Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

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Cloud
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Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:32 pm

New year, new language log! I wasn't able to devote much time to Korean towards the end of last year, so I'm really excited to get back to learning languages again. As before, I'm mostly focusing on Korean and dabbling in other languages for variation.

I've set two big goals for myself this year:
• Reach a total of 15k Korean sentence cards learned on Anki
• Read 10k book pages in Korean
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars

My biggest goal, though, is to integrate the Korean language more into my day. Read in Korean every day, listen to Korean music and podcasts, watch more unsubbed Korean TV shows, etc. I'm looking forward to learning even more Korean!
2 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:38 pm

Someone on the forums suggested Pacemaker as a good site for goal tracking, so I'm recording my Anki & reading progress there. For both goals I've selected the pace to start off gently and increase throughout the year in order to build my stamina. I'm also recording the hours of TV shows I've watched in an Excel file.

Anki: I was without a laptop for the last few months of 2016, so January has been spent catching up on (thousands of!) reviews, and I'm starting to learn new cards again from February.

Reading: I've finished reading 해리포터와 마법사의 돌 and started 해리포터와 비밀의 방. Realised that I read 10 pages an hour in Korean; let's hope the pace picks up throughout the year!

Watching: I've watched about 50 episodes of 아는 형님 (subbed) since the start of the year. I just watched out of interest because of 희철, but it's become my new addiction. So much so that when I catch up with all the released episodes, I might go back and watch them unsubbed again. Great for learning insults!

Listening: Recently I discovered the KBS 무대 podcast, hour-long radio dramas with the transcript for each episode on their website. I listened to an episode while reading along, and I'm in the process of going back over the transcript and looking up the bits I didn't understand. I also found a lot of children's stories to listen to, ranging from a couple of minutes long to half an hour. Having listened to these, I've realised that audio with a performative element is much easier to understand than regular podcasts.
1 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:37 pm

TTMIK: I was so happy to see a couple of level 10 grammar lessons had been published, so I studied both of them. The first was an advanced idiomatic expressions lesson, which I'm not a fan of. It's not that I dislike learning idioms, but I wish they were separate from the grammar lessons rather than scattered throughout (I know, it's probably for variety), and I also find most of the expressions obvious (very simple and/or pretty much identical to English idioms), so I wish they'd choose better examples. Out of 13 idioms in the lesson, there was only one that I didn't understand right away (although maybe I would have with context). The second lesson focused on a grammar point I already knew, so that was a bit disappointing. A voice in the back of my head was telling me it's because I'm past these materials, but I just love TTMIK so much, I have to check out all their new stuff!

I am still looking for a systematic way to study grammar, though. I love TTMIK's concise method of explaining a grammar structure and giving example sentences, and I'd like to find textbooks more like that, rather than filled with vocab lists and exercises I'll never look at.

Watching: I realised that throughout January I watched on average 3 hours a day of Korean tv, which is great! I'm definitely watching less English language content than before, and more Korean shows that are completely unsubbed or have Korean subs (아는 형님 being the exception, I need my English subs!). I was pleasantly surprised to notice one of the web dramas I was watching on naver tv was fully subbed in Korean (I don't know if this is unusual; I couldn't find many others with a quick search), and several videos I watched on V Live also had Korean subs (not a site I visited often before, but I'll definitely be on it more often now that I know it's such a great resource).

Reading: I've been reading articles on navercast and 나무위키 (with a little help from Toktogi), and harvesting lots of vocab to add to anki. I feel like I learn so much just from a single article, and a lot of the language stuff I learn isn't really suitable for anki or this log, so I might have to start a separate notebook to keep these interesting bits and pieces in.

Anki: I have this idea that I'd like to add two or three sentences containing each new word I learn to anki, so I've been looking up example sentences in the naver/daum dictionaries. It's a surprisingly fun way to study, but it spirals quickly – each sentence I like usually has at least one unknown word, so that needs to be added to my vocab deck and other sentences containing that word sourced. I especially like it when I find sentences containing 한자, since it doesn't seem like you can search for sentences containing them easily. I know it's not something I can realistically expect to keep up for each new word I learn, but it's a nice way to boost my vocab and add variety to my anki sentences.

