I would like to study the different dialects of Korean and I would like to study how Korean evolved over the years. Even though Korea is a much smaller country compared to America Korea contains many different dialects. The dialect changes greatly from the northern part of Korea (Seoul) to the southern part (Busan). Also, I would like to study Jeju’s dialect, an island south of Korea. Jeju’s dialect is so different it shouldn’t even be labeled as a dialect. Most native Korean speakers can’t understand the language spoken there and often need a translator. I would also like to study how Korean changed over the years. Similar to how there is old English and modern English, in Korean, there are traditional Korean and modern Korean spoken today. Native speakers have to think a little bit more when reading traditional Korean. I would want to study how Korean changed throughout the years into what it is today.
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If I was given a research grant, I would definitely study the points of emphasis in Korean. Growing up, I would always hear a sort of soft palatal, or even glottal sound used whenever someone wanted to emphasize something. For instance, the ㅎ character is essentially just the letter H in English, however, in Korean, I often heard a fricative sound in their soft palate area, as well as holding the sound longer for emphasis. In English, and I would surmise in most other languages, holding parts of a word longer (particularly vowel sounds), is used to show this emphasis. I’m curious about the genesis of this, perhaps a glottal/soft palatal sound was once used in Korean? Are other East Asian languages like this as well? I’ve asked my parents this, as this is most definitely a “Korean-Korean” thing, used primarily by older speakers–– it’s not too common that you’ll hear this among young speakers. Additionally, the confluence of Confucianism in Korean is quite piquing to me, perhaps I can start there and go onward to see its impacts on prosody. From what I understand, Confucianism shaped King Sejong’s perception of how language should be expressed, symbols representing different parts of the mouth, and though this arrangement may not be an exactly ‘scientific’ way of finding why Koreans emphasize with their throats, I would certainly love to look more closely at this proclivity.
Discussion Post #10
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
If I received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of my target language and culture, I will investigate how the creation of Hangul impacted and changed people’s lives. I would get started on why and how Hangul was created. Hangul is the official writing system of South Korea. It was created in the mid-15th century by King Sejong. Chinese characters were used as the writing system, but they were difficult for most Koreans. The use of Chinese characters caused a separation between educated and illiterate people. King Sejong realized the need for a new writing system that could help bridge that gap and created Hangul. However, the initial reaction to Hangul was mixed. Some people embraced the new writing system and others were resistant to change. The scholars were skeptical of Hangul because they had put time and effort into learning and using Chinese characters. Over time, Hangul gained acceptance among the Korean people. Hangul made it possible for more people to learn to read and write, and it helped to create a more equitable society in Korea. I will investigate more about the different reactions to Hangul among people in Korea during that time. Also, I want to know more about how they learned Hangul and how it changed their lives in detailed stories.
The sign for a language being extinct is no longer spoken or used by any groups for communication purposes. However, the article explores deeper than that. When a language dies, a way of thinking and communicating also perishes. The loss of a language marks the loss of the cultural identity and heritage of the community. In many communities seeking to revitalize their languages such as Native Americans, the biggest problem is that younger generations are no longer interested in it and see no need to learn it. Therefore, they came up with the development of a language immersion program and the creation of language learning materials. Linguists preserve a language by documenting it, studying its grammar and vocabulary. They usually work closely with the local communities to promote usage of the language. Reviving a dead language can be unrealistic because of limited conditions for using and lack of background knowledge. People are still striving to bring them back to life in order to learn more about a culture and its history. For example, Hebrew was revived into a modern language in the 19th century. Various organizations are working with communities to document their languages and creating learning materials these days.
I was recently watching a Korean drama centered around chaebols, and thought it would be an interesting topic to write about. In Google's terms, a chaebol is a “large family-owned business conglomerate”. As we live in a free market capitalist economy, large family-owned business conglomerates aren’t uncommon, but in Korea it is a topic worthy of writing on as it is a big part of their economy, and it has had a large effect on the living culture in Korea.
As seen in the image on the left, Korea (before the split) up to the 1960s was an undeveloped country, in relevance to the western and european powers. It was mostly an agrarian feudalistic society, and it was still recovering from the colonization of Japan.
