Blogs

Over these two weeks I’ve been doing more listening comprehension exercises so I have been watching Korean television shows. One of the shows I have been enjoying is called “I Can See Your Voice (너의 목소리 보여)”. Some of the contestants on the show ended up being skilled vocalists who do traditional Korean music (국악) and can sing pansori (판소리). I have found pansori very interesting for a while so this has inspired by cultural post and artifacts for this period.

Other things I have learned these weeks were about elders and grandparents. This led to a heavy practice of formal language, which is very difficult to remember to use. This formal language is used not only when speaking to elders, but when speaking of elders as well. Even if they are not present they are spoken about respectively.

Pansori (판소리) is a traditional Korean art that includes a singer accompanied by a drum. The singer is not only singing, but they deliver a story with narratives and gestures. The singer plays multiple characters in a story, so they must be good at changing voices that are full of emotion. It has been selected by UNESCO as an “intangible cultural heritage” that represents the country of Korea. The Pan in pansori means “a place where people gather” and Sori means “song”, meaning that pansori can be songs sung in gatherings.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1z6hBHCXPf4

동재: 이 시계는 왜 사?

태영: 남자 친구한테 선물할 거야.

동재: 또? 전에도 바지 사 줬잖아.

태영: 그건 바지고, 이건 시계잖아.

동재: 넌 밀당도 몰라? 너무 잘해 주면 안돼. 가끔식 그 남자를 나쁘게 대우해야돼.

태영: 그런데 넌 오늘 여자 친구 안 만나?

동재: 이번 주엔 안 만나려고. 너무 자주 만나면 내가 소중한 걸 모르거든.

태영: 넌 진짜 ‘밀당의 고수’ 구나. 난 그렇게 못 하겠더라.

DJ: Why did you buy this watch?

TY: I’m giving this to my boyfriend as a present.

DJ: Again? You just bought him pants.

TY: Those were pants, this is a watch.

DJ: Don’t you know what push- pull is? You can’t treat him too well. Sometimes you have to treat him poorly.

TY: But are you not meeting your girlfriend today?

DJ: I’m not meeting her this week. If I meet her too often I won’t know how precious she is.

TY: Well aren’t you an expert in push-pull. For me I couldn’t do that.

This dialogue contains a trendy vocab word I learned in 110: 밀당. This word means push and pull which refers to how people push someone away to realize their worth and pull them back before it causes tension. It also uses some grammar that was also taught in 111 (한테) and includes new grammar as well (어/아 야돼/해).

The person I recorded this with said that I did very well in pronunciation and even some of my articulations and tones sounded very Korean. However, I feel that I pronounced some words a little off. I will continue to practice until I become more comfortable with dialogue.

Over these two weeks I mostly did a review of the things I learned in 110, specifically grammar and trendy vocab. Some things I had forgotten so I had to reteach myself.

Other things I learned in these weeks were about describing birthday events and identifying and reading certain dates. The grammar pertaining to this concerned saying from whom/which things are received or to whom they were given, taking formality into consideration (한테, 께, 에서).

I also learned about how to ask for and give phone numbers and answering questions and responding to problem with a certain reason. The grammar that we learned pertains to giving reasons (어/아서) and to express the need to do something (어/아야 되/하다).

My Learning Plan

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My goal for this semester is to improve my speaking. Last semester I was not very comfortable speaking amongst my peers, but now that it is the second semester I believe I will be more comfortable since I have been exposed to the process before. My reading and writing are good for my level, so the main focus should be on speaking and conversation skills.

I want to explore the everyday life of Koreans as well as political problems concerning South Korea. I believe group discussions and further research will give me more insight to these topics. Hopefully understanding thee two topics will allow me to better understand the link between them and how they affect each other.

