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Hello and Goodbye in Korean
While going through school, I have had two separate language learning experiences (aside from my native language). However, the two learning processes were completely different and also at very different stages of my life. My first experience was while learning English at a fairly young age. I was born in Korea and while my school offered a class in English, my knowledge was very limited. When I moved to Texas in 3rd grade, I knew very little English outside of how to introduce myself. At the time, my parents decided that the best and fastest way for me to learn a new language would be to throw me into it.
Looking back, I agree it was definitely the best way for me to learn a new language. I honestly cannot remember having much of a difficult time learning the language. While I didn’t know any English, being surrounded by people who only speak English was a great, stress-free way for me to learn a new language. Especially because I was so young, I did not overthink the process, and it took less than 6 months to get to the level of my peers. By 4th grade, people generally could not tell English was not my first language. Therefore, like many people, I agree that the best and quickest way to learn a language is to throw yourself into it.
However, I do realize that doing this may not be difficult both logistically and mentally as an adult. However, for my personal experience, I cannot think of a con, as the process worked extremely well for me.
The second language learning experience I had was the 3 years of Latin I took in high school. Not only was I much older, Latin being a dead language made the learning process much harder. Because nobody actually converses in Latin, my learning was limited to reading my textbook, and doing written exercises on vocabulary and grammar. I have never been a fan of grammar, and this way of learning made the process even more difficult for me. Although I took three full years of Latin, currently four years, later, I can remember very little if not nothing of Latin. While it also has to do with my failure to keep up with the language after high school, my knowledge on the language was not as high as I had hoped after 3 years of learning.
Through my language-learning experiences, I can definitely say that I am an active learner. The learning style survey also tells me I am a kinesthetic learner. I am able to absorb more information by speaking to someone, actively learning in a hands-on way, or even watching a show rather than doing repetitive exercises from a textbook. While I do see the benefits of textbooks for the learning of vocabulary, writing, or basic grammar, I would prefer to limit textbook usage to the extent that I can.
In addition, because I have a background in Korean, I think it would work well for me to actually converse with people in Korean on a regular basis. Because I have the the basic knowledge, I feel that conversing would allow me to remember some of the Korean I may have forgotten over the past 10+ years.
Overall, this semester, my goal is to be able to comfortably speak in Korean to anyone, as well as expand my writing skills. With the right combination of active learning and textbook usage, I hope to improve my knowledge in Korean.
Over the course of my life, I have learned English as my first language and Spanish as a second language. I have been learning Spanish since the 3rd grade and I studied in Madrid for the Fall 2014 semester. Learning a new language is an incredibly difficult task and I have been working at it for over ten years. Over this time, I have learned aspects of the process that I enjoy and some that I do not enjoy. Also, I have been able to identify the kind of learning that best suits my mind and personality.
Because I have taken Spanish classes for a long time, I have begun to realize what I enjoy about learning a language. I have always loved learning new vocabulary in Spanish. It could be anything from vocabulary about sports to vocabulary about the culture’s cuisine. I enjoy incorporating the new vocabulary I learn into conversations I have in Spanish. Another aspect of learning a language that I enjoy is learning about the culture of a particular region of the country. When I studied in Madrid, I took a class that was centered on learning about various art in Spain. We learned about famous artists and particular pieces of work that they produced. My favorite artist we learned about was Francisco Goya because I enjoyed his one piece “The Third of May” tremendously. All in all, I love being able to immerse myself in a different culture and use different vocabulary in Spanish conversations.
Although I have loved learning Spanish, there are certain aspects of the process that I dislike. One part of learning a language that I do not enjoy is grammar and proper punctuation. Even as a young child, I have never liked learning about where to put a comma or what makes up a prepositional phrase. I have always found this piece boring and redundant. Although I recognize grammar is a crucial part of learning a language, I would rather spend this time learning new vocabulary or digging deeper into the culture. For this reason, I want to tailor most of my learning in the SDLC 105 class around the culture and vocabulary of Italy.
Over the course of my language learning, I have recognized what methods and strategies help me to learn the best. I rely most heavily on hearing and speaking when I am learning a language. One strategy I utilize is listening to the professor say a new piece of vocabulary and repeating the word back to myself. This helps me pick up new bits of vocabulary much easier than writing them or reading them to myself. When I took the “Learning Styles” survey, my results came back as an “aural learner”, which proves the fact that the best way for me to learn a language is by hearing and speaking.
