We learned to say the consonants and vowels of the Korean alphabet. This took a while because we were learning how to combine them into an actual words. I am still trying to improve on my pronunciation and my memorization of the vowels. It will help with me being able to tell words faster. I will continue to review with flashcards of the alphabet. Attached below is my first artifact.
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- State your learning goals for this week and how you went about accomplishing these goals.
My learning goals for the coming week are to be able to order food at a restaurant, coinciding with my preparation for my second language presentation. In order to achieve this goal I will need to learn about different Korean foods and what they are called, as well as basic dinner vocabulary such as asking about and ordering food. In addition, I want to learn more about Korean table etiquette and basic conversation. This includes phrases like thank you for the food, and I would like to order this dish. I have already learned the basics of introductions and farewells so I am hopeful that I will be able to cover the basics of restaurant terminology this week.
- Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language.
Learning to speak a language like Korean requires an understanding of the languages culture and customs, as you need to know not only how to say something, but when to say it, how formal it should be, and what actions you should take while saying it. As I mentioned in my previous post, when someone offers you something it is Korean custom to refuse it the first couple times. This is because when Korea was still developing, many people in Korea were very poor. The Korean people are very proud and they did not want people to think that they were accepting charity. If you were not aware of this custom and you initially accepted a gift people might understand that you are a foreigner and that you might not know this but they might think it is rude. Understanding Korean history and the history of its language can help you learn the customs and peculiarities of the language.
- Reflect on your language learning so far and the relationship between understanding the target culture and the target language. What do you need to improve your communicative competence?
I have really enjoyed learning Korean so far. The process of learning Korean has not been entirely what I expected it to be, but I feel like the more I learn of the language the more I am interested in learning more. I initially expected learning to read and write to be the most difficult task, and for speaking to be easier, but I have found the opposite to be true. The Korean alphabet is very simple and intuitive and I enjoyed learning it. On the other hand, speaking Korean has proven more challenging. In order to correctly use the Korean language you need to have a solid understanding of Korean culture. For example, Korea has a very strict age hierarchy and this changes the way you greet different people. Thus, if you want to learn how to greet people, or introduce yourself in Korean, you need to learn several different ways of saying each phrase, with varying degrees of formality. Sometimes this can be as simple as adding or removing a character or two at the end of the sentence but in many cases you need to learn an entirely new way of saying something. In addition, learning Korean requires not only the use of the Korean language, but an understanding of Korean non-verbal communication. Many aspects of communication in Korea are made not just with words, but with gestures and actions as well. For example, when you greet someone it is expected that you will bow to them, with varying degrees of depth based on their age, position, and class. Another example is that of giving or receiving an item, where it is respectful to hand the item to someone with two hands instead of one. Furthermore, there are many language customs that Koreans have that are not present in English. One example of this is that when someone offers you something it is customary to refuse their offer several times before accepting. This custom was created when Korea was still developing and people were very poor, because Koreans are a very proud people and they did not want others to think they were not strong and that they accepted charity. I think Korean culture is very interesting and I am glad that I am getting the chance to explore it in depth. In terms of improving my communicative competence, my long term goals involve developing my ability to listen to and interpret spoken Korean, as well as working on improving my pronunciation and the fluency of my spoken Korean. In order to achieve these goals I will continue to practice speaking Korean with my girlfriend and watching Korean television. My personal goal is to be able to watch an episode of a Korean drama without English subtitles and to be able to understand the general plot of the episode.
- Reflect on the Culture Shock video and your own experiences and expectations of culture shock
My family traveled a lot while I was growing up so I thought I had become pretty comfortable with being in new places and experiencing different cultures. However, all of my trips as a child were with my family and I always had my Mom to turn to if anything happened or my brother to keep me company. This all changed when I decided to take a summer course in China when I was 15. Unfortunately I was placed in the wrong program and I ended up spending a month living alone in an apartment in ShangHai, enrolled in a class where the next youngest person was twenty years older than me. I had never traveled alone before and I felt very isolated living alone and without anyone I knew. I'm not sure if it was a combination of jet lag and pollution but the first day I got there I passed out for a second in a mall while I was getting supplies. Once I started to get used to the area and living abroad things started to get better but I don't think I overcame culture shock during that month. I think if I could do it again I would try to enroll in a program with people my own age and potentially go with a friend. Visiting Korea with my girlfriend was a very different experience and I didn't really feel any culture shock. I think its important to have people and things that make you feel at home when you are in a place that feels very foreign.
