My review of Italian has been progressing slowly but surely. I've been using several different sources. Over the weekend I watched the Woody Allen movie To Rome With Love, which came out over the summer. (Fun fact: much of the movie was filmed in the neighborhood where I worked in Rome, and it was filming while I studied there!) A lot of the movie is in Italian, so I came up with an exercise for myself in which I tried to see how much I could understand without looking at the subtitles. It worked pretty well--I was able to follow most of the dialogue, although it was spoken very rapidly. I even noticed some inconsistencies in the subtitles because the English translation was cutting short. I find that watching movies in Italian is very helpful. Listening to the dialogue allows me to get into the Italian frame of mind, and I'm usually able to follow along. I've also been working my way through a chapter book that I had from living in Italy as a child. It's actually an Italian version of one of the Babysitter's Club books, which is pretty funny. Though I can follow along easily enough, it's been taking a while because I've been making myself go through and translate everything accurately instead of just getting the gist of the story. It's also a source of some less common vocabulary. After that book I plan to start Harry Potter in Italian. My friend suggested I buy a copy while studying abroad, and I'm glad I did. It's great because it's a familiar story, so I can really concentrate on vocabulary and the differences!
All Posts (9261)
Sort by
At this point I think I would say that I know about 30 or so words... I must admit that I think I was a bit ambitious thinking that I would be able to write the language. I'm getting there slowly, but I struggle a bit with writing backwards in addition to the form of the letters.
I'm a very slow writer, and I find myself getting frustrated often. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Making the first artifact with Omar was a blast—so much fun. First we brainstormed what we wanted to say in the conversation, planning a flow of greeting, introduction, and finally farewells, using phrases that would be the most common in the context of meeting someone new. I was very happy with it too. Omar and I discussed pronunciation after the take. One thing that wasn't stellar was that it didn't sound "natural".
In terms of my learning goals, I was able to learn them well in the short term. In order to maintain long term proficiency I will need to regularly use the phrases.
This is a conversation I had with my Korean friend (she attends a different university). I thought it would be nice to utilize text messaging as a way to practice some writing. It's only a basic conversation, which I've translated below.
Me: How is the weather today?
Her: It's cold. How is it over there?
Me: The weather isn't good. The sky is cloudy. Let's talk later!
Her: Okay / Got it!
Week 4: First Artifact and Evaluation
Recording 1: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1j8zwFYuowu
Recording 2: http://vocaroo.com/i/s00uybHlmxzD
For my first artifact, I recorded two conversations with my Korean partner that reviews what I have learned in SDLC 110 and also added a few new things learned at the end of our session. The first conversation was a short, concise one that expressed destination and direction. The second conversation was a longer one that used greetings/farewells, numbers, formality, and lots of vocabulary and a few grammar. I think I did the best with my pronunciation even though I stumbled a bit when it came to long words and words that sound very similar. I need to perfect my sounding kills in order for natives to understand what I am saying. Cultural appropriateness was well done because I used the formal rather than the informal language. I will make the necessary improvements by listening to more conversations and repeating sentences to better my pronunciation skills.
Week 5: Second Cultural Post: Korean Food
For this cultural post, I will discuss the importance of Korean food in their culture. The proximity of Japan, China, and Korea resulted in lots of cultural exchange among the three countries. This includes their food and the basic flavors of tastes are hot/spicy, sour, sweet, bitter and salty.
Korean meals are generally more heavily seasoned than those of other countries usually with a combination of garlic, ginger, green onions, sesame, soy sauce, and red/black peppers. Most of the meat in main dishes are accompanied by rice and an impressive assortment of small vegetables and seafood are collectively referred to as "Ban Chan". Rather than being an individually plated meal in the western sense, traditional Korean foods are thought as a table setting, with all items served in harmony with each other and eaten as a family style.
Along with the food, you must have the correct table manners to show respect to elders and or superiors. Elder people or those of a higher rank are to be served first and no one begins eating until the eldest begins to eat. There are also such rules as not stabbing foods with chopsticks, not eating with fingers (unless it's finger food), no using two hands when offering a dish or a drink to another, and waiting to be dismissed by the eldest person. Respect for elders is very important in every aspect of a Korean person's life.
