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Portuguese is an Indo-European language derived from Latin and belongs to the romance languages language family. Its origins are in the Western Iberian Peninsula, where Romans first introduced Latin as a language. Vulgar Latin, a nonstandard form of Latin, became the main language on the Peninsula. This language than developed into Galician-Portuguese language in the area on the Atlantic coast. These languages then divided into Galician and Portuguese branches after Galicia joined Spain. In the 14^th and 16^th centuries, Portuguese spread to Asia, Africa, and The Americas. In Asia and Africa, it was largely used as a common language for trade. The spread of Portuguese to the Americas lead to the development of the Brazilian Portuguese I am currently learning.

In terms of its history, I understand Portuguese to be a language of commerce and colonialization. It was widespread at one time, influencing the development of many other languages, but is currently mainly spoken in Brazil and Portugal. It is the 8^th most spoken language in the world.

Portuguese phonology particularly changed over time from Galician-Portuguese phonology to Modern Portuguese, and Contemporary Portuguese. Galician-Portuguese had a 7 oral vowel system and Modern and Contemporary Portuguese both have an 8 oral vowel system. However, in certain areas of Africa and Europe, a 9^th oral vowel has developed as well.

Linguists track changes in Portuguese like this through texts from each time period. With Portuguese, they are able to specifically use the development of the language in different geographic areas to see what words and rules are common amongst all of them to get a better sense of sustained aspects of Portuguese throughout its history.

We recently discussed listing objects and how to describe a three dimensional space. The former changes a lot depending on the situation. For example, if I have three children I would sign ME HAVE THREE KIDS. I would sign the number three with my dominant hand before switching to my non-dominant where I would hold out three fingers (thumb, index, middle finger). TO name and describe each child I would point to the corresponding finger descending from oldest to youngest. But after indicating which child I would use both hands to describe them before returning to the three finger list on my left hand to discuss the next.

However, if I am listing options for a meal, let’s say pizza, burgers, or soup, then I would not use the hand list. Instead I would shift my body three times and sign one option at each position. That is the same for discussing places to go or activities to do. My understanding is that you only need to make a list with your hands when you need to say something about each item on the list. I learned this the hard way. I did not need to make a hand list to talk about the different rooms in my apartment.

When working with three dimensional spaces, the concept of space in ASL overlaps greatly with the English language concept of spatial awareness. That is to say, we work clockwise, from the bottom up, and start with the things closest to the “speaker.” It’s one of those things that you don’t think about often, but imagine you are recording the interior of a renovated house about to go on the market; wouldn’t you orient yourself and direct the video as I have described above?

Clockwise works best because most people are right handed, regardless of the language that they speak. Bottom-up works because ASL is a visual language, so with our signs we are helping the viewer visualize themselves going through the space from where they would enter, which is usually the ground floor. Distance is important in ASL for both physical and metaphorical spaces.

I suppose that this commonality is not just between English and ASL, rather it is shared in Western cultures, broadly speaking. Our perception of personal space in the US tends to extend farther from our front and back than our sides. That is to say, our “personal bubble” is more oblong than circular. However, when I visited Sweden last year, I saw that people went out of their way to maintain an evenly spaced distance from one another to the point that on a busy train it was still common to find people standing rather than sitting beside a stranger.

Through SDLC 105, I realized that language learning is not something that you need to have a knack for or that requires overwhelmingly long-term hard work and dedication. I liked that we talked about breaking down language learning. It was nice to realize that it is similar across languages. It made me feel like I could use my previous language learning experience to advance my Portuguese learning. I also enjoyed that we talked about tips and tricks of language learning. For example, cognates mean that you already know some of the words of a language. It is these little bits of familiarity and encouragement that really buoyed me when I was struggling with beginning to learn Portuguese.

This class also confirmed that I am someone who learns best conversationally and through immersion. I like learning small concepts that I can grab onto and then being plunged into a native speaker conversation where I can pick out that concept and see how it is applied. I have realized that is one of the best ways I can remember something.

I have learned that I love the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. That is one of the most fascinating concepts that I have learned through this course and in general. It definitely has made me see culture and language in a completely different way. I also really enjoyed learning about the points of articulation for sounds and the phones of a language. However, I did struggle with other technical linguistic concepts such as lexical morphemes, lexical categories, and secondary manner.

I think that I will continue my learning through SDLC 110. I plan to take it next semester. My goal is to recognize how these concepts apply to my further language learning next semester. I have no background in Portuguese, so I am truly creating the foundation of my language learning. Through the concepts of this course, I will likely be able to detect patterns of the language and know the terminology that applies to it. This will be helpful to better remember and conceptualize these rules in my mind, accelerating my learning of Portuguese.

I found it very helpful when activities had us use our target language to explain the linguistic concepts we were learning. For example, when we had to find affixes in our target language and what they mean. It was interesting to see how these concepts are shared across languages and also definitely helped me with new words in Portuguese to see how they can be modified with certain affixes.

I also liked when we did word trees of various words. These were super fun and interesting, particularly to debate. I also enjoyed the presentations at the end of the course. These were a great way to see people’s different interests in the scope of their target language. I also thought it was fun to learn about words and cultural concepts in other people’s languages. After those presentations, I could talk about the history of Farsi, the divisions of Catalan, and the development of Korean music genres.

As with most first year language classes, the hardest part is building your vocabulary. Voca You have to cover the basics, the mundane, the everyday before abstract ideas. We have gone over food, household objects, clothes, and animals in the last month. Now, at the end of lessons, after I recite a paragraph she has prepared for me I also write one out myself using the vocabulary we have learned. Signing it shows her how comfortable I am with the vocabulary at the end of the lesson. And over time she can also see how I’m able to maintain the correct eyebrow positions while expressing myself, using the correct pattern for forming sentences, and moving my body to talk about multiple things at once. Writing everything out lets her check my ability to “gloss.” 

Glossing is the written English that follows the same grammatical word order as ASL so as to best put it on paper. It is a transcription not a translation. That is, there is no standard written language for ASL, despite the great strides taken by William Stokoe. Instead we are taking notes on ASL in another language: English. Glossing uses only CAPITAL LETTERS to visually distinguish it from English. Anything not signed, but necessary in the gloss are written in lowercase. 

“YESTERDAY me-HELP-him.”

I would not sign ME, HELP, and HIM in sequence to show that action. Instead the sign is one fluid movement where me and him are implied based on the direction of the sign. So, in a gloss we need to understand who was helped and by whom. The unsigned words necessary for comprehension are in lowercase and hyphenated to show the phrase is one sign with a specific meaning. 

