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In the video I made of giving directions from the global studio to my room, I struggled to get the verb endings correct.  Also I had trouble remember some of specialized vocabulary: stairwell, roundabout, straight through, and down. I successfully conjugated in the impersonal when I said "you can go two directions."  Also I effectively used the phrase need to say "keep going straight."

 Overall I believe I would have been able to be understood by a Bangladeshi national though.  I just need to mainly clean up the verb conjugations.

Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyo7TxLysB0

On a ACTFL phone interview I was asked to give directions in Bengali from Dulles airport to my house.  Even though I scored advanced low on the test, I struggled to give the directions.  So this semester I practiced giving directions with my Bengali tutor.  I realized that one of the reasons giving directions was hard was because it forced me to use a grammar pattern that English doesn’t use very often.  Instead of saying in English, “go right then go left.” You would say in Bengali “having gone right, turn left.”  Bangladeshis use this sentence construction all the time, but it is much less common in English.  Also to indicate that someone will be on the left or the right, you literally say that something will fall on the left or right.  Furthermore, impersonal structure is often required when giving direction both in Bengali and English.  The combination of these factors make giving directions and useful but difficult exercise. 

I interviewed my language’s partner’s dad about the health care situation in Bangladesh.  Although he is not a medical doctor, he has a Phd in social health care and works in a hospital in Bangladesh.  We first talked about the different types of health care available in villages.  Basically there are aleopathic, homeopathic, and herbal remedies as well as witch doctors, but no real doctors.  People can also to a pharmacy without a pharmacist to obtain generic medicine with the advice of the pharmacy workers. However if the medical situation deteriorates, the person is forced to leave the village and go to a city for real medical care. 

He also commented that there are a few good government hospitals that exist (mainly in the capital Dhaka) that the poor can go to for about 20 cents.  With 40% of the population below the poverty line, these establishments are absolutely crucial.   

One of the most stunning facts he mentioned was that there were only 200 hundred ICU beds in the country.  This means that with a population of 160 million even if one is rich, it may be impossible to get the treatment one needs.

We also discussed that fact that because there is no health insurance again it may be difficult for even rich people to pay for the treatment they need. 

Lastly we talked about the process of becoming a doctor in Bangladesh.  There are two different routes.  1) Get accepted by a government medical school.  However there are only about 2000 seats in the country, so only the really brilliant people can go to these.  2) Go to a private medical school.  These institutions are very expensive and low quality.  Many rich families send their children to these school because there are a lot more seats, and the qualification for acceptance are not as rigorous with the exception of tuition. 

I am very thankful that Mr. Islam was able to talk with me and give me this invaluable information. 

I made this artifact to review working with past tense, which was the tense I had the most difficulty with last semester. In the slide show, I describe India, what I did there, and what I enjoyed.  

My narration includes:  I lived in India for four months.  There I was a student.  I studied Hindi and Indian culture.  In Jaipur, I lived with an Indian family.  When I was in India, I wore Indian clothing.  I ate Indian food and now, I think Indian food is great.  Indian culture is very different from American culture.  India is very interesting and very colorful.  I went to many places; I travelled by train. In Agra, I saw the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal was very beautiful. This photo is also the Taj Mahal.  Then I saw the Red Fort.  I also went to a small village.  I learned about healthcare.  In Amritsar, I saw the Golden Temple.  I went to Varanasi.  Varanasi is a very old city.  In Varanasi, I went to an Indian wedding with my friend.  In Kolkata, I met many nice people.  I hope to return to India.

voicethread.com/share/2547060/

The principal official language of India is Hindi, while English is the secondary official language, as India was a British colony until 1947.  In addition to Hindi and English, there are other official and unofficial languages numbering in the hundreds spoken throughout the subcontinent.  India’s 1961 census recognized 1,652 mother tongues; the most recent census conducted in 2001 reports that there are 30 languages spoken by more than 1 million native speakers in India.  Some of the most commonly spoken languages after Hindi are Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu. 

