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In the Indian culture, body language is very critical and important to understand when communicating, as Indians use nonverbal communication quite often. Physical contact in conversation is not as common however. So if, someone touches you while talking or puts their hand on your shoulder, it shows the intimacy of the relationship. However, physical contact between people of the opposite sex in public is frowned upon because of the conservative aspect of the Indian culture.

One main nonverbal gesture that Indians do is the head bob. Indians often bob their head in response to yes or no questions. It is a very vague response that people often misread.

Using your left hand is considered rude, as it is known as the “unclean” hand. Accepting things and eating with the left hand is considered offensive.

When people meet for the first time, they do not generally shake hands. Instead they nod their heads and bow, saying Namaste.

Again, Indians do not have a sense of time. Especially when conversing, they can go on for hours. They tend to never start on a scheduled time, instead they run on “Indian time” which is at least fifteen minutes past.

Before reading the article I was not aware of the fact that having the ability to speak more than one language improves the cognitive abilities as well as has long-term benefits. The writer talks about how the bilinguals are better at solving some types of mental puzzles than monolinguals. According to a study done in 2004, bilibgual children were faster at sorting a set of things according to two different criteria than monolingual children. Several justifications have been suggested for the observed behavior. Some say that bilinguals have an improved ability to ignore distractions while others think that it is due to their increased ability to monitor the environment. Most of the evidence from studies presented were performed on children or infants. As a result, it made me wonder whether the same effects will be observed in those who learned a second language later in their lives. However, one thing that has been observed in bilingual adults is that they have a greater resistance to dementia. 

Some of the other questions that remained unanswered by the article are that how proficient in the language does one have to be to considered bilingual and are the same effects observed in polyglots. 

Week 1

• Alphabet/Pronunciation
• Days of the week
• Culture talk with language partner

Week 2

• Numbers
• Birthdays
• Practiced counting aloud with partner and played games with numbers. I found this to be quite helpful as it was and interactive way to learn. We also watched YouTube videos of children’s songs in Hindi.

Week 3

• Days of the week
• Greetings
• Practiced repeating phrases with partner. However, at times I found that simply repeating phrases wasn’t too helpful. Rather, it was more effective to sound out each syllable of the word and then the whole word. This way, my language partner could make sure that I was pronouncing the word correctly. Also, I found my pronunciation improved with this approach.

Week 4

• Family members
• Review from past weeks
• My language partner and I drew a family tree together. I found this to be very helpful as I am a visual learner. We also used one of the Hindi books my partner borrowed from the global studio.

Week 5

• Food
• Drinks
• How to order at a restaurant
• My language partner and I role-played as a customer and waiter. We pretended as if were at a restaurant and practiced ordering food. It was a fun, interactive way to practice the new vocab. I found this approach to very helpful. We used a Hindi vocab book from the global studio as well for this lesson.

Week 6

• Introductory phrases
• Start having simple conversations
• Review past week vocabulary
• My language partner and I started to have basic conversations with each other. We also played a game with the past vocab I have been learning. I wrote down the words that I still needed to practice. I found this to be helpful as I could go back later and review these words.

Week 7

• Body Parts
• Listened to Bollywood songs
• Worked on pronunciations of words
• This was a fun lesson. In many Bollywood songs, the lyrics describe a woman or a many using very cheesy lines. These lines often contain body parts such as, eyes, hair, lips, hands etc. So, my language partner would play a song and have me point out the words we just learned. This was a very effective approach for me.

Week 8

• Simple verb conjugations
• Practiced conversations
• Reviewed past vocab
• My partner and I used diigo this week and discovered some helpful websites that allowed me to practice Hindi phrase. I also started learning simple verb conjugations this week.

Week 9

• Statements about myself and interests
• Statements about my family
• Watched Bollywood movie with language partner. I definitely had to refer to the subtitles, but I found that I was able to recognize and understand a few words here and there. Sometimes, we would pause the movie and my partner would explain phrases to me. I also downloaded an app on my phone where I could learn Hindi vocab. It’s kind of similar to flashcards. I found the app to be very useful. Especially times where I don’t have my notes around me I can refer to the app.

Week 10

• Learned words related to dance
• Worked on pronunciations
• Pronunciations
• Since dance is one of my favorite things to do, I was interested in learning words/phrases related to dance. I also decided I wanted to do my final cultural research project on two different forms of Indian dance. Again, we used some books my partner and I borrowed from the studio.

