The power of repetition

Do you ever feel guilty about watching reruns of an old show, knowing that you really ought to spend your time better doing something more productive? I certainly do, but I’ve recently found the perfect excuse for rewatching my favorite old Korean tv series. Learning!

While in Denmark, I’ve been (re-)binging on “My love from the star” 별에서 온 그대 for the 5th time, and aside from being greatly entertaining, this has proved to be a very valuable learning experience. I’m streaming the show on Viki, which, depending where you are located, offers almost all the most popular Korean (and other Asian) shows for free with commercials or for 5 bucks per month if you prefer watching without. If you’re in Korea, the Korean content offered is limited, but a neat little add-in to your Google chrome browser called Hola takes care of that in a flash, and suddenly you can trick Viki into believing that you’re located in Europe or the US. Aah, technology!

As a bonus feature, Viki has launched a new function called “learning mode” where you can watch your favorite shows with both English and Korean subtitles. I’m not using it for this drama, though, but it’s awesome for shows I don’t know that well.

These days, when watching this my all-time favorite Korean drama, I do so with Korean captions only. I rarely learn new vocabulary (believe me, I did during rounds 1-3), but I realize that I still notice many new things this time. Speaking patterns, I’ve meanwhile become familiar with, phrases I’ve learned at Sogang, jokes I suddenly understand and didn’t during the first 4 rounds of watching. My point is, that no matter how many times you watch something in your target language, there’ll always be something new to learn each time.

Remember, that relearning things you already know is still learning, as it only makes you know these things even better. This will in the end help building your speaking confidence. After all, repetition is the mother of all learning.

Since I’m technically on vacation, this is also a great way to put in a daily hour or two of Korean studies without feeling particularly burdened by it. After all, who can complain about studying when this is done looking into the smoldering eyes of the ever-handsome Kim Soo Hyun?!

I’m also currently watching the new dramas “Fight my way”/쌈 마이웨이 (just ended )and “The king loves” 왕은 사랑한다 (currently airing). I use the learning mode feature for the first one.

Now, I’m soon off to spend the weekend with my two favorite Danish eonnis!! Happy Friday, everyone. 불금~!!