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This week I found that reading Hebrew is quite difficult due to the lack of vowels in the alphabet. Growing up I went to Hebrew school twice a week until I was thirteen years old. When I was thirteen, I had my Bat Mitzvah and then decided that I did not want to continue with my Hebrew schooling. I was shocked to find that reading Hebrew now at 21, is not as easy as I found it when I was 13. Because vowels are only used in the Kindergarten level of reading, that is where I classify myself. Although this is a bit disappointing, it is understandable because the Hebrew part of my brain has been “off” for eight years. I have to remind myself not to get frustrated and to understand that being at a Kindergarten reading level is understandable as a beginner. It would be nice by the end of the semester to read without vowels, but for now I will read with vowels and not be embarrassed by it!

When reading “Figuring Foreigners Out” I couldn’t help but think about my experiences traveling abroad and how languages can be misunderstood cross culturally. For example, in Prague people do not smile or say hello when walking down the street. At first I thought this was rude, but then I realized that this is not a “gesture” that they use there. People in Prague are much more individualistic whereas I am a collectivist and enjoy being with and communicating with a lot of people. When the article discusses the idea of time, I couldn’t help but laugh and think of my experience in Tanzania, Africa. The people there have no concept of time like we do in America. The buses there have no schedule and the shops have no hours. I found this to be frustrating at times but also relaxing because I never was late to anything! This article really allowed me to reflect on my experiences traveling and different cultures doesn’t mean that they are wrong or bad, rather that we should learn from these cultural differences. 

This week we made a rough lesson plan for the things that we wanted to accomplish this semester. In addition we started this TV series called Brno, which is a Swedish and Danish TV series about a crime solving team (has English subtitles). It is actually really addicting and allows you to get used to hearing the language making you more conscious about tone and inflection. Our homework has been to review jobs and nationalities as well as prepositions. This semester we really want to focus on putting the vocabulary we know to use.

This week's reading gave me a greater appreciation for just how complex learning a different language is. Knowing that a language is not just made up of words makes a huge difference. The words within a language have meaning and understanding that meaning is important. I thought it was interesting to know that different languages have different words that are used when referring to either your maternal or paternal side of the family. 

Knowing that a language that be very complex, I intend to use the resources that are available to me not only to learn the words of my language, but also to learn the meanings behind those words. To do this I will work with my language partner to gain a better understanding of the meanings. I will also use Rosetta Stone to help with vocabulary and in pronunciation of the words. 

For my learning plan, I would like to learn a general understanding of the Turkish language, this includes reading and writing. 

Learning Goals:

1. Learn the alphabet -this includes pronunciation and recognition for reading, writing, and spelling.

2. Greetings and farewells.

3. Polite conversation -such as how are you?.

4. Vocabulary. 

5. Different pronunciations between singular and plural words. 

6. The appropriate term for judging the distance of an object -person, place, or thing - that you are referring to.

7. How to ask yes/no questions.

8. Numbers

This week I have gone over all of these things in some fashion and have a general understanding of all of them. Throughout the coming weeks I hope to expand on all of these things and come to the point where I do not have to stop and think for a minute about the appropriate response.

This week we finally met with Emily, our language partner. She had us write down the letters and taught us both the feminine and masculine version of numbers. While a lot of this came back pretty quickly to me, I struggled a little bit in my penmanship to make the letters because they have such different forms as English letters. I think one of the challenges is that there are always exceptions to rules. For example,  she would tell us that all the numbers take the same format for both feminine and masculine minus the last letter, but then the 6 would be different for example. I hadn't' realized how many "rules/patterns" there are and similarly how many exceptions there are. 

