For the week of 11/16, Alvin and I began discussing numbers, its applications, and the days of the week. I learned that there are two number systems: one that is closely-related to Chinese (Sino-Korean system) and the "Korean" number system. There is not one that is more-widely used than the other; but instead, they compliment each other. For example, the Korean number system is used in telling time in hours and applied in most counting situations. The SIno-Korean system is used in representing absolute values. Thus, the system is used in representing the number of years, months, days, minutes, currency and phone numbers. Besides this, I found the day of the week system to be very interesting. In Chinese, the day of the week is represented by simply combining the day of the week corresponding to the numbers between 1 and 7 and then adding the word "day" at the end. In Korean however, each day represents some symbol and combined with the word "day" at the end. I already talked about this in class, but will also list an artifact describing this process in further detail.
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In Pakistan, main courses are usually served with wheat bread either Roti or Naan, or rice. Salad is generally taken as a side dish with the main course, rather than as an appetizer beforehand. Assorted fresh fruit or sometimes desserts are consumed at the end of a meal. Meat plays a much more dominant role in Pakistani food, compared to other food. Of all the meats, the most popular are goat or mutton, beef and chicken and is particularly sought after as the meat of choice for kebab dishes or the classic beef shank dish Nihari. Sea food is generally not consumed in large amounts, though it is very popular in the coastal areas.
Curries with or without meat, combined with local vegetables such as bitter gourd, cauliflower, eggplant,okra, cabbage, potatoes,tomatoes, cucumber and peppers are most common and cooked for everyday consumption. A typical example is Aloo Gosht or literally "potatoes and meat", a homestyle recipe consisting of a spiced meat and potato stew, and is ubiquitously prepared in many households. Koram is a classic dish of Mughlai origin made of either chicken or mutton, typically eaten with nan or bread and is very popular in Pakistan.
I have went to a Pakistan restaurant and tried the main foods and there were delicious. I took some pictures of the great food we had and the are attached.
Reading and writing in Hindi is still very difficult for me, but I am glad I am able to sound out words and characters because it is often the best way to learn new vocabulary. In India, written Hindi is often portrayed in transliteration, meaning that it is the sound of the Hindi words written out in Roman characters. This made reading easier to some extent, but difficulties arose because there is no set spelling in transliterated Hindi, so words would always be spelled differently. For instance, the word for girl, "lardaki," has sounds that are difficult to express with roman characters, so it is often transliterated as "ladiki" or "lariki" a well. However, Hindi script has characters that portray this specific r/d sound that is confusing to transliterate, so for instances like this it becomes important to know the Hindi alphabet. When learning new vocabulary, I am especially grateful that I learned Hindi script because otherwise, I wouldn't know how to pronounce words properly or distinguish certain similar sounds.
Nevertheless, my reading and writing skills are very amateur and require that I sound out words character by character. There are a few words that I see and automatically know their meanings, but I need to establish that level of recognition with a greater number of words, especially words I might frequently see on signs or public areas. A good way to find these might be to translate common words on signs in the U.S. (stop, go, train station, bus stop, etc.), or to look for signs in Hindi TV and film.
To increase my writing ability, I think I should take closer note of how words are written when I learn new vocabulary. I find that I'll memorize a word or phrase by its sound and then, when I try to write it, I cannot remember which characters are used, whether it uses long or short vowels, etc. If I attempt to memorize not only how a word sounds, but also the way it looks, I will have no problem writing in Hindi.
The most important term used in both "Why Bilinguals Are Smarter" and "Are bilinguals really smarter?" was executive function. The first article very flattering of bilinguals while the second was a bit skeptical of that flattery, yet each agreed that bilingualism increases a person's executive function. The difference between the two articles lies in whether this increased executive function correlates to greater intelligence. Executive function is described in the first article as "a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks." Scientist Ellen Bialystok describes executive function as "a system that helps the brain access particular regions of memories when prompted." Although it seems that everyone agrees bilingualism increases executive function, Bialystok argues that this does not make bilinguals smarter than monolinguals necessarily.
Switching between languages frequently and developing a method of predicting words that are likely to come next in a sentence forms more connections in the brain, allowing a bilingual person to perform these functions faster and more efficiently. But these connections can also increase the speed and efficiency of other related tasks, like the ability to multitask or focus. This is the argument that bilinguals are "smarter," but of course, it is misleading to say that monolinguals can never have these abilities without knowing a second language.
