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In this post I would like to attempt to categorize the polish culture according to the five subjects presented in the "figuring foreigners out" text by applying its points to previous experiences that I have had with my language partner.  The application of these assessments do not by necessity reflect the culture as a whole since my language partner is an individual, however i believe that they are a good starting point for further research.

Direct/Indirect communication:  The polish culture appears to be one of an indirect/ high context nature, that is to say that people tend to infer, imply, and use nonverbals rather than to say things directly.  In the case of my language partner, the indirect use of language is not as apparent as is the lack of use of direct language.  That is to say that the goal of her communication exchanges is not getting or giving information and she has well-established in-groups.  Although her spoken words do carry the much of the meaning of what she is trying to say, i believe that this is due to a lack of practice in the circuitous ways in which the english language can be used rather than a cultural disposition.

Individualist/collectivist:  The polish culture appears to be of a collectivist nature, that is to say that the smallest unit of survival is the immediate family rather than the individual.  This is evident in my language partner's communication with her family unit being much higher than that of a typical american college student despite the increased difficulty and price associated with keeping in constant contact with people on the other side of the world.  In addition, if the pseudo-family that she has built on campus among her closest friends is any indication of the tight-knit nature of her family abroad, the concepts of close psychological and emotional sharing and considering the needs and feelings of others in the collectivist group are perfectly represented by her actions.

Nonverbal communication:  As in all cultures, this aspect of Polish(P) is unique and is best described through a list of specific types of non-verbals and their comparison to the two other cultures i am familiar with, american(A) and latin american(LA).

-personal space:  A>LA>>P

-Touching: A+LA = very infrequent among acquaintances, used among friends occasionally during greeting or departure and frequent exchanges are only found between those in a relationship.  P= frequent among aquaintances  during greeting or departure and also an integral part of speaking as one may touch another in conversation to get a point across or to grab their attention.  Friends are treated in such a manner that any type of physical barrier does not exist.

-eye contact: A+P= not necessary for conversation but not intentionally avoided either.  A sign of respect to maintain eye contact with the elderly or in a business setting.  LA= eye contact is a necessary courtesy that is to be extended to everyone in all situations, even to an unknown passerby on the street.

Monochronic/Polychronic: Impossible to tell due to the hectic nature of my language partner's schedule as a student athlete.

Internal/External:  I would guess from my observations that Polish is an internal culture, that is to say that effort and personal responsibility breed achievement rather than predestination.  This has evidenced itself most strongly in my language partner's refusal to give up on her favorite sport when she is injured for a prolonged period of time or give up on being a psychology major even if giving 100% of her effort doesn't yield a passing grade.  There doesn't appear to be any sense of a "if im not fated to go to graduate school then so be it" mentality in her understanding, instead it appears to be "ill keep trying until they accept me".  However, i find that this internal/external mentality is an especially difficult one to extrapolate out to the rest of the culture since i feel that this type of understanding can be largely driven by one's personal religious affiliations.

In general, as far as autonomous language learning goes i have done a mediocre job this past week as far as dedication to learning polish but I am going to attribute that to the fact that I had multiple medical school applications due which were extremely time consuming.  On the plus side, i am slowly achieving my goal of being able to understand at least what people are driving at in written polish.  Hopefully soon ill be able to do the same in spoken polish, we will see.

Sorry if this was a long read

Jason

For this assignment I watched the first episode of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai soap opera. Not being able to understand everything they said, I was still able to conclude the relationships between the main characters. The plot is about a Hindu family and there are mother, father, daughter and son. Also, there is a grandmother who is mother’s mother, and she seems like a funny character. One gets an impression that the mother is more willing to tolerate her son, than her daughter. I realized that because when son says he does not feel well, mother is immediately concerned and letting him skip the school, even though he is just pretending. During the same scene, I came up to a conclusion that the grandmother is ridiculing mother’s oversensitivity towards the son.

