There are emerging two methods

One of them is Glossika's method and the other is a freestyle method advocated by people like John Fotheringham and James Devereux. Glossika's method is quite highly structured and systematic. The other method is ad hoc. 

Both seem to be effective in that the advocates of the methods have become fluent in the target languages.

My personal preference is to use Glossika's method. It appeals to my predilection for "method and order" as Christie would put it when writing about Poirot.

Looking at disparate sources frankly gives me a headache and it makes me anxious. I don't understand how other people cope using this method of study although some of them obviously thrive using it.

There are too many of these resources on the Internet. They look disorganized. For instance, LingQ has some stuff thrown there on the website. I don't know where to start or how to use the stuff. Easy stuff is mixed with hard stuff. There doesn't seem to be enough material in the easy stuff category. Some stuff lacks audio; others lack translations. So forget it. I really don't like this sort of learning. I would rather talk with natives if I am to practice Korean using unstructured methods.

So I think I will forget about LingQ and Talk to Me in Korean.  I really do not like these sites. I know they have helped some people but it's just not for me. 

Anyhow, I think I've made a lot of progress in the last ten days. I need to do review though or at least try it out and see how it goes.

I really do like the Essential Korean book but the subject matter is a little boring for me. I don't like touristy type topics. I want to do some reading of interesting articles, lifestyle articles or the articles that you find in onlime newspapers like Korea Times, Korean Herald, Chosun Ilbo. I also need to find short sentences.

I think the key is to always translate from English to the TL. That is the failure of 99% of the language-teaching materials and courses out there. They go from TL to English.

One should not try and COMPREHEND a foreign language. One should try and EXPRESS oneself in a foreign language. That is why learning grammar comes naturally when you go from NL to TL. You already know ahead of time what the TL sentence means and you are shown how the sentiment is expressed in the TL. You don't have to DECIPHER the TL sentence. So parsing is bad. Parsing just makes you study ABOUT the language but doesn't actually teach you to USE it.

So do not get bogged down by the grammar and avoid going from TL to NL.

Always go from NL to TL whenever you can. It's absolutely imperative that you do this. You MUST avoid trying to translate from TL to NL. There is no practical use anyway unless you are trying to become an interpreter or translater. 

You are not trying to learn ENGLISH, you are trying to learn KOREAN. TL --> NL helps you to learn ENGLISH, not Korean.

By translating into the NL, you are practicing thinking in the NL. By translating into the TL, you are practicing thinking in the TL.

So as a basic rule, whatever activity makes you translate from TL to NL gives you practice in thinking in the NL, and the other way helps you practice thinking in TL.

So try and think in the TL whenever you can.

You can only think in the TL when you practice translating into the TL. 

I think I've hit on a very fundamental rule. Always think in the TL.  

I have to do review

Unfortunately I have to do review because the attrition rate is too high without review. Groan. So the first thing I do is review the previous day's lesson. I hate review but there's no getting around it. Just quickly go through it. Maybe focus on the hard sentences and look at the mnemonics. 

So yep, have decided to do review. What about all the chapters where I didn't do review? I suppose I could look at them twice on different days, so it's like studying again .. groan ... as I said, I HATE review. 

Anyway I will see how I go. 

I went to John Fotheringham's website, and really liked his videos. I agree with most of what he says. I do think the traditional methods of teaching languages are not very good.

I really need to spend time listening and repeating. Use the Audacity to break things up into tracks.

And DO REVIEW. But then if I do review, it seems like boring classroom work. It's too much like STUDY. I hate review. But I need to do it. I like studying grammar but it wasn't helping me become fluent. Though I knew that when I was studying it. I was studying it because I couldn't understand what I was reading. I think grammar-study did help me with reading but not by much. 

So there are the two sets of goals that are (slightly) in conflict with each other. There is speaking and there is reading.

I wonder about the chunk method. The chunk method is Glossika's method but streamlined. It is like spoonfeeding.

The ideal resource would have 10,000 sentences and audios for each of those sentences. There would be romanization for languages that require it and there is exact translation and colloquial translation. 

I think if you learned from this sort of resource, you could become fluent in six months.  

More about Glossika

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAdyAa4oHDA 

I absolutely agree with Mike Campbell here in this video. This method is the best one for learning to speak a foreign language fluently.  

I wonder if musically talented people have an advantage in learning languages? I think they might. Mike Campbell is a concert pianist so obviously has a good ear.

I am not sure about myself. I thought I wasn't an aural person but when I do listening, I don't too badly.

And I really enjoy the listening method of learning. I need repetition though. Lots of repetition.  

I really can't wait until I am fluent. I can't wait until I can read fluently too.

I should not try to learn too quickly.

And some vocabulary I stumble over, even the words I have done mnemonics for. I should spend more time memorizing the mnemonics.

I can't wait until I reach the point of accelerated learning. I really need to hear every word I learn I think. I need RECORDINGS.

Geez.

Where am I going to get the recordings of the books I want to learn from.

Mike Campbell does do review. I really dislike review.

Anyhow I will see how far my learning takes me. I think my progress is going OK.  

I wonder how his Korean is. It seems OK.

I feel like I would love to become fluent. I think in six months, I will look back and see that I've progressed a lot. I think repetition, review and practice will get me there.

