Based on the surveys I took I am more or an aural learning. I do agree with it because I think I've always naturally picked up languages easier by listening. That's how I learned Thai from when I was little, I never had any formal instruction I was always just surrounded by it. I am better at basic french conversation than I am at the grammar because I learned it through my host family abroad starting as a beginner. Therefore, I think the best way for me to solidify what I learn in Korean is to hold conversations, which having a language partner would help with and also immersing myself possibly through movies, shows, dramas. I find that when I watch dramas I can mimic the accents pretty well and I pick up a lot of key phrases. My learning goals are not very ambitious, but it is mostly because I know that since I'm learning on my own I should be realistic because certain things may take longer to grasp learning through a workbook and having to reinforce it on my own rather than reinforcing it through class activities. I do just want to hold basic conversations, introduce myself, talk about what I do, what my family does and what they are like. I want to be able to ask for directions in case I go to Korea and get lost, and really just learn to ask basic questions like what is this? As for vocabulary, I want to build on food, clothing, body parts, places, specifically.
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I definitely noticed that the first way they teach you how to say greetings in certain books is in the formal way first. Some books do not even go into the informal part. What confuses me sometimes through watching Korean dramas is that with complete strangers sometimes the informal way is used, someone with close people the formal version is used. So I think having a language partner will definitely help to clarify when to use what. My learning goals for this week are to learn the greetings such as hello and goodbye and maybe follow the first and second lessons in Mango languages to do so. I have looked through various books and found Korean from Zero to be the best. The format is easy to follow and it breaks down the grammar concepts bit by a bit well. I really like Mango so far because it is not so much focused on the grammar but more on getting people to know how to say things. The first lesson went straight into saying things like I am a Korean person and not really breaking up the different parts that structure the sentence. I do see this being problematic a bit particularly if I want more in-depth grammar explanations. But overall for my learning goals, I really just want to be able to say certain things and not over focus on the grammar. I used Byki a bit, but I did not really like the format. I think it is useful for vocabulary but I did not find it so easy to find specific lists for specific categories I wanted to learn from. I think Diigo would be potentially helpful for finding other resources but I do not think I will actually use it that much to bookmark anything.
My learning goals for this week are to continue the Mango languages chapter 3, which goes into asking questions and asking for directions. I will also start using the Korean from zero workbook that I purchased. I will review the greetings section in there and move on to the next 2 chapters on numbers. For evaluation, there are end of chapter reviews for each Mango chapter. The workbook has practice problems, which I will use to gauge how well I am picking things up.
My learning goals for weeks 4 and 5 are to solidify what I have been learning, which are numbers, greetings, and introductions and to move on towards being able to ask for directions, which I will learn through Mango lessons. Then building on my grammar skills through the Korean from zero book lessons which will include: this, that, and negatives; descriptive verbs, and pronouns and possessions. If I get through these easily, I will then start learning to talk about locations. To evaluate myself, I continue to use the chapter review at the end of each Mango Lesson to gauge how well I am able to answer the questions as well as complete the exercises at the end of each Korean from zero chapter I finish.
I think in preparing to make my artifact, I realized how much I didn't know. I had been doing my exercises in workbooks and online and I realized that I couldn't quite remember how to form the sentences. I think my pronunciation is not so bad as I try to mimic the way I hear people speak in dramas. I realized after I posted my artifact that the way I said the my age might be wrong since I used the Sino-korean number version. However, I saw mixed information from my sources. I did create a conversation because I didn't think I had enough knowledge to make conversation. I think so far I'm having trouble keeping track with where I want to go. I have my learning goals, but as I go through my resources I find myself having to spend time more on basic grammar things first. I'm working in my workbooks, but I feel like it will really help to solidify the material when I have a language partner.
Document (a) your goals and tasks for weeks 4 and 5, (b) the resources and activities you will use to achieve your goals, and (c) how you will evaluate your success.
Week 4 and 5
- A) Goal: I will continue to work on subset 1 of my Task / Goal 1:To understand how Israelis communicate on the street in everyday life.
Task 1: I want to be able to ask for directions and give directions.
Subset: I want to be able to use the transportation.
- Cultural context — How to pay for, and procure, transportation fare
- B) I will ask a friend of mine to Skype so that I can practice more in-depth my Hebrew -- body language, rhythm and intonations. I will also use it as my first artifact. This will allow me to conceptualize the idea of transportation better. I will also continue to work on Mango. I will find Israeli youtube videos concerning transportation and its pertinent dialogue.
