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One of the main things that got me interested in learning about Korean culture and language is Kpop without a doubt. With large production music videos and engaging television shows to back them up, the Korean music/entertainment industry is one of the most fascinating cultural phenomena in the world. One intriguing aspect of this is that the music seems to transcend language barriers. Even people like me who can not understand Korean and Hangul are still drawn to the flashy musical experience. Music as a medium of expression seems to be universal in this case; there is no need for any special vocabulary or linguistic knowledge to engage in Korean music initially. However, if one wants to get more than just musical beats from these pieces, one must be able to understand Korean at a masterful degree since the fast paced action and singing accelerate the necessary degree of understanding. Thus, one of the main things that comes with learning Korean is the ability to understand Korean quickly. Though this is difficult to quantify since speed is facilitated by practice. I have not explicitly put down any practice related to Korean music in my learning plan yet since I am still at the elementary level of Hangul. One place that may be worth considering for these musical pieces is the authentic cultural artifacts for SDLC 110. After all, music is a representation of some part of a culture. In the case of Kpop, music is an expression of how this industry was created as a commercial revenue source and may also signify a differentiation between the areas of the Korean peninsula. That is just speculation however. 

Another area of Korean culture that intrigued me greatly was the television shows. Korean variety shows and drama shows illustrate core features of the Korean culture and definitely tie in language. One example of this is that many slang terms in the Korean language will be derived from jokes in Korean variety shows. These slang terms are a part of linguistic studies that focus on less formal and structural vocabulary and are more functional and are often inside jokes for Korean people who understand their language well and also share interest in a popular show. A similar occurrence can happen in Korean dramas. Understanding special vocabulary and linguistic knowledge is often very useful in this area of the culture since many slang terms utilize aspects of the language that fly over the head of a novice learner. Although not immediately necessary, understanding niche details is quite fun and in some cases has been added to my learning plan.

Both the music and television industries are interconnected in Korean, which is not always the case in other cultures. Many times, the artists will join Korean variety shows as guests or act in Korean dramas. This multifaceted web of Korean culture is often what traps unsuspecting viewers like me into deeply enjoying the journey through Korean culture and is what motivated me to study the language itself to have a better understanding of the language that much of the entertainment builds on.

When I travel to different parts of the world, and even to different parts of the United States, I know that I could encounter someone who speaks a language other than English. However, if I were to travel to either England or Australia, where the main language is in fact English, I would expect to be able to understand the local people. I would still be able to read the restaurant menus and I could still ask someone for directions. However, if I were deaf, this would not be the case. In England, British Sign Language is typically practiced and in America, American Sign Langue is typically practiced. The difference between the two languages is not subtle, but rather completely different. Sure, some signs may overlap between the two languages, just as the word for baguette between French and English. In fact, most countries have different signing system. Some countries even have multiple systems, but some countries have the same systems but call them different names. One example of such a sign system exists in India and Pakistan.

       From my research, I also found that like spoken languages, sign languages have different language families. The sign language that has originated from old British sign language is called the Banzsl family tree. Interestingly enough,  American sign language is actually part of the French sign language family tree along with French sign language and Dutch sign langue. According to Wikipedia, there are over three hundred sing languages used around the world, and possibly even more. These languages typically develop through creolization, the process by which different cultural elements are combined and blend together to form a new culture/language and some just develop from nothing. Some forms of sign language development in education institutes and some develop in village communities where the deaf population is large. Those sign languages that develop within a community may possibly be only understood by the members of those communities as the language was formed in that one location. Sign language is constructed between individuals or a population and may not necessarily be standardized across a large area like a country. People develop their own signs in response to new things.

This is present in American sign language, especially for terminology in specific fields. I remember I was describing the difference between a prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell to Reba and after spelling out the two science words - prokaryotic and eukaryotic – we created a new sign for each term. However, the term was only known between us and is not known by anyone else. It appears that sign languages are flexible and adapt to the development of new words much more freely than any other language I have studied.

       I understand that sign language is different from spoken language and that each sign language has a different grammar. However, I do wonder why each country does not have a more established and concrete sign language. Is it due to the fact that the number of deaf people in the country is not large enough? Does no one want to take the task and create a standardized curriculum? Is it simply better to let the language form on its own and not intervene?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2164167/why-there-no-universal-sign-language-and-how

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/13107/7-things-you-should-know-about-sign-language#:~:text=Different%20countries%20have%20different%20sign%20languages.&text=This%20question%20would%20make%20sense,people%20interacting%20with%20each%20other.

Welcome back! I hope my readers had a wonderful weekend and are staying safe during this time. These past two weeks of ASL have been fun and productive, as usual, J. Reba and I have been able to have a full conversation with little to no use of fingerspelling. We have talked about family dynamics, vocations,  past history, homes and etc. This past Tuesday, we spent a fair amount of time learning about time and how to sign months, minutes, hours, years in both a future and past regard as well as being able to indicate numerical value. I believe the hardest part about time right now for me is remembering the difference in signs between the time measurements. Each sign is so similar in shape that I have to considerably think about which sign for which unit of time. I know that with practice, I will become more familiar with the units, but it is frustrating to not have a strong grasp on something so important. I also find it interesting how different languages end up expressing time, especially the months. In English, months are given names- January, February,  March, etc. In mandarin,  months are described in terms of the numerical value plus the word for moon (月). For example, the word for January would be one month. December would be for twelve months. I soon discovered during this lesson that months, at least in ASL, are expressed through the fingerspelling of the English month, but the word is abridged. For example, January is Jan and December is Dec.

