For the last week of Korean lessons we decided to review all of our material for our final exam coming up. We went over all the things we did and Evelyn asks us questions from all the worksheets/quizzes we did. Overall, this semester I was able to expand my vocabulary a lot more compared to last semester's Korean lessons. Unlike last semester, I feel like the vocab that I memorized is more applicable when talking to other Korean friends on a casual basis. Although I did not get to accomplish everything that I wanted to do, I am happy with the level of teaching I received from Evelyn and what I was able to learn for my last semester.
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This week we had a case study on a forest fire that happened on a mountain in Korea. We looked at a news video and article that talked about how one of the residents on the mountain was a father. He was extremely sick and didn't have that much longer to live so he collected cash in his home to give to his son. Unfortunately, when the fire started on the mountain, it burned all of his cash, leaving him with nothing. It was a really sad article because there was nothing the father could have done and he lost thousands of dollars in a flash. Currently, there is a donation box (like GoFundMe in Korea) that asks people to donate their money to give back the father's lost cash. There was also a discussion about whether the government should do anything to refund the father. After watching the video, we filled out a worksheet about the forest fire case study and what we would do if we were in that situation.
Because me and Kevin are science majors, we learned about particulate matter and environmental issues in Korea. I've been wanting to learn about this subject for a while because I know Korea has some serious environmental problems regarding their air quality. Evelyn talked about yellow dust in Korea and showed us a website that talked about the different sizes of particulate matter. This was a difficult subject because all of the scientific articles were in Korean. There were a lot of figures on the webpage so that helped me to understand the material. I actually learned a lot about particulate matter in a science class that I was currently taking, so it was interesting to see it taught in Korean. Additionally, when I went to Korea last time, I experienced some of the yellow dust. I had to wear a mask out in public because I was not used to it. It really made me realize how important air quality is and that we need to do something to reduce the amount of pollution we are putting out into the environment.
For the last two weeks we started learning about colloquial language that is used in Korea. There is actually a lot of Korean slang used by people and I have seen people use it in conversation or when I watch a Korean drama. Koreans love to short words and mash it up with other words. Therefore, I knew some of the expressions we learned but I did not know what the actual full expression words were. During class, there were a lot of variety shows that we watched to pick up on the slang terms. I learned that a lot of the older people (starting from mid 20s) also did not know all of the slang words. Like in the America, new slang words are also made by primarily middle and high school students.
This week we learned about sports in Korea. We focused heavily on volleyball because that was what Evelyn was the most knowledgeable about. We learned about the different positions and moves and what they were called in Korean. We also learned about the different mannerisms that Koreans use while watching the game in the audience that was different to the U.S. While teaching us about the sport, we watched clips of people playing volleyball and we had to name each position and move that we learned. We were assigned homework to memorize the all of the different positions because we would be quizzed on the material next week. Overall, I really enjoyed this material because sports is something that I have participated in and is universal across all languages.
During our lessons, we were able to apply our Korean knowledge to our religion (because we were all Christians). Me and Kevin stated that we wanted to learn how to read the Bible in Korean because they use very formal and specific language when addressing God. We went over the names of different people and I was surprised at how different the names are in Korean compared to English. Also we went over some of the stories. Because many of the stories had a lot of metaphors and used a lot of figurative language, Evelyn had to help us a lot with the translation and the interpretation aspect. I particularly had a lot of trouble with this part because Kevin has more experience learning about the Bible in Korean compared to me. So there were a couple times where I was lost throughout the stories.
For the first class of the semester, we focused on setting up our learning goals and plans. Because this is my last semester, I wanted to focus on expanding my vocabulary as much as I can. I wanted to apply my Korean language in a professional world in some kind of way and with confidence. I find that even though I know how to speak properly, I lack confidence when I am facing native Korean speakers and decide to just talk to them in English instead. I also wanted to expand my reading and writing skills and try more advanced level readings. Last semester I was able to learn a lot by reading web comics in Korean. I hope to try and read more web comics but read ones that is set in maybe the Joseon period. Although I may not be able to reach all of my goals, if I am able to just expand my vocabulary to an extent and learn something new, I think I will have a very successful last semester here at the University of Richmond.