Nevertheless, spending time learning a new language by memorizing vocabulary, listening to foreign music, and conversing with native speakers is a great way to build up those connections in your brain. This is an added benefit to learning a language because, not only will you be able to speak in multiple languages, you will also be have increased brain function for other tasks.
I did my presentation on Korean family words based on the song video and the family tree I drew. I talked about the lyric of the Korean song which includes the most commonly used family words. Also, by looking at the lyric, we could learn some grammar. For example, the first sentence is: 곰 세 마리 가 한 집에 있어(gom se mari ga han jibe isseo). Gom = bear, Se= three, Han=one, Jibe= House, Isseo=are. Instead of saying"Three bears are in one house", Korean would be like " Bear three one house are. The sequence of Korean is totally different from English.
I am impressed by two other students' presentation.The first presentation is about Korean weekdays. It was very interesting because these words are related to natural elements like gold, wood, water, fire, and etc. Also, the Korean words for these elements share the same pronunciation with Chinese words. Another presentation was about Indian numbers. It was intriguing because we learned the numbers and single/plural forms so that we can count time.
From SDLC 105 class, I understand that language relates to the culture products, practices and perspective of a culture. So far, I have studied the greeting and got know more the structure of Korean language. In the class, we talked about the communicative competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts.
In order to achieve communicative competence in Korean, I want to do more conversational based classes with my language partner Sun. Right now, I can introduce myself if someone asks me my name. I can respond to them with my major, my home country and my hobbies. I also noticed patterns in their speech that ends with hamida or simida to show your respect.
One thing I want to focus on improving my learning is to follow my learning goal. Sometimes, I just randomly picked the drama and learned some words, but actually those words were not used quite often in daily life conversation. Though it was good to know more Korean words, at the beginning level, I need to aim for what I set for myself.
Besides memorizing constabularies, I will try to conduct a dialogue with my Korean friends and to see if they can recognize what I am saying.
http://koreanjournal.tumblr.com/post/8567002790/three-bears-song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slWkYjjgyT4
Topic: Family Members/Vocabs in the Song
Family Members
Grandpa (dad side/mom side) Halabuji/Wae halabuji
Grandma (dad side/momside) Halmoni/Wae halmoni
Mom/Dad (formal) Omoni/Ahboji
Me Na
For girls,
Older sister/brother Unni/Oppa
For guys,
Older sister/brother Nuna/Hyung
For girls/guys,
Younger sister/brother Yeo dongsang/Nam dongsang
Three Bears
곰 세 마리 가 (gom se mari ga) bear three is
한 집에 있어 (han jibe isseo) one household there is
아빠 곰, 엄마 곰, 애기 곰 (appa gom, umma gom, aegi gom)
아빠 곰은 뚱뚱해 (appa gomeun ddoongddoonghae) chubby
엄마 곰은 날씬해 (umma gomeun nalsshinhae) slim
애기 곰은 너무 귀여워 (aegi gomeun neomu gwiyeowo) very cute
으쓱 으쓱 잘 한다 (eusseuk eusseuk jal handa) *shoulder* doing well
At this point in my learning process, I have completed my syllabus created at the beginning of the semester. However, looking back on my first few weeks of material, I have forgotten a lot of it. Although I may still remember most of the vocabulary due to my flash cards, I have forgotten a lot of the sentence structures, important questions to know, appropriate responses, etc.
Although I elaborated on this more in my Reflection Paper 2, I have decided that the remaining weeks of the semester should be focused on reviewing the material I have already learned and learning vocabulary related to my Cultural Project. I hope to use the remaining peer tutor meeting to go over the conversations we've had throughout the semester, after I go over my notes beforehand. I also plan to look up more music-related vocabulary to use in my Cultural Project.
First, you need to know numbers 1-12:
1. ek 2. do 3. teen 4. char 5. panch 6. che 7. sat 8. aat 9. nau 10. dus 11. gyarah 12. barah
Then, you need to know a few vocabulary words:
o'clock: bujah (singular) or bujeh (plural)
is/are: hai/haiN
To tell time on the hour, all you need to do is use this sentence formation:
(number) + bujah/bujeh + hai/haiN
** If you are saying, "It is one o'clock," the sentence is singluar, so you use "bujah" and "hai".
** If you are saying it is any other time, the sentence is plural, so you use "bujeh" and "haiN".
Ex) It is one o'clock. Ek bujah hai.
It is three o'clock. Teen bujeh haiN.
To tell the time on the half hour:
1:30 and 2:30 have their own words. 1:30 is "ded" and 2:30 is "dhaii".
