Re: Cloud's 2017 Korean Log
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 4:26 pm
Something I've noticed with language learning is that my enthusiasm and motivation comes in waves. I get really into studying for weeks or months, and then my interest wanes, only to reappear weeks or months later. I often wonder whether to go with the flow and just do whatever interests me at the time, or to try and maintain my study habits regardless of motivation. Right now I'm experiencing a lull in motivation to study Korean, and I've decided just to do whatever. I know my enthusiasm for studying will return, and I'm in no rush. I think I'm still clinging onto this misconception that you can only learn languages through textbooks – has my 아는형님 binge taught me nothing? So I'm just reading and watching Korean stuff, occasionally looking up vocab and grammar as I go. Generally this means watching a couple of hours of Korean tv every day, reading entertainment articles, and watching clips on Naver TV (thankfully I found ad blockers that work on Korean sites).
One thing that surprised me was a construction that is in almost every article I read, and yet I've never come across it before while studying: -ㄴ 바 있다 . I'm pretty sure it doesn't appear in TTMIK's grammar lessons or How to Study Korean, and I couldn't find anything in the intermediate or advanced Korean Grammar in Use books. The only book I have that explains it is Korean Grammar for International Learners (which I love and really recommend as a great reference) - "바 way, means; a thing, that (which)". It's also in the Korean Grammar Dictionary, though their example sentences never seem to be very enlightening. For something that seems so common, it just seems surprising it's difficult to find in textbooks.
I discovered a great music channel called ONSTAGE which is full of live performances from artists of various genres, and many of the videos include the lyrics. Having mostly outgrown Kpop (was obsessed from 2008 to 2012, a golden age), I haven't really found a lot of Korean music I like, but this channel is full of amazing music that's more to my taste.
So although I haven't been "studying" Korean, I'm still consuming it every day. Omnomnom
I've been using Duolingo a lot recently, mostly for Norwegian and Italian (although of course it's fun to play around with different languages). I'd love to make some progress and finish the courses, but right now I feel like I'm constantly stuck reviewing - my own fault for being so inconsistent. I'm looking forward to when the Korean course is released – I think I'll already know most of it, but I like the Duolingo format, so I think it'll be a fun way to practice.
I've also been reviewing a bit of Chinese. Previously I've worked through 4 volumes of the NPCR, learned vocab up to HSK4(ish), and used Anki to work through sentences. Right now I want to focus more on consolidation – I tend to get a bit caught up in learning vocab and grammar without really putting it into practice. So I've been going through some graded readers that aren't too challenging in order to review, since I haven't really touched Chinese since the middle of last year.
There are more languages that I want to get back to, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!
One thing that surprised me was a construction that is in almost every article I read, and yet I've never come across it before while studying: -ㄴ 바 있다 . I'm pretty sure it doesn't appear in TTMIK's grammar lessons or How to Study Korean, and I couldn't find anything in the intermediate or advanced Korean Grammar in Use books. The only book I have that explains it is Korean Grammar for International Learners (which I love and really recommend as a great reference) - "바 way, means; a thing, that (which)". It's also in the Korean Grammar Dictionary, though their example sentences never seem to be very enlightening. For something that seems so common, it just seems surprising it's difficult to find in textbooks.
I discovered a great music channel called ONSTAGE which is full of live performances from artists of various genres, and many of the videos include the lyrics. Having mostly outgrown Kpop (was obsessed from 2008 to 2012, a golden age), I haven't really found a lot of Korean music I like, but this channel is full of amazing music that's more to my taste.
So although I haven't been "studying" Korean, I'm still consuming it every day. Omnomnom
I've been using Duolingo a lot recently, mostly for Norwegian and Italian (although of course it's fun to play around with different languages). I'd love to make some progress and finish the courses, but right now I feel like I'm constantly stuck reviewing - my own fault for being so inconsistent. I'm looking forward to when the Korean course is released – I think I'll already know most of it, but I like the Duolingo format, so I think it'll be a fun way to practice.
I've also been reviewing a bit of Chinese. Previously I've worked through 4 volumes of the NPCR, learned vocab up to HSK4(ish), and used Anki to work through sentences. Right now I want to focus more on consolidation – I tend to get a bit caught up in learning vocab and grammar without really putting it into practice. So I've been going through some graded readers that aren't too challenging in order to review, since I haven't really touched Chinese since the middle of last year.
There are more languages that I want to get back to, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!