During these two weeks, I caught up on my cultural artifact posts and tried to utilize sources that required me to interact with the Maltese language. For example, I tried to read through L-Innu Malti (the Maltese national anthem) while writing Cultural Post #7. Although I was not very successful, I think this is a very important piece of work to be able to recognize. I wrote the lyrics out in my Maltese binder and practiced speaking the words. An important learning challenge I have realized is that many of the most relevant Maltese texts are very old and the style is outdated. Modern Maltese language has developed significantly over time. Maltese is somewhat of a dying language, therefore there are not many modern texts available online. For example, the news and literature are frequently produced in other languages, such as English. In addition, I read Tal-ġelati by Adrian Grima to guide Cultural Post #4. I really enjoyed this poem because I recognized many vocabulary words and could provide an analysis of the writing style and word choice. I added the words I did not know to my Maltese binder and continue to study them during my weekly sessions.
I find that exercises that are personal or of cultural significance are the most memorable to me. For example, I frequently use poetry lines I've read to recall familiar vocabulary words. Poetry often stylistically uses repetition and short phrases that make learning easier. I highly recommend that new language learners use publically available modern poetry to their advantage in learning. In combination, writing a literary analysis as a cultural post where I identified key phrases and word meaning was very successful.
I applied my traditional strategies for Maltese learning during these two weeks, as well (reviewing the textbook, my notes and writing excerpts, vocabulary lists, etc.)
During weeks 9 and 10, I continued to apply the same strategies that I have previously identified. I utilized the EuroTalk computer software to reinforce vocabulary, although I've found that much of it is now familiar. In addition, Karen and I use my textbooks to guide our practice language sessions.
Based on my experiences during weeks 7 and 8, though, I dedicated a lot of time these two weeks towards practicing writing. First, I continued to pull sentences from my two Maltese textbooks and translate them. I am able to check my sentences by reading the book or using an online translator. This exercise is very simple and reinforces the basics. Second, I began to write a couple of sentences on various topics and keep them in my Maltese binder. In order to complete this task, I reviewed the sentence structures in completed chapters and vocabulary before beginning, then attempted to write 3-4 sentences. I tried to incorporate vocabulary words that I remembered so that they are reinforced and kept the sentences simple enough that I did not have to use a translator. I would check my assignments with an online translator and mark up the page with my corrections. In order to learn from my mistakes, I would rewrite the paragraph correctly. Repetition has been one of my most successful strategies in learning languages.
At this point, I have a collection of short paragraphs and mini-dialogues that I like to review weekly. I can reflect back on my mistakes and build upon previous sentence structures. Additionally, it is helpful to have a couple of phrases perfected and memorized for multiple topics. Even when I do not fully understand every word of the phrases I know, I know the larger meaning and can express a thought. Collecting and organizing my writing samples is a very effective strategy that I would recommend to other students because it serves as a tangible representation of progress.
The University of Malta textbook has continued to be helpful for guiding my language sessions with Karen. Last semester, I identified pronunciation and speaking as a challenge that I wanted to focus more effort on. At the beginning of the semester, I noticed this too. After continuously reading words and sentences out loud with Karen, though, my skill is improving. As a result of being called out on my mistakes, I am more motivated not to make them again. Additionally, repetition and applying the pronunciation of similar words facilitate my progress. During weeks 7 and 8, Karen and I worked on chapters in the Maltese textbook together. These chapters contained 1 page each of new vocabulary for me to memorize, a new grammatical topic, sentence examples, and explanations. We read through the vocabulary together and she quizzed me on the meanings and corrected my speech. Additionally, she provided her personal insight into how traditional grammar differs from Maltese in practice.
