TIPS FOR LEARNING KOREAN!

HI!!! I'm Korean, but most of my communities are English-speaking, so these are my tips to improve fluency, retain knowledge in, and learn Korean!

1. Consume media in Korean

There's a bunch of Korean language entertainment, especially recently. I'll make a separate post on this one, but video games with Korean dubbing/text, k-drama, manhwa, etc. is very helpful!

2. Talk out loud

Even if you have no one to talk to in Korean, try reading your written/text work out loud! Even if it seems silly, it helps a lot more than you'd think.

3. Research Korean culture/history

Language is a part of society, so things that you may not understand in Korean could start making sense once you learn why it's said like that!

4. Don't overwork yourself

Rest is important. If you study too much, you may lose the practical/fun aspect to the language, and it can make you burn out! Don't do that.

5. Ask for help

If you know anyone willing to help, ask! My asks are always open for any questions that you may have ♡

<26th April 2024>

24th Day of 100 Days of Productivity

今日のやったこと

文法 第 1 から 10

本文 第 1 から 8

単語 第 1 から 7

things look okay so far. I might just sail through

🧸☕️🎀📔

2024年四月二十六日(金曜日)

Today was pretty good. I found the first 18 volumes of Sailor Moon, though the resolution is a bit eeehhh at times. I don't really have enough vocab to fully understand what's going on yet, but I am watching the anime, so I have a good enough idea, though it is a bit hard to resist the urge to look up all the words that i dont know. That being said, present are two parts which I did understand!

泣き(なき) is one of this week's kanji and it felt really good to be able to see and know what it meant. I have a feeling I'll be seeing it a lot, given Usagi's tendency to cry about everything.

I managed to finish a decent amount of my dissertation work I had planned, so tomorrow is just typing.

Went out for supper today and tried to win a toy from one of those absolutely rigged prize machines 🙃. I didn't get it. There was a raccoon, this cute bunny/cat thing, and a hello kitty one (amongst others). Next time I think I should just try to shake the machine.

oh my post is at the top of the langblr tab.........

2024.04.24 | Day 95/100 days of productivity

Rainy day today and a bit of a preview of how researching my thesis is going… I have a potluck with my department for lunch and volunteering at the hospital this afternoon but otherwise just on that research grind.

Today’s goals:

Get fruit plate for potluck

Continue thesis research (at least 3 hours)

Volunteering

Drink water (1/3)

April 25, 2024 • Thursday

Today was chill. I had three lectures, and then I got to chill on campus for a bit before I got home. I ate a chocolate croissant (i feel like it's a croissant on a budget type thing, it wasn't even that tasty and I bought it for like 20 rupees T_T)

I started using a 30-10 pomodoro because I tend to hyperfixate and study and end up sitting in the same place for three to four hours, which is really bad. I decided to walk around for my house in the 10minute breaks because I don't really get to do much physical activity other than short walks (curse of being disabled).

Manifesting a productive day tomorrow 🕯️

🎧 Guilty as Sin? — Taylor Swift

100 Days of Productivity [Day: 80] || 100 Jours de Productivité [Jour: 80]

interesting conversations were had in the office today. since I work alongside a few other FSL people [French Second Language], the conversation came up about how best to learn. Duolingo came up & all of us agreed that while it's a good app to practice already learned skills, it provides very little in terms of actually learning the language. before I enrolled in actual French classes, I used a combination of other language programs, listened to podcasts that were in slow-French [as people tend to speak quickly when talking in a language they're familiar with] but one of the biggest things that helped me learn was actually watching children's shows/reading children's books. no matter the language, any content produced for learning-age children use the basics of that language in order to communicate.

