Nothing will come of nothing. We must dare mighty things.
-William Shakespeare
무(無)에서는 무(無)밖에 나오지 않는다. 고로 우리는 강력한 일을감행해야 한다.
– 윌리엄 셰익스피어
Courtesy of Hwangssabu’s Twitter.
korean
Korean in College: is it worth it?
안녕하세요!
As an independent language-learner, I was both apprehensive and excited to be able to take a Korean language class once I entered university last August (2013). Although I took Spanish for over 10 years previously, I had no idea how my abilities in Korean compared with students who took language courses. I had never taken any test, and although Koreans who I spoke with always lauded my Korean, I felt like it was somewhat empty praise. Don’t misunderstand – I’m happy that people are happy that I study Korean; I just wish they didn’t hand down praise so easily when I say just a word or two.
I spoke with my Korean professor who told me not to take the placement test. I was already in the first level along with beginners in the language, most of whom did not yet know hangul. I realized a few weeks later that I really should have taken the exam anyways; I probably could have landed in second year very easily. However, I recognized that my speaking abilities were basically nil, and that I could focus on that and vocab as my goals for improvement.
I don’t blame my professor, either. I know that several other students approached her and said the exact same thing as me – “Oh, I’ve studied some Korean before.” Most of them meant – “I can kind of read hangul.” She found out later, and through my participation in her class, that I had studied for almost 2 years before coming there.
The main problem I found with taking first level rather than passing into second was mainly how slowly it went for me. First semester was so incredibly basic that I only really felt like I improved in counting and speaking slightly more confidently and fluently. There was nothing else new, and I knew almost all of the vocabulary.
Second semester went better, but I had yet to learn a grammar structure that I didn’t already know. Vocabulary started to be half and half with words I knew and words I didn’t know yet. Overall, we covered only 2-3 grammar points that I had never heard before or studied. I definitely improved with speaking, but my progress in everything else remained stagnant.
Looking back over the past academic year, I realize that I made two essential mistakes.
1. If you have studied Korean before, even just a little, I highly recommend testing to ascertain your level before you commit to a class. It may be more challenging to take a higher level class, but overall, isn’t your goal to challenge yourself by becoming fluent in a language?
2. Do not stop or lessen your independent studies. This was definitely my bigger problem. I was used to rapidly advancing through TTMIK lessons and making leaps and bounds with my comprehension of spoken and written Korean, but I spent almost a year of barely studying on my own. I also didn’t study much at all for my actual Korean class because I did so well in it without needing to. It made me lazy with my language studies, and I deeply regret that.
In conclusion, I have decided to never stop my independent studies. It doesn’t matter if I’m taking Korean at my university or even living in Korea and studying there. It’s pure laziness and nonsense to stop studying. I’m not going to magically become fluent by decreasing my studies. Independent studies coupled with other language learning experiences is like adding extra engines to a jet; you’re going to get there even faster if you combine rather than minimize.
Also, I’m not advising you to not take a Korean language course – I’m just advocating that you also continue your independent studies and take a placement test.
Have you ever taken a Korean language class or do you only do independent studies? Or do you combine them? Let me know in the comments about your experience! I’m also curious what it’s like to take placement tests…and TOPIK….
감사합니다!
Here’s some lovely music for a lovely day!
Summer Goals
Summer’s almost here. My last final is tomorrow and yet I’m most overjoyed over the prospect of never seeing or hearing from my roommate or her boyfriend again. I’m going to truly miss the vivacity of campus life as the town empties of most of its students, but at least I know some of my friends will be here for a month or two longer. 가지마~~~ ㅠㅠ
I can’t fairly complain about people leaving me though, since I’m planning on spending the fall 2014 semester in Seoul. Yes, Seoul. Is it possible to miss a place you’ve never been? I think so. In the meantime, however, I need to get ready. And by getting ready I mean I need to immerse myself as completely in the Korean language as I possibly can over the next several months, because my goal is to return for the winter 2015 semester and test directly into the second semester class of 3rd year Korean. I’ve never been formally tested to see what my level of fluency or ignorance is, and so I’ve been taking 1st year Korean during my freshman year – a seriously entertaining choice because my comprehension of grammar points reaches into much of 3rd year Korean….yet my speaking abilities were basically nil when I entered the class in the last dog days of August almost eight months ago. Or nine. I’m not sure; math isn’t my strong-point and I definitely just counted the months on my fingers and still am not sure if it’s 8 or 9.
I’ll soon be writing up some posts about my experiences taking Korean this past year (this is a promise because otherwise I’ll conveniently forget to do it while reveling in summer sunshine, bubble tea, and the hopes that Big Bang might actually make a comeback within the next decade),but in the meantime I’d like to discuss some of my language-learning goals.