It is also worth noting that English words do not have ASL equivalents. Rather ASL signs correspond to meanings. It is a symbolic language. There is not a sign for “to.” If you want to sign “I gave a gift to her” it would go “me-PRESENT-her.”  The meaning is the same, but you do not sign each individual word. 

Another difference between glossing and written English is that verbs do not change tense. Rather, you would sign the time that an event takes place at either the very beginning or the very end of your statement and that would indicate when the event occurred. 

YESTERDAY WE SWIM 

PAST me-WATCH THAT MOVIE

ONE-WEEK ME GO GALLAUDET 

Repetition of a single sign may change it’s meaning. If I sign TREE multiple times, that usually means FORREST. I can then write FORREST in a gloss and know to sign TREE multiple times. However, since I’m still getting the hang of glossing and growing my vocabulary, I usually take the time to write things out multiple times. It reminds me what I need to do when I recite things back to Kimmi. 

You can also write out non manual markers in parenthesis. So, if I need to turn my body to show difference in things I am listing or show that I changed actions or show that I was talking to different people, I can write that out (turn body)/(shift left)/(look up). Again, this is more common for beginners than professionals. 

When the glosser needs to indicate that they finger spelled a word they did not know how to sign or a new name, is is glossed in all caps with hyphens between the individual letters. 

M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T 

Here is an example of a gloss I wrote the other day: 

MY FAVORITE OUTFIT? HAVE BIKE PERSON-MARKER SHORTS, SHOES S-N-E-A-K-E-R-S. COLOR? BLACK HAVE STRIPES PINK. SOCKS - THICK (C Classifier?), WHITE. S-W-E-A-T SHIRT FROM MY SCHOOL NAME? UNIVERSITY RICHMOND. SHIRT HAVE SCHOOL NAME. I LIKE MY CLOTHES. WHY? WARM and (turn body) LOOK SAME PRINCESS D-I-A-N-A 

My instructor, Kimmi, is very organized. Her lesson plans for language acquisition are shared with me on a GoogleDoc. Each meeting she adds in the vocab and practice sentences that we will go over along with a YouTube video that demonstrates a grammatical concept we discuss. Kimmi is hearing, but a “heritage speaker” for ASL. This greatly helps her ability to explain deaf concepts to a hearing person while still feeling authentic. 

It also made it way easier for me to explain the injury I incurred over Halloween weekend that halted my instruction the first week of November. I broke my finger playing in a rugby tournament and overextended the brachial plexus nerve resulting in a sports injury called “stingers.” It was not only uncomfortable, but I was terrified that I would need surgery too. The soonest I was able to schedule a follow up appointment with orthopedics was the second week of November which meant I was unable to practice ASL (or do dishes, or pick things up really). I was straightforward with Kimmi about my injury and the pain, but made it clear that I still desired to practice. Nonetheless, she insisted that I wait until I heard back from the professionals so as not to further damage myself. 

She also told me about how many people in the deaf community have orthopedic issues, nerve damage, and arthritis from using their hands as their primary form of communication. In particular, there has been a push to limit movements that extend the wrist side to side as it can  accelerate nerve damage such as with the twisting motion when signing “HOW.” 

This was news to me, but it makes perfect sense. People get carpal tunnel from their jobs and using their phones, throw in an entire language based on hand motions and cramping is sure to follow. That being said, this accident reminded me of the importance of hand and wrist health especially as a college student when I spend most of my day staring at a screen and clicking away at a keyboard. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-SIHcDvRyfUZPh5jK5G0RiwhLBowZBNt/view?usp=sharing

Korean cuisine has been utilized for millennia to maintain the body's balance and offers a wealth of health benefits. Food and medication are frequently viewed as being the same. According to the concept that "health begins with food," medical treatment should be tried if no improvement is noticed after initially attempting to treat all ailments with diet. One of the key words to understanding traditional Korean food is fermentation, a metabolic process that helps food to “mature” so that it can be stored for a longer period. The foods that best represent the tradition of fermentation developed in Korea include doenjang (soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce), gochujang (chili paste), and jeotgal (fermented fish sauce). The fermentation can take anywhere from several months to several years. 

Doenjang된장 paste is a fermented soybean paste similar to miso. The fermentation process of the doenjang paste neutralizes the toxins and anti-nutrients that soybeans contain. Doenjang is salty in taste and is related to the kidneys and bladder. Doenjang is a cheap source of protein. Fermented soy paste, the most essential condiment of Korean cookery for more than 2000 years. It is rich in flavonoids, linolic acid, vitamins, minerals, and hormones. It is anti-cancer and prevents cardiovascular disease

Gochujang 고추장 is a traditional Korean condiment made by fermenting a mixture of soybean malt, salt, and chili pepper powder with a blend of powdered rice, barley, flour, and malted barley. The spiciness of gochujang is good for the lungs and large intestine and gives energy. Gochujang has been a part of traditional Korean cuisine since the sixteenth century. Gochujang aids digestion so is great to eat with meat or food that is harder for the body to digest. Capsaicin, a substance found in chili peppers, is known to reduce body fat. Gochujang is used in Korean dishes such as bibimbap (rice with vegetables), tteokbokki (rice cakes in hot sauce), gochujang stew, and bibimguksu (noodles with vegetables).

Kimchi 김치 is fermented spicy cabbage and is the most famous Korean dish. Well-fermented kimchi is sour, so is beneficial to the gallbladder and liver. Kimchi has vitamins A, B, and C, and it contains Lactobacillus, a probiotic similar to that found in yoghurt. Probiotics aid digestion, boost the immune system, help to efficiently use vitamins, and filter out bad bacteria or toxins. They are also linked to reducing cholesterol. In 2003, when(SARS) was spreading throughout the world, foreign media reported that the Korean people were safe from SARS because they eat kimchi, which triggered global attention to its efficacy. In 2006, Health Magazine, an American monthly, selected kimchi as one of the world’s five healthiest foods.

The Korean medicinal food culture has been coming from the idea of Yak Sik Dong Won 약식동원, meaning food and medicine share the same root. The Korean culinary culture preserves its aim of producing healthy food with traditional cooking methods, cooking technology, basic principles, and knowledge. In contrast to today’s foods which are said to be good for health with fabrication and vague rumors, the Korean culinary culture has a structure that is proven and supported by medical and scientific data.

خوش نویسی (khoshnevisi)

Last cultural post of the semester! If you have by chance read my Monthly Language Learning Journals, specifically the August post, you may skip this section as I will just be providing some brief context on PLO. For my Farsi studies, I am -- at the time this artifact is being posted -- using the website Persian Language Online to study (abbreviated as PLO from here on out. While reading PLO lesson 42 (in the "Intermediate" level), I came across a new term, خوش نویسی (kkoshnevisi). My language partner explained this as an ancient art form, the best translation being Persian calligraphy. I tried to find a rather short video (posted below), though feel free to play it at two times speed or skip around.