Second Bi-weekly Post:
In these two weeks we covered two lessons with the objectives of learning more basic greetings which covered how to ask "what is this" and how to identify things. Learning how to use negation, how to ask questions and give answers for directions and locations were also a part of the lessons. Of course, in addition, I finally started with small grammar lessons which are the markers which roughly correspond to some prepositions and adverbs such as also. In order to achieve these tasks, I did a listening lesson with analysis and translation which also included a check up at the end. The check ups include true or false for comprehension and fill in the blanks for grammar. This exercise also enhances my vocabulary and reading skills because I need to read the dialogue in order to understand the content. I think this semester is off to a great start with the help of my language partner. I felt very accomplished after our meetings and actually felt like I learned new things. I am now able to ask questions such as "Where are you going?" and give directions (The bookstore is behind the cafeteria). I am more enthusiastic about the Korean language now that I have a solid guideline of what to learn. I will build listen to the dialogues and memorize the vocabulary in order to prepare for the upcoming lessons.
TURKISH TEA
Drinking Turkish tea is a daily routine. I experienced this ritual several times a day when I visited Turkey. People drink tea everywhere, in the street, in restaurants, at a hairdresser.. You will even have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... I believe Turkish people drink more tea than Brits. I was even offered a tea as a visitor to a shop.
Tea is usually served in a tulip shaped, ornate glass with two tiny sugar cubes on a saucer. It is important to serve sugar cubes with the tea rather than put sugar into a glass while preparing it. This is different from making Turkish coffee where coffee served is already sweetened. In addition to two sugar cubes, you get a small spoon to stir the tea with.
Turkish tea is usually black and it is consumed without milk. At first I thought the same tea was served everywhere but I was really surprised when I realized the variety of taste of Turkish black tea. Tea does look the same but it tastes differently. For example, tea tastes differently in Istanbul than in Bursa. Turkish tea is produced on the Black Sea coast.
When Turkish people prepare tea, it is really a special event. You will not usually find people using tea bags and pouring water into cups with a tea bag. Preparing Turkish tea is something completely different.
First of all, Turks usually use black tea leaves and not tea bags. They use caydanlik to prepare their tea. Caydanlik is part kettle, part teapot. The bottom part is basically for the boiling water while the upper part is for the tea brew. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes for the tea to be ready to drink. Turkish tea can be served in different ways, anywhere between koyu (strong, dark) and acik (light, weak) depending on how many leaves you use to make a tea. The tea produced is usually very strong, but the remaining water in the kettle is used to dilute the tea on individual basis. If, however, you prepare a very weak tea, it might be considered an insult to a person who you serve. Therefore, it is very important to know the exact amount of leaves you need to put to prepare a tea.
When drinking Turkish tea you have to hold the rim of the cup, rather than the middle portion of the glass body, or otherwise you will burn your fingers. It is the best not to fill the cup entirely, so that you can basically hold the glass without burning your fingers and minimize the heat at the top.
Interesting fact about Turkish people drinking tea is that according to a research in 2004, Turkish people consumed 2.4 kg (approximately 5 pounds) of tea per person, and United Kingdom follows with 2.1 kg (approximately 4 pounds) of tea consumed per person.
I met with my learning partner: Mirwais
He asked me about my family
I asked him about his family
I learned how to ask about last night
we went over conjugating verbs that we learned yesterday
that is we learned how to conjugate verbs but we conjugated different verbs he tested me
he also tested me on the alphabet
we watched a video from Afghanistan (or was it 2?) at least one over and over.
we practiced the nasal letters of the alphabet
ق غ
pronounced ghain and qaaf not to be confused with kaafک
and gaaf گ
khayخ
Week 1: alphabet, writing and reading
Week 2: introductions: how are you, my name is, I am American (nationalities)
Week 3: family
Week 4:2:1:1transportation city, market, map, sign, north, south, east, west, number, floor, shoud (become), room,
Week 5: numbers, time, days of week
Week 6: food; to eat; to drink
Week 7: telephone conversation
Week 8: weather
Week 9: animals (BYKI)
Week 10: classroom
I can say that I am very happy with my first artifact. I was a little bit intimidated by preparing an artifact because I had never done it before... it was something new for me. I really liked what I did for my first artifact. I found a video on youtube, and downloaded it. I also recorded myself having a short conversation (such as hi, how are you, what is your name...). Once I had the video and my voice recorded, I combined them into one short video using iMovie. I also included a Turkish song in the video which I found online. I also included subtitles (I included both, Turkish and English subtitles) so that anyone who does not know Turkish could understand what I was talking about in the video. I showed my artifact to several people and my language partner and they all liked it!