Week 11

• Review past lessons
• Watch Hindi movie
• Discuss movie
• This week my partner and I went over past lessons that I felt I needed more practice with. We watched interactive YouTube video lessons that helped with some grammar questions I had. Reviewing past lessons was very effective. I realized that I had forgot some of the earlier words and/or lessons, so I was able to refresh my mind.

Week 12

• Talked about the weather
• Listened to Bollywood music and try to recognize words
• Had small conversations
• We used Hindi workbooks as well as attempted to try the Talk Now! Software. I found that sounding out words together was helpful. Also, when studying words I tried to make up mnemonics or refer to words I already knew to help me.

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Here I wrote one page in Turkish. I talked a little bit about my life, then about exams that I will have next week. I am really happy with this artifact because I used so many grammar tenses that me and my teaching assistant covered this semester. I am happy that I am actually able to use all the tenses that we have covered. Now I know that I actually understood and can apply the rules by forming sentences. I probably did make some mistakes but overall I think that any Turkish person would be able to understand what I wrote, and that is why I believe I did a great job here with this artifact.

Language is a significant part of a culture. There are several aspects of the language which are reflected on the culture such as in levels of formality in Korean language is a representation of the hierarchy in the Korean society. It is scary to think that some languages are on the verge of extinction as it would risk the death of a vital part of the culture. 

During this period of globalization, there is a growing demand and popularity of certain languages such as English, Spanish and Mandarin as they are spoken in the greater part of the world. As a result it is very easy to overshadow the languages spoken by the minorities. An example of such as language is Siletz Dee-ni. 

The article talks about the revival of the tribal language Siletz Dee-ni and the different methods used to serve its purpose. Technology played a big role in the revitalization of Siletz Dee-ni. The article relates how Bud Lane, a member of the tribe who speaks this language, created an online Siletz Dee-ni Talking Dictionary which have gained large popularity after being made public. The dictionary also revealed the parts of the world where languages similar to Siletz Dee-ni are spoken. Another approach taken was the introduction of this language in schools. 

In my opinion, we can take advantage of globalization to promote these languages as well. The language can be advertised through social media such as Facebook and Youtube. Writing books in these languages, making movies or songs are all ways to make people know about these languages and at the same time appeal to the young people.  

Whenever I tell someone that I am learning Turkish they ask me if I have ever visited Turkey and if I have ever tried famous Turkish tea. And my answers to those questions are always YES and YES. First time I tried Turkish tea I burned my fingers, because tea (also known as cay in Turkish) is served in a glass and not in a cup, and I thought that the glass was made of some special kind that does not transfer the heat but I was wrong. Turkish people like to drink hot tea but the proper way of holding the glass is to hold the upper edge of the glass where tea does not reach and thus the glass is not hot in that part. I bought some Turkish tea in Turkey and tried to prepare it home but when I prepared it, it tasted really awful, because I prepared it just like regular tea, I did not know that Turkish tea is supposed to be prepared in a special way. Turkish tea is usually black and is mostly cultivated on the Black Sea coast. I was however surprised to find out that Turkish tea tasted different at different places, I tried it at one place in Istanbul and at several places in Bursa, and every time I tried it, it tasted different. Every restaurant/place has its own flavors and tricks that make tea taste different. To prepare Turkish tea, Turks use caydanlik which is a two stacked kettle, the bottom part is filled with hot, boiling water whereas the upper part is for the tea brew. It usually takes about 30 minutes to prepare this tea, which is really surprising considering that in the US culture or in Bosnian culture we just put a tea bag in boiling water and drink it. To get the full taste of Turkish tea, you have to use leaves and not tea bags. You first wash tea leaves with cold water to remove any dust and place them in the upper kettle. Then you put water in the bottom kettle to boil, and once it boils you put some of that boiling water in the upper kettle to brew the leaves. Leave this for about 20 minutes to brew. Once the time is up, the tea is ready to be served. It is usually served with 2 sugar cubes.

