After reading this weeks article, I was surprised to learn how common it is for languages to die. The prevalence of languages going extinct is sad because it not only means that a form of communication has been lost, but it also means that the culture has been lost. Without the language, future generations are unable to understand the traditions and customs of the particular lost culture. Therefore, the history of a group of people remains unknown and is unable to influence other existing cultures and people.
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Knowing a language's history provides a cultural understanding on where the language comes from and the types of customs or values that might be associated with the way in which the language is spoken. For example, throughout their history, the Turks have always seemed to have certain signs of respect for people of different statuses or ages. This historical tendency is also demonstrated through the Turkish language. When addressing someone that is older than you or someone who may have more power like a boss or a professor, it is important to use formal language. However, if you are speaking with someone younger than you or a friend, it is appropriate to use more informal language.
After the first few weeks of trying to teach myself the Turkish language, I have realized that there are a number of different challenges associated with independently learning a new language. Although the University of Richmond offers an abundance of resources available to students interested in self-directed language courses, the student is ultimately responsible for allocating time to engage in learning the language. I have found that you can not truly learn a language simply by studying vocabulary and copying sentences from a textbook, but it is a much more active process. Learning a language involves gaining a cultural understanding that may be achieved by watching videos that are native to the language you wish to learn or engaging in conversations with native speakers. In this way, an individual is able to learn the colloquialisms that are associated with the target language. For example, in Turkey, it is not appropriate to address an elder in the same way that you might address a friend your age. Similarly, it is not proper to speak casually to someone you have just met. Therefore, it is important to note the distinctions in formality and informality in speaking the Turkish language. However, these rules are not necessarily something one might learn from studying words off of an application but rather it is something that requires a deeper understanding of the Turkish culture. A lack of such knowledge can cause confusion and may be offensive to some native speakers.
In my past experiences of trying to learn to speak Spanish, I was able to travel to Spain where I was immersed in the Spanish culture. From living with a native Spanish speaker to leaving the house and having to ask for directions in Spanish, my brain was constantly active in trying to better my understanding and production of the language. Therefore, my current experience of trying to learn a language varies greatly from my previous experiences. However, I found that the more I surrounded myself with the unknown, the more I was able to learn. In order to improve my communicative competence, I think that it would be helpful to try incorporating the Turkish language into my everyday life as much as possible. One way I can do this is by allotting a specific amount of time per day to watching Turkish television shows or news broadcasts with subtitles. Additionally, I can try having conversations in Turkish with native speakers like my learning partner Sezgi. Finally, I can conduct some of my own research on the traditions and customs of the Turkish culture by focusing on the way in which these cultural aspects influence the language and the way that it is spoken. Such strategies would enhance not only my ability to identify and pronounce Turkish words, but they would also allow me to pick up on aspects of the Turkish culture. By becoming more knowledgeable on the cultural habits and norms of Turkey, I can develop a more diverse understanding of the Turkish language.
The culture shock video really made me empathize more with exchange students here at the University of Richmond. Sometimes it can be difficult to truly understand the basic struggles that a person from another country may experience on a daily basis. Not only are they trying to further develop their understanding of a new or unfamiliar language, but they are also trying to get a grasp of the cultural differences. One thing that really stood out to me from the Culture Shock movie was when one of the students was talking about how another student gave him a friendly "what's up" while passing him one day. Naturally, the exchange student responded by providing more information that what the American student expected because culturally the phrase "what's up" can serve as another way of just saying hey. This confusion indicates the need for people travelling to another country to have some cultural understanding that applies not only to traditions but also to language and simple every day life tasks.
I will summarize a news video that I have watched. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFK7cRCwlkA
The news broadcast is reporting on a Broadcast jockey from a popular streaming website, afreecaTV. This broadcast jockey was said to be speeding excessively just to earn 100 won, $0.10 equivalent, balloons from his viewers. The car is an expensive Porsche sports car and burned to ashes. The reason why he sped so much is because of the 100 won balloons. Few thousand balloons can be transacted every day and is a way to be more interactive with the audience. There was also other issues like discrimination and since there are hundreds of thousands of broadcasts going on at once, it is difficult to monitor every single one of them. This is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed.
The self assessment for each learning task is in the learning plan itself, but I will go over my self-assessment in a more broader detail. I believe that this semester was a successful semester in learning Korean. Simple things like being able to write a letter to my parents in Korean was a big improvement for me. I have learned many different, useful vocabulary. I also reviewed far better, because of the pressure of a quiz that Joora has put on us. This semester, I have found that the difficult part of learning Korean was the lack of passion for it during the middle. I started to lose my passion for learning Korean and I believe that passion is the most important part of learning Korean.