Music: One of the byproducts of watching Korean tv is that you recognise so many songs that you've never really listened to. Even though I don't watch music shows or listen to the radio, I feel like I recognise so many songs (old and new) just because they pop up as background music or people spontaneously burst into song on variety shows when someone says something that remotely resembles song lyrics (아는 형님!). It's disconcerting to recognise a song (or even know lyrics!) but not know where I heard it, especially if I feel like I know it well. It doesn't happen in English! Anyway, my music library is growing; I'm making more of an effort to look up songs and lyrics that seem familiar. A general annoyance is not understanding the lyrics while listening, but then understanding perfectly when reading them. Gotta work on my listening skills!
0 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Thu Feb 02, 2017 4:14 pm

ロータス wrote:Have you tried Korean Grammar in Use? Focus on grammar and has several example sentences and at least 2 short dialogs.

How do you like Toktogi? Last time I tried it, it didn't pick up most of the words and was very annoying. Would sometimes take several seconds for the definition to pop up :(

This is exactly what I was looking for! :o Thanks for the rec, this series looks so much better than the other Korean textbooks I've seen.

I haven't had any problems with toktogi, it responds quickly and recognises 90%+ words (I assume the words it doesn't pick up are slang, rare, or just modified in a way it doesn't recognise).
0 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:28 am

Watching: I've started watching 보이스, which I'm really enjoying. I sometimes forget that there are genres of Korean drama other than romance (which I'm not really a fan of). I remember watching 송곳 last year and loving it, so I'm going to make more of an effort to seek out that kind of drama (미생 and 시그날 are on my to-watch list!). I'm really happy that I can enjoy 보이스 without subtitles. Although I don't understand much of the dialogue, it doesn't bother me; in fact, I hardly notice because I'm so absorbed in the story. This seems to be the ideal state to enjoy media, as it's easier to consume a lot of native content and get exposure to the language, but I don't find it easy to find that kind of material. I've often read that you should seek out content in your native language that is similar to what you enjoy in your native language. I suppose the classroom section (as opposed to the comedy sketches) of 아는형님 is the Korean equivalent of the kind of stuff I like to watch in English; I like banter, puns, and pop culture references. That kind of humour is difficult to understand when you don't have a good grasp of the language, so watching without L1 subs is a bit frustrating, and I feel like I'm missing 90% of the jokes. I have been watching unsubbed eps, but I'm so aware of not being able to understand most of it that it takes away from my enjoyment of the show.

I watched a couple of drama specials: 달팽이 고시원 and 카레의 맛. I like that I'm starting to recognise actors: 카레의 맛 starred 현우 whom I had seen in 송곳 and 월계수 양복점 신사들, and 전혜빈 who was a guest on 아는형님. As I was watching 달팽이 고시원 I was humming 달팽이 by 패닉 all the way through (pretty sure it wasn't part of the soundtrack, though!), so I ended up looking up the lyrics to try to learn them. I'd like to be able to remember the lyrics to certain songs that I like, but of course it's much more difficult to learn a Korean song just from listening to it a few times than an English song.

I found a website that streams Korean tv channels, which I hope will be good for discovering different things to watch and giving me a bit of variety. I like finding shows that aren't just the usual drama/variety/news - give me nature, travel, culture, and food! :D

Reading: I can't say I've done much reading, or rather, I haven't been doing much sustained reading. It's a few pages here and there of the various books I own, five minutes on Readlang, short articles on various websites. On one hand I'm getting a lot of variety, on the other I'm not progressing much with the books I'm reading. Hmm.

Listening: I've resumed my plan from last year to study one IYAGI lesson every day. I've been reading through the transcripts first and looking up unknown words, then listening to the audio while reading along. For some reason the lessons I've done seem much easier than when I was doing them before, even though I haven't done much studying since I last attempted them. Anyway, I'd love to make this a daily thing, and work steadily through them.

I actually want to focus more on my listening (which is why I'm watching much more Korean tv these days), and try to build up my listening stamina. I find I zone out really quickly when listening to Korean audio (podcasts, etc), and it ends up just being background noise, so I want to try concentrating on short clips and go from there. IYAGI lessons are usually 5-10 minutes, but as I'm reading a transcript along with it, I don't have much difficulty following it. I like the IYAGI lessons, but I would like to also have pure audio to listen to. The koreanclass101 advanced audio blogs are only about 2 minutes each (I downloaded them all last year and haven't listened to many of them), so I think they will be a good place to start. I've also got those children's stories which are about 5 minutes long each, so I have plenty of material. It's just a matter of remembering to use them.

