Throughout the past month, I have been able to practice all aspects of learning a language: reading, writing (handwriting and typing!), listening, and speaking. For reading, I have begun to read a Korean children’s book called “잘 자요, 달님,” which means “Good night, moon.” I read each line aloud to my language partner, and together we talk about what the line means, its structure, and any words or grammar rules I have not learned yet. I find that this is a great way to learn simple vocabulary words, as well as basic grammar. My language partner and I have also been doing a fun activity to practice listening and writing. Jannette says a word or phrase in Korean and I handwrite or type what I hear. (I got this idea from Talk to Me In Korean, which is a great resource!) This is also a good exercise to learn new vocabulary. It is particularly interesting to learn words that are not spelled the way they are pronounced. For the most part, Korean words are spelled exactly the way they are pronounced (unlike English words). However, there are a few exceptions. It is helpful to have me hear those types of words before seeing them so that I really remember how they are supposed to be pronounced. In all of the exercises I do with my language partner, we practice speaking so that I become more comfortable with pronunciation and sounding like a native speaker. One particularly helpful tip Jannette gave me was to lower my voice at the end of my sentences. Often, new language speakers have an upspeak at the end of their phrases, which makes them sound confused. In some cases, it can change the meaning of the phrase entirely. There are some phrases in Korean which can be spoken as a question or an answer depending on the pitch at the end of the phrase. If I have an upspeak, the person I am talking to may think I am asking a question when I mean to be giving an answer.
I am finding that learning a language is a challenging and humbling experience. I feel proud when I am able to read or spell a word correctly. Learning any new language is certainly challenging, but I am enthusiastic and committed because of how personal the language and culture is to me. In addition, I enjoy learning about connections between the Korean language and culture. One well-known aspect of Korean culture is respect for elders, and this is evident in the language. However, I also find this confusing because I may know a phrase in its informal tense but not the formal version. This is something that I want to build on in the future: learning when and how to use an informal/formal tense.
Overall, I think the activities that my language partner and I are doing are effective and enjoyable. Moving forward, I want to continue to improve my reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. I also hope to learn more about living and working in Korea, as I am interested in doing so one day.
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