In the presentation I shared about my study plan for Korean language acquisition. For this semester, I planned to study vocabulary about several aspect of life. However, I underestimated the number of words we have in languages. Until now, I am still studying the list about school-related expression. After I started to use the textbook Integrated Korean, I followed the sequence in the book. Using school-related topic, the book introduces simple grammar and expression. Personally, I appreciate the structure of this book because it is related to international college students who can use the phrases immediately in everyday conversations. I decided to change my focus mostly on school-related topic and study vocabulary which is relative.
The class which me and Jenna watched two series of Korean drama, makes an obvious relation between the textbook and tutoring class. There’s one line the protagonist said “준비가 아직 안 된 거 같아서요.” In the context it means ‘I don’t think (I’m) ready (to prepose) yet.” However, the subject and the verb can be omitted in spoken language if the context makes them obvious enough. The play writer utilize this grammar feature to twist the plot. I didn’t notice this correlation before we turned on the Korean subtitles and analyze the lines. By watching the drama, I understand more about Korean culture in both work place and school settings since there are plots happened in those places. Language plays an important rule in identity recognition, especially in Korean which is a language has several different levels of formality. In my opinion, the best way to describe the relationship between language and culture is that they both reflect and affect each other.
To improve my communicative competence, I would need opportunity to communicate in Korean with others and receive instant feedback about my mistakes. I went to the church in Richmond last week and I found there is many opportunity for me to input and output Korean. I would go to the church as much as possible. My goal for Korean is being able to talk to Korean speakers therefore my listening and speaking competence are highly emphasized in my study plan.
Comments
I completely agree that watching Korean dramas can greatly supplement your language learning. In most books that teach Korean, I've noticed that they are almost exclusively focused on formal language. But like you said, there are different levels of formality so it isn't always best to learn by book. K-dramas definitely help demonstrating application of vocabulary and the appropriate formality to use in different situations.