Blogs

My first Persian artifact demonstrates several grammatical concepts:

"Diruz be yek hotel raftam"

I went to a hotel yesterday (yesterday to one hotel went-I)

--Shows how ‘yek’ is used to designate "a", or "an"

Man muze rau didam

I saw a museum

--Shows how lack of an 'i' sound or 'yek' creates a definite noun

Pesari rau dar khiyaban didam

I saw a boy in the street.

--Shows how placing an 'i' sound after a noun makes the noun indefinite

Artifact One--Persian

For my first Hebrew Artifact I recorded several sentences that shows how inserting the connectives ‘ve’ "and” or ‘o’ “or” between two parts of a sentence makes them function as one part.

We are Moses and Sara.

אנחנו משה ושרה

anhnv mshh vshrh

Is there coffee or tea?

'ש קפה או תה?

'sh qph av th?

Here is a table and there is a chair.

כאן שולחן ושןם כיסא

kan shvlhn vshnm kysa

There is either time or money.

יש או זמלן או כסף

ysh av zmln av ksp

Artifact One--Hebrew

During week three I continue to study the Hebrew and Persian alphabet. While I am beginning to recognize each character in isolation, the sounds represented by letters strung together still has the power to perplex me at times. Farsi utilizes a cursive script that can make deciphering individual letters difficult (especially when handwritten). To combat this I am taking extra strides to ensure I have a firm grasp of each letter's specific sound and stroke order in isolation, before venturing to form words. The relatively clean, non-cursive script of Modern Hebrew (excluding colloquial short-hand alphabet which I’m skipping for now) makes deciphering the alphabetic components of words easy. The challenge that remains is learning the elusive system to placing vowels.

Learning to communicate in Brazil extends way past just learning Portuguese.  There are so many small “linguistic aspects” of the language that textbooks simply cannot teach you.  In these instances, immersion in the culture is the only way to get a full understanding of the language.  The first cultural nuance I encountered when I studied abroad in Brazil dealt with the concept of physical space.  American society holds high importance to the concept of respecting one’s personal space.  Every individual has an invisible bubble, and people generally know the limits of intrusion on the bubble.  In Brazil, anyone who has this so-called “invisible bubble” will quickly have it popped. 

Brazilians are also very personable and passionate when they communicate.  They make use of extensive touching, eye contact, and loud voices to get their points across.  On the same token, kissing on both cheeks is a custom carried out by men and women (exception: men do not kiss men on the cheeks).  With these actions in place, I often thought many of the men and women were flirting with each other on a regular basis.  If someone was standing very close while talking to you, making extensive eye contact, and kissing you on the cheek in the U.S., wouldn’t you think they were flirting or even dating?   

Similarly, Brazilians are extremely indirect and nearly always late.  Their indirectness is characterized by the fact that they absolutely dislike the use of the word “no.”  Thus, Brazilians say “yes” when they actually mean “no.”  The only way to decipher the fact that they actually mean “no” is to pick up on hints provided by body language and voice intonation.  Lastly, Brazilian time is limitless and non-quantifiable (polychronic).  Lateness is customary, and is not considered rude.  Coming from the U.S. where time is a commodity, slightly frustrated my ability to function in Brazil upon my arrival.  Once I became accustomed to the cultural tendencies however, I knew that when someone told me to meet them for lunch at noon, they actually meant 1:30 pm…

Here is an example of the Brazilian "yes" that actually means "no."  In this instance, I was bartering with this beach vendor to buy a beach sarong at a discounted price. He told me I could have the sarong at the discounted price but as you can see by his face, he actually meant I could NOT have it at the discounted price. As a result, he continued to haggle with me for another 15 minutes :)

For weeks four and five, I would like to continue improving my ability to read and write in Farsi. Considering I have just learned the alphabet, I realize that this process may take longer than the time amount of time I intend for it. The best way to further my ability is to continually practice the alphabet and pronunciations, at least until I can begin developing some comfort and confidence with the language. It is also important to begin working with my language partner towards improving my ability, and using my partner as an outlet to critique my ability. As I previously mentioned, I have just learned the alphabet so I understand that my learning process will be fairly difficult. I would be happy with even the slightest improvements; especially, taking into account the fact that I had no knowledge of the alphabet, and could not read or write in Farsi coming at the beginning of the semester.  

