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Advancing Korean, Year 5/6: TAC15 東亞 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes  Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 305 of 344 26 January 2015 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, so far I haven't done any real writing exercises for TOPIK. What I'm doing at the moment is working through Sogang's 5B textbook and workbook. While those don't focus on writing, I think they help with formulating sentences and activating, re-activating and keeping words active. On ambitious days I try to formulate answers to all discussion questions in the textbook my mind, on lazy days I skip some. It would be possible to write these down and make small or sometimes long essays out of them. Currently I can't be bothered to try that on the train, but it could be good writing practice. I think formulating thoughts already helps a little, though. The workbook also has several exercises for each chapter where I have to make my own sentences using that lesson's grammar, so that's good practice as well. I'd say it depends on what kind of writing you want to practice. If you want diverse topics and a more conversational style picking up a textbook and writing about the chapter topics might be a nice method for structured writing exercises. That is, if textbook topics don't bore you. I can only comment on the Sogang books, but those offer a lot of questions one could write about. If you want to practice formal essays, Sogang's 쓰기 3 and 4 could be useful. They teach the kind of writing students will need at university. They also teach note-taking and structuring term papers, which I guess neither of us need, but seeing how they're done in Korean is still moderately interesting. The 쓰기 books teach a bit about building complex sentences and the kind of structures needed for argumentative essays. I find them very useful in that regard, especially considering that I have not seen another study resource focusing on this kind of formal writing in Korean (could just be that I didn't look closely…). I will hopefully write more about what's useful and what's not when I get around to using them again. Last time I abandoned them after the first chapter when I was supposed to write the first longer essay about Differences in Internet Language in the Western and Eastern World… :D The book got intimidating pretty quickly, so that's definitely a weak point. Or maybe that's just my perfectionism acting up. In any case, I think a combination of grammar/sentence pattern study and lots of practice would be the best writing strategy. I don't think textbooks are necessary for this per se. Just working through a list of writing topics would probably do wonders for me. But if you want more structure than that and like crossing lessons off as done, getting some kind of textbook might help. Edited by druckfehler on 26 January 2015 at 11:19pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 306 of 344 29 January 2015 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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So, thanks to the Asian team I got my first bit of writing practice for the year done! Here goes another self-introduction.
사실 또다른 자기소개를 쓸까 말까 잠깐 망설이었어요. 지난 번에 썼던 자기소개보다 능숙한 글을 쓸 수 있을지 몰라서 그래요. 그런데 안해 보면 알 수 없다고 하잖아요. 딱 그 속담 때문에 도전할 결심을 했어요. 돌이켜 보니 이 게시판에 가입한 지 시간이 많이 흘렀고 흐른 만큼 당연히 내 생활이 많이 달라졌어요. 그때 대학생 시절이었는데 제 전공이던 영문학보다 한국어 공부가 훨씬 재미있었어요. 언어 공부에 대해서의 지식은 적어서 그런지 그때 제 한국어 실력은 자랑할 만한 정도로 여겼어요. 더 많이 배워서야 제 한국어 실력이 얼마나 부족한지 깨달을 수 있었어요. 이런 얘기는 좀 재미없죠? 공부에 대한 부분을 얼른 끝낼게요. 한국어를 시작한 지 딱 5년 됐어요. 제가 요즘 가장 선호하는 공부방법은 독서예요. 이번 4월에 TOPIK 6급을 합격할 꿈이 있어서 그때까지 열심히 공부하려고 해요. 끝. 이 글이 개인적인 정보 없이 자기소개를 부를 만한 글은 아니겠죠. 문화유산인 라인강 유역에 사는 독일인이에요. 지난 11월에 취직했는데 요즘 회사일이 너무 바빠서 신입원이어도 상관없이 벌써 초과 근무를 습관적으로 하게 됐어요. 그래도 한국인들의 야근 문화랑 비교해 보면 아마도 아무것도 아닐 거예요. 제가 취미가 너무 많아요. 당연히 언어공부를 괭장히 즐겨요. 또 음악을 좋아하긴 하는데 요즘 악기를 연주할 시간이 너무 부족해요. 원래도 열심히 연습하는 스타일이 아니었어요. 어렸을 떄 운동을 완전히 싫어했지만 대학생 시절에 건강을 지키기 위해 요가를 시작했어요. 또 동양 무용, 이른바 배춤을 2년동안 연습해 왔아요. 춤이나 운동실력이 전혀 없더라도 신기하게도 운동할수록 재미있어지는 것 같아요. 너무 많이 썼죠? 그럼 이만 끝낼게요. 앞으로 잘 부탁드려요. 우리 팀 화이팅! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 307 of 344 01 February 2015 at 5:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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2015년 2월 1일. Week 5.
