Lesson 3
64 new words in merely 3 lessons... man.. dat is quite abit :)
But it's been great so far. I've paid very good money for very good language studies :)
The text dat the class uses is fantastic! The textbook and workbook both come with audio CDs which u can listen to while u study. Kudos to the Kyung Hee University Press :D The students studying at Kyung Hee University in South Korea actually use the same text as we do! Or rather, we use the same text they do~ haha! Amazing~
The pace generally is good so far. But personally, i think it's way too slow for myself.. i'm dying to get to the grammar bit! Right now, it's really like how kindergarten is. You start off by learning how to read alphabets and write simple words. I'm not saying that i'm above this level, NO.. i am thankful i started from rock bottom of learning Korean, because the initial stages like i mentioned in the past blog entry, were an eye-opener. I corrected the way i used to pronounce some alphabets.
However, i think i am just hungry for more meat.
The students in class are pretty ok peeps. i havent gotten to know them well enough yet. But i've established conversation level relationships with some :) I think the youngest student there is 21 or so.. and the eldest is a lady in her late 50s or so i think.. :)
Sitting at the back of the classroom is the best view in my opinion. I get blocked sometimes BUT i get a full view of everything that's happening in class and from my observation, i've gathered information on the various types of characters in class~ Very interesting :)
You've got the classmate who is the uptight one, who refuses to engage the class; you've got the eager ones who always ask questions (sometimes interrupting the flow of the class); you've got the blur classmate who's really lost in his/her world; you've got the cliques ;) ... ; and then you've got a whole lot who are trying to keep up with the teacher's pace. As for me? Well.. i prefer to sit back and absorb all dat is happening haha! Hey i'm NOT a slacker ok! I engage, and i engage real well :p
Teacher: "Everybody say, 'Ah'."
Everybody: "AH."
I: "AH!"
Teacher: "Again."
Everybody: "AH."
I: "AH!"
Well, actually i don't scream. It just happens dat i have a boomy low voice which projects well hee hee~ And i sit in a comfortable level of frequency amidst all the other majority of female voices.
The hardest part of learning Korean in the beginning so far, and of which i have gathered from some of my classmates, is that of pronouncing alphabets.. Yes.. even Japanese is a whole lot easier in this aspect! It is crazy.. i never realised how difficult some words are for a Singaporean to pronounce. It's NOT the writing of the Hangeul (yea, pronouce 'HAN-GEUL', yea come on, open up your mouth, say "HA.. AH.. HAHN.. GEU..L...GEUL..), it's NOT the vocabulary... it's yeah.. pronouncing it.... wat's a sound between a 'K' and 'G' sound like? Or.. how do u say a sound which sounds like 'S' but WHY IS THERE A TINGE OF 'TSE' IN FRONT OF IT?!?!?!
So how do i overcome this problem? Hmm.. well i've got a philosophy which goes something like this: when in Korea (or in this case Korean class), do as the Koreans do.
Yea, basically to pronounce a Korean alphabet properly... you really got to think Korean, do Korean, say Korean, you gotta 'BECOME' Korean... Yeah, you gotta be one with the sun, the yin and the yang! (Ok watever crap dat sounded like but yea..)
So i force and contort my lips, tongue, face, mouth, nasal and vocal cavities and wat not.. and i just make sure i get the darn thing right.. :) It helps dat i had previously received formal speech lessons in polytechnic and also studied some French (the phonetics is a killer, i think it's worse than Korean..), BUT English phonetics and Korean phonetics..? Quite worlds apart.. :)
Having said dat, the best way to acquire a Korean twang is to go live in the country itself, or have natives of that country speak to you daily, or if you can't watch more Korean drama and LISTEN carefully how they say certain words. And if you listen and converse long enough, you'll probably start speaking like a Korean native. The best gauge would be to speak over a phone to a Korean stranger and if the stranger doesnt ask you a question like, "Are you local?" or "Which country are you from?", then you've probably met your goal of speaking proper Korean hahah! If you can fool ppl into believing you're a native Korean over the phone, DAT'S the pinnacle!
Wonder how people acquire real accents? Simple. It's a matter of exposure :) If you're put in a country, let's say Taiwan, for like the rest of your life, you'll find yourself speaking chinese with a taiwanese twang in it~ Malaysia? Beijing? Hong Kong? SAME THING la..
Alright, i'm going back to study my vocabulary and phonetics. There's gonna be oral and written examinations! Cool! I've made up my mind to ace these exams to the best of my ability :D Looking forward to every tuesday and thursday night! HWAITING!