While I usually do not like to think of people in terms of “us” and “them,” the reality of the matter is that people from different parts of the world speak, behave, and live in ways that are foreign to others.  In order to begin a process of understanding and tolerance between places of difference, it is important to understand the cultural nuances of each place.  These cultural nuances are also important to understand, because they are oftentimes interlinked with verbal and non-verbal communication.  If we wish to go to a country and fully experience its richness, it is not simply enough to know its language.  We must also know how the country’s language is connected with its way of life.

The reading Figuring Foreigners Out identifies the primary dualities existing amongst the various cultures of the world.  The general tendencies of cultures are to be either individualist/collectivist, monochromic/polychromic, internal/external, and direct/indirect.  Using these classifications, I am able to come to certain conclusions about American society.  American society is typically individualist, monochromic, internal, and direct.  In other words, our society values the principle of self-sufficiency.  We believe in making every minute of the day productive, for productivity is the key to self-sufficiency.  We therefore have an active role in our futures, and are usually direct about what we mean and want.

Being able to identify the tendencies of my own culture helps me to better recognize the tendencies of other cultures.  As I stated before, in order to have tolerance and even appreciation for other cultures, we first have to understand their culture.  Keeping this principle in mind will surely help ease the “culture shock” pains that often accompany encounters with new languages, people, and places.    

What surprised me about the Korean writing system was that it is really different from the Japanese writing system. Hangeul, the Korean writing system, doesn't use characters like Japanese hiragana, katakana and kanji (I've studied Japanese before and am familiar with its writing system). Hangeul includes a set of 'symbols' that represents a specific sound. These symbols are combined to make a syllable or character. In Japanese, each symbol represents a syllable, so I thought Hangeul was unique in that aspect. For me, Hangeul is harder to read and write because figuring out how to combine the pieces to make a part of the word is a huge extra step that slows me down. Still, I prefer Hangeul more than Japanese because I absolutely hated learning kanji (Chinese characters). 

One thing I've heard several times about learning Hangeul (and other writing systems as well) is to not translate the written Korean words into romanized letters. People might feel that this is helpful when learning, but I think it actually isn't the proper way of learning another written language. Since I'm learning Korean, a language that is completely different from English, it's natural to want to learn this way, but it doesn't help you to understand the written language if you're only translating back and forth.

Sometimes Korean isn't pronounced the way it is written. Some letter sounds alternate depending on the word. It's hard to distinguish 'p' and 'b' sometimes because it sounds the same. That's why translating the written language is bad. For example, Busan (a South Korean city) is actually pronounced like "Pusan," the 'b' actually makes a soft 'p' sound. However, it depends sometimes. The word "babo" (it means idiot) is actually pronounced "pabo." In this case, the first 'b' makes a soft 'p' sound, but the second 'b' is just pronounced as a 'b.' Inconvenient, no?

Below I've attached my learning plan for the semster:

Spring 2012 Persian Learning Plan

During Week 3, I accomplished:

• Dictation exercises 1-3 on the Mentored Hindi website -- After I started doing these dictation exercises (where I would listen to the spoken words, then write how I thought the letter would be spelled), I definitely was able to better hear slight differences in the script.  Here is the web address for the (reputable) Mentored Hindi website (part of the Five Colleges system in New England): http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/hindi/dictations/index.html
• Learned how to add the matras (the script specific for vowel sounds) to consonants. (to make words that have both consonants and vowel sounds -- but there are certain rules governing how to add matras to consonants).
  
• Learned 15 new words related to introductory phrases/greetings
• Observed greetings and farewells by watching the Five Colleges video and audio samples about cultural greetings (in Hindi): http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/hindi/index_audio_video.html
• I have tried to listen to a little bit of Hindi each day, usually from the Five Colleges video samples (above) or from songs.  I can usually pick out key phrases from the song to increase my comprehension, and by doing so, I'm also able to hear the slight differences in words between Punjabi and Hindi.  This week, I listened to a Hindi song from the film "Jab We Met" as well as 3 10-minute Hindi dialogues from the film.
• Reading practice from Teach Yourself Hindi -- tried to read basic words and sentences from Chapters 1-2.
• Met with my language partner
  

Next week, I'm hoping to start some more slow reading.  This week was focused on understanding the script, forming words, improving my listening comprehension, and beginning to learn greetings.  Next week, I'm aiming to learn set vocabulary words (15) related to home life, learn grammar with regard to nouns going from singular to plural, and try to engage more in conversation with my LP.