Etymology. خوش نویسی (khoshnevisi) stands for the actual art form of calligraphy, while خوش نویس (khoshnevis) -- without the suffix -ی (-i) -- is a calligrapher or the actual artist who is painting/writing the calligraphy. خوش نویس (khoshnevis) comes from خط نوشتن (khat neveshtan) meaning 'to write a script,' where خط (khat) literally means 'line,' and نوشتن (neveshtan) means 'to write.'

History. Much of the modern-day Iranian/Persian script is due to the 7th-century Arab Conquest of Persian (also called the Islamic Conquest of Persian). The major players were the Sasanian Empire ('the Persians') and the Rashidun Caliphate ('the Arabs'). Due to a laundry list of prior events that weakened the Sasanian Empire -- namely a civil war, the Rashidun Caliphate was able to annex the Sasanian Empire, leading to its eventual downfall.

In brief, this conquest changed many things about ancient Iranian culture, including but not limited to the -- rather forced -- transition from Zoroastrianism to Islam, increasing Arabic influence on legal code and culture, and (most importantly for this post) a change of script. The change of script was mainly due to the introduction of Islam, as with it came the Arabic alphabet. Over time, Persians adopted the alphabet and morphed it into their own, which is now known as the Persian alphabet or Perso-Arabic script. 

Nasta'liq. Around three hundred years later, Abū ibn Muqla Bayzavi Shirāzi would develop six different styles of Persian calligraphy, "Mohaqiq", "Reyhan", "Sols", "Naskh", "Toqi" and "Reqa." Historically, these are also known as the "six pens." of Nasta'liq, the most predominant style today, originates from another artist combining the styles "Naksh" and "Reqah." Khoshnevisi is the name for Persian calligraphy in general. 

Technique. Though I ventured a little bit into the different styles, there are many more that I neglected to mention. For brevity's sake, I will be focusing on Nasta'liq. Pens are generally made of reed, with an end cut to an edge. See the image to the right. The material is somewhat softer than a traditionally Western metal calligraphy pen, but unlike many metal tips, the width is not so much determined by the weight or pressure put on the pen when writing. Nasta'liq involves rotating the pen at various angles to achieve different thicknesses in strokes. These angle changes must be fluid, or else the appearance becomes choppy and does not look like one single fluid stroke. 

References

González E S, "The Art of Writing Beautifully," Getty. 26 May 2022. https://www.getty.edu/news/the-art-of-writing-beautifully-persian-calligraphy/

"Persian calligraphy wins UNESCO protected status," Tehran Times. 17 December 2021. https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/468158/Persian-calligraphy-wins-UNESCO-protected-status

Yūsofī Ḡ-H, "CALLIGRAPHY (continued)," ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA. 1 January 2000. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/calligraphy-2

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/weaving-of-mosi-fine-ramie-in-the-hansan-region-00453

For my last cultural artifact, I’ll be discussing the weaving of mosi (aka ramie) in the Hansan region. This act of weaving clothes has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage and its history in Korea dates to the 9^th century. While it’s growing in popularity as a source in bioplastics to manufacture hybrid cars, it is not commonly used for textiles due to its labor-intensive process. The mosi is encased in resin and have a hairy exterior that need to be removed before obtaining the inner fibers. The Hansan region in particular in the western region of South Korea is known to have great conditions to grow the mosi. The mosi is harvested, processed, and weaved by incredibly skillful women. This process is traditionally a women-led family operation and encourages the daughters and daughters-in-law to join in.

The rough skins of the mosi is peeled off using a special knife. This knife cannot be too sharp, or else it can cut through and shorten the fibrous strands. The shoots are sundried until the mosi changes colors from green to brown. Afterwards, each strand of the plant is separated using the women’s front teeth. This method is much quicker than separating by hand because saliva is used to make the process easier. Unfortunately, because these women pass the strands across their teeth and against their lips, many of these professionals have frequently cut their lips to the point of building up calluses. After this separation, the strands are twisted into their desired length and are placed into a yard guide. Finally, the starching process allows the fibers to strengthen by brushing them over a burning flame.

Using a loom contraption, the women manually weave the strands to make larger square pieces of cloth. Ultimately, the cloth is used to make dress suits, military uniforms, mourning garments and bojagi (a wrapping cloth). These garments are extremely light-weight and are mainly worn during the summer. Due to its long process, only the elite were able to afford these clothes. Unfortunately, decades ago, many of the women who were skilled in creating this garment came from families of low socioeconomic status and were not even able to wear the garments they were trained to make.

There’s even a Hansan Mosi Museum located in Seocheong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do Province that hosts an annual Hansan Mosi Festival. It features a reenactment of Gilssam-Nori (a traditional Korean play) and other experiential programs. I think the coolest event is the fashion show that offers traditional and modern outfits created from mosi. This incorporation of using traditional garments, but in modern styles is quite interesting. I like how mosi weaving, although labor-intensive, is still kept alive. Even the dyeing process is done naturally to preserve the traditions. I don’t recall ever owning garment made out of mosi, but I hope to try one in the future so test if it really is that comfortable. Hopefully, I’ll have an excuse to visit Korea soon so that I can experience even more than my last times.

Imagine that you have received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of your target language and culture. How would you get started, and what would you investigate? How would different structural components presented in class appear in your work?

If I received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of Portuguese, I would investigate the impacts of the gendering of nouns on Brazilians’ perceptions of random objects. My approach would be through literature review and on the ground research. Through literature review, I would be able to see what other studies have been completed about these topics. I would also be interested in what studies have been completed about the origins of Portuguese and how its roots relate to why it is a gendered language currently. The Western Iberian Latin roots of the language are largely the reason. However, I would be interested to study the ethnogenesis of Portuguese branched off from this language by researching language trees and comparing the similarity of certain key word roots using word trees. However, new words are also constantly being created. I would be interested in how genders are assigned to new words as well. I know that a majority of gender assignments are based on what a word’s suffix is, such as -o indicates a masculine noun. However, I am interested in how exceptions to these common rules are decided.

Additionally, I am also interested in how these grammatical rules related to gender play a role in people’s perception of the world, in other words, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. I would be interested in finding ways to test how gendered nouns affect people’s perceptions of those objects. One way that I’ve found this was done in a similar study is asking people to assign voices to animals, being able to classify animals as certain genders, and testing people’s perceived similarities between objects.