At the end of the more intermediate chapters, there are practice exercises. I really enjoyed the exercise for translating basic sentences from Maltese to English. The vocabulary and grammar come from previous chapters in the textbook, so it reinforces what I have learned. I have previously mentioned that I wanted to begin enhancing my reading abilities so these exercises helped me to do so. Translating the sentence grammar in the correct order was somewhat difficult for me because word placement differs from English. I was surprised to find, though, that I could largely interpret the meaning and most of the vocabulary words.
In order to keep practicing these skills during the week, Karen and I agreed that I would complete the English to Maltese sentence translations by myself. This was significantly harder because it required correct spelling and careful attention to syntax. Writing abilities is likely a good area of improvement for the future. Continuing to practice translating very basic sentences from English to Maltese, then checking my answers, would be a great way to do so.
Today I am going to introduce hanbok(한복) which is the traditional attire of the Korean people.
The status and position can be identified by the material of the hanbok. The upper classes dressed in hanbok of closely woven ramie cloth or other high grade lightweight materials in warmer months and of plain and patterned silks throughout the remainder of the year. Commoners, in contrast, were restricted to cotton. Patterns were embroidered on hanbok to represent the wishes of the wearer. Peonies on a wedding dress, represented a wish for honor and wealth. Lotus flowers symbolized a hope for nobility, and bats and pomegranates showed the desire for children. Dragons, phoenixes, cranes and tigers were only for royalty and high-ranking officials.
Jeogori is the basic upper garment of the hanbok, worn by both men and women. It covers the arms and upper part of the wearer's body. And other parts of hanbok is 길,깃, 동정,끝동, 고름. If I can go to Korea, I would like to wear Hanbok for at least once.
The last few days of meeting with my language partner were used as review time and a final assessment. I was really proud of the progress I made during this semester. I was able to improve as much as I wanted to because I put more time into studying Korean this semester. The final assessment was a good mix of things we learned throughout the semester. To study for the exam, I reviewed my past notes. For the exam, I was expected to show reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing. Reflecting on the past semester, I think I have seen more improvement than the first time I took SDLC.
week5- 3/26
This week I began to learn conversation on textbook. The first lesson is talking about greeting between two people who first met each other, and they are saying "안녕하세요" to each other, which means hello but in a very formal style. It is not my first time to hear it because I have watched a lot of Korean variety TV programs and soap opera, and the first Korean phrases I learned when I was younger was "안녕하세요". In this class I also learned how to introduce my name, my job and my nationality.
안녕하세요! 저는 한첸 입니다, 저는 중구 싸람 입니다. 중구 학생 입니다.
Hi! I am Hanchen. I am Chinese. I am a student.
Also, I learned the difference between the topic particle 는 and 은. 은 is used after the words ending with consonants and 는 is used after the words ending with vowels. We practices several sentences about choosing which topic particle we should use on class.
week6- 4/2
This week I learned way more vocabularies about jobs including office worker, student, police, singer, teacher, and doctor. For grammar part, I knew a new sentence structure which is Subject+ 이/가 아닙니다 (I am not ... ). 이/가 is similar to what we learned in last week, and it is a object particle used after subject. 이 is used after words ending with consonants and 가 is used after words ending with vowels. I felt confused about the difference between these two paris of particles and Seonghye helped me specify the difference of usage between 는/ 은 and 이/가 clearly.
Fan fact: most Korean will omitted the difference of them in daily speech, especially when they have no purpose to serve in a sentence.
week3- 3/5
This week I learnt four more consonants: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ and four more vowels: ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅒ,ㅖ. Besides these symbols, Soenghye also taught me several vocabularies and asked me to memorize them. 어느 means which, 나라 means country,
사람 means people. Combining the country's name which is 중국(China)and 사람(people) together, I get the word " Chinese".
week4- 3/19
During the long spring break, I did not forgot my Korean class. I have a Korean friends who went to Puerto Rico with me, and I effectively practiced my Korean with him, even though the conversation is limited by my scanty Korean vocabulary.
