Blogs

In this week's reading, Crystal writes about the different theories of how language began, possible reasons for why and how language changes, and also how languages die.  I found the section about how languages die to be the most interesting.  Crystal makes a thought provoking statement when he writes, "A language only dies when the last person who speaks it dies. Or perhaps it dies when the second-last person who speaks it dies, for the there is no one left to talk to (336)."  I would perhaps agree more with the ladder, though technically with one speaker left, there could exist the possibility of passing the language on and keeping it alive.  Crystal shows that even dead languages can be resurrected, as with the South Australian language of Kaurna.  He also points out that this is no cheap task - all the linguists and dictionaries and learning materials add up to quite a hefty sum.  From a strictly practical perspective, I think it would be outrageous to spend the one billion dollars that Crystal roughly estimates language revival to cost.  If the purpose of language is to communicate, then it should not matter how many languages we use to communicate.  6 languages could accomplish what we now use 6000 for.  Again, from a practical standpoint, I don’t think it is necessary to fight the natural evolution of language.  From a less practical side though, language can be very intricately linked to culture and adds to the diversity of our world.  The quote from a man who was the last speaker of his tongue was haunting.  The man said, “When I think of my tongue being no longer alive in the mouths of men, a chill goes over me that is deeper than my own death, since it is gathered in the death of all my kind (342).”  The loss of a language can mean the loss of a culture, an end of community, and a reduction of diversity.

Last week my language partner and I discussed religion.  Obviously we come from very different religious and cultural background.  I attempted to explain what I believed and she asked questions when she didn't understand.  Overall, I think this was a valuable exercise because I was forced to articulate my opinions on different matters and to explain difficult concepts. 

We also reviewed terms such as anyone, someone, anywhere, sometime, etc at the beginning of the week.  This practice widened the subjects I was able to talk about, and also helped me as we discussed religion. 

This week I have started trying to narrate stories in the past when I write.  I would like to be able to do this confidently by the end of the semester. 

Sorry for the delay on the blog posts.  I actually just got the syllabus so I will now begin my journal entries.

I think the thing that I like most about learning different languages is being able to connect them to each other.  Obviously not all languages connect--Japanese and German.  It's very easy to find similar words in languages that border each other (again,not always, but sometimes).  When I learned German and went to Alsace-Lorraine, there was a German-French dialect spoken there and I was actually able to understand most of it.  This got me interested in French so I started learning a little.  In Turkey, I had quite a few friends from the Middle East so naturally I started trying to pick up on some Arabic since some of the words overlap with Turkish.  Every time I come across somebody who speaks a language other than the ones I know I always try and take something away from them.  If I'm in another country I will try and learn enough to get around.  In my experience, if someone sees you at least trying, they will be more likely to help you than if you just start blabbering off in English.  I think I'm probably a mix of a Rational/Evaluative learner.  The best way for me to expand my learning activities is to travel. 

This past week I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to.  I barely reviewd any vocabulary or practiced any reading.  I was still able to listen to podcasts in Farsi though which was helpful.  I'm starting to be able to distinguish between words in sentences and pick up on changes in topic during the podcasts.

Maroof and I worked on telling time and recognizing numbers 1-20 in our sessions this week.  I learned from him that eventhough numbers in Farsi are written differently, they still use roman numbers on digital watches.  They also operate on a 12 hour clock like we do. 

The reading for this week was hard to get through.  For some reason it didn't really interest me overall.  There were a few sections that I did find informative though.  First, I thought it was interesting that reading does not necessarily translate to good spelling.  This was interesting because I had always heard that the more you read the better at spelling you are. Second, I learned that 84% of words in the English language are formed according to a regular pattern but th 400 irregularly spelled words are also the most commonly used in the english language.  The reason for this is that some words are spelled according to their origin, meaning that they have letters in them that do not really fit with how they look like they should be spelled.  The reading also reminded me of an activity we did in my world history class in middle school. When learning about the Greeks, we wrote stories from the bottom of the page up to the top zig zagging accross the paper in boustrophedon form.