In the span of less than a 100 years, the country has managed to become one of the leading economies in the world, maintaining an average rate of 5.45% growth in GDP in the recent 30 years. For reference, a good rate is between 2.5% to 3.5%, which is where the United States has been on average over the past 30 years.
So how did Korea manage to boom in development? It’d be a long paper, but one of the main reasons is its use of large business conglomerates and their international export potential as part of their strategy.
Post Korean War, the government tried to implement different strategies to improve the economy, and there were various policies that allowed businesses more freedom, focusing on production for international demand and exports, through credits and loans. As companies found sudden growth, in the 1970s 10 Chaebols accounted for 30% of the economy’s growth. As time progressed, these Chaebols were used as the vanguard of Korea’s economy, and were allowed state incentives like tax breaks and cheap financing. Because of these lax policies and favorable conditions, these bigger companies were able to monopolize the domestic industry, expand internationally, and the government would see growth in GDP. These a
re very recognizable companies, companies like Samsung, LG, Kia, and Hyundai. Today, chaebols account for a whopping 80% of Korea’s GDP, and just 10 of these conglomerates account for 60%. And while this cycle works to some degree (I’m not an economist), it has caused social issues in modern Korea.
To begin with, chaebols were designed to be family-owned businesses. While this may work for small businesses, in larger corporations it is paramount that executive positions are filled with competent people. The structure of chaebols is not only out-dated and arguably ineffective, it has also caused nepotism to be more prominent. Even though these large companies account for 80% of the country’s GDP, they only account for a whopping ~10% of jobs domestically. Also, in east Asian countries, people often stick to their companies for life - creating a strong sense of loyalty and pride in their company. So this mix of exclusivity and prestige, along with the fact that workers at smaller/medium size companies make only ~60% of what chaebol workers make, has driven these chaebols to such a high degree in Korea. These jobs are seen as the best of the best, but it has also caused income inequality and issues with the youth.
Because these companies are so selective, it is seen that students/graduates must have a perfect resume to be a part of the competition for chaebol jobs. But this isn’t just mediocrely so–this sense of competition has gone rampant in the youth of Korea. Parents push their kids even from an early age to ensure that their children don’t fall “behind”, but when everyone does this, it becomes a ruthless cycle of workload and burden. On average, a Korean student attends 3 cram schools at a time, and even ~70% of elementary students attend a cram school. These cram schools are conducted mostly after school, and when students finally finish these cram schools at night, they still have to do their homework and study for their normal classes. This is all to ensure their children can get into college, but more so SKY (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University). These colleges are the ivy league of Korea, and the competition has gotten so farce that there have been numerous Korean Dramas centered around this (Sky castle, Penthouse). It doesn’t help that their version of the SAT is only taken once, and so people often say that this one test dictates their life.
While there is so much more that could be written about, this is a small snippet of the issues caused directly/indirectly by chaebols. This rampant competition and burden has caused mental health issues in students, skyrocketing suicide rates as well. A recent study found that the suicide rate for South Korean students was 12.7 per 100,000 students, whereas the rate for United States students is 2.4 per 100,000 students. And as Korea is a well-developed country, we know that this isn’t due to just medical or poor conditions.
Languages become extinct for many reasons, but the most usual reasons include dropping the usage of native languages, low population, or historical contributions. As the world develops and globalization, political repression, colonialism, technological development, and immigration happen, people tend to drop their native language, leading to a distinction. There could be external or internal factors that affect the spoken language. By connecting the family tree and seeing the similarities between the languages and analyzing the structure and vocabulary, linguists can help preserve a language. Linguists can also seek external help by gaining knowledge of historical backgrounds. Like so, ‘dead’ language can be brought back to life if there are enough written documentations, histories, or stories that connect the vocabulary terms, sounds, and grammars. Linguists can also look at the family trees of similar languages or languages that the distinct language is rooted from. However, this would be difficult if there isn’t enough documentation or those who have enough knowledge about the language aren’t present.
