Lately, Jason and I have been focusing more on common phrases and sentence endings/modifiers that I don’t use often in my speaking. This is to widen my breadth of communication skills, especially since much of my Korean is limited to the speech of my parents, family members, and members of my local community. Looking into the nuances has been tricky at times, as, naturally, there are certain verbs that only work with specific nouns, or certain sentence endings that have highly specific use cases that I am still adjusting to. Each meeting, we typically dive into about three to four phrases/sentence endings and then continue to create example sentences from these. Jason gives feedback and modifies these accordingly, making sure to record these sentences for my review. I hope to continue to grow this list, while naturally picking up new vocabulary vis-a-vis Jason’s colloquialisms as well as many academic terms that I am asking about, as, naturally, academics is what would be a major part of my speech when speaking in Korean. Because of this, we have continued to, since the beginning of the semester, expand my self-introduction to encompass more of my studies and describe what I am learning as a cognitive science student as most of the discipline-specific lexicon was foreign to me.
Beyond self-introductions, we have been exploring more cultural nuances that I simply have not been exposed to as a Korean-American. For instance, certain ways to address a taxi driver are vital for a respectful and polite interaction, so, subsequently, we have been creating scenarios to practice with. Specific phrases to ask for directions, giving commands, and even how to use Korea’s various transit systems are new to me, and Jason has done a terrific job of explaining these cultural concepts lucidly. Adjacent to learning the jargon for Korea’s transit system, we have also been exploring several technology terms, as, given most of my Korean knowledge comes from being a heritage speaker, several terms I’ve used are outdated––even as far as more rudimentary translations such as the Korean word for electrical outlets. Being exposed to technological words has also had the benefit of revisiting several hanja root words that are commonly found, which is always a nice benefit since these are the building blocks of Korean.
In terms of my emotions, I am feeling a bit nervous as my study abroad to Korea is soon approaching, and this has given rise to wishing I had immersed myself in Korean even further. Although there is nothing to be done about this, Jason and I have agreed to have complete 100% Korean interactions even outside the classroom which has helped me retain a “Korean way of thinking” at UR. However, I also unequivocally believe that my Korean has tremendously improved since the start of the year, so this has been nice to see––dormant things have since awakened, my conversations are much more complex, and descriptions are much richer and felicitous.
Comments
It's truly inspiring to see the dedication and focus you and Jason are putting into expanding your Korean language skills. Your intentional approach to learning common phrases and nuanced sentence structures is commendable, especially as you aim to broaden your communication abilities beyond familiar speech patterns.
Isaac, it sounds like you are progressing with Jason! The target practice with Jason and creating real scenarios is something that will help you in Korea. There is no reason to be nervous about your time in Korea you were so knowledgeable being my teacher and I am sure Jason will get you to that next level.
I think its great you are practicing Korean by role playing different scenarios with Jason. I also think all the different tonage and uses (although not officially distinct within the language) are confusing, as it is more tied to the culture than the structure of the language