Textbooks: After reading some reviews, I've ordered the Intermediate Korean Grammar in Use. Having looked at the contents, I think I know everything in the beginner book and only a fraction of the material in intermediate. I'll finally be able to start studying grammar again! Also, I read Once Upon a Time in Korea: An Elementary Reader a while ago and really enjoyed it, so I was really happy when I found another book by the same author recently, Cultural Readings from Folktales, Legends and History: An Intermediate Reader. For some reason it's difficult to find (maybe out of print?), so I was excited to finally find it. I ordered both of these online, so hopefully they'll arrive in the next couple of weeks.
0 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Sun Feb 12, 2017 5:51 pm

I usually study Korean in small bursts randomly throughout the day whenever I feel like it, but it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to record how much actual studying I get done. Since learning Korean is a hobby, I don't take much notice most of the time, but at the same time I find myself wishing I could progress faster. So I have been recording the time I spend on studying (not reading, watching shows, etc), and in the past week I've studied for an average of an hour a day. Knowing this, my goal is to increase that to 2 hours a day.

I started transcribing koreanclass101's advanced audio blogs using workaudiobook this week. This is the first time I've tried transcribing anything, and I really enjoyed it, so I'm going to try to incorporate it into my study routine. Hopefully it'll help improve my listening, handwriting, and spelling. I was a bit surprised by how long it took, though – a two minute clip took 20 minutes to transcribe! Still, I feel like this is a good place to start since it is scripted, well enunciated, and a little slower than natural speech. Once I get comfortable with it, I can try more difficult material like news clips or youtube videos.

I've already seen how much more difficult it can be to transcribe speech that isn't intended for learners. I've been using subs2srs to make cards for dramas, and in the one I'm working on now, the subtitles aren't completely identical to what's being said. About 5-10% of the Korean subs are omissions, typos, etc., and because I can be a bit pedantic, I try to correct the mistakes. Occasionally I'll find that one sentence I just can't correct perfectly no matter how many times I listen, even at reduced audio speed.

So my studying at the moment consists of Anki, Iyagi, and transcribing audio blogs. When my textbooks arrive I'll be able to add those to the mix.
2 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:51 pm

I increased my average study time to 2 hours a day this week! It would be nice if I could maintain this level of study from now on. I'm also watching a couple of hours of tv a day, but I can't say I've been doing much reading, which is something I want to work on.

Anki: This week I worked through 9 episodes of 악몽선생 subs2srs cards. Being a web drama, the episodes are only 15 minutes long, so I managed to get through them relatively quickly. Next up is 0시의 그녀, and if that goes well I'll move onto a full tv series. I'm easing myself in with the easy web series before facing the 10k(!) cards of a full length tv series.

I read some advice on HTLAL about using Anki which made reviewing much more enjoyable. I've set a low leech threshold, I don't hesitate to suspend or delete cards that are too difficult, and always remember i+1. I have to keep reminding myself to focus on low-hanging fruit, otherwise I naturally gravitate towards things that are too far above my level.

Grammar: Korean Grammar in Use Intermediate arrived in the mail this week, so I've been working through one grammar point a day, doing the exercises and adding the example sentences to Anki, which takes about half an hour or so. I really like it so far – I'm already anticipating ordering the advanced volume!

Advanced Audio Blogs & IYAGI: I've continued transcribing the AABs, although I think my handwriting is getting worse, since I'm writing so quickly. I managed to do 5 AABs and 2 IYAGI lessons in the past week. Really, I'd like to do one of each every day, but I think that might be a bit much. An IYAGI lesson takes me about 30 mins to go through, looking up any unknown vocab or grammar or repeating phrases. An AAB takes 20-30 minutes to transcribe, and about the same to correct with the transcript. So trying to do Anki + grammar + IYAGI + AAB = ~3 hours of study per day.

Watching: 아는형님 (raw & subbed), 보이스, 악몽선생, and dubbed Disney films (알라딘, 라이온 킹 1 & 2).

I haven't even looked at any other languages for the past few weeks, and I'm having mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I love that I'm totally focused on Korean, on the other, I really miss my other languages. But I'm not ready to give up any of my Korean time yet, haha~
1 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Cloud
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:31 pm

This week went really well! My average study time was 2 hours a day, and I managed to do more than I thought I would: Anki, grammar, Iyagi, and transcribing AABs almost every day. I feel like I've got a range of enjoyable methods to study, and enough material to continue this study plan for 6 months if I wanted to. If I get bored or feel like I've grown out of it, I have got some other things I'd like to work on, but for now I'll just continue with what I've been doing.