My learning at the beginning of the semester did no go as planned (I talked about it in my blog post titled "So Far...110"). So Rachel and I revamped our learning plan and made realistic goals:

1. Learn the alphabet

2. Learn how to read Hebrew with vowels

3. Learn how to write Hebrew with vowels

4. Learn Hebrew numbers, pronouns, and as many other key words as we can get to

5. Have a plethora of vocabulary that we know how to pronounce but do not necessarily know by heart 

I think we accomplished all of these goals. I now can read and write Hebrew with vowels (and a little bit without vowels!), know numbers and pronouns, and have great notes with vocabulary and grammar to refer to in the future giving me the opportunity to learn them at my own pace. I am really happy that I accomplished my learning plan, after it was revised. 

This week we established our goals for the semester and talked about how we want to proceed throughout the semester in order to achieve our goals and become more proficient in Swedish. Here are a few things we decided:

- Louise is going to speak more Swedish to us in our sessions, whether we understand her or not. Sink or swim!

- We are going to read more and listen to more Swedish outside the classroom so to speak. We have already found multiple TV shows that we think will help us pick up more Swedish skills and are going to be viewing them weekly.

- I also am making it a personal goal to read at least three articles in Swedish every week in order to become more familiar with verbs, sentence structures, etc.

- We also decided that rather than focusing too heavily on vocabulary and memorization this semester, we are going to learn some vocabulary but then pair it with grammar lessons/verbs and begin to construct usable sentences for every day life. We want this to be really practical rather than just spewing memorized words.

- I also hope to work on my prononciation and I think that listening/watching more Swedish will help with that.

For the remainder of the week we are going to start working on our first section of vocab/grammar and then begin to formulate sentences. I still obviously want to learn all of the words but actually using them is going to be more of a priority. The words we are learning are also becoming more complicated so I hope to use the time in our sessions to practice prononciation.

In one of the articles, it mentioned how some languages have words to describe each family member on both sides. Therefore you're aunt on your mother's side will be called something different than your aunt on your dad's side. However for English, everyone is called simply by one word. And so Korean falls in line with the multiple words which would be difficult to remember. It also has phrases for formal and informal speaking, which I need to recognize and be able to differentiate from the two. Because of this, I need to learn additional information to make sure that I show proper respect to individuals when I communicate with them.

In the How we mean article, it says that words by itself are not meaningful. They should be combined together in a sentence to create meaning. Therefore, I would focus on learning full sentences or phrases in Korean to enhance my knowledge.

I thought it was interesting that the left part of the brain controls the right side of the body. I always thought that the left side of the brain controlled its respective body part. I wonder why this is so.In order for my brain to retain information, I would need to do repetitive exercises that continuously tests my knowledge. I would repeatedly talk with individuals in the phrases so that I get as much practice pronouncing it and getting the words to flow correctly.

I know in the Korean language that there are some words that can't be translated to English. And so learning these words will be very difficult since there wouldn't be a simple English word association to it.

I didn't really understand the collocation part to well. Does it mean word associations? But what is the difference between association of ideas and collocation? Are association of ideas expressions? Basically I didn't understand this section enough to gain any valuable insights that would help my learning process.

This week's reading was interesting because it gave me a stronger understanding for the difficulty a language may be to learn. There are so many layers in a language to learn, and this week, rather than learning the physical parts of a language -- the grammar and vocabulary -- I learned about how the brain is involved.

In "How the Brain Handles Language," I learned about different parts of the brain and its role in helping the individual learn a language. I do not completely agree with the idea of localization, as I think learning something involves the entire brain as a whole. From a biological standpoint, the human body is not a simple prokaryote with simple structures and simple function. The human body is a eukaryote with complex structures that all work together to make a complete functioning being. So my opinion is that there is a whole range of factors that affect our speech and language learning. I agree when the article talks about how three parts working together: 1) for speech production, thought is generated in the Wenicke's area and sent to the Broca's area for encoding, 2) for speech comprehension, the signals arrive in the auditory cortex from the ear and the signal is transferred to the Wernicke's area, and 3) for reading aloud, the written form is received by the visual cortex and sent to the Wernicke's area. If the brain worked with the theory of localization, then anyone who is handicapped at the slightest would not be able to learn a language. However, this is not true.