This week and the previous week I have continued working on expanding my vocabulary of Korean terms, specifically focusing on food-related terms (meat, vegetables, grains, fruit, types of meals, etc.) I also have been retaining my knowledge on how to tell the date, time, and weather each day by writing it in Korean each day. With my newly learned vocabulary, I hope to be able to use these terms in sentences that can be used day to day, for a restaurant setting or grocery store/market setting. My language partner, Rachel, and I have continued to have our weekly meetings which have been very productive and very helpful to my language-learning journey. We still haven’t been able to go to the Korean Restaurant for our cultural experience but I hope we will be able to this final week of the semester. Something that we’ve both enjoyed doing is watching a Korean Drama to aid in the language learning experience as listening to the language really helps one to get used to the vernacular, pinpoint new words, and understand sentence structure. Some strategies that have been implemented into my language learning journey include resources provided by global studios (Korean to English dictionary textbook) Youtube, music, entertainment, vocabulary quizzes, and actively writing Korean. These strategies have been very effective in helping me retain what I have learned from my language partner and continue to practice and build with what I already know well. The use of Quizlet for vocabulary quizzes has really helped me with memorizing terms better. Before using Quizlet, I would struggle with keeping up with reviewing my new vocabulary but Quizlet made it easier with the flashcard function and the test function. I will build on what I have learned about the language by starting to focus more on sentence structure and how and if it changes when slowly making it more complex. I would also like to learn if Korean has measured words for people or objects and learn more about when to use the right honorifics for the right person. I think now, I feel even more enthusiastic about continuing to learn Korean because I didn’t realize how much progress I’ve made and much faster I have become physically writing Hangul. In the connection between the language and the Korean culture where it is spoken, I have learned from my language partner the importance of using formal speech to perpetuate politeness as it is important to the culture and the Korean people. Even the simplest of phrases have a specific way that they should be said to a stranger/acquaintance or someone that is older or in a position of power. So that is something I will definitely need to continue to take into consideration when I am writing and speaking Korean. I will definitely have to make revisions in your task lists and/or short-term and long-term goals by continuing to focus on expanding my vocabulary but also making sure to slowly integrate grammar so I am able to progress in the aspect of practicing to form my own sentences correctly and communicate effectively with those that speak Korean. I am very grateful for my language partner that has helped me so much.

If I were to conduct a linguistic study of my target language and culture, I would start by investigating the historical events and history of Korea. Part of this research would center around finding possible connections (points of contact from other nations) with different cultures and languages that could have possibly impacted the Korean language. Although Korean is known to be part of its own language family called the Koreanic language family, there is some debate as to whether it may have ties to the Altaic Language Family. I would want to research in what way the Altaic Language Family is similar to Korean and if there is historical evidence to support it. Studying the Altaic Language Family or looking at existing research of the two language families being comparisons, would give insight into finding key similarities or differences that could aid in easing the transition of learning Korean. I would also investigate the aspects of Korean grammar, and see if it's similar in any way to the languages of its neighbors (countries). 

November

Preface

Last learning journal for the semester! Unfortunately, the internet shutdown in Iran is still a looming issue (see the September & October posts for more resources on the Mahsa Amini protests). As I mentioned in a previous learning journal, I think it might be beneficial to seek out a secondary language partner on iTalk over winter break for the coming semester. That being said, however, it seems that Microsoft Teams might turn out to be a more viable option than WhatsApp, Viber, or Signal (considering the current circumstances in Iran). This past month, my language partner and I have been switching between communication platforms in an effort to resume using video chat during our language learning sessions. Before the shutdown, video chat was a given, but now it is a coin toss on whether or not the call will drop if we use it. Though we have only been using Teams for a week, we have not yet had a call drop (fingers crossed!). 

PLO Lessons & Progress

If needed, please see the August post for further explanation of PLO & difficult levels; E# = Elementary Lesson #, I-# = Intermediate Lesson #). On my last journal, I had just finished E38, and I had two more lessons to go until finishing the Elementary level and continuing on to Intermediate (I-41 -- I-60). As predicted, now that I have started the Intermediate lessons, my progress has slowed down significantly. The jump from the Elementary level to Intermediate is steep, as the lessons are now much longer and more complicated. I am going through about one lesson a week, so 2-3 sessions per lesson. Currently, I just started I-43. 

Now that we have covered almost all the material for SDLC 105, I am feeling more prepared to tackle more of the complex grammar in Farsi. At this point, I am growing much more accustomed to the Subject-Object-Verb syntax in Farsi.

Now, I think the two things I am currently working on are the definitive article را (rā) and مورد (mowred). Out of the two, I understand rā much better. It is a definitive article, often used after a transitive verb. The closest English equivalent would be "the," but they are not quite the same, as rā only used when a verb is affecting a noun, e.g. "taking the book", not just "the book is red." Mowred, I have to admit, is giving me some trouble. It seems to be a sort of placeholder. In isolation, it is a noun, but what confuses me is when it is used in tandem with other modifiers. For example, mowred-e alāghe, which means favorite. 

Other than that, the main thing I am struggling with is just remembering more abstract grammar, which I assume will just come with time and repeated review. 

I am so proud of how far Leticia and I have come. It has been an insane semester for both of us. Leticia, who has acclimated to living and learning at a US school and has been ever so patient with me, having never attempted to speak Portuguese until this past summer.

Together, we have both stopped to take a breath and teach each other how best to learn Portuguese. I have watched her seize the role of educator, creating our weekly schedule and researching a textbook and creating assignments in it for me. She also has insane amounts of patience and is willing to be silly. Just last week, our lesson took a weird turn as we discussed the concept of “black eyes” in Portuguese and the short hand of saying someone has “a blue eye” instead of blue eyes. We were both in tears we were laughing so hard over saying to someone in English that you liked their blue eye, which would be totally normal to say in Portuguese. It is finding out little gems like this that have gotten me through some of the more overwhelming parts of tackling a language that I am so unfamiliar with. I look to Leticia as a role model in this. She has truly immersed herself in English and I look to her for inspiration that I can learn a language while still in my home country with all my comforts.

However, to be less sentimental: these are my overall thoughts and reflections regarding my semester of language learning through the Self-Directed Language Program.

I believe that initially Leticia and I were both overwhelmed and I was worried I should have taken the time to first take the intro course to have a better idea of how I wanted to structure the Portuguese course. However, looking back I have no regrets because I believe both of us jumping in was helpful in pushing us to work out the kinks as we were experiencing them. We progressed from having a central notebook in which I took notes and she wrote down key vocabulary. Then, we created the topic schedule for each of our meetings. Now, we also have the additional resource of a textbook. I think that these are all key components to have when both people involved in the SDLC match-up do not have experience with SDLC and, in my case, do not have experience with the language. All three of the resources I have mentioned above were crucial to creating the structured class I needed as a beginner in the language. Leticia introduced these resources because they were also helpful to her as an educator. She was dealing with a brunt of the work in having to come up with examples and vocabulary on the fly at first. She brought in the textbook and website resources (through the schedule) to provide more of that vocabulary in advance. The schedule gave her more time to come up with those examples. She took my learning plan and assigned dates to it, so that she could prepare before each of the dates and also so that I could prepare any questions I had as well.

