Language Journal #4

[Ethan Han]

I am still writing a few sentences every day making sure to include new vocab. I am currently trying to use a lot more conjunctions and advanced adjectives. This helps me sound more fluent and natural in my writing. For listening I am listening to a lot of Korean music. I try to stay away from K-pop music because it is harder to hear the lyrics and also get lost in the music and lose focus on the words being sung. I am listening to 80’s Korean music. They sing a lot slower so it is easier for me to understand what is being said. By listening to music I am able to pick up on repeated words and every time I listen to a song again I understand more and more of what’s being said. I am continuing to read short paragraphs in Korean. I make note of sentence structures that confuse me and take a few minutes to fully understand what is being said. Then I try to write my own sentences in the same structure. For speaking practice, I call my parents every other day and I try to talk in Korean as much as possible. However, talking to my parents in Korean isn’t the best practice because they are fluent in English too so whenever I am stuck I am tempted to switch over to English. However, I call my grandparents every few weeks and they only speak Korean. Thus, speaking to them in Korean is much better practice because I am forced to remember all of my Korean knowledge. Over this semester I have improved my writing skills. However, I wish to improve my speaking skills. My language partner gave me a few tips to help me accomplish this. She told me over the summer while I am home I could dedicate part of my day where I would only speak Korean to my parents. During this time English is forbidden and I can only use Korean. One new strategy I used was solely using Korean when speaking. This has helped me strengthen my “Korean brain” because I am forced to think in only Korean. It is difficult but I have found myself using words and grammar in new ways to help me convey what I want to say. Also, switching to only a “Korean brain” has helped unearth old Korean knowledge and skills I had when I was younger and spoke Korean. For example, the other day I was talking to my Korean friend and I used a conjugation that I have never learned before. He pointed that out and complimented me and I realized that I knew that conjugation because either my parents used that conjugation a lot when speaking Korean around me, or I used it in my speaking when I was younger and spoke Korean. I will continue to use transitional words and advanced vocabulary in my writing and speaking. Also, I will continue to speak and write only in Korean.

[Elspeth Collard]

That is super interesting that you were able to subconsciously pull that conjugation out of your memories from your parents or childhood! I also really like that you're using Korean Brain to describe the shift in thought patterns you have to go through to speak another language. It's so true and truly forcing immersion on yourself for a couple hours a day seems like a great idea!