"Let's Speak Korean" - Language Learning from TV?

When it comes to learning, I am a lone wolf. Since childhood I have often spent time alone reading or studying, and most of my language learning has been solitary. My second university major was French, and I studied by distance - my only conversation partner was a dog!

Although I've had some success studying alone, having other students study with me has often driven me to learn faster. Other students create opportunities for communication, and we can learn from their experiences, too. A bit of competition can also be motivating.

Most of the online resources I have used address a solitary learner. This evening, though, I watched the first episode of "Let's Speak Korean", a television series featuring a Korean teacher, an American mediator and two international students learning Korean for the first time. Having "classmates" was a different experience, and it might be more suitable for some learners.

Each episode includes an introduction and cultural discussion, some useful phrases and a dialogue. There is supportive text, but it is only in Hangul! What is useful is to listen to the students and note feedback on their performance. Since there is no feedback when learning in isolation, this can be quite useful.

No language learning resource is perfect in itself, and supplementation is always enriching. A series like this can give learners who like to learn with classmates a more social learning experience.

What I found even more intriguing than the video itself was the discussion between viewers that it provoked. The viewers share their opinions and reasons for learning Korean, ask for help with thier learning and become a virtual classroom of sorts in their own right. A support network like this can be of great help to learners, and it is something I would like to look into further.

Time Management and the Gentle Art of Keeping Going No Matter What

One of the greatest enemies to learning a new language is that people claim they do not have enough time. One of the great things about learning with the Web is that there are many learning resources that do not take any extra time once you set them up and establish a habit of using them. Podcasts, for example, can be taken anywhere and played while doing daily chores like exercising, commuting or housework. Of course, some review with notes would be good later.

The Survival Language Kit can be converted to simple word and phrase cards using word processing software. These cards can fit in a pocket and be reviewed in the many empty moments that come by in a day.

When I was studying Chinese some years ago, I had an hour long commute and walk to and from class. I followed the example of a brilliant classmate and started audio recording each lesson, listening to it on the way home and again on the way to class, using my notes as well while on the bus. This was a tremendous memory aid, and saved time, too. That was in the neanderthal days of cassettes - with digital options today, the sky's the limit!

This week and next, my drive to and from my classes is two hours each way. Despite the heavy advertising on the Koreanclass 101 podcast, it may be just the ticket to keep my learning moving in these busy weeks.

New Language, New Sounds

Continuing my byte-sized learning experience, I started this day with a listen to the Koreanclass 101 podcast. Koreanclass 101 has its pros and cons: on the upside, it offers an excellent course, where users have access to a wealth of free resources... on the downside, they are free only for seven days, unless you opt for paid subscription.

I have downloaded the PDF files related to the first couple of podcasts, and I'm very impressed with the organization. They provide transcripts of the podcast conversations in hangul and romanized script, as well as translations and cultural notes in a well-organized format.

The way I learn, I really do need some visual help, and because time is so scarce right now, I value the romanized script. The drawback is that romanized script can harm one's pronunciation. To offset this problem, I am spending quite some time on listening to the audio files and repeating them out loud, as well as annoying my friends by piping up '잘 먹겠습니다!" [jal meokgesseumnida!] before meals. It does take some time to wrap one's mind, and tongue, around the new sounds, so practice is mroe important than dignity right now.

Quick Fixes

TOLL is specifically aimed at language teachers preparing to teach in a new country. By definition, they do not have vast amounts of time. Fortunately, neither do I, and part of my undertaking this project is to prove that survival language can be learnt even when one does not have much free time. The principle, of course, is to use small pockets of time - a notion which just happens to be sound in terms of memory and recall as well.

During a break from work and studies in the past fifteen minutes, I quickly experimented with this principle. I opened up my own Survival Language Kit document, intending to complete the first unit, which is about greetings and being polite. I was able to find both the hangul script and pronunciation for most of the phrases in that time.

Granted, I haven't learnt them as such, but am trying to use the basic hellos and thank yous with a fellow learner. I am also keeping one tab of my web browser open on http://rki.kbs.co.kr/learn_korean/text_htm/e_text/1e.htm, where the first lesson includes audio, and reviewing those in idle moments. This page is also linked in my customized Survival Language Kit.

Progress!

Introducing Myself in Korean

안녕하세요.
[Annyeong-haseyo.]
Hello.

만나서 반갑습니다.
Mannaseo ban-gapsseumnida.
It's a pleasure to meet you.

저는 마리애라고 해요.
Jeoneun Marie-rago haeyo.
My name is Marie.

Phew! That was a big promise I made in the last post, and my impatience to learn all the steps along the way didn't make things any easier.

I started out with the Koreanclass 101 podcast, which is linked to their very elaborate website. The podcast in itself is "edutaining" enough, but its first shortcoming is that the first lesson covers phrases for eating rather than greeting, and also seems to assume existing knowledge of the hangul writing and phonetic system. Its second shortcoming is that it mainly promotes paid subscription to the site. This may be a great business model, but doesn't meet my requirements for universally available, free online resources. The cultural notes were worthwhile.

My next stop was the elaborate Korean course offered by the Korean Broadcasting Service. And I cheated... I simply went to Chapter 21, Introducing Oneself, and copied the phrases above. Just one problem. My name is not Bill Smith. The English Names in Korean transliteration site informed me that my name is, Marie, is written as 마리애 in Korean. By counting off syllables I replaced Bill Smith's name with my own.

But I didn't cheat completely. KBS also offers audio for each lesson, so I am learning how to say these phrases. I also put a fair bit of thought into my syllable counting procedure, although I haven't touched the Hangul writing and phonetic system yet. This tells me that the 요 syllable [o or yo?], is the polite sentence ending I also came across in the Koreanclass 101 podcast.

So in the ten-odd minutes devoted to all this, I learnt a thing or two after all. (Including the fact that introducing oneself probably came up in Chapter 1 as well...)

Now about that writing system...

KoreaKast: Piloting the Teachers as Online Language Learners Project

It is a cliche that teaching something is the best way to learn. But it is a cliche for a reason: it's true!

KoreaKast pilots a Russian doll of a project on learning about learning and language and educational technology by using language and educational technology. This project is Teachers as Online Language Learners (TOLL), and it equips any language teacher to learn the survival phrases in a new language... in order to learn more about learning languages and using educational technologies.

With that mouthful out of the way, we can get down to the business of learning Korean.

The first step of TOLL is to create your own interactive phrasebook using the Survival Language Kit. Since my goal is to learn survival Korean, I have compiled a set of solid online resources for Korean Learning, which will help me compile my customized phrasebook.

The next step is to create a blog for reflecting on the language learning process. And here it is: KoreaKast, complete with one modest entry.

The third, and optional, step, is to enhance learning with Web 2.0-based activities.

All that, and I haven't even introduced myself. Perhaps I'll do that in the next entry. In Korean...