Learning Plan : https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/document/d/1X3AyCI5U-sH-N06oVxszkr2eQsZhEj_ztNoM9hYXKRw/edit?usp=sharing

Can Do: https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/document/d/1Fg91LxlKS2ZemRnDWFrjYE57qvjnMsHS710gHIWec_4/edit?usp=sharing

Over the course of this semester, I think that I have learned a lot of Korean. This experience was particularly unique for me, because I am used to learning languages in a traditional classroom. I had also not heard of task-based learning, which was very different than the strict lesson plans that I was used to. I felt that task-based learning had both its positives and its negatives for me. On the up side, I was able to learn vocabulary faster, and felt more initial confidence in my language learning abilities. It was nice to be able to set a goal for the week, like being able to order food in a restaurant, and be able to do it with relative confidence by the end of the week. With that being said, by focusing on weekly learning goals, I have not been able to feel long-term confidence in my Korean abilities. Since I do not have a solid grammatical base, it is hard for me to find rules for the language and extend upon knowledge that I have learned. For instance, in German I was able to construct basic sentences when I learned to properly conjugate verbs. I have not been able to do that in Korean, so in practice I must learn a new word if I am addressing a situation with a verb I already know. Korean also has a lot of honorifics that you cannot find in other languages, so it has been hard for me to pick up on the grammatical rules of these honorifics. With that being said, I think the best way to move forward in Korean is for me to focus on a strong grammatical base, and then use that the apply to the words I already know. I have learned a lot this semester, and am excited to see how my Korean abilities will progress over time. 

For week 13, my goal was to learn sports vocabulary. Because sports are such a great conversational starter in the US, I thought that it was important for me to talk about sports on a basic level in Korean. I learned basic sports vocabulary, as well as some sports phrases. For instance, baseball is "yagu", soccer is "chukgu", and basketball is "nongu". There are also some cognates, like beach volleyball being "bichiballi", and tennis being "tenis". On top of these words, I learned some phrases like "to play a sport" (un-dong hagi) and "to play volleyball" (baeguhagi). This can be extended to any sport, such as say nonguhagi for playing basketball and yaguhagi for playing baseball. You can also ask someone if they play a sport by saying "_____ chiseyo?", like "nongu chiseyo?"

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1sUxOsRyHxu

http://vocaroo.com/i/s141QPKBwmdT

For week 12, I decided to learn more vocabulary for the family. Grandfather is "jobu" and grandmother is "jomo". From there, great-grandfather is "jungjobu" and great-grandmother is "jungjomo". Parents are called "bumo". "Nim" is added as a polite term, aka "jungjobunim" for great-grandfather. Father is "appa" or "aboji", while mother is "omma" or "ohmoni". Older brothers are "hyeung", while younger brothers are "namdongsaeng". This is particularly interesting to me, because Korean men refer to older friends as "hyeung", and younger friends as "namdoungsaeng". Older/younger sisters are "noona" and "yeodongsaeng" respectively. I found this source to be really helpful: https://thetalkingcupboard.com/2013/05/11/korean-family-and-kinship-terms/

For week 11, I learned basic technology terms in Korean. Since I am a computer science major, I was interested in how Koreans interact with technology, and whether they had similar terms as we did. I found that their terms are pretty similar to ours, but also have a traditional Korean bend, such as the word "download" being "daunraudu". There are other cognates, such as the word for homepage being "hompeiji", and "Internet" being "inteonet". I learned other terms, such as to browse the internet (inteonet komsek) and turn on the computer (geugi computah). 

For week 10, my goal was to learn how to order food in Korean, as well as learn some basic terms for Korean food. I actually got to try out this skill pretty recently when I visited a friend in Maryland, because we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant. All of the staff spoke Korean, so they were happy to take my fumbling orders in their language. This week, I learned how to ask for the menu: "mehnyu juseyo", the bill: "gyesansuh juseyo", water: "mool juseyo", as well as asking for something I'm pointing at: "eguh juseyo". I also learned to compliment a meal: "masshisuyo" and fight over a bill: "jaega nalgaeyo" (it's on me). Also, when you are leaving a restaurant you would say "anyonghee gyeseyo" because you are leaving and the other person is staying. I found this resource to be very helpful: http://www.sweetandtastytv.com/blog/korean-phrases-ordering-food-at-a-restaurant ;

For week 9, my goal was to learn how to say the times in Korean. Times are a little more complicated than in English because of Korean's dual counting systems. Nowhere is this more apparent than in telling the time. One refers to the hour with a native Korean number, such as "dul", but minutes are said using the Sino-Korean numbering system, like "sa". To say "it is 3:15", one would say "seshi shipoboonaeyo". "Boon" is the word for minutes, which follows the Sino-Korean number for minutes. To say "it is 5:04", one would say "daseosshi saboonaeyo" and so on. 