However, where I think we could continue to improve is that we need to converse in Portuguese more during our courses rather than reading Portuguese from a text. Reading sentences aloud is helpful to better my pronunciation (which always needs the help); however, it does not require any critical thinking. I think that we need to be incorporating more activities like the maps and family trees we drew (during midsemester) so that we can use our vocabulary in conversation. I also think that I could improve upon, or at least something that I have not figured out yet, is if I should be keeping notes. Language is something that is so mentally driven, I usually end our courses with a bunch of random words, letters, and phrases scrawled on my paper in both Leticia and I’s handwriting. I am definitely absorbing some of the skills and vocabulary reflected in these writings, but not everything. I think that something I wish I had done more of throughout the semester is had notes that I would be able to reference when something comes up that I know we have gone over, but I cannot remember. 

Overall, however, I think that the program has largely been successful for both of us. The flexible nature of meet up times and settings was incredibly helpful when both of us had busy times during the semester. It feels like any place on campus has served as our classroom, which is kind of beautiful to me because all we really needed were the two of us.

I love to look back on my meetings with Leticia because they are just…fun! For the past few weeks, we have really found our rhythm and she also was kind enough to put my list of goals into a schedule for us to follow. Now, each day when I arrive to Portuguese we have a specific topic we are going to focus on that day and she has prepared various songs, other videos, or vocabulary for us to go over.

What I most generally hoped to accomplish this month is building my foundation in Portuguese. I feel as though the first month was becoming familiar with the different points of articulation that Portuguese has, many of which are farther back than English goes (at least they are in Leticia’s Rio accent) or are nasally in a way I am not used to. Leticia has been incredibly kind to repeat words over and over for me so that I can phonetically absorb the way that native speakers say the words I am learning. It is something as simple as the month of July, Julho, that I still struggle with. There are subtle phones that my ear still can’t detect and that my mouth still can’t wrap around. It is humbling and frustrating when you feel like you physically aren’t able to pronounce something, particularly not at a fast speed. I believe that I am learning a lot from the experience, however, and I am taking it slow in order to build a solid foundation that has less of an American accent!

We’ve gone over a lot of vocabulary and conversational phrases that have helped in familiarizing me with pronunciation as well as basic words. We reviewed the family tree and how to give directions. These were both fun topics because we were able to draw a family tree and draw a map of a town. Then, I would use the vocabulary I just learned to describe the relations between two people or to direct Leticia to a certain place. I enjoyed being forced to struggle through using some of the vocabulary on my own and see if Leticia understood.

We also learned about cultural topics, particularly art. For this lesson, Leticia went through the different museums in Brazil and what each of them displayed. She showed me some of her favorite Brazilian artists such as Kobra, a graffiti turned mural artist that had breathtaking works splayed across multiple cities in Brazil, and Sebastião Salgado, a photographer of Indigenous peoples she was particularly excited to show me. I didn’t learn much Portuguese in that lesson, but I wasn’t worried. I learned so much about the cultural context of Portuguese as well as what can be communicated without words. It was a definitive highlight of our meetings together.

Overall, I think we have made a lot of progress in how the meetings are more structured now that they are centered around a topic. I am also excited because Leticia has found a textbook that we will also be working out of for our future meetings.

While I talked about my experiences, goals, and activities I’ve done in my previous journals, these past couple of weeks have been more information dense. So, let’s get into it!

While scrolling through my For You page on my social media, the algorithm suggested a short preview of a new Netflix series called Korea No. 1 featuring one of Korea’s top MC Yu Jae-seok, popular entertainer/actor Lee Kwang-soo, and Korea’s most famous volleyball player Kim Yeon-kyong. I began to watch it out of curiosity and quickly realized that for a variety show, it was incredibly informative. With the focus on the rich culture of Korea, the cast visits and learns from the best traditional masters and even helps them with the labor-intensive projects. Some of these projects included giwa (clay roof tile) molding, makgeolli (rice wine) brewing, and anchovy catching using methods that are over 600 years old. The episodes were hilarious and enjoyable to watch and I learned that many Korean idioms and proverbs stemmed from these traditional skills.

Additionally, in my history class (Art & Asia), we finally made our way to Korean art. Although I know the gist of Korea’s history and have learned from my parents over the years, this was my first time learning any sort of Korean history in a formal educational setting. We started from the first piece of historical artwork we discussed originated in 736 during the Unified Silla Period and we made our way all up to contemporary art in 2022 where we even discussed the K-pop group BTS and their impacts on spreading Korean culture. We also discussed the artwork of Shin Yunbok and Kim Hongdo who were known for their genre paintings that depicted the everyday lives of people. For some reason the names “Hongdo” and “Yunbok” sounded familiar and I later realized that those were the names of the characters of the twin medical students-turned-residents in the popular K-drama Hospital Playlist. I loved how the producers incorporated such historical figures in a 21^st century drama and now I can also notice and appreciate that too!

Lastly, I was able to meet my family and a close family friend this past week due to Thanksgiving break! The family friends stayed with us and because they mostly speak Korean, it was some good practice for me. They also had a 3-year-old son who had an impressive vocabulary bank, so we had some very interesting conversations about cars, animals, nature, and… the concept of patience and gratitude. He is a wise one for sure! My sister and her roommates also came, but we ended up talking more in English than in Korean. I thought this was quite interesting because while I am older, my sister had more Korean-speaking friends during our youth and therefore was much better at understanding Korean vocabulary than I have. But oh, have the tables turned because it only took a semester of college for her to forget to have a full conversation in pure Korean. So of course, Konglish was the way to go.

Overall, I really enjoyed this semester of learning Korean. I learned more about Korean culture, its rich history, and I also got to practice some skills I wasn’t as confident in during the beginning of the year.

During this month, besides reviewing previous materials at the beginning of each meeting, I start learning commonly used question words in Korean and trying to form a complete questioning sentence. 

When learning English, the first couple of question words we learn must be “who, what, when, where, and why”, so we start with learning how to say those 5 words in Korean. Who is “누가/누구”, what is “뭐”, when is “언제”, where is “어디”,  and why is “왜”, I remember those really quickly as I always hear them while watching Korean dramas and reality shows. When forming a simple question like “why is there” or “what is there”, just add “있어” after the corresponding question words. For example, “왜있어” means “why is there”. When asking “what to do” or “where to do”, just add “했어” after the corresponding question words. For example, “뭐했어” means “what you do”. 