I have noticed an interesting trend in Ukrainian political music so far. The songs that are being produced and sung are not all in Ukrainian, which is what I would have anticipated, seeing as these songs are overwhelmingly patriotic in nature. I have found patriotic Ukrainian songs sung in English and Russian (in addition to Ukrainian), which at first struck me as odd, but after remembering that Ukraine is a multi-lingual nation with reasons to publish their political songs in languages other than Ukrainian, it made more sense. One of the songs that I found in Russian is called Вставай (Stand up), and not only is the message overwhelmingly patriotic, the music video evokes traditional images of Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants. The song is about the struggle between Ukraine and Russia for Ukrainian sovereignty, and the music video begins sometime in the past in a peasant village. A group of Russian soldiers ride into the village on horseback and terrorize the village, killing young children, implying rape of women, and burning down the entire village in the process. A traditional Ukrainian Cossack comes to the rescue, but is unable to save the entire village. The final scenes of the video take us into present day Ukraine, with the lead Russian soldier from the village (dressed in present day clothes) versus the Cossack (still in Cossack attire). The two fight in the streets, and the Cossack is able to kill the Russian, but ends up dying from a stab wound. A young boy passing by picks up the Cossack's sword, which has a message of "stand up, fight" printed on it.
Obviously, this is a very strong propaganda song for Ukrainians, as it shows Russians as long time antagonists to Ukrainian sovereignty and way of life. The fact that this very Ukrainian song was sung in Russian was confusing to me at first, but I think it was done purposefully to reach some of the Russian speaking population in Eastern Ukraine, where the fighting is the most intense.
Learning a language's history is essential to grasping the meaning behind certain nuances and words that may have cultural connotations or some sort of historically significant origin. I did some research on the Turkish alphabet's history
During the Ottoman Empire, which existed not too long ago, Turkish used the Arabic alphabet. However, after the collapse of the Empire and the creation of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk enlisted a new alphabet (using the Roman alphabet as guidance) and mandated everyone to use it. Ataturk also was instrumental in the part that Islam would play in the Republic. He believed that religion's heavy hand had a lot to do with why the Ottoman Empire did not succeed and he wanted to create a secular state that was not threatened by a doctrine of faith, which is why he switched the alphabet to Latin, instead of keeping it Arabic. He also wanted to make the country more appealing to the EU and the rest of the world, instead of not really fitting in with the Middle East.
I've found that Turkish culture and language are both heavily influenced by their society's expectations of upholding traditions of respect for elders and those you do not know, there is a sort of "old" feeling to the language. I would compare it to Old English. For instance, if you do not personally know someone, you have to use the formal version of the verbs when speaking to them. The traditions, like wedding rituals, coffee fortune-telling, and religion are all so interesting and unique. I think the part that interests me the most is the significance of religion in Turkey, so that is most likely what I will do my Cultural Presentation on. I am really intrigued how the language has changed, as well.
During the Ottoman Empire, which existed not too long ago, Turkish used the Arabic alphabet. However, after the collapse of the Empire and the creation of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk enlisted a new alphabet (using the Roman alphabet as guidance) and mandated everyone to use it. Ataturk also was instrumental in the part that Islam would play in the Republic. He believed that religion's heavy hand had a lot to do with why the Ottoman Empire did not succeed and he wanted to create a secular state that was not threatened by a doctrine of faith. He even went so far as to ban headscarves in public buildings (i.e. governmental, public universities, etc.). If an American president ever attempted to enact such a law, there would be an uproar of public outrage over such a distorted religious perspective. In that way though, Turkey differs from the United States. Turkey's rich history and conflict over religion led to a special circumstance where the people were enthused to see a secular state. Now however, Turkey is reverting to its non-secular ways with the current president placing a bigger emphasis on Islam in Turkey. I am very interested to see how this influences Turkey's future. I think that at this point, there has been too much westernization in Turkey to return to an Arabic alphabet, but it was done once before.
In order to improve my language competence, I think that I need to do more speaking outside of class time. In the past, I have been introduced to languages on a basis of meeting everyday of the week. That has been helpful to me because I do not lose much from day to day. But I think that in a way, that was lucky of me. I think that my vocabulary apps have done me well because I am able to bring words to mind rather quickly when asked a question, however, when I want to form sentences and paragraphs on my own, I hesitate.
This first week we started learning the Korean Alphabet Hangul. We started from learning the consonants. There was a worksheet that provided the actually writing of the consonant and the pronunciation. From there we were quizzed in the next few classes on reading, writing, and listening. The strategy to learning this was to constantly repeat it and write it. It is like the beginning of learning mandarin be pe mo fo. It is something that has to be memorized and after it is memorized it is much easier to learn the rest of the language. I had a lot of difficulties actually remembering the consonant while also remembering on how to write it.
