Blogs

My learning goals for this week is to really understand and memorize the Korean consonants. Learning the Korean alphabets is very beneficial so that I can read every single Korean word. To achieve this goal, I will have to write many different words in Korean so that the alphabets will stick in my head and also I will be able to understand the meaning of each word. I think writing on paper works best for me because I learn best when I physically write words on paper.

This week I want to fully master the Korean vowels and how each is written and pronounced. The pronunciation of the vowels has been quite a struggle for me because some of them sounds very similar. To really grasp the difference, I will practice the pronunciation through different words. Also, I use illustrative reference to remember the vowels from its shape. 

My learning goal for this week is to understand directions and survivability in general. I want to be able to navigate taxi drivers or ask for directions just in case I get lost. I think this topic is essential for language learners, especially if you wish to travel to the country. My plan to accomplish my goals for this week is to practice with my language partner and watch YouTube videos to visualize and practice even further. 

I did a basic introduction and farewell for my first Artifact. Through my first artifact, I learned what Koreans usually say in an introduction. Some things that they say differ from what we usually say in the Western culture. Koreans tend to emphasize their age when they first introduce themselves to others. I would say that I successfully reached my goals for my learning plan because I could make a conservation with my suitemates about their day and was able to understand what they’re saying and they were also able to understand what I was saying.

I learned how to make conversation about the weather and just talking about the day in general when meeting a friend. I plan to practice this topic with my suitemates since they are Korean. I think it would be very suitable for me to talk about their day in Korean for practice since we usually talk about that in English anyway. I can evaluate my success through being able to understand what they’re saying and convey my messages clearly to them. I will first ask my language partner what Koreans usually say when they are talking about their day in general.

This week my goal is to practice on introducing myself again and remember the things that Koreans say when introducing themselves. It is really important to know the things that Korean say in an introduction because each culture has different things to say and it might be inappropriate to say certain things in a different culture. I plan to introduce myself in Korean to my Korean friends just for practice so that I get used to introducing myself in Korean.

Since my learning focus is about making casual conversation with my Korean friends and occasionally my friends’ parents, I started my progress with learning greetings and introductions. I met with my language partner this week and I learned the proper way to introduce myself in Korean. Not only that I learned how to say it, I also learned the things that Korean people usually say when they introduce themselves. Hence, I learned more about their culture as well. In terms of formality, I decided to learn a formal way to introduce myself since it's more likely for me to talk to my friends’ parents in Korean. Aside from that, I’ve also looked up some videos from Youtube and some websites for greetings and introductions in Korean. Youtube videos really helped me with the pronunciation of the words. 

I am a beginner in Korean. I know some basic words such as eat, hello, goodbye, thank you in Korean because I have Korean friends. Other than that, I am new to Korean especially when constructing sentences.

My learning goals for this semester would be having the ability to introduce myself, talk about day-to-day activities, making conversation about food, and talk about my family. I want to make it very conversational and casual since I have a lot of Korean friends. I plan to emphasize on interpersonal communication category.

To achieve my goals, I will have to practice having conversations with my language partner and also my Korean friends in day-to-day activities. Watching Youtube will also help my learning progress as a lot of Korean Youtubers tend to speak in a casual (informal) way.

1. Greetings and goodbyes
   1. Do it with friends
   2. Watch videos
   3. Research on things to say during an introduction
2. Alphabets
   1. Practice writing over and over
   2. Read Korean menu and figure out the food
3. Simple conversation about food/meal
   1. Do it with friends
4. Conversation about the weather
   1. Friends
5. How’s your day? Both formal and informal
   1. Do it with friends
   2. Youtube
   3. Language partner
6. Asking for direction/taxi conversation
   1. Youtube
   2. Language partner
7. Ordering food in Korean (formal)
   1. Actually go to a Korean restaurant
   2. Youtube
   3. Asking friends

Vocaroo_s1j1kHt7aAIm.mp3

To show that I have progressed in soccer vocabulary I said some more advanced soccer terms in Portuguese such as 

juggling-embaixadinha

dribbling tricks-dribbling

bicycle kick-bicicleta

rabona-letra

dummy run-corta luz

stutter step penaly kick-paradinha

nutmeg-coreta

After reading the articles for this week, I do believe that bilinguals are more intelligent. For starters, it is incredibly difficult and challenging to relearn two languages. The most fascinating part of the article was when it discussed how being bilingual can change how your brain is wired and how bilinguals have more brain activity because in order to respond they have to repress one language. I also found it interesting how it could potentially prevent dementia. Overall, I enjoyed how this article had a variety of statistics and looked at different research on this topic. It definitely encouraged me to want to master another language and reiterated the value and purpose of this course. 

I enjoyed watching the Culture Shock video because it brings to light the daily trials and tribulations that abroad students encounter in America and specifically on U of R's campus. As natives to America, it is easy to forget how even the smallest cultural differences like the way you greet someone or how you dress can be a major cultural challenge for a foreigner. It also reiterates the importance of being accepting, open minded, and curious about learning their culture so that you can better understand and make foreigners feel comfortable. Above all, I think it is important to remember that even if we have never studied abroad we have all been in the same boat whether we are in a new community, school, team, etc. where it has been challenging to acclimate to a new environment. We should pay attention to what made us adjust and feel welcomed and do the same for abroad students studying on our campus. 

