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My language partner had me attempt to translate a synopsis  from Urdu into English. This translation is not perfect, but I think I was able to touch upon the general them of what was being said - there were differently some areas and words in which I needed my language partner's help and got some help from my language partner. 

کستان کی معیشت برائے نام جی ڈی پی کے لحاظ سے مساوی قوت (پی پی پی) کی خرسب سے بڑا میں دنیا می26th پر سب سے بڑا ہے. تاہم پاکستان ملین 186 سے زائد کی آبادی کے (دنیا کے 6th کے سب سے بڑا ہے) کے طور پر، اس طرح جی ڈی پی فی کس دنیا میں 140th کی درجہ بندی $ 3.149 ہے. پاکستان تیزی سے ترقی پذیر2 اور اگلا گیارہ میں سے ایک، برکس کے ساتھ ساتھ، 21st صدی میں دنیا کی سب سے بڑی معیشتوں بننے کے لئے ایک اعلی صلاحیت ہے، گیارہ ممالک ہے. [26 تاہم، 2013 کے طور پر جنگ اور سماجی عدم استحکام کی دہائیوں کے بعد، اس طرح ریلوے نقل و حمل اور بجلی کی پیداوار کے طور پر بنیادی خدمات میں سنگین کمی تیار کی تھی. معیشت نیم صنعتی، دریائے سندھ کے ساتھ ساتھ ترقی کے مراکز کے ساتھ ہے.0 پرائمری برآمد اشیاء ٹیکسٹائل، چمڑے کے سامان، کھیل کے سامان، کیمیکلز اور قالین اور آسنوں شامل ہیں. [31]

پاکستان کی معیشت کی ترقی کے کھمبے دریائے سندھ کے ساتھ ساتھ واقع ہیں.کراچی اور ملک کے دیگر حصوں میں کم ترقی یافتہ علاقوں کے ساتھ امن بقائے باہمی کے پنجاب میں بڑے شہری مراکز، کے متنوع  معیشت سامنا کرنا پڑا ہے . اندرونی سیاسی تنازعات، ایک تیزی سے بڑھتی ہوئی آبادی، غیر ملکی سرمایہ کاری کی مخلوط سطح سے ماضی میں [27] زرمبادلہ کے ذخائر مستحکم کشوں کی ترسیلات زر کی طرف سے تقویت مل رہی ہے، لیکن ایک بڑھتی ہوئی حسابات کا خسارہ کر رہے ہیں - ایک وسیع تجارت کے فرق کے ذریعے کارفرما درآمد کی ترقی کے مقابلے میں برآمد توسیع - ذخائر نیچے اپنی طرف متوجہ اور درمیانی مدت میں جی ڈی پی نمو گیلا کر سکتے ہیں  پاکستان فی الحال غیر ملکی سرمایہ کاری کو متوجہ کرنے اور بجٹ خسارے کو کم کرنے کے مقصد سے تمام سرکاری اداروں، کی نجکاری شامل ہیں کے ساتھ عمل اقتصادی اداریکرن سے گزر رہا ہے 2014 میں،.. غیر ملکی کرنسی کے ذخائر سٹینڈرڈ اینڈ غریب کی طرف سے طویل مدت کی درجہ بندی پر مستحکم آؤٹ لک کے لئے کی قیادت کی ہے جس میں 15 ارب ڈالر سے تجاوز کر دی. 

The economy of Pakistan is one of largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and  in terms of nominal GDP. Pakistan is a rapidly developing country and is one of the Next Eleven, the eleven countries that have a high potential to become the world's largest economies in the 21st century.[ However, after decades of war and social instability, as of 2013, serious deficiencies in basic services such as railway transportation and electric power generation had developed. 

 the diversified economies of Karachi and major urban centers in the Punjab, coexisting with lesser developed areas in other parts of the country. The economy has suffered in the past from internal political disputes.Pakistan is currently undergoing process economic liberalization with includes privatization of all government corporations, aimed to attract foreign investment and decrease budget deficit.

During these last two weeks I had focused on trying to write and type a larger amount of text, as opposed to just medium length sentences. As mentioned in my previous bi-weekly reports, I wanted to be able to take my newly strengthened ability to write moderately long sentences and push myself towards writing short paragraphs. Much of my ability to do this was reliant upon me working with my language partner to get a better understanding of what to write about and also to have someone check my work.

