This week I also practiced the topics provided by Minkyung for my final evaluation. I talked about my semester, my day to day activities, and also about seasons. We had a group session this week with 2 of the advanced Korean students. I was able to practice with my language partner and also with the other 2 advanced Korean students. I plan to read over the dialogue that my language partner has made for me and practice it for my final evaluation. Also I will go over my notes and artifacts to prepare for my final evaluation since the topics are similar.
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This is a sample text that I had with my suite mate. He asked what I have been doing and I said that I have been studying. And he asked if he wanted to eat together for late dinner, and he suggested 10pm.
This artifact shows that I can briefly talk about my day and time, and also my ability to read and write Korean.
One of my main goals was to learn Hangul, which is the alphabet system in Korean. After this semester I would say that I succeeded. I can read and write many words in Korean. However, my vocabulary is still very limited. I can introduce myself and my family in Korean, which is a significant progress for me. On top of that, I can now make basic conversation with my Korean friends. I can ask simple questions like “Do you want to eat?”, “Where are you from?”, “Is it delicious?”, etc.
Some of the biggest challenges for me were learning the different forms of the vowels in the alphabet system (when 2 vowels are combined to make another sound), sentence structure, and grammar. When the vowels are combined into one, some of them sound exactly the same but different length in the sound. It was really confusing for me because it really depends on the word. The Korean sentence structure is also really tough because the structure is completely different than English and Indonesian (my native language). Lastly, grammar is also another area I have been struggling in, such as adding suffix in the end of a word to make it grammatically correct. However, as a beginner, this shouldn’t really be my focus because I can still say a sentence (constructed from words without being grammatically correct) and Korean people can still make sense of it.
Learning Korean has been a great experience so far. It has been a very long time since I learned a new language. Last time I attempted to learn a new language was probably 10 years ago when I tried to learn Mandarin. However, I decided to give up after 2 years because I didn’t feel the need to learn Mandarin. On the other side, learning Korean this semester was definitely a different experience and it was a positive one. One of my main goals was to learn Hangul, which is the alphabet system in Korean. After this semester I would say that I succeeded. I can read and write many words in Korean. However, my vocabulary is still very limited. Thus, I may be able to read or write words, but do not know the meaning of them.
The main goal for me to learn Korean was to make basic conversations with my Korean friends and also Korean elders. As mentioned many times, honorifics are greatly emphasized in the Korean language system. I would say that I have not been too successful in learning the formality in the Korean language. First of all, it would be too much for me to learn both formal and informal ways of saying things. Second of all, it wasn’t really the main focus in my learning progress because I was trying to understand the meaning of the words and constructing sentences. Therefore, if I were to continue my learning, I will put more focus into learning the honorifics.
Some of the biggest challenges for me were learning the different forms of the vowels in the alphabet system (when 2 vowels are combined to make another sound), sentence structure, and grammar. When the vowels are combined into one, some of them sound exactly the same but different length in the sound. It was really confusing for me because it really depends on the word. The Korean sentence structure is also really tough because the structure is completely different than English and Indonesian (my native language). Lastly, grammar is also another area I have been struggling in, such as adding suffix in the end of a word to make it grammatically correct. However, as a beginner, this shouldn’t really be my focus because I can still say a sentence (constructed from words without being grammatically correct) and Korean people can still make sense of it.
Having to do the artifacts definitely helped a lot in constructing sentences because you have to be able to put together the words that you have learned. Also, the 2 articles about bilinguals are very interesting. As a bilingual myself, I would want to agree with the New York Times article that argues that bilinguals are smarter. However, there is some sort of bias in their argument of being smart. What does it mean to be smart? And there are other variables outside of the argument that can affect kids’ intelligence besides having the ability to know one more language. So I definitely want to learn more about the effect of being a bilingual on intelligence.
For this week, I want to learn basic conversation about my semester and major. To achieve success in making conversation, I must pay attention to the grammar structure in constructing sentences in Korean. I plan to understand the basic sentence structure in the Korean system and combine words to make the sentences. I think the Korean system uses the SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) system when constructing most of the sentences. I plan to accomplish these goals with my language partner, who has helped me a lot in learning Korean.
This week I plan to learn on learning to text in Korean. I want to be able to text in Korean with my suitemates. For example, I want to be able to ask if they’re going to D-hall in Korean or saying “what are you doing” in Korean. I have learned some of the words before, but I haven’t tried writing them in Korean. So this week, I plan to practice on my writing skills using the Korean alphabet. To accomplish these goals, I will practice them with my language partner and use google translate to see the correct spelling.
So far, I have been pleased with how far I have come in Korean. I have learned simple conversational skills such as introducing myself and talking about my family, I can count basic numbers, and I can read a fair amount of the alphabet. I think that my process of finding learning materials on the internet has been a mostly successful one, so I will try to keep doing this until I run into difficulty. My language partner has also been very helpful, because I can go ask her questions about anything that I am struggling with. Having conversation and dialogue as a way to practice with my language partner and writing it down on a paper has been effective for me to practice my conversational skills.
Learning to read and write Korean has been quite a rough experience for me. It is relatively simple to learn the Korean alphabet as compared to learning Mandarin, however it requires consistency and practice to really be good at it. I haven’t been putting enough effort to practice reading and writing in Korean just because I never felt the need to. Some of the vowels sound similar, especially when they are combined to form another sound. It really frustrates me because I rarely use the words that require those vowel combinations. And also, the Korean grammar is different than English whereas the verb comes last. Therefore, it has been quite a struggle to construct sentences.