Before taking this class, I did not fully realize how important it was to understand the culture of your target language in order to fully utilize the language in the real world. I have taken Spanish courses before, and although interesting, I never found the attention to cultural aspects of the language to be very important. Through videos such as Culture Shock, I discovered how strange it can be for a someone to be immersed in a new culture, and understanding some of the cultural differences related to a target language allow you to focus more on improving your communication skills. I have a particular interest in learning Spanish from television, and after listening to game shows and news broadcasts this semester I can definitely notice an improvement in my ability to comprehend spoken Spanish. It is still difficult to understand fast speakers, but my comprehension level for average speed speakers is getting better. I have also been working on my speaking skills, but I find it a little more difficult to practice this skill. My friend and I converse in Spanish sometimes, but I definitely notice a difficulty in code switching to Spanish from English since I almost always speak English. It probably won't happen this semester, but if I truly want to become fluent in Spanish I think I need to dedicate time every day where I either talk out loud by myself, or preferably find someone fluent in Spanish that I can talk with on a consistent basis. One of the skills not commonly taught when learning a language is the relevant slang terminology, and I find game shows specifically to be helpful in this regard. Most native speakers do not strictly adhere to the formal way of speaking taught in classrooms, so it is valuable to experience people speaking Spanish in the real world. For me personally I would like to be able to use Spanish when I am in Spain this summer, so I have been looking at some vocabulary that I think will be relevant, such as directional, food, and entertainment terminology. I know I can't learn a large amount of vocabulary that I will actually be able to implement in practice, so I am focusing primarily on what is most relevant to me. I have also been watching some soccer in Spanish, because I have a strong interest in sports and a lot of the terms in soccer are applicable to other sports. Apart from learning the language itself, I am very excited to be immersed in Spanish culture this summer. I find Spanish culture to be fascinating, and the more I learn about it the more I want to improve my Spanish language skills as well.
I really liked how the Culture Shock video talked about culture shock on the U of R campus because it made me feel like I could categorize my experience here. I've definitely experienced culture shock when I studied abroad in Spain, but I knew that would happen and I was prepared to be challenged on everyday things. When I came to Richmond, VA from Bellevue, WA, I didn't think there would be much of a difference. Besides, on a college campus with a population of people my own age, how different could things be? I think for me what was so hard about coming to Richmond was that A) it was really different in subtle ways from home and I wasn't prepared for that and B) it seemed like everyone else knew what was going on or was on the same page except me.
I really enjoyed all of the cultural presentations done by my classmates! I thought it was really interesting to see which aspects of the target culture people chose to focus on and how that reflected their own interest in learning the language. One of my favorite presentations was about the practice of wearing beanies in the Czech Republic. What I liked most about this presentation was that it showed an aspect of Czech culture that you could only learn by living there. I am really interested in little cultural peculiarities like this because I think they show a deeper understanding of culture rather than just knowledge of a cultural practice.
Artifact%20%231%20%28Greetings%2C%20Farewells%2C%20and%20Introductions%29.mp3
Angella (Boram) Lee's Artifact #1
Greetings, Farewells, and Introduction
2/25/17
Translation :)
Hello! My name is Boram. I am 20 years old. I am a second-year at the University of Richmond. I like to dance and hang out with my friends. Good-bye!
**Side note: Boram is my Korean name :)
Artifact%202--%20111%20Brad%20Fischer.m4a
In this artifact, I had a conversation with my learning partner, Thalia. In our interview, we covered the material I am currently learning. I talked about the names of the rooms in my house and other places on the property like the pool, the locations of the rooms in my house using direction, as well as talking about my dogs and where they like to play in my house.
I thought that a) my pronunciation of the words was good (You can listen to Thalia's pronunciation vis-a-vis mine.) Likewise, I thought my b) accent was decent, if a little bit too strong. And my c) vocabulary is increasingly building and becoming more advance.
In all, I am pleased with my progress.
Learning Journal 7: Reflect upon your progress to date, consider the effectiveness of your learning plan and activities, and discuss what changes--if any--you will make to finish the semester.
I think that I made a lot of progress since the time I started studying Korean. I am more knowledgeable about the different forms to speak to someone: formal and informal. Furthermore, I have cut down on my habit of using slang that only my family understood when I speak to others. I have been better at understanding Korean when I listen to Korean music, watch dramas, and when I talk with my mom.
I think my learning plans and activities are effective. Through my learning plan, I utilize my strongest learning methods: listening and writing. I listen to short video clips and songs every week. Then I use my writing skills to summarize and respond back to what I listened to. I also have phone calls twice a week with my mom where I speak to her as much as I can in Korean. I plan to make one change to my learning plan. I originally planned to buy a Korean translated chapter book every month and finish it. However, I realize now that my skills are not at that level. Therefore, I’ve changed my plan to reading a children’s book instead. I chose to read The Giving Tree, and so far it is more difficult that I thought it would be. I plan to focus solely on this one book, and I hope to build up my ability to read fluently and understand the vocabulary through rereading this book.
