and exciting to watch because South Korean baseball requires more participation from the audience. There will usually be a hypeman in front of the spectators and music and chants and dances to keep the crowds entertained.

Hello everyone and welcome back. For those of you that do not know, this will be my last Ning Journal enter as I will be graduating from the University of Richmond on May 9^th! After graduation, I will be working as a dermatology medical assistant in Alexandria, Virginia, after a year of which I will be applying to PA school. However, I still plan on continuing my ASL! Once COVID-19 has abated, I plan to involve myself in the Galladete Community and volunteer within the Deaf Community. Until then, I will continue my education by chatting with Reba weekly as a friend and teacher.

To provide a brief update, Reba and I have continued to meet twice a week. We are making our way through Barron’s “American Sign Language A Comprehensive Guide to ASL 1 and 2 by David A. Steward and Jennifer Stewart and things are going strong. I am are continuing to expand my vocabulary and with each new word learned, Reba and I generate example sentences. Most recently, we have been creating stories or reciting children’s books through ASL for greater translation and understanding practice. Last week, I had chosen to retell “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf, while Reba recited the story of the Three Little Pigs. This has been an extremely helpful exercise as it requires me to incorporate multiple objects and conversations between characters in the story. I believe one of the hardest parts of ASL at this time is establishing different objects/characters signing space and explaining a conversation between two people that are not myself. This is because I have to set specific characters in locations and with personalities within my signing space, something that I have not really had to do before. Additionally, I have to maintain and emphasize my facial expressions while trying to set up the story and its characters.

Regardless, it feels like yesterday that I started taking ASL. I remember when I first joined the Self-Directed Language Program for ASL, I had a lot of trouble finding a time to meet with and communicating with Reba - so much so that I almost decided to drop the program. However, I am forever grateful that I did not as I now have a wonderful friend and mentor. The time has flown by, but as I review what I have learned and through my lessons with Reba, it becomes apparent that I lived and learned through this seemingly and undeniably fast time.

I am forever grateful for the SDLP and hope that all my readers know the program as much as I have. Also, I am so happy to announce that the University of Richmond is offering ASL as a course under the Linguistics classes. Although the course does not fulfill the general education requirement for language, I am beyond happy that the University allowed for the addition of this course. It will increase the University of Richmond students' understanding of the deaf community and, hopefully, if the program gains traction, could eventually be considered a qualification for the Gen-ed.

Once again, thank you to the SDLP for all the time and effort that you have given me. Michael, you are a wonderful teacher and have been incredibly patient and helpful throughout my time here. Thank you so so so much for the work you do. 

Have a great life everyone!

I did my cultural research presentation on Korean dialects. There are six main dialects in South Korea.

1. Gyeonggi

2. Gangwon

3. Chungcheong

4. Gyeongsang

5. Jeolla

6. Jeju

Out of these six dialects, I focused on Gyeongsang and Jeju dialect. I focused on the grammar and lexical aspect of the two dialects. Learning about the two dialects helped me understand the language and culture of Korea as I learned about the two dialects. 

Here is a link to a google drives folder with my presentation slides, and videos on how the Gyeongsang and Jeju dialect sounds like! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ol-JOWP4ixnXSiKxK2nS_D2fIHojw4ZD?usp=sharing ;

Here are the sources I used to create my presentation: 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_language
• https://www.koreanclass101.com/blog/2018/12/14/korean-dialects/#2
• https://www.90daykorean.com/satoori/#gyeongsang-satoori
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_differences_in_the_Korean_language
• https://www.dialectsarchive.com/south-korea-5
• https://www.creatrip.com/en/blog/9713
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongsang_dialect#:~:text=The%20Gyeongsang%20dialects%20
• http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/01/177_280951.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dol_hareubang
• https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/culture-of-jeju-haenyeo-women-divers-01068

Hi!

Attached is a link to a box folder containing my podcast with my iTalki tutor, Adriana. We have a small conversation in Slovak and later talk about my accomplishments and challenges in learning my target language. 

Enjoy!

https://richmond.box.com/s/dszho8vez29v9emhuu4z6g14ou69d5xz

During the past month, I have studied many new concepts and reviewed some familiar topics. The Korean language has many grammar tenses ranging from informal to polite to formal. I have a general sense of which tenses are used in certain contexts. For example, when speaking to someone older than me, I should be respectful and use a formal tense. In these cases, I would use -입니다 or -습니다. If I am speaking to a peer or someone younger than me, I could use -예요 or -세요.