I found this resource to be very helpful: http://www.sweetandtastytv.com/blog/2015/4/19/korean-phrases-18-telling-time-in-korean

For week 8, I decided to expand upon what I learned in week six. There are a lot of things that you can do once you have learned the numbers in Korean, so from there I went on to learn the months as well as how to count up to 100. I also learned how to say my age, as well as ask others about their ages. I found that the native Korean numbers were much harder for me to learn than the Sino-Korean numbers. On top of learning how to say the numbers, I also learned their character representation. 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1ZOxCCkkFTa

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0GTkr1CNuBC

https://docs.google.com/a/richmond.edu/presentation/d/1PrJH7BUccnU7I6WJAuBZ3d0oOUei1HPF6ii6fK5vavU/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1qQWAkZaObUdHdMeFJHRDdraVE0ZGRlVWlTdGItRndaT2M0

I have learned a lot about myself as a language learner when attempting to learn Korean. I have tried to learn languages before, such as German, Spanish, and French, but always in a structured environment. It is one thing to listen to a teacher lecture about grammar, and totally another to learn on one’s own. I think that structuring my own program had some benefits, but also some drawbacks. It was nice in that I was able to learn whatever phrases and words I thought were important. It was unusual to me to be able to learn something completely outside of a structured lesson plan, where I normally would have to learn 20 words a week as well as so many grammar rules. By being able to learn goal-focused terms and phrases, I was able to speak instantly with others without having to tick off the boxes before being able to speak. With that being said, the reason that grammar is emphasized in formal classes is because it is completely necessary in order to extend knowledge of a language. For instance, you may learn the phrase “what do you mean?”, but you will not be able to extend that to “what does he mean?” if you do not understand the grammatical rules in place. I ran into that problem when learning Korean. I would learn a phrase, but because I had no idea about the grammar rules of the language, I would have to memorize another phrase in order to say something even slightly different. By following a goal-oriented form of language learning, you get instant rewards, but you also make it harder to develop a deep understanding of the language in the long run.

Overall, I found learning Korean to be a lot of fun. It was cool being able to talk to my Korean friends, even if it meant only being able to pick out words here and there, and only being able to say fragmented phrases. I found exploring the culture of Korea particularly interesting, because Korean culture is completely unlike western culture. Not only did I get a better understanding of Confucian values and how they contributed to modern Korean culture, but I also was able to better understand the beliefs and temperaments of my own Korean friends. My friends place a huge emphasis on respect and family, and these values are directly attributional to Confucian ideology.

I struggled with learning long phrases from nothing but memory. It was one thing for me to read the alphabet and learn numbers and isolated words, but it was completely different to cold memorize phrases. I think if I were to do it again, I would have focused more on language foundations, like the alphabet and basic grammar. Because of that, I am going to continue learning Korean by focusing on grammar and thoroughly learning the alphabet. Besides that, I would also like to learn more about nonverbal communication in Korea. Koreans have a complex system of nonverbal communication to show respect and bond with others, and I would like to learn the cultural ways that Koreans act nonverbally. I would also like to expand my knowledge of the Korean language by further broadening my knowledge of conversational topics. 

I found that learning to read in Korean was pretty difficult for me. For some reason, the characters seemed less intuitive than Cyrillic for me (possibly because the characters look more similar/are harder to differentiate). Also, the fact that the sound of the character is drastically affected by it's surrounding characters has made reading a lot harder for me. As a result, sounds that are considered drastically different in the English language, like t and d or r and l blend together. 

With that being said, I like how some characters in the Korean alphabet are predictable. For instance, the "yah" character looks very similar to the "ah" character. This repetition cut down on some of the time that it took to learn the alphabet. Also, the fact that the Korean alphabet only has 30ish characters makes it much easier to learn than other alphabets that have more (like Chinese). 

Overall, I thought that the idea that bilingualism makes someone "smarter" to be a little misleading. Although it appears that being bilingual helps with certain activities, as well as corresponds with a lower chance of dementia, it also appears to correspond with a smaller vocabulary in each language. It all depends on how you evaluate intelligence. Bilinguals appear to be able to make executive decisions quicker than their monolingual counterparts, but it is up to us to decide if that is true intelligence. Over all, it seems that being bilingual seems to contribute to greater executive function at the cost of some vocabulary earlier in life. I think that is a trade that most people would be pretty happy to make. 

I would say that I have learned at least 100 words in my language. I mostly learned them by finding various articles and videos online about what I wanted to learn, like numbers or basic conversational topics. I think my goals were pretty reasonable, and I have definitely worked towards achieving them. I am able to read the basic letters in Korean, as well as make basic conversation, which is what i came in wanting to do. I think choosing a more specific conversational goal would have helped me narrow my efforts, but keeping my goals lax also helped me explore my options a bit more. 

So far, I have been pretty pleased with how far I have come in Korean. I have learned simple conversational skills, 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 him questions about anything that I am struggling with. 

My goal for this week was to learn the months and learn how to count from 1-10 in Korean. By learning these numbers, it should be much easier to build off of to learn bigger numbers. Learning was relatively easy, because there are a lot of youtube videos that I can watch to help with my pronunciation. This one in particular I watched a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yOqYzqUWCo. ;