"In "How We Mean," the concept of "collocation" was interesting. Collocation is the consistent juxtaposition of one word with another word. Sayings we have in our own language can be seen as lexemes and will differ from language to language. Because of lexemes, it may often be difficult to learn a language, as not everything should be taken literally. One single word such as "mean" in the English language can be used in so many different ways. In addition, a single sentence can pack in so much information that, to a learner, it may feel impossible to dissect a sentence. In order to mitigate some confusion, the article "How to investigate language structure" was helpful in introducing a four-level model of language: phonetics, phonology, grammar, and semantics. With a division of language into organized gameplans, it may be easier to learn Korean, my target language. I know that many languages love to use metaphors to describe feelings and situations encountered, so hopefully with a gameplan of dividing everything into simpler parts will help me grasp the Korean language with less difficulty.

Learning Journal # 2: “Reading” in Korean language- What have I learned?

In regards to reading, I have started to learn the Korean alphabet. At our first group language meeting, my language partner Sun gave my peers and me a paper with all of the main characters of the Korean alphabet. It was fascinating to learn about the sound(s) that each character makes as well as the specific placement of certain characters. This is relevant because certain characters are always placed first and then other characters are always placed to the right or below that primary character. The characters themselves are very fun to write as some characters look like right angles and horizontal lines with vertical lines on top of them.  Basically the Korean alphabet includes a great deal of lines and circles which is visually intriguing to me.

Knowing the alphabet and the structure and placement of words and sentences has helped me a great deal in this journey to read and understand more Korean. I had quite a few “eureka” moments during the first language partner session when I realized how these characters fit together and how it all sounded in the end. Sun taught us how to enunciate each character and the tonation for each one. She told us to “not use our tongue” when saying certain characters and to project more “outwardly” or “inwardly” with others. This lesson was very energetic and uplifting for me, and I enjoyed learning with Azmain and Allan as well. This lesson set the tone for the rest of the semester for me, and I am certain that there will be more class sessions full of energy and  laughter to come. 

Understanding how the brain handles language is an important aspect to consider when one is learning a new language.  I have taken psychology classes which have discussed this concept with a great deal of emphasis on the biological makeup of these processes that allow us to speak, learn, and interpret things, people, and events. Based on Crystal’s work entitled, “How Language Works,” I gained a new perspective on how significant the relationship between the brain’s two hemispheres is. In relation to language and cerebral dominance, it is stated that the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most right-handed people. Yet this does not automatically mean that the right hemisphere is dominant for language in left-handed people. As a right-handed individual, this was very interesting to read about and also to learn that the left hemisphere is found to be dominant in activities such as analytical tasks, complex motor functions, and language for people who are right-handed while the right hemisphere is dominant for creative sensibility and emotional expression or recognition.

In the section entitled “How We Mean,” I learned many new words. One of the ones which stood out to me the most was “collocation.” This relates to a relationship derived from  the way in which lexemes occur in sequences.  For example, in English we say that we are “green with envy” although we are not literally green. Collocations differ greatly between languages and provide major difficulty in mastering foreign languages. In the section entitled “How to Investigate Language Structure,” I enjoyed learning about a stable and structured way to learn language.  It was interesting to learn about the four-level models of language (phonetics, phonology, grammar, and semantics). It is necessary to have a great structure or “gameplan” before one starts on any project; therefore these articles will be of great use to me when I begin to create my language plan for learning Korean. 

The readings this week gave me insight and appreciation for just how complex language is. Language isn't just vocabulary or grammar, its' context, meaning, reference, syntax, etc. I foresee this effecting my language learning by causing me to slow down and engage more dynamically with the language. It will lead to questions such as how words may be used in questions versus exclamations or how reversing the order of words would affect meaning.