It is also important to know how to serve Turkish tea, for example if you put too little tea leaves it is called acik which is “weak tea”, and if you put too many leaves it becomes koyu which means “dark, strong tea”. Both are extremes and are considered bad. That is why it is important to emphasize your preference when ordering Turkish tea. Drinking tea in Turkey is as important (if not even more) as it is in England. You drink tea in the morning, afternoon, but mostly you drink it in the evenings when you  meet with your friends and have long conversations. Personally, I am not a big fan of Turkish tea, I do not like the taste of it very much. I think that you just have to get used to it. But it is interesting how Turkish people drink glasses and glasses of tea every day, whereas in Bosnia we rarely ever drink tea. In Bosnia when we gather with friends we drink coffee, whereas in Turkey they either drink coffee or tea. I am glad that I have tried Turkish tea in Turkey and got this experience. Even though I am not a big fan of Turkish tea, I am planning to drink it again the next time I go to Turkey.

http://www.deliciousistanbul.com/blog/2011/02/04/turkish-tea/

When I first started learning French, I was very surprised by the fact that there is a gender for every noun. To me it hardly made sense to call computer male and table female. Initially, I kept on asking the question, "why?" I tried to look for a reason for the assignment of gender to objects and concepts. However, all the teachers told me that there is no reason and to simply get used to it. That is when I realized that learning about the history of a language can be of great benefit to learning that language as it provides a justification for each rule that is encountered. 

As a result, when learning Korean, I decided to learn about the history and origin of Korean language alongside learning the language itself. When I was familiarizing myself with the alphabet, I was intrigued by the use of lines and dots in vowels. However, researching the history led me to the explanation behind the shapes of vowels. I learned that the vertical line represented humans, the horizontal line represented the earth and the dot represented the sun. In fact, the sun, the earth and human beings are the three Confucian realms. Prior to that, I did not realize the presence Confucianism in Korean social infrastructure. 

I learned that hierarchy is a big part of Confucianism as it exists in society, family, work etc. This also explained the several levels of formality used in speech and writing. This is also one of the first things that I learned from my language partner. Even something as simple as "Thank you" has several different forms according to the context. If we are thanking an elder/ parents/ boss/ teacher we use khamsahamnida/ komapseumnida. If we are thanking someone a few years older than us but who we know very well, we usually use kumowoyo/ khamsahaeyo. But when thanking someone of the same age/ close friends/ those who are younger than us we use kumawo. When I tried to learn the different forms without knowing the historical context, I often got frustrated over the complicated system and ended up memorizing the various forms. However, after learning the history, I can use my reasoning and judgement to decide which form to use.  

The way that the reading was structured, it was a little hard to understand or analyze the text completely. The author talks a lot of what second language learners should do and not do, but there isn't enough evidence or examples to back up this point. Therefore, it makes it difficult for someone to read it and actually know what he/she should do in these situations. I would have preferred to have some examples for the things that the author says so that I would be able to see what should not be done and what should. Examples are definitely key when it comes to learning. The reading didn't seem to be for language learners but more for teachers on how they can teach language learners. And so, I had trouble connecting with the reading. All throughout the reading, the author uses so much citations. Every other sentence there is a citation. This makes me wonder if the author wrote any original stuff. How much of the reading is the author's own words and how much is from other authors?

Reading itself is very information based, it's not a simple thing to read. Honestly though, is knowing how sentences are broken down and what they represent really helpful in learning a language for language learners? I don't think so. Even if we know this information, there's no way that we would remember it and apply it to everyday conversations. Often times, conversations are done on a whim and randomly. Therefore I really think this reading is more as a guide for teachers on what their students should know when learning instead of for students themselves. Without someone actually putting the information in a form that we would understand clearly, this information is useless for students.

I agree conversation is much easier to learn than learning the structures first. Most children today start off by talking with their families first and learning from these interactions before learning how to write sentences. But I kind of don't understand what the author meant by syntactic structures. Does it mean how the sentences are structured?

Reading the regulatory function section, I still don't really get it. What does regulation of encounters mean? Is it something that determines how people behave when they're around other people? I think the author does a poor job at explaining the difference between instrumental function and regulatory function. It needs to be explained at a more simple level.

In reading the examples about pragmatics and sociopragmatics, we have to consider the fact that English is an extremely complex language than most languages. Therefore sometimes there are more simple languages than English. And so I think the reading is more tailored to language learners learning English than for English language learners particularly. The reading talks a lot about the difficulties and misunderstandings that foreign language learners have when they're speaking and learning English. Thus, it makes it difficult for me as a English language learner to relate most of the reading to my own studies and learning.  