During this past month, I have been diving deeper into developing knowledge for the final project. Vivian and I reviewed the topics that would produce ideas for Korean culture. She had recommended a lot of good sources that informed the history, societal issues, and influences of foreign countries.
A super helpful video that goes over the history of Korea was produced by an entertainment channel called “Infinite Challenge.” This channel is one of my favorite entertainment shows that I grew up watching with my brother. Through collaborating with rappers, the show members had to make hip-hop music that held significant figures and important historical happenings. One of the videos Vivian and I watched was talking about the Independence Movement Day and the activists who we should never forget. The first activist during 삼일절 was a young lady named Gwan Soon Yoo. Even at a young age, she wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion. Another activist, Dong Joo Yoon, who was a Korean poet who was born in China, wrote multiple poems expressing the yearning for Korea’s liberation. It was interesting to see these poets that were in Chinese characters, which have been significantly simplified compared to Korean characters nowadays. Finally, the teacher in the video talked about the most famous two figures, Kim Goo and Yoon Bong Kil. Kim Goo had created the Korean Patriotic Organization and was even physical towards the Japanese soldiers. Yoon Bong Kil left to Shanghai, also where Japan took over, and threw a lunch box shaped bomb towards the Japanese soldiers. In a short and concise way, these entertainment shows provide impactful information to casual viewers.
It made more sense how the Korean language had been influenced in a significant way by the Japanese and Chinese. These poems and letters written by these activists are the foundation of how Korean has been developed. These historical videos are very encouraging and makes me proud to be a Korean. It is very helpful in learning as they are very informative and entertaining at the same time.
Another great show that she recommended is called “The Glory.” I will be creating the final presentation for this Netflix show. This show contains and portrays the social hierarchy and the characteristics of high school bullies, called 일진. Bullying is very common in Korea and has been a topic that has been focused on in current media culture. Although the show expresses the extremes of Korean bullying styles, it still depicts the main characteristics clearly. Not only does this show represent the revenge towards the bullies, it also shows how economic stances take a huge toll on everyone's lifestyles.
I have noticed huge improvements in my Korean this month. As I am constantly watching videos that are only in Korean, I was able to understand most of the content even without the subtitles. My goal this month is to fully get rid of subtitles unless I come across vocabulary terms that I am not familiar with.
A language goes extinct when it is either not spoken or used in a community, or if another language is used within the community thus making the original language useless. When a language dies so does its culture and perspective on the world. It is very difficult to revive a dead language; however, linguists will often work with historians, anthropologists, and other professionals to understand the culture and the people that spoke the dead language. This helps linguists decode dead languages by being able to see what meanings they derived from the world and what was most important to them. However, it is often hard to translate the exact meaning because words often have different definitions. Linguists will also work with languages that are endangered. They will document writings and video and audio recordings for future generations to study the language if there are no more fluent speakers left alive.
Efforts are currently underway to document and preserve linguistic diversity around the world, and as someone with a great fascination with linguistics, I’m really hoping that these efforts are actualized eventually. Some of these efforts include the creation of language archives, the development of language revitalization programs, and the use of technology to facilitate language documentation and analysis. Organizations such as the Endangered Languages Project, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, and the Linguistic Society of America are actively involved in promoting linguistic diversity and language revitalization efforts–– these were just some of the organizations I came across through a perfunctory google search. While I’m not sure a ‘dead’ language can ever be fully brought to life, I do think that it can exist, a dichotomy between living and existing when it comes to languages exists, in my opinion. Even if a language is resurfaced of sorts–– its syntax, phonology, and distinctions able to be recorded, the beauty of language stems from its use, people using and evolving a construct in their everyday lives–– something I don’t think a dead language is capable of having without extraordinary circumstances. Finally, I am interested in this debate on multilingualism and intelligence. Overall, I think I approach this apprehensively since intelligence, despite its ubiquity, is nearly impossible to define, making any influence of language on it that much harder. Its benefits to the brain are unequivocal, but if it does indeed make you smarter, are the world’s most prolific polyglots that much smarter as a result? I’m not sure, but it is something I’m continuing to wrestle with.