Admittedly, while I felt comfortable writing long sentences, I was almost certain  which was the right sentiment in hindsight - that I would make a few mistakes in writing  paragraphs. The task I used to begin writing short paragraphs was based off of a reading assignment - language partner read the paragraphs to me, albeit in a slower than fluent tone as I did not know some of the words, and I wrote them down. The primary challenge in writing the short paragraphs was trying to determine how to spell the words I did not know and the tenses.

The content of this post is to summarize the results of the self evaluation in Bhasa Indonesia that was done using LiguaFolio Checklists and Levels of Competence document. In general, the self-evaluation placed my interpretive and interpersonal skills at a higher level that my presentational skills. I believe this uneven development in language skill to be a direct result of having learned Bhasa Indonesia as a “survival language”. That is to say that I spoke in Bhasa Indonesia only when speaking to somebody with whom I could only communicate with in Bhasa Indonesia. The content of these conversations was usually related to my immediate surrounding and needs. This includes conversations such as exchanging information about myself and asking for directions and prices. In order to correct this uneven development I put forth the following four points about my skill as an Intermediate level Indonesian speaker. As I summarize points about my starting position I will simultaneously list the learning goals and the 8 tasks that I will be doing this semester in order to accomplish the stated goals.

First, I observe that I picked up Bhasa Indonesia in an informal setting. This is apparent in the LinguaFolio Checklist. On the checklist I answered that I can express my agreement or disagreement with someone but cannot express neutrality. Similarly, I answered that I can introduce myself but cannot use an appropriate introduction to begin a presentation. Therefore, I decided that I would focus on conversational skills with a formal tone this semester. In order to accomplish this goal I have designed the task “Interpersonal Formal Communication” in which I respectfully decline a senior's offer.

Second, I notice that I am far more comfortable communicating in Bhasa Indonesia when there is a conversation. That is to say that I can understand more when I am given a chance to say, “Please speak slowly” or “Can you repeat that.” Thus, my second goal for this semester is a commitment to learning how to interpret Bhasa Indonesia outside of conversation. Given that on the cultural side I hope to focus on the sport of surfing, I decided that the two best tasks to learn interpretive skills outside of conversation were demonstrating that I can understand complex directions given to me in Bhasa Indonesia and translating a surf radio announcement into English.

Third, I realized that when it comes to presentational skills, I lack the basic ability to describe. On the checklist, I indicated that I cannot either describe the characteristics of my family members or talk about abstract ideas. My third goal this semester is to begin to describe objects, people and ideas. In order to do this, I will need to learn and demonstrate my learning of adjectives and adverbs. Given that on the cultural side my focus is surfing and education, I decided that the two best tasks to learn presentational speaking are describing a sea creature/my daily routine, and teaching a physics class by giving a mock presentation.

Lastly, I concede that my written skills are poor due to a lack of formal education. Therefore, in the last three tasks I will either be reading or writing in Bhasa Indonesia. These tasks are also designed with a focus on culture and the goals stated above. Firstly, I will learn to write formal e-mails and fill out formal forms in Bhasa Indonesia. This will obviously also help in achieving the goal of learning the language in a formal setting. Secondly, I will read and compare the tone of two newspaper articles. Thirdly, I will produce a written translation of a reading from my history class. These two last tasks will also help me with gaining a working knowledge about describing abstract ideas. 

Culture Shock was an older video, but one that has a theme that's still evident on campus. This theme is of international students having a tough time transitioning at the University of Richmond and because of this, leading to other issues such as homesickness, sticking with only other international students, and simply not feeling welcomed. This was interesting because I believed that I will be facing a lot of these issues in the future when I study abroad in the Spring of 2015 in Taiwan. I liked the video because it focused on first-hand experiences. Basically exchange/ international student agreed that one of the major differences in education is role of participation in class. A lot of the students expressed how back in their native country, participation never really counted, but then here in the U.S participation is a large portion of your grade. Some of the things that people said regarding this was that they were "afraid to say something dumb" in class or that they simply could not keep up with what the professor was saying. I interpreted the quote as simply the fact that many of the students are used to only raising their hands if they have something truly genius or important to say. This is something that I can relate to. Here in the U.S I've realized that since participation is a grade, students often feel pressure to say just about anything with lack of consideration for quality comments. In terms of not keeping up with the professor and language, this is a challenge that cannot be avoided unless you are a native speaker. To get over this hump, I think that international students should definitely befriend American students as well as the professor in order to ask for help when needed.