By this point I have finished my learning plan and finalized my assessment schedule. I’m a little behind on the artifacts but I already know what I want to do for them. My first artifact will be to record a short paragraph on the ning introducing myself making use of the introduction vocabulary and the greetings. I will briefly introduce my family, where I’m from and my academical interests. For the second artifact to practice my writing I will upload an image of my writing on the paragraph introducing myself. For my third artifact I will post a short clip online and translate and comment on it in English.  For the fourth artifact I will port a short paragraph in Farsi and then make comments of my understanding in English.

This week I will keep working with Wadia on my learning of new words and practicing old ones. I daily have been listening to the recordings of the vocabulary words and conversations to get better at the pronunciation and listening of the language.

This reading started out by talking about different writing systems.  Because I decided that I wanted to learn to speak, read, and write Farsi, I already have some knowledge of its writing system.  I learned new terms in this reading that I can now apply to my knowledge of Farsi.  Farsi's writing system is alphabetic, meaning that "there is a direct correspondence between graphemes and phonemes," (113).  Additionally, the Persian alphabet is consonantal, so only certain phonemes are represented graphically and the vowels are usually implied.  For beginners, vowels can be represented by using diacritics, which look like accent marks either above or below the consonant symbols.  At first, it was very difficult for me to learn to read certain words in Farsi because I wasn't used to this change.  However, I've gotten used to learning words' spellings as I learn their meanings.  This has made learning new words a slower process, but I've noticed that my writing has improved drastically since I've begun this process. 

This reading also contains a table on page 115 that shows examples of various alphabetic systems.  In looking at the Arabic column, I can see how similar the alphabet is to the Persian Alphabet, which contains many more letters.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I was at first very confused by the Persian alphabet because of multiple variations of the same letters, but seeing the Arabic alphabet makes it more clear that these letters have different pronunciations and uses in Arabic, and are thus used in Persian because of borrowed words where the spelling remains the same, but now pronunciation differs. 

Another change that has been difficult to adapt to is the use of capital letters.  Unlike in English, capital letters in the Persian alphabet signify spelling, the letters place in the word, and how different letters connect.  This means that capital letters do not correspond to any grammar rules.  Additionally, it's been difficult to get used to reading and writing from right to left instead of left to write.  I often find myself first looking to the left, getting confused, and then remembering that I'm supposed to start from the right.  I'm hoping that this will improve with more practice and eventually looking to the right first will become something of habit. 

This past week I met with Dr. Scinicariello to discuss my learning plan and the use of artifacts.  We agreed that I should record a conversation with another Farsi student, but I haven't met with the entire group since that meeting so I haven't yet been able to schedule a time when another student will be available to record a conversation with me, hopefully that will be something that I can figure out in class tomorrow.  For presentational speaking, I would like to be able to describe people including: physical appearance, education and profession.  For an artifact for this, I was thinking of scanning in various pictures of family members or celebrities and then record myself giving descriptions.  I also wanted to learn vocabulary that pertains to homes, such as different styles of lodging, the names of different rooms in the home, and some describing words.  For this artifact, I could possibly use a voki where I describe my own home, or even my dream house.  Finally, I'd like to scan in some of my writing samples as I really am trying hard to get comfortable with my Persian handwriting. 

I wasn't able to use Rosetta Stone as much as I originally wanted to this week, so that was a little disappointing for me.  Since this week is relatively slow in my other classes, I should have a lot more free time where I can get to the studio and use Rosetta Stone.  During our meeting, Dr. Scinicariello told me about "Before You Know It", a free flashcard program online.  As soon as she mentioned this program, I knew that it fit my learning style.  I've found that it's extremely easy to use, and I've loved browsing through the lists and deciding which vocabulary I want to learn.  Already this week, I was able to learn colors and numbers through the program, so I'm definitely going to continue to use it. 

During my language-partner meetings we worked on telling time.  Since I came into it knowing the numbers, I figured that it'd be really easy to pick up, however I soon realized that I was easily getting confused because of all the different ways to tell time just as there are in English.  The time 9:15 can be expressed as "Nine, fifteen" "fifteen past nine" "Quarter after nine".  In Farsi, it seems that there are even more possibilities, and once I became comfortable with one way to express the time, I'd move onto the next, forgetting the previous way.  I've tried to spend time categorizing the different ways and trying to learn them, but I seem to be making up new words, so I think that for me it might be best to decide on one way and stick to it, instead of trying to learn them all at once. 

