This is the third week of classes and even though the workload is picking up, I can still manage to study Korean at least 20 to 30 minutes a day. During this time, I review the alphabet by doing Duolingo and listening to alphabet songs on Youtube for consonants or vowels that give me a difficult time. I can identify the consonants and vowels and write out phonetically how to say them, but the sounds I produce may not match what those sounds are supposed to be. For an example, the sound of the vowel “으” is not easily replicated in English, so whenever I say the vowel, I have to remind myself that. Some consonants/vowels are easier to pronounce than others such as ㄹ (r/l),ㅏ(a),ㅣ(ee),ㅁ(m),ㅂ(b/p). However, I will say that I can quickly identify and say around 80% of the alphabet correctly. The other 20% would require additional practice and I should be able to master the alphabet by the end of September at the latest.
I am a commuter student so my trip to the University of Richmond is around 15 to 20 minutes. On some mornings, I have been playing the Spotify podcast called, “Real Life Korean Conversations for Beginners”. This podcast consists of two Korean natives speaking a two-minute dialogue discussing easy topics pertaining to day-to-day life. After the dialogue, they would select key phrases and repeat them slowly for the audience to digest. I found this podcast to be incredibly helpful for review because the pace of the conversation is slow, so I can listen carefully to the phrases. In addition to the podcast, my iTalki session with my Korean teacher has helped me identify my weaknesses and strengths. We started to learn a few honorifics and phrases used for introductions, and I felt incredibly accomplished after each session. For an example. I learned how to say “Hello, I am Liu, Anna. Nice to meet you” (안녕하세요, 저는윤안나입니다. 반갑습니다) . Fortunately, Korean does not have tones compared to Mandarin which makes speaking simplified and easier to do. Additionally, my iTalki teacher assigned me a few short paragraphs to help me practice blending the Korean characters together as a speaking exercise. We will review the assignment next session and learn more honorifics and phrases pertaining to day-to-day conversations.
Somyung and I met on Tuesday and we went over the alphabet together. This session with Somyung allowed me to realize that I can identify the consonants and vowels but my pronunciation is somewhat off for the consonants that sound alike. For an example, ㅈ(j),ㅊ(ch),ㅉ(jj) sound alike and differ only by the softness or hardness of the produced sounds. Another set of consonants that I am having a difficult time with is ㄲ(gg),ㄱ(g/k),ㅋ(k).
With the variety of resources I identified for my language acquisition journey, I feel that I am on track to achieve all my goals for the semester or even more. The feeling of excitement when I said a phrase correctly or when I pass a level on Duolingo pushes me to continue and learn more.
Comments