But it's been great so far. I've paid very good money for very good language studies :)
The text dat the class uses is fantastic! The textbook and workbook both come with audio CDs which u can listen to while u study. Kudos to the Kyung Hee University Press :D The students studying at Kyung Hee University in South Korea actually use the same text as we do! Or rather, we use the same text they do~ haha! Amazing~
The pace generally is good so far. But personally, i think it's way too slow for myself.. i'm dying to get to the grammar bit! Right now, it's really like how kindergarten is. You start off by learning how to read alphabets and write simple words. I'm not saying that i'm above this level, NO.. i am thankful i started from rock bottom of learning Korean, because the initial stages like i mentioned in the past blog entry, were an eye-opener. I corrected the way i used to pronounce some alphabets.
However, i think i am just hungry for more meat.
The students in class are pretty ok peeps. i havent gotten to know them well enough yet. But i've established conversation level relationships with some :) I think the youngest student there is 21 or so.. and the eldest is a lady in her late 50s or so i think.. :)
Sitting at the back of the classroom is the best view in my opinion. I get blocked sometimes BUT i get a full view of everything that's happening in class and from my observation, i've gathered information on the various types of characters in class~ Very interesting :)
You've got the classmate who is the uptight one, who refuses to engage the class; you've got the eager ones who always ask questions (sometimes interrupting the flow of the class); you've got the blur classmate who's really lost in his/her world; you've got the cliques ;) ... ; and then you've got a whole lot who are trying to keep up with the teacher's pace. As for me? Well.. i prefer to sit back and absorb all dat is happening haha! Hey i'm NOT a slacker ok! I engage, and i engage real well :p
Teacher: "Everybody say, 'Ah'."
Everybody: "AH."
I: "AH!"
Teacher: "Again."
Everybody: "AH."
I: "AH!"
Well, actually i don't scream. It just happens dat i have a boomy low voice which projects well hee hee~ And i sit in a comfortable level of frequency amidst all the other majority of female voices.
The hardest part of learning Korean in the beginning so far, and of which i have gathered from some of my classmates, is that of pronouncing alphabets.. Yes.. even Japanese is a whole lot easier in this aspect! It is crazy.. i never realised how difficult some words are for a Singaporean to pronounce. It's NOT the writing of the Hangeul (yea, pronouce 'HAN-GEUL', yea come on, open up your mouth, say "HA.. AH.. HAHN.. GEU..L...GEUL..), it's NOT the vocabulary... it's yeah.. pronouncing it.... wat's a sound between a 'K' and 'G' sound like? Or.. how do u say a sound which sounds like 'S' but WHY IS THERE A TINGE OF 'TSE' IN FRONT OF IT?!?!?!
So how do i overcome this problem? Hmm.. well i've got a philosophy which goes something like this: when in Korea (or in this case Korean class), do as the Koreans do.
Yea, basically to pronounce a Korean alphabet properly... you really got to think Korean, do Korean, say Korean, you gotta 'BECOME' Korean... Yeah, you gotta be one with the sun, the yin and the yang! (Ok watever crap dat sounded like but yea..)
So i force and contort my lips, tongue, face, mouth, nasal and vocal cavities and wat not.. and i just make sure i get the darn thing right.. :) It helps dat i had previously received formal speech lessons in polytechnic and also studied some French (the phonetics is a killer, i think it's worse than Korean..), BUT English phonetics and Korean phonetics..? Quite worlds apart.. :)
Having said dat, the best way to acquire a Korean twang is to go live in the country itself, or have natives of that country speak to you daily, or if you can't watch more Korean drama and LISTEN carefully how they say certain words. And if you listen and converse long enough, you'll probably start speaking like a Korean native. The best gauge would be to speak over a phone to a Korean stranger and if the stranger doesnt ask you a question like, "Are you local?" or "Which country are you from?", then you've probably met your goal of speaking proper Korean hahah! If you can fool ppl into believing you're a native Korean over the phone, DAT'S the pinnacle!
Wonder how people acquire real accents? Simple. It's a matter of exposure :) If you're put in a country, let's say Taiwan, for like the rest of your life, you'll find yourself speaking chinese with a taiwanese twang in it~ Malaysia? Beijing? Hong Kong? SAME THING la..
Alright, i'm going back to study my vocabulary and phonetics. There's gonna be oral and written examinations! Cool! I've made up my mind to ace these exams to the best of my ability :D Looking forward to every tuesday and thursday night! HWAITING!
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