Learning about how we read and write is extremely interesting.  We learn to write at such a young age that once we sit down to think about how we write and why we know how to form letters and words, its almost too late.  In 6th grade I broke my wrist, and to make matters wrong i broke my right wrist, my dominant hand.  I was placed in a cast, and was unable to use my right hand to the best of my ability.  I had to write certain assignments with my left hand, and i can remember thinking "why is this so hard." While we all have different hand writing, styles and lettering, we all have one thing in common, the need to communicate with written words.  Page 136 states that "letter sizes, word spaces, space between lines, margins, and other matters of layout also need to be consistent, if a writing style is to be acceptable" needless to say my attempts at writing with my left hand were not acceptable. 

This section of the book did not just remind me of my childhood struggles with writing with my left hand, it also made me think about the Kings Speech, an amazing movie.  The King was forced to change which hand he wrote with through torturous measures, so i can now better understand how we learn to write, learn to read, and how that impacts someone if forced to change.  While i did not have a stutter like the king, I can not even imagine being forced to live my whole life writing with my "non dominant hand."  It had to feel unnatural, and over time while he did learn to write, his speech was never the same.  His thoughts and brain usage must have been thrown off in many ways, and these problems carried into later life.  While my hand switch only lasted a few months, it was great to learn about how we begin writing and reading, the basics of any culture or language. 

This post is late- however I did email the professor.

The culture behind each language differs.  Just take English- our culture in the US is not that of in England, or Australia, or any other country that speaks English.  While there are many similarities, its the differences that make each culture and country unique.  The way we pronounce certain words, highlight certain syllables and use our hands, and gestures while speaking, all differ; as a result, learning a new language is hard.  Language is not just words, it is so much more, each culture, each household and even each region has unique language, mannerisms and much more. 

Just walking around our campus, you can see the "Richmond culture."  Each student brings a unique element to the culture, and as a result, our campus has its own customs and traditions.  I have had friends visit our school and say how different the school is from theirs, how we speak, dress and even how we socialize is different.  Now this does not make our school weird, rather it just further proves the point that culture and language go hand in hand.  That learning a new language is difficult not because learning vocabulary and verb conjugations are hard, but also because of the culture associated with teh language. 

This just in there are celebrities that can speak Hebrew. I remember a few weeks ago in class I joked around that I would never want to watch a movie done in Hebrew because the acting is c Level at best and could never compare to the great acting of Hollywood movies. Now although it is true that the United States does have the best actors in the World, it is not true that a Hebrew film would be that bad to watch because some of the best actors in Hollywood come from a Jewish/Hebrew background.  Barbara Streisand, Harrison Ford, Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Natalie Portman, and Bar Refaeli all come from a Jewish background where Hebrew is spoken. Natalie Portman and Bar Refaeli still continue to do some interviews in Hebrew to not lose contact with the world they came from.  Both women are extremely attractive and great to watch on the big screen. I became aware of this when I was watching “No Strings Attached” with my girlfriend last week and she mentioned that Natalie Portman spoke fluent Hebrew. After gaining this insight I looked in to other big name actors that were similar to Portman and I was shocked to see such a great list of A list actors in Hollywood. Now I stand corrected from the statement I made two weeks ago in class, I would certainly watch a Hebrew film staring Natalie Portman and Bar Refaeli any day.  The Hebrew world just needs to make it so I can watch it. 

This past week I had a review session with Maya. The entire goal out of the review was to make sure that I knew how to properly pronounce every word that I would later be using in the Voki's I completed. My first voice recording was a minute long introductory conversation between a man and a woman. I had the fantastic time of playing both sexes although my voice could not hit the higher octave of my female character Lisa. In the conversation Dan met Lisa and they began a casual conversation in which Dan finds out it is Lisa's birthday. Dan is an American in Isreal and is new to Hebrew so the conversation is relatively elementary. In the second Voki recording I recorded myself doing the Hebrew alphabet, since I know that is one of the set in stone goals of an introductory Hebrew learner. In my third Voki, I did a combination of counting, months, and days of the week. I counted to 20, and then listed the 12 months, and 7 days of the week. The difference between Hebrew and English is that the week starts on a Monday in Israel, where as it starts on a Sunday in America. So I would consider this week as very successful since I was able to get three voki's complete. Now I just have to be able to figure out how to get those voki's posted on to my wiki page.