1. Complete review of all Talk To Me In Korean levels up until my current one. And of course, resume actively studying new lessons and leveling up. LEVEL UP. Oh wow, I feel my gaming days returning already….Ahem, and in doing these reviews, I’m going to focus on speaking practice – my biggest nemesis in language learning. Because who really wants to hear herself mispronounce things repeatedly?
2. Establish vocabulary studying regimen (alongside my best friend/language study buddy) of exchanging lists of at least 20 words each every week and then practicing with all 40 via italki posts and my own journaling.
3. Reach a fluency level enabling me to write short stories in Korean! This is a big one for me, since one of my biggest passions since kindergarten has been writing stories. I used to write intense murder mysteries about three detective fairies while I was in kindergarten. Yeah, you’re jealous.
4. Work my way through one Korean novel per month. Now that‘s slightly insane and also mostly possible. I’ve had a book from the library that I’ve been renewing for about 10 months now and I understand the entire first page easily. I just get a bit tired by the second page…but that’s just laziness. This is summer! And summer means….study….time. Actually, summer means finally reading the books I wanted to read all school year long but couldn’t because I had twenty-some novels for my classes to plough through first.
5. Confidence in Korean. This is a big one for me. I’m all fluent and wordy when I’m practicing alone or making small talk with two of my fellow Korean-learning friends, but when confronted with the sweet ahjumma at Arirang who is asking what I want to eat, or when greeting my Korean friend’s wonderful aunt who makes jokes in Korean to me, I freeze up and retreat into the fortress of my native language. This goal isn’t really something I can specifically practice for, other than by practicing and practicing and letting go of the safety-rail of English. Mistakes are okay. They really, really are. And I usually tout this belief quite strongly until my face is burning red from mispronouncing something or randomly swapping the ending to the verb from past tense to future because I’m so completely caught up in being grammatically correct that I forget what the meaning of my sentence was in the first place. So, confidence. Confidence in Korean.
Do you have language learning goals for the summer? 화이팅!!! 그리고 감사합니다!
Nominated to Yonsei (and other achievements)
오랜 만이에요!
It’s been a while. You’ve gotten prettier….ah wait, those are the opening lines to Monster. Ahem. Life’s been busy! I mentioned this in a previous post but I applied to an exchange program with Yonsei University in South Korea. About a month ago, my university accepted my application and forwarded it with a recommendation to Yonsei. And so now I wait until April 30th for the official news – although everyone tells me not to worry because everyone who passes the initial application to the program through my university is accepted.
But still. 긴장! 긴장! I feel like I have little Running Man variety show subtitles floating about my head whenever I talk to someone about it. It’s not official until it’s official.
오 my goodness, what time is it?
안녕하세요…I admit that the title is cheesy. But the topic of 오 (o) and what it means is exciting! At least to a word nerd like myself.
Someone send me back in time…
…I want to meet famous gisaengs and scholars from the Joseon dynasty. But really.
Pronunciation Problems
안녕하세요!
Proper pronunciation can make as much difference as the comma contrasting meanings: “Let’s eat, Grandma” and “Let’s eat Grandma”. While pronouncing things the wrong way sometimes can change the meaning of a sentence, it can also just make me sound more like a beginner and less like the fluent person I’m pretending to be.
You also don’t know that you’re doing or saying something wrong until someone tells you – this is the peril of self-taught language learning.
Dissecting Korean Quotes
안녕하세요!
Recently, I’ve been particularly interested in dissecting famous sayings/quotes in Korean. Or not so famous ones. Any quotes in Korean, in general, are super interesting. I’ve always loved ‘collecting’ sayings in English – I absolutely adore Quotables and I even buy the cards just for myself. When I said collecting…I mean it. I do actually collect quotes.
Speaking in Subtitles
오랜만이다! 잘 지냈어요?
I haven’t written a new post in quite a long time – and it was a long time before that post that I’d last written a post. I really need to get my act together and start actively blogging again. I thought that if I ‘took a break,’ I’d be blogging again in no time – once I had more time.
And yes, college has been busy, life has been crazy, endless midterms and papers are all very awful, but it’s no excuse to ignore what I really love: writing, reading (in English) and studying Korean. And I’ve been ignoring them all far too much.
Something that has come to my attention over the past several months is what my best friend and I like to call ‘speaking in subtitles.’ Continue reading
Running Man Word Learning Thing!
오래간만이에요!
So, yes, I’ve been missing for about 5,000 years. 나는 바빴어요….아직 바쁜데…But now I’m back!
Sup 내 친구
서울드림 