Most of my past language studies took place in formal classroom settings with fairly structured curricula that included worksheets and workbook exercises, dictation quizzes, listening exercises, cultural projects, and other interactive tasks. And, I honestly think these methods work well because they incorporate all four basic aspects of language learning: listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. But, I’m also excited about designing my own language learning program (!), because then I’ll be able to hone in on my weaknesses much faster and practice more deliberately…well because I can hit the replay button as many times as I want!
According to the surveys, I’m mostly an aural and kinesthetic learner, which makes sense since I like listening to conversations and deducing what people are saying if I don’t know enough vocabulary yet. And, if I had to choose, I’d probably say speaking and listening are my favorite skills to have, because I think they’re the most practical among the four fundamental language skills and I’m a pretty practical person. However, I strongly believe in holistic learning and appreciate the immersive experience I get from studying a foreign language. Therefore, I’d like to make my learning plan incorporate all four language skills if there’s time.
Some traditional activities I’d like to do when studying Korean include studying textbook dialogues and doing the supplemental exercises, watching online video lectures, and listening to audio files. For more interactive activities, I’ll try speaking in Korean with my Korean buddies regularly to get some immediate feedback and maybe even vlog.
My primary language is Fuzhounese, my Chinese dialect. I’ve also studied Mandarin Chinese, French, and English in the past and developed a love for learning languages in general. I liked looking for patterns and making connections that is often involved in language learning. For example, because my dialect is a spoken language, I’d make connections between the sounds in Fuzhounese and Mandarin Chinese, which speeds up the learning process by ten-fold. It worked the same way between English and French. But, as I mentioned earlier, my philosophy for learning languages is so that I can actually communicate with the people who speak it, not to show off. When I speak a foreign language, I’d like to serve some kind of purpose like translating or making cultural connections.
So my goal for learning Korean is the same: I hope to use it communicate with Koreans and bridge the cultural divide, so to speak. From my observations, speaking to another in their native tongue and making the effort to learn their language shows interest in who they are, which those people will oftentimes appreciate. Some people mistake the fondness for a language and culture as an obsession for a specific group of people, and there are some people who actually become obsessed with a particular group of people. But, I think for me and most people it’s more of an interest in the practices of the culture rather than the people themselves. It’s naive to say you like everyone of a specific nationality, but it’s very understandable if you agree with practices in the culture. Something I’d like to remember when learning about any culture or language is to not fantasize about the people or culture. For example, as I start my Korean learning journey, I’m going to try my best to clear my mind and start with a blank slate. I don’t want to assume anything about the Korean people from dramas I’ve watched or music videos I’ve listened to. Instead, I want to focus on learning the language and conduct legitimate research to learn about the culture and people.