Later I learned when asking questions in Korean about “how many”, we have to obey a rule which is related to the object we are referring to. In English, when we ask about people we just say “how many people” and if we want to ask about items we could say “how many items”, we always have to point out what we are asking for. There’s the same in Korean, there are different words for different kinds of objects we are referring to. Generally, “how many” in Korean is always “몇”, the difference appears when asking about different objects. When asking “how many people,” we say “몇명”, and when asking “how many items” we use “몇개”. It is quite obvious that “명” refers to people and “개” refers to items. However, the difference between English and Korean is that in English when asking “how many bags” and “how many desks”, it only has to change the words. In Korean, “bags” and “desks” are in the same category which is “item”, so when we have to use “몇개” in the question. For “how many bags”, we say “몇개 가방”, we don’t say “몇명 가방” since “명” refers to people. Besides words for items and people, I also learned “마리” is for animals, “권” is for books (also used for magazines, comic books, textbooks, and so on), “시” is for time, “살” is for age, “번” is for frequency, “일” is for the date, and “층” is for the floor. After learning these questions words, I’m able to write many questions. At the beginning of the last two meetings, I shared 5 questions I wrote with Vivian and she said my grammar is mostly correct and taught me the correct way to form a  more complex question. For example, I wrote the question “how many books are there in your bag?” (몇권 책 가방있어?), the correct sentence should be “가방에 책 몇권있어?”, where I should put the object “bag” at the first since that is the object I mainly want to refer to and have the question word “몇권” at last before the verb “있어”.

SDLC F22 Discussion Posts

Post #10

1) Read: ScienceLine, “Are Bilinguals Really Smarter?” 2) Read: NYT: “Why Bilinguals are Smarter”

Imagine that you have received a research grant to conduct a linguistic study of your target language and culture. How would you get started, and what would you investigate? How would different structural components presented in class appear in your work?

I would want to investigate modern slang in Iran, especially around the government and censorship, and also how the modern-day population views Islam. I would first try to talk to the family and/or contacts I have in the U.S., as it might be much harder to discuss such topics in Iran. I would also try to reach out to any known researchers in the field. I know from limited experience that a large number of (particularly younger) Iranians do not practice Islam, and a more-or-less common form of protest is improperly wearing the state-officiated hijab. I recall one of my cousins saying you could tell what people in Iran were actual Muslims based on how they wore the hijab, as many women still show their hair (but not enough to get detected by the morality police). Eventually, after my Farsi was proficient enough and I knew enough nuances about the culture -- especially as it concerns politics, I would go to Iran and try to discretely gather opinions on the topic. This endeavor is rather fantastical, as many people might be too afraid to talk so openly about the government. Communicating with technology would be out of the question, as the Iranian government monitors internet interactions. 

Post #9

How have you started writing in the target language? Do you prefer to type or write freehand? Have you started to see patterns emerge in the structures between words, clauses, and sentences? What is the relationship between simple and complex sentences? How does your knowledge of parts of speech, government, and agreement affect your ability to communicate in written contexts? Provide a sample of several short meaningful writing exercises from your target language. 

I have dabbled in writing in Farsi (my target language), mostly out of curiosity. The script is written and read from right to left, and the main strokes are completed first within one 'word' (a little complicated how that is divided up), then additional strokes are added (dots and slashes. Many verbs are compound, meaning they can be formed by taking a noun or a verb and another verb and making a new verb. Here are some examples of this:

• دیدن کردن (didan kardan) to visit
  • دیدن (didan), to see
  • کردن (kardan), to do
• حرف زدن (harf zadan), to talk/speak
  • حرف (harf), letter/speech
  • زدن (zadan) to hit, to touch

There are no gendered articles in Farsi, in fact, there is no word for the pronouns he or she, only it (though there are varying degrees of politeness). The pronoun "it" is actually hardly used, it is much more common to refer to someone by their name or relation, or just leave it out of the sentence and only conjugate the verbs in the third person. 

Post #8

1) NYT “Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction”  2) Watch the 2007 Interview with David Harrison, “When Languages Die.”

How do languages go extinct?

Increasing globalization and rising global communication have, almost ironically, caused a severe degradation in the diversity of language. Globalization, more often than not, leads to homogenization, as cultural intermingling leads to cross-cultural change. Hegemonic cultures (such as Western/European cultures) often lead this homogenization, as various forms of media signal the hegemonic culture as a model one. This cultural phenomenon parallels what happens to the languages within the respective cultures. 

Respond to the readings, and reflect on what happens when a language dies. How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a ‘dead’ language ever be brought back to life? What efforts are currently underway to document linguistic diversity?

One crucial aspect of reviving a language is creating an immersive environment so that language can be quickly absorbed by new learners. Though learners can study a language for a long period of time, they might never reach the same level that they would in an immersive environment (often in a shorter period of time). This inherently answers the next question, as linguists can help foster these immersive environments, as the more easily accessible they are, the more motivated learners will be to pursue them. 

The question of whether or not 'dead' languages can be revived depends heavily on how one defines a 'dead' language. If there are no surviving records of the language, be it speakers or scripts, this would make reviving it extremely difficult, as there might be no way to tell if its revival is accurate to the original (i.e. it is possible a new language could be made with the same name as the old, but we would have no way to tell). 

Post #7

No Readings

Go back and watch the recording of your presentation of your learning plan on the class PanOpto collection on Blackboard. Comment briefly on how things are going. What has changed? How have you incorporated materials and insights from class into your efforts? Have discussions regarding language structures and learning strategies helped you to understand the target language and culture? If so, how? Reflect on your language learning so far. How would you describe the relationship between language and culture? What do you need to do to improve your communicative competence? Based on the readings by H.D. Brown, what kinds of competence are emphasized in your plan?

A lot has changed politically in Iran. It has been much harder to talk about current events because my language partner fears the Iranian government is monitoring our calls. In terms of materials, it has been much slower than I had anticipated. The intermediate lessons on the website that I use, PLO (Persian Language Online), use much more intricate grammatical structures that are not as intuitive to me. The vocabulary is more abstract, so it makes it more difficult to remember/recall fluidly. I have incorporated more lessons from class. Our current unit on phonology has made it easier for me to understand the articulation points I should be striving for. 

I do not think I am quite at the level yet where I can connect the language structure to culture; that being said, however, the influence of Arabic on Farsi (Arabic loanwords, script, etc.) portrays the intermixing of the two cultures and the integration of Islam in modern-day Iran.

Through my learning of Farsi, my understanding of the linkage between language and culture deepens. Especially considering the political circumstances in the country, the movements in the language (such as attempting to reduce Arabic loanwords, despite Arabic being the dedicated language of the Quran) are tied with current political movements (reduction of Arabic can, in a way, show how some members of society -- especially women -- are moving towards a more secular state). 