It was interesting to learn about the different competences. Usually, when we are learning a language, we either focus on the grammar or the vocabulary without thinking about what skill it is actually teaching us besides telling us how to say something in the target language. However, after completing the reading, I realized that everything that are taught has an objective. For instance, when doing a simple exercise of writing a few sentences about myself, I discovered that it involved grammatical competence as the verbs needed to be conjugated properly, discourse competence as the sentences needed to be cohesive, sociolinguistic competence due to the need to use the words which are suitable for my context. Moreover, at times I would look for an objective for learning everything as it made the learning experience more meaningful. 

The article also discusses the functions of a language. Although language has the universal purpose of communication, there are many functions of a language. It can be used to cause certain events to happen, it can serve to control events, to convey facts, express feelings and emotions, inquire, give form to our imaginations. Even though I use language for all the functions mentioned all the time, reading about the functions made me appreciate the significance of having a language.

I also found the discussion on pragmatics very intriguing. Growing up in one culture and learning a single language, it is very easy to overlook the implicit communication made in conversations depending on the context. One of the examples mentioned in the reading is the question "Would you like to read?" could have different meanings in different language mainly because of the difference of culture. 

This reading has made me aware of the importance of learning about a culture along with the language because of their interdependence.  

Video of Reading and Translation

I made this video by recording my voice, and using special effects to make it sound as if Ms. Hanife was talking with me in the video. I am happy with this final artifact because I have used a lot of grammar in this video that me and Miss Hanife covered this semester. Also, I included English subtitle so that our "conversation" can be understood by people who cannot understand Turkish. Overall I am happy with this artifact and I hope you find it entertaining! 

Link is provided here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LGvnK6brf0&feature=youtu.be

So for my last cultural post I am going to talk about 20 things to know before you move to Sweden. Now now don't get too excited, I wasn't saying I am moving to Sweden, but it maybe on the mind and I think it would be interesting to see what Swedes think other people need to know before moving there. So let it begin

1: Swedes love their coffee

2: Waiting in line is a big deal

3: Speaking Swedish helps (No duh)

4: Get your shopping done before 5pm because many stores close early

5: Condiments tend to come in things that resemble toothpaste tubes

6: Its not uncommon for a man to be a stay at home dad

7: They love the outdoors

8: A lot of business shut down in July ( that's when many people take their vacation)

9: Lagom is best ( not too much not too little)

10: Melodifestivalen is a big deal (a contest in which Sweden's representative at the Eurovision song contest is decided)

11: Swedes love Ikea

12: Take off your shoes when entering a home

13: winters are dark and cold

14: be on time

15: all liquor stores are state run

16: Charge for plastic bags

17: Swedes have fun food days like waffle day or cinnamon bun day

18: It's okay to drink from the tap water

19: business casual means jeans

20:Not all education and healthcare is free, for routine doctor's visits the maximum you must pay out of pocket for an entire year is SEK 1,100 (166 dollars)

So if you ever plan to live in Sweden keep these fun facts in mind!

So it was our last week today and it felt really weird. We had a large session of almost two hours due to schedule difficulties but it actually turned out to be quite good. We spoke for a long time in Swedish about anything and everything we could think of. I think my language ability is at this frustrating point that it is more advanced than numbers and colors but not advanced enough to speak how I would in English. So I am stuck in this awkward place where I either speak Swenglish (Swedish and English) a lot or my sentences are very basic. I think that this semester we spent a lot of time focuses on grammar and such which was very helpful but I forgot to continue learning new words. I think what I might due this summer is just learn a ton of vocab and then when fall comes around hopefully everything should have improved.

For my last artifact, I thought it would be fun to make a comic of me attempting to order from a Pakistanti restaurant in Urdu: 

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In this artifact I demonstrate my ability to say the following identity statements:

I am Krystin.

I am from Michigan.

I am 23 years old.

I have two brothers and no sisters.

I like Thai food and I like to play golf.

I don't like to study. 

I want to go to India. 

