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Week 2: I met with my language partner a little late, probably around week 2. During this week, I reviewed what I know with my partner. I knew a scatter of random phrases here and there, which I told him. But I mentioned that I didn't really remember anything too well because hello. Basically I needed a lot of review on the alphabet. While I had them written down, I didn't necessarily remember them. During this week we learned the basics to formal and informal greetings.

• Resources I used: google, a few online dictionaries, my Korean friends
• Language partner: First we reviewed my pronunciation of the alphabet first, since if you don't know the alphabet, then you can't really learn the language. We reviewed the characters and how to read them and write them. Before the meeting, I looked up some greeting words. And so I asked Alvin if they were correct. He also mentioned how in Korean there are different ways to say each phrase. We first learned formal greetings first then informal greetings.
• I found it more effective to ask friends than look online. When I look online, I really don't know if the word is correct or not. For example, how do I know that the word is spelled correctly or is a particular word the right translation in the context that I want. Therefore it's easier to just ask friends, who can automatically tell you what the translation is.

Week 3: Building on the work that I did last week, I learned how to say farewell formally and informally.

• Resources I used: google, and Korean friends
• Language partner: this week we learned formal and informal ways to say farewell. I asked him if the words are right and I would practice saying them. I learned from my friends that there are also 2 more ways to formally say goodbye to someone in terms of whether the older person stays or leaves and whether I stay or leave. Then he would quiz me on the words to see if I was able to retain anything.
• I found it very effective to be quizzed on the stuff. It makes me try harder to remember the information so that I don't mess up.

Week 4:

• resources I used: my Korean friends
• Language partner: I learned how to say my name and ask for a name formally. I learned how to describe myself as student that was to be used for my first artifact. I reviewed the words with him to ensure accuracy. Through him, I learned how to say "how are you?" and respond to the question when asked. After learning these words, Alvin made all the words from greeting and farewell sections into a conversation along with the name and how are you parts. And so in the end, I could talk in a conversation with someone.  To wrap up, we kind of did a little conversation with the words that I learned
• It was very effective to do a mock conversation without notes to get some practice in conversing with a Korean.

Week 5: This week we learned the 2 number systems and how to write them. It was basically more of him giving me information than me being very engaging.

• Resources I used: Alvin this time actually told me how to say the number systems and write it.
• Language partner. He told me what the difference was between the 2 number systems. Then he wrote out how to say each number in each system on a whiteboard.
• More effective for Alvin to give me the information directly.

Week 6: This week we reviewed the number system. We practiced saying the number system and writing it out. Then he would quiz me on the numbers.

• resources I used: My notes and Alvin
• Language partner: I would say the number system over and over until I was sure that I retained the information. Then Alvin would take my notes away and verbally quiz me on the numbers. He would say a number and I would have to say the translation of the numbers on both systems
• Very effective to have the quizzes.This time though it was information that I learned up to this week and this week. So the quizzes forced me to actually try to retain the information. When I'm under pressure, information sticks more in my brain.

Week 7:

• Resources I used: Alvin
• Language partner: This week, Alvin taught me another way to say the number system. But this time a certain way to say the number system is only used when it's used with an object.  So I learned this this week. I also learned 3 I like sentences. I also learned a few more new words, which are a little difficult to remember.
• This week I didn't get quizzed and so not getting quizzed isn't very effective in my learning.

Week 8:

• Resources I used: Korean friends and experiences
• Language partner: From multiple experiences at restaurants, I learned a few phrases of what I should say when I'm at a restaurant. And so I had already knew a few phrases. For this week, I asked some of my friends what should be said and not said when first entering a restaurant. I learned how to order for a drink or a dish. But the downside is I don't necessarily know the different ways that could be said in order to ask for something at a restaurant in Korean.  This week was a busy week for both of us and so I was sick during this week.
• Going to a restaurant is an effective way to see how each phrase is used and where and when it is used.