       On another note,  I was walking outside this past weekend when I bumped into four individuals who were all signing! After I was able to calm myself, I tried to translate what the group members were signing, but they were extremely fast. I was able to understand a few words such as turnover and people, but I could not understand the majority of the story. Although it was a bit disheartening as I have been studying ASL for some time now and still could not translate as much as I would have hoped, I am once again inspired to learn ASL and I am willing to work hard for it. I rarely encounter any deaf people and when I do, I wish I could at least say “hi” and show them in their language that I am an ally. I have been considering what I would like to do after graduation and then I will most likely take a gap year of some sort before P.A. school. However, besides work, I was thinking about what else I could do in my spare time and I have been looking into some ASL interpreter programs! I do not want to have worked on ASL for two semesters (three semesters after graduation) and suddenly drop the language. I would like to continue it!

       Also… great news! An ASL original series is coming to Netflix! The series is called Deaf U and will be released in  November. From what I have gathered, the series follows several Gallaudet University Students as they go through college. The show is a reality TV show which I have never gotten into, but because of the show’s nature, I am beyond excited for the premier.

I met with Jenna again two times the past two weeks. We continued to practice reading and writing in Korean. Before the two meetings, I hoped to master writing simple Korean words with ease. Jenna brought in a sheet with simple vocabulary words and phrases. We reviewed some words, and I took some time to memorize the words and the definitions/spelling. These words were fairly simple words that were easy to spell, such as name, me, boy, girl, mom, dad, brother, etc. There were also some simple phrases like nice to meet you and thank you very much. I had some trouble with some of the spelling, but Jenna helped me understand my mistakes and I learned from it. Jenna took some time to quiz me on the spelling and definitions after studying for it for ~15 minutes. We also continued to read Korean articles about the NBA Lakers. I continued to read about Lebron and Anthony Davis and how the Laker's hopes are at an all-time high with the upcoming NBA season. For homework, she assigned me a quiz on the new vocab words she told me about. During the meeting, she also helped me with my self-introduction. I practiced talking about myself and my hobbies and future aspirations. Jenna told me some pointers on what to exactly talk about during my self-introduction and how much information I should be saying. She told me a simple structure for my self-introduction: Name, school/year/major, hobbies, future goals, and dreams. Throughout the week, I practiced my self-introduction (what kind of things to talk about) and also practiced reading some articles about sports and weather from naver.com. I continued listening to the radio garden in Korea, tuning into different stations across Korea. It was hard to find a specific broadcast I would enjoy, but I eventually found a station that talked about current news and events. I understand some of the words and topics, but not all of them. I definitely think that I have gotten better at listening and understanding harder phrases. In the second session I met up with Jenna, she quizzed me on the new vocab I learned from last week, and I got every word and phrase correct which was a great improvement. Furthermore, Jenna gave me a new sheet of vocab. She gave me new basic vocab words such as name, family, school, friend, hobby, age, health, etc. She also gave me some basic conversational phrases that would be helpful in my self-introduction (Hello, no problem, thank you, sorry, nice to see you, you are correct, thank you for the food, etc.) I already knew most of these phrases but did not know how to spell them correctly, so it was helpful to finally learn how to spell them correctly. All of the vocab she gave me in the past two weeks are words that I would use in my self-introduction. She gave me an outline of what to say. I would first start with a hello, nice to meet you, and introduce myself. Then she gave me some topics I could cover in my self-introduction: age, school, major, hobby. I had dived into each topic with Jenna and she corrected any sentences that I said. For example, I said, "My major in school is science" instead of chemistry. Jenna taught me what chemistry was in Korean and I added it to my vocab list to study for.

During these two weeks, I definitely have been using Korean more than last year. Due to the more frequent usage, I feel like talking in Korean requires less effort. Also, I tend to stutter less while speaking in Korean. 

I have been reading Korean Webtoons to better my reading comprehension and learn more about Korean culture. One webtoon is called the Tower of God and the other is called the God of highschool. I noticed that because webtoons are designed to have limited words, the words are very informal and concise. This makes it a lot easier to read and understand compared to a Korean novel. Reading the webtoons has weirdly led me to think more in Korean. When I say think in Korean, I’m talking about the voice in your head that talks when you think. It had been a while since I thought in Korean so that was very cool. I also have started studying a Korean song called Me Before You. On a google doc, I translated the lyrics into English and tried to understand each word. Now every time I listen to Me Before You, I will be utilizing active recall, and will help me memorize the phrases and words in the song. 

I practiced my Korean conversational skills with my brother. We talked in Korean over FaceTime for several minutes. He was pretty surprised that I could speak Korean more comfortably since before coming to college, my Korean was getting worse every day. He jokingly told me that he will also have to improve his Korean lest my Korean will be better than his. I also practiced my Korean conversational skills with my mother. I could not talk to her as much as I have wanted to because she is recovering from surgery. But during the time that we were able to talk, she told me that she noticed how I seemed more comfortable when I was talking to her in Korean. Yet, I still have a lot to work on. I get stuck sometimes when I speak because of my lack of vocabulary. 

