I’ll be traveling through the weekend. While I don’t plan to study at my destination, I have time to kill on planes and in airports (this evening as well as all day Sunday).
Thus I’ve loaded up my Palm* with 러브홀릭 and Sogang audio, packed Handbook of Korean Vocabulary and a 사전, and have a month’s worth of 한자 to learn.
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*There is clearly an iPod in my future. Sometime after fixing the car and getting new contacts and a bunch of other stuff, but it’s there.
Posted by kangmi on May 25, 2005 at 8:01 PM0 comments
After a short deliberation, I have selected my new drama. 열여덟 스물아홉 is a new drama from KBS that is adequately interesting. Sure, amnesia is an old, old plot device, and I’m not expecting anything new from it, even though producer Ham Young-hoon says that:
“We haven’t decided yet if Hye-chan will recover her memory.”
If this were an American drama, I’d say the chances of Hye-chan recovering her memory are 100%. But this is a Korean drama, and I don’t know enough about Korean use of this device.
Anyway, I’m not watching Korean television to be cleverly entertained. I’m watching it to learn Korean, and as long as I’m not bored or repelled, any program is adequate. However, getting used to the men wearing darker lipstick than the women may take some time.
열여덟 스물아홉 is broadcast on KBS2 on Monday and Tuesday evenings at 9:55 PM. You may also watch VODs here.
Two hours a week is a bit easier on my schedule than the three hours a week of the last one.
Read Less...
Posted by kangmi on March 11, 2005 at 3:59 PM7 comments
Steve Kauffmann of The Linguist on Language discusses ways that language learners can reframe their language learning difficulties using a four-step process used in treating some obsessive-compulsive disorder suffererers:
If language learners are constantly discouraged because of their inability to express things correctly in a new language, or their inability to remember words when they need them, or to pronounce properly , or the fact that they freeze when they have to speak to a native speaker, this discosuragement is only building up tension and making learning more and more difficult.
I believe that the learner’s potential ability at a new language is usually far greater than what he or she actually achieves. Schwartz’s Four Steps may help the language learner.
Kauffmann’s suggested application of the four steps is an excellent approach to combating anxiety and discouragement. Due to my ever-present Nagging Perfectionist, I find myself using a fair amount of self-talk in order to stay on my language-learning track.
Read it if you need the boost.
Read Less...
Posted by kangmi on February 24, 2005 at 7:46 PM1 comments
I’ve started Supermemo collections. I’ve deleted Supermemo collections. I think about making Supermemo collections. I’ve yet to dream about Supermemo collections, but I’m sure it’s coming.
What I’ve learned
I’ve learned a lot about Supermemo in the last few weeks. My most significant findings (available here as a primary source):
• Supermemo is not about learning new material. Supermemo is a tool to remember material you have already learned. This is extremely important, and not understanding it caused me to get hung up for a while.
• Creating good question and answer pairs is essential. It’s best to make the question and answer focus on one piece of information, rather than several.
What I use
I use the free online version of Supermemo, which uses the QA format. I haven’t tried (and currently don’t intend to) either the desktop or handheld versions. The QA format can be created in any plain text editor, which is a lot easier than entering them online.
How I’m using it
As I am learning Korean, and not English, as far as possible, all of my Supermemo questions and answers will be in Korean.
Understandably, this is not a simple process, and it’s certainly not speedy. It’s not a matter of creating a QA pair like this:
Q: Wednesday
A: 수요일
It’s more along the lines of creating a pair like this:
Q: 일주일의 넷째날을 뭐라고 하나요?
A: 수요일이예요.
How I’m doing
You’ll remember that it’s neither a simple nor a speedy process. I’ve been spending a lot of time figuring out the best way to create question and answer pairs. Language is not some hard list of facts. It’s ethereal, transient, growing, changing, dynamic. It’s clay, and Legos, and sticks and stones and boxes...never the same thing twice.
So you can understand why integrating my foo-foo perspective with Supermemo has been a long, slow process. These resources have been useful in giving me ideas for creating better Supermemo language items.
The future of Supermemo at kangmi
My orderly heart likes Supermemo, and it also likes what it’s doing for my retention. In the interest of furthering Korean language acquisition worldwide, I will be adding a Supermemo blog here at kangmi. Most posts will be lists of QA items that you should be able to use in your own online Supermemo account. You may wish to use some, but not all, items in any given post. You may wish to edit items for your own purposes.
And once I figure out this whole membership thing, you should be able to add your own Supermemo QAs.
Posted by kangmi on October 6, 2004 at 9:00 AM0 comments
I received an e-mail over the weekend from Chris, who is studying Korean on his own. With his permission, I am posting it here for your feedback.
I’m currently in the process of studying Korean. I attend a school where many people from Korea attend. I have recently made some friends (very good friends I may add) and have taken an extreme interest in Korean. I have made flash cards (tons) on vocab. I was seeking guidance on studying Korean. Since my friends really don’t know how to respond to “why” questions, I sometimes have to take matters into my own hands. I have been to many many sites on the subject and have found some many useful things. I cannot, however, find a site that has all three forms of each verb type, extensive vocabulary, etc. I have been to a couple that give basic grammar, but don’t give what most Koreans would speak. Some teach me just a little then just put me into the pool without getting in (if you catch my drift) by showing a video about things that they haven’t explained. I have been to my local bookstores and some books I pick up just use the Romanization (no person who is really studying Korean wants that) and I actually had one say that 있 was “iss-” *sigh*. I am also having trouble studying vocabulary. None of the words are cognates (other then the ones that are in English) and, as you know, something like “antidisestablishmentaryism” could be 담 (just an example). So, I don’t have an idea on how to pound those into my head. I really would like to visit there when I get a bit older and possibly live there for a bit. I really don’t have a real solid reason for why I’m studying it. It is so interesting and I love it so much. It has become one of my life goals and I won’t give up. If you could give me some good sources with your comments and some guidance that would be great. I wish I had people to study with day-in and day-out as
that would help a lot to master the language.
Please tell me what you suggest! Thank you! 안녕히계세요!
Posted by kangmi on June 15, 2004 at 8:00 AM5 comments
From the University of California Education Abroad Program recommended methods of preparing to study in Korea:
- Read Korean newspapers and magazines, using a dictionary as necessary.
- Read aloud (anything in Korean) for 20 minutes at a time. Strive for correct pronunciation; read progressively faster, maintaining correct pronunciation.
- Become acquainted with Korea prior to departure. Keep up-to-date on Korean current events by reading articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals.
- Read a book or two in Korean, preferably one fiction and one non-fiction.
- Talk to yourself in Korean, practicing phrases picked up from conversation and reading.
- Seek out people fluent in Korean for conversations and vocabulary practice.
- Keep a journal of Korean phrases, expressions, whole sentences, and structures that you would like to add to your vocabulary.
Posted by kangmi on May 18, 2004 at 9:50 AM0 comments
강미 | learning korean