From reading "Understanding Foreigners" I learned a lot about not only the importance of learning a language before applying it , but also of the importance of cultural traditions. From the article i learned that there are habits and traditions that my society accepts and is used to, but at the same time most of those habits and traditions are not accepted or viewed the same way in other cultures. I believe it to be extremely important to know how these basic habits vary in other countries and cultures, especially those where the language I am learning is applicable. In order for me to be able to blend in and be accepted by the country or culture it is necessary for me to know the dos and donts. This is also important because some gestures and vocal habits expressed in my culture are considered almost obscene in others and can lead to altercations, misunderstandings, and insults. Therefore if i want to fully apply my skills in a foreign environment it is necessary to learn about these habits.

This week I accomplished:

* starting the romantic drama novel that I had chosen to read in Hebrew. So far the beginning chapters have introduced the three families that are involved in the plot. The first family is Jewish of Greek descent, the second is a Muslim family from Egypt, and the third is Christian family in the Middle East. 

* finding 30 new vocabulary words and defining them

* finding blended words that are most commonly used in daily language as well as in the military and political science

* reading a politics article from Ha'aretz, daily

* attempting to decipher the political cartoons that are posted on Ha'aretz daily

* reviewing the positions of the main political parties involved in Israeli Parliament while reading about the domestic politics articles

I found the article Figuring Foreigners Out to be really interesting. Some of the topics that were raised about the customs and cultural dimensions of places where foreign languages are spoken seemed to be really difficult to learn just by learning the vocabulary, grammar, and usage of that language. Luckily, I have had the experience of not just visiting in Israel, but getting a true cultural immersion of living there for four years and continually visiting and getting new insights at different ages of my visits. 

I think it is extremely interesting to think about the cultural assumptions of different contexts within a place and language. These would include differing formalities and informalities, differing vocabulary and interactive social customs, etc. When comparing the individualist versus collective society, I think in the case of Israel, society is seen as collectivist in terms of being a young minority small Jewish state in the world, having a collective experience of serving the state through the IDF, etc. However, once you view Israeli society in terms of business, it is very much an individualist mind set. Israel is a capitalist competitive nation where entrepreneurism, research and development, and technology are highly valued. I find that this aspect of society is highly monochronic, while the lifestyle expended on a daily basis values the polychronic view of people lounging at cafes, socializing for hours, and staying out late through the night despite what the next day brings.

I find that when it comes to the nonverbal norms in Israel are very similar to those of the Western societies of the U.S. and Europe. However, when it comes to following the softer laws of daily life, they are taken much less seriously. This may become clear when it comes to waiting in lines at the grocery store, or giving others just enough personal space.These are some of the things that come across as Israeli culture being informal to those who are foreign to the nation. There are things within the language that denote this informality as well. One of the ways this comes through is that the word for a male friend and a boy friend can be one and the same. One has to go out of their way to call someone just a male friend, but the context of the sentence and knowledge of the speaker allows the audience to distinguish between the two.

I was wondering, "what makes up the Korean language?" I find Korean to be a very unique language that sounds different than both Japanese and Chinese, but it turns out some Korean words have originated from Japan and China. It makes sense, though. Since Korea is situated next to Japan and China, it is likely that Koreans added Japanese or Chinese words into their language because of their constant contact. The Korean vocabulary consists of approximately 30% native, 65% Korean (Chinese-character based) and 5% loanwords.

One of the first cultural phrases I heard about was "pap mogoso?" Have you eaten? This is a common phrase Koreans use. It's actually used as a "how are you" or "hello" type of greeting. This wasn't anything too foreign to me. Indian people will ask something similar when they say hello, but in Korea, it seems to be more of a "how are you" type of question.

Another cultural thing I'd like to talk about is kinship terms. In America, we don't really use any sort of term to refer to our siblings or our cousins. We just call everyone by their names. In Korean, there are several kinship terms that are used very frequently. Some examples are "oppa," "unnie," "hyung" and "noona." "Oppa" is a term that is used by girls and it basically means older brother, but it is also used to refer to any older male that you are close with like a friend or boyfriend. The other three terms kind of work the same way. "Unnie" is used by girls and it means older sister. "Hyung"(older brother) and "noona" (older sister) are the male equivalents of "oppa" and "unnie."

As for body language, there are several things I've noticed. I'll keep my observations solely on greetings. It is customary to bow when you greet someone. The lower the bow, the more respect you show for the other person. Handshakes are common mostly among men. However, Korean handshakes are a bit different. It is important that you support the hand your are using to shake with your other hand. One should make sure to support their right hand with their left hand when shaking hands.

