A year of Korean input/exposure

[AndyMeg]

Good to see you back

I keep swinging between real studying and just immersing myself at the moment, so I'll be following with interest.

Thanks! I'm also happy to be back

[AndyMeg]

First a summary of activities, then some reflections and a small rant.

Activities:

- K-dramas with Korean audio-description and Spanish subs:

I'm about to start episode 8 for "Stranger" (비밀의 숲) and episode 11 for "Romance is a Bonus Book" (로맨스는 별책부록).

Watched all the 8 half-hour episodes of "One More Time" (헤어진 다음날) but didn't like the ending. It's a somehow happy ending but many things were left hanging and some others weren't properly explained.

- Korean dubs and English subs:

Finished watching episode 6, S1 of "The Worst Witch" (꼴찌 마녀 밀드레드).

- Korean dubs and Spanish subs:

I watched the first two episodes of season 1 of "H2O: Just Add Water" (아쿠아 엔젤스) and the first half of episode 7, S1 of "The Worst Witch" (꼴찌 마녀 밀드레드).

- Korean original audio and Korean CC subs:

Watched the first half of episode 2 of "Tomorrow with you" (내일 그대와).

- Korean dubs, no subs:

Watched The first half of the movie "Hotel Transylvania" (몬스터 호텔) with only koreand dubs because I had already watched it (with spanish dubs, I think) some years ago.

Reflections:

I decided to change the English subs for Spanish subs. The reason for that is that I'm way better and faster at processing/understanding Spanish subs than English subs (being Spanish my native language). I noticed that when I used English subs, I didn't have much time to pay attention to the spoken language, and the extra effort made me not enjoy the stories as much. With Spanish subs I can perfectly manage to understand the subs, pay attention to the spoken language AND enjoy the stories.

I started watching Asian dramas with English subs many years ago because at that time there weren't as many Spanish subs available as there are now, and when there were, English subs used to come out a lot earlier than Spanish subs and I was impatient (English subs still come out earlier than Spanish subs, though). Thanks to this (plus other things/activities) I improved my English a lot, but I didn't gain much understanding of the Asian languages because I only had enough time to process/understand the English subs and enjoy the stories. Later, some time after I had started learning Korean, I got into the habit of comparing the English subs and the spoken Korean. I became more aware of the usage of Korean thanks to this, but the cost was that I wasn't enjoying the stories as much. At that time I could have switched the English subs for Spanish subs but I didn't do it because Korean original content is usually translated first in English and then from English to other languages, so I thought the english subs had a higher probability to be closer in meaning to the Korean original version.

The point is that now I'm usually able to notice when the spoken Korean and the translation in the subs differ significantly, so I'm less prone to make wrong meaning associations, which would make the English subs not as necessary as before. Which is why I think this is a good time to make the change (though I'll probably be still watching new dramas with English subs because I'm still too impatient to wait for the Spanish subs, . But now my focus on those occasions will be more on just enjoying the stories the first time than trying to learn a language from them).

And now the small rant...

Today I was doing my homework from the free Korean class, and it was this:

10년 후의 나 (Me in 10 years from now/after 10 years)

I've already done this kind of homework in my native Spanish, in English and in Japanese. And it's an activity I hate . I find it really difficult to think about what my life will be like in X years from now. Why do I have continue to do this activity in every language? I wish I could just copy-paste (and translate) my previous answers, but as they have been in different points/stages of my life, they are no longer valid (and if I had started taking Mandarin Chinese classes some years ago as I had planned, I'd probably already have done this task in Mandarin as well ).

End of the rant.

[AndyMeg]

Activities:

- K-dramas with Korean audio-description and Spanish subs:

I'm about to start episode 9 of "Stranger" (비밀의 숲).

I finished all episodes of "Romance is a Bonus Book" (로맨스는 별책부록). I really liked this drama and now I'm thinking of re-watching it with Korean audio-description and Korean CC subs.

- Korean audio-description and Korean CC subs

Started to re-watch "One More Time" (헤어진 다음날). I'm in the middle of episode 1.

- Korean dubs and Spanish subs:

Finished watching episode 7, S1 of "The Worst Witch" (꼴찌 마녀 밀드레드).

Watched episode 1, S1 of "Wolfblood" (울프블러드).

- Korean original audio and Korean CC subs:

Re-watched the first 2 episodes of "K-POP - The Ultimate Audition" K-POP 최강 서바이벌.

