Language learning
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A note on Korean language learning
In my journey toward mastering the Korean language I inevitably question and evaluate my strategy on a regular basis. What works, and equally important – what doesn’t work? This past fall semester which I spent studying with my very own Korean “Tiger teacher” taught me a lot about language learning. The countless times my LP…
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Language learning: Self-studying vs. classes
I’m sure all of you out there who are studying Korean on your own have heard this sentence more than once: “You’re learning Korean? Alone? Is that even possible?” I have personally encountered this more times than I can possibly count and constantly having to defend myself, assuring the other person that self-studying a language is…
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How to become a better Korean conversation partner
I often feel that my Korean skills develop rather asymmetrically. For instance, I feel my listening comprehension has increased quite a bit recently, while I still feel that my writing skills are lacking. A while ago I started feeling more confident when talking, while I felt that my ability to give feedback in a Korean…
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Rewind and repeat
I’ve been listening to 세바시 talks almost non-stop for the past few days. Sometimes I listen to the same one 3-4 times in a row, just to see how much more I can understand compared to the first time. Even though I don’t understand it all I actually do understand quite a bit, and I cannot…
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Korean ups and downs
Here’s a blog post about two very different Korean-learning days. The first one (Saturday) was a very unproductive day. I had so many plans and good intentions for this day. I was going to review my notes from my LP meeting, listen to podcasts, practice speaking and pronunciation, read a news article in Korean, look…
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All or nothing?
This weekend I’ve been working hard on my listening skills through podcasts, Korean TED talks, and of course a few subtitle-free episodes of 여름향기 (currently have 4 episodes left). During all this listening I’ve made a strange discovery. It seems to me that I either understand everything (여름향기) or next to nothing (random Korean podcast on Korean culture from…
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Speaking practice
Yesterday my language partner had to cancel our meeting, so I didn’t get to practice any real Korean conversation. However, I was pretty determined not to let that stop me from practicing my speaking, so when I got home I spent the time I was supposed to have spent on our meeting reading a veeeeery…
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The puzzle of the “ㅅ” 받침
The more Korean words you know, the more compound words you can make. This is of course very neat, but I’ve noticed a peculiar thing about written Korean which makes making compound words slightly more complex than we are used to with English. In English “coffee” + “shop” simply form the compound word “coffee shop”…
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So, apparently I have a “Korean-language-partner guy”… Who knew?
I’m really big on cryptic titles, but I know this one probably takes the prize, so here’s an explanation. Before going all in on anything and everything Korean, I used to like the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. (This statement is NOT based on the past three seasons of the show.) I particularly liked…
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How the student became the teacher
“Won’t you teach me Korean?” I never thought I’d hear these words from my husband, but this is exactly what he asked me a few weeks ago. After our first visit to Seoul last December we’re already planning on going again later this year, and we’re very seriously contemplating going to Korea for a longer research stay…
Sofie to Korea 