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TAC 2009: Korean in Kuwait | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mistral Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5933 days ago 160 posts - 179 votes  1 sounds Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: Mandarin, German | Message 145 of 532 16 November 2008 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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What do you find difficult in Korean? I'm just at the beginning of my learning this language so I'm looking for others' opinions. Is grammar hard to learn?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GoldFibre Diglot Senior Member Kuwait koreaninkuwait.com Joined 5983 days ago 467 posts - 472 votes Speaks: English*, Korean | Message 146 of 532 17 November 2008 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||
Hi Mistral, There are quite a few discussions on this forum on the difficulty of Korean, and you might notice that I don't post in any of them. I think it is a counter-productive activity. It might be more interesting for you to see how my study techniques have changed since I started my study. I'm learning much more per hour today than I was a few months ago, because I tried out many different methods to find the most effective ones for me. I also have incorporated study advice from the more accomplished language learners on this forum including both Professor Arguelles and Iversen. Khatzumoto from www.alljapaneseallthetime.com also provides some excellent motivational material though I don't follow his study techniques very closely. I hope this is helpful, and I'm sorry if I haven't answered your questions. I think that regardless of how difficult Korean is, you can learn it with the right effort and mindset. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GoldFibre Diglot Senior Member Kuwait koreaninkuwait.com Joined 5983 days ago 467 posts - 472 votes Speaks: English*, Korean | Message 147 of 532 17 November 2008 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Progress:
* Scriptorium 11 pages I'm continuing to get a lot out of the scriptorium, so I will continue to focus on that activity. Also, I have noticed that my memory for words and hanja has been improving quite a bit, and I am remembering more and more of them after the first meeting. All in all, I am making such good progress that I don't want to tinker with the method again for a while. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GoldFibre Diglot Senior Member Kuwait koreaninkuwait.com Joined 5983 days ago 467 posts - 472 votes Speaks: English*, Korean | Message 148 of 532 22 November 2008 at 4:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Lately I've been mixing up my reading exercises. Sometimes I do scriptorium, other times I make word lists from the text, and sometimes I just read and try to infer the words I don't recognize. I have been reading more Tom Sawyer, news articles, and now Isaac Asimov short stories in Korean.
I made an alteration to Iversen's word list method, which has been working well for me. Instead of putting the Korean word in one column and the translation in the other, I put the hangul on one side and the hanja on the other. There is no English on the page. Strangely enough, I never forget the English meaning when I am trying to reproduce the hanja from hangul. I suppose the meaning of the word is already locked up in the hanja, rendering the English translation redundant. I also truly enjoy writing Chinese characters, so this alteration makes reviews much more pleasant. Of course, this only works with Sino-Korean words, so just I leave the pure Korean ones for scriptorium. I have been reading the posts on Kuwait's Korean society message board to get a feel of the structure and vocabulary. I am planning to post a want ad for a conversation partner, and want my message to seem as natural as possible. Before posting, I will put a draft up on this forum, and, hopefully, Jiwon or another native speaker can make some suggestions and corrections. Lastly, I went back to the Korean restaurant, but the chef was out of town. On top of that, everyone else eating in the restaurant was speaking Chinese, so I couldn't even eavesdrop on any conversations! However, the chef's absence gives me an excuse to eat Korean twice in a week, so I will be happy to come back. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GoldFibre Diglot Senior Member Kuwait koreaninkuwait.com Joined 5983 days ago 467 posts - 472 votes Speaks: English*, Korean | Message 149 of 532 24 November 2008 at 5:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Below is a draft of my want-ad I plan to post on the Kuwait Korean society message board. I would appreciate any help clarifying things that might be wrong or awkward.
The points I want to make: * I'm an American working in Kuwait * I currently self-study Korean in my free time * I am looking for a conversation partner so I can practice speaking * If he/she wants to do this, I will pay a fair price * We will meet at least once a week for about 2 hours each session * The topics will be news, life in Kuwait, and whatever I'm reading in Korean * We can meet at a restaurant or a cafe (or wherever he/she would be most comfortable, but I have no idea how to say that) * If interested, please call me * Signed with my real (Koreanized) name!
Also a few questions: Should I explicitly mention that I am not willing to tutor in English? Should I request someone from Seoul so that I practicing with the standard accent? Do I need to give more/less information about myself? Thanks in advance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6440 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 150 of 532 24 November 2008 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
First I'll try to make it streamlined then raise some points 안녕하세요. 저는 지금 쿠웨이트에서 일하고 있는 미국인입니다. 한국어를 혼자서 공부한지 인제 4개월이 다 되어가고요, 현재 한국어 회화를 연습할 상대를 찾고있습니다. 혹시 관심이 있으신 분들이 있으신지요? 매주 한번 두시간씩 만나서 도와주시면 고맙겠습니다. 대화주제로는 시사(this is a fancy term for news/what's happening now), 쿠웨이트에서의 생활, 제가 지금 읽고있는 책 등등으로 하면 좋겠고, 장소는 식당, 카페 아니면 다른 편하신 곳으로 정해도 괜찮습니다. 관심이 있으시면 전화해 주세요. xxxx-xxxx 감사합니다 -제임스- I made major editions to your ad, but don't be discouraged. It's just that in Korean you need to keep to certain format, especially in written language, and to be honest, my Korean writing style isn't the best, and I'm sure I must have made some 띄어쓰기 errors there. But I also didn't over-do the stylising, because I think you prefer it to be as simple as possible; and it sounds more foreigner-ish that way too. If you want it to be sophisticated the way native speakers would write, just post a reply, and I'll rewrite it for you. I left out the part about money, because I don't think you should mention this in the ad. Leaving out the monetary element could get you responses from people who are genuinely interested in helping you. If you want you could negotiate that part once that person calls you, or when you meet him/her. If you write that you'll pay them, not sure whether you'll get high-quality replies that I think you are expecting. But then again, I might be completely wrong here, and you might NEED to put it into to attract any attention. Alternatively, you could just change the ad, and say that you are looking for an intermediate-level Korean conversation tutor instead of a conversation partner. Then the money need not be mentioned as it would be self-contained AND you don't need to bother explaining that you will not help anyone's English. About your questions... Well, I think saying a bit about your hobbies and interests wouldn't hurt. You might get people who have similar hobbies, and that would be a bit plus for conversations. Perhaps you could leave out the conversation topics, and substitute with your interests. I'm already curious as to what kind of response you'll get after posting this ad. For one thing I know, there would be very few people, if any, who are willing to give anyone help in Korean here in Sri Lanka (well, if you count me out). It might be easier just to make friends in a different setting, rather than post this ad. Let's hope you do get some positive replies. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GoldFibre Diglot Senior Member Kuwait koreaninkuwait.com Joined 5983 days ago 467 posts - 472 votes Speaks: English*, Korean | Message 151 of 532 24 November 2008 at 12:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wow, thanks so much! You have a good point about the money, so its probably better to leave it out. I'll stick with this form and see how it turns out.
And don't worry, my English writing style also isn't the best, and I'm supposedly educated. Fingers crossed... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6440 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 152 of 532 24 November 2008 at 12:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah.. we are all "supposedly educated" aren't we? ;) Well, I haven't had any formal Korean education after elementary school, so I have a comparatively valid excuse for my not-so-perfect Korean writing skills. But I seriously advise you to check it for any spelling and spacing errors with another Korean if possible.
Hope all goes well. Jiwon Edited by Jiwon on 24 November 2008 at 12:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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