From the How Language Works book, I learned on reading and writing in a foreign language. Although I love to view the English language as the model language for every other language, I must have a broadened perspective on languages in that English came around much later than other languages and is not emulated by everyone. Language as in written language did not come about for a thousand years after versions of language were conveyed through pictures etched in stone. Then in BCE, closer to AD pictures started shifting in to letters and the written language of letters and alphabets began to be formed today. In these alphabets it is important to note that the amount of letters in an alphabet is a great predictor as to how hard it is to understand the language. For instance one of the most elementary languages is from the Solomon Islands where it is only eleven letters long. On the other hand a more difficult language is Khmer and it has 74 letters in its alphabet. The English language has 26 letters in its alphabet.

Another cool thing about writing is that nobody has the same writing style. It can be eerily similar, but never exact. Every person has a different slant, spacing, size, etc in their writing.

When reading it is important to note the direction in which one is to read. English is left to right, top to bottom. Hebrew it is right to left top to bottom and some other languages are bottom to top. A beginner in a language should be mindful of where to start their reading.

At a young age in America a child learns how to read and write. When beginning I would argue that reading is with the ear, because you have to first start by sounding out the words, before you can start smoothly reading the words. The text debates whether reading is with the eye or ear and I would argue that it starts off with the ear and then as we become well versed in that language moves in to the eye. As a child it is also imperative to have guidance and encouragement from someone to keep pursuing the mastery of the cognitive, motor, and linguistic skills.

The final part I really pulled from the text is how quickly one can lose their written or reading ability. There are several diseases out there that can rob someone of this knowledge. At an old age it could be an accident or a stroke that blocks that part of the brain from working. At a young age a common learning disability is dyslexia. My girlfriend actually suffered from dyslexia, but she has been able to overcome that to be a person much smarter than myself. In fact she can read and write faster than I can and she has to see the letters and shape them in to real words, where as I already see the words in the correct letter shape and it still takes me longer. Overall, I learned that reading and writing is a gift that we should be grateful to have and something we should continue to work on to become experts in several languages. 

Graphology, or the study of the written language is interesting since just like verbal languages, the written word varies as well.  For example, English is written from left to right while Arabic is right to left, Japanese top to bottom and some Ancient Greek bottom to top.  Not only does the physical direction of the lines change but always the way in which words and letters are written.  This study is known as chirography, and breaks down the many ways in which meaning can be represented.  From calligraphy to manuscripts meaning can be differentiated simply by the way it is written or drawn.  Consider the English alphabet, we have a dual alphabet in which we use both capital and lower case letters.  The way a letter is written can signify the beginning of a sentence or the placement of a proper noun. 

It has been suggested that writing developed independently of each other for various reasons.  The three basic types are pictographic writing, Logographic, Ideographic and cuneiform.  Writing of these types are still used in today’s society and can include such symbols used for monetary purposes or mathematical expressions.

What I found the most interesting was the section on abbreviations since we have taken abbreviations to a whole new level with the English language.  There are a myriad of words that now use acronyms instead of the actual speech.  “Internet language” seems to be taking over!! LOL, JK, TTYL, what is the world coming to?  If the rate at which acronyms increase there wont even be an English language left!  Needless to say, I am not one for the excessive usage of the “Internet Language”.

The ear to eye approach can be helpful when first learning a language that is new to you.  When I first started learning Turkish I needed to listen to the letters before I could effectively reproduce them myself.  Therefore, simply seeing them did not do me any justice since I could fully comprehend them.  Now, after a fair amount of practice I can understand the world fairly quickly from simply reading it.  This being said, it is still very hard to spell the word from listening to it.

