My learning goals for this week is to review everything I have already learned halfway into this semester. I went by accomplishing this task by looking over the worksheets my language partner provided us and reviewing vocabulary and basic grammar I learned throughout the semester. By doing this I was also able to practice and improve my reading speed as well as my writing.
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I have learned a lot of vocabulary these past several weeks more than anything else. I’m not sure if i’ll be able to complete all of my learning goals because I feel the need to back and review everything I already learned so that it’s all ingrained in my mind permanently. I think that would be more beneficial than trying to go for new content. I am not entirely satisfied with the progress I have made so far. Time is definitely a challenge I am facing right now and it’s becoming more and more difficult to find time to sit down and study Korean as the semester progresses.
My learning goals for week 6 consist of me learning about general compliments and refining my use of honorifics in everyday speech. I went by accomplishing this task by looking up the vocabulary for various compliments and incorporating that into sentences that I would be able to tell people. I followed these up with my language partner to make sure my grammar was correct. With the honorifics I went online and looked up additional ways I can be polite in my speech that didn’t already include greetings/introductions/farewells. I did this by talking to one of my Korean friends who gave me a quick rundown on the different ways I can be formal in my speech.
My tasks for week 4 and 5 consists of me learning about the time/date and asking for those numbers as well as learning about food and how to order some. I had no knowledge on the number system in Korean aside from the fact that I knew there were 2 different number systems. My main goal from learning time was to learn the numbers in Korean. I did this by googling the different number systems and how to pronounce/spell all numbers. I followed this up by practicing with my language partner and other friends that knew Korean. I was already familiar with Korean food so it was not new to me learning the names of difference Korean dishes, however, I wanted to take a step further and learn how to order food at a restaurant. I went by learning this task by looking up several videos on youtube on how to structure my sentence for learning how to order food. I confirmed my teachings by following up with my language partner.
My learning task for week 3 was being able to identify and talk about my family members. To begin with this task, I was already familiar with some of the basic vocabulary for members of my direct family, however, I didn’t have any knowledge of incorporating that vocabulary into sentences. I also didn’t know any vocabulary for members of my extended family such as aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. I went about accomplishing this learning task by watching youtube videos on how to address my family members, and later on by practicing this with my language partner.
I was already pretty familiar with greetings and introductions in Korean so learning them wasn’t anything new. I had to refresh my memory on the different ways of saying goodbye because there are two. There is one form of goodbye for when you are leaving and when someone else is leaving. However, these are only used in a formal setting. Korean introductions are fun because when speaking casually, hello and goodbye are the same word (안녕)
One recurring theme I noticed among the Korean culture presentations was the competition/academic aspect of Korean youth. Among high schoolers, an enormous amount of stress are placed on student’s to get accepted to one of the SKY schools (Seoul, Korea, Yonsei). The competitive aspect of academics are far more rigorous and extreme than what we see in America. This competition carries on even after college when Korean youth try to find jobs. It’s very difficult for a native Korean to find a job and the unemployment rate of Korean youth is rather high as a result.
When doing research for my own cultural project, I was both surprised and not surprised by how popular dramas were in Korea and internationally. Korean dramas have definitely contributed the Korean wave or the spread of Korean influence and culture across the globe. I have gained a lot of respect for actors, directors, and screenwriters that work incredibly hard to get the dramas aired every night.
My language task this week isn’t so much learning new Korean words or grammar but focusing more on my typing abilities in Korean. I feel like this is an important task because of the technological age we live in. Almost everything is usually typed or ends up typed so I felt that it was an important skill to have as my Korean develops. Originally, I intended to get a keyboard cover that I could put over the keys on my laptop to help me memorize the placements of all the Korean letters but I wasn’t able to purchase the cover online. Instead, I just practiced through the keyboard on my phone which improved my texting speed.