Ex) It is 1:30. Ded bujeh haiN.
It is 2:30. Dhai bujeh haiN.
All other half hours are constructed by adding the word "saadheh" before the number.
Saadheh + (hour) + haiN
Ex) It is 4:30. Saadheh char bujeh haiN.
It is 7:30. Saadheh sat bujeh haiN.
Quarter past: "Savaah"
Quarter to: "Pauneh"
Ex) It is 7:45. Pauneh aat bujeh haiN. (It is quarter to 8.)
It is 2:15. Savaah do bujeh haiN. (It is quarter past 2.)
Between weeks 1-8, my language partner and I focused on the language tasks. For the first couple of weeks, we focused on introductions, greetings, classroom phrases, family words, and an introduction to numbers (how to count, time, and dates).We have been focusing on phrases rather than vocabulary. He often speaks to me in Korean and uses gestures at the same time. I usually have no clue what he is saying, but I guess until I am right. Then we take turns repeating the phrase or sentence multiple times in order to reinforce everything. We try to focus on only a handful of phrases each time because it is a lot to remember. So with every new week, we briefly bring up the old phrases and then continue learning. In order to supplement this learning, Alvin recommended that I watch "Secret Garden" which is a very famous Korean drama that he says usually pragmatic Korean. Thus, I typically watch one episode a week, since each episode lasts about one and a half hours long. I have still been finding the Korean grammar a bit confusing because I have previous knowledge of Chinese and Japanese to try to help my learning. However, this is actually hindering my progress. For example, Chinese phrases questions in the same way each time by having "ma" at the end. However, in Korean there is not a concrete pattern for this. Many questions end with "yo", however phrases and non-questions can also end in this manner. Thus, I am having a bit of trouble distinguishing that difference. Besides this, I have also noticed that problem as I am learning numbers. Korean has two number systems where one set is used for things such as telling time in hours, counting, and dates, while the other set is used for telling the time in minutes and seconds and also math-related aspects such as adding and subtracting. My previous knowledge of languages does not follow this, but it is simply going to take some practice getting used to. I learned the numbers in Japanese previously, through songs, so I am trying to incorporate that learning style as I perfect the Korean number system. Other than these challenges, I enjoy the learning method thus far and think that it is working well for me. Also, the dramas are pretty interesting!
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1q8rYaaa85D
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1eHHIllFjwd
Me answering questions regarding who I am, my name, age, where I'm from , and my family.
Also I ask and answer questions regarding location, where I currently am, how to get to a hotel, and regarding the bus.
The articles had many similar concepts including the role of executive functions and potential benefits of knowing more than one language. I found the articles interesting because many people believe that bilinguals are smarter, but the articles sort of refute this belief. They claim that being bilingual actually is a disadvantage when learning new vocabulary because bilinguals tend to analyze the new words in both languages. This makes a lot of sense to me, but I wonder how being left or right-dominated hemisphere brained, plays a role in bilingual processing. The pattern recognition aspect of various language learners makes a lot of sense considering the analytic aspect of knowing two languages. One of the articles talked about how bilinguals have a heightened sense of their environment because they are processing things in both languages. Thus, being conscious of the things of around you can be very advantageous in everyday situations such as crossing streets or even reading emotions of others.
Besides this, the practical aspect of being bilingual are easily distinguishable. You are able to communicate and better understand people from different cultures that speak your languages. Knowing more than one language is also a very marketable skill. Businesses are becoming more and more global and clients in one country are often finding themselves dealing with clients in another country. Thus, being able to communicate and understanding proper etiquette can create a lot of value for a company. All in all, it seems that bilinguals are not inherently smarter, but there are added benefits to knowing a second language.
Overall, I have not been focusing much on specific vocabulary, but instead on phrases. My thought process is that phrases will simply come in more handy and is definitely more applicable. Honestly, I know quite a few phrases at this point, but if you were to ask me about specific vocabulary in those phrases, I would struggle to figure out the definition. Thus far, I've focused on first learning phrases and then breaking it down in order to understand the vocabulary. From this method, I am able to deduce several meanings simply from looking at the sentence structure. For example, I may recognize from the phrase that the phrase is asking a question and may be able to recognize one or two words from it. Thus, I can get a general idea of what it is asking by using knowledge of other languages. It is all systematic. Since we have a little more than three weeks left in the semester, I am hoping to simply reinforce my language skills at this point to truly perfect my comprehension.
