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Monday, 20 February 2012

The NL-->TL idea

It would be great if there was a program for turning NL into TL idea. For example, you could start off at a restaurant. There is a menu. You can choose what you want from a menu. Say you choose strawberries, there would be a sentence that comes up in Korean that says: "I want strawberries." And then you have to pay. You can choose different methods of payment. You should choose what you normally use. You choose "$5". Then the change will come back. The server will say, "$2 change" or something like that.

Then you can go to the clothes shop. You choose what you want to try on. You choose a skirt. So you press skirt or a picture of a skirt.

The Korean sentence will come up and say, "Can I try on the skirt?".

The server will say yes, "go there." You go to the changing room. And you find it's too small. You want a different size. And you can choose a different size. And the sentence comes up with "Do you have this in medium?" or whatever size you choose.

And so it goes on. It is almost like a role-playing game.

Another idea that's good is to find things like the Gardenscape game. Have things in different languages. It's easy to adapt that game for different languages I think. It would be good for nouns especially objects, but not that good for verbs, unless you choose a different type of object, such as name that activity.

There are so many possibilities with computer programs, especially games.

But my idea is to focus on the reader's choice. What THEY want to say.

So it is going from NL to TL.

A game would take a lot of work though. The program would take a lot of work. But it would really be HELPFUL. Majorly helpful.

I think someone who is talented in that sort of technology would be good to collaborate with. I would think of the concept; the person would be the one to put it into motion.

So there are so many things that can be done. LOTS and LOTS of scenarios. Picnic, movie theater, shopping, restaurants, fast food restaurant, food court, clothes shopping, shoes shopping, buying furniture, renting a home, buying a phone, shopping at the supermarket, buying an electronic dictionary, ordering something online, getting your blocked toilet fixed, getting a leaking tap fixed, opening a bank account, traveling by subway, traveling to a country town by train, booking a hotel, buying a piece of luggage, buying a fan, buying a washing machine, buying a TV. Ordering a coffee at a coffee shop ... buying fruit ... so many things to do ... hospital visit ... seeing a dentist ... visiting a zoo ... going to a museum ... buying a souvenir ... going to the library ... buying snacks at a convenience store, catching a bus, catching a taxi ...

It can be done with multiple languages. The thing is that the learner picks what is RELEVANT for them. I reckon that anybody who went through such a program would learn in a very short time.

What I can do is after the learner chooses the thing, the sentence comes up - in Romanization - and there is audio - the sentence is read aloud six times. There is a pause for the person to repeat the sentence and there is a question at the end: "Would you like to hear it again?" and a button.

And so it goes ...

I think there should be about twenty of these scenarios. All with nice romanization, nice readings that are repeated ...

There can be a game element to it as well. Eg. Packing for a trip. You can pick twelve things for a trip. You choose twelve things from a picture that has about thirty things in it. You lose your baggage at the airport. They take you to the Lost and Found room. There are many things in that room. Now you have to indicate which ones are yours. There are things on the left you choose from. So you have to know the TL for the things you packed. Once you have found all the things you've packed then you can move on.

So it's all about CHOICE. The person will have a terrific time with this program. It's very visual like a computer game. It's very helpful. I think that it's more for a beginner though.

The good thing is that it can be adapted for different languages. The user can use the program again and again and make different choices each time. It's INTERACTIVE which is good.

There are a few "tests" as well.

The important thing about this game is that it always goes from NL to TL. The learner chooses something in English and then a sentence comes up in romanized Korean and they can hear the audio. The audio is repeated multiple times by the way.

The learner always feels in control no matter what. They choose the activity, the problem, the thing they want to buy and so on. So it's a matter of choosing things. There aren't THAT many choices, otherwise it confuses the person.

Anyway, I think it will be fun. And the learner will learn quickly. They can learn many things in different languages that way.

Posted by honeybearsmom at 10:46 PM EST

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I'm going to try without the romanization

I don't think I really need it. I can read Hangeul OK when the sentences aren't that long. So I'm going to stop the romanization for the time being.

I really need to carry some 4B pencils. They're much easier to write with.

