Language Studies

           I started out the month going easy on myself because I honestly had no motivation to study much but as the month moved on I realized that if I left myself like this I would forget all the stuff that I learned and then I would have to start from the beginning again. So this week I bit the bullet and texted my teacher to let him know that I was ready to go back to taking weekly classes. I also decided to take Korean classes on italki and found a teacher through a series of trial lessons. She wasn't my first choice but my first choice doesn't have the time slots that I need and so I took my second choice. I've scheduled a series of five lessons and I will reassess after that. My Chinese lessons are still on going. 

          I also am focusing on one book at a time where it comes to Chinese and Korean and when that book is done I will move on to the next one. Doing two or more books at the same time was too much load work and made me confused at times. Focusing on one thing and later after it is done reinforcing it with the next thing is much better.

       So now for Korean I am working through Practical Korean after finishing Korean Grammar For Speakers and for Chinese I am working through Developmental Chinese with my Chinese teacher. Quality not quantity is what I am currently going for.

        Basically, when things aren't working change up your routine, don't stop and hope you retain when you have been doing while you get back your rhythm. At least not where language is concerned.

          As you can see from my tracker, there are days when only half a box is filled and that is okay. Half filled means I didn’t do all the tasks in this category but it can also mean I did half of them. I chose to see that I did half of them.

     

          

Language Study Strategies - Summaries

           One of the things that help me retain the lessons that I take with my teachers is to summarize the lesson after it ends. Basically, I summarize the grammar points that we talked about and if there are any new words that I learned in that lesson, I define it. I find that it helps cement an idea or grammar point and helps me find points that I may be shakey on so that I can ask my teacher for clarification or research it on my own. 

          One of the things that help me do that is to have a template for lesson summaries that I can always use. This means that my notes are always neat and I can keep them in one place which helps me find them later. I started out with a predesigned template from www.etsy.com but then found that they just didn't give me enough room to do what I need so I came up with my own version. 

          My template is quite simple. I have a page with the title "new words" where I add the new words that came up in the lesson and after defining them I write my own sentences using these words. This helps me see how that word is used and also helps me memorize it.  I can add as many pages after that as I need. The next page is "summary of grammar points" and this is where I summarize the grammar points for that lesson and write sentences that show how these grammar points are used. Again I can add as much pages as I need to complete my task. The final page is a "questions" page. This is where I add questions that I need to ask my teacher and then record the answers they give. I also add any corrections to my own sentences that they provide. 

          This template also works with self study books and Udemy classes. If you don't have a teacher to ask then you can go onto applications like HelloTalk and iTalki and ask people on there to look at your sentences or ask any questions you may have. I sometimes use these applications anyway because I'll get answers from native speakers and look for the natural organic way of saying something. I hope this helps you with your studies, and if you do use this strategy please let me know about the results.

Language Studies Updates

          Originally this was going to be a whole different post, but since the item, I wanted to review has not arrived yet, and the album I wanted to review has not dropped yet, you are getting a language study update...SORRY!

          As you all know I'm studying both Korean and Chinese. I started with Korean on and off, then this year more seriously, and then around 2 months ago I added Chinese to my study schedule. Today I'm going to talk about the difference between studying something because you want too and actually studying something with a more focused thought in mind. 

          Around the end of last month, I decided that what I was doing with Korean and Chinese just was not really working in the way I thought. Where Korean is concerned I had a lot of grammar swimming away in my brain but no real concept of how to use it. I do okay with short sentences but not so great with long ones and while I talk to myself a lot in Korean when my teacher actually talks to me, I draw a blank as to how to answer. I understand what he says...I just can't answer. Chinese is a little better but my ability to recognize the characters that I am studying in Hanja is...lacking. So I thought about it and talked to my teachers about my problems, here is the new plan.

KOREAN:

1. My teacher and I have gone back to the beginning. I'm actually glad about that. I am going slowly at a pace that is just right. Even when I tell my teacher to move on he doesn't unless he tests me and is sure I got the concept down correctly. 

2. I'm continuing my studies in Talk To Me in Korean to continue to get my grammatical concepts however, it is no longer the one I really focus on.

3. I'm in Book 2 of Vitamin Korean and I'm working through it slooooowly because it explains small things that have escaped me the first time around and now I ask my teacher about every little thing that looks weird to me. Just because I understand it because of context it doesn't mean that I understand it, it just means I know what it means vaguely.

4. I'm on Book 1 of Practical Korean and like Vitamin Korean I'm taking it slooooow, rinse and repeat. 

5. WRITE! I'm writing more, in my journal, or even paragraphs to send to my teacher to correct. I need to get used to writing hence also reading.

