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I have learned several important things from taking SDLC class this semester. I can say that learning a new language on your own is very challenging and demanding. This is a whole new way of approaching a new language than the traditional in class learning. This class helped me find out what are the best methods for me to learn not only a new language but a new material in general. First of all, I learned a lot about Turkish culture. I did so much research about Turkish history, tourist attractions, people, food and drinks (such as Turkish coffee and tea), traditions and customs in Turkey. Thanks to our class presentations I was able to learn about other countries as well such as Israel, Iran, and Korea etc. When it comes to learning a new language, I can say that I am very happy with my progress and that I have accomplished my goal of leading a basic conversation with a Turkish native speaker.

As a kinesthetic learner, I was able to learn the best through hands-on experience. I found out that the easiest way for me to learn new vocabulary was to write the words down, and then repeat them several times as well as practice them with my language partner. Thus, my language partner would correct my pronunciation and tell me if I am using the words in the right context. Resources I found in Global Studio were also very helpful as well as the Internet in general. I found some really great websites where I could play learning games with the words I learned. However, the biggest help was definitely my language partner who I practiced with and got explanations for difficulties I encountered during my language learning journey. I personally enjoyed learning about our target counties’ cultures because this way I never got bored. In one way finding out about the culture just motivated me to work harder and make more effort in achieving the goal I had set up for myself at the beginning of the semester. Also, what I really liked was that the class was planned according to me, so I could move as fast as I wanted and also spend more time on the things that I did not initially understand.

Since the beginning of the semester I was too much of an overachiever and I wanted to learn impossible amount of language in such a short period of time. This actually put me under pressure and I wanted to move over the material very fast just to get to a new material. I tried it several times but this unfortunately did not work. I realized that when you are starting from the beginning level, every step is extremely important and I cannot move forward if I do not understand the basics very well. I spent a lot of time fixing my mistakes, and learning old material when I was supposed to be studying a new one only because I skipped some old material  because I was very confident that it was easy and that I knew it. Other than that, everything moved smoothly and according to my plan. I realized that I should take it slowly but carefully.

To my mind, I think this was a very successful course for me because I really learned a lot. I am confident I can give other people some important insights into Turkish culture as well as teach them some Turkish. The most rewarding moment for me was leading a basic conversation with a native Turkish speaker and being told that I am quite fluent for the beginning level. I believe that I should work more on my pronunciation especially when it comes to certain Turkish letters, other than that I can move to intermediate level.  Some of my Turkish friends were really surprised of my Turkish and were excited to talk to me in Turkish. Right now, I am even more motivated to learn Turkish and live in Turkey sometime in the near future. 

After Spring Break,  I started studying with Rafy and Emily.  We would switch whose book we were reading.  This widened both of our vocabularies.   Rafy was much more advanced than I in guessing what words meant, because of his Arabic background.   However, I learned many new words from his workbook.    Towards the end of the semester, I realized how much I had learned because Emily and I could finish two pages of the workbook in one session, because I was able to read through the sentences much faster.

Emily and I met twice a week in Dhall and Gottwald to review Hebrew and read through the workbook  אשכלית together.  We usually worked through one page per day together.   In addition, Emily taught me how to conjugate the past and future verb tenses.   

   She gave me some worksheets for conjugating the two tenses (see my artifacts).  These really helped me to understand and firmly understand how to conjugate the verbs.  It helped my reading skills because I was able to begin to recognize a verb in its various conjugations.  

Last semester I exclusively worked on learning to speak Hebrew.   This semester I want to put a stronger emphasis on learning how to read Hebrew.

     My goals for this semester will be to get half way through the workbook:   אשכלית.  

     I also want to learn how to conjugate the past and future tenses.

     In addition, I want to pick Emily's mind on Israel and living in Israel as a student.  

  Learning Plan:   To do this I will work with Emily and read through the workbook  אשכלית with her.   In addition we will go over the future and past conjugations of the verbs.    Also, I will keep a journal of my new vocabulary that I have learned through the workbook.  