Post #6

Readings: 1) “What is a Language Family” by Kevin Morehouse 2) “Family Tree of Language Has Roots in Anatolia, Biologists Say” by Nicholas Wade 

Reflect on the history of your target language. To what language family does it belong? What sounds, words, and structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?

Farsi specifically belongs to the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages, which is in the Indo-European language branch. One influence can be seen in the very name of the language. Arabic has had a large cultural (and thus linguistic) influence on Iranian culture. An aspect of Arabic is that there is no [p]. This is not the case in Farsi, the original name being "Parsi," but was changed because [f] does exist in Arabic. Another Arabic influence can be seen in the Farsi writing system. Though the alphabets are not identical, there are some letters in the alphabet (س ص ث =  [s], or ز ذ ظ = [z] to name a few) that all represent the same phone/sound; however, in Arabic, these letters represent different sounds/phones, which do not exist in Farsi.

Read Post #5 for more information on the Arabic invasions and Farsi.

How do these considerations enhance your understanding of the target language and culture in terms of their associated historical origin, development, and contemporary realization? and pragmatic questions of usage? 

As I've encountered in my learning, occasionally we (my Language Partner & I) will run into Arabic words, and consequently, small grammar points associated with those words (mainly plurals or pronunciation). I will make more of a point to keep track of these Arabic loanwords, and possibly research some of the relevant grammar associated with them. 

How do languages change over time? How do linguists track, predict, and extrapolate these changes?

Language mainly changes the following ways: change in phoneme pronunciation, borrowing words or features from other languages, and analogical change (e.g. "inflammable" changing to "flammable"). In historical linguistics, linguists can examine an older/dead language by tracing the phonetic changes in modern, related languages backwards, allowing them to recreate how the original language may have sounded.

Post #5

Readings: 1) “Communicative Competence,” pp. 218-243 from Principles of Language Learning and Teaching by H.D. Brown

Do some preliminary research on what interests you about the target culture and describe how this topic relates to language. Do you need any special vocabulary or linguistic knowledge to engage this topic? If so, have you included objectives in your learning plan to engage this topic?

I am mainly interested in learning more about the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, by Iranian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi --specifically its cultural and linguistic significance. The Shahnameh arguably saved and preserved the modern (written) form of my target language, Farsi. 

In the 7th century, the Sassanian Empire in Iran fell to an Arab invasion. For the next two centuries, Iranians were persecuted for their faith (Zoroastrianism, one of the first monotheistic organized religions, was the main religion in Iran before Islam), libraries burned, and the use of Farsi (written and spoken) was all but silenced. In Iran, this period is known as the 'two centuries of silence.' Farsi, Zoroastrianism, and any other Iranian culture were at risk of extinction from the Arabic language, government, and Islam. 

Ferdowsi finished and rewrote the Shahnameh, which comprised almost all pre-Islamic traditions, legends, and history, in a relatively pure form of Farsi without the use of Arabic or other loanwords. Ferdowsi and his accomplishments are revered in Iranian culture, and the Shahnameh is seen to many Iranians as the savior of modern-day Farsi and Iranian culture.

Post #4

Readings: 1) G. Hudson, “Phonetics” in Essential Introductory Linguistics, pp. 20-42.

What is the difference between sound and spelling?

Spelling refers to a specific language's method of representing written communication; this can include representations of sound, but these rules often have exceptions and can be a static representation of sound.

Sound refers to the specific phones and pitch in a language, "speech" being defined as "a sequence of phones" (20). 

Why is this distinction significant for your language-learning efforts?

It is important to understand that we must be cautious when reading so as to not use our target language's writing system as a guide to pronunciation. Writing can be deceiving and omits important factors, such as meter or what syllables are stressed. 

Describe the phonetic inventory of your target language. Are there sounds in your language that don’t exist in American English? If so, provide several words and their phonetic transcriptions of words as examples to support your argument.

• the fricative [ʁ]
  
  • example: " داغ " \ˈd̪̊ɑʁ̥\ = "hot" (like a desert)
• plosive uvular stop [q]
  • example: " قلب " \ˈɢ̊alb̊\ = "heart"
• post-alveolar stop [d͡ʒ]
  • example: " به ویژه " \b̊eh̬ v̊iˈʒe\ = "especially"

Farsi also has "r" trills and taps, which almost every "r" adhers to. 

What do you need to know about the sound system of your target language?

I have already practiced the phonetics of my language extensively, though I can always get better. Funnily enough, I seem to struggle the most with American-English /r/'s; I've always found it easier to tap or even trill. 

How will you acquire the ability to discriminate differentiated segments in your listening, and to produce these sounds in your speech? 

Because I have been listening to Farsi for many years, I am already decent in my ability to discriminate between the different sounds in Farsi.

Post #3

Readings: R1) D. Crystal, How to Investigate Language Structure, R2) J. Aitchison, Aitchison's Linguistics 

Refer to the diagram on page 9 in Aitchison’s linguistics (see figure to the right). How do you combine different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of your target language? Do you give preference to one disciplinary approach over the others?

As of right now, I am mainly concerned with "Languages"/"Applied Linguistics," mainly due to the fact that I am still a beginner in my target language; thus, I am most focused on building a strong foundation in the core of Aitchison's circle, phonetics, phonology, syntax, and beginning to develop semantics and pragmatics. 

I could argue I study my target language through a stylistics/literature lens (albeit simple literature). This helps provide a more holistic approach to my target language, Farsi, because the language is divided in formal/written language -- the "Literature" portion (which I am exposed to through reading my lessons -- "Literature"), and the "Languages" portion -- when I read dialogues using more casual/colloquial Farsi, or I practice conversational speaking with my Language Partner. 

How will your knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies inform the trajectory of your learning plan?

Again, as of right now, I am mainly focusing on the first 3-4 rings in Aitchison's figure. Because of my heritage, the pure phonetics of my target language perhaps comes easier than if I were studying a completely foreign language/culture. Nonetheless, I am struggling much more with syntax, as Farsi operates in a mainly Subject + Object + Verb (SOV) sentence structure, while English almost exclusively uses SVO (or OVS in the past tense). This and the extensive verb conjugations mean I am dedicating much more time to syntax. 

Post #2

Summarize some of the main ideas behind Figuring Foreigners Out and the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture (source 1) (source 2) (source 3).

Gert Hofstede developed a model (a series of choropleth maps) delineating how various cultures (and their values) affect their respective workplace values. 

In his research, he initially developed four choropleth maps: Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), and Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). 

PDI (image above) "focuses on the degree of equality, or inequality, between people" (source 1). A large distance (dark green) represents little upward mobility and clear class division, and a small distance (light green) represents high upward mobility and fluid class division.