I met with my language partners So Myung and Tommy. One week we just focused on our conversation skills and just talked about how our week was going, career goals, and family situations, etc. in Korean. During the second week, we read and analyzed two Korean articles. One article was about the weather forecast, and the other article was about how supermarkets’ sales of masks and over the counter medicine surged as COVID-19 initially hit South Korea. Tommy and I took turns reading each line out loud in Korean and translating them in English. The articles were definitely challenging to read because they use a lot of words that I did not know.  I had to use a lot of context clues using the words I already knew to figure out the articles were saying. But I think reading the article out loud helped me be more intentional with my pronunciation and analyzing the text.

This past week we finally overcame the technical difficulties and Reba and I had 2 1-hour lessons! Since we used Zoom for our classes, I was able to record the sessions so that I could go back to reference if I forgot a sign. Since I only had a handful of sessions with Reba, we are mostly working on vocabulary and learning new ways to ask questions.

One of the most interesting things I learned were the sign for our family members. As we are trying to get to know one another, Reba asks me questions and I try to reply back by fingerspelling. She would then teach me the sign for that particular word. She always tries to make a connection to the sign so that I can remember it more easily. For an example, when talking about family members, the signs for males are above the nose near the head while the signs for females are under the nose near the chin. An easy way to remember is that a while back, men would wear hats while women wore bonnets and tied it under there chin. I really enjoyed learning about family members because I knew it’d be useful and also because all the signs made sense.

This also meant that I had to make sure to sign in the right place. The signs for “right”, “sister” and “brother” are the same and the signs for “fine”, “mom”, and “dad” are also the same but are referred to different parts of the body. It was interesting to see words that had different meanings could have such similar signs. After a couple of lessons, I taught my family some of the new words I learned during our FaceTime calls and they also enjoyed it.

Reba and I also spent a good chunk of our time working on numbers, time of the day, and days of the week. We did an activity together where she would sign a number then I would have to sign the next number. Afterwards she would ask me questions that involved numbers just so I could practice more. I will still occasionally mess up the sign for three. The proper way is to hold up your thumb, first finger, and middle finger, but I keep holding up my first, middle, and ring finger. Although most people use them alternatively, in ASL, it must be signed correctly, or it can be confused with the letter “W”.

Some of the most useful signs I found during the sessions were “understand” and “slow”. Since we communicate through sign and I am still very new to the language, I have to ask Reba to slow down when she fingerspells. I still have to practice more because I need to translate each letter and then put them all together to make the word. Whenever I do understand something, I can sign that to her so that she doesn’t have to elaborate. Occasionally, there were some questions I couldn’t understand even after some repetitions. In that case, Reba will write it down on a white board to clarify. I’m excited to continue learning more vocabulary words and recognizing the questions she’s asking me.

Week 3 Reflection

            Now a handful of weeks into class, we have gotten a structure up and running for sure. Making the syllabus and planning out class content was more challenging than I anticipated. I thought it would be something I could do without following a textbook, but it was such a relief from the director side of this class experience to progress through the logical steps and vocabulary lists that someone else has already planned and thought out with much more care than I would have been able to. From the other side, the student side, I had been against using a book because I had found them dull and had always questioned how effective they were in any classroom, not even just a language learning setting, as the majority of students will not read them, or if they do, will not read them closely and effectively. Since I am now wearing both hats, I have a better understanding of why many teachers use books as a guide. I am sure it saves them many headaches and late hours.

            Our goal these weeks has been to get a final syllabus. I also had to find time to photocopy the pages we wanted as it would be much easier to send her a PDF than to have her try and somehow get the book down there, so we had to look at what chapters and what pages we wanted to focus on. As I had used this book before in Prof. Abreu’s class, I had seen a bit of it before, but, as I had mentioned, he also worked hard to incorporate a dynamic element into every class so we would look at the book every now and then but it was not as central as an element to that class as we are thinking it will be to our class. I wanted to be sure to include the vocab list from every chapter so that I could learn about 60 words a week, but other than that I included a brief overview of about ten chapters that we could go through in the following weeks at our own pace. I was sure to include sections about grammatical concepts that were more difficult or that I knew I struggle with.

            I test how well I have learned and really retained these words, concepts and am advancing in my language journey through a variety of ways. Primarily, I implement them all, or as many as I can, in our Tuesday meetings where we fill the entire time with speaking and listening skills. It was shaky at first, but I have been able to progress to a more conversational, fluid pace and I get better, or more “fluent-sounding”, each week. As a linguistics student, I know that oftentimes the terminology used to refer to the bilingual process can be questionable, such as the concept of an “incomplete” bilingual or an inherent notion that every person and learner should always aim to achieve monolingual fluency in a target language when the measure of a complete monolingual is not precisely defined and is such a high bar that it discourages many people from even trying. In this case, however, my goal is to advance as much as I can and get the tools that I would need to be as comfortable as possible talking with and leading speakers with a definite dominance over my target language.

For the third individual meeting, we were going to take the day off by simply chatting with each other about life and other things because the past month has been super busy for both me and my partner. We talked about the drama we watched during the group meeting-- about the plot, the historical background, and things that are interesting about the drama. For example, basketball was very popular in Korea during that time and basketball players were almost treated as celebrities. Also, from the first episode, I got to see that college students in Korea at that time were protesting the government, which I could never know if I didn't watch the drama. 

However, we still learned some Korean about how to encourage people.

파이팅! hwaiting

파이팅 hwaiting is borrowed from the English word “fighting”. However, this word does not necessarily mean to engage in the act of “fighting” rather it is a Konglish word that refers to fighting spirit and it is often used to wish good luck or to lift the team spirit by saying cheer up!

