I wouldn't say that I made any major changes to my learning plan, but I did find some focuses in my study and learned what I lack the most. I've noticed that I needed to work a lot more on my writing and proper spacing in grammatical sense than speaking and learning new vocabulary. In order to make the most out of my time, I chose to distribute more time towards my writing exercises and less on my speaking, listening, and vocabulary. I been having some trouble learning all the confusing vowel spellings and spacing rules which are common mistakes for most native writers as well. My tutor has helped a lot by giving me tips to remember those rules, and having those extra practice exercises helped me practice applying to my writing.
Other than writing, I have been watching Korean tv shows on Korean language battles where they have a competition on earning points by answering different Korean language related questions. I really enjoy using the TV show because it is really fun and effective in improving my listening, reading, and vocabulary. It hits so many of my learning objectives all at once. In addition, having to talk to my tutor only in Korean boosted my comfort level in speaking. I would always talk in English with my other Korean friends, but after having my tutor to practice my speaking skills regularly, I feel more comfortable speaking Korean to my other Korean friends as well.
Language is definitely a part of culture, and on the other hand, culture is conveyed through language. They seem to be co-dependent on each other. Many language conventions exist because of a particular culture element. For example, slangs in Korean expanded so much due to the way young Koreans talk. In addition, this specific language value was conveyed through language and became a big part of the culture. There is a cycle between culture and language and one affects the other all the time.
With prior knowledge in Korean, I think I need to focus on grammatical competence and sociolinguistic competence. I think there's always room for more higher level vocabulary and syntax mastering. By focusing on sociolinguistic competence, I can improve my sensitivity to dialect and naturalness. In addition, it exposes me to a lot of cultural elements which allows me to get to know different cultural references and figures of speech. Even though I am Korean, with little native experience, I'm not too familiar with different cultural references and my slight uncomfortableness shows through my unnaturalness. When I visited Korea two years ago, I had friends telling me that I definitely have a foreigner vibe and I hope to be more natural after being exposed to various cultural cues and standards in my study.
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