I’ve worked with Sun for a whole semester to learn basic Korean words and sentences. At first, I wanted to learn Korean because I planned to travel to Korea this summer. Also I wanted to learn Korean because I want to better understand the Korean drama and the daily conversations. So when I made my learning plan, I mainly focused on the Listening and Speaking. After one semester, I am so proud that I can speak basic words. I am also impressed that I know how to do the greetings and how to look at the menu, how to identify the numbers…etc.
At the beginning of the semester, I was identified by the Learning Style Test as a visual learner in which it suggests me to learn language by using symbols, graphs and charts. Thus, I have been using software called memrise where they have pictures for each vocabulary aside to assist learning. Also I used Mango app to enhance my learning experience which can correct myself from the wrong pronounciation. I have to thank Melody to send us the recording that Sun makes for each lesson so that we can practice and correct our pronunciation after class. Language partner is also a great resource to have when we encounter grammar questions. Sun would clarify our questions in the plainest language in which saves us the trouble to go through grammar book or search online for explanation. Also if we three found something we wanted to know more, we can directly ask Sun to expand more.This self-study class has also allowed us the freedom to learn what interest us and learn the most useful phrases. Also the course is really interesting, because Sun can tell us a lot of cultural facts as a Korean. This enables me to gain the insight of Korean culture from a true Korean.
I love Korean drama before I learned Korean. Over this semester, I watched three Korean dramas. They are all different themes and topics. One is about the journalists in Korea, One is about a love story in Korea and One is about the Spy in Korea. So I learned some specific words in those three types of dramas. I tried to not look at the Chinese translation at first and to see how much I could understand from the conversation and then make comparison. If I found one conversation most useful, I just listened to the conversation again and again. I found Korean films are interesting too but they are too difficult for a beginner to learn vocabulary but they are really good to learn the Korean culture. Like my cultural project, I focused on how the criminal series reflect the society. Other love story in Korean film also reveals the dating cultural and formal speaking in Korea.
One thing I could improve in the future Korean learning is on the writing and reading side. I found writing and reading will help the speaking and listening. They provide a formalized way to learn Korean and once you master all the alphabets you are able to identify the pronouciation through the alphabets. And my main purpose is not to get lost when I am traveling to Korea so I have to be able to read basic Korean!
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