How well did you achieve your goals?
Looking through my learning plan, I didn't necessarily achieve my goals too effectively. I'm not good at listening and understanding Korean. This is because I haven't acquired enough vocabulary and phrases that allow me to be good. What I was learning during the semester was different to what my Korean friends would say among themselves. The specific topics that I chose to focus on in the language limited my ability to learn about other topics that were more relate-able and current to situations that I face everyday. But based on the phrases and vocabulary that I do know, I could understand them when spoken to or not to a certain extent though. When Korean is spoken in a fast tone, I can only pick out certain words that I am familiar with and have difficulty understanding the sentences. When spoken in a slow tone, I can pick out familiar words, sometimes recognize and understand the sentence if it's a familiar phrase. Overall my pronunciation is decent on the first try, but it takes me a few tries to get the pronunciation sounding perfect for a non-Korean. I still kind of have trouble with making certain sounds. I can speak clearly enough that Koreans can understand me. But for certain phrases that require more effort to remember, I tend to speak in a slower tone than I would for phrases that I can recall immediately.
I haven't tested my restaurant knowledge at a Korean restaurant yet. So I don't know if I actually accomplished my goal in being good at understanding and ordering at restaurants. One potential problem that I see with this is the potential that the waitresses will speak in a tone that makes it difficult for me to pick out words and phrases that I am familiar with. And so it would be more effective if they speak in a slower tone.
I haven't accumulated enough interpersonal skills due to a lack of time and the need to acquire certain topics in order to fulfill beginner requirements. But I think with more time, practice, accumulation of vocabulary/phrases, and experience, I should be able to accomplish this goal.
In general, I think my goals were too ambitious for the time that was available to me. But I think they're a good first start.
What were the stumbling blocks you encountered?
The stumbling blocks I encountered were a lack of time, need to meet certain beginner requirements, fast tone of speech, insufficient vocabulary and phrases, impulsive pronunciations, and the amount of practice should have been greater.
How were you able to overcome them?
I haven't really overcome these obstacles yet. Since the semester is over, some of these obstacles would have been helpful if they were overcome during the semester. However now, they're irrelevant. For the rest of the obstacles, it would require more work after the semester in order to accomplish them. It would take months to overcome these obstacles and get to a level that is comparable to a Korean speaker. I was able to overcome one obstacle though, impulsive pronunciation. I knew what sound I had to make but when it comes down to it, I impulsively say another sound. This however only occurred to one particular word in a phrase. To overcome this, I wrote out the romanticized translation of the Korean words in the phrase. Then I changed the translation of the word that I was having the most trouble with into a translation that correlates with how I should say the word actually. So for example the actual translation is meog eoss but I would change this into meog oss to make it easier for my brain to recognize what sound I needed to make.
What was most/least interesting to you?
My most favorite part about my semester is that I was broadening my knowledge of Korean. I think of it as one step closer to being able to get around in Korea on my own by speaking and reading Korean when I one day go there. It was also interesting to hear and learn about other cultures when I normally wouldn't. It was interesting to learn new vocabulary that correlate with what a normal conversation would be like in certain situations. I learned so much about Korea itself and it's culture that would definitely be useful to know one day. I also enjoyed the Korean children song about numbers. I read a couple articles about the elderly committing suicide which I thought was really interesting. Normally I wouldn't expect this to happen since most Asian cultures value family. And so I would be interested in learning more about this and following along with it.
My least favorite part about the semester is the amount of work that I needed to pass in for SDLC 110. Like everyone else, I did not follow the syllabus and so I was a bit shocked when a list of materials was due. I definitely wished that I payed attention to the syllabus and had progressively completed the work throughout the semester than in the course of 2 days. But then again, I can't complain since it was my fault. The least interesting part about Korean is Korea's pop music industry. I honestly am not interested in Korean music and so this part of the culture which comprises a significant portion does not interest me at all. Korean dramas don't interest me either.
What would you like to do next?
I am going to practice more with the vocabulary that I know. Maybe take a few Korean classes if there is any at the location where I end up at. One day, I'm going to live in Korea or at least visit it. It's on my bucket list. I'm also considering teaching English as a way to expand my knowledge. Though I'm not too keen with Korean dramas, I do see them as a way to build vocabulary. And so I will watch them when I have time. While I'm going to keep in contact with my Korean friends, I will use them to build my vocabulary (this sounds bad). I don't necessarily trust the internet in acquiring vocabulary but I will use my friends as a way to confirm whether the vocabulary is correct and spelled correctly.
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