Discussion Post #9
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
When the language has no native speakers and is no longer passed down to new generations, a language dies. This can happen because of all different reasons, such as migration, colonization, political suppression, or cultural assimilation. Several languages around the world are at risk or have already become extinct because of those reasons. Continuing the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of a language becomes very difficult when there are no people speaking or using it. Eventually, the language might become isolated and vanish. This loss of linguistic diversity is a significant loss of cultural heritage. Each language represents their knowledge, history, and identity and provides a unique perspective on the world. Fortunately, a ‘dead’ language can come back to life, through a process known as language reclamation or language revitalization. With support from linguists, some communities are creating language classes, immersion programs, and language preservation projects to revive their languages. Also, technology help such as language apps and online resources are being used to help prevent language extinction. The Hebrew language in Israel and the Maori language in New Zealand are examples of language revitalization. In conclusion, language death is a serious issue that threatens linguistic diversity. However, with sustained efforts to preserve and revitalize endangered languages, we can help these languages continue to be a crucial part of cultural heritage.
Language Learning Journal #3
Counting the Stars at Night by Yun Dong-ju
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
I really enjoyed Prelude by Yun Dong-ju, so I decided to read another poem by Yun Dong-ju. I chose Counting the Stars at Night, which is one of Yun Dong-ju’s representative poems. Counting the Stars at Night is a poem that best shows the characteristics of Yun Dong-ju's poem, which clearly shows the emotion of longing, the emotion of shame, and the willingness to overcome it. In the poem, Yun Dong-ju is counting the stars on an autumn night. He is thinking about his past days when he had a pure heart. Through looking at the stars, he reminds himself of his memories of love, loneliness, yearning, poetry, and his mother. He tells his mother about the things he saw in the stars, which are far away from him. The things he misses are as far away as those stars. He is also in the far land of Japan from Bukgando where he was born and his mother lives. From line twenty-three through line twenty-eight, Yun Dong-ju writes his own name on the hill where the stars shine, but then covers it with soil and erases it. Just as bugs cry all night, the poet mourned about his shameful name all night. His name was reflected in his beautiful and pure life, but poet Yun Dong-ju covered it with soil in shame. Eventually, he is hoping that this hill, which he wrote his name and erased, will be full of grass when this winter ends and spring comes. Yun Dong-ju is emphasizing the seasonal changes of Autumn, Winter, and Spring. These seasons refer to the past, present, and future. It could also be interpreted as longing, reflection, and hope. After projecting the inner world of Yun Dong-ju through the repetition of similar verses, it is elaborated and deeply explained as prose in the next paragraph to embody it. In Counting the Stars at Night, Yun Dong-ju expresses the emotion of longing in the form of a dialogue that seems to be talking to his mother. The characteristics of Yun Dong-ju's poetry are self-reflection, shame, and pursuing the ideal self. It is not clear what thoughts the poet had when he wrote this poem, but it seems possible to understand what emotional state he was in. Poet Yun Dong-ju wrote a lot of poems reflecting on himself because he felt that he was not acting as a proud Korean. Even though he was unable to participate in any independence movements due to his situation during the Japanese colonial era, he was painful that he could not help his nation. He has been thinking a lot about what kind of person he should be and what way to act. Because his present self has not reached his ideal self and still pursuing it, Yun Dong-ju is showing shame about himself. The era of poet Yun Dong-ju was such a vain and painful era. Writing Counting the Stars at Night during a painful time makes the work more beautiful, which makes people think about Korean culture and history.
Korean Resource
https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE01344296
https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0071330
English Resource
https://allpoetry.com/Counting-The-Stars-At-Night
Traditional Korean Games
Korean traditional games are a big part of Korean cultural heritage and even modern-day Korean culture. Some of these games include 제기차기(Jegichagi), 윷놀이(Yutnori ), and 투호(Tuho).
제기차기(Jegichagi), also known as Korean footbag, is a game where players have to kick a shuttlecock-looking bag as many times as possible. It is very similar to keep-ups when you kick a soccer ball in the air as many times as possible. This game can be played either individually or in teams. The winner is decided based on who kicked the bag the most times. Jegichagi requires intense focus, skill, coordination, and balance. This game has been around for centuries and is often played at festivals, cultural events, or just on the playground at school.