- C) I will evaluate my process by first dedication 45 minutes to an hour a day towards my goal. This incremental process will allow me to expound upon the knowledge that I have received the day before. Moreover, by the end of the week, I will use my Skype session / artifact as a benchmark to see how well I picked up on and achieved my goal for week 4 and 5.
Effective of learning plan and activities: So far, things are going well. I am continuing to look for resources that can help me, both with the language and with the culture. Watching videos is incredibly helpful and something I plan to keep doing.
Discuss changes: I don’t think I will make any changes at this point to my learning plan. I just need to continue practicing and learning new words and phrases. I only wish I was able to have more interaction with the deaf and those who know ASL throughout the week. It can be hard only practicing twice a week, but the good thing about ASL is that I can speak English and sign at the same time, so I can still practice, in one sense of the word.
In Communicative Competence in chapter 8, the author notes that the current emphasis of procuring a language is centered on its social, cultural and cognitive corresponding units, rather than the structural characteristics of a target language. That author also rightly notes, in my opinion, that this newfound focus has pragmatic implications the student could benefit from, and thus hones in his skills more efficiently, a concept the author brands as language socialization. My communicative competence stems from a social constructivist platform, whereby if I attach language acquisition, with its disparate parts, to the many identities within the socio-culture of my target country, I will be able to learn the language faster. The author puts forth that language learning is “the creation of meaning through interpersonal negotiation.” An interpersonal setting, moreover, enables me to engage from memory as well as to attach new associations to phrases I might have not been able to do so had I gazed a textbook. For example, I revisited and procured material from a video dialogue, then with my learning language partner, I made these terms absolute as I made some terms associable.
My learning language process thus far vis-a-vis my understanding of the Israeli culture and its language is a unique one. Obviously, I had an experience living in the target culture, so my conception or understanding of the “Israeli” sociocultural identity maybe more insightful. That of which I have learned so far has acted as a reminder or reinforcer of previously held knowledge of the target language, for example, its intonations, decimal levels, conversation scripts and body language. Therefore, my focus here on out will be on how I can improve my communicative experience.
The four areas of communicative competence — those of which we discussed in class — could be improved upon. The first, lack of vocabulary, the second, humor, they third, discourse expectations and the fourth, body language. My vocabulary could be improved upon, obviously, and I am working on it. I have been using flash cards for memorization and utilizing these phrases in my mind as well as with my language partner. My understanding of their humor could be improved upon too. While I have a good start on Israeli background knowledge, my lack of vocabulary is what concerns me here as I wont be able to understand the conversation if I don't have a good grasp on what they are saying. I am relatively decent when it comes to discourse expectations. When I was in Israel, I conditioned myself to “regurgitate" the expected conversation scripts, however, only when it came to the basics. I could improve upon this by watching Israeli dialogue, or Israeli TV shows or videos of people having conversations. Then, I could apply these scripts and effectively condition myself once again. Lastly, the body language: I have a good grasp on their body language / mannerisms. This could be bolstered by watching youtube videos of Israelis in their most natural state.
I went abroad last semester to Sydney, Australia. However, I did not experience the level of culture shock that I experienced when I moved to Richmond from Southern California. I don't think I ever had a "honeymoon" phase. Richmond was not what I expected. I didn't expect a place in my own country to be so different. I was expecting Australia to be very different, so I wasn't so "shocked."
One of the presentations I enjoyed was the one abrout Israeli McDonald's. Because Israel is a predominately Jewish country, the chain prepares their food in a halal way. The way the meat is slaughtered and prepared takes more time. So I wonder if it's significantly more expensive than in the US? I also think it's funny how they still name certain items with a Mc prefix, such as the McArabia.
I've noticed spoken Turkish has a tonality that reminds me of Scandanavian. This week we reviewed greetings and the alphabet. We also went over numbers. I learned how to ask for people's age and telephone numbers. In the case of phone numbers, you don't say each individual number like five-five-five, you say fivehundred fiftyfive. So I can't get by knowing only 1-10.
This week my goal was to perfect the Turksih alphabet. Turkish has 29 letters, eight of them are vowels. The vowels are something I struggle with, particularly the front vowels. I met with Arzu for the first time and we practiced these. We also practiced formal, casual, and very casual greetings. Next week we will go over numbers.
Korean has a pretty intricate alphabet. There are about 10ish basic consonants and vowels, and they combine in order to form complex words and sentences like in English. There are certain characters that have no sound, while there are others that have different sounds given the context. Many characters are borrowed from Mandarin, so there are apparently a lot of cognates between the two languages. All in all, it's a pretty hard writing system for English speakers to understand, because there are some sounds that do not exist in the English language that we have to cope with.
