The most interesting topic for me so far is the concept of new masculine gender identities in East Asia. The fact that men in East Asian countries are starting to go against the current and the traditional social norm is intriguing. My approach to learning in this course was to do the reading/quiz the day before the lecture to have some sort of understanding about the topic, then go to class and listen to the professor go in-depth about it to further my knowledge. This class definitely changed my view of linguistic as a field. Before the class I didn’t know much about this field and sometimes even thought there is not much to study about. But this class has shown me that language, just like any other subject, is very complex and fascinating. Languages are infused deep in our culture and society without we even know about it. That is amazing to me. For example, as an Asian, my parents were always very strict and protective of me. I always thought it’s just how my parents are but through this class, I found out that these behavior is to  be expected of parents in East Asian countries. The class also changed the way I think as I look at the world as a big picture now.

These two photos are taken from Uniquely Chengdu, a Chinese restaurant right off of campus and across the Duck Store on 13th St. The characters in the 2nd picture spell out Cheng Du ming xiao chi, which translate to Cheng Du famous’s xiao chi (a type of food). This shows that Chinese language is left branching, with the modifie, in this case the word ming -famous, placed on the left.

    Everything we covered in class have intrigued me so far. I like how the course introduces different subjects and topics about east asian cultures that I have never thought of. The one aspect that intrigued me the most was about the tonal of Asian languages, where one word can have different meanings depending on the tone of it. My learning strategy is do the readings and quizzes before class in order to have a general knowledge about the lectures, then take notes during the lectures to memorize it. I feel like I’m learning a lot and engaging with the materials the most when I’m in class listening to lectures. There has been a time when the lecture was not clear, and what I did was asking my friends about it.