During the last month of my Korean class I was able to continue with my reading of the book “Magic”. I continued writing my daily gratitude journal in Korean and tried to use different phrases or vocabulary to write my sentences. I find it very interesting how the way English is phrased and used is different from the way the language Korean is phrased. There is a side to the Korean language where it could be more poetic and have deeper meanings to the words and how it is positioned in the sentence. I feel like reading the book in Korean gave me more motivation and really touched me inside.
Also my language partner Vivian and I and also one of her other students, Aliya went to have a cultural experience this month. We went to a Korean restaurant for Yewon Korean Barbeque. We all read the menu in Korean and ordered our meal in the language. I also started a conversation with one of the workers when they came to serve other food. It was a really great experience to meet someone who speaks the language fluently and talk to them about various topics. I had a conversation about the current situation in Korea. South Korea has recently removed the quarantine policy so that it would be a lot easier for people to travel. The worker is planning to visit Korea over the summer because of this change of regulation. But this also means the airplane price is increasing really fast. I am worried that I will not be able to visit my family that often in the future because of the high prices. The men worker who cooked our meat was very kind and started talking about his experience from Busan in his Busan accent. It was really cool to hear different dialects and how people from different locations have different accents.
As my last assignment, I wrote an essay about my plans and goals for the future. In other words, I wrote paragraphs about what I wanted to achieve after I graduate from College and one of those goals is to get a Korean language certificate. I also wrote about the near future of what I will be doing in the summer. I am planning on traveling back to Korea for my brother’s graduation and spending more time with my family there. I think writing my goals in Korean was a lot harder than if I were to write them in english. It took me some time to make sure that I am phrasing my thoughts correctly and spelling all the words correctly.
I would like to thank my language partner Vivian for spending time with me this semester to try to really grow in utilizing the language. I think having support and encouragement from her was very helpful. Looking back I think doing the assignments such as writing research papers and other writing assignments were very challenging. But as I overcame each challenge I was able to grow more as a student.
Comments
Hello Rachel! Your semester sounds like it's been a lot of fun and very productive. I love the idea of a gratitude journal and might incorporate that into my future language learning routine. Yewon is also really close to where I live and I always wanted to go there. After your review I think I definitely will!