Week 10 Lab

I decided to watch the language playlist of videos and I really enjoyed them a lot more than I though I would. The first video was cool as it was just a background story into the splitting of languages. I enjoyed the animation of the video as it was easy to follow and had some comedic elements to the video which made it more enjoyable. One of my favorite videos is the verb tense video. It was funny to see how complex our language actually is. The thought of trying to learn English from scratch is crazy to think about. The fact that there are so many verb tenses is crazy to think about. It makes English seem as such a difficult language that seems impossible to learn in full which is probably very true after watching the video. Having 12 verb tenses is crazy compared to some languages that only have few to none. It is funny to watch the videos and how the correspond to a class I am currently taking. The videos contained a lot of new information that I would have never thought of, but they also brought up fascinating points about language that I thought were super cool. Probably my favorite is the new word video. The crazy numbers about number of words in the English language as well as the number of words added each year. That is such a staggering number for a language as old as English. It is really cool to see how much of the English language is just a melting pot of multiple languages from across the world. Another crazy fact about language is that many countries have language academies to decide on new words. That is some dedication to language that is awesome to see and know about.

The ways to say "Hello" in different languages. https://images.app.goo.gl/Shxfh1QriuvopsAU7

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXchDJp7Z_BzshUOT7tuk845Q

Reading Notes: Iktomi and the Turtle

For the second reading of the week, I decided to keep the turtle theme which is funny that the Sioux have multiple turtle stories in the collection. This one is a tad different from the first one I read in the sense that this story has a lot more first person throughout the story which is awesome. It gives a more personal feel that I like to have when I am reading these stories. The funniest part about the turtle theme is that one story actually has turtles in it. This story actually has a huntsman named turtle. It is a slight twist, but it is hilarious to think about. The story starts out sad and I feel bad for the turtle as he didn't kill anything to provide for his family which is always sad. The story continues as the turtle walks home with sadness but comes upon a deer that had been slain. This was a blessing as he could now feed his family. The turtle exclaimed that the spirits had blessed him with a deer. Turtle was approached, from behind, by Iktomi. Iktomi began to talk up the turtle as the turtle was very down on himself after not being able to kill anything for food. The story continued as Iktomi and the turtle talked about the deer and the failed hunt that had happened for the turtle. The challenges that came up were awesome as the challenge was for the deer. It was a jump that was the challenge which is interesting for what was on the line. The challenge came late as well which the turtle had no choice but to take it as he had already started his jump. The turtle lost the challenge which was a little sad to read as he had already gone through the emotional rollercoaster that was the hunt. The surprise of the story was the turtle sitting in the tree as Iktomi went into the creek with the food. The kids were stressed as their father had fallen in and died in the creek. The story ends very abruptly which stunk but overall it was a solid story that I enjoyed for the entire time.

The cooking of the venison in the creek https://images.app.goo.gl/7u6Txs5X8L5s9DMN8

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sioux-iktomi-and-turtle.html

Reading Notes: The Boy and the Turtles

I am so excited for this week's readings as it is Native American week! I love Native American art and stories. They are always so creative and fun to read no matter how short or long the story is. It was a difficult decision on what story to read and how good those stories were going to be. After a long deliberation with myself I decided on the Sioux stories as I thought they were unique and really fun to read. The first story I decided on was the Boy and the Turtles. One thing I noticed immediately when reading was the fact that it was mostly from a third person perspective. I am usually not huge fan of reading third person as it isn't as personal as first person, but the the author does an amazing job with creating a story that effectively uses third person. The story started very normal and seemed it was just going to be a story about a young boy hunting and faced some adversity as he couldn't find any turtles until he went to a lake that his tribe was very familiar with. It seems normal until what comes out of the water. Little men began to come out of the water which is a tad disturbing and scared the boy as it should have. The story continued as the boy left and after a few conversations, warriors were sent down to the lake to see if the boy was lying. The warriors saw the same thing and were as scared as the boy. The boy was given a seat in the council and that seat was a seat of honor. The boy was also given the name "Wankan Wanyanka" which means he sees holy. The story itself was very interesting with the crazy turn it made. I wasn't expecting the drastic turn that occurred at the lake. I was expecting something to happen, but not to the effect of little men coming out of the water. I really enjoyed the weird twist the story had. It gave the story some more information to be able to analyze as not every story has a turn like that. I am definitely glad I chose this story section as it is going to be an awesome time to be able to read these stories.

Turtles sunbathing at a lake https://images.app.goo.gl/8pYCyPG1GQ2TiB4a9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sioux-boy-and-turtles.html