This week I learned the final five consonants: ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ, and six double vowel: 왜, 외, 웨, 워, 위, 의. I can straightforwardly feels the difficulty of Korean now, because the double vowels are made by writing and typing two of the vowels we just learned together. Despite looking similar in style, they pronounced almost the same! 외 is pronounced like the English "Way" and 위 is pronounced like the word "We". I used my phone to record Seonghye's pronunciation and my pronunciation, so that by listening to it after class, I can clearly find which part I did well and where I did wrongly.
Week 1- 2/19
This is my first Korean class with Seonghye 씨. At the beginning, she introduced what is Hangul and what is Hanja. Hangul is the main writing system of Korea and there are 24 unique symbols combine together to make all kinds of Hangul combination. In this class, we learnt five consonants including ㄱ, ,ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ and five vowels including ㅐ, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ. Then we came to how to use consonants and vowels to create simple hangul and the writing order and orientation of Hangul. After the first class, I can read and write simple characters that are only composed of these five consonants and five vowels, such as 개 (dog), 다 (all), 누구 (who), 모두(everyone). We can see that ten basic symbols can already combines into many frequently-used words.
Week2- 2/26
This week, we are keep learning new Hangul including five more consonants: ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅊ and five more vowels:ㅡ, ㅣ, ㅔ, ㅠ, ㅛ. Since some of the pronunciation are similar or even same, Seonghye teached me the different sounds of ㅅ, the difference between ㅔand ㅐ, and the difference between ㅜ and ㅡ. As we have already learned 20 symbols, I can read a lot of words and write them following the instruction. One thing I found really interesting is that some Korean words is just translated from Chinese or English. Take the word 주스 for example, it means juice and the pronunciation is " jyuseu" which almost same as juice.
Today I am going to introduce my favorite boy group 세븐틴 which is also know as SEVENTEEN. Although their group name is seventeen but they only have thirteen groups members including performance team, vocal team and hip-hop team. Hip Hop team's members are 에스쿱스,원우,민규,버논. Vocal team's members are 정한,조슈아,우지,도겸,승관. And performance team has 준,호시,디에잇,디노.
One of their famous song is 아주 NICE. Here is a small part of the lyrics:
아침엔 모닝콜 필수던 내가
오늘은 번쩍 번쩍 눈이 떠지는가
데이트 날이라 그런지
어제 꿈도 좋은 꿈 꿨지
새 신발을 신고
현관문을 열고 나가면
Now i can sing this song without looking at the lyrics. So I think listening to kpop music is also a good way to practice my speaking skill.
For my final presentation, I was reading articles on how the international popularity of Korean dramas and k-pop has affected the Korean society. A lot of the clothing item and food that are prominent in tv shows and music videos are now more expensive. For example, in the US, a bubble tea cost around $5 which more expensive than other beverages. In the past, bubble tea was not considered expensive in Korea, but in the recent years, prices have gone up and it now costs around $3 in Korea which is higher than what it used to cost in the past. Growing international for Korean products has actually increased local prices and has negatively affected the population in the country.
https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/bubble-tea-market.html ;
Along with my tutoring sessions, I have also been watching youtube videos that go over the Korean alphabet and grammar. Listening to a native speaker really helps me to remember the proper pronunciations.
This video goes over the Korean alphabet:
I started watching the Korean show “Kingdom” on Netflix. The show is in Korean so I have been following along with subtitles, and sometimes I go back rewatch the episodes without the subtitles to see if I can figure out the words. Slowing down the speed of the video, as we discussed in SDLC 105, is also very helpful. Now that I am starting to watch foreign shows on Netflix, I was really surprised by how many Korean shows Netflix offers.
Here's a clip from the show:
Although I am able to write the words I know in Korean, it makes me a lot longer to type in Korean especially when using my computer because I have the location of all the letters memorized yet and I have to keep looking down to find the correct letters. I have been trying to type my notes more often so I can get used to using the Korean keyboard. This will also be helpful when I continue to learn Korean after college and will have to look up things on the internet on my own.
나는미국에서왔습니다.
나는 한국에서 왔습니다
나는 미국사람 입니다.
나는 한국사람 입니다.