However, what is harder always turns out to be better for you.  As it is discussed in our reading, there is no substitute for writing to remember something.  Therefore, it seems important to be able to write the word that you are attempting to learn.  Recently, I have been writing down words when on Rosetta stone to help myself remember them more and it most definitely has.  Hearing the word and then writing it down has turned out to be extremely helpful.               

As for artifacts, my goal was to write 5 sentences for every time I met with my language partner.  I think this practice helps a ton, but the last few weeks I have only written 5 sentences every week.  Anyway I plan on scanning those in and using them for artifacts.  I also think a recording or video of me counting to 50 would be a good artifact.  Bengali counting is not regular, so it is extremely hard to remember.  My language partner is actually working on Bengali numbers with me because they are so hard!

As I use Rosetta Stone I find myself uncovering topics that I would not have normally thought of covering in my learning plan.  Recently, upon meeting with Umur I have discussed the various tenses that are used when addressing different types of people.  This has become very helpful since verbs would have varying ending in Rosetta Stone and I would not know what they was referring too!  

Furthermore, I continue to learn the bad words since that is helpful and fun but I have started to listen to and watch some Turkish music and television.  So far some of the music I have listen to was by Bengu "Gezegen" and Tarkan "Dudu".  In both songs I was able to understand 5 words total.  Fairly difficult since they speak so quickly!    

Scan of paragraph in Hindi:  Hindi%20Transcript.jpg

Recording of recitation:  hindi_2.wma

English Translation:

I went to India for four months.  I like the Indian country and the people I met there very much.  I lived with an Indian family for three months in Jaipur.  They have a daughter and a son.  Their daughter lives in London.  Their daughter has a daughter.  Their son is studies in business school in the Philippines.  When I was there, they were arranging their son's marriage to a girl from Delhi.  She came to Jaipur to meet us and we went sari shopping.  The shopkeeper showed us saris in many colors and the girl bought two saris. 

The Formation of Israel

In 1948 Israel (known formally as Medinat Yisrael "The State of Israel") became a state. The name "Israel" originated in biblical times; in the Torah, God promises the "Land of Israel" to the Jewish people. After being ruled by many different groups, Modern day Israel was conquered by the Ottoman Empire which maintained its rule until its fall in the 20th century. The First Aliyah (immigration of Jews from the diaspora to Israel) came to escape the pograms in Eastern Europe in the late 1800's, although there was immigration of Jews before this, notably after the Spanish inquisition. The Second Aliyah (1904-1914) came from the pograms in the Russian empire (it was in this movement that kibbutzim were established). During WWI the British issued the Balfour Declaration (1917) which stated:

"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-birth-of-modern-israel-a-scrap-of-paper-that-changed-history-492084.html

In 1922 the UK was granted a mandate over Palestine. The Third and Fourth Aliyahs (1919-1923 and 1924-1929 respectively) brought 100,000 Jews to Palestine. The Fifth Aliyah, caused by Nazism and the Holocaust which brought 250,000 more Jews to Palestine. The Arab revolt of 1936-1939 followed which caused the British to instate the White Paper of 1939 which capped immigration. Aliya Bet (an underground organization to bring Jews fleeing the Holocaust to Palestine) was formed as a response to this law and many countries' refusal to accept Jewish refugees. In 1947, unable to solve the Arab-Jewish conflict, the British ended their Mandate of Palestine. The UN put forth a plan called "Partition Plan for Palestine, in which Palestine would divide into two countries (one Arab and one Jewish). This plan was not accepted. Civil war broke out after Palestinian Arabs began attacking Palestinian Jews in protest of the occupation. However, their economy collapsed and many fled or were forced out. May 14th,1948 the Jewish Agency declared Israeli independence. 

I found the excerpts from Figuring Foreigners Out to be quite interesting, and particularly liked the way the author presented the contrasts between the different types of cultures.  In many of the categories, the US and India seem to be at opposite poles.  This is very true about Polychronic versus Monochronic time, for example.  The US is definitely a monochronic culture; time is very valuable and there is never enough of it.  As a student in the US, I often feel the truth in the author's statement that, "Time in the given and people are the variable; the needs of people are adjusted to suit the demands of time (schedules, deadlines, etc.)"  In India, however, time is much more flexible, reflective of the polychronic nature of the culture.  In Hindi, the word for "tomorrow," कल, is the same as the word for "yesterday."  I once waited for six hours by myself to buy a last minute train ticket while in India.  This included the one person working taking an hour long lunch break much to my (monochronic) disbelief.  When my number was finally called, the man working didn't seem to understand why I jumped out of my chair and hurdled myself towards the counter.  What I had thought would take about half an hour had turned into a half day endeavor. 