IVD (image above) "focuses on the degree the society reinforces individual or collective, achievement and interpersonal relationships" (source 1). High individualism (dark purple) represents an emphasis on individual rights and less-family-oriented (looser) relationships. Low individualism (light purple/white) represents an emphasis on collectivism and strong, family-oriented relationships. 

MAS (image above) "focuses on the degree the society reinforces, or does not reinforce, the traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power" (source 1). High masculinity represents a high degree of gender differentiation, with males being the dominant force of power. Low masculinity/femininity represents a low degree of gender differentiation, with females sharing equal status with males. 
UAI (image above) "focuses on the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society - i.e. unstructured situations" (source 1). A high UAI indicates a low tolerance for ambiguity, and a low UAI indicates leniency for a variety of opinions. 

The last two were developed later in his research. 

LTO (Long-Term-Orientation) (image above) "focuses on the degree the society embraces, or does not embrace, long-term devotion to traditional, forward thinking values" (source 1). High LTO shows a reluctance to cultural change, and low LTO shows fluidity in cultural traditions. 

The last map (image above) compares indulgence and restraint. "In an indulgent culture it is good to be free. Doing what your impulses want you to do, is good. Friends are important and life makes sense. In a restrained culture, the feeling is that life is hard, and duty, not freedom, is the normal state of being" (source 2). 

Do you predominantly agree with these assessments? Are there any statements, generalizations, and opinions expressed in the reading that you find problematic?

I think some of these values will differ generationally. Many are also simplified; a culture could have different values for different aspects (political power vs. economic status). These dimensions also do not take into account that various different cultures may reside in one national region. Take the U.S. for example, I would assume Hofstede aligned the U.S. according to its Western citizens; it discounts many different experiences and people groups. 

Post #1

Readings:

• Crystal, D.: How the brain handles language
• Crystal, D.: How we mean and How we analyse meaning

Reflect on the readings:

Do you have any questions about the texts? Are there any claims that you find problematic? Do you think language is a purely biological phenomenon?

Crystal suggests that language was biologically induced through the physical ability of speech, and later innovated culturally through writing. Moreover, no, language in its modern form is not solely a biological phenomenon. 

What parts of the brain are most important for the production and comprehension of speech?

In general, people who are right-handed depend more heavily on the left hemisphere for language processing, but the right hemisphere still plays a part. This question depends on the validity of the theory of cerebral localization, which states specific areas in the brain have specific roles in the production & comprehension of speech. 

How do you conceptualize or process meaning?

Crystal states that a more effective way to analyze meaning in language is to simply analyze how meaning is expressed in language. This includes, but is not limited to: word choice, grammatical structure, sound/intonation (auditory difference between a questioning statement and a clarifying statement), spelling, and the expected answer to a statement (taking a statement literally or answering the statement's meaning). 

Crystal also states "isolated words do not lack meaning, Rather, they have the potential for conveying too much meaning." He believes a crucial aspect of meaning is not simply a single word, but how all aspects of conveying meaning intermingle with one another.  

Do these readings inspire any special insights or motivations that could help advance your foreign-language abilities, retention, and recollection?

These readings help learn ways of parsing out specific connotations (meanings) of various words in the target language, as opposed to assuming the English counterpart (if it exists) holds an equivalent meaning. The cultural aspects of language lead to meanings that cannot be translated in a single word, making the relationship between words in a translation all the more crucial.

I have started to write in Korean. I would say writing free hand is the most comfortable way for me as I have not had much practice with typing it. I’ve noticed similar patterns in the structures where honorifics in the language are placed at the end of a phrase or sentence. Compound sentences are made with connective endings while simple sentences in Korean are the simplest way of forming a sentence with a subject, object, and verb in that order. Based on my knowledge of parts of speech in Korean, I realized that the way sentences are spoken are basically the same way in which they are written.

안녕하세요, 모해수 (Mo hae soo-my Korean name) 입니다. 저는 21 살이고 대학생입니다.

Translation: Hello, my name is Mo hae soo. I am 21 years old and a college student. 

오늘은 11 월 6 일 2022 년 일요일입니다 이고 오늘은 날씨가 맑습니다

Translation: Today is Sunday, November 6, 2022 and the weather is nice/clear. 

Tripikata Koreana

While searching for a new topic on language influences of artifacts on Korean language, I came across something called the Tripitaka Koreana. This is a collection of Korean scripts of the Haeinsa Temple locate in Korea, which contain sacred Buddhist texts. Buddhism is a religion that originated in India by Siddhartha Gautama but as it traveled toward the East (through trade), it became something more closely known as East Asian Buddhism which varied from the original concept of the religion based on each individual country's (that came into contact with Buddhism) prior religious beliefs to the introduction of Buddhism. After the religion of Buddhism had been reviewed by Korean scholars, the religion had been reformed and interpreted in a different light. In today’s day and age, it is more closely known as Tonbulgyo, Zen, or Korean Buddhism to Koreans. The Tripitaka Koreana, written in the 13^th century, was carved onto wooden printing blocks that totaled to be about 80,000 wooden blocks (Hanja is the written language that was carved onto these 80,000 wooden blocks). Because of the introduction of Buddhism, it led to the use of Hanja (Chinese characters) which would allow Koreans to accept Chinese culture without sacrificing their native tongue (spoken Korean language).

The language written on these wooden blocks contained hanja script which use Chinese characters but do not hold the same pronunciation of Chinese language. It is possible that the Tripitaka Koreana could have made an impact on Korean language because of the religion and beliefs imbedded into it. Within it, lies Buddhist teachings which have become part of Korean culture in some ways which can definitely make an impact on the vernacular of the language, and the introduction of new words, new meanings, and concepts. Similar to English, the introduction of Christianity introduced new words that stemmed from Greek and Latin language and new ways in which words could be formed.

Today, although the use of Hanja in Korean language has dwindled, there are still concepts and ideas from Buddhism in cooperated in some ways within Korean society. Hanja itself is still taught within schools but it’s often difficult to maintain as it is not used on a day-to-day basis. And it is used mostly in ancient literature, legal documents and to shortened long sentences or phrases in some instances. Hanja however can be beneficial in the sense that there are quite a handful of Korean words that apparently come from Chinese roots. This can be beneficial when learning Korean vocabulary to become fluent in Korean, as 30-60% of Korean words have Chinese origin.

Because religion produces a new way of thinking, Korean society experienced a prosperous rise (in Korean culture life) from the introduction of Buddhism which led to its stature to be how it is today. This may be from laws treaties and scriptures from the Buddhist texts that were in cooperated into the culture and governmental aspects of Korean society which allowed the nation to grow and develop leading it to be what it is today.