No Update

August 5, 2012

No update this week. I went to a funeral last week and didn't do much studying at all. Until next week...

Boring Methods

July 29, 2012

So I’ve been slacking this week. I barely studied and only managed to get in a few Naver comics and Anki cards. But it was for good reason – I’m bored outta my mind. Most of what I’m studying is basically review since I’m going through the Integrated Korean book that was used for my Korean class years ago. It’s been over a year since I’ve been in college, I’ve forgotten how much I despise studying and memorization.

I should have stuck with my first original plan of putting speaking first and everything else second. There are a few Korean and Asian markets in my city, so I plan on going there once or twice a week to practice with the employees or customers. And I’ve already signed up for Livemocha and InterPals. We’ll see how it goes.

So, out with the boring books and in with the talking.

New Anki Deck

July 23, 2012 Update

So I’ve decided to cconcentrate on vocabulary building for a couple weeks. I’m creating my own Anki deck instead of using one I downloaded. I’m also going to continue reading Naver comics, writing in my Lang-8 journal, and listening to Talk To Me In Korean podcasts. As far as speaking practice, it’s nonexistent at this point. I need to find some Korean restaurants or try to find Korean penpals on Skype.

If anyone knows of any Korean speaking/learning groups online for video chatting, let me know.

Another update coming next Sunday (or Monday, I’m terrible with setting my own deadlines). Thanks for reading.

July 9-15 Getting Rid of Anki (mostly)

Study log:

• 256 Anki flashcards
• 1 Naver comic
• Integrated Korean Ch 8 and corresponding workbook pages
• Korean internet children's games (Yahoo! Kids Korea)

So I've come to the conclusion that doing Anki SRS flashcards of vocabulary words is useless for me. I don't feel as if I am learning or retaining much vocabulary at all. So I'm going to try a different method of vocabulary learning.

I like the idea of watching short clips of drama series (1-3 min long) and reading along with the Korean transcripts. When I come across useful words I don't know, I will add them to my new Anki deck with the audio/video context. This seems like a much better method than studying random vocabulary I've never heard before.

I am also going to try to include more music in my studying and memorize song lyrics. I know that it's much easier for me to memorize something in lyric form from many years of listening to Japanese music. I can recite song lyrics in Japanese but I can't speak Japanese at all!

I'm going to continue with using Integrated Korean since I've already used it and it's great for brushing up on grammar points I've forgotten. Also, I will use more internet sources like talktomeinkorean.com and random korean lessons online.

I decided to discontinue using GLOSS for the time being, since I feel that it is slightly above my current level and I don't feel that it will be as helpful now as it will be in about 2 or 3 months.

And, finally, I will incorporate more speaking into my regiment. I recently discovered livemocha.com and rhinospike.com, so I will be using those for speaking/listening practice. I might even try to find a local language exchange partner in my city.

Thanks for reading and keeping up as I perfect my learning techniques. Another update coming next Sunday.

Week of July 2-8

Week of July 2-8

I wasn’t able to do much studying with online materials since I was internet-less for a while.

Study log:

• ·         1 GLOSS lesson
• ·         1 Naver comic
• ·         30 Anki flashcards

No update

No update on the 8th because I haven't had internet since Sunday morning. I will update tomorrow with my progress.

Korean Language Learning - July

First Post! Finally!

I started learning Korean in August 2009 in college/university till May 2010. For about one and half years I didn’t actively study Korean at all, but I did listen to Korean music and watch Korean dramas and movies. Still, my vocabulary suffered and so did my grammar. I decided I wanted to become fluent in Korean (and German), so here I am, studying again.

This blog will be my official record of language learning, starting with Korean. Every month I will update my goals. Every week on Sunday, I will update with my completed study log along with the resources I used.

My Current Level: Mid beginning level with one year of formal classroom study and several months of sporadic self-study

July

Goals:

·         Review Integrated Korean: Beginning 2 at one chapter per week and also review the corresponding Talk To Me In Korean lessons

·         Listen to two TTMIK Iyagi podcasts per week

·         Read one Korean children’s book (Kindergarten level)

·         Learn new 455 words  (15 words per day)

·         Write two short essays in my Lang-8 journal

·         Complete two GLOSS lessons per week

·         Consume any amount of Korean media including music, dramas, and movies

Resources I Use:

·         Lang-8 (my username is okaymango) [www.lang-8.com]

·         Integrated Korean: Beginning 2 textbook

·         TTMIK podcasts, lessons, and videos [http://www.talktomeinkorean.com]

·         Anki flashcard freeware [http://ankisrs.net/]

·         Subs2srs freeware for converting video with subtitles into Anki flashcards [http://sourceforge.net/projects/subs2srs/files/]

·         Korean GLOSS lessons [gloss.dliflc.edu/]

·         English-Korean-English dictionary [www.endic.naver.com]

·         Web comics [comic.naver.com/index.nhn]

On July 8, I will update with my complete study log and the resources I used for the week. Thanks for reading!