Starting up a Polyglots’ Club
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Forum Name: Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages
Forum Discription: The place to share your personal cultural experiences in foreign languages: books you read, trips, Zeitgeist abroad and other memorable things you did in a foreign language.
URL: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38825
Printed Date: 13 June 2021 at 5:22am
Posted By: Jiwon
Subject: Starting up a Polyglots’ Club
Date Posted: 03 June 2014 at 5:24am
I don't know where this topic really belongs to, so I just picked one that seemed most
appropriate to me.
For the past few years, I have been wondering why there isn't a language learning
community based in Korea. There seem to be no offline communities (or even if there is
one, signs of its existence haven't been visible to me), and online communities are
redundant, full of trolls or focused on a single language.
So I have decided to take the initiative. A couple of days ago I posted an entry on my
university's online community, asking if there is anyone also interested in language
learning and language systems in general. To my surprise, there were many positive
responses, which prompted me to think, "Hey, if there are so many of us, why don't I
start an offline Polyglots' Club for all those in Korea?"
Which is exactly what I did next. Now we have our own (closed) Facebook group, a
Kakaotalk chatroom and a first offline meeting scheduled for late July or early August.
The only problem is that I have no experience setting up a community, let alone a
polyglots' club. :(
Since our linguistic backgrounds are different, we couldn't conduct a study session,
and as there are not many members to start with, breaking up into conversational groups
wouldn't be very feasible either..
I wonder, is there anybody here who has gathered up and organised a polyglot's
gathering? I know there have been polyglots conferences, but I'm talking about a group
with regular meetings, probably once every week or two.
All suggestions are welcome. I would love to hear words of wisdom coming from first-
hand experience. :)
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Replies:
Sorry, no personal experience from me, but:
Wasn't http://www.meetup.com/Languagecast/ - Language Cast started in Korea?
There's even a www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7DUue9k9Ds - YouTube video about it.
michaelyus on 03 June 2014
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michaelyus wrote:
Sorry, no personal experience from me, but:
Wasn't http://www.meetup.com/Languagecast/ - Language Cast started in Korea?
There's even a www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7DUue9k9Ds - YouTube video about it.
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Ok, didn't know this existed, but perhaps I should have made myself more clear..
I haven't been able to find any "Korean-language-based" language community, and perhaps
the reason why I didn't come across languagecast before is because I have only been
searching in Korean, which they don't seems to use all that often.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this club I'm starting will turn out to be an
offline and Korean version of HTLAL, where polyglots and potential polyglots can
inspire each other to see more serious aspects of language learning rather than just
seeking conversation partners for language exchange, for which there are countless
number of websites on the web.
Jiwon on 05 June 2014
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Well, to be honest I actually wonder why you would make a korean-language-based community
if it is for polyglots. Wouldn't it be more attractive in English so that you could reach
a bigger audience? (not that I dislike the idea of a full korean based community).
Btw, if you'll have already started this by august, please say it. I'll be going to Korea
and it'd be a pity to miss something like that ;)
yuhakko on 15 June 2014
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yuhakko wrote:
Well, to be honest I actually wonder why you would make a korean-
language-based community
if it is for polyglots. Wouldn't it be more attractive in English so that you could
reach
a bigger audience? (not that I dislike the idea of a full korean based community).
Btw, if you'll have already started this by august, please say it. I'll be going to
Korea
and it'd be a pity to miss something like that ;) |
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Well, because (fortunately) in other parts of the world, not all polyglot hopefuls are
primarily interested in English.
Although I completely agree that English is one of the most important languages in the
international community, I do not think that that should be a barrier to fostering
one's interest for languages in general. There might be people out there who could have
done far better had their first foreign language been Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin or
Esperanto, and I don't think it's fair that lack of English steals away the diverse
world of language learning from them.
Plus, it occurred to me that high-quality content on languages and learning techniques
are seldom available in Korean. I want to tear down that linguistic wall, so that in
the future, people of my heritage will have more to rely on than a couple of text books
that are designed to sell and not teach.
And please let me know when you are coming down to Korea. I hope it's not during my
travel to Vladivstok... :)
Jiwon on 16 June 2014
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