As I mentioned earlier, I really want to get better at conversational Korean. My biggest challenge with improving my conversational skills in Korean is that I am too nervous to speak in improper Korean with other people. This goes to the extent that sometimes when I am having a conversation with someone in Korean, if I’m trying to say a word whose pronunciation I am not too sure about, I just say it really fast in the hopes that the other people will just get what I am trying to say. I realised that this does more harm than good. Knowing when saying each unit of the word clearly and more distinctly is more important than clubbing the various units together, and when not letting each unit sound too distinct and let them flow into each other is very important to how other people hear and understand what you’re trying to say. It is as Brenda mentioned, saying “안녕하세요” as “an-nyeong- ha-se-yeo” is better than clubbing these units together and saying “안녕하세요” as “anyonghasaeyo” or anything else that isn’t exactly how it is supposed to be pronounced; while, on the other hand, saying “ 잘했어” as “jal-haesseo” by letting ‘했’ and ’어’ flow together is more appropriate than saying “잘했어” as “jal-haed-sau” by showing clear distinction between the different units of the word.
So far, the way I have recorded what I learned was predominantly in written Korean. However, because the words do not always sound the way they are written and nuances in how it is pronounced are important. I recently realised that this is counter productive to learning how to speak Korean well. So, from now on, I am going to start documenting what I learn in ways that aren’t just writing; for example, by using audio recordings. This way, when I am doubtful about how a word should be pronounced, I can listen to audio files which would help me out a lot in practicing speaking and listening.
Lately to practice pronunciations, I have been trying to memorise various Korean song lyrics and their meaning, and I have been trying to sing along with the artist at a slower speed. This has been extremely fun to do and immensely helpful, because it lets me practice listening and reading when I’m trying to hear and memorise the lyrics, it helps me expand my vocabulary by learning new words and their different tenses from the lyrics, it helps me get more comfortable with speaking because singing helps me get more comfortable with making the sounds that are used in the Korean language. I sometimes even record myself to see how I sound. Even small changes in how a word in the lyrics of a song is pronounced can effect the rhythm of the song. So, when I’m listening to my recordings, it’s easy to recognise when my pronunciations are a little off from what they should be.
Another thing I’ve recently started doing to better my conversational skills is watching a K-drama called Cheese in the Trap. It’s set in a college environment so I think that for my current situation, as a college student, I can get more out of this than other K-dramas. The last K-drama I watched (Boys Over Flowers) also helped me learn a lot fo new vocabulary and see various interactions but it was a high-school setting so it wasn’t as apt as this one. I’ll evaluate how watching this effects my language learning journey after I make significant progress in the show.
Comments