            This semester I learned Sindhi through the Self Designed Language Acquisition Program. This idea or thought of learning Sindhi has been in my mind for a long time but I always had something more important to do so I was not able to give time to working on learning the language. I am really happy I took this class because I was able to reach my goals through the semester.

            These are few things I was able to achieve this semester:

• I learned basic greetings and I can introduce myself to anyone who speaks the language.
• I learned about the history of Sindh and the various types of Sindhis that exist. Sindhis were known according to the little towns or villages they came from.
• Through research I was able to learn about Sindhi cuisine and traditional Sindhi weddings.
• I am able to talk about my family and describe each family member.
• I learned the days of the week, the numbers, colors, fruits and vegetables, hobbies.
• I am able to have a basic conversation about likes and dislikes with someone speaking the target language.
• I can watch a short story in Sindhi and mostly understand the meaning of it.
• I can narrate a short story that I watched or heard from my language partner.
• I can tell and ask the time in Sindhi.
• I was able to do some research on the differences between Sindhis in Pakistan and Sindhis in India. Living in India I have been exposed to only the Sindhi culture within my family that is Hindus.

To achieve these goals during the semester I met with my language partner and we would talk about how our classes were going and what interesting events we were attending on campus, all in Sindhi. I did stumble and make many mistakes but with repeated attempts I was able to pick up common words in different sentences. I used YouTube videos to watch short stories. I used online websites to do research on cultural aspects.

I feel accomplished at the end of the semester. But I think the program would have been more effective if I had more resources to learn Sindhi. I would’ve loved to have books with pictures to learn Sindhi but most books use the Arabic script so I was not able to read the script. But overall I was able to learn a lot.

This semester was interesting for me, as I was enrolled in 105 but not 110 like many of my classmates. Initially I intended to be in both classes, where I would teach myself Farsi. However, I had to think about the rest of my semester schedule and learning style realistically. I know that I require a lot of structure and methods to hold myself accountable when starting a new language. I reflected on taking Arabic in the past--a difficult language similar to Farsi--and thought about how I struggled when the professor did not really reinforce our learning. This made it difficult to incentivize me holding myself accountable. I decided that it would be best to just enroll in 105 and leave Farsi for when I had more time to devote. Instead, I would explore the fascinating cultural side of languages (an area I've always been interested in) and use my knowledge to keep up with Italian, a language I've studied extensively both at Richmond and while living in Italy.

I planned on using several methods to keep up with Italian. I have Italian books, magazines, and newspapers that I could practice reading. I also own some movies in Italian, plus have access to many more via Netflix. I had grand plans for revisiting some of the trickier rules in my old Italian textbook. Duolingo also began offering an Italian program. However, the actuality of how I practiced did not always match up with my vision. Because I wasn't taking 110, I didn't set a very firm learning schedule for myself, thinking I'd just "pick it up when I can." This was not the most effective approach, because without scheduling actual time for myself to sit down and force myself to learn in a routine manner, it was only going to get done sporadically. I also left a crucial segment out of my plan--I didn't really have ways for myself to practice speaking, which is the aspect of Italian I struggle with the most. I realized that I definitely need more structure when learning a language.

Additionally, the methods I did utilize were more passive. I was absorbing material but not necessarily practicing it actively. I watched and listened to some Italian movies without subtitles and was able to translate easily. I also got in translation practice by following my Italian friends' posts on Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps the most active thing I did was forcing myself to think in Italian at times, having a little conversation in my head. My favorite parts from my past Italian classes were when I'd leave class and think in Italian for about a 10-minute window, so tried to make myself recreate that. Nevertheless, my big plans for studying grammar and reading books in Italian really fell through. I was able to learn a lot from this experience though. In the future (starting over the summer) I plan to continue with Italian and learn more French. To really do this well, I'll need to set up a strict time schedule for myself (such as practicing for a half hour at the same time each day) and come up with some sort of "lesson plan" for each session. I know myself, and it's difficult for me to commit to self-structured language learning without imposing a very rigid practice schedule. In fact, I think this holds true for learning a lot of new things, whether it's learning a new language or another topic entirely, or finding the time and motivation to exercise. This lesson is especially important for learning more difficult languages in which it's often easier to quit or not give my all than it is to hold myself to learning. In the future I hope to work in a field where I'd have to learn and utilize critical languages to be successful, so I'd really have to establish the best methods for me of learning a language to retain it.