Many people argue that bilingualism can make you smarter, because it improves some cognitive skills that are not related to languages. This article was interesting to read because it contained a lot of descriptive statistics. However, I think this argument is a very broad claim. What does it mean to be smart? There are many subjective areas that can make you a smart person. The 2009 study led by Kovac claims that the babies who were raised on two languages where quicker to anticipate the appearance of the puppet. But, it is possible that there are other (extraneous) variables and influenced this reaction from the baby, and language may not be the variable.
The extinction of languages is something that is interesting because as the article says, a language is becoming extinct every day. When a language dies, a form of communication that people used in the past dies. It is upsetting because this is like learning history. We should know the history of our culture and if languages are becoming extinct, there is no way to uncover the history of the land in those places. The extinction of language also can lead to an extinction of the particular culture since language and culture have strong connection.
I have learned more than 20 new words, and most importantly I have learned how to put those words into sentences. I learned them through constructing sentences that people usually say. Like what I stated on my learning plan, I learned them through having conversation with my language partner and also my Korean friends. I think I do have realistic goals for acquiring new vocabulary. Again, I plan to learn new vocabulary that I will constantly use in day-to-day activities so that I can easily practice them consistently. I don’t want to rush my time in learning new vocab too fast. I think it would be better for me to take it slow, but really use the new vocab over and over again so I remember them.
Learning the history of a language is essential for a language learner. It helps you to understand the context and development of the language. For example, in Korean language, the history of the language emphasizes honorifics, which is still important in Korean language today. For English, learning the origin of the word can help you understand the meaning of certain words. Also, knowing a language’s history can also help to learn about the culture since language and culture are closely linked together.
Anyeong haseo! Learning Korean has been a mix of fun and challenging experience. The greatest challenge I have found in Korean has been the fact that I am an autonomous learner. Being responsible with my own study plans, conversation topics with my language partner, and self-assessment have been quite difficult for me. Being an autonomous learner requires motivation, consistency, and preparation, which I may occasionally lack. Nonetheless, it has been a fun experience. The fact that I can communicate simple conversations in Korean with my friends and read and write Korean are very satisfying for me, personally, since it proves that my hard work pays off.
Learning the Korean alphabet is a great start to learning Korean language as the alphabet makes up every single word just like English. So far, my progress has been excellent. I have memorized both basic vowels and consonants, which make up most Korean words. However, I have not successfully memorized some of the combinations of the vowels since I rarely use words that require the combinations of the vowels. I have been practicing writing words using the Hanggul (Korean alphabets) over and over and that way I have memorized the consonants and vowels. My language partner would say a Korean word and I would have to write it in Korean, which has been successful for my learning progress. Also, some of the alphabets look similar, hence I use graphical illustration as a reference to remember the pronunciation and the shape. Another method of learning the alphabet is through texting. I have Korean friends that are proficient in Korean, thus I text them in Korean to practice my Korean skills and to communicate at the same time. If I don’t understand what they’re saying, I could just simply ask in English. But the main point of this is for me to master the Korean alphabets, not so for understanding the meaning of each word.
Another great progress for me has been the ability to introduce myself and my family in Korean. I learned a lot of the Korean culture especially when introducing myself. They put a lot of emphasis into the age, so you often mention your age when introducing yourself to others. This is common in the Korean culture because the language has the honorific system. In the western culture, asking for age may seem inappropriate especially during an introduction. Thus, understanding the Korean culture and its honorifics has helped me to better learn the proper introductions in Korean.
Overall, my progress has been on par with my expectations. However, I still need to improve my ability to construct sentences. I know many Korean words, but I haven’t been too successful in combining them to make sentences because I still lack the grammar skills. So, from this point, I plan to improve on my grammar and constructing sentences, so that during my final evaluation I would be prepared to have a conversation. A first step to this would be understanding the general sentence structure in Korean, like where the subject/object goes and where the verb goes in the sentence. On top of practicing with my language partner, I plan to practice with my suitemates as well.
I could relate to the Culture Shock video coming to the US. However, I did not experience any extreme cases, especially about stereotypes. My biggest culture shock is probably living independently, such as doing laundry and my bed alone. Because back home, I never did them. Fortunately, when I met people they actually thought I was American. Almost all of them did not realize that I am an international student. I believe that the distinction point is accent. Many people assume that I am American because I don’t really have an accent. And thus, having an accent could lead to a stereotype that people derive from others.
Byongho’s presentation about the beanie was interesting because it explains such a strong message about the Czech culture just from a beanie. Byongho mentioned that the beanie has a rough surface on the outside and a smooth texture in the inside part of it. The beanie is common in Czech and it helps to explain the personality of Czech people. Byongho pointed out that Czech people can be a little rude on the outside, but they are nice people when you get to know them. Another point that I thought was interesting was the topic of Korean food. Korean food/side dishes are meant to be enjoyed together as a group, not by an individual. This way, Korean food emphasizes on the Korean culture of being together. Dalila mentioned that Koreans have a different dating culture that they go out on dates in groups. All in all, we can learn more about culture from little things that we don’t usually appreciate or pay attention to.
Knowing the structure of Korean will help me in making sentences. Korean language is different from English when putting words in the sentence. The object or subject tends to come first in the sentence and the verb tends to come in last in the sentence. The structure is mostly the same for all sentences, thus it is easy to learn and remember. Reference grammar is very useful to learn when learning a new language because it can simply change the whole meaning to a sentence. However, in Korean people can generally understand what you’re trying to say without having to provide the proper reference grammar, especially when you’re a beginner.
For the next 2 weeks, I plan to practice my final evaluation materials. I will do a simple monologue on introduction and greeting, and I will also be talking about my family and my background. This is one part of my final evaluation. I have done some of the parts for my artifacts, but I will have to make it conversational. So I have to understand each word so I will be able to answer the questions asked correctly. To accomplish these goals, I practiced with my language partner and also my suite mates who are Koreans.
