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I created these sticky notes to place around my room to help me learn what things are in Korean. Most of my things are dispersed all around the room/suite so I moved them all to my desk to take the picture (below). Some of the notes are newer than others as I thought of more words to put up in my room after the initial time that I began this little project: that's why the colors are different. I also had to make new sticky notes to replace damaged/missing ones.

I used the following websites to help me make the sticky notes:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=house

http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/Household-Terms.html

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=study

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=accessories

http://translate.naver.com/#/en/ko

This is an example of a Sanskrit Hindu mantra. I've been studying yoga terms in conjunction with my Sanskrit study, and the mantras are part of my Sanskrit yoga book. My handwriting's still pretty messy (in both English and Sanskrit) but I've definitely become a lot more confident with it and can just transliterate directly from English-Devanagari usually. Sometimes the conjunct consonants still trip me up though if I'm not used to writing them. A lot of Eastern and Western yoga practitioners use these mantras during their practice to help with clarity and focus. 

My learning partner and I drafted a potential conversation that one would have while visiting a Korean restaurant. Attached is the script we made along with the recording that accompanies it. 

Task%205%20Restaurant%20Recording.m4a

For this artifact, I tried writing out my March schedule in Korean. 

I used the following websites as references to help me use the correct Korean terms:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Language/korean.cfm?Subject=education

http://translate.naver.com/#/en/ko

https://www.rocketlanguages.com/korean/time/days-of-the-week-in-korean

For this artifact, I have attached a copy of a script that my learning partner and I drafted along with a recording of that conversation. This is an activity that I really made up of throughout the semester because it helps with spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, and pronunciation. 

In the script, my learning partner asks me questions and I respond by describing my family.

Artifact%203%20Conversation%20about%20Family.m4a

Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. Are you bilingual? If so, would you agree with the arguments made in the two readings on bilingualism.

My personal mission concerning Wolof was more to be able to speak and understand; however, due to the use of PowerPoints as a source of content, I’ve learned to read everything that I can say and understand. Bilingualism, though, comes in many different forms depending on the situation at hand. Say for instance that my interactions in Senegal were limited to a certain context or event like a football game. If I learned all phrases and cues surrounding this instance, I’d feel like a fluent speaker in that moment. However, when taken out of that context and into the grander scheme of things, it’s easier to the sum of the language’s weight. I prefer the limiting method just because I get overwhelmed very easily.

Moment of fluency or small successes will occur whether it’s reading and understanding a portion of a newspaper or ordering food without reverting to a more comfortable language. True bilingualism is much harder to capture, though. English is my first language, but there are still words that I need to look up and certain phrases that I still don’t feel comfortable using. Ultimately, I think it’s up to us as the learner to claim our strengths.

How many new words have you learned in your target language?  How did you learn them?  Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary? 

At this point, I’ve learned about 35-40 words in my target language. I’ve learned them by using the Slides constructed by my language partner and attempting to make the vocabulary applicable to my own life. I honestly don’t believe that I’ve had realistic goals for my vocab acquisition. I planned to learn double or triple the amount of words that I have, but I failed to realize how difficult it is to learn a language in a completely different language family and to learn it without traditional instruction. 

How do languages go extinct? Respond to the reading, reflecting on what happens when a language dies. How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a language ever be brought back to life? 

Languages are linked directly to the people who speak them. Therefore, when the people of a language are dying and there is not readily accessible documentation of the language, the language begins to die. Languages die when the inheritants of said language and culture are not able to continue that language’s legacy. The hierarchical linguistic remnants of colonization is the prime example.

Linguists can help preserve a language through documentation. This way, the people of that culture can pick up the language again and so that non-natives to that language may indulge their interests. Furthermore, linguists can help marginalized populations fight to preserve their linguistic heritage. Language is identity and culture. No one should be forced to give that up.

Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

Knowing the language’s history helps to understand certain influences that pop up throughout a language. I’d go further to say that knowing that culture’s history will help contextualize the language. For instance, the periods of English and French colonization in Senegalese history helps to deconstruct the English and French presence in Dakar Wolof.

