Although I have been speaking Korean with my friends and family ever since I learned to speak, I still tend to hesitate occasionally when I am asked if I am “fluent” in Korean. I would explain to my friends that I consider myself proficient in speaking, intermediate in reading slowly and listening, and “okay” in writing. I would watch variety shows and dramas with my sister and mom and speaking to my parents was (and still is) a must because they struggle with speaking English and also because I do not want to lose the ability to speak my first language. Outside of my household, I would say that I am still comfortable speaking the language, but frequently run into situations where I cannot come up with the specific Korean translation to a particular word.
During this spring semester, I will be paired up with Jenna Lee as my language partner. We have not had an official class yet but met up to discuss our plans for the coming weeks. We decided that I would be in a class with Vivian and meet every Tuesday afternoons from 5 to 7. I have built a close relationship with Vivian, but I have not gotten the chance to really get to know Jenna, so I am excited to connect and learn from her. We discussed about my level of Korean, my strengths and weaknesses of the language, and what I would like to accomplish in the next few weeks. When I watch Korean shows, I have a tendency to turn on English subtitles, so this semester I want to purely work on my listening skills. I also want to expand my vocabulary because although I can communicate well through Korean, I will stumble over more elaborate words. My dream is to become an ophthalmologist and also interpret in the hospital. Expanding my vocabulary would be beneficial and would make interpreting much easier.
The most difficult part of learning a language for me is the writing component. In English, we put spaces in between words, but in Korean since we use characters, I have been having difficulty knowing where to but the spaces. Also, there are characters that sound similar, but are used in different scenarios. I attempted to learn the difference and even though I can read it, knowing when to use which version when writing still troubles me. When I first learned French, we started off with the grammar rules then how to create the sentences. When I learned Korean, I learned how to speak it and write simple words through the combinations of the characters. I didn’t have intense lessons on how to structure words and combine them to make proper sentences. I don’t intend on being perfect in grammar structure by the end of the spring semester, but with the weekly two hour lessons with Jenna, I want to improve on my writing skills overall, expand my vocabulary while speaking with both Vivian and Jenna, and hopefully read Korean a little more quickly.
Comments