My learning experience has been eye opening. I learned vocabulary much easier than I thought I would. I still find it hard to remember vocabulary despite practicing it however, I have progressed farther than I thought I possibly could. Looking back at my first reflection for 105, I mentioned I was a bad language learner because of my memorization skills. Learning the Korean alphabet was as easy as I expected it to be even though I struggle with the harder vowels. According to the FIRE model, I am a rational learner as well as a bit of a factual learner. I realized when I was learning the Korean alphabet and vocabulary, I tended to use story-telling and mnemonic techniques to memorize them. Through this course, I found that, practicing it every day made it easier to learn a language rather than just hearing it every day without proper studying. I was, of course, aware of this simple concept before I even signed up for this course but practicing it in terms of language learning was different. In other words, I finally believed this concept. The phone apps really helped particularly because they were easily accessible at any time of the day. The articles from Talk to me in Korean really helped me in my learning process as well because they were easy to understand and I did not need to access them too often once I got the basics down.
When it came to learning culture, I was a bit surprised with myself. I learned that I approached culture differently. For instance, I never thought of time as a cultural factor. I grew up in India which is a laid-back country, not very strict with punctuality so when I came to the US, I was a bit taken aback with the emphasis on time keeping and punctuality. Back then I thought India was wrong because they did not have the same mindset when it came to time as the US does. After having studied and learned about different cultures through presentations and readings, I now understand that it is a matter of perspective and therefore, culture. It is not about who is right or wrong because neither is right or wrong. It’s just a matter of culture. Growing up, I knew imposing one’s culture on the other was wrong but I saw it through the medium of colonization. This course showed me that even in the little things like how daily life is conducted based on time there is not right or wrong and there should be no imposing of one on the other.
When it comes to language I plan to use story-telling and mnemonic techniques more because it has proved to be successful. I also plan on developing a regular practice habit not only in hearing but actual studying and regular testing if I have to learn a language again.
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