combining oral practice [speaking] as well as listening to & reading in a language are all essential in fluency. I started learning French in grade school at a young age, & even now I still struggle sometimes, especially when using it to communicate professionally. my grammar still isn't perfect, but thankfully I'm in an environment where I get to cultivate those skills daily - plus I have this blog where I write in both languages as regularly as I can :]

currently listening // we fell in love in october by girl in red

Des conversations intéressantes ont eu lieu au bureau aujourd'hui. Come je travaille avec quelques autres personnes en FLS [français langue seconde], la conversation a porté sur la meilleure façon d'apprendre. Duolingo a été évoqué et nous avons tous convenu que, bien qu'il s'agisse d'une bonne application pour mettre en pratique les compétences déjà acquises, elle n'apporte pas grand-chose en termes d'apprentissage réel de la langue. avant de m'inscrire à des cours de français, j'ai utilisé une combinaison d'autres programmes linguistiques, j'ai écouté des podcasts en français lent [car les gens ont tendance à parler vite lorsqu'ils parlent dans une langue qui leur est familière], mais l'une des choses qui m'a le plus aidé à apprendre a été de regarder des émissions pour enfants ou de lire des livres pour enfants. quelle que soit la langue, tout contenu produit pour des enfants en âge d'apprendre utilise les bases de cette langue afin de communiquer.

la combinaison de la pratique orale [parler], de l'écoute et de la lecture dans une langue est essentielle à la fluidité. J'ai commencé à apprendre le français à l'école primaire à un jeune âge, et même maintenant j'ai encore parfois des difficultés, surtout quand je l'utilise pour communiquer professionnellement. ma grammaire n'est toujours pas parfaite, mais heureusement je suis dans un environnement où je peux cultiver ces compétences quotidiennement - en plus j'ai ce blog où j'écris dans les deux langues aussi régulièrement que je le peux :]

chanson // we fell in love in october par girl in red

2024.05.25 // week 5/10

it's been two weeks since i post a study update oops.......in my defence, i've been really busy! (cons of taking twenty credit hours haha.) i've managed to attend almost all of my classes in the past two weeks, which i'm very proud of! even though my linguistics class is, frankly, a drag </3 in nicer things though: the campus is blossoming, the weather is no longer cold, and the asian studies department did its annual book sale, where i picked up a whole stack of books for less than it would cost me to buy a single one usually. i'm also getting back to taking notes on my personal language studies—pictured above: mango for iraqi arabic, and busuu for korean. i'm getting to a point with korean where i'm semi-confident in knowing some things, and i'm considering doing a summer study programme next year for korean, since my uni has a lot of partner programmes. i also finished my chinese midterms, and i have my turkish midterm next week. i'm about 65% done with my classical poetry final project, and i'm going to get a start on my (dreaded) linguistics final project and presentation.

Grad school is lying to you. You can indulge fixations on obscure topics on your own time. You can sit in a library color-coding notes on articles printed from JSTOR for free. You can argue with dead philosophers in essay format whenever you like. Academia is a state of mind.

so, you're taking a class and you hate it: how to make a bad class suck less

as i struggle through my spring quarter classes, i thought i may as well make a post about something currently relevant to me: taking classes that you don't like.

maybe you're taking a degree or distribution requirement; maybe you signed up for a class because it's exactly in your field of interest, but the professor is a really bad lecturer (not that this is personal experience or anything); maybe, you just...........don't enjoy your class for whatever reason.

so, you have two options: drop the class, or continue on.

since you're reading this post, i assume you can't drop the class for whatever reason—something from above, or maybe something else. i'm not going to judge you! but here's some things that, in my experience, have made bad classes, well, less bad (in no particular order).

one: find ways to make your time before and after the class in question as enjoyable as possible. likely this class drains your energy horribly—so doing something that makes you happy or calms you down before the class, and something to destress afterwards, you'll feel a bit better almost immediately. this can, in my experience, take me from hating an entire day of my week, to being frustrated but able to deal with it. examples of things i do, depending on my energy levels and time:

take a nap

read some of a book

draw

take a walk

write

two: schedule your week so you finish everything up until the day of the class (both for that class and your others) before the day of the class. for me, there's nothing more stressful than getting out of my second to last class, and realising i still have to do five types of homework before i can even think of relaxing or calming myself down about the class i'm dreading—assuming i even have any time to do so! this is a more long-term strategy, so if you can, you should start to do this as soon as possible. for me, this looks like making to do lists on my blog to keep myself accountable, or setting alarms to remind myself to do things (since i'm not very good at keeping a planner).