윷놀이(Yutnori) is a game played with four sticks called Yut, a game board, and game board pieces. The yut are basically like dice and the game board acts just like any other game board like monopoly or life. The yut sticks are round but flat on one side. The flat side shows 4 x’s or dots depending on what sticks you have. The sticks can either roll on the flat side with the four x’s or they can roll on the opposite side rounded side with no marking. The combination of rolls you can get determines how many spaces you can move your pieces. For example, if you rolled four sides all showing the x markings that is called a yut and you get to move 4 steps. If you rolled four sides all showing no x markings then you get to move 5 spaces. The game board is in the shape of a square with an x in it. And the game board pieces can be whatever you want. They can be pebbles, buttons, or pieces of candy. The objective of the game is to move all of your game board pieces around the whole board back to the starting place before your opponent does. One of the unique aspects of Yutnori is that it is not just a game of chance - players can strategize and work together to block their opponents or gain an advantage. For example, landing on certain spaces can allow a player to knock their opponent's game piece back to the starting point, or move their own game piece ahead several spaces. Yutnori is another popular game played during festivals.
투호(Tuho) is a game played with sticks and any narrow tubes like a vase or a basket. The object of the game is very simple. You have to throw more sticks into the narrow tube than your opponent. It’s kind of like darts where you want to aim for the middle. The scoring system can be manipulated to whatever the players want to do. For example, instead of staying in the same place and throwing a stick players can say each stick they throw must take one step back. Thus making the game more difficult. Another popular addition players make to the game is by adding additional holes next to the main hole. These other holes make it so the hole in the middle is worth more points and the holes on the side score the player fewer points. This game again requires skill, concentration, and hand-eye coordination. Again, this game is another popular game played at festivals.
A lot of Korean traditional games such as these are very simple but require lots of physical and mental skill in order to be successful. These games show how underdeveloped Korean people were centuries ago. They did not have much other than what they had around them and made use of what they had and turned them into fun games that can still be enjoyed to this day.
제기차기(Jegichagi)
윷놀이(Yutnori)
투호(Tuho)
Links
Cultural Post #3
Korean Fried Chicken
David Kim
30262888
david.kim123@richmond.edu
When I first went to BBQ Chicken in Carytown, I was surprised to see a Korean Fried Chicken restaurant around campus. In fact, the name chicken in Korea is a term that means fried chicken itself. In Korea, fried chicken is overwhelmingly more popular than other fast foods such as pizza and hamburgers. It is also widely loved as a late-night snack. Eating fried chicken while watching TV or movies at night has become a common scene on weekends or holidays at home. After landing in Korea, fried chicken has spread widely in line with the delivery culture, and has been a popular localized Korean fusion dish through various attempts and changes in taste. Until the Korean War, chickens were mainly boiled, steamed, or grilled. With the creation of the United States Forces Korea, the southern-style fried chicken culture centered around each unit. The southern-style fried chicken became popular in the markets during the 1960s and 1970s. Korea's first fried chicken brand was created in the late 1970s, and now Korean fried chicken dishes have developed since the 1980s. In 1971, Haepyo's cooking oil was released for the first time in Korea, and conditions for mass production of chicken and oil were set. In 1977, Korea's first fried chicken restaurant, Rims Chicken, opened at Shinsegae Department Store. In 1979, Lotteria began selling sculpted chicken. Small-scale fried chicken restaurants began to emerge in the 1980s. In 1984, KFC entered Jongno-gu, Seoul through Doosan. At that time, KFC's fried chicken price was expensive, but it was known as a famous meeting place for young people. Its unique spicy taste gradually began to become popular in Korea. The beginning of the golden chicken era opened in 1985 when yangnyeom chicken was created and spread. Yangnyeom chicken is a type of Korean fried chicken seasoned with sweet and spicy sauce. Gyeseong Tongdak in Daegu and Ferricana in Daejeon introduced yangnyeom chicken, It was the opening of the era called "half-yangnyeom and half-fried." Since then, a large number of chicken brands have begun to appear, including Mexican Chicken, Cheogajip Seasoned Chicken, Iseobang Yangnyeom Chicken, Mexican Chicken, Kyochon Chicken, Nene Chicken, and much more. In the mid-2000s, Kyochon chicken's soy sauce chicken was the trend that brought changes to the chicken industry. In the late 2000s, green onion chicken and oven chicken spread like a trend, and other competitors responded by offering similar menus. In 2015, powdered chicken using seasoning became popular, such as Bburinkle Chicken and Snow Cheese Chicken. Due to the influence of honey butter chips, fried chicken with honey started to be released. Now Korean fried chicken is sold all over the world, including in America, Canada, and even North Korea. South Korean fried chicken entered North Korea in 2007 when Rockwon Chicken Restaurant opened in North Korea. Even though Korean fried chicken started by the influence of the southern method of cooking, it is now one of the representative fusion food of South Korea. It was such a great experience of having and seeing other people enjoying Korean fried chicken in America. I strongly recommend everyone to try Korean fried chicken because they are absolutely one of the best.