Week 9:

• Resources I used: Korean friends, experiences, online dictionary, Alvin
• Language partner: This week we reviewed what I learned last week and added more to it. I learned what questions would be asked by the waitress when she's asking us what we want to order. For example what do I want to eat and what do I want to drink. We reviewed whether the terms from last week are correct. Then he put all the information into a typical conversation at a restaurant when first entering. Also this week I learned a variety of food related words. Such as pizza, pasta, hamburger. Then we had a mini conversation.
• Like I said before putting the words into a conversation is easier and more effective than having random phrases everywhere. 

Week 10:

• Resources I used: Alvin and notes
• Language Partner: this week I learned months and dates. Unfortunately though, I didn't learn the year. Almost 85% of the words associated with months and dates comes from both number systems. Therefore he only needed to tell me how to say in Korean month, day, before noon, and after noon.The rest I had already knew. And then we reviewed basically everything that we had learned this semester to prepare for the final.
• Review is very effective. It's like a refresher of everything that I learned.

One of the coolest things that I've done with my Swedish this year was actually over winter break. Mrs. Andersson asked if I wanted to be Santa for their Christmas festivities-- it was a fun surprise for everyone! Louise helped me write a speech and I had to dress up like Santa and create my own Santa persona. The speech part was fun but I was really nervous... I also had to read poems that they'd written to each other and that was tricky because it's hard to read another language in their short-hand and script-like style. For instance, Swedish has special vowels (Å, Ä, and Ö) and they look really different when written in short-hand than when typed. The two dots on the ä and ö become one straight line but I hadn't realized that before reading the poems over Christmas so it sent me through a loop! The whole ordeal was a great learning experience though. Here is the script I wrote: Jultomten%20Tal.docx

Practical use of Swedish! Learning Swedish has been really helpful and on numerous occasions I have been able to use it to communicate with Louise or Freddie or with their parents. For instance, I recently sent their parents an email and started it off with some Swedish for practice/to show them my progress. I said:

Attached is the PowerPoint from my Swedish presentation on Dating and Marriage.

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This semester I personally tried to focus on reading and writing as well. I tried to read at least an article a day in Swedish in order to get a better feel for vocabulary, grammar, etc. It is especially helpful if I'm reading an article in Swedish and it's about something I already read in English. This way I can accumulate more words because I understand in what context they're being used. In these assignments I read articles in Swedish, translated them into English, and then resummarized them in Swedish. This was a particularly helpful process because it forced me to really understand what the article was saying and then reiterate the vocabulary words I'd just learned in Swedish. All the while paying close attention to proper grammar usage.

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This semester we tried to focus more on listening and speaking, rather than just accumulating new vocabulary words. This process was really helpful because it forces me to get the gist of what a speaker is saying. At the same time I tried to practice listening to youtube clips of Swedes speaking and then slowing them down/repeating them until I could understand what words they were using. It also helped with understanding grammar and how sentences should sound.

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For my culture presentation I talked about Swedish dating and marriage culture. It's really different from the U.S. to say the least! For the most part Swedes don't really date the way Americans do. They certainly don't ask strangers out on dates! Swedes also aren't big into marriage. They have very committed relationships but don't necessarily value signing a document that says to the world that you're married. It is also much more common for Swedes to live together and not be married. The term "sambo" is used for a partner that you've lived with for a long time but aren't necessarily married to. There is definitely no social stigma about being an old maid, not being married, or having a baby out of wedlock in Sweden. Also, Swedes tend to be older when they settle down and get into these long, committed relationships so younger Swedes in their 20s and even late 30s are unlikely to even be on a boyfriend/girlfriend basis.

Swedes also express love in very different ways from Americans. For instance, my boyfriend's family doesn't say I love you! They say "puss och kram" which means kiss and hug. It means the same thing for them, they just don't like to say "jag älskar dig", which is their phrase for I love you. Understanding this part of their culture has been important not just so that I can understand their language, but also so that I can bridge the cultural gaps in my relationship! Sure, it's nice that I know the phrase puss och kram so I can say it to my boyfriend and his family members. But it's even more important that I understand that his family doesn't use the phrase I love you so it isn't natural for him to use it in English per se. 