“The Wolof spoken in Dakar, Senegal's capital, is particularly noted for its high level of French loans or derivative words and is readily distinguishable from the Wolof spoken in other parts of Senegal. The influence of English on the Wolof of the Gambia, a former English colony, has also been studied.” http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Wolof.html#ixzz5DP1qQBUL

Wolof belongs to the Niger-Congo language family. Before the 15^th century, the Wolof people began documenting their language using the Arabic alphabet; however, during colonization, the Latin alphabet took precedence. In this way, many or actually most consonants in Wolof are pronounced as they are in English. Other phrases and words are borrowed from French like the time and number systems.

Attached is a recording of my learning partner and I having a short conversation as we introduce ourself. While it's very short, I'm uploading this as an example of how I worked on intonation. Artifact%202%20Korean_%20Hello%2C%20My%20Name%20Is...%2C%20Goodbye.m4a

This is a letter I wrote in Korean to let's say, a potential pen pal. I introduce and talk about myself before asking Minho (the name I gave the imaginary pen pal) to introduced himself to me.

Here is a screenshot of the conversation between me and my friend on ordering food. I asked him whether he wants to get Korean food and if so what he wants. He said he wants black noodle and fried pork. And I said I want Japchae which is the clear noodle.

For the past several weeks, I learned to describe the location of specific objects. Here is a write-up i did to describe the campus and several locations at our school.

리치몬드 대학교는 커요. 그리고 예뻐요.

제 기숙사는 도서관 옆에 있어요.

도서관 앞에는 Commons가 있어요.

Commons 안에는 서점이 있어요.

학교 식당은 Commons 앞에 있어요.

학교 식당 음식은 맛있어요. 그리고 많아요.

After having done research on Korean weddings – with a particular emphasis on customs and traditions – for my cultural project, I became interested in gift-giving practices, with respect to Korean weddings. This post highlights gift-giving practices related to present-day Korean weddings that were noted in Vivian Morelli’s “In South Korea, Weddings and Watches”.

For Korean weddings, there are two types of gifts to take note of: 1. yemul, gifts exchanged between the bride and the groom and 2. yedan, gifts given to the groom’s family from the bride’s family. Presently, couples seek to exchange gifts with practical uses, such as watches, which can be quite expensive. Due to social influences, couples are pressured to purchase lavished, brand-named gifts for their respective partners as a way to demonstrate their social standing or to match what their friends and acquaintances bought for their spouses. Instead of the costly presents couples buy nowadays, previous generations had, as Morelli claims, “simple” options, including rice and a mirror, both of which help particular symbolic meaning. Regardless, couples today are confronted with balancing the social pressure of buying such gifts for their soon-to-be spouses and the costs entailed in each purchase. According to the article, some make their purchases having been influenced by the media (including, American productions) as they showcase extravagant jewelry and other luxuries.

The gifts the bride’s family gives the groom’s family may be personalized and particular like an ingam, which is a tradition legal seal. It is also not uncommon nowadays for the groom to offer gifts to the bride’s family: such gifts include, alcohol, jewelry, a traditional dress and other accessories. While the gifts may be expensive, many argue that it is not about the cost of the present that makes it significant, instead, it is the meaning or significance of the gift that gives it value.

Bibliography

Morelli, Vivian. “In South Korea, Weddings and Watches.” The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2017. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/fashion/watches-south-korea-weddings.html.

For my cultural project, I will investigate Korean weddings and as a component, I plan to investigate the way in which the LGBT community manages societal pressures to marry despite not being legally allowed to marry into a same-sex union. Therefore, as a precursor to my cultural project, this cultural post consists of research I came across while trying to understand issues that LGBT persons face in Korea and the relationship between the Korean LGBT community and the Korean government.

After witnessing the strides made around the world – and notably in Taiwan and in the United States – for the legalization and recognition of same-sex marriages, the LGBT community in South Korean hopes to obtain such recognition in their own country despite the judicial obstacle that faced the community in 2016 when a court in Seoul barred a same-sex couple from having a legal union recognized by the state (Shim). One notable political success for the LGBT community came from a 2017 Supreme Court ruling, mandating “the government to allow a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trangender (LGBT) rights foundation to legally register as a charity, ending three years of the foundation’s leaders facing discriminatory rejection from multiple government agencies” (Human Right Watch). Nevertheless, the LGBT community continues to fight for equal treatment under the law, which has ‘criminalized homosexuality’: a Korean soldier was sentenced to jail for having consensual sex with another soldier of the same sex (Hu). Furthermore, the government is known to censor LGBT content and Christian groups represent a powerful lobbying power aimed at retaining the traditional definition of marriage (Manzella). Despite much opposition, the LGBT community continues to work hard to push for: same-sex marriage, more informative and inclusive sex education in schools, recognition, and equality (Shim).