As I head to Taiwan, I will look to keep all of these things in mind. I already know that I will run into problems with keeping up with the language and possibly homesickness, but things I can avoid are being passive and ignorant to cultural norms. I will look to avoid being passive in order to be immersed in the culture and learn as much about Taiwan as possible. To avoid cultural ignorance, I will look to do as much research as possible about Taiwan before going to the country. This will allow me to gain some knowledge about the culture and allow me to have a general idea of what to expect. I think if I keep these things in mind, I can avoid "Culture Shock".

I wasn't able to make it for the presentations; however, I presented on professional and meeting etiquette in Korea. Some of the things I highlighted included timeliness, collectivism, the role of women, and social standing. I found it interesting how a lot of the customs are unique to American culture, but are pretty similar to other Asian cultures. Some of the things I that I do at home that are the same in Korean culture include how the younger person must pour the tea for the older person(s), bowing during greetings, and even bad and lucky numbers are the same (4 and 7/8). 

I read that Sam presented on some shopping elements in Korean culture. It sounded very interesting to me and I wonder if it is as superficial as what the internet depicts it as. The internet displays very unique styles and colorful styles, but are also very expensive brands. I also wonder if bargaining is a custom in Korea as it is in China.

Greeting.m4a

Translation in English

NN: Hello, nice to meet you.

SN: Hello, nice to meet you.

NN:  (How are you doing?)

SN: I'am good. How about you?

NN: Good, thank you.

SN: Where are you from? 

NN: I'm from China. What about yourself?

SN:I’m from Korea. How old are you? 

NN: I am 20 years old. How old are you?

SN: I am 23 years old. 

NN: Oh really? It's great to meet you. 

SN:Me too!

For my Culture Presentation, I will discuss Indian music, from classical sitar, tabla, and violin to contemporary Bollywood and Tollywood music. I hope to do research on the different ragas, or types of music, that classical musicians play. I also hope to research the history of Bollywood and Tollywood so that I can trace the changes that have been made in contemporary Indian music since these industries began. I also hope to find out the importance of these two types of music in Indian culture today, and whether people prefer one type over another.

To discuss this topic thoroughly, I'll need to learn vocabulary relating to classical music:

names of instruments

words for song, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.

names of different types of songs

verbs like to play, to improvise

I will also need to learn vocabulary to describe contemporary music:

words for song, movie, dance, actor/actress, singer

names of famous singers

names of some famous songs

verbs like to sing, to dance, to perform

The content of this artifact is a conversation between Arnanto and I. This task was chosen with the goal to develop formal communication skills. It is meant to achieve the goal through understanding how one must address seniors, demonstrating diplomacy by carefully choosing neutral words and probing the complex world of office culture. These skills are not only valuable survival skills but are also specifically relevant to me. This is because the majority of my knowledge about Bhasa Indonesia comes from casual interactions in informal settings. Therefore, by learning formal communication I can best compensate for my lack of formal language training.

I provide a transcript in english of this fictionalized conversation. Upon reading it, one learns that this task is a conversation between myself and my boss. The setting is an office in Jakarta, the political and economic capital of Indonesia. My boss has called me to his/her office because he/she wants to send me to the Singapore office. However, I respectfully decline because I have just settled into Jakarta. Upon learning this my boss offers me a promotion and I say: “Your offer sounds good sir, but for now I still must refuse your offer because my wife is pregnant. Maybe in the future I will accept your offer.”

I evaluate this task to be very successful at accomplishing its objective in two different ways. Firstly, in the process of creating it I learned new words and phrases such as dengan segala hormat (with all due respect), anda (you in formal context) and pak (sir) that are the staple of formal conversation when addressing seniors. Secondly, in the reply quoted above, which was necessary after my boss became pushy about the offer, I demonstrate diplomacy by complimenting my refusal with a reason, crediting his/her offer and adding showing interest in it under different circumstances. However, this task also allowed me to learn about things that I was not expecting. Arnanto and I had conversations about the grammar rules surrounding the use of words kita (we) and kami (our), the prefixes men- and ber-, the suffix nya and the word bapak. Artifact1.mp3Transcript.doc

Hindi%20Greetings.m4a

Hindi%20Artifact%20One.m4a

During these two weeks my work focused heavily around medium-length sentences. My language partner would tell me sentences, after which I: wrote the sentences, said them and then translated them back into English. This task was rather effective as it incorporated the following skills: listening comprehension, writing and pronunciation. While I did feel more confident in my abilities heading into weeks three and four, I still had some trouble with certain aspects of the task my language partner had assigned. For instance, I noticed that my pronunciation, when working with new words, was  a little different  and could use improvement. Also, it occasionally took several attempts to feel really comfortable with my work. Likewise, I also had some trouble with properly writing all of the sentences that I had heard. Hopefully, as I continue working into other weeks , I may be able to write and type short paragraphs a lot more proficiently than I had in weeks three and four; of course, achieving this will require some extra practice.