I think the shadowing is so valuable. I'm just thinking about sentences that I can't make individual tracks for. What is the good of shadowing then? I think the maximum benefit is gained from listening to a sentence at least twice ...

I am worried about this then. How am I going to do it? For things like Tintin, you can't really make individual tracks of each sentence. But for things like IL, you can. And also Tintin isn't really a one-on-one translation ...

I think listening to the recordings of Tintin is more for the advanced stage.

I have to work on that. Also, I am not a fast reader of Korean so to keep up with the Korean, I would have to wait until I'm in the advanced stage when I can read reasonably rapidly.

So just forget about it for the time being.

So the stuff that's important to shadow is:

# KGU

# Essential Everyday

# Teenage book

# IL book

# Language books that have exact translations <--- These are actually good sources because they have the exact translation.

# ???? Dictionary (the one with many pictures?) <--- This one might be good to shadow. It has easy sentences and the English translation.

So I think that's enough really.

And of course, I can get readings of the translations of newspaper articles I do ....

I am progressing well like this studying by myself. I am interested in being fluent in Korean, but not only that, be able to read Korean.

If those people in Nepal can become fluent in Korean, why can't I with all the resources that I have?

I think it's a matter of studying HARD and just practicing a lot and going things about the right way.

I would like to finish the grammar study as soon as possible so I can go onto translating newspapers and building up my vocabulary.

I really want to do that. So do the grammar study, shadow KGU for the time being. And then get onto translating.

For the grammar study, I think I need a large notebook. It doesn't have to be very thick, just large in size.

So I'll get that. I think I'll leave the vocab study of the IL for later, AFTER I've started on the translations of the news articles. The news articles are quite good practice.

Once I get a handle on reading Korean news, it will make things a lot easier. I will have gotten over one of the big humps.

I have to get over the Big Humps. It seems slow at first and learning becomes faster as time goes on. In the advanced stage, learning is quite fast. I'm so glad I learned grammar, and advanced grammar at that.

I felt a lack of confidence before when I didn't know grammar. But now that I've studied grammar, I feel more confident when I study. It makes a big psychological difference.

Now, it's just the words that mystify me. There are so many words I don't know. I really don't. I think I had better start learning them!

Say you learn 20 words a day. I really want to report progress to the others at the end of six months. Say in July. I want to be able to converse with them and show my "wonderful" knowledge of Korean and be able to read something fluently. The reading is what stumps me now. I think it's a big hump I have to get over. Once that hump is over, things will get a lot easier. Shadowing isn't that hard to do; it's mainly mechanical - just repeat things over and over until they sound familiar to you. And you can say them in your sleep.

Reading is the big ? I wonder how other students manage with their reading, especially the ones who've become fluent in the language?

I think that "hump" will have been gotten over by the time I read my 100th article. Why 100? I don't know. It just seems like a large number. I hope it won't take more than that.

I might "cheat" by reading short easy articles - the ones found in the lifestyle section of newspapers. And I will read some articles from the 'easier' newspapers. And maybe some articles that are lighter in tone. Not the real heavy political stuff, though I have to tackle those articles eventually.

I will look for short articles. Ones that are three paragraphs at the most. Honestly, some of the longer articles are real killers.

If I'm still not good then I have to read more articles.

If I read 100 articles, there will be an average of fifty words I look up in an article, so that is 5000 words. Maybe not enough. It looks as if I need to read 300 articles to get the 15,000 words I need. What a pain ... Some of the words are technical ... but I still would need to know them, I guess.

I don't think doing all of this helps with fluency. I am not sure about this. It might ... Actually, it will because I will know many more words so can understand a lot of what I hear and so my listening will be improved overall, which will help me with speaking.

So I will try shadowing every now and then while I'm doing the translating and vocab study to see how the shadowing is; whether it's easier to do or not, etc.

I think translating will certainly help improve my grammar.

Grammar is important for writing formally.

I don't know about ban mal. I think that's for later when I interact with people and chat with them informally.

It's not that important to me now.