Korean Resource
https://www.sisunnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=127937
https://www.etoday.co.kr/news/view/1022166
English Resource
https://www.mashed.com/899880/the-untold-truth-of-korean-fried-chicken/
Writing sentences in the target language means that one is able to utilize grammar rules and vocabulary. However, as a beginner lacking intensive daily usage of Korean, I can only name common stuff and basic grammar rules. If I have to write, I would prefer to write by hand. Since in many conditions, we can not simply rely on mobile devices. And writing is always a fun part of learning a language. I have noticed a lot of structures between words, clauses, and sentences. They share the same structure as Mandarin; therefore, I can easily identify them and use them in my learning process. Complex sentences always appear as a combination of several simple sentences. For example, the sentence "I eat an apple, and my brother eats an orange" would be translated to "나는 사과를 먹어요, 그리고 내 동생은 오렌지를 먹어요.” They are similar to English as well in terms of combing clauses to form a sentence. From an online course, I learned several variants of a sentence. 나는 오늘 친구들과 함께 놀이공원에 가요. (I am going to the amusement park with my friends today.) and 나와 내 친구들은 오늘 놀이공원에 갑니다. (My friends and I are going to the amusement park today.) By relating to the context, I can acknowledge differences in parts of the speech and convey the right meaning.
While I am still learning vocabulary and grammar, Leticia and I have recently taken some time to focus on the cultural aspects of Brazil and the United States, including similarities, differences, and what makes them unique. It has also become a larger conversation of how much Brazil has changed within her lifetime (particularly in recent years) and, as she says, “has become more like America.” It also became a conversation about what some of her first cultural shock moments in the U.S. were. She said that she was shocked by the greasy and sweet food for breakfast here and that she used to think the Brazilian breakfast of bread and fruits was unhealthy. She no longer believes this to be true, at least by comparison! She was also surprised by the overwhelming amount of medication options (apparently there is usually just 1 for each type of medication on the shelves in Brazil and when she came here she had never seen so many types of Neosporin) and the way that everyone greeted her while she was just walking around campus. We also went over the metric system, red solo cups (apparently everyone brings reusable cups to parties in Brazil!), tipping, and tax not being included in prices. A passionate conversation about how much water the U.S. wastes followed the revelation that U.S. toilets are widely considered to use much more water than other countries. Leticia said that even our toilets with two options use way more water than the toilets in Brazil. Additionally, we had an interesting conversation about the U.S. being a particularly patriotic country. We specifically discussed the number of American flags that are everywhere in the U.S. and how in Brazil, flags are almost never displayed. She said that flags have recently been flown to show support for Bolsonaro, which has made the flags into more of a political message than they used to be.
We also debunked some of the common misconceptions about the U.S. and Brazil, such as the U.S. having sweet bread (we were both confused) and that only Americans threw baby showers, ate big portions, and walked around with big coffees.