6. Finally, My teacher told me to work towards a goal, and my goal is that in November 2021 I want to take TOPIK 1 Level 2 at least if not TOPIK 2 Level 3.

CHINESE:

1. My iTalki class is amazing and the book my teacher uses is very easy so I'm studying that as we take classes, after every 5 classes I take a week off to look over my notes and study and review the previous chapters to see if my grammatical concepts are improving.

2. I am working through HSK 1 course from ZeroToHero Chinese online and enjoying the class.

3. I am writing and asking my teacher questions as I go along even if I have to ask the same question 10 times, I'm lucky my teacher is patient. 

4. Like Korean I'm working towards a goal, I want to take the HSK exam in October of 2021, not sure yet at what level I want to take yet but let us say at least HSK level 1 though my teacher says I can go higher.

OBSERVATIONS:

I'm not sure if it is because I studied Korean first but I find that Chinese is very easy for me so far. Certainly much easier than Korean. Though I have to admit I love Korean more. Of course, writing, recognizing, and reading Hangeul is much easier than Hanja...

STAY TUNED: 

I have a thing going on and when it is done I will let you know all about it... so stay tuned!

Book Review: Korean From Zero! 1

Full Title: Korean From Zero! 1: Proven Methods to Learn Korean with an Integrated Workbook.

Authors: George Trombley, Reed Bullen, Sunhee Bong

Published: first published March 20th 2014, This book was published on May 1st, 2014

Publisher: Korean From Zero

ISBN: 9780989654524

Pages: 360 including bilingual glossaries and the answer key.

Extra Information: You can download MP3 files for the book online.

Synopsis: Korean From Zero! is a fun, innovative, and integrated approach to learning Korean created by professional interpreter George Trombley, Korean linguist Reed Bullen, Professor Myunghee Ham, and Sunhee Bong. Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Korean From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Korean as well as absolute beginners.

Features of the book:

* Integrated Workbook with Answer Key
* MP3 Audio * Online Support
* Over 600 New Words and Expressions
* Learn to Read and Write Hangul
* Extensive Grammar
* 90 Adjectives and Verbs Detailed
* Bilingual Glossaries with Hangul and English ...and much more!

Review: I seriously don't know how to review this book. I've seen a lot of good reviews of this book and I wanted to share my own experience with this book since it was different.

Let me start by saying that I wanted to study this book as a way to review the basics of the Korean language since I was getting into the intermediate territory but still feel a little shakey with the basics. I was studying it alongside Talk to Me in Korean Level 3 (reviewing it) and 비타민 한국어 1. 

So let me tell you what I liked first. I liked the 한글 section because it had some good explanations of how letters can be pronounced when combined together and I think this comes from the fact that most of the people who wrote this book are actually foreigners and had to learn these things like we do. In some of the chapters, there are formulas that you can follow when dealing with certain concepts or verbs or verb conjugations. I liked that they grouped vocabulary words into themes like body, office, sports...etc, and then used them in the chapter. I liked that at the beginning of each chapter you knew what you needed to review and know before going on to this new chapter and the grammar concepts that are coming up.

What I didn't like was that the "Integrated Workbook" was just a few pages of exercises at the end of each chapter. I noticed when I did the exercises that there were mistakes in the answer key or that they didn't acknowledge there was a different possible answer. I didn't like the way they explained the conjugation of verbs. I found it confusing and I had already learned how to conjugate before! Now think how a newbie would feel about that if they were like me. My brain just did not compute the way they explained conjugation. In fact, in all the classes I took and the books I read about conjugation I've never seen an explanation like the one in that book.

The book has levels 2 and 3; I have both books and I'm not sure whether I will go on to study them or not. I have a few days before the beginning of September to think about it. I don't know if I am just going to write off these books or "read" them to get some formulas and maybe some vocabulary and just not seriously study them. 

Because I have read reviews where people loved this book my advice for you would be go to the website associated with the book and download the pdf versions of these books for free, check them out and if you still want to own the physical copies go ahead and buy the books from amazon.

Their Website: Korean From Zero

My New Plan for Language Study

          In my previous post, I talked about my struggles as someone who wasn’t exactly intermediate but definitely NOT a beginner. This month has seen my language studies stutter and kind of stop. They definitely stopped for Chinese and they sort of stuttered for Korean mostly because I have an awesome native Korean language teacher who at least is trying to drum some stuff into my brain. So today (Monday, June 29) I sat down to really look at what is going on with me. Why did I stop my Chinese studies and why is my Korean suffering and it is not JUST about the beginner/intermediate struggle. I found some points which I can take action on. Let me start with Chinese, because this one was easy. 