Bibliography

Hu, Elise. “For South Korea’s LGBT Community, An Uphill Battle For Rights.” National Public Radio, Inc., 25 July 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/07/25/538464851/for-south-koreas-lgbt-community-an-uphill-battle-for-rights.

Human Rights Watch. “South Korea: Supreme Court Affirms LGBT Rights.” Human Rights Watch, 4 Aug. 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/04/south-korea-supreme-court-affirms-lgbt-rights.

Manzella, Samantha. “How Gay-Friendly Is South Korea?” NewNowNext, 5 Feb. 2018, http://www.newnownext.com/lgbt-in-south-korea/02/2018/.

Shim, Elizabeth. “South Korea LGBT Activists Seek Equality in Conservative Country.” UPI, 11 Feb. 2018, https://www.upi.com/South-Korea-LGBT-activists-seek-equality-in-conservative-country/9831518386654/.

While I plan to center my culture project around Korean weddings, I thought it would be a good idea to begin my research on the matter by looking into traditional Korean weddings. The following is what I was able to find from reading Juno Kim’s “The Complete Guide to Korean Traditional Wedding Ceremony”.

Traditional Korean weddings are inspired by Confucian foundations, as are many aspects of South Korean social hierarchies. Traditional Korean weddings are composed of various parts, all of which contain customs that carry symbolic significance. For instance, after a pre-ceremonial performance is completed and after having entered the bride’s family’s home, the groom would present the mother-in-law with a wild goose: this gift symbolizes the love between the soon-to-be husband and wife because this particular bird finds only one partner as its mate for life. Later in the processions, the bride and groom bow to each other: this act represents their commitment to one another. Then, the newlyweds drink from a gourd dipper, which is in halves to symbolize the oneness of the husband and wife when together. Furthermore, a wedding custom that follows after the marrying of the two is Pyebaek, which is when the newlyweds bow to the family (to show respect), the family presents them with fruits (to symbolize children), and the parents offer advice to the newlyweds on their new marriage. Pyebaek continues to be a tradition held in present-day Korean weddings except that the bride’s family is also allowed to take part in this custom whereas previously, it would only be for the groom’s family.

This brief research into traditional Korean weddings has made me very interested and excited to look into the matter in greater depth (for the cultural project) and to see how those traditions may resonate in present-day Korean weddings.

Bibliography

Kim, Juno. “The Complete Guide to Korean Traditional Wedding Ceremony.” Runaway Juno, 13 Apr. 2015, http://runawayjuno.com/runaway-tales/the-complete-guide-to-korean-traditional-wedding-ceremony/.

After completing my last cultural post on dining at Korean restaurants and after having talked to my learning partner about food in Korea, I became interested in researching the symbolic significance of Korean food because I have heard that some dishes have particular meaning attached to them. This post shows some of the findings I came across while reading “Aesthetics of Korean Foods: The Symbol of Korean Culture” by Chung et al.

According to Chung et al., when creating cuisine, ancient Koreans made sure to balance taste with aesthetic appeal, which was done to express particular themes: for example, some foods, like bibimbap, would symbolize harmonization due to the balance and mixture of various ingredients to create the final products (180). Harmonization is only one of various themes covered in Korean cuisine. There is a Korean dish that represents harmony and reconciliation. For instance, according to the authors, the dish called tangyungchae has a well-balanced composition of various ingredients and “it was named after the ‘tangpyngchaek’ policy [of the Joseon dynasty] that represents the motive and objective of establishing a harmonious mix of different political beliefs” (181). As such, this particular dish also demonstrates the influence politics (and in this case, political reconciliation,) may have on cuisine.