데이리 스킨 케어 루틴

1. 첫번째는 더블 클렌징입니다. 화장을 지우고 있으면 제가 The Face Shop 미감수 클렌징 오일과 클렌징 폼을 사용합나다.
2. 그 다음에 Skinfood Rice Wash-off Mask를 사용합니다. 이 마스크가 각질 제거와 브라이트닝을 좋습니다.
3. 다음에는 토너를 사용합니다. 저는  Cosrx AHA / bha Clarifying Treatment Toner를 사용하고 있습니다. 이 토너가 각질 제거 및 피부 균형 유지에 도움이됩니다.
4. 그 다음에 에센스를 사용합니다. Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence는 강력한 젤타이프 에센스 피부를 수복하고 있으니까 좋아합니다.
5. 다음에는 시간이 있다면 제가 시트 마스크를 사용할 겁니다. 저는 Tonymoly를 사용하는 것을 좋아한다. 다른 피부 콘디션에 필요한 다른 성분들을 가지고있는 Real Sheet Mask Pack이는 좋습니다.
6. 그 다음에 지성피부가 있으면, 피부를 맑게하는 Skinfood Peach Sake Pore Serum을 사용하겠습니다.
7. 마지막으로 수분 크림이나 슬리핑팩을 사용합니다. Mizon Black Snail All in One 크림이나 Etude House Moistfull Collagen Sleeping Pack을 사용하겠습니다.

Daily skincare routine

1. First step is double cleansing. First I use The Face Shop Rice Water Bright oil-based cleanser to remove makeup and then The Face Shop Rice Water Bright water-based foam cleanser to remove everything else.
2. Next I use the Skinfood rice wash off mask. It helps to exfoliate and brighten my skin.
3. Then I use a toner. I am currently using the Cosrx Aha/bha Clarifying Treatment Toner which helps with dead skin cell removal and skin balancing.
4. Next I use an essence. I like to use the Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence because it is a gel that repairs my skin with powerful ingredients.
5. Then if I have time I will put on a sheet mask. I like using the Tonymoly I’m Real Sheet Mask Pack which have different ingredients for different skin needs.
6. Next if my skin is really oily, I will use my Skinfood Peach Sake Pore Serum which gets rid of oiliness.
7. Finally I will put on a moisturizer or sleeping pack. I will use either the Mizon Black Snail All in One Cream or the Etude House Moistfull Collagen Sleeping Pack.

This is the second semester I study Korean with my learning partner Minkyung. Same as last semester, MInkyung prepared teaching material for each class, and since she knew my level well, she could prepare the learning material that best fit me. However, since there were two new students in the beginner's class, Minkyung had to cover some topics that we already learnt last semester. But this is a also a good way for me to review the words and dialogues. The most important progress that I made this semester is that I mastered the Hangul system and am able to write and read most of the Korean words. In this reflection paper, I am going to first talk about the good things that I really enjoyed during the semester including my favorite learning sources, my good ways of learning the language. Then I will reflect on the problems I met and the limitations of learning plan. 

        My favorite part of this class is that we finally learnt about the Korean alphabet system this semester. This is a big cornerstone in my Korean self learning process since I could be able to read and write most of the Korean words after knowing the Korean Hangul system. In the past, I could only use English words to note the pronunciations and just memorize them again and again. However after knowing the alphabetic system, I can read the vowels and consonants and figure out the pronunciations instead of memorizing each thing. In order to help us study Hangul system better, Minkyung took the learning tools to class so that we could see the structure of Korean characters more clearly. I think learning Hangul in class this semester has been much more effective than watching videos and exploring by myself last semester. Another thing I want to mention is this website of Korean alphabet learning  http://korean.cuk.edu/en/. Although we learnt alphabet in class, the class time is very limited and I need to self study and review the consonants and vowels myself. The above website is a very good resource for Korean beginners. It explains the laws of pronunciations and structures very clearly and I highly recommend it to other self learners.

       However, there are also some difficulties and goals that I did not achieve. First of all, as I mentioned, the class time is very limited and the time for actual practicing is still very limited. Therefore we spent only a little time on each topic instead of digging into it. For example, we only studied the basic etiquette and polite way of saying before and after meals instead of the actual description about food or our preferences. This broad way of learning Korean seems have broaden my knowledge of Korean vocabulary in different fields, yet failed to give me a deep understanding on each of the area.