I think the authors' points about meaning with language are important because I think words are often reflective of cultural values or norms. In the article she talks about how in English cousins can refer to both boys or girls and that we don't specify whether an aunt or uncle is on the maternal or paternal side, we use the same word. This is different than in other cultures such as the Australian diaiect pitjanjatara where they have specific words for maternal aunt, maternal uncle etc. I think these differences are often indicative of the values in that society. It may be that the family unit is less valued in our society and thus we have fewer words to describe those relationships. I've learned that in some collectivist cultures they have many words for "team" or "group" but very few words for "I." These cultures represent their ideas and values through vocabulary and language.

After reading the articles for this week, it is clear to me that each person learns very differently. These articles helped to me understand various tactics I should take when trying to learn Hebrew. In the article titled “How the brain handles language,” I realized the differences in being left-brained versus right brained and what this means for my learning. I do agree with the article in the sense that I am very organized and learn best from lists, so I think that this will be a useful tactic for me. The article also taught me the importance behind actually speaking and practicing the language and how we learn best from hearing ourselves speak. I thought it was very interesting how we can self-correct or self-regulate each time we speak out loud. This will become most helpful when speaking with my language partner because she knows exactly how the words should sound.

In the “How we mean” article, I learned the importance behind understand the word meaning. Because it can be interpreted in many ways, it is important to filter out the right words for the meaning we truly desire. I think it will be important to understand the difference between sense and reference and this is best understood by learning other languages. This article made me very excited to learn Hebrew because I think it is important to learn how people from different cultures learn things differently and from a different perspective.

Finally in the “How to investigate language structure,” I learned the various approaches to studying a language and the importance of learning the meaning of words or phrases. This article was helpful for me to develop my learning plan for the semester. Rather than memorizing words or phrases for a vocabulary quiz, I look forward to truly understanding each word’s value and meaning in the Israeli culture. I think it would be interesting to try and go back to some Torah passages, either from my Bat Mitzvah or a new passage, and explore these passages further. What does each passage mean to the culture of the language? I believe that these articles allowed me to digest and better understand the rational behind learning the meaning and importance of each word, rather than just memorizing a word for a test. I hope that throughout my lesson plans I am able to keep this lesson in the back of my mind and learn the words for their meaning.

I have been interested in learning Urdu for a very long time. My father was born in Mumbai while his father was there on business. He and two sisters stayed in India till they finished high school and then moved back to Saudi Arabia. Because of this, I grew up with a lot of Indian influence in my life; from the food we used to eat to the Bollywood movies that we used to watch. However, I never learned a word of Urdu. And what better time to learn it than now? The university has a lot of resources that can help me and I should take advantage of them while being here. 

By the end of the semester, I would like to have gained some conversational skills. I would like to be able to speak to the different Pakistanis and Indians in Saudi Arabia in their native language. I would also like to be able to watch a movie without needing the subtitles. 

This week's articles were very interesting. I especially liked the part about distinguishing sense and reference. It made me reflect on the different meanings of words that I know across the three languages I know, especially between Arabic and English. The floor or the ground is always seen as something negative or dirty in Arabic while it might symbolize stability in English. The moon for example, is considered a symbol for beauty in Arabic. "You are a moon" is a great compliment in Arabic while in English it does not make a lot of sense.

One of the things I still struggle with when speaking English is the lack of vocabulary it has compared to Arabic. For example, there more than 15 words for love in Arabic that not interchangeable. We also have, like the article mentioned, very specific names for our relatives. The word 'cousin' does not exist. It has to be more specific.For example, our way of calling a cousin translates into "the daughter of my maternal aunt". People who are blood related are called "Qara'eb" while others who are related by marrying into their family are called "Nisayib". 

I look forward to learning more of these differences as I start learning Urdu. Language says a lot about culture. And to me, that's always the best part. 

I've started learning a little bit about the Urdu alphabet. It's very similar to the Arabic alphabet which helps me a lot. I hope to learn more this week to start reading simple phrases. 