There is a greeting "Merhaba" in Turkish which I used in the video that we in Bosnia also use frequently, so that one was easy for me to memorize. I kept practicing this conversation for so long because I really wanted my artifact to be very good! There was one word that I had A LOT of trouble with pronouncing it (tanıştığımıza) because that word has several letters that neither English nor Bosnian alphabet has.
I have been working on my goals that last week I set out to reach. I worked on present continuous and I can say that it is not very hard. Actually I enjoyed it a lot. There are some tricks that you have to be very careful when forming a sentence in present continuous. I also started working on telling the time, but at this point I am still not very confident that I am very good at it. I think that telling the time in any language can be very difficult. I think I focused more on present continuous and grammar than telling the time, so I think I should work more on the time now. I also learned many Turkish words, especially verbs because when I practiced present continuous I had to use different verbs in order to completely understand the rules.
My language partner told me that I am doing well and that my accent is really good! This was very motivating for me, because at first I thought that when I pronounce something in Turkish nobody is going to understand me. But now, I feel more confident.
I think I asked a lot from myself last time when I thought I was going to achieve so much in such a short period of time, however, I think I did a lot of work and am satisfied with my progress so far. I just need to keep up my work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i6-y4nra6c&feature=youtu.be
My goal I had set in the beginning of the semester was to learn how to speak and understand a basic conversation in Sindhi. Writing in Sindhi requires me to learn the Arabic script and finding books in Sindhi is tough as the language is slowly dying so I decided not to learn that. I use the Devanagiri script to write words; which is the same script used to write Hindi, which I’m familiar with.
I listen to short stories made for children on YouTube. I may not understand the entire story but that is my goal by the end of the semester. I can pick up a few words from the story and sometimes connect those words to identify the sentence. One advantage that I have is that I know Hindi. And most Indian languages have similarities with Hindi. So there will be instances that my Hindi knowledge will help me build a sentence.
I tried to listen to the news in Sindhi but it was a big challenge for me because the speed at which the language is spoken and the level of vocabulary used was above my capabilities but again I could pick up some words. They spoke about the day and time that I understood and also I picked up words like children, house, people, yesterday etc.
My vocabulary is increasing slowly because I try to talk to my family and my language partner only in Sindhi and when I can’t get a word I say it in Hindi and I make sure my family or my language partner corrects me and gives me Sindhi word for it so that I don’t repeat that mistake.
Body language is very important in Italian communication, as Italians are among the most emotionally demonstrative cultures (in fact, I chose to focus my presentation this week on body language and hand gestures, especially in business settings). Family is the most important affiliation in Italian society. In general, there is much less "personal space" then we're used to in the US, and pushing/shoving/crowding is not considered particularly rude. (After I returned from living in Italy, I had to dial down my aggression level when riding the metro in Washington DC!) Introductions are especially key. Cheek kissing is common among acquaintances, with pairs kissing once on each cheek. Handshakes may also be long. You will often see men ambracing, and two men or two women are perfectly comfortable walking arm in arm together. Eye contact is also important. To call over a waiter, you must make eye contact and raise your finger--otherwise, they won't bring the check. In terms of boundaries, Italy also has a very flirtatious culture, which is widely accepted. A particularly unusual custom is that without fail Italians clap when their plane lands!
Hebrew is mainly spoken in Israel, where one culture is hard to define. The culture of Israel is a mixture of all the cultures brought by the immigrants throughout the years. However, some general assumptions can be made.
Israel is more monochronic and collectivist. Several studies found that the Jewish Israelis are far more monochronic and less collectivist than their Arab Israeli peers.
Hands can speak in Israel!
