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To me bilingualism has always been a means of communicating with more than one culture and people. I always took it as a challenge to learn a new language and it made me proud to be able to master that language. I thought it was really interesting that the article pointed out that in a bilingual brain the languages are never turned off. They are all active at the same time and that person has to navigate which language to use in which situation. I have always had a problem with this, especially while writing; I would ‘forget’ words in the language that I was using while I knew the same word in another language. This could be problematic especially when I am tired and my brain isn’t working fast enough so that sometimes I unintentionally speak in another language to someone who doesn’t understand that language. I have always seen this as a negative aspect of being bilingual because I have to always navigate through all the languages in my head. It becomes a task of its own just to sorte out the languages and utter a coherent sentence. But that was always a small price to pay for being able to communicate to different people and form intimate relationships with people of that culture that could not have been possible if I didn’t speak that language. While I always valued and was proud of the fact that I am a bilingual/multilingual, reading this article gave me a different perspective on bilingualism. It is interesting to know that speaking in multiple languages works as an exercise for the brain and makes that person smarter. 

While learning a particular language by memorizing the grammar rules and the word in a dictionary will help you speak in that language it will not help you communicate with the people who use that language. What makes language learning more effective is having some kind of ‘cultural competence’. What I mean is learning the culture and history of the people and the country. Their worldview, opinions and ideologies play a big role in understanding their language. Although one might know the meaning of every single word in a spoken sentence, the meaning of that sentence could completely escape him/her due to lack of cultural and historical context. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnIIdqJUrb8 

http://www.turklerhaber.com/dersane-gercegi-n-6373.aspx

This week, i basically had a general review for what i have done through out the semester to just make sure that i have learned them well and didnt forget anything already. I worked with my language partner through some questions that i had and some reviews such as prepositions. In addition, my language partner had sent some great videos for  pronunciation which found them very helpful. I have listened to three short videos several times to get the great pronunciation and conversation.  It was very helpful both for my listening and pronunciation. I really wish we had more Urdu resources in global studio such as short stories books and professional video lessons. :)  

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This article is very interesting because it brings up many points: that our chatter words are like traffic, the word "huh" needs to be very short and it is the only universal word. 

Chatter words are like traffic because within conversations there is a set of rules that everyone has agreed to follow. Within this set of rules is that someone answers a question if they asked one and they should respond quickly. There is not a lot of time between different people speaking; if you do not understand something it is important to respond rather than sit there quietly and try to figure it out. The shortness of the word "huh" is perfect for this: it is a quick response that does not interrupt the flow of the conversation while getting a point across. This sound tends to come from the throat and is made without much thought which is also important. And finally since the word is so short it doesn't make it seem like the other person is trying to say something but it prompts the first person speaking to either repeat themselves or elaborate on what they originally said. It is a universal word because it is a sound everyone can make but is still different from most words/sounds in every language, making it distinguishable and not confusing the first speaker that you are trying to say something. 

This week I have done a lot of reviewing of terms and words that we did a long time ago in the beginning of the semester. This has been super helpful because it's serving as a refresher of the topics we covered a while ago and therefore are not as present in my memory. I was really excited at the end of our last practice session because Louise had Malory and I have a practice conversation in Swedish and I was very impressed by how easily we were able to converse. I would never have thought in the beginning of the semester that I'd know so much. Even the other day I was talking to my boyfriend about things I was cooking and was able to talk about everything in Swedish! Also, another cool "Swedish" moment that Malory and I had last week was when I need to ask her a very covert question (and there were other people around) so I was able to ask her in Swedish and get an answer without alerting the other people. From this experience, however, I did learn that it's important when you're speaking a non-dominant language among people who you think don't understand that you have to be really careful about what you're saying. You must use your bilingual abilities for good and not evil! You never know who is going to be around and might just understand what you're saying. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the exam and also spending the Christmas break with my boyfriend's family so I can practice all of this Swedish that I have been learning.

