K-dramas: Here I come!

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AndyMeg
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:53 am

Quick update:

I watched another episode of a korean-dubbed japanese-anime. And I continue to watch K-dramas and Variety Shows (with and without english subs).

I also started studying with "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어 1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante". For now I was just taking notes (in my notebook) of some vocabulary from the introductory part (I have yet to start a lesson). As the book comes with the korean version first and the spanish equivalent next, it was interesting to compare the vocabulary of the headings of both versions. I found one of those expressions especially interesting: 듣기 지문.

듣기 means "listening/hearning" and 지문 means "fingerprint". In the spanish version it was written as "Comprensión auditiva" (Listening comprehension). The 듣기 지문 section of the book is one that shows the korean transcripts of the listening comprehension exercises. In this sense, I found the korean expression to be more direct than the spanish version because you could consider the transcripts as the "fingerprints" of the audio tracks. But, of course, the spanish version makes sense in the context of the book, because the transcripts included were only the ones from the listening comprehension exercises.
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Sat Nov 18, 2017 10:35 pm

Quick update:

I finally finished looking for the meanings of some vocabulary and the headlines from the introductory part of "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어 1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante". Doing this has helped me to better understand the introductory parts of other korean textbooks. And I've also encountered some of these words while watching k-dramas. For example, today I watched an episode of "Go Back Couple" (고백부부) and they used (among other words) 이유, which means "reason". Also, yesterday I read about the formation of the present and past tense of korean verbs. I had already seen some of that in my korean classes with the teacher, but this time around, with the TTMIK explanation and another course I was dabbling in, it became a lot more clear (and almost automatic because I didn't need to think too much. The answers just felt right). The other course I'm referring here is the first one in the Sejong Korean series from the 누리-세종학당 website. Somehow I ended up finishing two lessons in a few days (ロータス, this is your fault! ;) ). One thing I really like about the 누리-세종학당 website multimedia course is that they give you tips on pronuncuation and are clearing up some doubts I had in this respect. Then, I went on to sing some k-song while reading the lyrics (in korean) and all those pronunciation tips came to my mind. I felt really happy and enjoyed singing the songs a lot more :D

Next week I'll probably start going again to my korean classes with the native teacher.

My sister also printed the "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어 1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante" book, so I'll have a partner for the group activities and games :D
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:02 pm

I've finished the first lesson of "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante". It took me less than an hour to go through it and do the exercises. But, as I'm also taking the opportunity to learn using the parallel texts of the book (korean-spanish) and looking for unknown words and grammar, it took me about seven additional hours to do all of this. Between the notes I took from the introductory part of the book and those from the first lesson, I have a total of eleven pages of handwritten notes in my notebook.

So far, the hardest part I've tackled on this book is this sentence: 스페인, 멕시코, 칠레, 파라과이, 아르헨티나 등 스페인어를 사용하는 나라에서는 악수를 하기도 하고 가까운 사이에서는 볼에 뽀뽀를 하거나 뺨을 맞대요. This had a lot of unknown words and grammar and I was really thankful that it came with its equivalent in spanish.

As going through "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante" is proving to be more intensive than I initially thought, I decided to stop studying hanja on Memrise and kanji on the Kanji Study Android app. Instead, I'll still be paying attention to this area by working on two less intensive activities: reading the books "Handbook of Korean Vocabulary” and “Essential Korean Vocabulary”.

I'm also getting better with my imitation practice from the first page of the first episode of the TTMIK Iyagi series, but there are still some parts which are too fast for me at the moment and in which I can't keep up with the natives' speed and pronunciation. Listening to the audio many times while I'm doing some mindless activities (like doing the dishes) has proven to be really helpful to my progress.

I'm also back with my once-a-week korean classes. :mrgreen:
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:50 pm

Quick update:

I've been struggling with the korean dubbed version of 고스트바둑왕. This japanese anime is one of my all time favorites, but some times it gets frustrating not being able to understand as much as I would like.

Today I watched part of an interview with the members of BTS, and something particularly caught my attention: there NamJoon said how he learned to speak english by watching "Friends" many times: first with korean subs, then with english subs, and finally without subs.

From what he said I realized that one of the reasons I've stopped my three-times segments activity with k-dramas is that I didn't like to have to watch the same segment three times in a row before moving on to a new one. It just cut the stories in an awful way. So now I'll try a similar approach with k-dramas to the one that NamJoon used and watch a whole k-drama three times and then move on to another k-drama. I'll start with "Kill Me Heal Me" (킬미, 힐미), the whole drama just with english subtitles and then I'll watch again with just korean subtittles, and finally without subs. I'll be reporting back how this experiment goes ;) .
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:07 am

Today I watched the first episode of "Kill Me, Heal Me" (킬미, 힐미) with english subs and I also watched another korean dubbed episode of 고스트바둑왕 (even with the frustration I feel from time to time from not being able to understand as much as I would like, I think I would still enjoy watching this anime in any language xD!).

