I really love watching sageuks but I don't think they help me with Korean. However, I have made progress in speaking and listening. I understand a lot of what the Korean people say. I can't repeat verbatim what they say but I understand the gist. I didn't understand the Korean language teacher with whom I had the lesson today at 10am, but I think she's not used to teaching Korean conversation. She's used to teaching grammar and writing - that kind of thing - what they teach in language hagwons. What I am trying to do myself. I don't need a teacher for that and having a teacher actually impedes me. And she can't speak English well so she can't teach me that stuff. And she speaks so fast and doesn't speak in simple sentences. Not only that she wasn't a good conversationalist. She was asking me questions and didn't talk about herself much. I need someone who is very talkative. I need someone who will speak a lot of Korean to me. Easy to understand Korean. Simple words and sentences. Commands are good. Maybe I need someone to teach me something. Activities are good. They are better than sitting down and doing nothing. I felt she was patronizing and I didn't think she was an interesting person at all. On the phone I felt she was a bit arrogant.
She wasn't prepared and didn't bring any material. At least Mrs Lim brought some material the last time. I found the newspaper article quite helpful. Not because I could understand it but because it was interesting to talk about. I can use my laptop too for stimulating discussion ... look at interesting topics. I find them interesting but Koreans don't. That's because many don't have good imaginations and they lead very boring lives. I don't like the ones who are in thrall with everything western ... They bore me to death.
The ones who speak English well usually aren't very loyal ....
I am sure the math teacher will try and soak up English from me. If she tries to do that on Thursday I will drop her and replace her with someone else. I will replace her with the Sat morning lady or the guy ......
I don't like those who take but don't give .....
But I am surprised at what kind of progress I've made so far with what I've done ....
I've gone back to studying the grammar in Korean Grammar in Use. I had forgotten a lot and some of the grammar I came across in books confused me. I straightened out a lot of that in my head by doing a quick grammar review. I also listened to the mp3s from that book. I listened to about 120. I finished all the listening. I think I will have to review the grammar in that book every now and then. As well as listen to the mp3 files. Every time I listen to the mp3 files, the listening becomes easier. I can follow what they say better. I will do the review quickly - I won't pore over the spelling anomalies and the exceptions to the rule. I have to do these occasional reviews of the grammar in the book because there are many grammar rules. Also, it's confusing because some word endings mean different things. For example, "nunde" means two different things. "ul kkayo" means three different things, "ul koyeyo" means two different things, "a so" means two different things and so on. That was why I was getting confused. I didn't straighten these things in my head prior to now. The more times I go through the KGU book, the more the grammar sticks in my head. If I see certain word endings, I am faster at understanding the grammar of the sentence. So this book is crucial. It is really the foundation of my Korean learning. I cannot learn to speak from studying the grammar alone but this book has audio so it's very complete. The audios helped me a lot with pronunciation and intonation. My speaking of course is still poor. I am still getting people ringing me. A young man rang me just now. He spent four years in DC. I don't think this is going to work out because his English is very good and he's a bit young but I granted him an interview. I have enough ajummas on my roster at the moment. I don't want any more. I actually have very little in common with them. I have Mrs Lim who obviously wants to learn English from me. I have a science teacher who is sweet but I think after a few sessions we are going to run out of steam. But she really tries hard and knows what I want. I don't think she's picking up much English from me. And there is the Saturday lady who lives in 504 Dong. She's kind and she's single like me so we have a lot in common. I think I will keep her. I understand what she says and we talked a fair bit. She's understanding so she's good.
And then I have the youngish man who's a bit gruff. But he's a really good teacher. I learned a lot from him in the short time we had in the interview together. We have to find a common topic that interests us. I might download something off the internet. A newsy article or something. I might bring my computer to the meeting .... I don't know. The problem is where we can meet - where we can talk but not too noisy a place like McDonalds.
Anyway, this is what I wanted. It's not the same as immersion on the job which is better because you pick up relevant language quickly and because you are learning language within context.
Anyway, I should just grin and bear it. If those 3D workers can learn Korean in a short time frame, I can too. They get exposure naturally. I have to get the exposure artificially.
