For a while I felt bad about not really adding anything food related other than Daring Bakers stuff, and then I remembered that it’s my waste-of-time blog, so I should just not worry about it and post what I like. So maybe now there will be more regular posting, but it might not be food related. Or not. :p
Lately (other than starting to think about next year; and yes, I’ll be staying in Korea for another year for sure) I’ve been focusing more on my Korean language skills (or more accurately, lack thereof). Actually, even I have to admit that I’ve come a long way from my awfully limited Korean at the beginning of the year, and there is still constant improvement, BUT it still really sucks.. ha!
So to keep up my motivation, here’s stuff I’m doing, should be doing, or am planning to do.
- I started going to a free Korean class on Saturdays maybe three months back (well, maybe 4, but then I was away on vacation pretty much right after I started going, and I was gone for a month). I recently got moved up to 중급반 (intermediate class), where I am THE lowest student in the class. I swear I was lost for the first 15 minutes. Thankfully by the end I was alright. This class has a teacher and tutors sitting next to each student. So you have someone next to you helping only you during the whole class. Pretty cool. And free!
- I started reading Le Petit Prince in Korean (어린 왕자). I’ve read the whole thing and I’m re-reading it more slowly to get more vocab out of it
- I started watching some Korean dramas. Cheesiness abounds! But it definitely helped. I watched them at first with English subtitles, now I watch them sometimes with both English and Korean subtitles.
- I need to stop being embarrassed and talk more in Korean. I joined a group on Facebook recently that’s basically a bunch of foreigners (and some Koreans) who get together to speak Korean and eat Indian food. Haven’t gone to a meeting yet, but who can object to Indian food and Korean language practice? It should also help knowing others who are learning for motivation. Right now I know some foreigners who don’t know any Korean, some who know a little and are not trying, a couple who know more than I do but don’t seem to be actively learning as much anymore and a bunch of Koreans who I mostly see at swing dances (not the ideal place for talking).
- I also need to stop being embarrassed by my Korean writing. The other day, my Korean co-teacher at the school I work at saw my Korean lesson papers from my Saturday class, and there were questions about the text where we had to write answers (eg, whether extra curricular learning/classes/hagwons were necessary or not), and she started reading out the stuff I wrote while moving around the classroom to stop me from taking it back. But if Koreans don’t read my writing and suggest improvements, how am I supposed to get better at it? So I started a blog on Cyworld in Korean. Unfortunately, I’m too embarrassed to tell any of my Korean friends where it is. Fail.
- I plan to take the next TOPIK test (Basic level). That’ll be early/mid April. It’s a Korean language proficiency test.
Any language learning experts around who could give me more tips on what I can do?
In the meantime, for those who know some Korean, here’s a joke:
Q: What did the small tissue say to the large tissue?
A: You’re Huge-ee!
Hehehehe. For those who don’t get it, Huge-ee is both Konglish for huge (Koreans add ee to the end of a lot of English words, like lunch-ee) and the Korean word for tissue — 휴지.
