My partner and I have continued to incorporate topic based conversations into my learning plans, some of these being: summer plans, the Korean election, and our favorite genres of music. These have continued to be effective in creating a casual atmosphere whilst pushing me to speak about topics I usually wouldn’t in my target language. But besides the topic based conversations, I have also begun to go over lyrics to multiple songs with my partner every week. This wasn’t initially in my learning plan, but I realized that many English artists incorporate word play or have a selection of words that enhance the music. The same must go for Korean artists, and it's interesting to actually read the lyrics, since for Korean songs I’m usually less focused on the lyrics unless it's a ballad/romance song. But especially for rap, which is sometimes incoherent, reading the lyrics allows me to see what the artist slipped in a verse here and there, or the wordplay in general. Reading these lyrics aren’t going to make me instantaneously better at Korean, but they definitely help with comprehension and pronunciation.
I don’t plan on adding anything substantial to my current learning plan as we are nearing the end of the semester, but I think it's important to continue to practice my Korean both with and without my partner. I continue to listen to Korean radio shows using KBS Kong, and watch numerous Korean youtubers in my free time. Kind of off topic, but one channel I’m watching right now is Korean Zombie’s channel, a MMA fighter, who is going through different cities in Korea to find challengers, many of whom end up being street fighters and therefore no match. But they thoroughly interview the people that show up on the show, and it’s always interesting to listen and try to completely comprehend what they are saying.
Comments
Joseph,
I found that learning a new language through their culture and arts was the easiest way to break that barrier, so it's super awesome that you're unpacking different Korean songs. Rap is definitely hard to understand no matter the language used, but I think it's great that you're working on uncovering the deeper meaning behind the ever-so fast phrases. Thanks for an great post!
Hello Joseph! I am glad you are using the Korean language outside of class. It is very important to frequently engage yourself in the language. I feel like that is the only way we can improve and get better. I think you're doing a great job looking up the lyrics to songs and knowing that they mean. Songs are something that we can listen everyday so once you know the lyrics you can begin to pick up on some words. Keep up the good work!
I think that listening to Korean music and being attentive to the lyrics is a really great way to improve language comprehension skills. I love listening to Korean music too, from ballads to k-pop and rap. As you mentioned, I've also noticed a lot of wordplay in Korean rap music.