My Let’s Speak Korean lesson today (41회) happily coincides with my birthday.
A simple 생일 축하합니다 is appropriate.
Seriously, today’s lesson is a relief. My last couple of weeks of study has been almost entirely new material, and it’s nice to watch something with which I am already familiar.
Put the words ”Korean” and “drums” together in the same sentence, and I’ll ask “Where and when?” Last night I attended a Korean program, part of an arts festival at a local university. Although I have little natural rhythm of my own, I’ve always been a big fan of Korean percussion. There’s an irresistible fiery passion to it that always leaves me wanting more.
However, to get to the drum part of the program, I had to sit through a succession of local Korean talent, ranging from a children’s choir, cellists, a vocalist, to a couple of flutists. The music and the performances were good, but I was antsy for the highlight.
I was disappointed in the drum performance. They were pretty good, but not as good as I had hoped. They used a backup track—of drums!—for part of their performance…I would have preferred to hear it all live.
None of the printed program used 한글…all of the Korean words were romanized. The title of one of the flute solos intrigued me. Romanized as Gagopa and translated as Feeling Homesick, at this point I assume that the word indicates a hunger for home. But none of the dictionaries I’ve consulted can tell me anything.
One of the flutists looked familiar to me, and I could only assume that I had known her when I lived in Korea. Turns out I was right…she’s the wife of the assistant director of the second language institute at which I taught. Her husband is about to finish his doctorate at the previously-mentioned university. Since their son is finishing his junior year in high school, she may stay on with the children for another year while her husband returns to the job waiting for him back in Korea. It’s understandably a difficult decision for the family.
When I told her that I was studying Korean, she kindly offered to help. I’m planning to take her up on her offer…I really need a live person with whom to speak Korean.
That’s a good question, and thank you for asking.
Back in the 80s, I took a year off from college to teach English in Korea. I was so enamored of Korea that after I graduated from college, I returned, but this time I wasn’t interested in teaching English. I ended up working as a recruiter for the language institute system for which I worked and happily spent another three and a half years working in Korea.
During my second “tour of duty”, I studied Korean both formally and informally but never spoke it well. Here I will allow myself one moment of self-recrimination (and I promise I will never have another one like this here): Every day that I study Korean, I learn something that would have been useful while I was living there, and I give myself a little mental kick. Then I move on.
I’d like to return to Korea to live, but the timing is not now (and may never be) right. So I content myself with my language study, some culture and history, and a Korea-related project or two on the side.
In the Let’s Speak Korean VOD I studied today (lesson 22), Stephen mentioned that Korean is a high-context language. I had never heard the term, but I knew immediately what he meant. See here and here for further definition and description of the term.
One of the initially frustrating things about Korean is that so much of what English-speakers include in their sentences is left out in Korean. For example, pronouns are often not used. It’s expected that both parties in a conversation know to what or whom the speaker is referring.
After a while, much of my frustration wore off. It can be refreshing not to have to be explicit all the time and to know that the other person understands what you’re talking about.
But I may never be fully comfortable in a high-context environment. One day, in my third or fourth year in Korea, one of my bosses (who had known me for a long time) took me aside and kindly suggested that I not ask so many questions. At the time, I understood it from the perspective of language ability. Someone whose first language is not English may have difficulty answering “why” questions. Upon reflection, however, I am finding a new perspective.
Learning to speak Korean fluently is one of my life goals. It would have been easier had I made this determination during any of the four and a half years I lived in Korea...but I didn’t.
Sure, I studied Korean, both formally and informally, off and on, but never enough to become fluent.
Last fall, I started to study again. It was a fitful but increasingly consistent start. Nowadays you’ll find me in my office during my lunch break watching Arirang TV’s new Let’s Speak Korean program. I study one ten-minute program per day. The VOD option allows me to pause and rewind when necessary. I watch the program as many times as necessary for it to stick, which means my language study actually extends beyond lunch. I wear headphones and continue to repeat the program throughout the afternoon. I will also preview the next VOD, so that I have an idea of what I’ll be facing the next day.
I also am reviewing what I already know by studying book 1 of the Korean Through English series. I hope to have finished reviewing this book by the end of February, when I will continue with book 2.
That’s all I do right now. There are other courses that I could study, but through some trial and error, I’ve learned that this is the right mix right now.
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강미 | learning korean