Something that I found to be really incredible when I was in India was the abundance of people who spoke more than one, two, sometimes even more than five languages.  Indians must be able to speak multiple languages as a matter of practicality; travelling even just a short distance from one’s home may mean being among a population of people who use a completely different language as their primary communication.  In recent years, the Indian government instituted a “Three Language” policy.  After grade 7, Indian students in government schools are expected to receive instruction in three languages:  the regional language, a modern Indian language, and English.  In addition to this, other languages such as Chinese or Arabic may also be offered.  It is expected that Indian students be fluent in multiple languages.  This is likely what prompted my language partner to ask me recently what other languages I speak in addition to Hindi and English (to which I could answer, “Technically I’ve taken classes in French and Spanish, but…”). 

I think India’s language system is great, and really in stark contrast to America’s, where English certainly dominates.  Here, foreign language courses are increasingly being cut from public school curricula in middle and even high schools.  I suppose this is due in part to the fact that we have much less of an immediate or domestic need to become multilingual.  However, I think it may also intimate some notion that Americans feel other people should learn English if they want to communicate with us.  Granted, this is not necessarily an entirely American phenomenon.  English has very much become the language of academia, as well.  I was at a microbiology conference this past weekend, and one of the speakers indicated that English is absolutely the standard in Science; he said that no matter where he travels, presentations are given in English and scientists from other countries must learn the language in order to contribute.  

Given our high expectation for English as the standard in America, I find it disconcerting how rather unsupportive we are of non-native English speakers in America.  This was an observation that I did not make until returning from India.  In India, any stumbling Hindi phrases I could get out of my mouth seemed just about the most exciting thing to happen all week to shopkeepers and others I talked to outside of school.  So many Indians I interacted with were absolutely enthused to hear a foreigner taking the time to learn their language.  They were also generally gracious to offer their knowledge and assistance, were sympathetic listeners, and were eager to teach new words they thought I should know.  Here, I don’t see much handholding at all towards people who are new to America and may not speak English well.  At times, people who don’t speak English are seen as an annoyance and interactions and generally short and to the point.  I can definitely say I’ve never seen anyone here beaming about a perfect stranger attempting to learn English. 

I’ve also seen that it is not just an Indian phenomenon to be supportive of language learning.  I tutor a family from Bhutan whose native language is Nepali.  They are convinced that I will just “pick up” Nepali from being around them.  I’m mildly ashamed to say that as this point I can officially remember only two words:  onion and Wednesday.  But, you can believe that anytime I say the English/Nepali phrase, “See you on Bhudavar,” it’s cause for them to celebrate because, I’m learning! 

Initially, I believed cultural competence could not be achieved and only cultural acceptance/awareness was possible. From an anthropological perspective cultural competence would require not only learning of the culture, language, and social structure but also relating to that culture and quite frankly believing in what the people of the area believe. When we first discussed cultural competence I was viewing it from that standpoint but after discussion and reading of the article I have accepted that one can become at least communicatively competent under the right circumstances. 

The reading says communicative competence is the "competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally with specific contexts". From our outside class discussion I remember David saying we do not need to be experts in order to be competent' competence is merely relative and not absolute as the reading says. Communicative competence requires grammatical competence, or knowledge of the language lexicon and semantics, discourse competence, connecting sentences, sociolinguistic competence, social rules of language, strategic competence, verbal and nonverbal strategies used in communication to compensate for breakdown in communication. I found these factors to all be sufficient in labeling a person communicatively competent if they are able to achieve them. 

At the end of the day, I still believe it is rather difficult to be even communicatively competent especially in the sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence. Grammar once learned and practiced might be far more simpler but when interacting it might be difficult to call upon social rules, as many as there are, of language. And there is most often difficulty in flow of conversation once that breakdown in conversation has been reached and the subject cannot efficiently communicate in all the strategies composed in that culture

For my response to this article, I want to focus on what the article itself focuses on.  What is learner autonomy?  As identified by the article, there are seven elements of learner autonomy.  These learners have insights into their personal learning style preferences.  They are actively engaged in the learning process.  They are willing to take risks with the target language.  These learners are proficient at making educated guesses and working with them in a proactive manner.  They notice grammatical patterns and emphasize appropriate preciseness.  These learners both "attack" the target language in parts, and with this target language are outgoing in its use.