At the same time when her daughter asks to go to the movies, the mother is not willing to let her go, and the girl only gets to go see the movie because she got her father’s permission. The only interaction with her husband was when the daughter was asking his permission to go out. It seems that the husband does not take in consideration mother’s will against her daughter going out, and he gives the permission to her. The relationship between mother and father does not seem like a happy one.

Furthermore, there are many motives of Hinduism in the house, so that is how I concluded that this is a Hindu family. It is incredible how much one can actually understand just by noticing body language, hand gestures, and behavior amongst the characters. Of course, the episode ends with the daughter singing a song while the actions (life) of her mother is being presented to the audience. The combination of a slow song, and sad look on mother’s face makes me conclude that the girl sang about her mother, and maybe their misunderstandings.

Watch Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFLyE9-tJH8

After watching the soap opera, I listened to one of my favorite songs in Hindi, Pee Loom. Just like the majority of popular Hindi songs, this one is also from a movie called Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. While I was in India I watched the movie, and really liked the song. Just as one can conclude from watching the video – it is a song that a man sings to a woman he loves and her beauty. Typical Bollywood :)

Video for Pee Loon song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olOK2OYI7Fo

Since I lived in Indian state Rajasthan, I decided to read Rajasthan Patrika. I was able to read, but I honestly did not understand what I was reading. Hopefully by the end of semester this improves :)

Link for Rajasthan Patrika:

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/Rajasthan_Patrika/400x60/0

I watched an Afghan soap opera entitled The Briefcase. It was about a man who dropped off a briefcase at the house of some "big shots." The man walked in the house and had his identification checked. Then, a bodyguard carried the "briefcase," which was actually a huge piece of luggage, to the boss lady.  When she opened it, it was full of papers that literally said, "Fake Document." Her personal bodyguard was blindfolded the entire episode, yet he could see intruders and hit them with a black stick. Her other bodyguard had a "gun," which was just his hands in the position of a gun. This was hilarious. There was even a car chase and the drivers were swerving for no reason. The man who gave them a faulty case ran into a parked car and injured himself. I loved this soap opera. So far, I have only learned a few basic words, numbers, and the alphabet, so it was hard for me to pick up on anything. However; some words sounded the same as they do in English (i.e. They used the profanity that means a female dog and of course it is the same as in English).

I watched a Persian rap video called "Sad Ghasam" by Erfan. "Sad Ghasam" means "100 swears." The song is seemingly religious and he feels very empowered, but I am not sure why he wanted to put it in the form of rap. The language is much more poetic than American songs though. Erfan was kidnapped by men wearing black and interrogated in the middle of the song.  I noticed that this song and the soap opera had a Western influence. Also, Erfan was wearing blindfolds the entire time he was rapping.

The cultural dimensions of learning a language include nonverbal communication, understanding of whether the culture is individualist or collectivists and if an individual is internal or external. The reading suggests that language is composed with the beliefs, practices and ideals of that culture and entering into a culture takes more than knowing the language. 

Individualist societies tend to focus more on everyone being different, forming their own type of lifestyle (to an extent). Collectivists, on the other hand, believe that everyone within the community must work in a collaborative effort where beliefs are taught and values are mutual. In collectivist societies there is harmony not only within the community but in the language. As we discussed in class there are not words to distinguish people in Turkish, they actually share a word for he and she. Similarly in Japan and in the Japanese language an individual's first name is not used instead their last name or 'family name' is used. Also, everyone considers other neutral adults to be family with them because they live in same area. Young women will be called by children 'big sister' while older men can be called 'uncle'. 

The differences in cultural dimensions of language are most prominent between that of Westerners and others. This is mainly because one is a low context culture while the other is a high context culture. In America we experience a low context culture because we are without a rich cultural practices and traditions. Instead, we have large populations of people from other cultures who bring their values and beliefs here and we adapt bits and pieces from everywhere. Globalization has also brought brought typically Western habits over to areas of high context culture. In many countries around the world that were once strictly collectivists are now adapting to the individualist viewpoint of Westerners. 