My goals for week 4 and 5 were to further improve my conversational skills, by asking basic questions in Korean, such as how to say something. I found a very helpful website that lists Korean terms phonetically, which has a list of questions like that. I also talked to my language instructor to learn more helpful questions. I evaluated success based on whether I could say the phrases in casual conversation, while being understand by my friends who speak Korean.
My learning goal for this week was to learn the basic consonant sounds in the Korean language. It was not as hard as I thought it would be, but it definitely took a little time investment. Many of the sounds rhyme, so it helped for me to learn the alphabet song. It was helpful for me to have my language partner write out the different characters, because seeing them written by an actual person looked a lot different than the characters you see online.
I've definitely encountered culture shock before, especially when I've got to non-European countries. People's expectations of how they should interact was a little different in Eastern Europe, where it seemed like it was less socially acceptable to talk to people out of the blue. It took a little bit of time for me to adjust and realize that the people were not actually cold, they just did not interact much unless they already knew you. I also experienced culture shock when I was in Belize and Guatemala, where the people were very friendly but I was unequipped to speak with them. My expectations of culture shock were a little bit different, because I expected to adjust much quicker than I actually did.
My main motive to take this linguistics course was to learn about different strategies that would help me learn languages in the future. I have always related culture and language together because I believe that they are very intertwined. I am currently only enrolled in SDLC 105, so I am not doing language learning like the students in SDLC 110. However, I grew up a native Korean speaker, so I have had the opportunity to see how different aspects of culture impact how language is used. In this course, I have been able to connect the dots and understand why certain cultures possess certain mannerisms and personalities. It is interesting to see the world from such a different view considering how Westernized my upbringing has been.
As I have continued to delve into Korean culture, I have had the opportunity to put more meaning to the Korean traditions I have participated in the past. For example, I have been celebrating Korean New Years for 22 years of my life, but never really grasped each tradition. In this course, I have learned about cultural norms and implications, which have helped me understand my culture much more adequately. It is eye opening to see where these major traditions stemmed from and how these traditions have evolved into the present. It has definitely given me a clearer outlook on my culture and upbringing.
In regards to communicative competence, I have always had the ability to communicate in Korean. I believe there is still room for improvement. Growing up, I went to Korean Sunday school and had the opportunity to learn the very conventional way to speak and write Korean. However, the way people actually speak Korean is quite different. Different regions have different dialects. I did not understand the different dialects until I got a little older. Just like in the United States, different regions in Korea have different ways that they communicate. For example, my grandparents in Busan have a different accent than my family members who live in Seoul. It is interesting to see how regional language can be in different countries.
Learning more about Korean culture has helped me become more adequate in speaking Korean. The major lesson I have learned so far is that understanding the culture is a good portion of learning a language. You can learn all the grammar, vocabulary, writing, and reading you want, but it will never fully translate into fluency until culture is understand. The main reason is because culture affects the way we interact and speak.
Overall, the language learning process has provided me an opportunity to explore another aspect of Korea. I had the opportunity to learn the conventional way of Korean when I was younger and now I am having exposure to the more qualitative aspects of language learning. The best advice that I could give myself for the rest of the course is to continue to expose myself to new information and to continue to connect language and culture.
Culture shock has different progressions. When a person initially arrives in a new country, he/she is exposed to a world that looks and feels different. The beauty of different cultures is naivety to different cultures. I have personally felt culture shock. During the winter of my freshmen year, I had the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is fairly modernized, so it was not the appearance that threw me off. I found the food and the people much more different than what I was use to. At first, I enjoyed adventuring and finding new opportunities to try new things. However, as I got deeper into my trip, I quickly realized I missed what I was used to.
The underlying things I learned about traveling in a country with a different country were:
- Embracing the change
- Understanding that everything is an experience
- Finding ways to connect your culture with the culture your visiting
- Going in with no expectations
Overall, I believe that culture shock is self-imposed. If you go in with the right attitude, you should be able to navigate through a country in a fluid way.
The classroom presentations provided a great opportunity to learn about the different cultures/languages that are being studied in our class. It was interesting to see what topics different students decided to speak about. In my opinion, I think the more advanced speakers chose topics that were more difficult, while the less advanced speakers choice topics that were more easy to investigate. Overall, the project proved to be a great opportunity to learn more than just the language of Korea, but about underlying themes and lifestyle choices of Korea.