The presentations from last week opened my eyes to some big cultural differences from cultures around the world. I learned that in Hindi they use a causative verb tense to describe actions that had been done upon them, similar to how we would describe getting our hair cut in english. But instead of saying “I got a haircut” it translates more closely to “I had my hair cut.” I found it interesting that the Caste system in India actually manifests itself in some formalities regarding body language. Indian people tend to view the body as being similar to a Caste system in that the head is the holiest part, and the bottom of your feet are seen as dirty. Younger people will even bow their head to the feet of their elders to show respect, showing that the holiest part of their bodies belong near the feet of their elders. Conversely, showing someone the bottom of your feet is an act of disrespect.

I also enjoyed the presentations on Korean culture which focused somewhat on the materialistic culture that exists and how it differs from American culture. These differences can be seen at the governmental level, with the Korean government requiring that every store accept credit cards, and also at the individual level with Korean women holding the value of always looking their best. I’m not sure if that is the reason why Koreans tend to brush their teeth more often after every meal, or if it is more because of a value for oral health.

My first artifact was an audio recording of me reciting a common conversation that I would have with someone on the street if I were to ask how to find the Taj Mahal. The "conversation" only consisted of my half of the dialogue, but I tried to include some possible answers to my questions by repeating what a stranger might say in response. Because this was our first artifact, I also tried to include a few things that I learned in past weeks, such as a short greeting because these phrases might be necessary in this context.

I believe I reached most of my goals for Weeks 4 and 5. I learned almost all of the questions that I listed in the first section of my goals and how they could be answered by a stranger, auto driver, etc. I also learned numbers 1-10 as well as some common numbers in 5's, 10's, and 100's that could be used for money and price.

The one part that I did not learn as well as I would have liked was the second part of my goals for Weeks 4 and 5, which involved describing a place that I would like to go. I hope to add this task to a later week if I have time. I also did not practice as much as I had hoped to these past two weeks, so I have scheduled specific times in my calendar that I will use to study my vocabulary and conversation skills. Hopefully this will help me focus more on Hindi during the weeks when I feel too busy with other work.

I was most interested in the wide variety of topics brought to the table during the presentations last week. The exclusivity of the French dictionary, the quality of consumer goods from Korea, and - my favorite - communal teeth brushing in Korea were all new concepts to me that I would not have known without the insights of our classmates.

One overall theme that struck me during the presentations was the value of consumerism and materialism in Korea. In both presentations on Korean culture, this idea was brought to the forefront in the emphasis on looking one's best at all times and the Korean government's requirement that all stores accept credit cards. I also thought it was interesting that these two presentations resulted in a discussion of the high rate of plastic surgeries done in Korea. I found this especially perplexing because, although my half-Korean step sister had plastic surgery while in Korea, neither she nor the rest of my Korean family seem overly involved in their appearance or material things. I also wondered during Nuan-nuan's presentation whether her description of Korean women "always wanting to look their best while walking down the street" was really all that different from the norm in the US. She mentioned that Korean women look at themselves in the shop windows as they pass by - something that I see all the time in malls in America!

I also enjoyed Wyatt's description of the French tendency to protect and extol their own culture and language because it is something I witnessed while in France. Not only does this play out in the uniquely French nature of their food, art, etc., but I think it also plays a role in the stereotype that the French don't like American tourists and have had trouble accepting immigrants into French culture. I have heard that it is very difficult for immigrants to assimilate into French culture because they are always stigmatized as distinctly non-French, a phenomenon that is eerily similar to Wyatt's description of the council that chooses which foreign words may be accepted into the French dictionary.

Korean grammar is known to be pretty complex. One of the largest differences that I have noticed so far includes how the verb comes at the very of the sentence in Korean when in English it simply follows a noun. Due to this difference, it’s important to listen critically because the tense of the sentence depends on the ending verb. Also, there are many particles used in Korean. There are a total of 20 particles that are attached to words in order to convey the role of the words in a sentence.