Nonverbal communication, another key cultural dimension, is especially significant especially wen entering another culture because there are many altered views on what is appropriate nonverbally and what is. For example personal space is understood in America but can be insulting in other cultures. In Papa New Guinea personal space is so ignored that even men walk around joined at the hands to display friendship. That would be misinterpreted in Western societies because close proximity is saved for more closely related people and even in that case it is not around the clock. Examples like this explain how important human interaction is in unison with language.

The process of forming words and speaking explained in the readings does demonstrate how we are physically able to communicate through language. We are all capable of forming the same (or similar) sounds but have been limited because of culture and area differences. In my experience of pronunciation of words in Farsi some words are all but possible. The produced sound is nothing like that of my language partner and instruction on where the sounds should be coming from and the correct movement of the mouth is the only way I have been abale to get it. I see in the readings that the parts of our speech system, especially the motor cortex, are comprised of abilities of hearing, seeing, interpreting, understanding, and reproducing words.

When a word is heard or seen it is processed by the auditory or occipital lobe respectively. That is were the process begins and as the assessed sounds reach the Wernicke's area they are comprehended and further sent through Broca's area so that responses can be formed. What I am most interested in is the motor cortex which controls all physical movement of the mouth to produce correct sounds and words in a language. The sound must come from pressure in a specific area of the throat just as the mouth must take on a specific shape for a letter to sound right. The motor cortex is what is trained most by culture because we learn to move our mouths in specific ways to produce specific sound which in a whole produce a unified sound of language.

Another very important aspect from the readings are the semantics of language. I initially saw there being a mix between a naturalist and conventionalist view, an intrinsic connection between the sound of a word and the thing it refers to as well as words to objects not being related. From reading the article, however, it seems more like it is all conventional because even onomatopoeic words change from culture to culture even though the same sounds are heard in the world. If it were naturalist then there should be no change in the words used if the whole relationship were internal. I believe that words were developed in relationship to the society and location of the society, like the natives of arctic areas would have many snow related words. Physically being able to speak and then the influence of society on language are the basis of how we develop languages.

My goals for this fall semester are as follows:

1) Be able to speak more fluently when giving a presentation (3-5 min)

2) improve my reading speed

3) stay immersed in Bangladeshi culture

4) learn the numbers 1-100

To do number one, I am trying to record myself weekly speaking about some subject for 5 minutes.  Afterwards my language partner and I will review what I said and seek to improve my grammar and pronunciation.

To accomplish number 2, I am reading when meeting with my language partner about 2 times a week.  When reading, I am focusing on learning more words, and forcing myself to look at words and sentences rather than individual sounds.

To stay immersed in the culture, I assign myself phone time with some of Bangladeshi friends in Bangladesh.  That way I get to continue to hear about their life, and keep myself from forgetting conversational bangla.

To finally learn all the numbers just takes time on my part.  Every time I meet with my language partner we are trying to review this.

I originally decided upon taking this course that my goal for the end of the semester would be to obtain fluency in Polish, which although it is a stretch and at this point appears to be something beyond the reach of anything less than a genius, I still strive for.  The last couple weeks of attempting to learn sufficient polish to be able to converse has impressed upon me the important difference between having an achievable goal and having the motivation necessary to achieve any goal, the latter of which is more crucial for eventually becoming a polish speaker.  To me, autonomous learning does not operate in such a manner that you should be able to achieve stepwise short term goals.  If the reward for achieving something on your own is anything other than the achievement itself, then there is no true motivation to continue striving for something greater.  If evaluation is defined by anything other than further motivation to better one's self then the objective of the learner has dropped from achieving a goal to achieving good marks in an evaluation and has become tainted and failed as an autonomous learning process.  As such, i find the benchmark goals and necessary cultural posts of this self-directed language learning process not only troublesome but counter-intuitive.  If motivation is the key to autonomous learning and teaching the ability of autonomous learning to students the goal of the course, then those students who have no interest in learning about culture should not be forced to by a syllabus.  Doing so, in my opinion, decreases the motivation of each individual student whose motivations to achieve even the loftiest goals are still motivations to goals that they not only feel they can achieve with enough hard work, but also goals that they want to achieve.  Forcing upon someone who already has the perfect amount of motivation to meet their goals (as defined by their knowledge of themselves) other extraneous objectives for the sake of being able to evaluate the success of a program or of the students in a class as a whole are entirely counter-productive as they burden the student and hold him to a standard which is not only his own but also does not necessarily fit with the student's learning style or ability to learn, both of which are better known by the student than an evaluator.  That being said, although this process of journaling is not only entirely boring but also cuts into the time when I could be accomplishing my goals and spending time on Polish (what i find to be the actual objective of the course itself), I am forced to embrace preset standards so that my other goal of getting into medical school will not be ruined by the misplaced objectivity of a liberal arts college.