I finished reading all the 25 lessons from "Talk To Me In Korean"'s first level :) :

: 25 / 25 TTMIK lessons (L1):

Then I listened to a korean dialogue based on the lessons from level 1. The first time I listened to it I understood around 90% of it; the second time I listened to it I understood around 95% of it. I was able to guess the meaning of some unkown words thanks to the context (for example: 선물 = gift, present). Then I read the korean transcript and I was able to understand almost 100% of it (here again I was able to guess some words from context. For example: 다른 = different, other. And I also discovered that I had had trouble understanding the audio from some words I already knew). This was the part that gave me trouble when reading the transcript: 누가 피자집에서 맥주를 마셔요? I basically knew all the vocabulary, but got confused by the use of 집 (house) here. Now I know that 피자집 is what, in spanish, we call "pizzería" (pizzeria, pizza place).
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Posts: 633
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:01 pm

I've continued watching the korean dubbed version of 고스트바둑왕. Here is my progress so far:

: 26 / 75 고스트바둑왕 (korean dubbed) :

From Monday to Friday I've established a series of activities I would like to try to do every day and I've ordered them by priority:

1) Take at least once a day the Viki's K-drama Vocabulary Quiz
2) Watch at least one episode of "Kill Me, Heal Me" (킬미, 힐미) with english subs. Currently at 4/20. When I finish the whole drama I plan to watch it again, but this time with korean subs.
3) Work with the book "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante"
4) Read at least one TTMIK lesson. Already finished the 25 lessons from the first level. Currently about to start level two.

I don't expect to do all these activities every day, but I'll try to do as many as I can each day.

For the weekends, and as a break from the other activities, I would like to do the following (again, ordered by priority):

1) Take at least once a day the Viki's K-drama Vocabulary Quiz (this is the only activity I'm actually trying to do every day)
2) Go to my once-a-week korean classes with a native speaker.
3) Speaking imitation practice with the Iyagi series (still working on the first page of the first episode)
4) Copy by hand the transcription from the first episode of "Healer" (힐러). Currently working through page 3.
5) Read the book “Handbook of Korean Vocabulary”
6) Read the book “Essential Korean Vocabulary”. For now I only read the words marked with three and two spots, which are the most frequent ones. I also read the corresponding sentence: first only in korean and I try to guess its meaning, then I read the english translation and I try to match the words to their korean equivalent.

Apart from this planned activities I continue randomly watching some korean TV (mainly variety shows and dramas) and listening to k-songs (sometimes with the korean lyrics at hand). From time to time I also do other activities like going through the multimedia online version of the Sejong course at the 누리-세종학당 website (currently at the halfway point of lesson three of 세종한국어1), and dabbling in the book "재외동포를위한 한국어 (영어권) 1.1" in PDF format (currently at page 86. I skipped all the hangeul-teaching part and I'm doing all the exercises in my head except for the ones that require the audio tracks because I don't have them in my tablet, and I usually dabble in this book before going to sleep, so I prefer to just take it easy).
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:08 pm

I've been thinking a lot lately.

With korean I decided to experiment a lot because I want to get to know me better as a language learner and find the most enjoyable way for me to learn.

I would like to spend a month or two mainly focused in watching dramas in the way I mentioned before (first complete a drama with english subs, then watch the whole drama again but this time with korean subs and, finally, watch the drama again, but this time without subs). But, after thinking a lot about it, I've realized that one of the things that have been stopping me from trying this is that my korean reading speed is not fast enough and I don't feel confident I could get the most out of watching a drama with korean subs. Following this reasoning, I could say that that activity is currently way beyond my "sweet spot" in which I can learn the best at my current level. Because of this, I decided that I first need to improve my reading speed.

From all the activities I've been doing lately, I think the one that can help me the most with my reading speed is the "speaking imitation practice" I'be been doing with the Iyagi series.

After thinking a lot about it, I've come to the conclusion that I get better results when I put most of my efforts in just one or two activities at a time. When I try to handle more than that I usually get sidetracked and don't progress as fast as I would like to. So here are the changes I decided to make to my plan from the previous post:


From Monday to Friday:

1) Take at least once a day the Viki's K-drama Vocabulary Quiz
2) Speaking imitation practice with the Iyagi series

For the weekends:

1) Take at least once a day the Viki's K-drama Vocabulary Quiz
2) Go to my once-a-week korean classes with a native speaker

And, as lots of input is a really importat part of my language learning approach, I'll continue watching korean TV (mainly with english subs, but sometimes without subs too), listening to korean songs and singing along, and watching korean dubbed anime (as far as I find it enjoyable). And I'll probably continue dabbling in certain activities (like reading the book "재외동포를위한 한국어 (영어권) 1.1") when I feel like it.