       In conclusion, through further learning a semester of Korean with Minkung, I have developed a deeper understanding of Korean culture and customs, from people's daily life to the history and development of the country in a wider level. The most proudest thing is again, the master of Hangul system and the improvement in grammars. With the ability of reading and writing most of the words, I feel more confident to talk to more Korean friends, and believe that I am more prepared to go to Korea by myself in the future.

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How to say time, ask for time, and describe my weekday and weekend schedule. 

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When meet strangers in public and how to express "Right" or "Wrong" to others. 

Self Introduction improved based on the previous one in SDLC 111

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Some new words of foods, vegetables, and fruits. And a dialogue while eating in friends' home.

The culture presentation I did is about plastic surgery in Korean. I explored the reasons why plastic surgery is so popular in Korea rather than other countries. After doing research, I found that the economic boom is a contributing factor. Also Koreans are materialistic and have very competitive attitude in the society. Korea is a homogeneous country. For generations, it was a highly stratified society with a small ruling class. It was only in the past 30 years or so that an affluent middle class emerged and the quality of life improved for everyone. With newly acquired wealth, westernization and a need to express one's individuality, people sought ways to improve their appearance. It wasn't enough to feel wealthy, and people felt compelled to show it. Health and beauty have always been cherished in Korean society.  Now for once people could actually go out and do something about it.  They could look attractive, look different, and look wealthy. Also, if If you look at the most popular surgeries, they are based on uniformly Caucasian features: creating a visible eyelid, sharpening the nose or chin.  One can argue that these cosmetic procedures now adhere to some Korean aesthetic. While that may be true, this aesthetic was unequivocally born from a western ideal of beauty.

Reference: https://myseoulsecret.com/why-is-plastic-surgery-so-popular-in-korea/

This week, we learnt about some basic grammars in Korean, especially the verb to be 이다 in Korean. Unlike English, Korean makes no distinction for the choice of verb to be (am, are, is) between first-person, second-person and third-person subjects. Only a single verb to be 이다 is used. However, there should be different forms of "to be" added after different nouns, which is based on the vowels and consonants in the previous nouns. If the noun ends with a vowel, use 예요 or 야. If the noun ends with a consonant, then use 이에요 or 이야. For example, 버스예요 (It is a bus), 지갑이에요 (It is a wallet). Besides, only 이다 or its modified forms are attached to nouns. Korean adjectives are verb-like and do not require 이다 for sentence construction. The subject of a sentence can also be omitted if it is understood by the context, and verb is always at the end of a Korean sentence. For example, "It is a book" could be written in 책입니다, 책이에요. 책인다, and 책이야. While they are express e same meaning, 책 (book) is the noun in the sentences.

After learning all the vowels and consonants, we practiced reading some Korean words. This week, we learnt the vocabulary of vegetables and fruits. For example, fruit names: 사과 - apple, 포도 - grape, 바나나 - banana, 버찌 - cherry, 키위 - kiwi,배 - pear, 토마토 - tomato, 레몬 - lemon. Vegetable names: 파 - spring onion, 버섯 - mushroom, 고추 - chili pepper,두부 - tofu, 감자 - potato, 부추 - chives, 대파 - leek, 무 - radish. At the beginning, it was really hard for me to combine both vowels and consonants together to come up with the pronunciation, especially when there were two vowels in a letter. I had to look at each vowel and consonant's pronunciation every time. However, as I practiced more, I became more familiar with the consonants and found some rules in the combination of words. There are certain words that follow after each nouns so when I see the first vowel I could guess the pronunciation of the whole. Also some Korean pronunciations are very similar to Chinese pronunciations and meanings, so once I understood the meaning of each letter, it became easier for me to memorize and use the law in other words.