My goal of becoming fluent in Polish appears to me to only be possible at this point with a dramatic increase in vocabulary and understanding of grammar and language structure as a whole.  As a result I have begun memorizing a list of 10-20 vocabulary words and phrases every day using the before you know it program.  However, learning random lists has proved itself to be a more sporadic approach than I originally anticipated and has become increasingly frustrating as it does not aid in understanding everything that is going on in the polish workbooks that I am spending an hour per day on.  As a result I have begun to focus on memorizing primarily verbs and how they conjugate at this point so that I can more accurately predict the types of nouns that fill in the rest of sentences and their driving points.  This approach appears to be helping and although my vocabulary and understanding of the language structure in general is growing at a rate that I am proud of i have found that it is not enough to become fluent at the end of the semester so I plan on stepping it up.  Also i find that although I have gained understanding in being able to work with written text, I am lacking in the ability of audible recall which the BYKI program is unhelpful with.  In my attempts to work through polish with my language partner I have found that it is much easier to understand written polish than to understand spoken words.  However, i expect that the reason for this is that I have become too accustomed to listening to a computerized voice in my BYKI lessons and as I spend more time conversing (once I have reached a stage in which i can successfully converse) with my language partner, this aspect of the language barrier will begin to erode.

I would like to think that I am capable of not only learning any language, but also capable of becoming fluent in that language in the same amount of time that it takes me to learn sufficient vocabulary and sentence structure to have a normal conversation.  Unfortunately I have never actually tested this idea since I became fluent in spanish, but I have a feeling that belief in oneself and one's ability to achieve a goal is more crucial to its fulfillment than ability itself.  My motivation as a language learner is unparalleled by any desire I have had to accomplish anything in any classes I have previously taken in my life, which were a matter of checking boxes for graduation and medical school rather than embracing a desire to learn. I began to understand this difference in my study of the spanish language.

Growing up in Texas, the study of spanish was forced upon me in the first grade.  Hamburgesas and papas fritas became another mundane distraction from the outside world and recess just like math, reading, and writing.  I continued to sit through completely boring classes with teachers whose accents were barely understandable for 12 years straight, enough time that the language should have become second nature to me.  But I had no desire whatsoever to become any more than the least common denominator that could still get an A.  Sure in the end I could read and write spanish and I could make the right accents and pronounce words properly, but it wasn't a language, it was just another checked box just like calculus had become the final checked box for math and creative writing the final checked box for language arts.

The summer after my graduation from highschool I discovered what it was to be fluent in another language.  I went down to Peru to do missions work with my best friend and his family and found myself cornered into the role of translator.  This was an easy job to say the least, but as I spent more time helping the unfortunate in the most poverty striken area that I had ever laid eyes on, I found a desire to truly communicate with the indigenous people on a deeper level than serving as a middle man and I managed to begin living my life in spanish rather than english.  It was no longer a matter of swapping stories and making friends with the native people in spanish but thinking in spanish as well.  When I would return to the compound we were staying in after a day of missions work i would have to translate what I was trying to say to my best friend into english which was a strange phenomenon.

