One of the biggest positives in this class was that none or close to none of the topics presented were boring to me. I enjoyed most of them, some more than others, but I think this class helped solidify some of my understandings about linguistics in East Asian languages. I already had some idea about them because I have a South East Asian background, so this class was pretty helpful. There were even a few things I learned about linguistics that I found neat, such as the connections between the three languages presented in the class (Korean, Japanese, and Chinese). I learned about their history and even the differences in structure and speaking habits, which was also cool. But the coolest thing was learning about how language affects the way one thinks, because it ties in with a lot of cultural and social stuff that I don’t often think about.

I’m not particularly a big fan of readings, and that applied for the readings in this class as well. I’m more of a hands-on learner, but despite that I actually enjoyed going to lecture because the topics were still interesting and the guest lecturers were great. Learning in this course was mostly through going to class and doing the readings, so it wasn’t too stressful. Because of this, the class wasn’t super challenging in the sense that I didn’t have to memorize a ton of material like a math or science course. I enjoyed that aspect of the class quite a bit.

Lastly, I’d say that the class didn’t really change my understanding of linguistics too much. Nothing drastic, at least. It was a fun class, and I liked most (if not all) of the topics in the class, and some even were surprising. It was cool to see the history behind each language, and then connect the languages and see how they interacted (or didn’t). Alongside the history part, we also covered modern and contemporary topics such as the use of “Oppa”. Covering such a large timeline kind of completed the whole picture, which doesn’t happen often in most classes, as they tend to focus on only one tense of time, like the past. Overall, I enjoyed the class, and it helped me to understand and clear up some notions/ideas I had about East Asian Languages, and I also learned a few things along the way.

Thanks!