The most important element to learner autonomy and language learning proficiency is being willing to take risks with the target language.  My close friend is in the process of studying Bangla, the language spoken predominantly by the Shaikh people in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India.  During the past two summers he has studied the language in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.  He proactively took charge of the learning process, challenging himself with his language partner and purposefully putting himself into positions in which he was forced to use the language with native speakers.  When learning directional vocabulary, he would get on rickshaws and tell the rickshaw driver, "Left!", "Right!", putting himself in a position in which if he messed up his words he would have been hopelessly lost.

Now, my friend is fluent.  Instead of riding rickshaws he jokes with the drivers and tells them to let him drive.  He gives entire speeches on complicated issues in his target language, Bangla.  By taking risks in his target language, my friend is now better equipped to meet his goal, to become a doctor in Bangladesh.

Even though some people argue that a person can be competent in another language and another culture, I believe it is possible. I think sometimes you do not even have to have an advanced level in another language in order to communicate. For example, while I was studying in India I was able to talk to people, even though my Hindi was very limited. Thus, being competent in another language means more than simply being able to speak it.

I remember using hand gestures that are often used within the Indian culture, and with a mixture of Hindi, English, and gestures locals would get my message. Now after living there and having a solid knowledge of Hindi, I feel competent to communicate in Indian society. Of course, this is not to say that I should not upgrade my language skills, but that communicative competence is based not only on grammatical and textual competence, but also illocutionary and sociolinguistic competences.

Moreover, living in the US for three years of my college life, I also feel competent to communicate within the American culture. One is able to adapt her to different situations and environments by living and interacting within a new culture. Hence, exposure and experience also play an important role in communicative competence. This allows us to become comfortable enough to interact in everyday conversations such as usage of humor and nonverbal communication.  

I found it easy to relate to the international students of the video. One, because my family is Jamaican and being that I did not grow up around my extended family when we do come into contact I feel like an outsider and two, because I have witnessed, through my international friends, many of the bizzarre scenarios mentioned about adapting to a new life in the states. It's very important that when entering a 'new area', generally speaking, the perspective of the guest should be considered by the native and vice versa. I think the international students who gave their past experiences on how they were received noticed a lack of their feelings being considered by Americans they came into contact with. Because of the discomfort they feel with making relationships with Americans they then tend to turn to other foreign students also experiencing that discomfort.

Misunderstanding while communicating was also a huge issue I found in the documentary but not simply because of the language barrier. One example I took note of was of the male Chinese student expressing his frustration with not understanding the underlying meaning of his American friends. It's come to my understanding that language proficiency is possible but complete understanding of conversation that may be filled of innuendoes and location specific terms is near impossible if one is from outside of that community. While these seemly unsolvable obstacles are quite often faced by international students and can often be discouraging I've learned from their anecdotes that it is the most rewarding to press on regardless of the discomfort and enjoy the experience to the fullest. This documentary has encouraged me to not fear my own study abroad experience when the time comes. 

    I appreciated this video as a Journalism major aside from being a language learner. This is because I love to hear people's outlooks on things and especially in the context of the American culture. This video made me feel like making a stronger effort to get to know international students on campus.The reason behind this was found in the clip with the boy talking about "What's up?" He found that the American student who asked him that did not really care to know how or what he was doing. This is comparable to "How are you?" at UR. No one really cares how you are; it is just linguistically equivalent to "Hi." Everyone on campus encounters this , so I do not want the international students to feel they are the only victims of this.

   I also gained a lot of insight when the students mentioned they were basically geniuses in their native countries, but had the hardest time adjusting to the American way of learning. I hope to one day experience the learning styles in a foreign country. The international students had never had to write essays or analytical papers, which I envy.

  The video also makes me wonder if international students going to public universities or even private asaide from UR feel the same way. I feel like a majority of the UR student body is similar in mindset, so it is not an accurate representation of American students when it comes to international students exposure.

Just like American culture, Bangladeshis can often be heard saying “hey allah—o my god” as well as “en shallah—if the lord wills.”  However to greeting different people is entirely based on your location or your knowledge of their religion.  For example in Dhaka the capital it would be proper to say to anyone “the peace of god be with you” using the Muslim noun for god.  However in the villages or less prominent cities more people will greet each other with the Hindu greeting of “nomoskar” which literally means “I bow to you”. 