In addition to my personal focus on Italian, I really enjoyed 105's emphasis on the intersections between language and culture. I found the topics we discussed fascinating, and I liked hearing about everyone else's language progress and the cultural issues associated with their languages. Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces was when we talked about untranslatable words from other languages, and the repercussions (positives and negatives) of languages dying. These issues tied in closely to themes I was discussing in some of my other courses. All in all, 105 really reinforced the importance of culture for me and allowed me to reflect upon how I most effectively learn a language. These are ideas that I am certain will continue to serve me far into the future.

I narrated a short story about three fishes living in a pond and being caught by fisherman.

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This is based on the reading "Why Billinguals are Smarter"

Bilingualism has its obvious benefits. But recent research says that there are many deeper advantages rather than just being able to converse with a wider group of people. It helps with the cognitive skills, affect how smart someone is and even help the elderly.

1^st example, involves a child’s mind. Being bilingual helps a child’s academic and intellectual development. This has been proven by researchers, educators and scientists.  It helps though, in a very “blessing in disguise” format. When one’s brain is using just one language, the other is still active. This creates interference. But instead of being negative, it actually allows the brain to deal with internal conflict and gives it a workout and strengthens it. This allows bilinguals to solve problems much faster than monolinguals. This has been solved in a simple experiment using two bins, red squares and blue circles. The task involved sorting the squares and circles based on shape with conflicting colors. The result which came of it, was that the bilinguals seemed to perform the task much faster which proves that bilingualism improves the brain’s executive function which allows us to stretch our mind and put it to doing difficult tasks that involve distractions.

This is not the only advantage; bilinguals who can perform tasks that don’t involve conflict or ignore distractions, can also do many other things, but at a greater speed. They can perform activities with lesser effort in parts of the brain than monolinguals can which proves that they are efficient.

The 2^nd example involves infants. A study in Italy proved that infants who are exposed to more than one language from birth seemed to be better than the ones that aren’t. The study involved the infants to look on one side of a screen where there was a puppet. The study made the puppet come on the opposite side of the screen at moments and at these moments the infants who were exposed to bilingual environments seemed to have that much concentration and focus that they followed the puppet wherever it went, while the other infants didn’t.

A 3^rd example involves a study in California. It shows that bilinguals are more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Bilingualism has become something that every individual encourages. All parents want to see their children speak a language that they aren’t familiar with. It is something that enhances the mind to become better in all ways possible. As Nelson Mandela says “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

This is after reading the article "Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction"

Language is an important part of any society, because it enables people to communicate and express themselves freely. When a language dies out, future generations lose a vital part of their culture. Language is an important aspect of cultural heritage and it becomes especially important to preserve it. New technologies such as pod casts can be used to preserve the spoken version of languages and written documents can preserve information about the native literature and linguistics of languages.

The Siletz people are a Native American tribe from Oregon and an Indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon.

This American Indian language had only five speakers left. It was once dominant but was almost nearing extinction. Bud Lane, who was a member of the tribe had been working on the Siletz Dee-ni talking dictionary for nearly seven years. He had recorded almost all of its 10,000 audio entries himself. He wanted to create a group of speakers large enough for the language to remain existent.

Some people who had listened to their elders like Mr. Lane had picked up the language. Mr. Lane started taking Siletz classes. The Siletz dictionary was impressive. Other tribes adopted their language as their own cultures faded.