괜찮아 gwenchana [It’s okay]

This word is used to comfort someone who is feeling sad, depressed, or worried with a low pitch.

힘내 himne [Cheer up!]

This word is also used to cheer up someone who is feeling sad.

할 수 있어 hal su isseo [You can do it]

This phrase can be used to someone who is feeling doubtful about doing something or to simply encourage someone before they do something important – exams or sports

포기하지마 pogihajima [Don’t give up]

This phrase can be used to cheer on someone who is feeling discouraged, demotivated, and on the verge to give up on something.

정하지 마 geokjeonghaji ma [Don’t worry]

This phrase can be used when someone is worried about an issue.

자랑스러워 jarangseureoweo [I’m proud of you]

This phrase can be used to tell someone how you are proud of them or their achievements!

잘했어 jalhesseo [You nailed it]

This phrase is used when somebody did something exactly right or perfect.

haengbokaseyo [Please be happy]

We also looked at some motivational sentences just wanted to motivate ourselves and cheer ourselves up. 

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

•  멈추지 말고 계속 해나가기만 한다면 늦어도 상관없다.
• Meomchuji malgo gyesok haenagagiman handamyeon neujeodo sanggwaneopda.

There are no short cuts to any place worth going.

•  어디든 가치가 있는 곳으로 가려면 지름길은 없다.
• Eodideun gachiga inneun goseuro garyeomyeon jireumgireun eopda.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

• 치지 않은 공은 100% 골인되지 않는다.
• Chiji aneun gongeun baekpeuro gorindoeji anneunda.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

• 나무를 심는데 가장 좋았던 때는 20년 전이었다. 두 번째로 좋은 때는 지금이다.
• Namureul simneunde gajang joatdeon ttaeneun isipnyeon jeonieotda. Du beonjjaero joeun ttaeneun jigeumida.

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

• 행복은 이미 완성된 것이 아니라, 당신의 행동으로부터 오는 것이다.행복은 이미 완성된 것이 아니라, 당신의 행동으로부터 오는 것이다.
• Haengbogeun imi wanseongdoen geosi anira, dangsinui haengdongeurobuteo oneun geosida.

I hope these words and quotes can help everyone who feels depressed or down whether in learning languages or worrying about the overwhelming workload. These definitely gave me strength and motivation. 

The task that I am currently working on is learning the specifics of Korean grammar and some special rules that affect the pronunciation of words. Specifically, I am learning about 받침(batchim), which means the pedestal of a character. The 받침 delves into how the last letter of a character can drastically change how a character sounds in conjunction with another character. This is especially important because this sound can overlap or replace the sound in the following word. This sometimes gives the appearance of a fluid motion through the word rather than it being choppy. Initially, I learned that each character in Hangul consists of a consonant and a vowel, and sometimes another consonant. However, I recently learned that the pedestal, or ending consonant, can be a double consonant, which is a combination of consonants. This is common is American English with combinations such as ‘th’ or ‘ch’. In Korean some examples of double consonants are ㄳ, ㄵ, ㅄ, ㄼ, ㄺ, ㄾ. Although these double consonants seem intimidating to a novice language learner, my language partner explained that the Korean language and grammar is very logical. The first part of a double consonant is voiced in the first character, and the second in the next. However, this set of rules is followed by some exceptions in that it depends on the consonants found in the next character. There are many rules for batchim and double consonants that are affected by the letter ‘ㅎ’. 

In addition to these basic grammar rules, I am also learning about introduction to verbs and tenses through particles. These particles are not useful alone but are additives necessary for sentence construction, which is one of my main goals in learning Korean this semester. Being able to understand particles effectively is crucial to being able to voice original ideas in sentences because they can add plurality, opinion, ownership, direction, and time to a sentence.

To practice the batchim, double consonants, and particles, Somyung gave me several worksheets to work through as well as several YouTube videos that go over particles in an introductory fashion. This is quite a lot to memorize so I am not sure if I can remember everything in a week but I should be able to apply these rules over time as I learn more words that need such rules for pronunciation. 

Along with these grammar rules and particles, I learned a variety of words during my session on Monday. These words mainly came from the topic of animals. There are too many animals to go over but using animals is fantastic for a visual learner like me since I can relate the animal easily to the word, making memorization simple. Most animals also have simple work construction so that will give me a chance to practice writing some Hangul. 

I am eager to learn more Korean words but the grammar seems complicated at the moment. The list of exceptions is not as complex as English but learning Korean can still get tough when dealing with a combination of syntax and pronunciation. I can currently sound out most words albeit slowly, even if I have not seen them before, so that is encouraging!

For the Korean language, there are sounds that do not exist in American English. Take ㄹ for example. This consonant sounds like something between a ‘r’ or an ‘l’. Additionally, depending on the positioning of this letter in a character, it may tend towards either side. I don’t see any character like this in American English. According to Wikipedia, the closest approximation of this sound is the ‘l’ in ‘alike’. The phonetic transcription of this character is a l (voiced alveolar lateral approximant). When I was first learning this character, I tried to use my experience with English to pronounce it but after working with my language partner; I learned that despite it sounding very simple, using the tongue in such a manner is difficult. The ㄹcharacter was also pronounced as a stop sometimes as well depending on the word. One example of this is the word 잘 가, or goodbye. By placing the ㄹ as the pedestal of the character 잘, the sound abruptly stops by pushing the tongue against the roof of the mouth. 