- Korean dubs, no subs:

Finished watching the movie "Hotel Transylvania" (몬스터 호텔).

Started re-watching the movie "The Craft" (크래프트)

- English original audio, Korean subs

Watched the first episode of "The Order" (잭 모턴과 언더월드)

Notes:

I find it stressful to try to take note of everything I watch, so I decided that I'll just say if I've started something and then I'll write about it again when/if I finish it (or when I finish at least one season, in the case of shows with multiple seasons).

I'll also make a list of completed shows/movies in the second post of this thread.

Classes:

On Sunday's class we made different sentences using the structure V-는데. Some people got really creative with the sentences and it was really fun.

[AndyMeg]

when you watch these dramas and movies, are you taking notes or is it all active listening?

That depends on the language pair/mode.

From time to time I may repeat a spoken line out loud or read a Korean sub out loud. This is not planned, it just happens spontaneously.

I may also take a note or two if something cathes my attention and I want to read/investigate about it later. For example, while watching "Stranger" (비밀의 숲) they emphasized a difference between 마음으로? y 진심으로? so I took note of those two expressions to look more into them later. Though I already had some idea of why they were making that distinction in that particular dialogue, even if that distinction didn't get clearly showcased in the Spanish subs translation (I'm watching this drama with Korean audio-description and Spanish subs).

In general, this is what I do with each language pair/mode:

Korean audio-description and Spanish subs:

I quickly glance at the Spanish subs to get the meaning and then I focus all my attention on the spoken Korean. I also pay attention to the Korean audio-descriptions and try to connect them to what I'm seeing. I may re-play a small segment if something catches my attention.

Korean audio-description and Korean CC subs

I pay attention to the Korean audio descriptions, look at the CC subs and try to connect them to the sounds I'm hearing and I also use both the audio and the subs to try to extract meaning from them, but I don't pause or slow down the video; though I may re-play a small segment if something catches my attention.

Korean dubs and Spanish subs:

I quickly glance at the Spanish subs to get the meaning and then I focus all my attention on the spoken Korean. I don't pause or slow down the video, but I may re-play a small segment if something catches my attention.

Korean original audio and Korean CC subs:

I look at the CC subs and try to connect them to the sounds I'm hearing and I also use both the audio and the subs to try to extract meaning from them, but I don't pause or slow down the video; though I may re-play a small segment if something catches my attention.

Korean dubs, no subs:

I pay a lot of attention to the spoken language. If there's a key part I'm not understanding well enough I may re-play it with Spanish subs and then turn off the subs and continue watching with Korean-only audio.

English original audio, Korean subs:

My main focus is on enjoying the story while taking quick glances at the Korean subs. I may pause and also re-play a small segment if something catches my attention.

Are you using Anki or studying outside of your class times?

No. I've tried using Anki in the past (many times) and I can never stick to it. I just don't like it and it feels like a horrible torture to me. I think I've never lasted more than a week when I try to use Anki.

I'm currently not studying outside of class times except for when I have to do homework for the classes or prepare for a quiz/exam (which is not that frequent).

I want to experiment with a particular form of extensive reading, but I haven't tried it yet.

[AndyMeg]

Quick update:

- Starting from episode 3 I'm re-watching each episode of "K-POP - The Ultimate Audition" (K-POP 최강 서바이벌) twice: first with Spanish subs and then with Korean CC subs.

- Started to re-watch "Teen Wolf" (틴 울프) with the English original audio and Korean subs. Two of my favorite vocabulary additions thanks to this are: 늑대 (wolf) and 늑대인간 (werewolf).

- Starting from episode 3 I'm re-watching the K-drama "Tomorrow with you" (내일 그대와) with the Korean original audio and Spanish subs. I was planning on re-watching it the same way I'm re-watching "K-POP - The Ultimate Audition" (K-POP 최강 서바이벌), but I can't make Netflix to show me both the Korean CC subs and the Spanish subs as options at the same time. If one option is enabled, the other one disappears.

- Started to watch "The Dragon Prince" (드래곤 프린스) with Korean dubs and Spanish subs.

[AndyMeg]

Quick update:


- Finished watching season 1 of "The Dragon Prince" (드래곤 프린스) with Korean dubs and Spanish subs. Now I've started to re-watch each episode twice: first with Spanish dubs and Korean subs and then with Korean dubs and no subs.

I'm not always able to read the complete Korean subs, sometimes they are bit out of synchrony and disappear too fast, and sometimes they are just too long and even if they are given a decent time for reading, they disappear when I'm halfway through the sentence (I still need to improve my Korean reading speed). In those cases I try to at least catch key vocabulary.