In my lifetime, I have learned three languages, Arabic, English and Spanish. Like any person who has learned their native language, I don’t recall the process of learning Arabic. Neither do I remember learning English. My journey with both languages started as soon as I was able to speak. My parents made sure I would practice both languages at the same time. To not favor one language over the other, I started speaking Arabic to my father and English to my mother.  Like any child, I started formulating grammatically correct sentences by just listening and reading. Even as I grew up and started learning grammar in school, it all came naturally to me. I don’t recall the process of learning Arabic and English, but Spanish is a whole other story.

I wanted to take advantage of my time in college by learning as much as I could. I took electives that ranged from art to biology. Though I’m technically studying abroad right now, I wanted to seize the opportunity of living in one more country for a semester. My options were limited since I planned on going through the Business School. I eventually decided on Madrid, Spain. And though all of my classes were going to be in English, I knew I would never really experience the country and its culture if I didn’t know its language. And so my decision to learn Spanish was made.

I took two intensive Spanish classes before going abroad. Going into it, I thought I would have an advantage over my classmates by already knowing two languages. I quickly learned that I was wrong. It was a whole new experience for me. I have never in my life actually sat down to memorize a list of basic words in another language, mesa means table, ajo means garlic. My first month was very difficult for me. I had a hard time trying to connect the three languages together. Should I think in English and then translate it into Spanish? Or would Arabic to Spanish be easier for me? The vocabulary was closer to English but the grammar was more similar to Arabic.

Thankfully, after the first month, I developed a routine and system that helped me throughout the next two years. I discovered that doing each and every homework assignment was essential to learning the language. Practice really does make perfect, or at least, as close to perfect as I could get. I memorized the 60+ vocabulary words that were assigned to us weekly twice and practiced grammar as much as I could. I learned that writing down what I learn is the best way to make sure I don’t forget it and that reviewing was essential. Once I got the hang of everything, I started to excel in class. I ended up with an A+ for both classes.

I enjoyed learning Spanish a lot. It’s a wonderful feeling when you finally realize that you can actually understand the Latinos that are on the other table, or when a Spanish friend is calling her mom. Knowing Spanish made my study abroad experience so much more interesting. I lived with a Spanish lady in her late 70s. We often had tea together and our conversations ranged from talking about the dictatorship to what her favorite biscuits were.

One of the things that I’ve learned from learning Spanish is that interacting with people who are native to the language is much more interesting than pursuing a language for academic reasons. I would like to read Urdu, but I would be much more interested in learning conversation skills to talk to a migrant worker back in Saudi Arabia about his life experiences. I believe this semester will be a challenge, but my past experience will definitely help me along the way. 

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Katie: Merhaba! Benim adım Katie. Senin adım ne?
Joe: Günaydın! Benim adım Joe. Memnum oldum.
Katie: Ben de memnum oldum. Nasılsın Joe?
Joe: İyiyim, teşekkür ederim. Sen nasılsın?
Katie: Teşekkürler, ben de iyiyim.
Joe: Nerelisin Katie?
Katie: Amerikalıyım. Sen nerelisim?
Joe: Almanyalıyım. Haş geldin Katie.
Katie: Hoş bulduk Joe.

I found the three articles by Crystal to be very interesting. It explained the basics on how our brain functions to understand and process language. It’s amazing to see how the many different parts of the brain must work together in order to process a single word. One thing I learned in the chapter called, “How the brain handles language,” is that the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most right-handed people. I also agree with a point that Crystal makes; it is very important to examine different languages and not just our own. If we are restricted to our own language we will never understand the key distinction between sense and reference Crystal talks about. When we study foreign languages we become more open-minded and are able to see the world differently.

This week I had my first meeting with my language partner. I learned the alphabet and went over the sounds of each letter. It was a bit challenging at times because many of the letters sound similar to each other and only have a slight distinction between them. However, I am hopeful that I will perfect the sounds in the coming weeks. In our next session I will learn greetings and every day phrases.

I found two helpful websites on Diigo that I bookmarked. One of the websites does a word of the day. It is a completely random Hindi word accompanied with the spelling, audio, and a picture. Another website has lists of vocab words divided by category. This can be useful for studying with flashcards.