The sound system of Hangul is very similar to American English in that words are pronounced exactly as they are written left to right. The majority of the time this is true and there are no issues but one aspect of Hangul that I have been delving into is the subtleties of the Korean syntax. The position of certain letters can greatly affect how the resulting sound will be. Certain combinations of letters cause certain sounds to be replaced by another and thus confusing the novice learner. Additionally, some phrases are shortened or have a certain character replaced in pronunciation for fluidity even though they are written and transcribed differently. Thus, the sound system of Korean is very much based on left to right syntax and comes naturally to many English speakers unlike Mandarin Chinese. One nice thing is that Hangul does not have any clicks or variations of clicks. If it did, the difficulty level of speaking Korean would skyrocket. 

I will acquire the ability to discriminate differentiated segments and learn how to produce these natural sounds through practice. Frequently practicing the Korean alphabet as well as common words that may utilize different grammar rules will give me the experience necessary to do these. This will take a significant amount of time however, since I am just a novice at the moment. I do not think that using the IPA phonetic translations will be necessary at this moment since I will be even more confused trying to understand two different, though related, linguistic systems. With that being said, having some approximations back to English will be helpful in moments where muscle memory fails me. I have found a useful article on Wikipedia that highlights the IPA translations of Korean and provides an analysis of IPA pronunciations. This article points out the approximations that I need for Korean to English as demonstrated with the character ㄹat the beginning of this post. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Korean

When I first started my studies in Bahasa Indonesian, I was grateful to see that Bahasa Indonesian uses the Latin alphabet and includes the same letters as in the English one that we use. As I have gotten deeper into my language studies and SDLC 105, I can more clearly determine some differences between English and Indonesian phonetics. 

I studied the pronunciation of the alphabet a few weeks ago with my language instructor. Interestingly, I found that there are a lot of similarities between the German and Indonesian pronunciation, especially for vowels (my language instructor speaks German, so she noticed the similarities as well). Like German, Indonesian is much more consistent than English in how words are pronounced. While in English, the letter “a” can sound like “hat,” “hate,” "car," "carry," in Bahasa Indonesia, "a" is always [a] as in "bersama," unless the vowel is paired with another one as a diphthong, in which case there are a few different sound possibilities. 

Indonesian intonation has some differences from English. When Indonesians ask questions, their tone tends to go down rather than up. I am paying careful attention to intonation when we listen to native speakers recorded for dialogues in our textbooks. I then try to replicate these tones in videos I record for speaking practice. 

In researching the differences in phonetics between Indonesian and English, I came across some helpful articles that point out where native Indonesian learners struggle with English. As someone who is hoping to teach English in Indonesia, knowing these potential points of difficulty will allow me to best assist my students in improving their English skills. In addition to a much more complicated grammar system (articles, past tense, plural), some of the tricky parts for Indonesians include æ, ʌ, ɜ, v, θ, and ð because these are not in their alphabet and b. d, g, z, s, ʧ, and ʤ which are pronounced differently (download). As an instructor, I can anticipate that students may say "ket" for cat ket, "enkl" for ankle, "pool" for pull, and "dat" for that. Using context clues may sometimes be important for me to understand what my students are trying to say.

Vowels in Indonesia are pretty straight forward, but there are some other sounds in my target language that will give me trouble. For example, [ñ], which can be found in words like nyanyi [ñañi]. When I see words with the letters nya, I need to slow down and think about the part of the mouth I need to engage with to pronounce correctly. The hardest part of Indonesian for me is the letter r, because it is supposed to be trilled, and I still have not mastered the art of rolling my rs. I tried to learn last year when I was studying Italian since it is also used in this language, but I was not successful. Hopefully, with continued practice and an understanding of the anatomy of my mouth, I will be able to use my tongue and air stream to create this sound. It would probably give my Indonesian skills more credibility when I am in Indonesia. 

Phonetics provides a helpful context for both learning and teaching Indonesian in relation to English. It helps to illuminate that while these two languages have the same alphabet and same symbols, there are still linguistic challenges that require language learners to alter their air stream in different ways. To acquire the ability to discriminate differentiated segment in my listening, I will ask for clarification when my language instructor pronounces words with different sounds. To produce these in my speech, I will be conscious of the helpful diagram on speech physiology, and keep trying (especially in the case of trills!). 

This semester, I am learning ASL. A "basic" ASL sentence can have a sentence structure of time-subject-predicate, but it can also have a sentence structure of subject-verb-object. Like some other languages, the sentence structure changes depending on the type of sentence. When rhetorical questions are asked or imperative and emphasis words are used, these words are signed at the end of a sentence. A noun is signed before an adjective. For example, to ask “Where do you live?” I would sign, “You live, where?”. I am still a bit confused on when it is appropriate to use S-V-O structure and it not count as Signed Exact English, I am hoping to speak with my instructor for clarification. The structure that makes the most sense to me is “topic + comment”. If I wanted to talk about a party being on Saturday, I would sign the topic “Party” and comment “Saturday”.

That being said, based on what I know now, I do not think there is one disciplinary approach that is preferenced over another in ASL. I can see how all of the branches of linguistics can play an important role in teaching and communicating in ASL. In particular, computational linguistics reminds me of the newer devices that can translate signed words into written text and vice versa. However, I have particularly been interested in learning the anthropological linguistics of American Sign Language. My knowledge that there is usage of sentence structure that is different than it would be in English has been causing me to really think about sentence structure formation as I continue to expand my vocabulary. I appreciate how Reba instantly corrects me when I sign a sentence in the incorrect format. In becoming more informed on the ASL sentence structure rules, I think it will help lessen the amount of hesitancy I have when I try to formulate sentences that I haven’t already learned the phrase from elsewhere.