I found this article last week about a new phenomenon in Sweden that I think is very reflective of their egalitarian culture. Recently Sweden has decided that not only will their movies have ratings for things like language and nudity, but they will also be rated on a feminist scale. This means that movies that feature two women who are named, the two women must talk to each other at some point in the film, and they must talk to each other about something other than men. The films that do this successfully will have higher rankings than films that don't have named female characters or have female characters who only talk about their relationships with men. I think this is highly reflective of Swedish culture because they have a much more egalitarian society than we do in the United States and therefore they want their media influences to be fostering positive images of women and how women are to be perceived to audiences. Movies where only men dominate the screenplay or where women don't have interests outside of their relationships with men are not culturally ideal for Swedes and therefore will get lower rankings (and the idea is that the lower rankings will dissuade people from seeing the film). Below is the article that talks more about:

http://www.euractiv.com/culture/swedish-cinemas-introduce-femini-news-531648

Seventh Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture

Family is probably the only thing that comes in front of work in Korea. The country is still based around a very hierarchical system where members have a great respect for elders. For a very long time, families, over two generations lived together, it was not uncommon to see grandparents living in the same house as grand children. 
Recent trends, the stress of work and the pressure of being successful have impacted Koreans a lot and because more and more women with higher education recently started to work, families can more easily afford to live together. Almost all the families are based around a patriarchal system where the father is in charge of the family and will transmit his role to the older of his son once passed away. Finally, if Koreans have very close bonds within the family, it will be very challenging for strangers and foreigners to be part of the family.

Seventh Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture

Family is probably the only thing that comes in front of work in Korea. The country is still based around a very hierarchical system where members have a great respect for elders. For a very long time, families, over two generations lived together, it was not uncommon to see grandparents living in the same house as grand children. 
Recent trends, the stress of work and the pressure of being successful have impacted Koreans a lot and because more and more women with higher education recently started to work, families can more easily afford to live together. Almost all the families are based around a patriarchal system where the father is in charge of the family and will transmit his role to the older of his son once passed away. Finally, if Koreans have very close bonds within the family, it will be very challenging for strangers and foreigners to be part of the family.

Seventh Cultural Post:  Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture

Family is probably the only thing that comes in front of work in Korea. The country is still based around a very hierarchical system where members have a great respect for elders. For a very long time, families, over two generations lived together, it was not uncommon to see grandparents living in the same house as grand children. 
Recent trends, the stress of work and the pressure of being successful have impacted Koreans a lot and because more and more women with higher education recently started to work, families can more easily afford to live together. Almost all the families are based around a patriarchal system where the father is in charge of the family and will transmit his role to the older of his son once passed away. Finally, if Koreans have very close bonds within the family, it will be very challenging for strangers and foreigners to be part of the family.

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While reading this article, there was a question in the back of my head that was consistently nagging me and I kept pushing it away. I was almost upset that I kept asking it because for some reason it is an innate emotion to want to keep this tribal dialect alive but my question was still legitimate. The question was: why? Why is keeping this language alive so important? Does it matter if it becomes extinct? My first reaction is, "of course it matters! How could you ever think it wouldn't?!" It seemed as if letting this language go extinct was letting something die - and in a way it is. But why does it matter? Will the world really change without this language that barely anyone speaks anymore? Probably not.

But what if we let it happen to many languages...what if we let more and more languages become extinct and then what will we have? Mandarin probably...so is that what we want? Obviously we are not at this point yet but it is something that is possible. Preserving all languages is important to keep our world diverse and unique and exciting!

In a way it reminds me of art. There are so many different types of art from the past, present, and heading towards the future. Art in all forms is valuable in our society because it is interesting and mind opening. Preserving historical art is crucial to our global society; we have created thousands of things related to historical art including museums, careers, special exhibits, books, and so on. Imagine if we stopped making oil paintings...and then clay statues...until there weren't many types of art left at all. This is how I think of preserving languages. Languages are art and it is essential for us to preserve every single one of them. 

I have included in one of the pages that I worked on where I had to talk about my I was sick with different illnesses and where I feel sick or hurt.  

