I haven't done a 'how my study is going' update in a while.
Things are looking a little different these days. A while ago I was starting to watch Korean dramas online - just bits during my lunch break at work. The intent was to hear a variety of spoken Korean as well as pick up vocab within context. That pretty much came to a halt. Turns out being tied to my computer was one big factor that meant it just didn't really work out. Another factor was that dramas can have too much non-speaking time in them. I'm not criticising the dramas for this - they tell their stories well - but my aim is to cram as much *listening* into that time as possible.
To this end I found radio dramas which were uploaded to LingQ. I feel I get the same, if not superior, cheesiness and cringeworthiness in the dialog as I would with a Korean TV drama. Since radio dramas are forced to rely much more on narration and characters to fill in what might just be non-verbal in a regular TV drama, I *feel* there is more dialog-per-minute
Also I can listen on my phone while walking to work or at the gym - thats a biggie.
I listened to one episode for which I had not read any of the script beforehand.
On the first listen, aside from the awkwardly embarassing impersonations of young children in the episode, I was able to garner very little from it. I'm pretty sure I got all the main plot points. However I can't really be sure that I understood as much as I thought I understood given how little I understood
For example two main characters in the story were a couple of little girls, one of whom wanted to meet a gorilla from the Congo because she found out they are disappearing (I think from watching TV, but unsure). She also wanted to go to Busan. I believe the two are connected. She lied to a taxi driver that a guy (possibly her older brother?) would meet her at the station from which she would depart for Busan. However I could not quite figure out what connection Busan had - was this older guy living there? Was she going there because they had gorillas in a zoo there?
At any rate as far as I understand she gets there, meets some mean people, eventually ends up being able to phone home where there was concern around her disappearance. In the end everyone is reunited. Reunited in Busan or back home? I dont know.
I could describe the rest of the plot similarly. So many bits I just didn't catch.
Now I am reading the transcript (and re-listening) so hopefully things will make more sense this time around.
Other than the worlds most awkwardly enacted dramas, I've also been re-reading a bunch of older material in LingQ. Primarily because I was close to bumping myself to the next level in it - so rereading older material gives me opportunity to bump words up to 'known'.
With a bit of a push I surpassed 7300 'known words' and am now classed as 'Intermediate 2' which I think correlates to A2 on the CEFR scale assuming I am a reasonable judge of my abilities. 182050 words read, 200+ hours of listening, thousands of words written. 28238 'LingQs' made.
A while ago I was concerned that I might not finish the HTSK Unit 3 by July, however I've really made a push in this area. I'm now up to lesson 70 - so 5 more to go and I'll be finished with Unit 3. I've made a point of writing out some sentences using each grammar point the day after I read about it. Writing out by hand in my little notebook and then entering online for correction.
In general my writing output has increased a fair bit and I *feel* that things are going much better this way. Better than writing a lot less (or hardly at all) and just focusing on input.
However mid-year review will show whether I've made the kind of progress I hope I am making. Still no movement on the iTalki 1-on-1 front though. Stupid tablet just won't work and without it I dont have a place I can reasonably go for privacy.
The Korean-English language exchange meetups I was keen to join also can't happen. Turns out they are after hours and have limited spots available. Spots are filled and have a waiting list like a week or two in advance. I just can't be that organized around this - too many other things in life have a higher priority.
Sigh. I have to do something with regard to speaking.