Textbook Lessons: 2 TV News Items: 7 Written Bits and Pieces: 1 Current Super Challenge Count Books: 41 Movies: 49 So, I'm pretty motivated again. Writing another self-introduction was actually a confidence booster. I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to write a better one than a year ago, but looking at the result I guess there has been a noticeable level change. I was surprised at some of the words I came up with - 능숙하다, 돌이켜 보다, 선호하다, 재능. These are words I learned recently through textbooks, reading or Anki and had no idea that I could actively use them. I started another Anki deck. I plan to semi-regularly add 5 new unknown words from the TOPIK practice test I did. Some of those might not be terribly useful, but most will probably help. I also keep thinking that I should start studying Hanja, but then I also want to prove that it's possible to acquire syllable meanings and reach an advanced level by osmosis. Anyway, there's still so much else I want to do that I don't think I'll get around to Hanja before TOPIK. I'm currently on textbook lesson No. 3 and it might take me another week to finish it. I'd like to finish the 8 lessons in the textbook by the end of March, so I can spend April with massive input and mostly practice test-taking and writing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4593 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 308 of 344 02 February 2015 at 12:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Been reading your log with enthusiasm, and your progress has been very motivating. Do you
attribute most of your success in 2014 to your trip to Korea, or the other way around? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 309 of 344 02 February 2015 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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That's an interesting question. By purely looking at language skills, I think visiting Korea mostly challenged my listening and speaking abilities. When I returned it was clear I had improved quite a bit in these areas. But what may have been even more important is the motivational aspect. My enthusiasm had been flagging a bit, but my trip one again showed me that I find this language, culture, country extremely fascinating and that all of it has already become a part of me. So the trip was a really important part of an overall successful year.
But I think "the other way round" is even more true. If my skills had been weaker than they were, Korea would have been less of an opportunity. The trip came at a great time, when my efforts in reading Korean novels finally started to bear tangible results. And with the improved reading ability I was formulating more and more of my thoughts in Korean. I think regular reading and listening at home laid the foundation for all the interactions in Korea. I got more fluent (fast) during my stay, but whatever vocabulary and grammatical abilities I used were things I learned before the stay. So maybe the biggest success in 2014 was my breakthrough in reading, something that took a long time (2-3 years from children's books to novels). I'm glad you find my log motivating. For me it's very motivating to see that someone is reading my ramblings and following my journey ;) Thanks for commenting! Edited by druckfehler on 02 February 2015 at 10:02pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 310 of 344 12 February 2015 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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2015년 2월 12일. Week 7.
Textbook Lessons: 3 TV News Items: 7 Written Bits and Pieces: 1 Current Super Challenge Count Books: 41 Movies: 51 My four free days have come and gone and I must admit that I haven't done that much Korean. I watched 3 episodes of 미생 and finally finished lesson 3 and started lesson 4 of my textbook Sogang 5B. While it's still easy-going, I feel like I'm learning a bit more from these lessons. Mostly useful vocabulary which I might not come across in novels. I also did one of the most important preparations for TOPIK: I sent my application form and transferred the 20 Euros. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 311 of 344 19 February 2015 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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2015년 2월 19일. Week 8.
Textbook Lessons: 3 TV News Items: 7 Written Bits and Pieces: 1 Current Super Challenge Count Books: 41 Movies: 51 There's a lot going on in my life at the moment. In an attempt to shorten commute times I'll be moving to a flat in the city center in March. I'd been planning to rent a flat for quite a while, but it worked out pretty spontaneously. Originally I thought about moving in May or June. I also signed up for university again. Now that I've reasonably settled into my work schedule, I'll be adding a bachelor's course in economics starting in April. I had a hard time finishing my last degree (writing the thesis was really challenging), but now I already miss it. Right now my only plan is to try out a semester and see how I like it. This means I'll probably be very busy. I do hope to continue language study, but I wonder how much work and study I can reasonably do in a week. We'll see. I might just find myself procrastinating on my university deadlines and therefore doing lots of language study :) All of these plans and changes definitely shift my focus away from TOPIK a bit. In any case, I'm currently procrastinating on Korean. It's mostly a result of thinking that I should study this, that and everything for TOPIK - expecting a lot of myself regularly becomes poison for my motivation. ...or maybe it's just that I don't want to practice essay writing? :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4664 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 312 of 344 09 March 2015 at 10:10am | IP Logged | ||
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2015년 3월 9일. Week 11.
Textbook Lessons: 3 TV News Items: 7 Written Bits and Pieces: 1 Current Super Challenge Count Books: 46 Movies: 52 I'm pretty busy with renovating the flat and buying/making/modifying furniture. Right now it's still pretty empty and chaotic but I'll probably move in in a week or two. Despite being busy, I managed to finish reading another novel (안녕, 내 모든 것). What a strange story. It was about three teenagers with a variety of challenges (domestic violence, abandonment by parents, tourettes) growing up in Seoul. The adjective 쓸쓸하다 describes its mood quite well. Once again I read intensively, looking up 4-10 words per page. It was nice to do some reading again. I'm still stuck on my textbook. I'm on a writing-intensive chapter now (how to describe survey results), which is very useful, but difficult to do on my commute. I might skip this chapter for now and return to it in a couple of weeks. Although my long-distance economics courses start in April, I hope I can really devote myself to Korean from around March 25 to April 25 (the day of the test). I think I need to immerse myself in as much Korean as possible, so that means podcasts, reading, writing and of course practice test-taking. Edited by druckfehler on 09 March 2015 at 10:11am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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