This article did not really come as a shock to me. If you really think about it, it makes sense that bilinguals would be smarter than monolinguals in a variety of ways. Their brain gets more of a work out switching from one language to the next and having to remember in which context which language is spoken. I think thats why there is such an emphasis on learning more than one language. Yes, there is that whole concept of globalization and learning how to communicate with different people. But by having another language your brain will work a whole new area that one language does not reach. I wonder if the more languages you learn the more intelligent you are likely to be? Or if at a certain point it can hinder your intelligence?

This week has gone by a lot better, in regards to Swedish. I realized a main problem I have is that I get so nervous and I second guess myself way to much. There are a lot of instances in which if I just calm down and think really hard I know the word. But my first reaction is to normally just assume I don't know it and look it up on google translator. We spent Monday reviewing our tests we took and preparing a little for the midterm. Wednesday we formed sentences of what clothes we had on, the color, and what part of the body they were on. At the start of Wednesdays class Louise had Molly and I have a five minute conversation using all the vocabulary we have accumulated thus far. It was nerve racking but Louise said she was pretty proud of all the stuff we know. Maybe it's just self criticism but I didn't think I did THAT well. Using flashcards and repeatedly writing out a word is still continuing  to be one of the most effective ways I have been able to grap vocabulary. I think what I need to start doing is using more of them in context, so maybe having more text conversations with molly to help formulate sentences and learn new vocabulary from her responses.

Both weeks Emily and I met, we went to Dhall and worked through the workbook.  We watch a funny comedy skit where the guys were talking about being abducted by aliens.  He made a lot of jokes that I did not understand.  Emily and I listened through it all the way through then, we stopped after every sentence to translate  I did not know many of the words.

I also read the article in the New York Times demonstrating that people who speak two languages are actually smarter than those who only speak one. From my own experiences I know that when you can speak more than one language it opens up possibilities for expressing yourself more clearly/more exactly and also for greater understanding of the world. I know that sometimes when I hear the Anderssons speaking Swedish they might jump to English every once in a while in order to capture a thought they couldn't in Swedish (much like you would say the English word for frustrated in Turkish in order to express that emotion). I also found it interesting in the article that bilingual people are actually quicker to solve mental problems and are less likely to develop Alzheimer's when they grow old. This makes sense because people who are bilingual are more likely to have to use more of the synapses in their brain when jumping from one language to the other. Also, I find it interesting that the article mentioned that traditionally in education people thought that knowing two or more languages would actually be detrimental to learning rather than make your kids smarter. Personally I wish I had started to learn another language earlier in the my life when it would have been easier to acquire. I would be very important to me for my kids to learn both languages but I do understand where those theorists were coming from because I once babysat a three year old whose family members spoke Dutch, English, and Arabic and he never knew in what language he was communicating and often couldn't figure out why I didn't understand his requests! However, I think it's obvious that this child is going to have a very enriching cultural home life and background that will likely make him "smarter" than the average person who only speaks one language.

Today I read the New York Times article about a Native American tribe that is actively working towards saving their dying language. A total of about five people currently speak Siletz Dee-ni and one of these speakers specifically has enlisted the help of the Living Tongues Institute in order to help him keep this language alive. He is creating an online dictionary that has a library of 10,000 audio entries so that non-speakers can learn the language on their own time. This article reminds me of the conversation we were having in class the other day and how we were commenting that having a language is so important to maintaining/creating a specific culture. For instance, the new state of Israel needed its own language if it was ever going to be successful. Likewise the speakers of Siletz Dee-ni are fearful that the last of their culture will be stamped out once no one else living can speak the language. This also reminds me of a movement I am pretty familiar with because of my Jewish background. Yiddish used to be a widely-spoken language in Eastern Europe that began to die out after the Holocaust. My grandparents do not speak fluent Yiddish but they both communicate a lot with Yiddish words that have been passed down from their parents. A rabbi from my hometown in the last few years has started a project similar to the Living Tongues Institute that focuses on keeping Yiddish alive by preserving it in a dictionary. It is important to the Jewish people that Yiddish stay alive because it is a keepsake from before the Holocaust and because it defines the culture of Eastern Europe prior to World War I. This is why it reminds me a lot of the Native American language preservation and I truly do believe that preserving their language will enable the culture to thrive long after those five speakers are gone.