As the semester comes to a close I feel much more confident in my Swedish speaking and listening abilities, especially. Louise, Malory and I had dinner with Louise's brother Fredric and we practiced interview questions on him. I was happy to see how much I understood of his answers and my ability to get the gist of what a Swede is saying even if I can't identify every single word. I think it's important to not get hung up on that one word you didn't understand and just let your ears keep listening. We've also been practicing a lot more with listening and having conversations so for instance Louise will say something in Swedish and we will have to understand what she said and respond. It's helpful because now I feel confident that I could carry on somewhat of a conversation with a Swede.

However, I do feel like we are at another critical juncture where we know a lot but that also means that we realize how much we don't know. I find myself struggling to talk around what I want to say because there are words missing from my vocabulary. Even still, I think just practicing with Louise and attempting to communicate our thoughts/feelings is a great step. I feel pretty well prepared for our final just because we have learned so much this year and it will be fun to show it off.

The last half of the semester, I focused on learning numbers, learn how to order food at a restaurant, and improve my reading and writing skills. 

The week we discussed numbers with my language partner, I noticed a major difference between Korean and other languages that I know. Something that is very unique to Korean is that there are two number systems: Sino-Korean and Native-Korean. The reason for the two systems is Sino-Korean is derived from the Chinese whereas Native Korean is the set of numbers which originate from Hangul. However, we only learned the Sino-Korean numbers. The was Sun taught us is through repetition. She would say a number and then tell us to repeat after her. After doing this for several times, she told each one of us to say the numbers by ourselves. At first, it was quite difficult to remember all the numbers correctly and she would correct me every time I made a mistake. But after repeating several times, I could finally tell the numbers by myself. We also talked about the different uses of the numbers. For instance, Sino-Korean numbers are used for dates, money, minutes, seconds and counting beyond 99. Native Korean numbers are used for all other purposes. After the session with Sun, in order retain the numbers, I would try to count things in daily life using the numbers.

Next week we talked about ordering food at a restaurant. We learned how to ask for something, ask for the bill, and say how many people we are. We learned this in the form of a dialogue with Sun. She wrote the sentences in Hangul and at first asked to read them, in order to practice our reading skills. If we made a mistake she would correct us immediately. Then we would say the sentences in form of a dialogue, where Sun would be the waitress and we would be the customer. After that we would reverse the roles. After the meeting with Sun, Gargi and I would practice the dialogues on our own ti make sure that we remember it, sometimes we would also record our dialogues to make sure that we sound ok. 

In order to improve my reading skills, the strategy I have been using is that I would try to read the lyrics of the Korean songs I am very familiar with. Since I already knew what the words should sound like, it was easy for me to identify my own mistakes. Also, as I read the words, I would pay attention to the writing styles. As a result, it also helped me in writing as I would know where to place the consonants and vowels. 

On one of the weekly sessions with Sun, we did a dialogue on how ask a guy out in Korean. It was a very fun activity and although I would hardly actually use, as I have intention of asking any Korean guy out, in the course of the dialogue, we learned several useful phrases such as "I am busy" (Jo babbayo), Excuse me (chogiyo), what to say when confused (chogi, keugae). These are the things that I could easily incorporate in my daily conversations with people. As a result, they were very easy for me to retain. 

In order to remember the vocabulary that I learned every week, I would practice a little every week, usually by associating pictures to their corresponding words, for not only the new words but also for the vocabulary from previous weeks. 

Overall, I felt that although I was not learning as much as I had initially planned on learning, I was still satisfied because I felt that whatever I learned, I learned very thoroughly. 

In my third artifact, I made a learning activity. This was a quick quiz game that Emily set up. It was really hard but a very useful learning tool. Basically, she wrote down some words in Hebrew that I needed to define in english, and some words in english that I needed to  translate to Hebrew.

This was a good activity because it used my reading skills, my translation skills, and much more. It made me think it both Hebrew and English which is hard but good.

Emily and I did a lot of activities like this, similar to my quizzes but where I was responsible for translating between Hebrew and English. These proved very valuable as they increased my ability to switch between the two languages. 