Many items in the non-verbal chart were also pertinent in India.  There, boys who are good friends are the people most commonly seen holding hands.  Also, the use of the left hand is considered taboo; students who were left handed were told they needed to learn how to eat with their right hand when with their host families.  Another form of verbal communication the chart mentions is pointing one's feet at another person.  India is a country where this is considered extremely disrespectful and a sign of boredom when in a lecture.  Whistling, too, is considered rude.  These forms of non-verbal communication were not difficult to adjust to, but an awareness of them was extremely important to ensure interactions were culturally appropriate and polite.

Understand the non-verbal communication of a culture is very important upon learning about their language. Expressions and the way things are said in one culture or language may mean different things others. Some culture might have the same meaning for example on the way they say hello but even though it might be expressed language wise the same way the way they express is different. For example Latin American countries when greeting someone give a kiss on the cheek but Europeans do the same when greetings, they give a kiss on the cheek but Spanish and Italians do one kiss in each cheek, some culture might even do three kisses while most Americans don’t give a single kiss on the cheek. So if a person that is learning Spanish goes to lets say Panama, he should know that when meeting new people the greeting involves a kiss on the cheek. If the person is introduce into a small group of people from the country and he doesn’t give a kiss on the cheek when greeting and gives a handshake this is seen as a sign of disrespect. So even though this might be normal to an American the group of people form the other culture misinterpreted his greeting.

Again with the notion of time in American culture there is a great importance in the notion of time considering it Monochronic while Hispanic culture is very slow motion, time is not important and to be late is part of the culture. While time is of the essence when making money its not rude to be a couple minutes late in Latin America. The same is with how direct people are. Us, Hispanics, don’t go around but go straight to the point everything s clear and direct while this may be a rude quality in other cultures where certain subjects like love are treated with an indirect communication and not so direct.

"Figuring Foreigners Out"

The exercises contained in this workbook are very similar to those I was asked to complete as a study abroad student through the Center for International Educational Exchange (CIEE) so I have already spent considerable time thinking about the differences between Thai culture and American culture. The "invisible" values and beliefs that are found in many Thai's collectivist hierarchical view of society are very different than the typically individualistic non-static American society. If you picture Thai society as a board with thousands of nails in it, in general, a Thai person does not want to stick out any more or any less than any of the other nails around it. He or she would prefer to be nailed back into their place. As a result, there are many "visible" behavioral cultural practices that play out. For example, Thai people are often very indirect and non-confrontational. Even if I were doing something that greatly offended a Thai person and challenged their cultural norms and societal structure (i.e. standing straight up in a room full of people sitting on the floor cross-legged) they would still often be very reluctant to speak out and tell me to stop. The Thai hierarchy, particularly with regard to age, is especially pertinent to what we are learning in MLC 105 and MLC 110 because there are entirely different words that one must use with increased formality when speaking with an elder or a superior. This is sometimes the case in the United States, but probably not as rigid, strict, and potentially offensive as in Thailand. Therefore, these types of exercises are extremely useful while learning a language and before you have to learn the hard way as many of us "pharangs" had to experience on numerous occasions.

Another point to think about is clash of cultures that is occurring in some drastically westernizing cities such as Bangkok. Since, much of the inflow of money comes into Bangkok from foreigners (i.e. tourists and international businessmen) the western culture seems to predominate much of the city. I was caused on numerous occasions to question my role as a foreigner under these circumstances. A large part of me wanted to fight against this cultural dominance and lean more towards cultural preservation of the once pure Thai culture. Activities in "Figuring Foreigners Out" could be especially useful in opening more foreigners eyes to the reality of the clash of cultures and could potentially make a process containing more mutual respect.