Inspiration
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Back from BCLT summer school
I just spent an entire week having the most fun I’ve had in years! I’m sure you all know from that statement alone that I must have been participating in the BCLT summer school for literary translation. I have recently signed a translation contract with Danish publisher Korridor and have started translating the Korean novel…
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Goals for 2023
With 2023 being just hours away, I spent some time reviewing my goals for 2022. Like always I have followed through with some, completely abandoned others, and made a half-assed attempt on the remaining goals. A year ago my vision for 2022 were: So with some goals for 2022 met, others abandoned or greatly modified…
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Keep pushing, keep learning
This may sound like the title of a motivational seminar but I’ve actually wanted to talk to you guys about complacency and language learning arrogance for a while. At least since I saw a tweet that really resonated with me: Most of 2022 I’ve been focusing on going from beginner to intermediate level in Japanese…
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New year, new goals
Happy New Year everyone. It’s officially 2022 – or as Stephen Colbert called it – the third straight year of 2020. Anyway, as always I like to create a list of goals and intentions for the new year while keeping in mind that sometimes life happens, and deviating from the goals or even setting new…
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Learning two (or more) languages at once
I can’t believe that we’re almost finished with 2021. A year that started on a hopeful note but turned out to be little more than an echo of 2020. Here’s to a fresh start and hopefully better times in 2022. After I published my JLPT post, a few of you requested that I write about…
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July
And just like that it’s July. We’re already halfway through 2021. It seems like forever and a blink of an eye at the same time. Just like the Koreans divide the year into 상반기 and 하반기 for the first and second half, I like to use this time of year to evaluate my goals and…
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Korean pronunciation tips I wish I’d learned sooner
With most of the country in continued lockdown, I’m still confined to my apartment from which all my teaching, class preparation and self studying takes place. In order to feel a sense of progress and purpose I’ve created a detailed study routine for myself with several chapters to be read every single day. If you…
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Awesome (and free) listening resources for advanced Korean learners
I’m a big fan of YouTube. You can find almost any kind of content there in any language you want. That’s why I highly recommend Korean learners of all levels to explore YouTube for listening resources. Especially if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands for your language studies, watching an 8-minute…
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Korean debate patterns
A skill which truly indicates that one is fluent in a foreign language is the ability to debate in that language. When I was studying at Sogang university, the top levels 5 and 6 dedicated quite a significant amount of time to debate practice. Even though it’s been four years since I was enrolled in…
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Remember to enjoy the view
I’ve recently written about how I sometimes struggle to stay motivated, and I believe one reason that I didn’t explore in my previous post is that I feel like I’ve been plateauing lately. While I do make an effort to study Korean every single day, I just don’t really feel that I’m improving. Part of…
Sofie to Korea 