In my later studies of spanish, I began to realize that fluency in a language is born of a desire for fluency in a language and isn't something that comes from sitting in a classroom and having a teacher beat you over the head with a textbook until you can speak the language the way you are supposed to.  It is a matter of will power and determination that comes from some ultimately internal motivation to become inextricably linked to another culture and to be able to understand and relate to people rather than just be able to speak to them.  Since coming to this understanding I have been able to remain fluent in spanish for 3 years without having studied it in a classroom, but rather from serving on various missions trips and visiting foreign countries but I have yet to test my aptitudes for becoming fluent in new languages, but I have finally found one that I have a deep desire and motivation to learn and I am looking forward to seeing if I can become fluent in it after just one semester.

  Sunday was the first day I began my target language, Farsi. I met with my language partner on Monday as well. I am finding that I can remember everything she taught me and recite it even after I leave.  I am not sure how to write in Farsi on the computer, but I can write a phrase that I learned.

Man farsi ra khosh daram : I like Farsi.

Salam : Hi, Hello

Alikum a salam: Hi to you too

I learned letters of the alphabet, which include A, B, P T, S, G/J, Ch, H, Kh, D, Z

I also learned numbers 1 through 20.

I am feeling pretty confident about writing the letters as well.

In Farsi, there are 32 letters in the alphabet ( 4 of those letters are exclusively in Farsi-the others are shared with Arabic).

Most letters can be written in the half form with the exception of A (and a few others that I have not yet learned).

I had trouble pronouncing the "Kh" sound because we never use that in English. That is funny because my brother's name is Khalid ( Arabic name), but we never pronounce it the traditional way That is my goal.

Susan also taught me how to say my name is Farsi and write it. My name is also of Arabic descent. It is Laila Zahra; I say it the non-traditional way also.

I have learned many words, which include the numbers/alphabet pronunciations. My goal for the semester is the understand the basics of grammer,  culture, greetings, how to order food, how to ask for help, how to ask for directions, and maybe a song of some sort.

In the article about figuring foreigners out, I found multiple aspects not only interesting but also relatable to my life.  While in India, one of the most notable cultural differences was the individualistic v. collectivistic dichotomy.  In American culture, that which I have grown up with, people are very individualistic in thinking, but in India people are far more collectivistic.  Life is lived relationally, value is found relationally, the community is more important than the individual.

For me personally, the differences between the monochronic and polychronic are very applicable.  In general, western cultures are extremely monochronic.  Time is important, and precision with time is expected.  If dinner is at 7, arrive at 7.  If you are late to class, you are frowned upon.  In contrast, in most non-western cultures, people perceive time in a polychronic sense.  Time is more general, less precise.  If dinner is at 7, don't show up until 9.  People do not obsess over time, are in less of a rush, and in general employ the use of wall clocks and watches to far less a degree.

I am much more polychronic than suitable for the American culture.  Many times I show up to class around time instead of on time.  I am an "ish" guy, meaning I would fit in wonderfully in Latin America.

     This reading brings up a key point in the opening paragraphs about the two dimensions of culture. There are the "invisible dimensions," which explain the assumptions, values, and beliefs within society. Then, there are the "visible dimensions," which include behavior. When learning a new language, it is important to learn the culture for context( to understand accepted behaviors in the most general sense.)

     I was reading part of a later passage and a certain categorization stuck out to me. It said at first that there are cultural behaviors, but went on to say that not all behaviors are in fact based on culture. I am glad the latter part was mentioned because I disagreed. In the U.S., behavior is based on how one is raised, their personality, etc. People can act however they want since we are an individualistic society, so I never think of behaviors as being cultural. There is always some exception.

     Collectivists societies emphasize interdepence and focus on the well-being of the entire group. Individualists societies are "selfish" to a fault, in which the individual's well-being if first and foremost. Generally, the U.S. is individualistic, but there are moments where people shift to the collectivist mindset.

    I will be learning Farsi; which is spoken in  Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. This society's, from what I have seen, are far more collectivistic than the United States. There is a greater emphasis placed on respect for the family, elders, and one's self.

    I cannot wait to learn more about the culture(norms, values, behaviors) of the people in the country's where Farsi is spoken. I am curious about whether they are monochromactic or polychromatic when it comes to scheduling times for activities.