I read an article talking about the reasons why Korean dramas are so addictive. According to the article, about 41 percent of South Korea's population watched the military-themed drama "Descendants of the Sun". In comparison, the sixth season finale of the "The waling dead" drew in 14 million US viewers, which is 4.4 percent of the population. In my opinion, K-dramas made me so addictive because of the following reasons. First of all, the central character is almost always the heroine , not the hero as happens in most TV dramas elsewhere. It is then not surprising that these dramas appeal so strongly to women viewers who make up most of the audience for K-Dramas. Secondly, the actors and actresses are attractive and they act surprisingly good. By now I have come to recognize some of them and delight in trying to remember where I had last seen them . For most of K-drama lovers ,  the heroine and hero must be attractive and good actors, otherwise we switch and try to find something else. In addition, the soundtrack that lingers long after the drama has ended. When the soundtrack plays, I can't help but relive my favorite drama moments. It might have been years since the drama first played on the screen. However, it makes no difference because the moment the soundtrack comes on, you are transported back to another time and place. Finally, in the end of the drama, things always turn out well. No matter how many tribulations the heroine goes through , in the end she emerges triumphant. Although sometimes, the director gives surprising ending and tries to make the story unpredictable. 

Reference: https://www.moviefone.com/2016/06/01/why-korean-dramas-are-some-of-the-most-addicting-tv-series-around/

Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language.

Knowing a language's history can definitely help you learn the language because you get to understand the origins of the language and the people that use it. For instance, I think Czech is one of the roughest-sounding languages that have hard sounds on certain letter such as the c, z, h, and v sounds. In contrast, Korean is one of the smoothest sounding languages with almost sing-song type styles. This comes from the history; Korea is always been the front runner of innovation, but holds a deep respect for elders and having a soft tone shows that respect. In contract, Czech Republic went through difficult times in the past centuries with World Wars and this roughness is reflected through the language. 

I taught my Chinese friends the structure and pronunciation of complicated vowels. As I mentioned in journal #4, I first taught them the eight basic vowels ㅏ = a, ㅓ = eo, ㅜ = u,  ㅗ = o, ㅑ = ya, ㅕ = yeo, ㅠ = yu, ㅛ = yo. They did a pretty good job memorizing the basic vowels since these pronunciations are similar to the Chinese alphabetic system. However, it became more challenging when I introduced the complicated vowels: ㅜ + ㅣ = ㅟ = wi.  ㅗ + ㅏ = ㅘ = wa. They could not just memorize the pronunciations like they did for the simple vowels because there could be so many different combinations of vowels. Not only did they need to figure out the pronunciation of each simple vowel in the complicated vowel, but they also needed to know the change of pronunciation when two vowels combine together. Some pronunciations might be eliminated when two vowels combine together and some pronunciations might change to some other similar ones. For example, ㅗ + ㅣ = ㅚ = oe , which sounds like “way”. Therefore, in order to  master the Hangul system, memorization is not enough and we need to watch more TV shows and listen to more Korean dialogues to understand those idiomatic pronunciations.

Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. 

Trying to read and write in Czech is extremely difficult for a non-native because they often shorten words and the grammar is difficult to grasp. In one of my exercises, I read a Czech article and could only make out two words in every sentences. When writing, I have no trouble writing basic sentences, but they do not always express what I want to feel and I found myself getting a little frustrated when I couldn't be as specific as possible about my interests or past experiences. 

Respond to the readings.

I really enjoyed the readings about bilingualism because it reflects exactly how I feel; having a mixed identity can be beneficial and have long-term strengths, but it can be confusing and it takes a while for me switch between languages. Additionally, it sometimes feels like I have two different identities and mannerisms depending on the language I am using. As of now, when I speak in Czech, I am reminded of the type of culture they have there; the people are reserved, but loyal and respectful. There is a loss of national pride, but the people are scrappy and can do anything as long as they set their mind to it. That is the type of mentality I like to have when speaking Czech because it reflects when I speak it. 

This week I prepared for the oral examination for my Self-directed language in Czech. Because professor Howell, a Russian professor who studied at Charles University will be examining me, I want to be able to speak at a high-level. I have been practicing my pronunciation because my normal tonality is much different than my diction in Czech. I believe the examination will be difficult because listening has always been one of my weaknesses, but I know that she will understand my uneasiness first because I couldn't practice with people regularly.