I wanted to spend the majority of this learning journal discussing these conversations we’ve had because I think they are an important unplanned part of our lessons. They are what constitute all of the topics that come up when we get sidetracked and end up looking up things like the origin of the umlaut. While unplanned, I have really enjoyed this part of the SDLC program. I am learning so much in every conversation I have with Leticia in Portuguese and not in Portuguese. We don’t rush and we take the time to follow our curiosities and hunt down these small details. It is something that shows the progress of our lessons: we have been able to have these offshoots and then get back on track to continue with whatever Leticia had planned for the day.
Currently, Letícia and I are focused on giving directions and basic verbs. We have been using a mixture of online resources and our textbook. We start every session by reviewing what we discussed last session and deciding where to go from there. There have been multiple sessions where we have needed to be on Zoom which has been an obstacle to navigate in terms of not being able to share a notebook between us to spell out words as well as it being difficult to hear pronunciation over Zoom. However, a majority of our sessions have been in person. This semester one of my main goals is to be able to continue feeling comfortable with Portuguese pronunciation. I also want to gain more confidence in basic vocabulary. One way that we practiced this while over Zoom is going through a Quizlet together that someone had made online. We practiced words related to food and restaurants because we want to try to get together a group of Portuguese learners and speakers to have a meal at a Brazilian barbeque restaurant in Short Pump.
Another new development is that Leticia asks me what topics I want to focus on and then she will find various activities on websites and in the textbook for me to do. She’ll also write out her own activities for me to complete in our shared notes. It has been helpful for her to know what she wants us to get done in each session. She has also been assigning me homework, usually one activity in the textbook for me to do before our next time together. Then, we’ll go through my answers together. This can be a great way to clear up common mistakes, my endless spelling errors, and also catch some of the exceptions to the rules I have learned that she had not taught me yet. Having this structure has really alleviated some of the issues we had with not having a plan going into lessons and instead creating them as we went. Leticia has really grown into her role as a teacher and I am so glad to be working with her. She has taken on a lot more responsibility for the lessons that I really appreciate. It also makes me feel like I am learning Portuguese the way that she knows it, rather than it being catered to “the way I want to learn it.” However, the textbook has definitely been helpful in providing material so that Leticia is not coming up with examples all on her own, which involves a lot of translating in her head. Instead, the textbook holds a lot of content and she can show me the parts that are helpful to what she wants to teach me. (We can also make fun of the textbook’s overly formal examples and she can teach me the casual way to say things when you’re actually in Brazil). Nonetheless, it is definitely concerning for if I were speaking with a native Portuguese speaker because they can shorten a lot when they want to!
Jeju island’s original name was actually Tamna, and about eight thousand B.C. the first people inhabited it. At first, Jeju island was its own state, but later on, around the 5th century Jeju island combined with mainland Korea and ended up becoming a trading post between Japan and Korea. However, during the twelfth century, a group of rebels called the Sambyeolcho overthrew the government on the island and took control. However, once again in the fourteenth century, mainland Korea regained control over Jeju island. Korea used Jeju island as a prison that held criminals and political prisoners. Many of these political prisoners were intellectuals or of the higher class. Thus, they contributed heavily to Korea’s intellectual and cultural development. During this time Jeju island’s culture began to flourish. Many new folk traditions such as music, dance, and shamanism began to form. However, once again Jeju island yet again was taken control by another country. From 1910 to 1945 Japan annexed or took control of Korea. During this time Japan would use Jeju island as a military base. At the time Japan was trying to suppress Korean culture and even get rid of it and integrate the country into the Japanese empire. However, the people of Jeju island heavily resisted Japan. Many factors allowed the people of Jeju island to put up a tough fight. Some of these include a long history of dealing with outside forces trying to take control of them, knowing the physical environment better than the Japanese, and being geographically isolated from mainland Korea. Despite all their efforts the people of Jeju island could not regain control until 1945 when Japan lost World War 2 and was forced to free Korea. However, there was still more conflict to come. In 1945, Korea slowly separated into two different states. One in the north and the other in the south. The north was in control of the Soviets and the south was in control of the Americans. On Jeju island communist rebels coordinated attacks on government facilities all over the island. South Korea responded to this attack with mass arrests, extrajudicial killings, and forced deportation of suspected rebels and their families to concentration camps. There were estimated thirty-thousand deaths in the aftermath of the events.