If the young man I meet is good, then I might put him on Sat at 10am. If the scouting lady starts to bore me or the math teacher proves impossible, then I will put him in on on Wed, Tue or Friday in the morning. To be honest, I like to talk to people who have had experience living overseas and aren't housewives. These people and I have more in common with. I really don't get on with housewives who have never been overseas and live very conventional lives. Tomorrow, I have Mrs Lim again and then I have the youngish man after her. I think having two people in the one day is a bit much. I like Mrs Lim as she's amusing and I am relaxed with her but I don't know if I am getting much Korean from her. Anyway, slowly does it. I am probably picking up a lot without realizing it. I can't expect to be fluent overnight. I am poor at picking up vocabulary though from speaking. They tell me a phrase and what it means and I forget it straightaway. I have to use mnemonics. Remember, everyone is the same when they learn a new language. They feel that they can never master it; it's all so confusing and so hard.
I have to stick with the people I feel comfortable with; who are doing their job and speaking Korean most of the time (for 45 minutes), and who are interesting people. I should be able to understand what they say in Korean about 50% of the time - not too easy and not too hard. I need to talk about a wide variety of topics to try and pick up as wide a vocabulary as possible. I need to find something I am interested in talking about and that holds my interest for an hour.
I really don't understand what these people get out of it. I don't speak much English really. My Korean is pretty bad. Maybe later, if we are friends and I speak Korean well, I can return the favor and teach them English conversation. But I think language exchange is a bad idea right now. The people aren't committed. I am not in control of the relationship. I am not in control of the time, frequency and so on. I do not get the lessons on my terms. At least this way, I am in control. I don't mind paying for that. I don't want to chase after people and make too many compromises. And they don't keep to their side of the bargain -- they don't speak in Korean to me. This way, they know they will be fired if they don't speak in Korean to me.
I am not interested in giving free English lessons. That was what was happening. I got zero benefit out of language exchange.
Maybe it shouldn't be too unstructured. I like it structured with some people and unstructured with others. With Mrs Lim, I think unstructured is best. Today was a bit messy I have to say as the last fifteen minutes was in talking about ordering the Saint Marie book. Actually, I don't think she's a good teacher. She doesn't really encourage me to talk in Korean.
I think with Seokcheol, I will tell him it's OK to correct me. I will leave it at that. He was trying hard to help me and I kind of was abrupt with him. I come across as kind of rough and tough and a bit rude and a little demanding.
But I can only tell if this is working after a month. If I have picked up a lot of vocab and can understand more than before then I have really improved. But it's hard to tell because improvement is really gradual. I don't know. What is the yardstick? I think learning vocab on my own and then trying it out in conversation is good. I think learning in my apartment is good. Once I get the Apple Cinema display, it will be better. We can watch dramas on the big screen and we can also look at websites on the big screen and so on...
I also would like to make friends out of the language sessions but I don't think it's a good idea to become too friendly. I am the employer and they are the employee. It's not only the money, it's the time. I don't want to waste my time with someone who doesn't teach me well or who is boring. I really do not want to meet so many people as I am not that outgoing and I find many people boring ...... I have to try and keep a professional distance. That is why I am paying them.
It would be good if I could find a good language exchange partner who was also a friend and interested in the same activities as I was ...was interested in the same TV shows then we would have a lot to talk about.
I guess I should just try and listen and understand as much as I can. I think I can watch the news at 9am with some of the teachers and we can talk about what's going on in Korean news. I think that will be interesting and I can keep up with what's happening in Korea. I am interested in current affairs furthermore, especially Korean news. We can watch things on KBS World as well. So I think I will use my computer a lot more. I will also open up online Korean news sites and we can talk about them in Korean.
I need to make sure to keep up with my vocabulary as well. I want to be like those 3D foreigners who are fluent after a relatively short time in Korea so I have to keep my goal in mind. I have to soak up the Korean that people speak to me as much as possible and speak to the people a little in Korean. That way, they know I am listening and can also assess my level and adjust their speaking to my level. So long as I understand the gist of what they are trying to say, I won't interrupt them. I hope to be as fluent in speaking as the 3D workers and even more. I want to read and write Korean well.
The key is that they talk a lot and not too fast and not too difficult Korean. Short easy sentences.
So far except for one teacher, they have been speaking in Korean to me most of the time. I can't ask for more than that. I have to find some interesting material that will get their talking juices flowing.