Government boarding schools which were attended by generations of Indian children did not allow learning tribal languages. Now the language is taught to sixth graders at the public charted school. The aim of the tribe is to have a proper teaching program in place in the next few years to meet Oregon’s high school language requirements. It would therefore allow Siletz to be taught as a foreign language in its place of origin, which is a great achievement.

Culture Shock can be defined as: “The feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes.”

When we go to a new country that we are unfamiliar with we all have starting issues and one of the biggest factors of culture shock is the language barrier that many immigrants or tourists face when visiting a new place. Communication is a vital part of our lives and without it moving around in a foreign land can be disastrous. It maybe an uneasy process but sometimes vital for integration in the society.

Knowing basic greetings, non-verbal communication and basic questions in the target language can help minimize the extent of culture shock.

I am an international student at the University of Richmond. When I cam here as a freshman I did face many obstacles that can be related to culture shock but with time I learnt things about the way it is done in America and started to integrate. Even today I am learning and building on the experiences. 

A conversation with my Language partner where he asks me about my likes and dislikes.

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I had heard this tongue twister my aunt was saying once and it was in Sindhi and I never understood it or could say it. But with my progress in the language I have understood the tongue twister and I really like saying it.

I planned to teach my roommate this tongue twister:

Chari chokri chamaji

khaye khata berr

Uthjeri ojari

Gabe jer pere

चरी छोकरी चमजी

खाएँ खटा बेरा

उठ जेरी ओजारी

गाबे जेर पेर 

I wrote it down for my roommate and asked her to read it but listening to pronunciation I felt like laughing because it was so different from the real pronunciation. I told her to repeat it with me like a little song so that she could retain it in her memory.

This tongue twister is about a girl who is considered crazy because she won’t stop eating sour berries and if she eats more berries she will loose her ability to taste. 

Sindhi being an ancient language has a lot to do with History. It is the language of Saints and Rishis of ancient Sindh. It has been the inspiration for Sindhi art, music, literature, culture and the way of life. Many great poets and literati have been profoundly inspired by the beauty of Sindhi language.

Sindh is in Pakistan but vast numbers of Sindhis are Hindus who live in India or other parts of the world. Historically India and Pakistan were one country known as Hindustan and after the partition of 1947 Sindh was acquired by Pakistan. Most Hindu Sindhis fled to India and went all over the country to create a new life.

Language is definitely affected by the difference in the Muslim Sindhis and the Hindu Sindhis. Muslims in Pakistan take words from Arabic and Urdu to incorporate it in their Sindhi vocabulary whereas Hindu Sindhis take words from Sanskrit and Hindi to incorporate it in the Sindhi vocabulary they use.

Most common and popular Sindhi Dishes. The first is Sindhi Kadhi chaval aur took. That is a Sindhi curry with rice and potato fritters on the side. The second dish is Koki aur dahi. That is a wheat pancake with yogurt. The third dish on top is Dal Pakwaan. That is a lentils curry with fried chips made from flour. The last dish at the bottom is a dessert known as Seyun Batata. It is a sweet and salty dish. It is sweet vermicelli served with spicy potatoes on the side.

I have written the various fruits and vegetables using Devanagari script.

An artifact is something made by someone of cultural or historical importance. In my case I have used different things to show my learning progress in the Sindhi language. You may use videos, pictures, writings, stories etc. to create an artifact.

I plan to be able to narrate a story by myself by the end of the semester and that will be final artifact. That is one of my biggest challenges and I’m excited about creating that artifact. I want to focus only simple stories for children because the sentence structure in such stories is simple and I can use that structure to even talk to my family when narrating to them my life at the University of Richmond.

Another artifact that I plan to do is to record a conversation with my Language partner. I haven’t decided the topic of the conversation but I want to be able to let the conversation flow smoothly because there are many times that I blank out for words and start using hesitation words like “umm” or “uh” which I want to let go off.

I have posted an artifact where I wrote the days of the week and the numbers usinf Devanagiri script.