Suffice to say, knowing the basics of each religion and the words to describe their experiences are very important tools in understanding Bangladeshi culture and language. 

I think I have experienced culture shock at least ten times in the past six years. Luckily, the change was happening quickly, so I would not have a lot of time to think about it, but simply to try and adapt myself as quickly as possible.

For this assignment I decided to go through my journal from India and found the following entry:

"After three weeks in India, I feel I did I am finishing the physical part of adjustment on the new environment in Jaipur. Food was the biggest problem for me since I am not used to eating spicy and hot food. Traffic jams, and crowds on the streets are everyday reality here, and I am still learning how to manage basic daily routines -shopping and jogging for instance without getting too much attention from the locals for being a foreigner." Now I am not only able to eat spicy food and enjoy it, but also travel alone through India, shop and bargain on my own and be free to interact with local people.

Coming from a developing country, I was sure my cultural shock will not be as great as when I went to the US to study. However, I was wrong. My home country might be considered a developing country, but it is definitely better off in terms of poverty than India. Yes, it was the huge amount of poverty present everywhere which was the first shocking thing after my arrival, and I still think I am not (willing to) adjust to it. Just seeing poor people living on the streets, having nothing to wear, eat with children playing around and begging for money was the hardest thing to deal with. Living in a luxury hotel for a week in Jaipur, and having a poor family living outside my window made me wonder and think about the chance in life I have compared to them.

I tried to stay open mind and understand rather than criticize which enabled me to be aware of my cultural shock and find my place within Indian society. It is interesting to notice how hard it is for some, yet easy for other people to live in another culture. At this point I feel that no matter where I find myself in the world I will be able to manage and easily learn how to adapt to a different environment.

In this post I would like to remark on a rather recent event with my language partner that allowed me to observe the way in which individuals within the Polish culture treat anger and confrontation.  As usual, my observations concerning the Polish culture in this manner can not truly be assumed to be representative of the entire culture as a whole, however, as my language partner must be part of some specific subset of Poles i.e. the culture in which she was raised in and the culture therefore that her immediate and extended family were most likely raised in.

I have observed that emotions of anger and therefore possibly most disagreeable emotions are dealt with in private and not in a confrontational manner.  As professor Grove has explained this may be a result of the cultural concept of "saving face" or the refusal to offend anyone.  This cultural tradition of facing the most adverse situations with a smile is largely unintelligible to those of us who have been raised in an American culture.  It would seem to us that the most important aspect of a conflict is its resolution so that both parties involved can take part in the more immediate benefit that occurs after the resolution.  In our culture, the concept of "getting it off of your chest" is much more readily understood than that of "saving face".  As a result of this cultural divide, there appear to be no simple solutions when a conflict errupts between two people that do not share the same cultural understanding of how to deal with emotions.  Either party adapting to the other culture's methodology of resolution would appear to be a disasterous occurrence.  The American who is unused to the Polsih understanding of "saving face" would be also unused to harboring disagreeable emotions for a prolonged period of time until a natural resolution can be achieved and therefore would be prone to small emotional outbursts in the form of sarcasm or some other affront effectively prolonging the conflict.  The Pole who is unused to the American understanding of "getting it off your chest" would most likely lack the practiced model of refraining from recalling past insults and injuries into the conflict among engaging in other frowned upon practices that will also inevitably prolong the conflict.  Unfortunately in this case it would seem that there is unfortunately no middle ground by which the conflict can be resolved, no combination between "saving face" and direct confrontation that presents itslef to the logical mind as the two methods employed by their respective cultures are inherrently contradictory and cannot be mixed into some universal understanding.

Besides gaining this beginners understanding of how cultural barriers work, i have recently been expanding my methods of learning polish to the reading of polish children's novels which has been an unbearably slow process (since i am realizing in my frustration that a four year old polish child has a more extensive vocabulary than i do).  But at the same time it has proven a great opportunity to learn more about the culture in which polish children are brought up in and hopefully as my ability in and understanding of the polish language continues to increase i will be able to mirror the understanding of polish culture that their children grow up with through this new exercise.