Looking back, I think January was all about reviewing and getting back into Korean, and February has been about finding study methods and materials that are enjoyable and challenging. In March I'd like to work on reading more in Korean while keeping up with my study plan.

And now a more detailed review of the week~

Anki: Even if I don't do any other studying, I try to make sure I clear my anki reviews every day. I realised that to meet my ambitious target of 15k cards by the end of the year I have to learn 36 new cards a day, which seems manageable as long as I focus on low-hanging fruit. This week I've mostly been working through subs2srs cards again. I decided just to dive in and start 킬미힐미. I've finished episode 1, reducing the 700 or so cards down to 250, deleting cards that were too easy or just not useful. I have suspended about 50 cards that I considered too difficult (too many new words or specialised vocab), though I'm pretty sure I'll never get around to studying them. I just don't really like deleting difficult cards, because there's a chance I might want to return to them in the future.

Grammar: There's not much to say, I've just been continuing to study one new grammar point in Korean Grammar in Use (almost) every day. Read through the explanations and examples, add some examples to Anki, do a few exercises. Rinse and repeat.

Iyagi: I'm getting used to reading and listening at the same time. Instead of pausing after every sentence to make sure I've understood, I generally only pause two or three times an episode to check vocab or reread a sentence. So it generally only takes 10-15 minutes to listen to an episode while reading the transcript.

Advanced Audio Blogs: I've noticed that I've become much more attentive while listening to these. At first, I'd transcribe a bit mindlessly – if I didn't recognise something immediately, I'd just assume I didn't know it and take a guess at the spelling. After repeatedly coming across vocab or grammar I felt I should have recognised while checking my attempts against the episode transcript, I started concentrating more on what I was hearing, and looping the sentences until I was sure I was getting enough out of them as I could. One bad habit I notice is confusing 에 and 의. I tend to attach 에 onto places and 의 onto anything else, so when I hear 한국의 I will always write 한국에, regardless of context. So that's something I have to look out for.

Watching: Since I'm an 아는형님 덕후 and I'm continually rewatching episodes, I decided to pay more attention to what's being said and taking notes. For some reason I always equate learning a language through tv shows with dramas (I guess I've read so many people's experiences learning Korean that way), and it only recently occurred to me that a variety show could offer a lot as learning material, too. 아는형님 has a pretty fixed format, they ask the guests the same kinds of questions, lots of running jokes (두성, 담배, 도박, 이혼), more natural conversation than scripted shows, etc. And I love the show more than any drama, so I'm totally happy watching the same episode several times. Perfect study material!

Listening: I really need to work on my listening, but I find it difficult to actively listen to pure Korean audio. Obviously I'm getting some listening practice from the things I've described above, but I still feel like I need more. I've been listening to podcasts in the background when I do other things, but I find I understand very little and tend to zone in and out of listening. I've settled on 즐생 해열제, because I enjoy listening to it even if I don't understand much. I don't know if passive listening is very helpful, but I tell myself it's better than not listening at all.

Reading: I spent time reading most days this week, even if it was only 15 minutes. The intermediate reader I ordered arrived, so I have started that. I actually have quite a few books I'd like to get back into reading (and finish ASAP): Harry Potter (I feel like I'll be 90 and still looking forward to the day I finish reading this series in Korean), To Kill a Mockingbird (Korean and English copies side-by-side), and a few books of children's stories from around the world.
2 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.

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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Xenops » Mon Feb 27, 2017 12:12 am

Hello! It looks like you're in the advanced levels for Korean. :mrgreen: I didn't see how you are getting speaking practice? Do you shadow TTMIK's podcasts for that?
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Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log

Postby Cloud » Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:37 pm

Xenops wrote:Hello! It looks like you're in the advanced levels for Korean. :mrgreen: I didn't see how you are getting speaking practice? Do you shadow TTMIK's podcasts for that?

I wish! :lol:

My goal is to be able to understand Korean shows, books, etc, so I'm not practising any output at the moment. I've tried shadowing and writing daily entries on Lang-8 before, and maybe I'll eventually go back to that, but for now my priorities are reading and listening.
4 x
: 4484 / 15000 : ko anki
: 627 / 10000 : ko read


집은 책으로, 정원은 꽃으로 가득 채워라.


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