Complete Reflection Paper #2 (500 words) and Post to Your Blog in the Ning
Reflect on your language learning so far and the relationship between understanding the target culture and the target language. What do you need to improve your communicative competence?
I think that my language learning has improved since the beginning of the semester. I have been tailoring my learning plan to utilize my most dominant learning skills, such as listening and writing. I have mostly been listening to Korean songs and watching short Korean news clips on SCOLA. I have also been responding to and summarizing everything that I listen to in a journal. Furthermore, I watch Korean dramas to develop my ability to understand normal conversations.Though speaking in Korean is not one of my strong suits, I’ve been trying to develop my speech through speaking with my mom solely in Korean in our biweekly phone calls.
Learning Korean has opened my eyes more to the culture of Korea. I have become more aware of the hierarchy of age. If an individual is older than oneself, the individual must be spoken to in formal speech and treated respectfully through various body gestures. If an individual is younger than oneself, then it is alright to speak informally to the individual and there are no necessary body gestures. Learning about this hierarchy opens my eyes to my previous interactions with older adults and the treatment I received from them due to not knowing how to speak formally to them. I specifically remember one moment when I was in elementary school when I wished my grandpa happy birthday. During a family party, I walked up to him and informally told him “happy birthday” in Korean. He pretended to not hear me, and I remember saying it over and over again. Each time, he did not look at me and seemed to be in a foul mood. In retrospect, I realize now that since I was not speaking to him formally, he refused to acknowledge me. Korean is a different social system than that of which I am used to, so I automatically have the tendency to view this treatment as rude and inconsiderate. In the United States, we do not have a formal and informal speech system. Therefore, with that western cultural background, I admit that I do not like the system of hierarchy of age off the bat. As someone coming from a Western perspective to learn Korean, I am being more and more exposed to social traditions that are different from the ones I am used to in America. However, despite the cultural differences, learning Korean is teaching me how to navigate myself in situations where I need to speak formally. It helps me understand the social behavior necessary to thrive in a Korean environment. As a Korean-American, I realize that learning Korean helps me understand where my two countries clash culturally.
In order to improve my communicative competence, I think that I just need time and practice. I am familiar with Korean, but I think that I just need more practice to better speak and listen in the language. I don’t expect to sound like a native speaker by the time I finish this course. However, I would like to be more well-versed in my ability to recognize the situations I need to use formal/informal speech. Though it’s a difficult concept for me to accept, the hierarchy of age is something that I am trying my best to understand.
The attachment is my learning plan for this semester.
So far, my language learning has been going well. I have been able to explore topics with more freedom than when I was in Korea because my learning isn’t as regimented. I have also really enjoyed being able to blend resources together for my lessons such as using Naver Webtoons or my poetry books as learning tools. It’s made learning feel more natural and interesting for me. I have really enjoyed learning through tasks. That has allowed me to really focus my language learning on topics of interest and then directly apply my new knowledge. For example, writing my Korean resume was a lengthy process but from it I learned a lot about work related vocabulary and verb endings used exclusively for writing. Along the way, I had to learn how to read job descriptions and find job openings because what good is a resume that is never used? One task can naturally lead to another.
Since Korean is a high context language and Korea is a high context culture, an understanding of both can be very helpful. One example of that would be my presentation from earlier in the semester where I discussed the diversified use of the pronoun “우리” in Korean language and how that term reflects cultural values of inclusiveness and togetherness. Another example of that would be the lack of the use of the pronoun “you” in Korean. Koreans feel that using the pronoun “you” creates distance between the speaker and the listener and can show disrespect. Often you refer to someone by their name or title which shows that you acknowledge them and their status within your relationship. Often, between friends, the word is completely omitted. For example, 밥 먹었어? means “have you eaten?” but it literally translates to “food eaten?” This same pattern persists for a variety of phrases. If a foreigner were to include the pronoun “you” in these phrases, it would show their poor understanding of Korean and Korean culture. Furthermore, if you understand the culture around the grammar points or word choices, it makes them easier to remember. It can be hard to remember that you should use “our” in some instances and “mine” in others but if you consider the Korean cultural aspect around it, it becomes much more obvious on when you should use “our” or “mine” when referring to something.
I think improving my pragmatics would be a huge improvement to my Korean and it would let me sound much more natural. Often, Korean speakers drop particles and condense verb endings to make speaking easier and quicker, however that can cause for a loss of meaning for foreigner listeners. It can be much more difficult to discern between the subject and object of a sentence if particles are missing that denote that. Also, I would like to be able to find ways to reword my sentences so they sound as natural as possible. However, I think that level is many months away from me and I will need to learn the extended, proper, form first before I can imagine using the condensed forms.
