My personal goals for the past few weeks have been to continue to improve my written and spoken Korean while also learning about Korean culture by consuming various forms of Korean media.
I wanted to develop my basic Korean vocabulary as well as my speaking and writing fluency with my language partner. We have been working toward this goal during our weekly meetings. My partner dictates various English words and phrases that I will first translate out loud. I will then write these words in my notebook in Hangeul. Following this, my partner will correct any written mistakes I make. During the end of our sessions, my partner has me write a small paragraph of two to three sentences using the words and phrases we just practiced.
My writing has improved the most using this learning strategy, and I plan to continue to do this. In order to take full advantage of these sessions, I should periodically go back and review notes from previous sessions in order to maintain my vocabulary knowledge. I also should have more conversational, back and forth interactions with my partner instead of only translating and transcribing.
One revision I would like to make is increasing my consumption of Korean media. I have watched episodes of Moving, a popular Korean drama that recently came out. I would like to watch more episodes of this show. I would also like to watch more YouTube videos about Korean history and culture, as well as keep up with Korean news.
I have tried to speak more often in Korean with my Korean and Korean-American friends around me on campus. It is still very difficult for me to have a continuous dialogue in Korean, but I have been told that my Korean is better than I let on. This has been very encouraging.
Overall, I have been satisfied with my progress, and with a few changes I think I will be on track to achieve all of my goals from the beginning of the semester.
Comments
I think learning about Korean culture via media is a great idea, and I think it can definitely help you learn the language better! It's great to see that your writing has improved, and that you've been watching Kdrama to learn. I think its very respectable that you've practiced with your friends on campus, I think conversational usage of a language is definitely the most efficient way.