The content of this artifact is a map tracing a journey from my apartment in Carytown to the Richmond International Raceway.The goal of this task is to enhance my overall interpretive listening skills and develop the vocabulary surrounding relative and compass directions. This skill achieves this goal by giving me a set of instructions in Bhasa Indonesia once when I start and then once again if I was to get lost. I must then use these directions until I reach my destination or start again with a different destination if I were to get lost a second time. The skill to understand directions is an important part of a “survival language.” Furthermore, this task is doubly important to me because relative and compass directions and an overall developed vocabulary about spatial information is critical when surfing.
For the successful attempt when the destination was the Richmond International Raceway, I provide the audio files and a document containing the transcript of the two set of instructions that I received in Bhasa Indonsia. The transcript of the correctly interpreted instructions in English, along with a map tracing the journey at a smaller scale is included where necessary on the map using the tag feature of ThingLink. Upon seeing it, one learns that this journey is a little longer than 5 miles and is set in Richmond, VA. The red line represents the journey made using the first set of instructions. Once it became clear that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere on the highway, I took the first exit off the highway and asked for the second set of instructions. The blue line represents the successful journey made using the second set of instructions.
I evaluate this task to be successful at accomplishing its objective in two different ways. Firstly, in the repeated process of trying to reach my destination I picked up phrases such as utara laut (northwest), putar balik (U-turn or turn around completely) and tempat tujuan (destination). The examples of the vocabulary that I picked up pertain to spatial awareness and goes further than relative and compass directions. Secondly, I managed to complete the journey without expressing myself to the person giving the directions. This lack of communication that did not give me the chance to say “Please speak slowly” or “Can you repeat that” made the task more challenging.
Overall, I think my language learning has been successful and I have been able to reach reasonable expectations. At first, I was a bit discouraged because I was not able to remember everything I had learned in India as fast as I wanted to, but once I realized that learning Hindi in America would be a bigger challenge because I was not constantly surrounded by it, I developed a more reasonable plan for myself and have been able to stick to it pretty well. The syllabus that I created on my blog at the beginning of the semester only planned out my first 8 weeks because I wanted to reevaluate my plan for the remaining weeks after mastering those tasks. I am glad I did this because, after getting through those 8 weeks, I feel like I need to spend some time reviewing old material before moving on. I also would like to spend some time learning about music vocabulary for my Culture Project.
I think the most effective resources I have used so far are Mango, flashcards (mostly my own, but also on interactive sites), my old notebook from Hindi class last year, and the GoogleDoc Sanya and I created to keep in touch throughout the week. I generally put questions on the GoogleDoc or formulate my artifacts there, then Sanya can see them to give me advice. I think that in the remaining weeks of the semester, I need to focus most on forcing myself to attempt to speak only in Hindi with Sanya. I find myself always reverting back to English when we meet, but I'd like to really try to use Hindi only for the rest of the semester. I also need to find more ways to incorporate all of the tasks I have learned so far into new conversations because often, Sanya and I have conversations only pertaining to the task for that week, which allows me to easily forget the material from previous weeks. Although I have all my vocabulary from the semester in a deck of flashcards, reviewing these doesn't allow me to keep up my ability to converse about these topics.
Learning about Indian culture as I try to learn Hindi as well has made this process a lot more interesting. Learning about culture has influenced the tasks that I wish to master in Hindi as well as the way I think about learning the language overall. I think this will be the most essential way to improve my communicative competence beyond just memorization of key words, grammar structures, and phrases. Sanya has already told me many times, "We don't actually say it like that," when I come up with a phrase during a conversation that is too complex or uses archaic vocabulary. In a few limited contexts, I would say that I have a "discourse competence" of Hindi because I can create many sentences and react to questions or comments from other people about certain topics. In an even more limited sense, I would say that I have some "sociolinguistic competence" from everyday phrases that I used a lot in India, such as introductions and common questions that I would find myself saying without even thinking first. I hope to master more tasks on this level before the semester ends.
The reading was very interesting in the fact that a language was kept alive by basically four native speakers. I thought the entire process made a lot of sense of how it trickled down in order for the language to stay alive. However, when a language is lost, a large part of the culture goes with it. For example, the person in the reading talked about how many of the words in his language are not like any other words in any other language and instead he compared it to "spitting". This motion of creating these unique sounds is tied to the culture and would be lost if the language died. Also the fact that the language had been preserved in "song for their native dance" tells us that that the language is very prominent among the the arts as well. Basically, the language can be expressed through song and reflected through dance. This is something that is once again very unique to that culture.