My goals for week 4 and 5 are to learn how to order food at a restaurant. I know in Korea many people eat beef and there are many dishes with beef in it. I don't eat beef, for religious reasons and would like to avoid accidently eating it when I am abroad in the fa;;. So, I want to learn how to order food and to ask whether or not something has beef in it. As for activities, I'm not sure what I want to do. I usually learn best through memorization and repeating. I think watching Korean tv or movies or listening to music will definitely help me with my pronunciation and vocabulary skills. I could try translating a song, something simple. In order to evaluate my success, I'd like to practice speaking with my other Korean friends because they will honestly tell me whether I've improved or not in any way.

This week I started to learn greetings and initial conversations when meeting people. My personal goal was to be able to call my grandma at the end of the week and speak as much as I know. This gave me the incentive to learn greetings and practice them out loud enough that it would be understandable for my grandma. During the language partner sessions, I was able to practice with other students which was a nice alternative to practicing alone. I am also continuing to practice writing which we did all during my language partner session tonight. I think the Korean written language is really interesting and I like practicing it. The combinations of letters and vowels makes more sense to me now and is helping me learn the vocabulary more easily. I have been learning phrases at one time instead of individual words. My language partner broke down some of the words for me and their translations in English which helped a lot. I'm going to continue reading, writing, and speaking out loud to build on what I have learned. I already noticed that I am getting more out of my new learning techniques than I learned previously with index cards. It really helps to speak out loud so that it becomes ingrained in my brain faster than just looking at the words. My next goal is going to be to write a letter to my grandma.

I begin meeting with my language partners during week two. In order to gain a foothold in both languages, I set learning the writing systems as an immediate goal. Learning a writing system involves multiple parts including, but not limited to:

-Ability to recognize each letter in isolation

-Ability to recreate the sound signified by each letter, set in isolation

-Understanding of how letters are pronounced when strung together to form words

-Being aware of letters that can form multiple sounds

-Understanding when and where consonants are signified

The last point presents a challenge for learners of Farsi and Hebrew. With limited representation of vowel sounds, both alphabet systems require intuition and recognition of patterns to decipher when vowels are pronounced. Luckily, both alphabets have systems consisting of dots and lines to represent vowels to newcomers to the language. While these systems help, it is yet another item on a hefty list of things to learn.

Farsi Writing Systems

The Persian language uses an abjad writing system consisting of 32 letters only for consonants. Vowels are written with diacritics or a combination of consonant letters. The Farsi writing system is very similar to the Arabic writing system and the alphabet is similar to the Cyrillic alphabet. Farsi is written from right to left with the exception of numerals which are written from left to right. The letters are very artistic and the writing seems as though it is calligraphy.

Reflection on the Reading: "How the Brain Handles Languages"

I found it really interesting to read about the different functions and hemispheres of the brain. It surprising to know that so many parts of the brain play a role in the acquisition of a new language. When I took psychology, I learned that it was difficult to learn a language after a certain age because Broca's and Wernicke's area became smaller. However, the whole brain contributes to the learning of a new languages - not just Broca's and Wernicke's area. For example, speech production and comprehension are two aspects of language learning that rely on various parts of the brain.

               I think culture learning in language education is extremely beneficial. In order to perfect a language, one must know the context and customs behind different words and phrases. When you can understand the culture of a group of people, you will be able to understand them better. For example, you may be able to say "Hello, How are you?". However, that simple phrase may be dependent upon cultural norms. Is that phrase informal or formal? Should you say that to someone older than you? Should only say that to people you dont know? Is there a gesture that is commonly used in unison with that phrase? These are questions that could be answered if you are knowledgeable about the cultural background. Moreover, the phrase "Hello, How are you?" might not be beneficial at all if you aren't culturally aware. Also, in almost culture, communication is not solely dependent on language or speech. There are various motions and gestures that can accomodate speech and have many meanings. When learning a second language, in order to perfect communication, one has to learn and practice the culture associated with that language. Learning a foreign-language means learning new behaviors and, sometimes, a new way of life.

As week 3 comes to a close, I feel I'm really plunging myself into the Norwegian language. I practiced greetings, farewells, and Introductions with Anna. The words are easy enough to memorize, but saying them out loud is where I am finding the most problems. A lot of the words look like their equivalent in English, but the pronunciation is completely different! It's very frustrating at times. But Anna is patient with me and repeats the words for me multiple times. I try to practice by myself using google translator and other websites that say the words in the proper accent, repeating the words over and over until I sound like the person announcing.  I'm glad I've made at least some progress in Norwegian! I need to build on this momentum as I enter the coming weeks. 