My culture presentation revolves around the Korean drama scene which is incredibly popular both in Korean and in many other nations. A great deal of work goes into producing and filming a Korean drama, and the more popular dramas often hold historical significance behind their stories. I enjoyed making this presentation and learning more about a field I had little to now knowledge on previously. The first drama I have seen is Strong Woman Do Bong-soon on the cover slide, but I have also recently started watching Secret Garden. I hope to watch many more dramas in the future.
I decided to do some research on Korean dramas as a topic for my cultural project. Many Korean learners have watched a fair amount of dramas but I have never seen one yet. However, I have just recently started my first drama called 힘쎈여자 도봉순 (Strong Woman Do Bong-soon) which I’m enjoying a lot. Watching the drama got me thinking into how they became such a large part of modern day pop culture and the process that goes behind producing a drama.
The Korean alphabet, Hangul, is one of the most, if not the most well thought out and well designed alphabets in existence. The alphabet is phonetic, meaning the letters correspond to sounds and contains 24 letters. The letters are broken down into 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Since Hangul is so well designed, it’s actually very easy to learn. I spent some time on my own and was able to learn the entire alphabet in about half a day of diligent studying. When it comes to writing, the letters are placed in a quadrant system and read in a top-down style from quadrant to quadrant. It sounds complicated but it’s an easy system to get used to.
I think a huge aspect of Korean culture or any culture in general revolves around the type of food they prepare and eat. I am a huge fan of Korean food and I eat it quite often here in Richmond and back at home. Much like language, a culture’s food provides a sense of identity and wholesomeness because it’s so unique among different cultures. I have tried a lot of different Korean dishes but there are still so many dishes I have yet to experience. There’s one dish in particular that I’ve been eyeballing for a while now but isn’t really offered in Korean restaurants in Virginia. The dish is called sannakji or “live” octopus. The octopus isn’t alive per say but is cut into pieces on the spot and the tentacles are still moving while the dish is served, making it appear as if it were still alive. There’s a risk in eating this food, however. The suction cups on the tentacles can and will suction to the walls of your throat if they aren’t chewed properly and will cause you to choke. People have died from this dish which is a reason why I’m so attracted to it. Aside from looking delicious, I enjoy that small thrill/danger that comes with eating the dish.
Honorifics are a huge part of Korean culture. I mentioned in my second learning journal for 105 that there are in general 3 forms of politeness used in Korean culture. The most polite honorific is mainly used in a formal business setting to address higher ups. The second most polite honorific is used when addressing people older than you or someone you just met. Lastly, the final honorific is just casual talk and only used with people younger than you or people you have a very close relationship with. It’s imperative to become familiar with all the honorifics when learning Korean because it’s very easy to offend someone by not using the correct honorific.
As I reflect on my experience with learning Korean throughout this semester, I have come to the conclusion that learning a language is incredibly difficult, especially a language like Korean. As I mentioned in my mid-semester reflection, my biggest challenge to overcome was finding the time to sit down and study only Korean for a couple hours. I need a lot of time to study Korean because it takes me forever to memorize new vocabulary and to make sure I can pronounce what i'm trying to say clearly. I mentioned before how there are almost no connections or patterns I can make that can help me memorize words more easily. With the inclusion of grammar in my studies, this has only become more difficult. Sentence structure is also very confusing because it's almost reversed compared to English. I have to completely rethink how I want to say something so that it makes sense in Korean.
Although I had a lot of difficulty learning Korean this semester, I definitely think I've improved overall. I can formulate basic sentences, but I'm still trying to improve on my speaking and accent. I think my writing has improved to a point where I'm rather satisfied with but obviously still needs a lot more improvement. Also my reading has slightly improved but not to a point where I'm satisfied with. I'm still a very slow reader but I can definitely see the improvement in my speed.
I enjoyed making and listening to the presentations we had to make for class. I was able to learn a lot more about Korean culture that I only had a little knowledge on before. I can't say what other things I want to learn about. It was usually the topics that were unique that grabbed my attention the most. However, I'm confident that over the summer I'll have enough free time to learn Korean and reach the goals I planned at the beginning of the semester.