    I met with my language partner, Susan, and asked her a few questions about the linguistic aspects of Farsi. First, I wanted to know if the "thumbs up" sign was offensive in countries where Farsi is spoken. She informed me that it carries the same meaning: "good job" or "well done." Then, I looked online and a site told me it is actually vulgar to do in Iran. Susan is from Afghanistan, so maybe there is some difference. Also, I learned that younger people kiss the hands of the elderly when they greet them. This is a sign of respect. 

   I found a Website that mentioned a lot of the gestures, so I will list them below. I am not sure how valid they are, so I will confirm that with Susan.(These are particular to Iran.)

1. Remove shoes when entering a home or mosque.

2.Signaling: put out your hand(palm down) and curl your fingers with a scrating motion

3. Thumbs up = vulgar

4. Signal Yes by dipping your head down with a slight turn

5. Signal No by moving your head up and back sharply

Afghanistan Facts ---I found this and thought it was very interesting (http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/afghanistan.html)

The Family

o The family is the single most important unit in the Afghan culture.
o Men and women's roles are much more defined along traditional lines.
o Women are generally responsible for household duties, where as men will be the bread winners. In the cities professional women do exist.
o Families commonly arrange marriages for their children. Factors such as tribe, status, network, and wealth are the major factors forming any choice.
o Families traditionally live together in the same walled compound, known as the kala. When a son gets married he and his wife begin their married lives in a room under the same roof.
o As with much of the Muslim world, the family is sacred and as such, is highly protected. As a result, probing about the family is not advised.

Meeting and Greeting

o When meeting someone the handshake is the most common form on greeting. You will also see people place their hands over their hearts and nod slightly. 
o One should always enquire about things like a person's health, business, family, etc.
o Women and men will never shake hands let alone speak directly to one another.
o Eye contact should also be avoided between men and women. Between men eye contact is acceptable as long as it is not prolonged - it is best to only occasionally look someone in the eyes.

I could go on and on. This site is telling me everything I need to know, from greeting etiquette to business etiquitte.

I love my Fasri journey already and Sunday was my first day learning it.

Body language, to me, is such a significant sector of language and culture. Especially for those of us who are more 'artistic' with our hand gestures. More gesturally inclined I like to call it. Speaking with my language partner over the weekend I not only learned a few of the hand gestures common to Iran but I also learned of surprising body language similarities Iran shares with Western society. This similarity I think is primarily because of globalization, especially of common Western behaviors.

My language partner shared with me the commonality of sharing kisses between peoples with greetings. Now this is something typical of most cultures, however, the number of kisses shared and the placement differs by location and location. Susan explained that in Iran they share three or more and up to five kisses one per cheek repeatedly. Practice of this by sex is another thing that sets Iranians apart compared to other places. Woman usually share the multiple kisses between one another while men will kiss each other on the cheek but usually only once. Men and women who are friends or strangers never kiss on the cheek in greeting. This gesture is only shared between relatives usually. 

I interpreted this part of gesture to support the surrounding culture in Iran because there are stricter separations between the sexes. Gestures and body language are so significant because of situations such as physical human interaction where in one culture things, like kisses on the cheek between the opposite sex are acceptable whereas in other places is is strictly unheard of.

The first language I started studying was English. I was only six years old, and still not able to read or write in my own language (Serbian), but I could spell words such as mother, door, window and ‘the cat is under the table’ – Random! I know. But my father believes that children can easily learn a language before the age of ten and so it all started.

I am fluent in Serbian (Croatian/Bosnian which is almost the same language, but people like to have different names) and English. In primary school I was taking German as well, but was never good at it. The main reason (besides me not liking the way this language sounds) was that it was not logical that certain words that were feminine in Serbian were masculine in German. So after two years I gave up, and started taking Italian and Latin. These languages were not as difficult to understand as I grew up listening to and understanding Spanish from radio and TV.

