Language learning
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Starting my day in Korean
Well, I usually start my day in Korean one way or another by either reading or watching TV, but today I started my day with my first italki lesson in over six months. Thanks to my awesome langugage partner I haven’t really had the need for italki lessons lately, and frankly I still don’t, but…
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When memorization makes sense
Memorization (암기) does not have the best of reputations in Western education. Teachers and lawmakers worship at the altar of creativity (창의성) and critical thinking (비판적 사고) instead. This is all well and good, but where is the creativity if you have nothing to be creative from? And how can you be critical of anything…
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Korean tongue twisters
I’ve always loved tongue twisters. They are fun, and an excellent tool for practicing pronunciation in any language. Who hasn’t tried to say “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”or “She sells seashells at the seashore” over and over really fast…
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Tips for improving your Korean speaking skills
Once again, I’ve reached a point where I feel that my Korean skills are developing a bit asymmetrically. I’m reading faster than ever, I understand most of what is being said around me as long as the topic isn’t too technical, and I generally feel quite comfortable with the language. So, what’s the problem? Lately,…
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Coming and going in Korean
In English we have separate words for coming and going but their distinction is not as strict as when these words are used in Korean. Since I’ll be leaving for Korea in a few months I can safely say in English “When I go to Korea”, or I can say “When I come to Korea” without…
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Korean speech patterns
The more familiar I become with Korean, the more I’ve started paying attention to how spoken Korean varies from one person to another. In the beginning I didn’t hear any difference at all, Korean to me was just Korean. There was even a time when I didn’t think that the Busan dialect was different from…
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Kpop Friday: Big Bang edition
Happy Friday everyone! In case I should forget I can usually be sure to receive at least one text message with the word 불금~ (Korean slang meaning “blazing Friday”) to remind me that the weekend is indeed fast approaching. To top off my Friday mood the sun is shining from a clear blue sky and the…
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Korean vocabulary: Going beyond the intermediate level
While I wrote in my previous post that I had enjoyed learning what may be considered quite basic vocabulary from my Korean children’s book, I still want to keep expanding my knowledge of Korean in all possible directions. When it comes to Korean fluency, one thing is sounding Korean and having the correct intonation. Another thing…
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Learning Korean through proverbs
I spent some of my Easter holidays finishing the awesome Korean proverbs book “유행어보다 재치있는 우리 100대 속담”, a book featuring 100 Korean proverbs explained for children. I bought it back in September, but thought it was slightly too challenging at the time. I forgot all about it during my fall semester where the focus…
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Childish Korean
Since the past week has been spring break, you would think that I would have had plenty of time for studying Korean. Well, think again. On the other hand I have been spending plenty of time with family – both my own and my husband’s. Of course I have been cramming Korean for 3-4 hours…
Sofie to Korea 