My first learning artifact was a quiz that Emily and I did. It proved to be a very effective tool throughout the semester in documenting my learning. Last semester, I didn't really do quizzes, as I didn't feel I was ready for them. Now, however, it was a great way to document my vocabulary and my learning of words and phrases. Emily and I made a deal that if I got above 80% on all of them, I would get a prize at the end of the semester, and I did! Still waiting to find out what my prize is :)

Quizzes are good because they just hold you accountable for what you have learned. They are a good way to mark progress and to make sure you are studying. During the second semester, when I had less frequent quizzes, I definitely did not study as carefully. 

I learned a lot from the cultural presentations. My favorites were the one on sexuality in Korea and the one on Korean food. I have never found myself particularly fascinated with Korean culture, but it seemed really interesting from the presentations!

The sexuality presentation was interesting because it shows how far behind the United States other countries are in their acceptance of LGBTQ rights and general awareness. Some say that the US has a long way to go - and it does - but compared to a lot of the world, we are doing pretty well. I thought the gender-bending movies were fascinating and I like the concept of a gender-bending main character, I just wish it didn't have to demean homosexuality in the process.

I also liked the presentation on Korean food. I like how she tied together the cultural and anthropological reasons for the different foods that are consumed. Plus, I love Korean food - we have a great Korean restaurant in my town and so I found myself familiar with the dishes she was talking about which was really cool!

I want to talk more about food in Israel, some of the things that I didn't detail in my cultural project. I want to talk about the specific types of food they have in Israel.

First of all, I want to talk about the coffee chain Aroma. It is the most incredible thing in the world. It is like starbucks here, it is everywhere and very popular. They also serve lunch too. They have pastries, amazing frozen coffee drinks, great sandwiches.. it is incredible! "Iced Coffee" in Israel is different than it is here, it doesn't have pieces of ice in it, it is frozen and blended. So amazingly good. They also (in fitting with the keeping kosher feel) have a lot of vegetarian options for lunch. I had a cucumber and tomato and cream cheese sandwich that was so good. My mouth is watering remembering it!

Another very popular thing in Israel is salad. They serve salad allllllll the time. Whether it is for breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc, it is always at the meal. Salad in Israel is different - there is usually no lettuce, it is just julienned vegetables in some kind of vinegrette. It actually is kind of gross in the mornings.

Finally, in Israel they eat a lot of meat. Meat is served everywhere - on the streets, in fancy restaurants, etc. One of the best kinds of meats is schwarma. Schwarma is a giant spit of meat that is constantly cooking on the street and then when you order it, they shave off a portion for you and put it in pita with other accompaniments. Schwarma is delicious and speaks, I think, to the overall nature of Israeli food. It is not bland, it is all culturally influenced, and it is so good!

In Israel, the military plays a much more important part of culture than it does in the United States. In the US, we  talk about how proud we are of our soldiers, how common it is to display patriotism, etc. However, I believe that we just talk the talk. In Israel, they really walk the walk. They are a beautiful example of a country that has been totally defined by their military, almost as much as they are defined by their Judaism. The military in Israel is life for so many.

Because every student has to go into the military before they go into college, the general public perception of the military as an institution is really high. One of my friends said to me that there is no point in hating something that you have to do, and I think this is a common attitude there. People are placed in different branches of the military after a test, and different branches demand higher scores. Some branches demand 3 years of service or more, while others are less. The military is set up to have something that appeals to everyone. And goodness knows they need the help.

In Israel, they are constantly under threat from some neighboring nation. I believe that this affects the country's culture at a very basic level. They constantly live in fear of an attack, which makes them more ready to pick up and bear arms themselves. This makes sense, because they understand how real the necessity of having an army is. In the United States, we are never really under threat. We get to fight because we want to, because we think there is an ideal worth defending somewhere else. Israel doesn't have that privilege. And this has so changed the country.

Food (what I am doing my cultural project on) in Israel is very important for several reasons, but what I want to talk about today is the way it divides the orthodox from the secular. In Orthodox Judaism, there are very strict codes about what can be eaten. No milk and meat together, no shellfish, no pork, etc. In Israel, much of the country adheres to these standards: some because they want to (the Orthodox) and some because they have to (the secular). What I mean by that is that it is difficult to find food that isn't Kosher. Because the small minority of Orthodox Jews have so much control and power in the country, one of the things they have managed to influence is the food available.

