Author Archives: yarah

Blog 3- Open Topic

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Throughout this course, I definitely gained new insight in not just the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese language, but linguistics in general. As I go about with conversations with my friends, co-workers, and family, I notice little distinct expressions or words that they use that I never really picked up at first. These little differences make up for a huge variety of how we decide what we are going to say, and how we say it, word wise and physically(gestures and facial expressions). A lot of the differences that I notice from my family are deeply connected to the native language that they speak, and being someone that grew up listening to that all the time, I, myself didn’t realize how much of a major difference they have in value and meaning compared english and the American culture in general. I loved reading the readings and articles we had, but the ones I found most interesting is “oppa”, girl graphs, teas, and the most recent one we have which did a lot of comparing of east Asian and western kids. In regards to tea, it is very common to see in my culture, so I was intrigued to see how the value of tea in west Asian culture was either similar or different. I thought it was interesting the amount of passion and devotion that goes into the making of tea, drinking it and overall meaning of it. I don’t think that any of that really exists in my culture, its more of a typical welcoming gesture to make guests feel at home. And as for the most recent reading (Nisbett), as I went a lot with the tests that they presented it to us and briefly let myself categorize the options given. I was surprised to see that most of my decisions were falling towards the west Asian picks. Honestly I was getting confused as to why the other options seemed more fit for the western kids. The readings overall gave a better sense of myself as a person and where I come from. Going into this course, I really just wanted to learn more about other cultures and languages and be open to the idea that foreign cultures are more similar than what most people think. And I think with that thought, it is true to a certain extent. There seems to be a core value for all these cultures that just stem out differently. That core value is something I’m still trying to figure out. After taking this course, I want to say that there is quite a heavy prevalence in the idea of family, unity and identity for a lot of these cultures.

Blog 2-Writing

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The first two pictures were taken on E Broadway Street towards Whole Foods Market. It was right next to Lane 5 Crossfit Center.

And then the last two are on posters that were being sold at the fair that was at the school.

  1.  As I enter week 3, this class has peaked my interest in learning one of the languages. I think it’s fascinating how these languages are written and interpreted, and I want to see how it compares to Arabic. It’s funny, because a lot of the times when people look at Arabic, they get totally overwhelmed and  wonder how the heck people read it. When we go over slides in class that show Korean/Chinese/Japanese characters, I can’t help but feel the same way. But it only drives to want to learn the language even more. I’m not sure which one yet, my instincts wants to learn all 3, but I know right now, I only have time for one. My study habits for this class is heavily based on keeping ahead and turning assignments in early. On top of that, I like to print out the readings so I can annotate them and easily find my notes which summarize certain sections, and highlight important parts. I can’t really read while the text is on screen, and having the paper to visually see next to me, and not having to read back and forth between text and quizzes really helps. Overall, I feel like I’m learning a lot. Not in just East Asian cultures, but in mine as well. I think in class is when I learn the most. I like reviewing over what we read, the material just sits easier in my mind. There really isn’t anytime where I am confused in lecture. If I am, I would probably ask the teachers or someone next to me. I came into this course looking to see what comprises this culture as well as how it compares to Middle Eastern culture. The research report greatly extended my focuses, as I research topics of my culture that I have never really considered (politeness). And it is opening new sections of cultures that I never realized, and these are usually geared to they WHY aspect of certain gestures, language changes while speaking, writing and how those are carried out in the public.

Hello, Class!

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Hi everyone!

My name is Yara Hussein, I’m from Youngstown, Ohio and a second year student at UO. My major is Human Physiology, a minor in Arabic, and I’m currently thinking about adding Statistics as a major as well. I love being involved at school and my community as much as possible. I work at global scholars hall, volunteer at PetSmart and the University Health Center in my free time, and join clubs if I have time. Some of the clubs I have done so far is criminal justice, dance, Rotaract,  Film and DuckTV. I have two cats, Mocha and Ceaser, a hamster named Toby, and a canary bird, Sweetie. I moved here about a year ago with my family to be closer with other relatives. Most of my family lives in Syria, so we thought it was best to be close to the ones we have now.

I can’t pick one picture to communicate with ya’ll, so I am going to post a few:

The first one is my family and I, and this communicates that family is everything to me.

The second one is a picture of my cat Ceaser, this communicates my love for cats, and how my pets are basically my children,

The third picture is my friends. This picture communicates a lot of things: they’re my best friends, we go on too many spontaneous trips, we’re broke, and we got stuck on the mountain :/

And the last on is the amazing Toby. This picture communicates just how crazy he is. I really don’t know what he’s doing on the wall of the cage but I thought it was a funny picture.

One of the main factors that drives my interest for East Asian Languages and Societies is my overall interest of connecting cultures and their similarities.  Growing up Middle Eastern, culture was a very prominent in my family. A lot of the times, I would pay attention to other cultures as well to see how they differ and match with mine, and I have learned in the past that many foreign cultures are more alike than most people think.  So, with that being said, I took this class to get a better understanding of the culture of East Asian countries and see how those aspects align with other cultures and spread that knowledge to others. I always find it frustrating when people make assumptions about my culture, or just naively make comments about other people’s backgrounds in general. I hope that after taking this class, I can go about and explain to people what different cultures really embody. Another factor that I found really intriguing is that my mom has some kind of blood connection to the East Asian world (we took a DNA test). I found this very surprising because I always thought my parents were pretty much 100% Middle Eastern. We aren’t sure exactly where in the East Asian region (the area that was circled was all of East Asia, it didn’t really narrow it down to a specific country).

This was already said, but one question that I am really looking forward to answering is how East Asian cultures are similar and different to my Middle Eastern background. I want to see how similarities manifest, whether it’s directly or indirectly, and how differences emerge between the two cultures. And it’s not just Middle Eastern cultures, but many others as well. So far, the teaching methods have been quite intriguing and fun overall. I love the environment the teacher and TA sets, being really including to all backgrounds and explaining everything clearly. My approach in learning is always an open mind, for everywhere I go; class, music lessons, movies, or any discussion. I think it’s important to be open for change, and to listen to others, even if you disagree. So far, the only thing that this class has changed me is my new interest in Asian cultures. I want to dive deeper, learn about popular songs, movies, folk tales, food and everything. I am even taking interest in learning a new language (leaning towards Japanese, not sure yet). With that being said, I am enjoying this class so much, and I can’t wait for future projects and topics we will be discussing 🙂