This past week, I covered restaurant terminology and phrases. One of my goals for this semester is to learn how to order food at a Korean restaurant, and I have the materials to do so. In my last journal entry, I mentioned how it was difficult learning all the vocabulary in every chapter every week. So one of my strategies is to focus on the words and phrases that I would actually use. Some of the phrases weren't things I wouldn't say in English, so I didn't write them down.
The textbook I'm using includes terms such as restaurant, dinner, soup etc. and phrases such as "Can you get me the menu?". One of the more interesting phrases "We ate well!" relates to their culture. This is used as a farewell to the restaurant as a thank you. There are many phrases that use this structure. For example, the literal translation for "good luck on your test" is "take your test well". It's interesting to see this pattern in the language.
In one tutoring session, Lena went over some phrases on how to specifically order food in Korean. I'm allergic to sesame which is sadly used in most Korean dishes, so I'm learning to say that in Korean to get past any language barriers. It was really helpful to be able to ask questions and learn how to say more precisely what we would want to say. I will continue practicing and hopefully I'll be able to go to a Korean restaurant with Lena and Yixi before the semester is over.
Comments
Vocabulary is one of the hardest aspects of learning a new language. Organizing new words into thematic contexts is especially helpful! If it proves difficult to order food in a Korean restaurant with your sesame allergy, would it be helpful to try making something yourself with Korean-speaking company? You could probably even find a Korean recipe and ingredients list!
It happened to me as well when memorizing new words! And I think the strategy you came up with as to focus on the common words and phrases would work pretty well for me as well! By frequently using certain words or phrases, I believe that eventually they would become natural to us! As you mentioned above, there are lots of other expressions in Korean that their direct translations in English do not make any sense. I guess it would help once we bring ourselves into the Korean setting in order to have a better idea of the meanings!