So far I think that my language learning has been very challenging. The Korean culture is fascinating because it is very different from my culture, but the language is not easy to learn. I started off thinking that I could just memorize and repeat over and over again random words and phrases and that I would easily be able to speak Korean in a matter of weeks or months. Then, as the semester went by, I realized that you cannot just learn a language my memorizing words and phrases. Instead, my language partner made me realize that the best way to learn a language is by breaking down what each word means and learn its literal meaning in order to learn how to speak the language. For example, the phrase, “I’m American” in Korean is said “cho-nun-(mi-gu-gin)-i-e-yo”. “Cho-nun” means “I’m,” “(mi-gu-gin)” means “American” and “i-e-yo” does not mean anything, it is just an ending for verbs that can implicate tenses. My Korean friends have told me that even though “i-e-yo” does not mean anything, it must still be used at the end of that phrase because it gives the sentence completion. Especially in a conversation, the ‘i-e-yo’ should be used because if not then you would just be stating a fact, and talking like a child that doesn’t know how to speak well. In the Korean culture, they tend to use words with no actual meaning at the end of a sentence because it makes the sentence sound better, thus, for them it completes the sentence. This is why I find it useful to know what each of the words mean because then I am able to use them with other words to make other sentences. This is a better way of learning a language rather than memorizing the whole phrase, and my learning partner has been extremely helpful in helping me understand and learn the language using this method.
As far improving in my communicative competence, I can continue to talk to my Korean friends in Korean and meet with my language partner every week. I can also improve by looking for more resources and apps that give me the opportunity to expand my Korean knowledge or even give me new fun and easier ways of learning the language. I think hearing myself say the words and sentences helps a lot because it allows me to really take into account my pronunciation of these words. I think having good pronunciation is important because if I speak to a Korean I would like for them to understand what I am trying to say, so I can have a decent conversation with them, and hopefully when I visit Korea, I can speak to people without having language difficulties.
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