I think the reason why I felt worried was because most other students of the Korean language are studying in a different way to me. They usually concentrate on achieving fluency first; they concentrate on speaking, and leave reading and writing for later. They do study grammar but it's spread over a wider period. They study with teachers so they kind of are exposed to some 'immersion'.

I think anyone who studies Korean for three years, more or less full-time, should be able to be kind of good at Korean. Enough to converse OK, read a few easy things.

And the people I've encountered who have been good at Korean have studied Korean "full-time" for at least three years. The key is PERSISTENCE. Don't give up. Even if you come against difficulties, a roadblock. And study steadily. I will try and achieve what people do in three years in ONE YEAR. That's my goal. I like to do things fast as people have noticed. I have collected a lot of satisfactory resources now. I am not short of good learning materials, and now it's just a matter of consuming them.

I don't need a teacher right now. A teacher would get in the way I would feel. Later on, a teacher would be great. But I want to learn as much as I can on my own. A teacher will be needed to correct my writing and speaking. Those are the things I will need the most help with from another person but ... I can bring those things up to speed by myself.

I think the chunks, and the NL-->TL idea is great!

Posted by honeybearsmom at 10:11 PM EST

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It's tedious writing out the romanization

It really is tedious writing out the romanization. I don't think I really need it. I find my eyes being drawn to the Hangeul.

Anyhow, I've already started doing it. I think I can do fifty pages in one day. That's quite a lot. I can finish shadowing the book in five days. That's a lot of shadowing, so my speaking should be much better than before. I've noticed I'm pronouncing the words a bit differently, especially the consonants.

The reason why the shadowing wasn't as good last time was because I didn't make individual tracks for the sentences. Now that I've done that, the shadowing is much much better.

It took a long time but it really was worth it.

I will continue doing that for the IL book. I don't think I'll write out the Hangeul for that book or for the Essentials book.

I'll just mark the IL book carefully so that I know which one I am shadowing.

I'll label the tracks according to the chapter, block and sentence.

There will be a poor person paid to read all the sentences in that book.

There will be massive shadowing.

I can also shadow KGU and Essentials Everyday because those sentences are important to do.

Then I can shadow the WOW comics. How shall I do that? Shall I make individual tracks for them? I don't think so. It's too much work. I think just rewind if you want to listen to something over again.

And the teenage book, I'll get that shadowed too. So there's LOTS of material, really. There's the Essentials Workbook as well, and then all the language books on the shelf.

And of course there are the CHUNKS. I've got to get them translated AND read out and I've got to record the readings.

So there's a lot of recording to be done. Shall I record readings of Tintin?

I think there's value in shadowing as much as you can, really.

But anyway, that's down the line. When you've finished shadowing the earlier stuff, you can think about shadowing other things.

And you have to learn the 20,000 vocabulary too. The best way is by reading the words in context. Newspapers are the best because they have the words you are interested in reading. Not only that, but if you can read newspapers, you can handle anything else.

So there is a lot of work out there.

At least I'm on the right track (I think).

I don't want to be floundering six months after I've started learning Korean.

The speaking part is relatively easy to pick up. I am surprised about that. Repeating the same phrase over and over again - it eventually gets drummed into your head.

So keep going. It's boring work writing the romanization. It's hard on my fingers and I don't like the shiny paper. The pencil doesn't write well on it. I wish I had a 4B pencil. The 2B pencils don't cut it.

Anyhow, I can do that at least.

I find that I am understanding the grammar of what I am listening to when I watch the KG thing. I don't understand a lot of the vocab but I can recognize the "structures" in the spoken sentence. I think that's due to all that study of grammar. I've also noticed that I am catching the "accent" of the language. The Korean accent or the Korean way of pronouncing words. You kind of spit out the words in puffs of air. You aspirate the beginning consonants in a lot of cases.

Also, I'm starting to get the intonation too.

So, I've made a lot of progress I think. There's just the shadowing, the grammar, the vocab study and I'm done. After I'm done, I will read a lot and just work on increasing my vocabulary and learning to read at a normal speed for Koreans.