During high school I was able to learn intermediate Italian and am now able to understand movies, read short texts and have small talks. At the UR I decided to start taking Russian. I liked the language, and it is a Slavic language so I already had some basis. I also discovered that being older it does take me longer to learn a language, so I guess my dad was right. I decided to take Russian also because it is one of six official languages spoken at the United Nations, and as it is my dream to work there one day it became useful.

However, not going abroad to Russia, I ended up in India where I was forced to take Hindi as a part of my program. Well, this was something entirely new for me! For the first time I had to learn new alphabet, and sentence structure that I entirely unfamiliar before. Instead of saying ‘My name is Nina’ I had to start thinking and saying ‘My name Nina is’. How weird!? It was really hard and challenging, and by the end of the semester I loved it and was so proud that I was able to chat with people in the street, while buying vegetables, or just to my host parents.

After that last semester I ended up taking Spanish in New Zealand. It just happened to be a good chance to take this language that I already knew a bit, but never took an official class. The class was very well structured, but I was bored because it was the first level and I was not a complete beginner. I still think it was a good thing to take and learn some grammar while improving my vocabulary in Spanish.

At the moment I am taking Hindi again. I feel it would be a waste spending all that time learning impossible grammatical structures for nothing. And by time I also started loving the sound of it! Maybe I should have tried harder with that German 10 years ago. I think I like having a combination of theoretical (grammar, vocabulary) and practical learning experience where I can practice the theory. My goal is to revise Hindi I already know, and upgrade it next semester. Namaste.

The article ‘Individualist-Collectivist’ classifies cultures as individualistic and collectivistic. The main difference is that the smallest unit of survival in the individualistic culture is an individual, while in the collectivistic culture it is a small, or primary group. This group is usually the immediate family that represents the smallest unit of survival. Travelling, reading, and experiencing I am able to conclude that in general terms American culture classifies as individualistic, while the culture of my target language is more of a collectivistic. Luckily, I can relate to either since I view my culture as a blend of both.

I believe that Bosnian culture has a facade of individualistic culture, and the soul of the collectivistic kind of culture. Furthermore, the classification of culture in broad terms can be divided between the East and West. East would be more of a collective, family oriented type of culture, while the West represents individualistic approach. Also, I would like to emphasize that one should not generalize and ‘place’ every single individual who belongs to the either of these two types of cultures in the same ‘box’. I have met individuals from the West who are more of a collectivist mind-set than some people from the East. People are different and one’s personal background and life experience determines where he or she sees him/herself in terms of culture and identity.

The culture of my target language is a collectivist type of culture. Indians reflect this cultural aspect through their usage of suffix ji to names of people regardless on their gender. For example, when showing respect to a woman one would say Gitaji, while to a man it would be Puriji. While in individualistic cultures there are specific terms such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms. Another difference between these cultures is the presence (or lack of) personal space. In the US I would feel rude and inappropriate to approach a person to the same distance at which I would feel free and comfortable at home. This is not due to my personal discomfort, but my awareness of the other culture and me trying to adapt to it which is not always easy.

Differences in interpretations of time, gestures and manners, explain a lot about a certain culture. Furthermore, understanding these parts of nonverbal communication enables the learner to understand the ways in which people perceive time, each other, the world, and life in general. Nonverbal communication in collectivist cultures conveys a great percentage of the real message. It (nonverbal communication) is also closely connected to the usage of language and words in it as the example above demonstrates (ji vs. Mr., Mrs., Ms.).

The first question that came to me after reading this article was: How do I learn and how does my brain function? There is so much more than the physical usage of language (lips, the ear, or the tongue). Brain plays the most important part in language. The mind is actually what one uses to speak, not his tongue and mouth.

The two brain hemispheres each have its own role and are more involved in performance of some than other activities. For example, the right hemisphere usually controls the awareness of position in space, while the left hemisphere is more connected to the sense of progression and step-by step activities. Therefore, the part of brain which controls language is in the left hemisphere. Logically, language cannot be learned all at once, and our brain needs a lineal progression when dealing with language. Our brain needs time and exercise in order to become comfortable with logical steps behind connecting letters into words and into meanings.