I really like watching animated series. Each episode is usually shorter than half an hour, so I can finish a whole season way faster than I would with most K-dramas. It also makes it easier to rewatch a whole episode two times without feeling it's taking me too long.

- Yesterday I was with my family at a shopping mall I don't visit that often and I was surprised to find a particular brand of stores there and I spontaneously exclaimed a sentence in Korean related to that. I don't remember the exact words I uttered but it was nice to feel the Korean language coming out of my mouth in such a spontaneous way.

- I think watching so many programs, whether with Korean audio or subs, is making the language be more active in my brain. This is also having a side effect with other languages as well because lately I've been more prone than usual to mix English-Spanish and Korean-Japanese when speaking and even sometimes when writing. Mixing Korean and Japanese is especially embarrassing when I'm in the middle of my Korean classes. When I realize I'm saying something in Japanese I stop immediately and the teachers see me in a puzzled way. As it's unusual for people in my country to know Japanese, I'm not sure if they've noticed that I'm half talking in Japanese during those times.

All in all, I'm taking all this language interference as a good sign meaning that my brain is taking Korean more seriously and is making more space for it alongside other "more established" languages like English, Japanese and my native Spanish. So I expect my mental language storeroom to be quite messy for a while until everything (or at least a reasonable amount of it) is sorted out and properly reorganized.

[Christi]

Will look up Dragon prince on Netflix. Tried finding some animated shows with Korean audio and subs on Netflix before, but was unable to find any. Have you found other shows besides this one?

[AndyMeg]

Will look up Dragon prince on Netflix. Tried finding some animated shows with Korean audio and subs on Netflix before, but was unable to find any. Have you found other shows besides this one?

I think there is a good amount of shows with both Korean dubs and Korean subs. The problem is that the Korean subs may differ a lot from the Korean audio (the meaning is essentially the same, but they tend to use different words or phrasing).

Here a list of some. I'll include animated series, animated movies and some live-action kids/teens shows:

Animated series:

- 영 저스티스
- 타잔과 제인 (I watched a few parts of ep 1 and the Korean subs in this one seem to match the Korean audio pretty closely)
- 우주의 전사 쉬라
- 볼트론 전설 속의 수호자
- 키포와 신기한 동물들
- 미라큘러스: 레이디버그와 블랙캣
- H2O 아쿠아 엔젤스 (I watched a few parts of ep 1 and the Korean subs in this one seem to match the Korean audio pretty closely)
- 보스 베이비: 돌아온 보스

Animated movies:

- 니노쿠니
- 마녀 배달부 키키
- 게드 전기 어스시의 전설
- 이웃집 토토로
- 천공의 성 라퓨타
- 몬스터 호텔
- 몬스터 호텔 2

Live action kids/teens shows:

- 꼴찌 마녀 밀드레드
- 울프블러드
- 아쿠아 엔젤스


If you want Korean subs that closely match the Korean audio, you may have better chances by looking for Korean dramas with Korean CC subs.

In case you want to look for more shows, you may change your Netflix profile to Korean as the main language and then go to https://www.netflix.com/browse/subtitles and select 더빙, 한국어. From there you may try to play the first episode of the shows that interest you to see if they also have Korean subs. I prefer looking for the Korean audio first because if you start by looking for Korean subs, you get a lot more options, most of which probably won't have Korean audio.

[AnneL]

Welcome back, it's nice to have one more active person working on Korean. Looking forward to reading your old blogs.

Watching a k-drama with korean audio-description was a first time experience for me and it took me a few episodes to get used to it.

It's very intense isn't it. After an hour I feel I've immersed enough for the day and my head will explode 머리 아파요
This could be the best audio for passive immersion too for an elementary level, you don't lose a second waiting on the next dialog.

[b]- Transcribing by hand the CC subs of the k-drama "Because This is My First Life" (이번 생은 처음이라),

Is the goal to improve your listening/spelling?

[AnneL]

I think there is a good amount of shows with both Korean dubs and Korean subs. The problem is that the Korean subs may differ a lot from the Korean audio (the meaning is essentially the same, but they tend to use different words or phrasing).

Yeah it seems they use different contractors to do the dubbing and the subtitling - so it's prob only good people who aren't beginners (in case someone else reads this later) - and then once you're at the production/speaking phase it can be fun to see 2 different translations