For my 3rd artifact, I will translate a short news paper article.
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/04/19/2017041901526.html
The article is about the new movie coming out, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Last 2014, the whole world was excited about "Guardians of the Galaxy", and this year, "Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is going to release.
With the release upcoming, the 2nd movie will satisfy those who unfortunately missed the first one in theaters. The movie will release on May 3rd, in around 50 theaters nationwide. Walt Disney Company Korea states that through the rerelease of the 1st movie, audience will be able to enjoy a more complete story at once. The movie is available in 2D, as well as IMAX and 4DX. For specific information, check the CGV homepage. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" will be releasing few clips soon.
The conversation was:
Hello? How are you doing?
Pretty well, but having a hard time because of work
My friend does a good job at work that he is impossible to catch up to.
For my learning activity, I have decided to do it on counting words in Korean. For this, I am going to raise flash cards of pictures of learning words and they will have to yell out what the counting words will be. This can be played as a game between 2 or more people and can be competitive. There can also be prizes given out for the winners to give an incentive to winning. The flash cards will contain just normal things like pens, books, trees, shoes, and cigarette packs (since there is a specific counting word for cigarette packs). I will also add in some tricky flash cards that share the same counting words as some other words.
I believe that this is an effective way to learn and reinforce the counting words for each different category.
Because I will be travelling to South Korea this summer, I decided to do my third cultural post on popular tourist spots in South Korea.
Seoul, South Korea (capital) is the most popular tourist designation for visitors. Seoul has a lot of modern as well as ancient architecture. It also has a lot of historical landmarks and a lot of places to shop. The night life is full of endless street foods, cafes, and gorgeous night views in N. Seoul Tower, which offers great panoramic views of the city.
Jejudo or Jeju Island is another popular tourist attraction. The island offers a lot of outdoor activities such as hiking on Halla-san, which is the highest peak in South Korea, riding horses, and watching sunsets and sunrises by the ocean.
Haeundae Beach in Busan is a very popular city to visit especially during the summer. There are a lot of beach festivals and concerts and is busy year round.
Seoraksan National Park is located in Gangwon Province. This national park attracts many tourists because of its beautiful scenery.
Gyeongju is a small city above Busan and this city has numerous historical sites. I read that Gyeonju is the prettiest in the spring because there are cherry blossom trees that line the main streets.
I really appreciated the presentations that my classmates gave on their target language. I found it very interesting to observe both the similarities and differences that can be found across cultures. In particular, I found the presentation about plastic surgery in Korea to be really surprising. I was unaware of not only how common it was to get enhancement surgery was in Korea, but also the fact that it is almost necessary in achieving success within the country. In this way, the presentation really highlighted the value that Koreans place on physical attractiveness. It seemed like another way to keep the rich richer and the poor poorer since wealthy families are the ones that can afford the surgery. It truly gave me a new perspective on Korean culture.
Prior to learning the structure of the Turkish language, it is important to know some vocabulary, pronunciation of letters, vowel harmony, and pronouns. Fortunately, Turkish does not have gender specific rules which makes the language a bit simpler to grasp. In order to acquire the knowledge necessary to understand the structure of Turkish, I will use applications such as Duolingo, Babbel, and Mango to practice my vocabulary. Additionally, I will used the vocabulary I know to begin forming sentences. In this way, I can both visually and audibly note the way in which sentences are structured. With practice through classes with my learning partner and relevant worksheets, I will be able to notice patterns and apply those new concepts to constructing more sentences. I believe that a reference grammar could be helpful because it would provide me with something to look at when I might be struggling and also offer explanations for rules that might not be self-explanatory on their own.
Prior to enrolling in this course, I could not even say a simple hello or goodbye in Turkish. Therefore, I would consider myself to be at a Novice Beginning 0 stage according to the Levels of Competence document. However, by the end of the semester I hope to be able to have a simple conversation including things such as greetings, introducing myself, saying where I am from, providing my age and farewells. Additionally, I would like to be able to count, briefly describe the weather, and learn the proper way to address people based on how familiar I am with the person I am talking to. Being that I am interested in someday visiting Turkey and gaining a better understanding of my good friend's culture (who I briefly mentioned in a prior cultural post), I hope that this course will aid me in the first steps in becoming more familiar with the language and culture of Turkey.
