Language

mandarin is... interesting!
this week when class started i was instantly confused! joyce came in and right off the bat was talking to us in mandarin, i was so confused! i had no idea what was going on!  but after a bit i started to catch on to what she was saying. in about half an hour she had taught us 20-25 words. and they were tricky for me to learn.. i dont really remember most of them but i wrote them down so i can practice before i go to china.  the hardest part for me will be the fact that the language is very tonal. i get why people think if people are speaking a different language around them those people are talking about them i've thought the same thing on more than one occasion. but if i was in japan studying abroad with a couple friends i would speak english with them so we could communicate A LOT more easily.

movie:
i thought the movie was very interesting. the headrolling thing in india was... different... it means yes there but maybe here.  and i dont think i could be a aborigine in australia. theres no way i could go months without talking, i can barely go 10 mins being quite! i think tattoos are a reflection of a persons personality. it says something about who they are.its a nod to their creativity and uniqueness, and its like wearing their hearts on their sleeves everyday of thier life. i have one tattoo and i plan on getting another after i get back from china.

bishop article:
i personally believe that language classes should be mandatory. i beleive they should be because we have to be able to effectively communicate with each otherwise things would never get done. communication is a vital part of life. it may compromise other cultures to a certain extent, but it can also richen them. think how much smarter our culture would be or how much more efficinent it would be if every person knew a second language. i think we would all be much better off.

languishing languages article:
i don't really know what makes languages disappear. people not being allowed to speak their language? thats the only thing i can really think of. we can preserve languages by recording them and encouraging people to keep speaking them. i had no idea that there are 6700 languages being spoken in the world and its crazy that that many of them are on the verge of dying.  i never mentioned this in class, but i dont think language is the only thing that shapes our culture. the food we eat, the clother we wear, and the traditions we practice also shape our culture and make us who we are. no, i dont think we are trying to create an aryan race. i believe that we are just trying to enrich other cultures and spread knowledge. we aren't trying to take certain languages away from anyone we are just trying to spread another. plain and simple.

king article:
i think that america should ahve an official language and i believe it should be english. i think we should have an official language so that everyone can communicate more efficiently, and i believe it should be english because thats the language that has been spoken here since this country was founded. i would like to do like kim did and learn a language of my ancestors, italian sounds like a good one to me! i think it would also help me uncover part of who i am, along with the fact that i also want to travel to italy some day!