Week 4 Class Reflection

This week's class was very interesting! We began in small groups decoding a transcription that was in all phonetics. I found the hardest thing about the transcription was not the letters but the fact that there was no punctuation or capitalization. It was really helpful that we worked in pairs because I would look at one part of the transcription and have no idea and one of my partners could come up with it right away. I think it was really good practice for the quiz and it was nice to have the support of my group.

After the group activity we all got back together and Esther explained what each group had for a transcription. We then went over a few things that were confusing us. I was so glad to hear that I was not the only person having a little trouble with the material. A few things got cleared up and a few remain somewhat of a foggy mystery. For example, I understand the concept of allophones and phonemes but I think if I were to see more examples of the two it would really cement things in my head.

We talked about the exercises that were due and to be honest I still don't understand what we were suppose to do in 4-9. Esther was right when she said we are all learning a completely foreign language. There are so many rules and parts to this new language that make it hard to grasp the material as quickly as I usually do.

I wonder if there are phonetic alphabets for other languages. In fact I am sure there are and that may be interesting to look at compared to the English language. As I type this right now I looked up the Spanish phonetic alphabet. It seems that I cannot find one that is exactly defined as a Spanish Phonetic Alphabet but I did find something defined as the International Phonetic Alphabet. This phonetic alphabet seems to explain certain sounds from different languages. If anyone knows more about other phonetic alphabets, let me know.