Many of these deaths included civilians. Despite all Jeju island’s terrible history, today the Island is doing well and is a very popular location for Koreans to visit, attracting millions of tourists each year. The people of Jeju island have a culture and language that is very different from the culture of South Korea. In fact, the language spoken on Jeju island is so distinct that many consider it its own language rather than a dialect of Korean. Even my own dad who is a Korean-born citizen said he needed a translator when he visited Jeju island. Today Jeju island is most famous for its volcano landscape, distinct culture, heritage sites which pay homage to Jeju’s long history, and its beautiful beaches some of which actually have black sand because it's a volcanic island. Jeju island is basically Korea’s version of Hawaii.
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-tragic-history-of-south-korea-s-jeju-island/4509004.html
https://ijto.or.kr/english/?cid=27
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jeju-do
I have covered a plethora of topics with my language partner throughout the course of the semester. A strategy that has been working for us and one we have used thus far is starting our sessions by reviewing what we discussed the class before. Rather than expecting me to memorize the sentences we learn word for word, Genet asks me what I remember learning last class and I respond in Afaan Oromo with the concepts/sentences we learned. The fact that there is no expectation to know the sentences word for word is so helpful to my language learning in the long run because then I don’t merely focus on memorizing before and rather thinking in my target language during it. I have found this strategy also useful because it allows my language partner to catch my mistakes early on whereas without reviewing, the ‘incorrect’ way would be ingrained in my speech making it incredibly difficult to unlearn. Additionally, while the structure of our tasks remained relatively the same, we covered many tasks. I have grown a large word bank through my learning of sentences that narrate my trip home, explain what moment in my life I love, introduce me (where I was born, where my parents are from, my siblings and what they do, my friends, etc), how I spent the holidays, etc. Aside from learning sentences that mirror those topics, Genet and I have also returned to the basics and reviewed numbers, days of the week, and months of the year in Afaan Oromo. A testament to the notion that practice makes perfect, I often forget the Afaan Oromo word for a lot of the days of the week besides the ones I use often (weirdly Monday and Friday). That has been a learning curve because it made me realize that my personal language learning journey can be beneficially supplemented with memorization of some things. In the same vein, I have come to notice that my deliberate use of other resources did diminish once I got in contact with a language partner. Granted of course a lot of that has to do with the amount of time I can allocate to using other resources to increase my knowledge of the language outside of the 3hr/week I meet with her. Nonetheless, my goals moving forward would definitely be to engage in intentional language contact through medians outside of speaking with my partner-watching movie, reading articles, using the book more, etc. Additionally, I want to bring up the possibility of going over some basic grammar rules with my language partner just because this will help me form my own sentences outside of the ones we talk about/practice. I often use the sentences we do practice to notice any conversational grammar patterns but actually understanding these patterns rather than inferring would certainly push my skills further in the direction I hope to be.
I’ve written Korean since I was about 8 years old. This is when I was first taught it in a Korean Saturday school, and have written it occasionally ever since. Korean as a language is quite straightforward to read and write, as many linguists know. Currently, I prefer to write in free hand, as my handwriting (even in English), is quite atrocious, and can use a bit of work, especially when it comes to certain characters such as ㄹ. The quick succession of straight lines makes it a difficult character to write neatly, however, I have seen a bit of progress in terms of not having to make such a concerted effort to even begin writing it out, maintaining a sense of flow as I write. Continuing, I’ve noticed that in writing, Korean ends sentences with 다 quite frequently–– something you don’t really hear in the vernacular as it sounds a bit robotic. In written contexts, spelling is something that haunts me to this day. Even words I spell semi-frequently have occasional errors, as I’m more comfortable with how they are pronounced when spoken, rather than accurately spelled. An aid for this that I’ve discovered is learning Hanja, as these roots see themselves consistent, and it’s more a matter of combining Hanja roots that I’ve memorized how to spell where I’m most accurate in my writing. Finally, an example of a phrase I use frequently is 한국말 잘 못해요, which means, “I’m not very good at Korean.” Quite applicable to my current situation, and it also has several ㄹ to help me in that regard.