CHINESE:

I realized I had no specific goal that I am working towards. I don’t know what I am doing or where I am going so I set a goal for myself. This month (to be re-assess at the end of the month) I will be focusing on Pinyin and learning it to the best of my ability. The point is that I can read Pinyin so I can go on to HSK 1 books. I might throw in some character writing but Pinyin is my goal.

To this end, I went on Udemy and bought some courses that focus on that. I am also going to look at YouTube videos.

KOREAN: 

1. I like Talk to Me in Korean books so I am keeping those as-is. So for the next month, I will focus on Level 3 as well as reading Easy Korean Reading. There is also a book that I am slowly working through which is about patterns in Korean grammar.

2. I asked my teacher to give me homework. I told him I wanted a paragraph that I could look at on my own figure out what the meanings of the words were and what the sentences mean then answer questions about in Korean. In case anyone is wondering my teacher is the best, check him out on Instagram. He is just the beat and most patient teacher. 

3. I’m going to watch the Drama 날 녹여주오 (Melting Me Softly). I am currently watching it with subtitles on Vik.com. Then I am going to use their teaching mode which they have on most dramas and just focus on the phrases and the words I don’t know. 

4. Now let me talk about what didn’t work. Ehwa Korean is a great book from a great institute but...like Sogang University books just don’t work for me. So I’ve decided to put them away for now. 

5. I am substituting Korean From Zero books instead of the Ehwa Korean books. If those don’t hold my interest I will try a different set of books, God knows I have tons of them from different Universities 😬. 

This is my plan to revive my language studies. My hope is that sharing my struggles can help others with theirs.

Intermediate Language Studies - My Current Struggles

          Today I want to talk about something that I am currently struggling with where my Korean studies are concerned. I am not exactly a beginner but I'm not intermediate either...at least not exactly. I have enough grammar to be at level 3 in Talk To Me in Korean. I can make long sentences on my own if I think about them beforehand but I can't do it on the spot, although sometimes if it is everyday vocabulary I can. I can watch Superman Returns (a Korean reality show where celebrity men look after their babies) and understand everything because the dads are talking to their children so their vocabulary is geared towards their age. I have tried to watch Korean dramas and tried to understand what is going on before putting on the subtitles but I ended up understanding like 20 to 30 percent of what they are saying. So I was thinking about how to improve my vocabulary skills, my listening skills, and my on the spot answering skills.

This is what I am going to do based on my research and asking my Korean teacher. 

1. What dramas with Korean subtitles before watching it with English subtitles and see how much I can pick up with reading and listening.

2. Listen to Korean only podcasts and Youtube channels even if I don't understand anything at first to get more used to hearing the language and discerning words.

3. Read Korean books. I bought a bunch of beginner and intermediate reading books which I am going to start reading. 

4. Besides Kpop also listen to Ballads as they tend to be slower and use more common words than Kpop.

Hopefully, these things will help me advance a little more in my studies.

Korean Learning: Falou App

          Today I'm going to talk about an application that a lot of people in the Korean learning community on Instagram are recommending without really giving a heads up about what people should expect while using it. This is why I chose to do this review of the application.

The name of the application as you can see is Falou and you can learn more than just Korean as they have other languages there too. 

However, this review is only for the Korean language since this is the one I am learning at the moment.

The application has 3 different types of lessons: situational conversation lessons, word lessons, and what they call sleep lessons which is a recording of conversations you can listen to, to improve your listening abilities. 

Listening Abilities: 

It has different themes and each theme is rated as easy, intermediate, or advanced. 

So far I’ve only listened to the first of the recordings and it is basically the conversations from the first lessons in the situational conversation lessons. I will say that it is a good way to get your ears used to the Korean language.

Word Lessons:

As with the previous category, there are themes to these lessons. This is a good way to build vocabulary and they have a good way of teaching it to you. They depend on repetition and picture association as well as giving you pronunciation. 

  Here they show you the word spelling, pronounce it for you, and give you the picture association. 

Then they give you the word in English and ask you to pick the Korean translation. 

The same thing but in a different way of asking the question, which is repetition. 

Next, they ask you what you hear and you have to pick the right word.

Then they ask you to say the word to check your pronunciation. 

Finally, they ask you which is the correct image for the word spoken in the recording. It is a very effective way to get the words to stick into your brain and get pronounce them.

Situational Conversation Lessons: 

I left these lessons for last because I have found some issues with them, but let me discuss the good things first.