My goal I had set in the beginning of the semester was to learn how to speak and understand a basic conversation in Sindhi. Writing in Sindhi requires me to learn the Arabic script and finding books in Sindhi is tough as the language is slowly dying so I decided not to learn that. I use the Devanagiri script to write words; which is the same script used to write Hindi, which I’m familiar with.

I listen to short stories made for children on YouTube. I may not understand the entire story but that is my goal by the end of the semester. I can pick up a few words from the story and sometimes connect those words to identify the sentence. One advantage that I have is that I know Hindi. And most Indian languages have similarities with Hindi. So there will be instances that my Hindi knowledge will help me build a sentence.

I tried to listen to the news in Sindhi but it was a big challenge for me because the speed at which the language is spoken and the level of vocabulary used was above my capabilities but again I could pick up some words. They spoke about the day and time that I understood and also I picked up words like children, house, people, yesterday etc.

My vocabulary is increasing slowly because I try to talk to my family and my language partner only in Sindhi and when I can’t get a word I say it in Hindi and I make sure my family or my language partner corrects me and gives me Sindhi word for it so that I don’t repeat that mistake.

Sindhi Language is tied back to Indian culture. India is one of the most diverse countries in the world. It is a sophisticated, modern, industrial leader that is home to many primitive tribes and millions of poor people. Religion and language separate people because every state in India has its own culture, own language and won food. Like any distinct culture with a rich history, India has many nonverbal traits that it can call its own. In order to fully understand the scope and depth of any culture’s nonverbal communication you need to study the people and languages of the country. Body language in Indian culture can affect the relationships we create with each other. Here are few examples of body language that are tied to Indian culture:

• Public displays of affection are not appropriate. In India, like in Western cultures you will not find a man and women kissing in public.
• Movement of your head when you’re talking is normal.
• At a household of any Indian, people will eat food with their hands rather than utensils.
• Removing your shoes when entering a home is a sign of respect because many Indians are religious.

To fulfill my goals for learning Sindhi this semester I plan to use different methods and resources. Finding resources online for learning Sindhi are very limited since the number of people speaking the language are limited. Another drawback for me is that I plan to learn the language using Devanagiri script, which is very rare as compared to using the Arabic script to learn the language.

I plan to gain most of my information from listening to my language partner speak because he is well versed in the language. I also plan to use YouTube videos made for little kids that are in Sindhi. Another way to learn Sindhi for me is by using pictorial descriptions of objects or scenes so that I can retain it in my memory.

I also used an online English to Sindhi dictionary with audio to listen to vocabulary words with the right pronunciation. 

This week's reading was "Figuring Foreigners Out"

People belonging to different cultures across the globe have different ways of communicating with each other. Be it different languages, body language, gestures, behavior or attitude, it varies from culture to culture.

People from different cultures can be individualistic or collectivistic by nature. Individualistic means they think about themselves and their independence first. Nothing comes before self. Whereas collectivist nature takes the form of thinking and working in a group or as a group as a whole. It can mean the immediate family. The well being of the group as a whole comes to the forefront and is most important.

Nonverbal communication is the main and the root cause of mis understandings and confusions among cross cultures. It can change the entire meaning of what someone is trying to convey.                                            

The point I am going to convey now need not be catagorised to a particular culture but can be more individualistic. Different people conceive time and how to manage time in different ways. Time can be limited and should not be wasted-Monochronic or it can be unlimited-Polychronic.                                  

A persons place in the external world differs from person to person and from culture to culture. Some people believe that success is what you make of it . You can put in the necessary effort and achieve what you want whereas some people believe that effort needs to be combined with good luck.

Another cause for confusion in people of different cultures is direct and indirect means of communication. Some people are to the point and very direct and some people beat around the bush and say things in a very indirect manner.

So to come to the point, if you learn different languages it helps you to bridge the gap across different cultures. This leads to a better understanding of different types of people from varied backgrounds.

Days of the week and numbers. Used Devanagari script to write.