During my time in Israel, I don't think I ever saw "traif" (pork or shellfish) available to eat. At McDonald's, the recipe for chicken nuggets is different than in the US because the coating for the nuggets has to be made without dairy. Fast food restaurants have two entrances - one that goes for a kitchen that cooks meat, and one that goes with a kitchen that cooks dairy. It is so fascinating to me that this small percentage of the population that is Orthodox has managed to control the entire food culture of Israel. It's impressive really!

The secular portion of the population says that it is possible to find traif foods, just difficult. I never saw it when I was there but I'm sure it exists! Israel has some very delicious foods. But it is just fascinating to me that the religious culture of a country can so dramatically impact other important aspects of culture such as food. In Israel, there is often political tension between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular majority of the country. I think that a lot of this has to do with issues such as food, where the small orthodox minority has managed to make changes that affect everyone.

We did the same conversation but with the roles reversed. I am the boy and Gargi is the girl. 

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After reading the article, "Why Bilinguals Are Smarter," there are some things that I agree on, but there are other things that I am skeptical about.

I do not believe that being a bilingual directly makes someone smarter. Intelligence, in my opinion, is too difficult to measure. A carpenter, in educational terms, may seem unintelligent when compared to a scholar. However, when asked to build something in real-life, the carpenter may be able to build something better through experience. The scholar may know all the rules and physics to build to "perfect" system, but sometimes math does not consider all the variables (e.g. physics students are often given a questions that tell you to consider the problem in a frictionless environment to make the problem easier to solve). I know personally multiple people that are monolingual that are able to tackle situations better than I, a bilingual, can, and I know multiple people that are bilingual that are "smarter" than I am. From my experience learning in a math and chemistry statistics class, I know that statistics should be taken seriously, and all sources should be examined closely in the case that numbers, graphs, or charts are skewed to fit one's argument. Even though several studies are cited to support how bilinguals are smart, I do not believe that it necessarily makes them smarter than monolinguals.

I do, however, support that being bilingual may help battle Alzheimer's disease. Being bilingual may help keep more parts of the brain active in order to prevent the disease. Being bilingual may help one learn information more efficiently, such as a new language. For example, Japanese and Korean share some of the same words as Chinese words; however, the example where the 2009 study with Agnes Kovacs talking about how the bilingual baby was able to adapt better than the monolingual may raise skepticism. Everyone learns differently. One baby may be a more visual learner, where another requires repetition and audio aid.

The article raises interesting thoughts, but should be taken with a grain of salt.

This is a conversation between Gargi and I in which a girl (me) is asking a boy out (Gargi)

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This article gave me a new viewpoint on how languages can be maintained. In the case of the survival of Siletz Dee-ni, I found it fascinating and impressive that these people, who total to only five speakers left, have managed to create an online library to preserve the language. This reminds me of how Chinese has changed so much in the recent years. The article talks about how English, Spanish, and Mandarin are the "sweepstakes winners," but does not mention what happened to Chinese when Mandarin came into the mainstream. Simplified Chinese was created recently, and all Chinese-speaking countries were encouraged to abandon Traditional Chinese for the simplified version. China has fully adapted the Chinese language now and is pressuring others such as Taiwan to adapt the language. If Taiwan were to make the move, Traditional Chinese would be lost. This is a scary thought, as the majority of Chinese-speaking friends my age cannot read Traditional Chinese anymore and can only read Simplified. Even myself, I can crudely read traditional Chinese and can barely speak the language. I can understand the language, but I have difficulty speaking it.

Languages are not only lost from shifts in power, but from the immigration of families to other countries, for example Asian-Americans. Most Asian-Americans can only speak their mother language, and cannot write any of it. Imagine what would happen to their next generation of children, where the parents grew up speaking Chinese to their parents, but in general spoke English 90% of the time with friends and co-workers. Languages can be lost through the Westernization of cultures and I believe that all speakers of different languages should follow the example of the Siletz Dee-ni to preserve the language. If I had a database for learning Taiwanese online, it would be a great benefit to me in preserving my ancestry and culture.

Korean right now, is still popular enough to maintain itself as a language, but other languages should look to creating an online database.