Author Archives: jli18

Blog Post #3

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I think the most intriguing topics that we have covered are about the current trends in East Asia, such as the uprising of metrosexual men and the usage of the word Oppa. Some of these things are pretty surprising to me because it feels like there are Western equivalents to these trends in East Asia, like the idea of an e-boy. It feels like the world is unifying together because of the changes people go through, even if there is still much political divide. Even just changing how a word is used feels like there is a lot of impact on culture and perception, which to me, makes linguistics much more important than what I thought before. Language is so important, not only because it is how humans communicate with each other, but each language is tied to a culture that has their own interpretations and thoughts and etc. This course definitely made linguistics much more appealing to me, and I may consider taking another course similar.

My approach to learning the course material for this class is the same as any class. Do the reading and then follow along in class. If I have questions, they are usually answered by going through the reading again.

-Jackson

East Asian Writing – Blog #2

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East Asian Writing in Eugene, OR.

This picture was found at Eugene Asian Market, which is on 11th and Ferry. Personally, I really like the image of the door. It’s a cute little motto the store has, and it also demonstrates many key Chinese characteristics. There’s a clear example of topic-comment sentence, like the first line “地球不爆炸，我们不放假”. They are saying that unless the Earth explodes, the store will not go on vacation. There is also usage of the imperfective market zai “在”, which indicates the progression of an event. In this case, it is used to show the progress of the store owners’ waiting for their regular customers. The text can be found at their door, and in its location, it is very welcoming and heartwarming. It shows a difference in culture, because it appeals to the politeness and attitude customers receive in the West. The picture of the sign on the door is just of their name in both Chinese and English. However, one thing I did notice about this sign is that it uses traditional characters rather than simplified characters. The first two characters “亞洲” mean Asia, but nowadays in China, it is written “亚洲”. The last character means dragon, but it is now written as “龙”. I think the sign is super effective because most of Mainland China can read both, whereas other Mandarin speaking people like the Taiwanese are unfamiliar with simplified characters, so it can draw in all sorts of customers.

Thoughts on Learning

Some of the things more intriguing topics for me have been related to the core of East Asian languages, such as Japanese and Korean suffixes and politeness, Chinese syntax, and many more. Some of the concepts from these were a bit difficult to understand, such as left/right-branching languages and morphological typology. In order to understand them, I would re-read the material or look up definitions from the Internet. The quizzes and the iClickers are very helpful to understand the course material, and I personally like to write the quiz answers as notes. I think I’m most engaged when I really relate to the topic like the ones about Chinese, but I’m learning the most when it’s about the other East Asian languages. It’s just easier to be fully engaged, for me, when the topic is familiar and/or easy for me.

 

-Jackson Li

Hello Class!

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Hello, I am Jackson Li. My Chinese name is 李芝明. I, myself, am from Portland, Oregon, however, my parents were from Guangzhou, China, so I can speak both Cantonese and English. I have also been learning Mandarin, however, I don’t consider it to be a strength of mine. My intended major is Psychology, and I hope to be able to also minor in Chemistry or another a foreign language.

Something interesting about me is that I like to collect vinyl records. I like supporting artists that I like and so that is one of the ways that I do it. A few records that I bought recently are Igor by Tyler, the Creator and Self-Titled by Kids See Ghosts. Another thing I recently started to do is go to concerts. The first one I went to is Daniel Caesar, but it definitely is not going to be my last.

One of the most interesting things to me about East Asian societies is the music. There are a lot of artists that I really enjoy listening to such as DEAN and Shirley Chen (陈雪凝). I think that music from East Asian cultures is very meaningful and the melodies are relaxing. Some of my favorite songs are Instagram by DEAN, 后来 by Rene Liu and 绿色 by Shirley Chen. Aside from music, I love East Asian cuisine. I grew up eating mostly Chinese food, but I got around to eventually trying lots of other foods. One of my favorite foods is tteokbokki because I really like spicy food.

Looking at what we have discussed in the class, I have found everything to be really interesting. I’m very interested in the origins of these East Asian languages. As a Chinese person, it’s very intriguing to see what Chinese writing was once like and how the language has evolved. The lectures are very interactive with the iClicker questions, which I find very helpful. My general approach with learning is the same as the lecture. I go through the reading and then I go do the quizzes. It helps me see what I have learned and what I am missing. Then I go back to the reading and write down important information. The course has provided a lot of information that has changed my perspective on the three languages. The difference between how each language uses Chinese characters was very important for me because I thought they had mostly the same meaning and uses.

I look forward to seeing where the class goes and what we will end up learning about!