Well... this is embarrassing. I just went back and re-watched my first artifact post which was a video of myself demonstrating that I knew the proper why to greet someone, introduce myself, ask someone their name, count to 10, and list the days of the week. After recording the video and watching it before I submitted it, I remember thinking I had done a pretty decent job, but looking back I realized that in my short 2 minute video about Hindi "basics", I made at least 3 mistakes. The first mistake I made was in regards with asking someone "what is your name?" In the video, I said "App Kia naam hai"- which would translate to, "what is you name" Instead, I was supposed to say, "Appka nam kia hai". The second mistake I made, was with regard to asking "How are you" in a formal manner. I said "app kasi ho", when ho only goes with "tum" (the informal way of saying "you") Instead, the proper way to formally ask how someone is, is by asking "Aap kaise hai?" The third mistake I made was with the days of the week, I switched Friday and Saturday, Friday is "Shukrivar" and Saturday is "Shanivaar". The only comforting thing about re-watching my first artifact is that I am learning, because my mistakes were glaringly obvious to me!

I used several resources throughout the semester to better learn Hindi. The first resource I used was the following website: http://www.learning-hindi.com/ This website was really helpful in understanding the different sounds of the language and basic words/phrases. While I relied heavily on this resource in the beginning of my language learning, I drifted away from it as it is more geared for learners who want to learn to read and write Hindi as well. Another resource I used was the book, Hindi a Complete Course for Beginners by the company Living Languages. I read the first chapter, and it was very easy to follow, but again it is geared for beginners who aspire to read and write Hindi, so it was not one of my primary resources. While this semester I found these resources to be mostly ineffective for achieving my language goals this semester, as I continue to learn Hindi, I am planning on expanding my knowledge into reading and writing, and I anticipate that these resources will then be very useful in later stages of my language learning., which I thought as both helpful and conducive to actually applying the words I was learning into application. I also recently opened an account on Mango languages, which I am excited to incorporate into my learning strategies moving forward. 

Resources that I used frequently and found very helpful included the following:flashcard app, Pandora radio station, google translate, of course my Hindi Tutor Niyati, and the following website- http://www.hindilearner.com/hindi_tutorials/ConversationInHindi/conversation_in_hindi.php                                           

The resources I listed above were used in a combination of ways to facilitate my daily learning. I often would meet with Niyati, ask her how to say I variety of words/phrases that I wanted to learn for that day. Then I would transcribe the words/phrases into my flashcard app and review the words/phrases on frequent basis- adding to the list as my learning progressed. I listed to a Bollywood Pandora station frequently, which helped me to learn the sounds and rhythm of Hindi. Google translate was used on days I didn't meet with Niyati, but wanted to learn how to say a particular word/phrase that day. As the semester progressed, Niyati and I started to focus more on having dialogue conversations, rather than learning new vocabulary.

I did try to watch one children's video in Hindi, as well as one Bollywood movie, but they were mostly beyond my comprehension level, so I stopped watching both of them close to half way through. I want to add to my own personal learning goals the ability to someday watch a full Hindi movie (even if it's just a children's movie) and understand it.   

My interest in Turkish culture and Turkey in general began when I visited Turkey prior to coming to the United States for school. I went to visit my Turkish friend who I went to high school with. I spent 10 days in Turkey and spent most of my time in Istanbul and Bursa. There are so many things about Turkish culture that I wanted to do my presentation on such as Turkish coffee, tea, cuisine, holidays etc, however I decided to do a research on bachelorette party in Turkey. My Turkish friends always joke how I will marry a Turkish guy and that I should learn more about all the procedures and events that happen prior and during the wedding. There are 3 parts of traditional Turkish wedding customs, but I have decided to talk about part 2 only as I find it very interesting and much more different from what bachelorette party is in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Henna is a dye that you use to make temporary tattoos on your body. From my research I found out that Henna is used to show that something is being sacrificed. In the past  it was considered to put henna on an object that you are going to sacrifice, for example in the Ottoman time, soldiers would put henna somewhere on their body to demonstrate that they are sacrificing themselves for their people and country. Another example is more religious, during a religious holiday when Muslims sacrifice an animal usually a sheep or a cow in the name of God, they usually put henna on the animal and this represents sacrificing. When it comes to weddings in Turkey, henna is put on a bride to demonstrate that her body and being is sacrificed to her husband that she is going to live with. Basically it represents a sacrificing bride. In the past, the bride to be would be covered in henna from head to toe and somewhere on her body, the henna artist would include the initials of her husband and the husbands task on the wedding night was to find those initials.