I plan to learn more about grammar but first using resources such as Mango and then discussing with my language partner. I like using Rosetta Stone however it simply teaches vocabulary with less emphasis on grammar. I think if I focus on reading and writing, I will be able to perfect Korean grammar. Reference grammar would definitely be useful because it would outline the general structure of a sentence. Keeping this outline in mind would help conceptualize everything.

Artifact%20%231.m4a

Manners in a Pakistani Family:

Most people are very collectivist in Pakistani culture. The families very dependent on each other and spend lots of time together. The male attitudes toward female are very different than the West. For instance, the female should obey the male most of the time. They had different rules in the family as well. For instance, the girls are expected to work around the house and do the chores most of the time. They do the cooking in the house and even need to serve the food to their brothers and fathers. The boys are expected to work mostly outside . For example, do the grocery shopping.  They need to spend most of the time together while they are in the house. I have found this amazing that expanded my knowledge about the manners of families in Pakistan. I also found the same article in Urdu which i read and it was helpful to the skills of my Urdu language. 

This article is about attitudes and families. It was very interesting and thought to share it.

http://http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00289568

For my Week 4 and 5 tasks about transportation, there are many different language structures that I will need to learn in order to successfully ask for directions, hail a taxi, describe a location, etc.

The first is word order in statements and questions. I know that in Hindi, statements follow a subject-object-verb order. I am unsure about questions, although I know that the question word always begins the sentence. For this, I have been using online Hindi grammar sites and hope to use the grammar reference book in the Global Studio when it is available.

Second, I will need to remember to pluralize sentences when talking about quantities of money, kilometers, etc. Hindi is different than English in that verbs and adjectives must be pluralized when talking about multiple things. I know that this usually means ending each word in "eh", but for exceptions I will need to look them up online or in the reference book. This will be important when I am trying to describe the place I need to go, as addresses and street names are used less often.

Eventually, I will need to learn the prefixes and suffixes involved in changing verb tense. I remember that verb stems generally stay the same in Hindi while new syllables are added to them to change the tense of the verb. It may be important to become familiar with these changes in order to understand the answers given to me in a conversation, even if I can't use them fluently myself.

I think understanding grammar rules will be essential for me to remember phrases and words. I don't have the best memory for vocabulary, so I prefer to know the grammar rules involved in a phrase so I can reconstruct the sentence during a conversation - or deconstruct a phrase that I hear and deduce its meaning.

One difference between english and french is the use of masculine and feminine nouns. In french, every noun has a gender and must be learned this way. Along with this, the adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in gender. Another difference is the endings of verbs for different persons. In english, I run, you run, we run, they all run. In french, cours, cours, courons, courent. These are the most basic grammatical differences between french and english, but since I know spanish fairly well I won’t have much difficulty in picking up on these differences.

I plan on continuing to learn more and more vocabulary and phrases in french and hope that I have the grammar knowledge I need to understand and construct the language. I’ve been using Duolingo, which has grammar notes along with all of the lessons which I have been using as I go along to get a better grasp on the specifics of the language. I don’t think I will need to use a reference grammar for my learning, simply because the grammar differences are slight and few.

My goals for Weeks 4 and 5 are to be able to construct a basic conversation about transportation in Hindi. To do this, I hope to learn key questions and answers about directions, place names or descriptions, bus/train numbers, and verbs about travel. I plan to look on Byki and Mango to find vocabulary and phrase lists of travel vocabulary, then also construct my own list of possible phrases by looking up words on Hindi dictionary sites, then checking them with my language partner.

For questions, I would like to know how to say:

How can I get to ___?

Where is ___?

Should I take a train/bus/auto?

Can you take me to ___?

How much does it cost to go to ___?

How far is ___?

I will also most likely need to know a few descriptor phrases to describe the places I am trying to go to:

Near ___

Next to ___

On ___ road

In ___ city/neighborhood/area

Restaurant, school, hotel, park

I will also need to be able to understand the answers to these questions:

Take ___ bus/train/auto

It is ___ miles away

It costs ___ rupees

To track my progress, I plan to have conversations with my language parter each time we meet to practice asking her directions and listening for her answers. My artifact will probably be an audio recording of a pretend conversation asking for directions and listing potential answers.