Some structures that I have observed in my language study is the structure of phonetics and phonology. Frequently, I delve into the subtleties of sound and mouth positioning that greatly affects the quality of spoken Korean. Somyung has demonstrated how certain letters have a certain expression tied to them. For example, the letter ㅡ, requires the mouth to open like a smile or a locked jaw. These slight modifications demonstrate how phonetics lies at the foundation of Hangul. Similarly, Hangul also explores the use of phonology because some characters that have a similar shape, have a similar sound. The difference between certain letters may be minor, which is a hint that the sounds when spoken are not that different from each other. One clear example of this pattern and study is the characters ㄷ and ㅌ. The additional line introduces the idea that characters have a fundamental relationship with one another because the character ㅌhas the same sound as ㄷbut harsher when spoken. This minute difference can be related back to tones in Mandarin Chinese for me. I have also observed syntax as being a core component of my Korean studies. Even with a comprehensive mastery of the Korean alphabet, the practice of constructing legible words greatly relies on the use of syntax. For Hangul, one important rule is that vowels are associated with the consonant ㅇwhen the vowel is alone. This elementary rule introduces the significance of syntactical structure in Korean. Another fundamental rule would be the collection of consonants and vowels in a character and how they are structured. For Korean, each character must contain a consonant and vowel, as demonstrated by the ㅇ rule. There is also a sense of verticality in Hangul, where letters must be positioned in an appropriate manner. 

With this myriad of disciplinary perspectives in Korean, it is important to select a direction to dive into first. It is difficult to learn a language without understanding the syntax of words and sentences so I have chosen to first proceed with mastering the structure of the Korean language. As interesting as learning the meaning of words and having a vast vocabulary is, the insight needed to learn and construct original thoughts in another language is inherently tied to understanding the syntax of that language. This is very different from my experience in non-natural languages because syntax is not as important as understanding fundamental concepts that transcend a specific language. However, I believe that in natural languages, understanding syntax is the pinnacle to my learning journey. With that being said, I have not changed the direction of my learning process based on these methodologies. I do find it intriguing that computational linguistics is a branch of linguistics because certain ideas behind artificial intelligence challenge the learning process that us humans are familiar with. There is murky water behind many learning algorithms where the proof of understanding a language seems to be indecipherable.  I know that much of these learning systems is based on pattern recognition which Jean Aitchison had brought up as a fundamental function of human languages.

After three weeks of learning Indonesian, I have learned a lot, and my vocabulary notebook is overflowing with new words. My instructor asked us for feedback on the format. My classmate and I both said that we’ve appreciated the frequent class meetings but were hoping to have more time for speaking practice. As we learned in SDLC 105, this is the most important skill to practice when studying a language. Based on our feedback, my Indonesian instructor revised the syllabus and adjusted our weekly schedule. Here are some reflections on the new format:

• Grammar lessons on Monday: technical notes, new vocabulary, and themes for the week. This week, we talked about birthday celebrations, practiced numbers, learned the days of the week and months. I can say Saya ulang tahun 4 Desember 1998. 
• Independent speaking practice assignments on Tuesday: Instead of in-person grammar class, we now are working asynchronously on Tuesdays to complete 2-3 minute speaking tasks and short writing assignments. For example, this week, we recorded ourselves wishing happy birthday to a friend. I was able to write out what I was going to say and practice using the correct inflection. This assignment allowed me to be creative with the new vocabulary. For the remainder of my time, I transferred my new vocabulary to my glossary notebook and reviewed the list of verbs. 
•  Speaking class on Wednesday: my instructor gives us prompts, first for individual speaking challenges and then for my classmate and I to have a dialogue with one another. This week, we had two minutes to talk about different occupations and repeated this exercise five times. Being a visual person, I found it helpful to take the two minutes when it was not my turn to gather some key vocabulary words that were associated with the occupation I would be describing. With these keywords, I was able to speak relatively fluidly. The spontaneity of this speaking assignment and time constraints were helpful because I saw patterns in which words and sentence structures I use most often. I really like modal verbs and using the word “because." (This is a pattern I've noticed in other languages I've studied as well.) I also appreciate that my language instructor encouraged us to speak with a mix of English and Indonesian and then recorded the words we didn’t know how to say. I found this approach to be less pressure because it emphasized that the purpose of language is to communicate with one another. 
• Independent culture class on Thursday. Instead of powerpoints, we now have a reading assignment to respond to in a brief reflection. This week, I discussed why I would like to attend an Eid, Christmas, and Batik celebration in Indonesia. 
•  Language table on Friday. Fun activities to come! 

I feel that this revised format allows me to be creative and use the language rather than trying to passively absorb it. Focus on quality rather than quantity. When I use the vocabulary through various writing, speaking exercises, I find I remember it so much better. Plus, the process is fun and reminds me that I am very fortunate to be learning the language with a native Indonesian speaker. Although speaking class pushes me outside of my comfort zone, my teacher and classmate were very supportive, and I really enjoyed the sense of community and confidence that I was able to express myself in Indonesian. 

With this new format, my goal is to make learning Indonesian a personal process and recognize the importance of committing myself to the process of learning by practicing it in various communication formats.