I believe I can expand the way I learn a language by diving more into the pop culture of Italy. I am planning on learning the language by watching some Italian television shows. This aligns perfectly with the way in which I most effectively learn a language, through saying what I hear out loud to myself. Along with watching Italian television, I also plan to look into some Italian podcasts or radio shows. I believe these two forms of media will help me to learn Italian more quickly. I am excited for the opportunity to begin learning some Italian and diving into the culture and heritage of the country.
In my years of taking Spanish, I have learned what I like and dislike about language classes. Even though I have been taking Spanish since freshman year of high school, I definitely do not know the language, which is frustrating considering the amount of time and effort I put into the class. I did not learn the language as well as I had hoped for several different reasons. One reason is because the courses were set up for rote memorization. Everything was divided up into units, which made it seem like nothing was related. When I had to learn the various verb tenses last year, I kept every tense very separate. This made it very difficult to actually hold a conversation but in order to pass the tests, it was necessary to learn this way. I knew that on the test certain tenses would be in one category while others would be in another so that was the way I studied. I did enjoy the overall structure of the class. I liked that there were specific learning goals that we needed to accomplish; I did not like how everything was compartmentalized. It is important to me that I have goals I need to reach or I will feel like I have accomplished nothing at all. Developing my learning objectives for every meeting will probably be the hardest part for me. There is not necessarily something specific I want to learn; I just want to learn it all. I will need to refine my goals.
On the FIRE model I scored highest in the rational and evaluative sections. I prefer open-ended questions and I expect the material to be related to people’s experiences, lives, and stories. I am determined for the class to not be rote memorization but a more immersion process. I want to learn through casual conversation instead of note taking. I learned from the Learning Styles quiz that I do not learn well from notes so I’d like to structure the class in a way that is not dependent on my notes. However, I do realize that I need something to revise between my meetings. Learning how to develop my own “syllabus” will be essential for my learning style. I need structure but I also need some freedom to learn in a more immersive style. It is important I want the material I learn in class to also be useful to everyday life. I would like to be able to hold a conversation with my family members and friends that is meaningful and not strained.
This blog was mainly a way for me to think my way through what I want to get from this course during this semester. After rereading this very convoluted paper, it seems that I need a to do list of sorts. I need goals to reach so I can feel accomplished.
I’ve been learning a language since Freshman year of high school. In high school, it was Spanish. For the first two years here at UR, it was Arabic. For all the times I have learned a language, I have always enjoyed the cultural aspect of the language. Learning about how the society operates and how their language came into play within their society has always been intriguing. As well, music has always been an integral part of finding a common ground with the foreign language I’m learning or any language to be frank. I’m a music lover and being able to listen and understand what a musician is saying is really rewarding. Emotions are so easily conveyed in music and add understanding to it makes for an amazing experience.
I’m really big into auditory learning, especially when I am able to copy what they’re saying. Of course, it has to be my level of understanding or at least where I can gauge what I’m saying. I really want to watch kids shows and see if I can follow along with them. As well, I am sure there are videos and songs meant for little kids available online where I can memorize the alphabet and numbers so I am definitely going to do that. I am also a visual learner so flash cards will work really well. As well as just writing and memorizing vocabulary. Writing things out is a way I am able to see how the language works so I will be doing a lot of the language learning through hand and not through a word processor. I find speaking to be really intimidating, but I’ve learned that practice is all it takes to improve speaking. So with Korean, I will have no fear to continue to make mistakes in speaking in order to have some sort of fluency in it.
I’m also going to be intentional about seeking out communities and peers where Korean is spoken this semester so that I can have that extra exposure to the Korean culture and language. I learned Arabic that way in becoming conversationally fluent while abroad in Morocco, so I’m hoping my language learning experience with Arabic will fall into step with learning the Korean language.
Learning the Korean language, I am definitely a novice learner. Although I have watched Korean dramas and listened to Korean music for a long time, aside from understanding certain words and phrases, I don’t know the semantics of Korean to have a real conversation. My goals for this semester are very much similar to the novice learners’ mandatory goals for the semester just because when I go abroad, those are all the goals I wish to be able to communicate already when I arrive in South Korea. Directions, food, relationships, colors, numbers, and a ton of everyday vocabulary is something I am looking for this semester. I would say everyday occurrences would be ideal for conversation practice with my language partner. I also need to have the Korean alphabet memorized. Another goal is to understand the gist of the meaning in a Korean song. Since I love listening to Korean music, I think testing myself on a video without English subtitles then watching one with the subtitles would be a fun and interactive way of quizzing myself. I would work with my language partner on a song that would fit the vocabulary I have. My intent this semester is to just have the crucial travel language necessary to survive in South Korea before my classes start in South Korea. I want some comfort in my ability to speak and engage in Korean before I leave the States.
