Reflection

After all, I feel very glad I took this class which was a whole new experience to me. I really liked the use of a blog medium for how it helped me improve my writing. Also, feeling the atmosphere of the class created by passionate discussions and participating in the process of the group project really encouraged me to take one step forward.

At the beginning, I was nervous about making my essays public. However, it gave me opportunities to read other people’s essays and get comments. In general English classes I took, I did not get that long and detailed comments from my professors and of course from my classmates. The few words like “why?” “Support this topic more” or “run on” written in red pen in the margins of my paper rather gave me an unnecessary pressure instead of a help. I think that was why I kept getting the same words I mentioned above every time I turned in my essay, which meant that my writing was not really improving that much. So having my classmates and Kara’s long comments on my posts was really helpful for me to improve my writing and made me think about the audience by not assuming things when I write.

Even though I did not really speak much in the class, I learned so much looking at how Kara and my classmates led the discussions on various and substantial topics so passionately. This was first time I had class which was full of discussion. Now, I think I will be able to start thinking more critically and actually speak out my thoughts in my future classes.

Lastly, I felt great about my first experience of the group project. I have been mostly taking basic design and economics classes, so I had no experience of a group project and presentation in front of a class. On the first day of class, I was reading the syllabus checking if we had to do a group project. It is embarrassing, but honestly, I might have dropped the class if I saw the words, ‘group project and presentation’ on the syllabus because of my fear. Now, I do not fear about group project and presentation any more since I learned that they are great ways of learning about something more deeply and that it feels really great after accomplishing a goal with all group members together. So I really want to thank Kara for including this group project later and helping me get rid of my fear which existed for very long time.

I believe that experience is the power. Taking this class has been a very valuable experience to me, and I feel that I am improved in writing and thinking critically. Now, I am ready to start my third year with a fully charged mind. Thank you, Kara.

"Interpret"

The word, interpret which has its root in French word, 'interpreten', is an interesting word to discuss, as it is used in many different contexts these days. Also, it relates to almost all of the key words we discussed in class for six weeks.

The original word of interpret was 'interpreten' in French. 'Interpreten' means an 'interpreter', which has a similar meaning to 'translator' of different languages according to Oxford English Dictionary. This brought up a question about the difference between interpreter and translator. After a detailed search on the word, I could find out that if one orally explains the meaning of what a person is saying in a language to the other person of different language in a conversation, then, he is interpreting that person’s words. If a meaning of a word or a sentence in certain language is written in another language, one can say it’s an act of translating.

The word, interpret was not found in Old English but in Middle English. In the 14th century, its word form was changed from noun to verb as well as the meaning. Until the 14th century, the word, interpret was used as an 'interpreter' or a 'negotiator' which all indicate a person. These days, interpret is an action of explaining meanings of various things. The meanings of interpret in the history and today are still connected and have similarities as both indicates explanation of certain meanings. However, there is a distinct shift which is that now many different meanings can be interpreted from one thing. Also, interpretaion is not only about languages anymore. Anything can be interpreted, and there is no fixed meaning, because interpretation can be done under one’s individual belief or judgment.

There are different contexts related to the word, interpret. For example, one can be misunderstood by interpreting someone’s words unfavorably. Also, feeling a sense of danger can also be one’s interpretation. As mentioned above, translating still can be the meaning of interpreting these days, accept that it does not indicate a person anymore. Interestingly, the word, interpret is used in many fields with slightly different senses. A musician’s understandings of rhythm or music paper can be seen as an interpretation. Also, an engineer’s understandings of the computer language like numbers and symbols can also be explained as interpretation. A movie director makes a movie according to his interpretation. Although the fields that interpret is used are different, they all are in relationship under that interpret is basically one’s understanding of meanings.


The reason why I chose interpret as my keyword is because it connects to almost every words discussed in class, the media we analyzed and even to our group project. The keywords that are obviously and mostly connected to the word, interpret, are culture, ideology, image and sign.

As a design major, I think the skills of correctly and sometimes creatively interpreting images and signs of a visual work are very important for me to have. Also, all designers are required to create interpretable works that people can enjoy and take advantages in their lives. What is fascinating is that images and signs can be interpreted in so many ways. Even a single drawing of an eraser can be interpreted very differently among people.



This connects directly to the group project which was about seeing how different random people interpret the five pictures we picked and comparing their interpretations to ours. The medium I chose was Naver which South Korean people use. After all, I was personally satisfied by the result that I got responses different from those of American people because of the culture difference and ideology affected by their culture. For example, one responded to the picture with his religious view of Buddhism which is a pretty common religion in Asia.

Lastly, media is also connected to the word, interpret. For example, our group could get different types of responses based on each medium’s character. Facebook which users interpret as a website for socializations got comments somewhat dialogical and it was different from those in Crystal’s forum.

In conclusion, it is interesting to see the change in use of the word, interpret from one fixed meaning of translating to those various meanings in many fields today. Because it changed, we are all endowed with opportunities of interpreting things around us to anything based on personal beliefs which can be very meaningful and even philosophical. Also, it would be even more interesting to think about how the word, interpret, will evolve again and be interpreted differently in the future.

The Power of Comma

There are times when it is helpful for people to think of a ‘comma’ in their lives. It has the power of controlling time within oneself, and also, it can be a great comfort and relaxation. A dictionary describes comma as the mark (,) used to separate the items in a list or to show where there is a slight pause in a sentence.

As I got older, I often have seen myself chased by time and just pushing myself ahead with a plan which I was not even sure if it was a right for me. I have kept myself busy following the way of how other people seem to live and sometimes thought I was not happy as I felt like a robot. I hear people say that life is meaningless, and I think, as people get older and get used to a lifestyle which they have to repeat the same thing over and over like going to work, coming back home, sleeping and again going to work next morning, as an ordinary member of the society, they say it more. I believe many people can find out how meaningful their lives are and their own kinds of happiness if they sometimes think of a ‘comma’ and pause for a moment in their lives. Especially when people get stressed, they need moments to relax and look around.

To me, a comma can be interpreted in another way besides being a wise sign for someone to pause and see where he/she stands. It can also be an encouraging sign for someone to keep going when he/she suffers hardship, just want to fall down and stop.

When I first came to the United States and tried to adapt myself to the new environment in the high school, there were many moments that I felt things were much tougher than I had expected and wanted give up moving on. One day, I saw a little drawing of comma on the internet. However, the comma was divided into a ‘period’ (.) and a little ‘tail’. What it probably meant was that the ‘period’ (.) itself represents ‘the end’, but if one puts a little tail besides it, it can be changed into a comma which means a ‘short pause’ or a ‘rest’ before moving on. For the most of time, the sign ‘comma’ has been what told me that I could take a rest to save my energy but I must keep going after that.

I personally think a ‘comma’ gives ideas of managing my time and even my life wisely. It is a magical sign because it signals me to pause or move on based on my situations. I believe this little sign can help many other people also, as it is always good to have a free advisor in life.