The diagram on page 9 of Aitchison’s "Linguistics" shows that linguistics can be approached from a range of different disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, philosophy, literature, artificial intelligence, languages, and psychology. While my main fields of study--art, geography, and religion--are not included in this diagram, they will significantly inform the way I approach language learning.

Throughout my college experience, I have found that a holistic approach to learning makes the experience more fulfilling. As an art major, I have been able to take classes I am interested in that connect to one another and provide conceptual frameworks for my art projects. For example, during the spring of my sophomore year, I took a geography course, pilgrimage studies class, and Humanities Fellows Seminar on human migration and then created a series of map prints about the movement of people. This semester, I have been humbly surprised by how well my classes are supporting each other. A common theme has been thinking about the role of colonialism on Indigenous cultures, which are themes that have touched Indonesia in unique ways. Cultivating a deep relation with Indonesian culture through the process of language learning becomes a way of celebrating perspectives beyond the western worldview. 

I see many parallels between art and language learning. For me, both of these are methods of communication. Last semester, I took an art theory class where we discussed semiotics. This study of signs and signifiers relates well to semantics, the study of meaning. In my artmaking, I have been thinking about my visual vocabulary and how painting shapes the way I relate to the world, just as language shapes our worldviews. Art theory helps me to approach language learning as another creative act. 

Learning Indonesian also connects with my study of geography, the study of where. Indonesian is an ideal language for illustrating the geographic concept of scale because there are regional dialects, the national language of Bahasa Indonesia, and opportunities to learn international languages like English. Geography helps us to ask questions of how location shapes the way certain groups communicate, and tools such as GIS to learn more about the place. The physical geography of Indonesia as an archipelago influence the way language spreads. 

My language studies are also informed by my interest in religion. In particular, the way we interpret sacred texts has many insights for me as a language learner. There are many ways of interpreting scripture because there are so many variables: we have to consider when it was written and the historical context, the bias of who was writing it, the audience, and the interpreter's bias, not to mention the fact that the original language does not usually have words that directly translate. In other words, trying to preserve meaning between languages is complex! When learning Indonesia, I must be culturally aware of acknowledging my own biases that may make it difficult for me to fully engage with the language and culture, simply because my worldview is different. I will incorporate the disciplines of art, geography, and religion into my studies of the Indonesian language. Not only will these approaches help me understand the language structures, but by making the language learning part of the disciplines I am already invested in, I will see Indonesian as an integral part of who I am as a person. 

UNESCO officially inscribed Wayang kulit on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. This traditional shadow puppet art, a surface-level cultural artifact, illuminates many of the deep norms, attitudes, and values shared by many Indonesians. From Wayang kulit, I reflected on indigenous heritage, religious and spiritual tendencies, and collectivist attitudes common in Indonesian life. 

To begin with, the art of Wayang kulit reveals Indonesia’s indigenous roots. Wayang kulit most likely began in Java many centuries ago, though some scholars think the tradition may have come from a neighboring Asian country. In either case, the art has become deeply intertwined with the common Indigenous belief in animism, in which natural objects have souls. Such animist rituals still shape how Wayang kulit is used. For example, some Indonesians use these puppets to connect with their ancestors or to honor the dead at burial grounds. This engagement with Wayang kulit suggests that Indonesians have a deep connection, one that is often spiritual, with their ancestors and nature. The use of natural materials and simple light and shadow for these performances also shows a connection to nature that is tied to traditional indigenous practices. 

The spiritual dimensions of Wayang kulit speak to Indonesia’s religious identity. While Wayang kulit is not connected to one specific religious tradition, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus alike participate in these performances. For many Indonesians, sponsoring one of these puppet shows is a form of sacrificial offering for their understanding of the divine. Furthermore, the stories performed with Wayang kulit address questions of interest to religious worldviews, such as loss, pain, and suffering, using myths and simple characters as vehicles for these heavy topics. The puppets also offer political critiques. The national doctrine of Pancasila supports the religious tendency that is embodied in Wayang kulit. The first Sila, or point, states a belief in the divine, through different religious worldviews are encapsulated. Not all Indonesians are the same religion, but the norm is for them to be part of some religion and have a strong sense of spirituality.

The connection with religion in Wayang kulit also points to Indonesia’s collectivist culture. I asked my Indonesian language instructor about her connection with Wayang kulit, whether rural communities created their own puppet variations, and how to attend performances. She explained that the puppets are an art form reserved for the skilled craftsman that people can buy. Though many of the iconic performances are in big cities like Jakarta and Bali, she explained that Indonesians have collectivist and nationalist tendencies in which they feel very proud of these cultural traditions even if they are not practiced directly in her community. Indonesians celebrate these arts and traditions of their country as a whole, which connects with the Pancasila belief in national unity. 

The puppets are often intricately decorated and created by skilled crafters. Today, students can seek professional training in the art of Wayang kulit through high school and university programs. They are also performed by a skilled puppeteer. While many traditional scenes can be expected to viewers and common motifs, the stores do not always follow a clearly progressing plotline. To me, this alludes to Indonesia’s polychronic understanding of time. Stories do not have to build to a final moment and climatic conclusion. Rather, the immersive experience of watching these meandering stories is spiritually enriching in the moment. Ultimately, Wayang kulit shows how Indonesians address life's big questions through the art of shadow puppets and use this tradition to support their goals of national unity. 

