kangmi: learning korean

I know the feeling that you get when you walk out the door and the weather is too cold or too hot or too wet or too dreary. On top of that, you can read the signs but you can’t understand everything; you overhear conversations but have no idea what people are talking about, or if they’re talking about you, or if they’re talking about the weather; you wonder how to pay the bills; you wonder if you’re paying them right; you wonder what the fine print says; you wonder if there’s a better way to do it; you wonder what they’re giving you at the hospital; you wonder whether the taxi driver is ripping you off; you wonder where this bus is going; you wonder why you’re coughing so much; you wonder if you’ll ever get married; you wonder why getting married isn’t all it was cracked up to be; you wonder how to find a marriage counselor in a place like this; you make do with the marriage counselors you do find; you wonder why your director hired your co-worker, because he’s a complete idiot and makes work life harder than it has any right to be; you wonder where your roommate is at three o’clock in the morning; you wander around downtown Seoul for a year before defining a route to Kyobo Bookstore; you wonder how to buy a train ticket, the right train ticket, without a friend to handle translation, because you’d like to do it yourself, this once; you wonder where the best place to buy used furniture is; you wonder why there’s corn on the pizza; you wonder what that smell is; someone speaks Korean to you, and you understand what they said, but the words you need are stuck somewhere in your head, and you can’t pry them loose; and all that isn’t even the half of it. Everything seems new, everything seems different, everything seems uncertain, everything seems hard, and on top of that they expect you to learn the language. Some days (weeks, months, years), you’re just trying to keep your head above water.

I’ve learned over the years that in many respects, managing my life here in the States is not that different than managing my (former) life in Korea. Work, family life, exercise, and sleep take up so much of my time that I wonder how I’ll ever accomplish anything else.

I’ve found that simplicity is a key component in creating the space that I need to not only learn Korean but to work on a couple of other projects. How I learned that is a long, boring story, but the results are clear: I say no a lot; I don’t expect perfection from myself or others (oh all right, I’m still working on that one); I know why I’m doing what I’m doing. Routines are essential, but I can handle flexibility, too.

I’ve learned that life seasons come and go. You’ve just had a baby? Maybe now isn’t the right time to apply yourself to Korean studies. Your boss has you teaching an exhausting schedule for the next couple of months? Perhaps ditto, and give yourself another month to recover. You’ve just moved? Take a couple of weeks to get used to the new neighborhood. You’re burned out? Take care of yourself for a while. Life conspires to make it just plain hard? kangmi will be back later to give you a much-needed kick in the pants.

Read Part 2.

Where to buy

If you’re in an all-fired hurry and can’t wait for the comprehensive review, here are a couple of buying suggestions:

- The Ultimate Language Store offers a buyback program for Pimsleur’s comprehensive programs.  See the buy back page for details. Even if you don’t opt for the buy back program, you’ll still only pay US$182 for the CD version. Otherwise, try Best Book Buys for some other buying options.

- Audiofy sells the Bookchip version for $159.95 and throws in a USB card reader for free. This version is great if you own an iPod, but I haven’t figured out if it can be transferred to any other MP3 player.

- As usual, it looks like residents of Korea will have to pay more. What the Book carries it, and I daresay readers will be quick to point out other places where it can be purchased.

Yes, it’s pricier than most other Korean language courses out there. But for the price, you’ll find it money well spent. You may be able to purchase it with a friend (or two), or your boss will pick up a copy for you, or you’ll find that the market will bear a decent resale price.

In the meantime, I realized I had options once I figured out that anything with a headphone jack could be played through my car stereo. I’ve played audio files from my Palm and cassette tapes on a cassette player (for which I got a power adapter so that I don’t have to use batteries). I’ve copied MP3 files onto a CD-RW and played them in my CD player. In short, I’ve learned that if I have audio, I can play it in my car.

These are early days, so to date I am using the following:

- Pimsleur’s Comprehensive Korean Level 1
- Some old Korean language cassettes I’ve had for a while
- MP3s, either from podcasts or other audio I record off the Internet

The first two will eventually pass, so I will continue to actively pursue recording my own audio from the Internet. More podcasts would be nice, and they wouldn’t even have to be about learning Korean. I’d be happy to hear someone talk about their day.

How do you use your commute to learn Korean?

Thousands of videotapes and audiotapes purported to contain repeated messages are being marketed with claims that they can help people: lose weight, stop smoking, enhance athletic performance, quit drinking, think creatively, raise IQ, make friends, reduce pain, improve vision, restore hearing, cure acne, conquer fears, read faster, speak effectively, handle criticism, relieve depression, enlarge breasts, and do many other things. At least one company has offered subliminal tapes for children, including a toilet-training tape for toddlers. Many tapes contain music said to promote relaxation.

Many researchers have found that subliminal tapes provide no benefit to the user. One who tested tapes from several companies concluded that they contained no embedded messages that could conceivably influence behavior . A research team tested volunteers for a study of tapes said to improve memory and self-esteem, but switched the tapes for half of the participants (to create a control group). Regardless of the tape used, about half of the volunteers claimed to achieve the results they were told to expect-but objective tests of memory and self-esteem showed no change . A National Research Council committee has concluded that although many people claim that subliminal self-help tapes contribute to self-improvement, there is no scientific evidence to support such claims . Thus there is no reason to believe that musical tapes with subliminal messages can do anything more for physical or mental well-being than listening to ordinary music. There is no scientific evidence that messages which cannot be heard are unconsciously or subconsciously perceived or can influence behavior.