I am interested in learning Farsi (SDLAP language) because it is not one of the mainstream languages offered at the University of Richmond. My parents speak a little bit of Farsi and I decided it would be cool to learn also.

Throughout my language learning, I have explored Spanish, a little German, and Japanese. I feel like Farsi is completely different from these, so it will pose a challenge for me. However; I am always up for a challenge. Farsi also requires that one writes from right to left, so I am quickly making that adjustment.

I am a Journalism major and I never know what country my job could take me to. I feel it is necessary to get a grasp of many languages in order to be successful and well-prepared for whatever my career may throw at me.

Then, for a semi-selfish reason, I am crazy about attractive guys. Why would I need a language barrier to stand in the way? I am so interested in learning languages, so that I can communicate with a future husband without any problems. Yes; this is slightly dramatized, but I want to be as prepared as I can.

I like SDLAP because I can learn at my own pace and specify what it is that I want to know. The one on one sessions offered and the continued help will allow me to learn Farsi more efficiently.It is very convenient to be able to learn a language while taking numerous other classes soley because you can pace yourself.

After English and Mandarin, Hindi is the third most widely-spoken language in the world. It is a subset of the Indo-European family, and I can sometimes find some similarities between Serbian and Hindi. The writing system of Hindi is derived from Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages in the world.

Hindi language came from Hindustani. During the ninth and tenth centuries, Hindustani was the colloquial language of in Northern India (area around New Delhi). The language was named Hindi by the Persian Turks who ruled in Punjab and Gangetic plains areas and created Delhi Sultanate within it.  Hindi absorbed Persian (and also Arab words) and therefore, the language was a mean of communication between the migrants and local population in the eleventh century. As the Delhi Sultanate was expending, so was the language.

Upon the British arrival to India, Hindi became a national language, as the British started using it amongst the government officials. In the eighteenth century it started to expand as a literary language. Hindi is written in Devangari script.

After the independence of India in 1947, government worked on standardization of Hindi language and in 1965 it became the official language of India. Different colonial powers influenced Hindi language. Thus, languages that enriched Hindi are: English, Portuguese, Farsi, Arabic, and Turkish.

Even though Hindi is a standardized language, there are many dialects of Hindi. While I was in India I studied the standardized Hindi, and often was not able to communicate with people living in villages who also spoke Hindi.

Sources:

http://www.jazykhindi.com/hindi/history.asp

http://www.hindisociety.com/ArticleHindiHistory.htm

Hindi uses post positions instead of prepositions as we use in English.  Post positions change the form of the subject and adjectives that they follow in different ways depending on the gender of the subject/adjective and whether it is singular or plural.  I did some exercises out of my book early on to help me recall the necessary changes, though this is something that I should refresh regularly; the changes are small and easy to forget, but would certainly be noticed in conversation with a native speaker.

In this post I would like to attempt to categorize the polish culture according to the five subjects presented in the "figuring foreigners out" text by applying its points to previous experiences that I have had with my language partner.  The application of these assessments do not by necessity reflect the culture as a whole since my language partner is an individual, however i believe that they are a good starting point for further research.

Direct/Indirect communication:  The polish culture appears to be one of an indirect/ high context nature, that is to say that people tend to infer, imply, and use nonverbals rather than to say things directly.  In the case of my language partner, the indirect use of language is not as apparent as is the lack of use of direct language.  That is to say that the goal of her communication exchanges is not getting or giving information and she has well-established in-groups.  Although her spoken words do carry the much of the meaning of what she is trying to say, i believe that this is due to a lack of practice in the circuitous ways in which the english language can be used rather than a cultural disposition.

Individualist/collectivist:  The polish culture appears to be of a collectivist nature, that is to say that the smallest unit of survival is the immediate family rather than the individual.  This is evident in my language partner's communication with her family unit being much higher than that of a typical american college student despite the increased difficulty and price associated with keeping in constant contact with people on the other side of the world.  In addition, if the pseudo-family that she has built on campus among her closest friends is any indication of the tight-knit nature of her family abroad, the concepts of close psychological and emotional sharing and considering the needs and feelings of others in the collectivist group are perfectly represented by her actions.