This reading opened my eyes to how languages die when the speakers of the language are very few, and when there is no written record of the language. I learned that it is more common for oral languages to die permanently, since there is no proof that it once existed. Especially when a language is only spoken by a few of people and is not seen as useful, it easy for it to get lost generation after generation. This is especially seen in children who have immigrant parents. If the language is not spoken at home, it will most likely not be part of their vocabulary and as the family line continues, the language will no longer be a part of the norm. At the end of the day, when the language dies, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to bring it back. There is a whole culture that dies along with it. People lose cultural identities, richness, and diversity of humanity's linguistic heritage. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain the language by having a group of people who speak the language generation after generation to ensure that the language does not die out. 

By examining Ukrainian patriotic music, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of how Ukrainians think about their difficult history, and how they make sense of the current state of corruption. Based on the music they produce, there is a significant amount of anger about past oppression and current corruption within their own government. The music also demonstrates an impressive amount of fortitude, as these people have faced trial after trial, but still try to rally together to make changes. The influence of oppression is deep in Ukraine, but somehow Ukrainians have managed to grab onto usable elements of their past (Cossack myths, traditions with vyshyvanka, and the preservation of the Ukrainian language) and use these elements to remind people that, as the national anthem states, Ukraine is not yet dead. 

The biggest challenges that I have had with trying to write in Turkish is not knowing the correct vowel harmony to use. I tend to confuse vowels for one another and this is problematic especially because switching a vowel could create a completely different word. I do not have as much difficulty reading in Turkish especially since the Turkish alphabet is similar to English (latin). And while I do not think it is hard to sound out the words, I overall struggle with pronouncing words in other languages so I think that with practice that is a weakness that I can definitely improve on.

I taught my friend how to designate specific days in Korean. I played the activity with her and she found it really helpful. My friend is also Korean, but she was born and raised in the United States. She grew up speaking English with her parents so these were terms that she did not know before. I'm glad she found it fun and helpful, so next time she needs to make an appointment or refer to a specific day in Korean, she can. I also think the visual timeline made it easy to learn the terms. 

일            월            화            수            목            금            토            일

    -3            -2            -1             0             +1            +2           +3           +4

 그끄저께    그저께       어제         오늘         내일         모레        글피       그글피

After learning the few additional letters that exist in the Turkish alphabet and reviewing the way in which each letter is pronounced, reading Turkish words has not been too challenging.  However, I want to continue working on perfecting my pronunciation of Turkish words.  I do find it more challenging to write in Turkish.  Turkish is more difficult to write because the sentence structure differs from English in terms of the order that you place the subject and the verb. Additionally, each pronoun requires that you add a particular suffix to the end of a word.  I am still trying to identify the patterns that exist in the Turkish sentence structure but I am beginning to get a grasp.

For the last week of class we reviewed what we learned this semester. So we practiced greetings, how to talk about the weather, reviewed numbers, and how to have a basic conversation in Turkish. I was so surprised by how much we learned in such a short period of time. Even though I have seen progress in learning the language, some key weaknesses that I realize that I need to work on moving forward to the future are pronunciations, vowel harmony, and developing sentences. Some strengths that I found were vocabulary, listening, and having basic dialogues in Turkish. Overall, this week was great preparation for our final evaluations next week where I can truly test how far I've come this semester. 

It seems that the question of whether or not bilingualism makes a person smarter or not has been a controversial topic throughout the years.  However, based on the articles there truly is no definitive answer being that it depends on one's own definition of intelligence.  While a bilingual individual may struggle during childhood constructing two different vocabularies, researchers suggest that they are able to make up for this hindrance later in life because there are long-term cognitive benefits of being bilingual.  Although bilinguals experience a lot more interference with switching between language, the brain is able to take this frequent interference and use it to strengthen cognitive functioning.  Overall, this is not to necessarily say that bilingual individuals are smarter than monolingual individuals, however bilinguals do seem to reap some benefits from knowing more than one language.

Cultural Project Women's Rights

For my cultural project I focused on women's rights in Turkey. I am very inspired by how Turkey has come along way in their fight for gender equality and given the current cultural climate surrounding the topic I am intrigued to see how Turkey has served as a leader or in a way a rebel in the Middle East for breaking the status quo and granting women their legal rights.

While Turkey has come along way, I also realize that just like in the States there is an ongoing battle for equal pay, access to education, as well as treatment of women.  The number of women in parliament is at an all-time high of about 17 percent, and Turkey has made considerable progress in education, almost achieving gender parity in education of children. There are more girls in school today than ever before, and there are also more females attending Turkish universities. Yet when it comes to protecting Turkish women against violence, ensuring their rights of education and employment, and even their right to choose their own spouse, women face layers of discrimination. This goes to show how there is still so much work left to be done in their fight for equality. 

This project relates to learning the Turkish language, because if I am going to learn the language I should learn everything about the culture and as a woman I should have an understanding of the legal rights afforded to them. Knowing the language is powerful because I have the opportunity to communicate with other Turkish women about their rights, to join forces and serve as an activist, or even spread the word among my peers in America about what is going on in Turkey to spread awareness and hopefully spark change. 

At this point in the semester, I would estimate that I have learned somewhere between 150-200 words. A majority of these words I have learned from the lessons with my learning partner Sezgi, with the rest of them coming from apps that I have on my phone like Duolingo and Mango.  So far, my goals have been in line with the information I have been learning.  My vocabulary currently consists of greetings, common classroom objects, numbers, occupations, and places.  This list of vocabulary will aid me in engaging in small basic conversations and I intend to expand upon my vocabulary within the final weeks of the semester.