Interestingly, according to the article slips of the tongue are not random. They are found within a similar rhythmic or grammatical construction (lit exchanged for hit). Observing these kinds of errors I make as a learner can tell me how does my brain perceive the new language and can even help me learn from my mistakes.

When studying a language one should focus on different aspects of it and not exclusively on one. I believe this is because our brain needs and is capable of connecting different components of linguistic organization in order to create sense out of it and enable one to communicate. A learner has the need to place study of individual levels within a more general structure perspective in order to understand the way language as a whole is organized (page 182). Therefore, the importance of levels and structure is a must in effective studying of any language. 

 I found these readings to be particularly interesting,informative, and relevant. The first item that I found interesting correlated the dominant hand with the dominant side of the brain. For example, the left side of the brain dominates the functions of a right-handed person. The strengths within this person are that they are analytical thinkers,categorization, logical information, information sequencing, and language. I am a right handed person and I completely agree that these fall into some of my strengths.

      The cerebral locations and functions provided by each also struck me as interesting. This will account for why I am able to learn a language. The "area in front of the fissure of Rolando" controls moto functioning, which further dictates the ability to speak and write. "Wernicke's area" allows for the comprehension of speech, while "Bruca's area" accounts for human's ability to encode speech.

      Then, the readings discuss the breakdown of learning languages. First, we need to understand the semantics( i.e. how meaning is expressed and understood within a language). Idioms fall into this category and that really interests me. I know that I wanted to use English idioms when I was speaking in Spanish, but you cannot directly translate those while keeping the intended meaning. Then, there are the grammar elements that need to be learned (i.e. sentence structure, word order). Finally, the speech, writing, and sign of a particular language should be mastered.

     The last comparison I will mention is between sense and reference. "Sense" is the meaning of a word within a language and "reference" is what a word refers to in the world outside of the language. This is especially important to learn , so that you do not offend others in the target language.

I am a right handed person, so according to the reading I am left brain dominated in the area of language (what a crazy statistic, 95%).

The writer's argument most impactful for me as a self-directed language learner involves what to focus on first.  Should I start by examining grammar rules? Should I look at phonetics, or phonology, or syntax?  What the writer concludes is that, because grammar exists to give structure to meaning, meaning must first be understood.

The goal of learning a language is communication, communication with one to whom you would not be able to do so without a grasp of the new language.  Because this is the point of language learning, I think that it would be a good language learning strategy to focus on the attainment of vocabulary, a build up of words and a grasp of their usage.  After your arsenal of words has been established, then moving on to grammar enables the language learner to structure his/her grasp of meaning and vocabulary.  

An example of the greater importance on first grasping vocabulary would be when you need to use the bathroom.  If you understand how to grammatically formulate a question in your new language, but don't know the word for bathroom, you will not be able to communicate your need to find a bathroom.  But if you have a vocabulary base, you can just say, "Toilet?" and the need is understood.

I really enjoyed taking the Fire Model for Integrative Thinking.  It is always good to give form to knowledge.  So though I have been a student, a learner all my life, I may have not taken time to think of how I most optimally learn.  In the model, I answered all seven sections with either Intuitive or Rational descriptions.  I most closely identified with the Rational descriptions, choosing the Rational column 5 out of 7 times.

Generally speaking, I am most successful at learning a new language when I have a personal connection and emotional investment in learning the language.  I love language not for grammar rules and the academic nuts and bolts of linguistics.  I love languages because they enable me to communicate with people who I love.  For this reason, I have not flourished in language learning in a classroom setting, though I have succeeded when looking merely at the superficial indicator of a grade.  I do best with relational learning.  For example, my spanish does the best when I am hanging out with friends, playing soccer, or teaching ESL at RRIS.  I was able to pick up phrases and patterns in Hindi and Punjabi by just living with dear friends in Punjab, India.

For this reason, I am looking forward to going to Morocco next semester. I hope to be able to become conversational in Arabic by merely being immersed in the community.