I have not been able to learn as much Korean as I intended to. I often find myself putting my language learning off and prioritizing studying for completing work for my science classes. One of my biggest challenges at the moment is finding time to sit down and diligently practice my Korean. I have been learning a lot of new words, however, I don't currently possess the grammar skills to piece them together and make coherent sentences. Despite learning a lot of new words, I have a lot of trouble memorizing new vocabulary. It's difficult for me to memorize Korean words because I'm unable to make any connection or find some pattern that would help me memorize the word. It's a lot different from learning new words in Spanish where I can sometimes find an English equivalent or latin root word that can help me memorize the word. Because of this, I need to invest a lot more time than I initially anticipated into memorizing new vocabulary.
Currently, my speaking skills have barely improved and I think it's my worse area. I get a little nervous when speaking Korean because of my American accent. I try my best to enunciate and say the word correctly and I hope with time my accent will become far less noticeable. My comprehension skills have improved slightly due to my increased vocabulary. I'm able to figure out the subjects for some basic sentences. I have recently started watching a Korean drama which I hope further helps me in comprehension of Korean. I have been slowly improving the speed at which I read in Korean. Whenever I see something written in Korean on Facebook or some other social media platform, I take the time to read it out and comprehend what the sentence means with the help of google translate. I've also gotten faster at typing in Korean on my phone. Most of my problem there was not being familiar with the placement and location of the alphabet. However, I still need visual cues to know where all the letters are and I'm currently unable to type in Korean from my laptop.
Overall, my Korean has improved a little, but not to the extent that I wish it did. Learning a language is very difficult, especially with a language that shares no connection to the languages I currently know. I only wish I had more free time to devote to learning Korean.
I’ve been gradually trying to improve on the speed at which I read Korean. I have gotten slightly faster and I’m improving slowly but surely. I think the most difficult part about reading is being able to connect every word together, so that when I speak the sentence I’m trying to read it flows well and sounds natural. I haven’t been trying to improve my handwriting but I’ve been focusing more on typing on both computer and phone. I still haven’t memorized the placement of the Korean letters on my laptop. Visual aid helps me type much faster and I have noticed an increase in my texting speed on my phone.
I don’t like the topics of these articles. You can’t really say someone is just “smarter” because intelligence isn’t quantifiable and bound to knowing more languages than someone else. I wouldn’t say bilinguals are smarter rather they possess a set level of cognitive skills that surpass those of monolinguals. You can be “smarter” in languages, but doesn’t that make you “smarter” at knowing complex mathematical theories? Intelligence covers too many topics and areas where any one ability would make someone distinguishably “smarter” than anyone else. I know people who are really good at learning languages, but others who are also adept at understand complex mathematical theories, however, these areas of intelligence don’t intermingle.
If I had to estimate how many word’s I’ve learned, I would round it to about a couple hundred words in Korean. It’s difficult to list how many I words I know off the top of my head but I know I would be able to recognize and understand a lot more words if given to me. It’s a lot like thinking about how many words you know in English. I could list a couple hundred if not a couple thousand off the top of my head but in reality I know thousands and thousands more than that. When I compare learning new words in Korean and Spanish, I find it a lot more difficult to memorize Korean words. With Spanish, I’m able to create some connections with English that help me memorize the word rather quickly but Korean is so incredibly different from either English or Spanish. It’s incredibly difficult if not impossible for me to make some sort of association with new Korean words that would help me memorize them. I have to use pure brain power to learn new vocabulary.
I think knowing the history of a language helps more in understanding the linguistics of a target language more than it does actually learning to speak the language itself. For example, when looking at the Korean language there are noticeable Chinese influences incorporated into the language. However, this would only be beneficial to current Chinese speakers or others somewhat familiar with the Chinese language. I know that Korean is heavily influenced by the Chinese language but it doesn’t benefit me in the slightest because the only thing I know how to say in Chinese is “hello.” On the other hand, I noticed the Chinese students in our class meetings having the ability to deduce the meaning of some Korean words due to their familiarity of the Chinese language.