The Henna night is held one day before the wedding. It generally takes place at the girls home or a bride rents a place. Since this night is like bachelorette party, only girls are invited. In the past, the bride’s mother would stop by each guest’s house the night before the henna night and personally invite the family members and friends, only female members. However, today bride usually just gives a phone call in advance to her friends and tell them where the party will be held.

These days, brides prepare so much more in advance, for example they prepare for henna night 3 months earlier. The party usually ends at 1am, and because brides have to get up early for the wedding that is the next day some brides have a day off between henna and the wedding.

Usually, the bride wears everything red, she wears red dress, red veil and her friends can also wear red if they want but they don’t have to. When all female friends and relatives come to the place, bride usually comes with her groom and sometimes groom brings some of his close friends. Bride and groom dance to a romantic song for a bit and then groom and his male relatives leave. Sometimes, groom actually stays, it just depends on how they agree. So once guys leave, girls who are veiled can remove their veil, girls wear short dresses etc.

Basi butun or “whose head is complete” is a lady whose life is basically perfect. She has a perfect, happy marriage, kids, and parents and she is the one who brings henna on a silver bowl into the room. After they dance for a bit, then the traditional part starts when the bride to be sits in the middle and other girls around her surround her. Girls hold henna and candles in their hands. Then, girls start walking around the bride and sing very emotional songs to make her cry. The songs are usually about how the bride is going to leave her house and family, how mothers are losing their daughters, and daughters becoming wives. This is usually the first time that the bride is going away from home, so they generally cry when they hear such songs. But the bride does not have to cry, it is not a rule. While the girls are singing they want the bride to open her palm so that they can put henna on her palm as a way to sacrifice her, but bride does not open the palm. Then, her mother in law comes up to the bride and puts a golden coin on her closed palm and that is when she opens her palm and then girls put henna in her hands. Bride usually starts crying then, and once the bride starts crying party starts.

Apart from getting that one gold coin in her palm, bride usually gets a lot of god at henna night from her own family and grooms family. In the past, girls would put henna all over brides hands, but these days they don’t put that much henna anymore.

There are several important dances, but the most important dance is called HALAY (dugun halay),

One of the important parts of the henna night is called ISTEKLER- and this is when people call on others to dance together. For example bride can call on her sister to dance with groom’s sister. What always happens is that brides mother and mother in law are always called to dance together.

Then there is TAKI part which is when grooms mother puts so much jewelry on bride. Usually the bride and mother in law agree on what bride wants to get from mother in law and then she buys it for her. For example, she can ask for 5 golden braces and 1 set when you get earrings, necklace and braces etc.  After taki, ladies dance halay for an hour and then leave.

Henna night usually ends around 1am and then what happens around 3 am is called CEREZ TOPLAMA. Family and friends who live close by take a small drum called darbuka or they could also have a car that plays music and in the middle of the night they knock on close relatives’ doors and ask for nuts and fruits, usually for something sweet. Relatives know that they will be coming late at night, so they always prepare sweet things. They can also knock on anyone’s door, everyone wakes up because of that small drum that is very loud and because they are all loud, they are singing and laughing.

At the end of CEREZ TOPLAMA, it is tradition to go to grooms house and take some clothes from mother in law and burn it in front of their house. This is like a superstition saying that if you burn her clothes, the bride and mother in law will get along in future.

Also attending other students presentations, I learned a lot about other cultures. I learned that Swedes are not very open, they do not flirt, and do not show emotions very much. When a couple goes out they usually split for the meal, because if they did not, a girl would be offended if a guy insists. They usually value commitment and not paper. Also, they are not a big fan of engagement rings.

In Korea, Koreans think homosexuality is a disease and that it can be cured, their biggest problem is ignorance and that topic is usually taboo and they do not like to talk about homosexualtiy. It is also important to arrive on time for the meetings, but if you arrive too early, that is disruptive, and being late is only for people in power. I found it interesting that when you get a business card you do not put it in your pocket immediately, but you have to take a look at it for a while and only then you can put it in your pocket.

Overall, I learned some interesting facts about other cultures and I always enjoy learning about other culture, but I truly believe that Turkey has the most interesting culture and that is why I find learning about Turkish culture most entertaining.