I am finding that I am becoming a fast learner. In the past, it would take a lot of repetition for me to remember a new phrase or concept. Now, I am discovering that I do not require as much repetition for me to remember something new. For example, the phrase for “welcome” in Korean (어서 오세요) is one that I have heard many times in the past, whether in a Korean TV show, at church, etc. It was one of those phrases that I could vaguely identify if I heard it, but if asked to say it myself, I would not be able to. This was one of the phrases that I learned this month. After a couple of times seeing how it is written and hearing it pronounced more clearly, I finally remembered the phrase.

Another topic that I had learned before but recently reviewed is counting in Korean. There are two systems of counting in Korean. However, a new concept that I learned is the suffixes corresponding to different objects. These suffixes come after the number and differ based on the type of object it is describing. There are different suffixes for things, people, animals, slices, books, bottles, clothing, days, months, and years, and more. As you can imagine, this is a confusing topic for native English speakers to learn, since there is nothing like this in English.

In addition to these topics, I also briefly reviewed how to ask how much something costs. This will be especially important to know when I am in Korea. It is a question that can be used in almost any context. Along with this question, I reviewed the Korean currency, which is called “won” (원). One United States Dollar equals approximately 1,115 South Korean won. It is still difficult for me to convert Korean won to US dollars and vice versa. However, I am sure that I will become more comfortable with this conversion as I see Korean won more often.

Overall, even though the semester is ending, I am still looking forward studying Korean over the summer and beyond. As I continue my Korean language studies, my goal is to not get caught up in the small, minute aspects of grammar or other parts of the language. I remember listening to a Talk to Me in Korean lesson in which they discussed how to sound like a native speaker. The teachers gave several examples of Korean words that Korean speakers mispronounce. It is so common to mispronounce these terms that if I were to say it as it is supposed to be said, I may not be understood. Ultimately, I want to learn Korean to be able to converse with real people and sound authentic.

This month I’ve focused on learning grammar structure and syntax to word towards my goal of creating and interpreting basic sentences in Korean! There are definitely some morphological differences between Korean and English though, so it has taken longer than I anticipated to completely memorize the different grammar rules.

Learning about Korean nouns was a much easier concept for me to grasp since they have similar grammatical rules like in English. For example, to make a noun plural, you add 들[deul] at the end of the word. Just like in English, some words that are plural don’t need 들 added at the end. It’s also interesting that when the number is specified in describing a plural noun, the plural marker 들 is not needed. For example, one student” is “한 학생 [han hakseng]” and “two students” is “두 학생 [du hakseng]” in Korean, and as you can see 들 is not added to the end for two students although students is plural in this case (medium.com). I also realized how easy it is to identify nouns through learning about verbs and adjectives in Korean, as most are just the noun form with different stem endings attached.

So far I have a very basic understanding of verb conjugations in Korean. It was helpful to begin by learning the verb 하다 [hada] which means “to do,” which is interestingly used quite frequently in Korean. In fact, most verbs and adjectives are just nouns attached to the 하다 ending. This tip is very helpful because you can remove the ending to learn the noun version of the verb/adjective. However, not all adjectives have the 하다 ending as the ending stem depends on the form of the adjective. Whenever there is a 다 ending the adjective is in the infinitive form, which is “to be (adj.)” as in to be 크다 which means “to be big.” If you just wanted to translate it as a standalone adjective “big,” then you have to drop the 다 ending and add either ㄴ to the end if the word ends in a vowel, or add 은 to the end if the verb stem ends with a consonant. So to write “big” it would be 크 (verb stem) + ㄴ (ends in vowel) = 크다 “big”. There are different verb endings for irregular Korean verbs, but I will work on learning those once I gain a better understanding of Korean morphology.

Moving forward in my language learning, I will need to learn verb conjugations as there are many different endings for different forms of the word. In terms of syntax, so far I have a basic understanding of Korean sentence structure which is subject-object-verb, which is definitely a change from subject-verb-object in English. Before I can begin forming sentences, I’ll also need to learn the different Korean participles as there are many different ones that are commonly used in everyday sentences in Korean. Over the summer, I plan to continue with my studies since this has been such a fun learning experience, so I will continue to use KoreanClass101.com and read blogs on 90daykorean.com which I found to be extremely helpful in learning about Korean morphology.