Sources

“Introduction to Puppet Theater (Wayang) of Indonesia (Article).” Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/southeast-asia/maritime-se-asia/a/introduction-to-puppet-theater-wayang-of-indonesia. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020.

“The History of Indonesian Puppet Theater (Wayang) | Education | Asian Art Museum.” Education, https://education.asianart.org/resources/the-history-of-indonesian-puppet-theater-wayang/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020.

UNESCO - Wayang Puppet Theatre. https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020.

---. https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020.

Weiss, Sarah. Transcending Boundaries: Javanese Wayang Kulit without the Shadows. Oxford University Press. oxford.universitypressscholarship.com, https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737642.001.0001/acprof-9780199737642-chapter-3. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020.

Learning plan

So far I have been listening to Korean music and watching Korean shows/movies throughout the week. I can slowly start to feel that I am able to listen and understand Korean words with less effort. I have also been practicing speaking Korean with my roommate and my language partners. I have bought a Korean-US keyboard cover so I can practice typing Korean sometimes. I have also discovered free websites that allow me to type random sentences in Korean. My studies will help me achieve the goal of being able to write a Korean song and understand my culture better. I was motivated to improve my Korean because my mother only speaks Korean. Somyung, my Korean teacher has helped me correct some of my incorrect sentence phrasings and taught me new vocabulary.

The past week, Jenna and I did some more Korean writing practice. She sent me a google drive doc with some phrases and common sentence endings I can practice with. The practice was focused on present progressives and past tense terms in Korean. She provided a general formula for spelling in Korean and then presented me with some examples of these spellings in common phrases. The present progressive is parallel to the -ing endings in English verbs such as “I am swimming.” I have always gotten the spelling wrong to the endings of Korean sentences using present progressives. Similarly, the past progressives have a very similar spelling formula technique as the present progressives. This involves a lot of bachims that Jenna and I went over a couple of weeks back. After learning and reading about the different progressives in Korean, Jenna asked to write a couple of example phrases down in Korean on my iPad. I wrote down what she said and then we went over the progressive phrases that I wrote for the correct spelling and bachims. After that, Jenna told me to watch a movie or video for next week and write a quick and short summary of it in Korean. She said to use some examples of present and past progressives when writing my summary of the video

            The week after, I came back with a summary of a YouTube video I watched online about the importance of planting trees. I used a couple of past and present progressive phrases in Korean and Jenna was really impressed. I was able to apply my new knowledge on present and past progressive spelling to improve my Korean writing dramatically! The past mistakes I have made the past weeks have always involved these progressive phrases. I will continue to focus on these progressive phrases spelling to reduce the mistakes I make when spelling. The two vowels that sound the same I talked about in the last biweekly learning journal continues to trip me up a lot on my summaries. There are so many words with that vowel and I always am confused about which version to use for which word or phrase. I think that essentially comes down to practice and repetition. I will continue to read new articles in Korean and write summaries or letters to work on my writing and reading. As we progress through this semester, I am confident in my ability to improve in Korean for the duration of this semester and I think I am on pace to passing the Korean test right before the Spring semester begins. For next week, Jenna told me to start thinking about my presentation for my cultural project as well as continue watching a video and writing a summary on it in Korean. I have to get good at not rushing too fast when spelling in Korean and take my time pronouncing the words in my head before writing it. I always tend to make mistakes when I am rushing and not thinking about my spelling. 

Over the past week, I met with Reba once on Monday for an hour. We were planning on meeting on Thursday too, but there were some technical complications that made meeting that day difficult. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my first meeting with Reba so much! Eli was also there to help interpret for me. Although he said that he was still learning, it was so encouraging to see how quickly he was able to sign with Reba. The first thing I learned was signing the alphabet. We went through each letter and said it out loud. I remember seeing some ASL alphabet posters around my elementary school, so I knew the signs for some of the letters such as c,e,l,m,n,o,y, but had forgotten most of them. The most difficult letter for me was k because I was unsure on how to orient my fingers at first. Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and whenever Reba asked a question, I would reply by fingerspelling what I wanted to say. I definitely made some errors such as signing h instead of g but as we kept spelling, I was able to catch my mistakes quicker. Next she told me the sign for cat and for each variation of the sign, she told me to guess which animal she was referring to. In you don’t count my first attempts, I did pretty well! She asked me what I wanted to learn so I thought a good introduction would be greetings and telling someone about the weather, so I’ll be learning those signs in the next meeting.

As we were going over yes and no, Reba told me the importance of facial expressions in ASL. When I talk, others can use the tone of my voice to determine how I’m saying something. For those in the Deaf community, facial expressions are sort of like their “tone”. If I am telling a funny story but my face is serious, my signs and expressions contradict one another and make it more difficult for people to understand me. I have a tendency to just smile all the time, so I was saying “no” with a smile on my face, but now I know that I need my expressions to match my signs.

Since I am just beginning to learn ASL, I was trying to catch some signs as Reba and Eli were communicating. It was much faster than I was used to, but I caught the sign for “slow down” and “see” for when Reba was going too fast or when her hands were out of the camera frame. I also learned that the sign for “student” was actually a combination of the sign “to learn” and “person”. I’m also very curious about how the grammatical structure is for ASL because so far, it seems exactly like the structure for English.

In the future, I want to use Zoom instead of FaceTime so that I can record our lessons. I found it a little difficult to recall particular signs because I couldn’t necessarily draw each sign I learned. I did however pass Eli this week and we greeted each other, and he helped me remember some signs!