three: talking to your friends or family! the power of complaining before or after a really draining experience can be very cathartic. oftentimes, your friends or family will be very sympathetic to your frustrations. they can also help distract you if you need it!

four: somewhat similar to one—reward yourself for making it through the class! on wednesdays after my dreaded class, i buy myself a cookie and watch bad book reviews, because i am both food- and gossip-motivated.

five: keep on top of classwork. if nothing else, you have to make sure you don't fall behind in your least favourite class. it'll make everything feel fifty times worse. if you have a required presentation and a final project, start working on them or thinking about what/how you're going to do them as soon as you find out about them. get these done as soon as possible, or at least start working on them, so that when the due-date approaches you don't panic.

hopefully my experiences will help you!

how to stay motivated long-term

trust, me i know that long-term motivation and consistency is hard. long-term motivation might be difficult to maintain, but there are effective techniques to help you stay focused and determined. whether you're seeking personal ambitions, academic achievements, or professional success, here are some strategies to help encourage motivation:

understand the reason behind your goal ☆ does your goal contribute to personal growth or meaningful relationships? ☆ how does your goal impact others? ☆ is your goal meaningful to you? if your goal lacks meaning, it may be hard to maintain motivation.

positive and negative motivation motivation can come from different places ☆ positive motivation: the desire to experience pleasure ☆ negative motivation: the desire to avoid something (an outcome) both types of motivation have their place, so learn to recognise what type fits in where. (post on this coming soon)

set up systems use your initial motivation to set up structures: ☆ create routines, systems and habits that help you towards your goal even when your motivation fluctuates ☆ when your emotions wane, rely on these systems and disciplines to maintain momentum

break down goals ☆ tackle one goal at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed ☆ set achievable milestones and celebrate each step forward ☆ keep the momentum going by focusing on manageable tasks

validate good work ☆ give yourself a little reward, or thank yourself, for completing hard tasks ☆ this reinforces motivation and encourages effort

remember--motivation isn't in a constant state, it ebbs and flows. these small tips will help to stay motivated. i'm going to provide more information in upcoming posts, and i will link them here once they are published.

luck on your journey ❤️

22nd April - 22 Days until Finals

I didn't study much on the 21st so u can say studying for almost 5 hrs was some guilt-driven motivation, but it helped :)

I haven't been going out a lot even tho the doc said i must "breath fresh air" everyday. So i played some badminton with my brother yesterday (i was so bad at it) but something's better than nothing.

From tmrw i want to get out consistently atleast once a day /goal 🎯

Stuff i did:

Textbook reading/summarizing

Made flashcards for 1 chp

Revised 1 chp (this was a first bcs i havnt finished half the chps so revision for 1 is great)

23 cards reviewed

I want to keep up with yesterday's flow even today, so manifesting a productive day for me as well as you 💖🫶

03.04.2024 [😁]

🧸: 새로운 시작/ New beginning

22.02.24

Took detective fiction as my elective this sem, and the books I'm discovering within the genre are 🫦

depending on where you're going, since it's a huge country after all but maybe some natural sceneries and landscapes? or anything beautiful that you see yourself and wish to share!

congratulations on your visa approval!!!!

i hope you have a wonderful time and learn lots of amazing things!!

thank you! as i mentioned i’m mainly going to be in shanghai (where i was born and raised), but i’ll probably also go up north to ningxia or qinghai (i’m staying with friends who have family in that area) before or after classes start/end. i’m not sure how much scenery i can get in shanghai unless i go to a park or something, but when i go up north i’ll have more chances for that :) i was also thinking about taking photos of sunrises or sunsets—they were absolutely gorgeous colours, especially sunsets, growing up. i’ll also probably post any photos i take of cats, since i’m planning on photographing every cat i see to share with my friends :)

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements