In this semester self-directed language course for Korean, I not only learned a lot of Korean, but learned a lot about myself. I am very proud of the level of success I had in learning to speak Korean. I am able to introduce myself, greetings, farewells, tell time, months, days in the week, count in two numbering systems, express emotions, explain my identity, family, school, transportation, personality, and simple survival language.
As a language learner, I realized exactly what it takes to learn and understand a language. From some of the assigned readings, I learned how the brain process languages and how we structure meaning and language. Korean language is vastly different from the languages that I have learned in the past: English, Spanish and French. For instance, Korean holds more similarity to Chinese and Japanese in terms of the syntax structure to the pronunciation or writing than the Romance language. Hence, I struggled in learning to say some Korean words or phrases because of the tongue movement or noises that were foreign to me. One important aspect that I learned as a language learner is the important of listening and practicing. For me, Vocaroo served as the best tool to practice Korean speech as it provided me with a way to repeat and listen to myself. It helped me with pronunciation and learning. However, the greatest resource was my Korean language partner who is responsible for teaching me many Korean words and phrases. He helped me with my challenges of speaking Korean, in correcting my pronunciation and making connections.
As a cultural explorer, I discovered a lot about the Korean culture through the research for my presentations and other Korean learners’ presentations. I have the privilege of having many Korean friends who talk to me about the Korean culture. Through dialogue and conversations with my friends, I am able to become more informed and educated in the Korean culture. I have listened to many Korean songs (by David Choi). I have watched many Korean movies (like “Old Boy”) and game shows. I have eaten a lot of Korean food; thanks to my Korean roommates parents (cooked in my kitchen or Korean BBQ restaurants). I have learned about the history of Korea and the Korean language (Hangeul and Hanja). All of the aspects I learned from the Korean culture through my friends were applicable and facilitated my process of learning to speak Korean. From the video assigned on “Culture shock”, I realized the difficulty and challenges of foreign exchange or study abroad students in relations to assimilating and comprehending a different culture. It shaped my perspective as a cultural explorer. It is not as simple as finding new information on the culture, but attempting to understand the reasons and effects on the culture. I think this part is difficult to some degree, even though my experience does not compare to a student experience in a foreign country.
Another thing, I enjoyed were the presentations because I was able to get a glimpse of other students learning another language (Urdu, Turkish, German, Greek, and Hebrew) and aspects of their culture. The presentations from other Korean learners’ also offered more insight in Korean culture and language. My favorite readings were on bilinguals and language extinction. I consider myself bilingual, so the reading on studies on it was fascinating. Language extinction was interesting because of the effect it has on the world, by losing a language equates to losing a culture. I would have liked to learn more about this topic because of the magnitude and severity of a language disappearance. Another area that I would have liked to learn is slang, dialects, or mixture of languages. For example, I know in Miami, Fl there is a mixture of English and Spanish dialect referred to Spanglish. It would be interesting to learn if other cultures have that same experience and what is the effect of it on the culture and society.
Lastly, I will continue on my journey of learning Korean by learning how to read and write. Having learned a lot of Korean speech, I think it would ease me into reading and writing. I will continue to keep in touch with Alvin (my language partner/ great friend) and with my other Korean friends who can help me with Korean. I also have access to other online resources and apps that can aid me in Korean.
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