These lessons offer everyday situations that you might find your self in and they give you a conversation to follow first from one perspective and then the other. For example, if you meet someone for the first time, you will play the conversation first from person number 1's perspective then person number 2's perspective so you pronounce both sides of the conversation. The application will not let you move on to the next line unless you pronounce your line as close to correct as possible. The recording of the conversation and the playback can show you where you need to work on your pronunciation and can also show you that you are doing well. It can offer a good boost to your confidence when you hear yourself improving.

How each lesson starts.

The lesson itself. Person A speaks and they give you the response to speaker A. Your speech is recorded and analyzed to see if you spoke it correctly. If you did, then you move to the next line but if you don't they show you where your mistakes are so that you can say it correctly. The snail you see in the picture plays the recording slowly so you can listen carefully and imitate it.

This is a video of a full lesson that I did, as you can see I still hesitate in some places and in some places my pronunciation is not perfect but it is close enough to pass inspection from the application.

Now here are the cons of this application:

1. They mix formal with informal freely, which if anyone knows Korean knows it is not done. In some of the conversations you are meeting someone for the first time and they are speaking informally to each other and that never happens.

2. In a few of the first conversations in the lessons, they use the word 여보세요, which is only used on the phone instead of 안녕하세요, which is what you use when you meet someone and say hello to them.

3. In some of the conversations the words endings used are used by older people to younger people, my Korean teacher was very surprised that it was used in the application as if it was normal. He said that he suspected that the people who put together these conversations were not Korean.

So is this application any good? It’s complicated.

If you are just starting out, then just use the word lessons for now. Until you get a grasp on what is allowed and not allowed in Korean culture when it comes to formality levels. 

If you are intermediate then go ahead but keep in mind what I said above. 

Learning Korean

       I've been learning Korean off and on since the second half of 2018. However, I decided to finally take it seriously these past few months and since I know quite a few people might benefit from this I'm going to compile a list of resources for you all to look at if you are interesting in learning Korean.

          My first bit of advice is that if you can find a class in your country/area then take that class! It makes all the difference to have someone in front of you checking on your progress as you go. If that is not possible then check out the following websites, books and YouTube channels.

Books: These are ones that I have used or that my teacher has recommended.

1.Hangeul Master: The best way to learn the Korean alphabet.
2. Talk to Me in Korean grammar books Levels One - Six. As well as the Workbooks from Levels One - Five. 

3. My First 500 Korean Words by Talk To Me in Korean.

4. The Korean Verbs Guide Volumes 1 & 2 by Talk To Me in Korean

5. My Daily Routine in Korean by Talk To Me in Korean.

6. Korean Grammar in Use: Beginning to Early Intermediate by Jean-Myung Ahn (Teacher Recommendation I liked it better when my teacher used this book then when I studied it on my own)

7. Real Life Korean Conversations Beginners & Intermediate by Talk to me in Korean

8. Korean Q&A Sentence Patterns by Talk to me in Korean.

9. Sogang Korean 1A: Student's Book by Song-hee Kim and Sogang Korean 1A: Workbook by Song-hee Kim (Teacher's recommendation: This was made for a class though so it might be one you want to skip)
10. Korean from Zero: They have three levels so far and they are really good resources.

Websites: These are ones that I found helpful in my search for knowledge.

1. http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/: this site has a lot of free resources including the grammar books mentioned above with audio files and they go all the way up to level 9. There are no workbooks with them though. They also have a lot of video courses some free and some you have to buy but they are totally worth it.

2. http://www.hangulsoup.com/: this site will help you with verb conjugations.

3. http://www.howtostudykorean.com/: this site has a lot of good lessons.

4. http://www.koreanfromzero.com/: You can find free versions of their books on site as well as the audio files.
5. http://www.koreanclass101.com/: I have to admit I have not used their website a lot but I have used their YouTube Channel quite a bit.

Youtube Channels: Some of these are ones that belong to websites and others are ones that I came across that give great information.

1. Talk To Me in Korean

2. Korean from Zero

3. Korean Class 101

4. Korean Unnie

5. Professor Yoon's Korean Language Class

6. Minji Teaches Korean

Phone Apps: These were the ones I used continuously.

1. Naver Dictionary: Very Important that you get this.

2. Papago: Translator, much better than Google translate for Korean.

3. HelloTalk: if you want to ask questions from Native speakers use this app.

4. Talk To Me in Korean app: has all their lessons and video on it.

Finally, a piece of advice. Watch as many Korean dramas, and listen to Korean music so that you can understand how the language sounds and your ear gets used to distinguishing sounds.