Yep, my reading speed needs to improve. That's for sure. I don't think I need to write a lot in my daily living but I will use writing during study because it helps me with reading. And who knows, it might be useful later on. It would actually be very advantageous to write well. I know that in order to write well, I have to read A LOT.

I have to read novels in Korean, difficult texts, all kinds of high level stuff.

Anyway, that's for later. I am just trying to consolidate the intermediate stage.

When I start studying news articles and start shadowing the IL book, I think I will really be starting to enter the advanced stage. I'll be translating back and forth.

It will be really hard but I will accomplish a lot. It will only be by looking back that I will see the progress I've made.

So I will have to start translating those news articles and picking up more vocabulary. It's important I do so.

The 20,000 words, the shadowing, the grammar, the translating back and forth, the mnemonics, the chunks ... will all help me become fluent in Korean and be able to read newspapers with ease and write well.

Writing is important I think.

I have to know how to write and I have to know how to read well.

So by having the right method, you will save yourself a lot of time.

I think translating random stuff isn't a good idea. When I do the mining, I really don't have to know the Korean or translate the Korean book that I'm getting the stuff from. To save time, maybe write the romanization down instead of the Korean, and then get a Korean to help you.

I have a callus on my right forefinger from all the writing with the pencil I did. I hate writing on shiny paper. You have to press hard.

Anyhow, I am progressing OK, I suppose. I am getting much better. I noticed the difference reading the sentences in the KGU book this time around and the last time. I am more confident about the reading and I understand the grammar better.

So just keep going as you have. Do a little bit of shadowing but mainly do the grammar study the next month or so. After that, it's vocabulary, translating and ...

I think I will leave the workbook for the time being. I can always do it later. I just am impatient to get onto translating. I don't think the workbook will improve my knowledge at this stage.

Anyhow, doing the workbook takes a lot of time and it's not worth the time I need to put into it. I will do it when I have more time. I think the testing and making the categories is more important.

When I do more writing, perhaps it will be a good time to do the workbook.

Anyhow, I think studying the textbook by memorizing certain things is more important.

So there. That's a big load off my mind. Doing the workbook would have taken a month, I think. It's better to use that time doing other things like studying the textbook - making those lists to test myself with and making those categories (another NL --> TL concept) - or doing some translating.

I enjoy translating. I really do.

Anyhow, I think it will be really good when I translate from English to Korean. It will be SOOO helpful.

I just want to learn linearly. Not too many different materials at the one time. Just stick to one thing. There are a lot of those fairy tale books for instance but I think they're too easy for me, and there isn't a lot of variety in the grammar.

I think "Unmasking Korea" will be useful too. But I can't do that and the newspaper study. I think I will just stick to the newspapers for the time being.

So it's coming together.

Posted by honeybearsmom at 8:25 PM EST

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I shouldn't do these things when I learn in the early and intermediate stages:

I shouldn't read stories, novels and books. I don't have time. I can do these things when my grammar is a lot better and my vocabulary is much better too.

I shouldn't shadow from videos.

I should only do translation after I've studied grammar.

Learning intermediate-high level vocabulary from grammar books. The Magic vocabulary book was good though. You should only learn beginner's vocabulary from a vocabulary book.

THINGS I SHOULD DO EARLY

# Finding translations of the chunks.

# Making separate tracks for shadowing

# Shadowing sentences that have the translation.

# Shadowing CDs that are suitable for shadowing.

# Finding the most comprehensive and advanced grammar book out there and studying it.

# Finding a really good electronic or phone dictionary.

# Making definition notes in the side margins of books.

Posted by honeybearsmom at 6:27 PM EST

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How long it will take

I think it should take one year to become fluent in a language and be able to read it and write in it as well.

So don't compare yourself to other people. Their study style is different to yours. Their methods are different to yours. You'll become fluent like them as well, don't worry. Already in two days of shadowing (proper shadowing - the same sentence repeated multiple times), I am sounding better, with more natural pronunciation. I'm picking up a lot of the grammar as well. It really paid off to study the International Learners book. It was hard but it was a gem of a book. I have learned a lot from that. Now reading simple stuff is easy.