Nonverbal communication:  As in all cultures, this aspect of Polish(P) is unique and is best described through a list of specific types of non-verbals and their comparison to the two other cultures i am familiar with, american(A) and latin american(LA).

-personal space:  A>LA>>P

-Touching: A+LA = very infrequent among acquaintances, used among friends occasionally during greeting or departure and frequent exchanges are only found between those in a relationship.  P= frequent among aquaintances  during greeting or departure and also an integral part of speaking as one may touch another in conversation to get a point across or to grab their attention.  Friends are treated in such a manner that any type of physical barrier does not exist.

-eye contact: A+P= not necessary for conversation but not intentionally avoided either.  A sign of respect to maintain eye contact with the elderly or in a business setting.  LA= eye contact is a necessary courtesy that is to be extended to everyone in all situations, even to an unknown passerby on the street.

Monochronic/Polychronic: Impossible to tell due to the hectic nature of my language partner's schedule as a student athlete.

Internal/External:  I would guess from my observations that Polish is an internal culture, that is to say that effort and personal responsibility breed achievement rather than predestination.  This has evidenced itself most strongly in my language partner's refusal to give up on her favorite sport when she is injured for a prolonged period of time or give up on being a psychology major even if giving 100% of her effort doesn't yield a passing grade.  There doesn't appear to be any sense of a "if im not fated to go to graduate school then so be it" mentality in her understanding, instead it appears to be "ill keep trying until they accept me".  However, i find that this internal/external mentality is an especially difficult one to extrapolate out to the rest of the culture since i feel that this type of understanding can be largely driven by one's personal religious affiliations.

In general, as far as autonomous language learning goes i have done a mediocre job this past week as far as dedication to learning polish but I am going to attribute that to the fact that I had multiple medical school applications due which were extremely time consuming.  On the plus side, i am slowly achieving my goal of being able to understand at least what people are driving at in written polish.  Hopefully soon ill be able to do the same in spoken polish, we will see.

Sorry if this was a long read

Jason

For this assignment I watched the first episode of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai soap opera. Not being able to understand everything they said, I was still able to conclude the relationships between the main characters. The plot is about a Hindu family and there are mother, father, daughter and son. Also, there is a grandmother who is mother’s mother, and she seems like a funny character. One gets an impression that the mother is more willing to tolerate her son, than her daughter. I realized that because when son says he does not feel well, mother is immediately concerned and letting him skip the school, even though he is just pretending. During the same scene, I came up to a conclusion that the grandmother is ridiculing mother’s oversensitivity towards the son.

At the same time when her daughter asks to go to the movies, the mother is not willing to let her go, and the girl only gets to go see the movie because she got her father’s permission. The only interaction with her husband was when the daughter was asking his permission to go out. It seems that the husband does not take in consideration mother’s will against her daughter going out, and he gives the permission to her. The relationship between mother and father does not seem like a happy one.

Furthermore, there are many motives of Hinduism in the house, so that is how I concluded that this is a Hindu family. It is incredible how much one can actually understand just by noticing body language, hand gestures, and behavior amongst the characters. Of course, the episode ends with the daughter singing a song while the actions (life) of her mother is being presented to the audience. The combination of a slow song, and sad look on mother’s face makes me conclude that the girl sang about her mother, and maybe their misunderstandings.

Watch Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFLyE9-tJH8

After watching the soap opera, I listened to one of my favorite songs in Hindi, Pee Loom. Just like the majority of popular Hindi songs, this one is also from a movie called Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. While I was in India I watched the movie, and really liked the song. Just as one can conclude from watching the video – it is a song that a man sings to a woman he loves and her beauty. Typical Bollywood :)

Video for Pee Loon song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olOK2OYI7Fo

Since I lived in Indian state Rajasthan, I decided to read Rajasthan Patrika. I was able to read, but I honestly did not understand what I was reading. Hopefully by the end of semester this improves :)

Link for Rajasthan Patrika:

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/Rajasthan_Patrika/400x60/0