1-Hand out in a pinched formation: means wait a second.
2-Two hands in pinched mode-talking about something very specific.
3-Twisting hand to the side of the head: Means you are stupid or crazy.
4-Shaking the head and saying "why, why, why": means what I just did was incredible, no?
I have 170 flashcards with words on them so I know 170 words
My goal is to keep learning about ten a day to 50 a week. Its too low, so no not to high.
I have not been reading but today my language partner (
Rohina Sediqui |
made me read out loud and I know all the letters really well she said. I read about culture of Iran but should I read a children's book?
I met with a new partner:
| Rohina Sediqui |
we went over the alphabet as it is in written form different than by itself, the seven that don't connect. How to say I am american, I am iranian, I am afghanistani, how to say I study, I study electrical engineering, except, family, nephews, everbody, all, husband, spouse
she taught me that there are four "hidden vowels" or short vowels that go onto below and look like squigglies
I learned some vocabulary: transliteratted: was-a-ghan (vocabulary), tamreenha
gufto-go: conversation (talking)
film: sounds same =
dastori= instructions
ta la fuz = pronunciation
far hung = culture
durk-e khawandan: to understand to read
I am very happy with my progress. I believe I move very fast. To my mind, Turkish is a really interesting and fun language to learn. Since the beginning of this semester, I have been watching Turkish soap opera "Dudaktan kalbe" with subtitles in my language. It was extremely hard in the beginning and I would hardly understand a word the actors spoke. However, in week 5, I can proudly say that I do not only understand random words that the actors in the soap opera say, but also some short sentences. I think this is a great improvement for me and a great motivational factor to keep up my work.
Apart from watching soap operas, I have also been pronouncing and reading in Turkish. I did not have any trouble pronouncing Turkish and my language partner said that I do not have an accent which really motivated me to work even harder. Of course, some letters took me more time to learn how to pronounce them as we do not have them in our alphabet, but with constant repetition I finally learned the right pronunciation.
I found a very interesting website with Turkish short stories.On this website, the stories are also recorded, so sometimes I would just play them in my room. Link to this website is provided at the end of the journal. These short Turkish stories are about Nasrettin Hoca, who is a very popular character in Turkey known for his wise, witty and funny stories. In the beginning, as I started reading in Turkish, I would just pronounce the words but would barely understand their meanings. However, over time as my vocabulary expanded, I would recognize certain words that I had either memorized before or they just seemed familiar to me so I was able to understand their meaning from the context.
For example, when I was reading one of the Nasrettin Hoca stories, I understood that the story was about Nasrettin Hoca's friend who was moving to another city and asked Nasrettin to give him his ring so that he can remember him every time he looks at his finger and sees the ring. However, Nasrettin Hoca said that his friend might lose the ring and therefore forget about him. Thus, Nasrettin Hoca said that he is not going to give him the ring so that every time his friend looks at his finger he will not see the ring and therefore he will remember Nasrettin. I understood this story by using dictionary and translating the unknown words, as well as looking at the pictures that are provided with the story.
I would also keep track of words that are unfamiliar to me. For example, while reading I would keep an open word document and write down the unknown words. At the same time I would use Turkish-English dictionary to translate the words that I do not understand. Sometimes, I would use examples to describe the meanings of the words. This way, I created my own dictionary and anytime I could go back to the words and revise them.
I cannot say how many words I have learned exactly but I believe I learned about 50-60 so far (excluding numbers). I think this pace is good for me because I also study grammar and explore Turkish culture at the same time. I do not want to focus only on vocabulary, because I believe that other aspects such as exploring and learning culture, learning grammar, reading and writing are as important as learning vocabulary and therefore I like to keep balance between them.
artifact%201-%20greetings%2C%20farewells%2C%20introductions.mp3
My goals and tasks for weeks 4 and 5 are twofold. I want to be able to introduce myself conversationally and I want to be able to identify and talk about my family members and friends. I will use LiveMocha to learn introduction, and practice with Omar. I will use Byki to learn how to identify and talk about family, again practicing with Omar and asking him questions that come up. In terms of evaluation, I am going to focus on pronunciation, memory, and being able to respond appropriately to something Omar says. He will help judge competency.
