Author Archives: alee17

Open Topic

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What questions or issues have intrigued you? What reactions have you had about readings, class discussions, and lectures? How do you approach to learning in this course? Is the class changing your sense of “linguistics” as a field? Is the class challenging you to change how you think or how you prepare (If so, can you describe the change?)

 

I thought our lecture about different parenting styles was especially intriguing. As an Asian-American who was raised in the United States, the different parenting styles between Asians and White-Americans has been a significant part of my life. Especially because I’ve lived away from home since I was 15 years old, with three separate White-American host families. I’ve been able to observe the cultural differences when it comes to raising kids, and it’s significantly informed my view of the world and how I would like to raise my kids.

After thinking deeply about this topic, I have found that the lecture in class about traditional Asian parents versus White-American families are quite accurate within my life experience. My family did emphasize education and independence and less about self-esteem. This manifested in extra tutoring and an emphasis on my problem solving ability in figuring out my own problems without intervention. Whether this be homework, laundry, or social development, my parents wanted me to figure it out myself in hopes of becoming independent. With the White-American families that I have lived with, all of them were more involved with my social life and encouraged socializing. Whether that be allowing me to stay out late, hosting parties, or asking about my personal social life, these families emphasized meeting new people and finding new experiences.

With my past experiences, learning about the observations of these cultural differences from academics and my classmates significantly educates me on this matter in a relative sense. How these differences affect others in their development and their views on life has helped keep me openminded about the pros and cons of both lifestyles that I have been a part of.

I think that these observations has elevated my self-awareness and education beyond linguistics in this class, and goes deeper into cultural differences that have been developed over thousands of years. I think at the end of the day, these help me understand the nuances in language at a deeper level and why cultures communicate differently.

Writing

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1.)

a.)

b.) This photograph was taken at 1930 Franklin Blvd right outside the Cafe Seoul Korean Restaurant.

c.) This is an interesting sign because it’s an example of Hangul’s western influence. The Hangul means (and reads)  “Restaurant” and is borrowed from the English language. We learned about loanwords in class and how it comprises of 3% of the Korean language and has been adopted into Hangul since 1945.

 

2.) 

a.) One thing that has stood out to me so far is the fact that Hangul is an SOV language whereas English is an SVO language. Being surrounded by Hangul growing up (and not being a native speaker), I had not noticed this to be the case, but it makes so much sense.

I think the biggest challenge for me so far has been understanding grammatical jargon and associating them with different East Asian languages like “agglutinative” or “inflectional” language.

I feel like I learn the most when I run through the slides on my own time so I can go at my own pace and digest the material.

Introduction

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1.) Hi! My name’s Andrew and I’m a senior at the University of Oregon studying Business Administration.

I play ice hockey for the Ducks, here’s a picture!

 

I’m interested how East Asian language is influenced by its culture and vice versa. The cultures of East Asia are drastically different from Western culture and I would like to learn more about it. I would also like the learn the differences between the language and writing of East Asian countries relative to one another and how it’s shaped their modern cultural differences.

 

2.) The class so far seems interesting. I’ve never looked at writing and language in the way we are in class. I’ve also never really examined the geographical and population sizes of these East Asian countries in relation to the United States. I think this could set some interesting context going into our studies in this class about the development of writing and language. All of the material in class is completely new to me! So it’ll be interesting to see if this is an area of interest for me.

I think this class will be challenging due to how the material will be presented to me through readings and lectures. I’m more of a visual learner, so I like to watch videos and consume information in that medium. What we’re studying in this class didn’t naturally pique my interest going through school, but I’m excited to delve into something new!