This semester I feel that I accomplished a lot of what I had planned to learn. I wanted to focus on learning more vocabulary words that are practical and would be used in common daily interactions. I want to be prepared when I go South Korea for study abroad next Spring semester. My learning partner, Joora, helped me immensely with finding useful sources online where I can learn new vocabulary. It was also interesting getting to learn a little bit about the history of Korea when she provided me with YouTube videos with different historical topics. We learned about the time in Korea when Japan took over and I knew nothing about this even though it was such a major event that happened in Korea not too long ago.
What I don't learn from my parents, I can learn here at school, so I am grateful for all the sources and help I was able to receive. I think I learned a lot more practical material as well as went in-depth on some things that were touched upon last semester in 110. I hope to continue my studies next semester in 112 and deepen my knowledge of the Korean language as well as the culture.
I will dive deeper into the tourism in South Korea for this cultural post.
In Seoul, there are many different tourist attractions.
Gyeongbokgung is incorporated right into the central part of the city and offers many different guided tours. This was a 14th century royal palace with museums and gardens. Tourists from all over the world can enjoy this attraction and can live a day as a royal in the 14th century. There are several different historical features of Korea that guests can experience as well.
Myoeng-dong is known as the most famous shopping district in South Korea. This place has a heavy population of shoppers and tourists from all over the world, especially from around Asia. Going into this district, many different signs in different languages can be seen. There are also guides that help with any questions that any tourists or guests of the area has. On the top of the street, there is also a big cathedral that is also another tourist attraction for people all around the world.
Hongdae is another popular area for tourists. This is popular among the younger generation and has a strong presence of bars, clubs, and restaurants. This place is in front of Hongik University and is known for its night life. Hongik University is one of the top fine arts colleges in South Korea, which leads to many different creative artwork around the area. There is a strong presence of performances and hip cafes and trendy clothes.
Gangnam is another district that is distinct to South Korea. Popularized by Psy, Gangnam is a city that is known for clubs and its night life as well. Gangnam is a district that is widely known for its wealth and high standard of living. It is camparable to Beverly Hills in South Korea.
My third cultural post will be on travelling and tourism in South Korea. This will also be my topic for my cultural presentation.
South Korea is a famous tourist attraction known for its food, scenery, and most importantly, its shopping. South Korea is full of different food that ranges from traditional to contemporary. South Korea is most known for its shopping malls and street shopping. The 5 different locations that South Korea is known for are Jeju Island, Seoul, Haeundae Beach, Seoraksan National Park, and Gyeongju.
The Jeju Island is known to be one of the top honeymoon locations for Korean couples. This island is a volcanic island and is known as the Hawaii of South Korea. Travelers can go hiking, explore caves, eat different specialty foods, or just enjoy the view.
Seoul is the capital city of South Korea and is very urban. This city consists of many different districts with different characteristics for each of them. Although it is a very urban area, there are still some traces of history and homages to Korea's past incorporated into the city. In the middle of Seoul, there are fortresses and traditional gates that is incorporated into the city.
Haeundae Beach is in another major South Korean city, Busan. Busan is a seaport and is surrounded by many beaches. Haeundae is known to be a popular summer vacation destination, filled with many different festivals and events.
Seoraksan National Park is a popular mountain range that attracts many locals and international tourists from around the world. This place contains several famous temples that can be enjoyed as well as the breathtaking scenery.
Gyeongju is a small city in Ulsan. This city is home to numerous historical sites including the Bulguksa temple. This is a very famous temple among the buddhist community.
During these two weeks, I have learned about poetry in Korea, as well as counting words. Poetry is very apparent around the world and exists in every language. Joora helped us to read these poems and understand the motive behind them, as well as the meaning. This was a complex topic since poetry is highly artistic and is not very straightforward. Korean poetry was very difficult for me to understand because of the higher level of intricate vocabulary used and its different syntax. However, Joora made it a little clearer for me, but the meaning was still unclear.
In Korean, there are different ways to count different things. For example, trees are counted with "구루" while books are counted as "권". There are many different intricacies when it comes to these counting words and most of the times they do not make sense. There is a different word to count the packs of cigarettes, and different words to count the individual cigarette. There are also separate counting words for sheets of paper and even how many people. Joora gave us a comprehensive list of commonly used counting words for different things and gave us a test on it. Like the past lessons, these tests helped to give incentives on actually studying and reviewing these words. This gave us an idea of my progress in this language.
