Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language.
Each letter in the Korean alphabet is made of three basic strokes that can be reorganized into different configurations, so learning how to write most of the letters was simple; however, several Korean letters look the same as or similar to some characters in the Japanese writing systems. Although several letters looked the same as or a mirror image of a Japanese character, the letter’s reading is very different. Because I am so used to associating certain ‘signs’ with Japanese sounds, even now, I will sometimes misread or miswrite a Korean letter. These mistakes don’t happen as often now, but I still have to be careful.
Korean syllable blocks were something that I’ve never since before during my study of foreign languages. Rather than being written in a line, Korean words are broken up into syllable blocks which are made of 2-4 individual Korean letters. To read a word, you have to read each block right to left, top to bottom and then string that syllable to the next. At first, I had to work out the sound of each letter to read a block, but now I can read a block as a whole unit. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but overall, I know that my reading and writing skills have improved considerably since the beginning of the course.
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