Goals for Weeks 4 & 5: 

-Practice written and oral skills of introductions, greetings, and farewells.

-Be able to introduce myself properly, describing who I am  (name, age, etc), where I'm from, and what languages I speak. Also work on introducing other people ("This is..."). 

-Master the pronunciation of greetings and farewells (with Anna, and using google translator). Be able to write these as well. 

-Create first artifact: A monologue of me fulfilling the tasks above. 

-Critique artifact--Did I sound Norwegian? Was my speech fluid? Was what I said grammatically correct? 

                I have studied French for over 6 years and have become proficient in the French language. Because French is a romance language and it is very similar to English, it was not particularly difficult for me to grasp the concepts associated with the language. I was able to learn verb tenses easily and pick up on the accents. However, I know that Farsi will be very different and it may be very difficult for me to learn because it is extremely different from English. Farsi has a foreign alphabet, unlike French, and it uses sounds that dont exist in the English language. I enjoy learning new vocabulary and helpful phrases. I enjoy learning the speaking and listening aspects more than the reading and writing. Therefore, I think I can say that I am not only a visual learner, but an auditory learner as well. I think the best way to learn Farsi is to focus on one or two areas at a time. Cultural aspects play a huge role in the differences between English, French, and Farsi. In each language, sentences are formed in different ways. Verbs are formed differently and pronouns are used in various ways. In addition, the way each language is spoken is very distinct from one another. Some French speakers are very quiet or subtle in the way they speak while Farsi speakers are very expressive and use many hand motions along with the speech.

Since I have never formally studied Swedish the self-language assessment has been very interesting in pinpointing my strengths and weaknesses in Swedish. At the moment my interpretative reading and listening skills are between Developing 2 and Expanding 1. The basis for my Swedish knowledge has come from media sources such as personal blogs, television shows, and daily news. As such, my level of comprehension for daily usage and conversation are quite advanced. In regards to my interpersonal speaking skills I find that I am still Developing between 1-2 because I have become quite comfortable in speaking to particular individuals in Swedish who may be accustomed to my pronunciation and grammatical errors and do not make efforts to correct me. Part of the strengths of having a language partner and being forced to speak to a unfamiliar person in Swedish will further challenge my skills and confidence and utilize the vocabulary that I already have access to. And finally my Presentational speaking and writing falls between Developing 1-2. I am capable of presenting myself in complex situations and defends opinions, but my writing confidence is rather low. Although I may have advanced reading, there are many words that I have become familiar with orally and have never read. It will be important for me to expand my vocabulary and pay particular attention to spelling and gender.

Taking into consideration my language assessment and my personal goals, I see there is room for improvement in engaging in more complex conversation beyond presentations of myself, daily activities, and simple story telling. I believe a true expansion of my vocabulary could come through discussion of contemporary Swedish politics through media programming and text. I will hopefully build up a broader vocabulary and become more confident in expression my opinion in unfamiliar contexts. My main tools this semester will be Swedish television, online newspapers, film, and a novel Ondskan by Jan Guillou.

I think understanding the culture of a country goes hand in hand with learning the country's language. Language is something that is tied to culture and so it is important to learn how they contribute to each other.

For example, informal vs. formal. This is a cultural difference. Since Americans don't have any distinct formal/informal language, learning about cultural differences is beneficial for someone who will be going abroad to their target country. I know in Korea that informal and formal language is extremely important. It is frowned upon to speak to someone who is older than you informally. My purpose for learning this language is so I can immerse myself into Korean culture and society. By not understanding their traditions and cultural differences, I feel that I will always be seen as the foreigner or outsider. That is not the type of experience I want to have. The significant thing I've learned is that it's not just about what you say, but also how you say it. 

Culture is embedded in language. The 'evolution' of language stems from cultural changes and shifts. New words and phrases are invented to fit the culture of one society. Language can reflect a certain time period or era. This representation not only bears a certain time period, but also the cultural aspects of a society. It proposes a means of comparison and understanding of the past in terms of language and culture. This is significant because it offers an interesting, 'timeline' sort of perspective of language and culture. Without access to past language and cultural ties, one cannot distinguish those language and culture shifts throughout a society's history. 

This week my language partner and I worked on introductions with another student who was sitting in on the class. We just learned some conversations that were available in the textbook. I learned to say that I am a student, a sophomore, what my major is, my age and other phrases. I also learned how to ask questions about another person's name, age, grade and major. It was nice starting at the very beginning. I do know a little bit of very basic Korean and starting from the beginning really filled in the holes for the things I didn't know.