I find reading the KGU book easy now. All the sentences are easy for me.

With subsequent languages, I will learn relatively fast, I think. With Japanese, so long as I get romanization for all the sentences I want to learn, I will learn speaking fast. The writing part and reading part will be hard though. I really don't want to learn kanji. If I learn 10 Kanji a day though, in a year, I will have learned 3000 Kanji words. I think that's enough really.

Posted by honeybearsmom at 6:18 PM EST

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Study after shadowing

I've done some shadowing now, about 70 mp3s now, and it's been good. I am getting the pronunciation and prosody better. Especially the prosody is getting better.

I think it's useful. I am also picking up some chunks though this will require a lot more work and active memorization of these chunks.

I think I can practice more while sitting on the plane or waiting at the airport.

I can load some of these mp3s onto the Galaxy Player and KT phone.

So it's working out. The hard work making separate tracks really paid off. I am getting better shadowing done this way. It's much better than the first time I did "shadowing" of the KGU book.

It doesn't take that long either. I think it will take about a few more days to finish shadowing the book. Then I can work on shadowing the Essentials book, but don't do it too fast. Do it leisurely and really learn everything thoroughly.

I think you'll have to do shadowing TWICE. On the second time, spend time memorizing the "chunks", the sentences worth remembering.

Maybe test yourself as well ...

So this is working out! I like it. It's good. I've always liked the KGU book.

After I do these two books, what's the next one to shadow? I might do the WOW comics??? Not sure. I think the business one is too difficult to shadow. I should really do something simple.

The Migrant workers book is excellent for shadowing. I will do that! I will get someone to read through that, I will record and make separate tracks for the sentences, and label them appropriately. I might even get them to read the English sentence. I think this will work out well. I might forget about the English sentence. It's too complicated.

So I have lots of things I have to do. There is a lot, I have to say. I can't wait until I learn the 20,000 Korean words I need to know. That will be fun!

I do enjoy deciphering things. It's a good feeling when I've been able to translate something complicated. I've gone past the stage of translating easy things. I am ready to translate long and complicated sentences.

So I've got the study plan firmed up. A little bit of shadowing while I do grammar study. I might not do the workbook, or leave it until later. It will take a long time to do, I think. It's such a thick book. And what do I get out of studying it?

I am not sure. It might help me remember the grammar. I'm not sure. I hope I don't have to look up the dictionary too much. I will look up the words as I study it.

Anyhow, too much thinking about studying. You should just do it. Stick with your plan.

I am not sure whether this method works for ANY language.

I think the chunks business I would do first off when learning a new language.

Then I would study the grammar. I would try and get the most comprehensive grammar book in English I could find. I would also get a hold of a fantastic dictionary.

After studying grammar, I would tackle easy books. Then I would move onto news articles.

I would continue shadowing. Easy stuff at first and then getting progressively harder stuff.

So grammar, translating and picking up vocabulary, and shadowing. Those would be my core activities.

I would keep reading because I would be reading everything I translate.

Watching videos would not be a very important part of learning the language. I would only watch for enjoyment.

That would be that. Shadowing so that I can be fluent in conversation, and the grammar and vocab study because I want to be able to read and write in that language.

I think I would aim to pick up 10,000 words.

The chunks are the key. If I get translations for all 3000 chunks and learn the 3000 chunks off by heart - how to say them in the TL - then I am well on my way to being fluent.

Then the grammar and vocab study are for reading and writing. I would do the summaries and memorization much earlier.

So I would be fluent in about 6 months. I wouldn't bother about learning vocabulary separately. It's best to learn from the grammar books themselves.

So that would be it. The chunks and shadowing of other stuff would be the central tasks for learning to be a fluent speaker and have the correct pronunciation and intonation. The grammar study and vocabulary study are for learning to read and write in that language.

Then you can interact with native speakers.

Make sure you pick up slang and colloquialisms!

Find sources on the net and learn these! These will help you sound more like a native.

So it's going well. Keep my fingers crossed.

Posted by honeybearsmom at 5:46 PM EST

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Sunday, 19 February 2012