한국어 일기 10 (WEEKLY KOREAN DIARY 10) *Special Update Edition*

 
 

Wow, I can't believe I've actually kept up with my weekly Korean writing. Since I've reached the ten-week mark, I will give you all some background info. (Korean Diary is at the bottom)I haven't been in an actual Korean classroom since my second year of college. I started out in Beginner Korean and had a lot of fun. Most of the class focused on speaking and a lot of it was stuff I already knew from watching K-dramas and listening to Kpop for a year or two. My major in college was essentially a blend of Japanese, communication, and cultural studies. I decided to give myself a fun break, so I joined about 5 other people in our intimate Korean class.

At the end of our course, our final was to Skype with a Korean professor at another university who would have a conversation with us and gauge how well we grasped the language. I did really well in my interview, and at the time I had two Korean roommates and tons of Korean exchange student friends. Speaking has always been a bit easier for me with Japanese and Korean.After graduating, I moved to Japan and figured I wouldn't need Korean anymore. Then I met Junkyu, my boyfriend who lives in South Korea. He picked up English from studying and talking to me, but I wanted to meet him halfway and renew my Korean ability. I didn't want to only get better at speaking. I was determined to be able to read and write a decent amount to prepare for my trips to Korea.

My weekly diaries have given me a good goal to aim at, and I try to learn a new grammar point and new vocabulary each week in preparation for my weekly entry. I'd say it has been going well so far. I know a lot of you who read my blog probably skip over my Korean entries, but if you are studying Korean I urge you to try and figure out what my topic is. If you don't speak or read Korean at all, just send me some virtual love as I try each week to improve my Korean ability.

I finally bought myself a Talk to Me in Korean Workbook and I love it so far. I want to finish it before going to Korea right before Christmas. Typing and physically writing Korean are so different, so I want to make sure I can keep up my skills in both of those departments.

If you are learning a language, this has been a great way for me to set a goal for myself and hit it each week. I would encourage you to try setting a weekly goal, doing everything in the language you possibly can, watching videos or listening to songs in the language without using subtitles or looking up the lyrics right away. When learning a language, need is almost always the best motivation factor. (For example: I learned how to say, 'I want a bubble milk tea' in Cantonese so I could order it in Hong Kong.)

Immersion only works if you force yourself to never use anything but the target language. When I go to Korea, I am sometimes too shy to try and use my language ability, but this time around I am going to make myself forget about English as much as possible. It worked for Japanese, and I know I can do it again! Thanks to all my readers who support my language posts! Check out my Language Resources page if you need some tools to aid you in your own journey.

지난 주말에 빅뱅의 콘서트에 갔어요. 일본에서 콘서트 할 때는 일본어로 노래 해요. 이번에는 영어로도 한국어로도 노래 했어요. 너무 재미있었어요. 그리고 빅뱅 콘서트에 가는 나의 두 번째와 세 번째 이었어요 . 무대는 360도 이었어요. 그래서 멤버들을 보기가 쉬웠어요. 일요일 콘서트중에 승리의 생일을 축하했어요. 멤버들은 케이크을 가져왔어요. 콘서트 후 목이 아팠어요. 그런데 끝나자마자 친구랑 밥을 먹으러 가서 콘서트 이야기 했어요. 나는 음악이 정말 중요해요. 아침에 Kpop을 들어면서 준비하는 것이 제일 좋아해요. Big Bang의 노래 가사는 아주 감동 적이예요. 한국어 공부는 가끔 어렵지만 음악을 들으면 재미있게 한국어를 공부 할 수 있어요.

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Confidence in and out of the Classroom