My main goal for now will be to improve my reading speed as much as I possibly can. I'm not going for understanding, just being able to read (mentally and aloud) at a native like speed (or as close to that as I can). I'll focus on the rhythm, intonation, flow and pronunciation, even if I don't understand the meaning of what I'm reading. For this I think that the Iyagi series episodes from TTMIK are a great resource because they come with both audio and transcript by native speakers and, from what I've read, they are somehow graded by increasing difficulty.
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:31 pm

Just for future reference, I'll leave here the progress bars of the activities I had been doing:

: 4 / 20 킬미, 힐미 (eng. subs):
: 2 / 21 힐러 Ep. 1 transcript :
: 0 / 385 “Handbook of Korean Vocabulary”
: 17 / 593 “Essential Korean Vocabulary”
: 3 / 30 TTMIK lessons (L2):
: 30 / 180 맞춤 스페인어권 한국어1 :
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
Blue Belt
Posts: 633
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:44 pm
Languages: Spanish (N), English (B2-C1), Japanese (A2-B1), Korean (Lower Intermediate?)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Fri Dec 08, 2017 11:19 pm

While doing the speaking imitation practice I realized that it may not be the fastest way to get where I want to be in relation to my reading speed. Why? Because it is mainly a SPEAKING practice. The focus there is to being able to imitate the native speakers, not to read fast :oops:

I've also been thinking that even if I want be able to read aloud comfortably, that's not a skill I'll need for what I want to do with the korean subs of k-dramas. The only skill I really need is to be able to (mentally) read the korean subs at a similar speed that I can read english subs. So that's where I'll put my focus from now on.

I'll still use the Iyagi series but focused exclusively in improving my mental reading speed. For this I'll listen to the audio tracks while trying to follow with the transcript. I'll repeat the parts that are most difficult for me until I can follow them comfortably and then I'll move on. My objective is to go through all the Iyagi episodes while doing this.
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Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

AndyMeg
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Posts: 633
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:44 pm
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
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Re: K-dramas: Here I come!

Postby AndyMeg » Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:49 pm

I've been taking the Viki's K-drama Vocabulary Quiz once a day. I often get all the easy words right and at least half of the medium words right too. My number of hits with the hard words is usually about three words. I've got some "high" scores (on the 50% range) but I have yet to surpass my previous record. One record I did surpass, though, was my lowest score which went from 4% to 3% :lol:

From the words of the Viki's quiz, I found it interesting that marriage related words seemed to have the syllable 혼 in them: 결혼 (marriage), 이혼 (divorce) and 미혼 (single, unmarried). So I looked for the hanja of 혼 (in the Hanja Explorer website) and it turned out to be this:

婚 --> get married; marriage, wedding

And, just out of curiosity, I also looked for some other hanjas:

結 (결) --> knot, tie; join, connect

結婚 (결혼)--> marriage

未 (미) --> not yet; 8th terrestrial branch

未婚 (미혼) --> single, unmarried

離 (이) --> leave, depart; go away; separate

離婚 (이혼) --> divorce

While doing this search I also discovered some other related words like: 신혼여행 (honeymoon) and 신혼부부 (newlyweds). 신혼부부 is made from parts I already knew:

신--> New, recent
부부--> couple (I learned this word from the title of a kdrama I recently watched: "Go Back Couple" [고백부부])

With this and the knwoledge that 혼 is related to the concept of marriage, it is easy to make a guess about the whole word meaning: new + marriage + couple = newlyweds. That's why, at times like these, I really like hanja even when I've struggled a lot with them in my japanese studies. :D

On other news, I've moved on from the first Iyagi episode to the second one because I was finally able to follow all the transcript at the same time I was listening to the audio and I didn't get lost (well, I did get a bit lost when both people talked at the same time, but I quickly caught up).

I continue watching the korean dubbed version of the anime 고스트바둑왕 and I'm nearing the halfway point. :mrgreen:

From time to time I also watch a few short videos with korean subs from the Naver website for kids.

I've continued dabbling in the book "재외동포를위한 한국어 (영어권) 1.1" and now I'm on page 126. I also finished lesson three of 세종한국어1 multimedia online version at the 누리-세종학당 website.

And, of course, I continue watching k-dramas, some korean TV variety shows and listening to k-songs. ;)

Thanks to Youtube's recommendations I found this video of BTS:



I enjoy watching videos related to BTS, but it's certainly not a good idea when you have to go somewhere and you suddenly realize you are running late because what you thought had been just a mere 15 minutes in reality were 45 :shock: (Youtube is tempting me all the time with its recommendations :cry: ).
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