In the past two weeks, I have learned how to introduce various aspects about myself in Korean. I now know how to say, “My name is Eden,” “I am a college student,” “It is nice to meet you,” “I am from America,” and “I am majoring in leadership and music.” These sentences took a long time to learn because I need to hear the Korean pronunciation several times before I can say it correctly. The vocabulary that Prof. Kim has been teaching us is different aspects about me and my classmates, such as “name,” “student,” “doctor,” “husband,” “wife,” etc. So far, most of the phrases that I have learned have been very practical. I will introduce myself many times in Korean, so it is essential to know how to explain various aspects about myself.
The strategy that Prof. Kim has been using to teach us is lots of repetition. When I learn a new phrase in Korean, I write down the Korean spelling and English translation. At this point in my language learning, I still need to write out the pronunciation in English. This is because it takes me a very long time to read Korean, as I read words letter by letter. Prof. Kim still emphasizes conversation over reading and writing because she believes that we will be speaking and listening in Korean more than communicating through text. I think that Prof. Kim’s strategies are effective. Conversation and language immersion is an extremely effective way for me to learn a language. I am still at a beginner level though, so sometimes it seems like Prof. Kim is speaking very quickly to me.
One obstacle that I expected to encounter was surprise at the fact that I cannot speak Korean, even though I am Korean. However, I was not expecting to encounter shock to this degree and by my instructor. In my beginner level class, I am one of two Korean people. Almost every time I do not understand Prof. Kim, she is shocked. It is difficult for her to see my Korean language level because she assumes that I know more than I actually do. After four weeks, she still laughs when I do not understand something she thinks is simple. My professor showing constant surprise at my beginner skill level adds another challenge for me to overcome. Despite this obstacle, I am glad that I am learning Korean. I have already learned several important phrases that I can actually use when meeting someone new.
As I continue in my Korean studies, I hope to learn how to say more useful descriptions about myself, such as how old I am, things that I enjoy doing, and what my family is like. I also think that learning a lot of vocabulary words is important because it will help me listen to native Korean speakers. Knowing more Korean words will help me identify them when others speak, so that I can get a better grasp of what they are talking about.
Finally, something cool that I learned is that, when the written Korean language was being created, all of the characters were made to reflect either the sky, ground, or people. Korean is a very logical language. This is helpful to keep in mind when writing Korean because it provides context for where the next character should be placed in relation to the others.
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