According to Chung et al., there is also a dish that addresses dualism. This would be gujeolpan, a dish prepared for burial ceremonies of ancient Korea. This dish demonstrates “the duality (yinand yang) between vegetable (yin) and meat (yang)…, [of which] each ingredient has five different colors (blue, red, yellow, white and black) and five different flavors (tart, bitter, sweet, hot, and salty)” (181). Moreover, there is also shinsunro, which also holds much symbolic meaning as it is a ceremonial dish “focused on respecting the ancestors and going together among descendant[s] with harmonization” (181).

After having looking into Korean cuisine, it has become evident that many ancient foods were made to not only taste and look appetizing, but to also hold significant cultural, political, philosophical, and historical meanings.

Bibliography

Chung, Hae-Kyung, et al. “Aesthetics of Korean Foods: The Symbol of Korean Culture.” Journal of Ethnic Foods, vol. 3, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 178–88. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.jef.2016.09.001.

This cultural post explores Korean restaurant culture, which corresponds with task 5 of my learning plan. Here, I highlight particular findings that stood out to me from Sara Thacker’s “The Culture of Eating in South Korea”.

In South Korea, food culture revolves are the communal experience that one has while eating with friends, family, and coworkers. In describing her experience in Korea, Thacker details that during a meal, everyone would share a particularly large dish, which would incite conversation about the food since no one has an individual plate (as done in Western cultures) and instead, everyone eats the same food. Furthermore, while meals are centered around a particular dish, there are also banchan, which are small side dishes that accompany the main dish, and which are also shared by all persons present (Thacker). As Thacker points out, while eating at a restaurant one should not be particularly worried about running out of banchandue everyone sharing these small side dishes or because of the seemingly limited amount of this part of the meal: banchanis actually unlimited so when a server sees that there is no more on the table, the (s)he would bring more, free of charge. As such, it is evident that there are significant distinctions between American and Korean food practices, particularly in how people eat: in Korea, people eat communally, and this effectively reinforces notions of community while in the US, people eat from their own individual plates, which may be reflective of the American values of personal space, privacy, and individualism.

Bibliography

Thacker, Sara. “The Culture of Eating in South Korea.” Greenheart Travel, 2013, https://greenhearttravel.org/teach-abroad-south-korea/the-culture-of-eating-in-south-korea.

Not long ago, my learning partner gave me a quick overview of Korean New Year’s, which was on February 16 on the Gregorian calendar. During the lesson, we covered basic topics related to the holiday, including its foundation on the lunar calendar and the way in which Koreans typically spend the day to celebrate the holiday: they spend the whole day with family, cook, eat and play games. The brief introduction my learning partner gave me during my lesson with her made me curious to investigate more into the holiday. Therefore, the following is what I found from reading an article, “Celebrating Seollal in Korea: Glimpse of Local New Year’s Customs”, by the Korea Tourism Organization.

For starters, Korean New Year (or Lunar New Year) is called 설날 (Seollal) in Korean and it marks the beginning of the new lunar year. Seollal is a holiday that takes at least a week to prepare for: nevertheless, on the morning of the holiday, everyone gathers, wearing seolbin (traditional clothing reserved for this holiday), to pay respect to one’s ancestors. Shortly afterwards, the family communally eats tteokguk, a soup holding ritualistic value. Then, younger generations perform 세배(sebae), which is bowing to show respect, to their elders who gift younger generations with sebaetdon, a monetary New Year’s present.

After these rituals are performed, the family spends the rest of the day playing games, eating and conversing. Yutnoriis a game commonly played during Seollal: it is a board game that requires players to throw four wooden sticks and move their game pieces according to the amount of sticks that fall face-up. The first team to complete the board wins and this game is enjoyable for the entire family, regardless of social hierarchy.

Moreover, it should be noted that one of twelve animal deities (or zodiac signs) represents each year. For example, “the year 2018 is referred to as Musullyeon(‘Mu-‘ means ‘soil mountain’, representing yellow or gold, and ‘-sul’ means dog) or ‘The Year of the Golden Dog’” (Korea Tourism Organization).

Reading about Seollal and hearing stories about the holiday from my learning partner make me hopeful that one day, I will have the opportunity to experience Seollal personally in Korea.

Bibliography:

Korea Tourism Organization. “Celebrating Seollal in Korea: Glimpse of Local New Year’s Customs.” Imagine Your Korea, 2 Feb. 2018, http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=941952.

I recorded myself doing a little introduction of my background in Korean.Self%20Introduction%20In%20Korean.m4a