So try and listen more. And do repetition. Translate. Test yourself. Keep listening.  

 

This method really helps me with my grammar.

The reason why "shadowing" didn't work in the past was that I wasn't repeating individual sentences. I was playing a whole block of sentences and repeating them block by block, not the individual sentences. It's the only way I can learn - repeating individual sentences. Once I've learned it aurally, I've learned it permanently. I had better do some visualizations and affirmations related to language-learning. 

It's working well. It's not such a pain doing blocks of four or five sentences. Before I was doing blocks of ten sentences and I was racing through it all.

But I can only do this sort of thing at home or at a cafe. I cannot do this at the bus stop or on the train or waiting at the bank etc. I need to find some activity to do at these places. I don't like being idle when waiting and when I do study I actually enjoy waiting. What activity should I do? I don't want to carry a lot of items. It must be helpful activity. I don't like flash cards so don't want to use that method. Maybe read a book? I got sick of studying International Learners book so I don't want to study that book. Perhaps studying Surviving in Korean? I am not that big a fan of that book. I really don't know. Nothing that involves writing. I think a vocabulary book or something would be suitable. I might get some easy vocabulary book ... I really want to do something during these times as it makes the time go much faster. I think maybe taking the Essential Korean for Business and studying that? Or I might just take one of the comic books ... Or maybe the Uri Nara book, but that book is really heavy. I really don't know ... I think just taking one of the WOW books ... or the dictionary though that's heavy. Or just take the Korean Grammar for International Learners and review that - but I am thoroughly sick of that book! 

Am going really well, I think. I really enjoy shadowing. I have finished for today. It really takes a long time to shadow just one chapter. It really does. I really like the audio in the Essentials book. I'm glad I slowed it down. I am getting gradually better. Just lacking a lot of vocabulary but it's improving. I am so glad I shadowed this book. It's better than KGU for shadowing. After this book, I will shadow KGU as I've already started that book and it has audio. 

I will see if the shadowing is better after I do just listening a few times and also do translations.

So slowly I'm getting there. What I find helpful is using Korean with Korean people. It really reinforces what I've learned.

So getting slowly better. My plan was a bit ambitious but I am so glad I am making progress.

I wonder if my reading is better too. Reading the WOW comics is certainly better than before. But newspapers are still very difficult.

Just do a lot of listening. I admire those people who have become fluent in Korean but there is nothing special about them. You can become fluent too. I think this is great. I am starting to get near that hump, which if I overcome I will find learning Korea a lot easier. 

I just need to slowly build up my vocabulary and syntax knowledge and repeat and repeat. I am improving in my intonation as well as I am doing so much careful listening.

I am very enthused about this method of learning. It's fun. It really is. 

I enjoy this very much. I enjoy finding strategies that make my studying more efficient and thinking about techniques and methodologies of learning a language.  

Good method of learning
Once you find a good method of learning, you can learn Korean very quickly. So the research you did has been worthwhile. As I have said, I find listening and shadowing fun. Trying to catch the sounds is very enjoyable. I will gradually start speaking with the right intonation and accent and pronunciation. But I need the sentences to be spoken slowly and I also need the sentences to be short. Right now I am working on slowing down the audio I extracted from a video, a historical drama. I want to use it as a shadowing material for an exercise. I doubt I will seriously use this for shadowing though as the language is too old-fashioned. 

Pace of learning

I think covering a chapter of the Essential Korean book is too fast. I should just study half a chapter really. I still think this is the best book for a beginner studying shadowing. Anyway, don't lose sight of things. Remember that many people have learned a language using my methods. I need to follow a systematic way of learning. I don't want to learn greetings x number of times. 

Just try and get the audios. Make separate tracks and listen to them repeatedly until you can say them off by heart, automatically, without even thinking about it. You should listen to an audio at least twenty times.

And don't look at the Korean! Go by the sound of it. Just keep doing this for the next few months, and you should be fluent after that. That's not bad for three months of shadowing. And if you can't get recordings, make recordings of your own voice.

So forget about the resources on the internet. They're free for a reason. Many people can say a few basic things fluently but they aren't really "fluent" in that they can't have a conversation about more sophisticated subjects like a native speaker. 

So don't be DAZZLED by them. That's the trouble. Just use what works for you. 

The thing that seems to work for you is listening to the audio of a sentence that has an English translation. Then keep saying it over and over again until it becomes engrained on your consciousness.

Try and choose shorter sentences to learn. You can learn longer sentences later or build up shorter sentences to become longer ones.

And try and learn sentences that will be useful to you. Use mnemonics as much as you can for words you are unfamiliar with. And then plod through a book doing this, listening to the audio, not even repeating it but trying to catch the sounds. That's the way to do it ...

I am just worried about the material that I have. Most of the material that I have lacks audio. That's the problem.

Hey! I have an idea. Just download the audio and make separate tracks of the individual sentences and get the subtitles file and then use it as a shadowing lesson! How to rip the audio file? Hmmm.  The problem is that it involves too much work. And matching the audio with the subtitles is too hard. And they talk too fast in the videos. And the translations are too colloquialized. 

Just stick to your method and try and find material that is easy. I think my new list of things to shadow comprise:

# Essential Korean for Everyday Use 

# Migrant's phrase book

# WOW comics

# Making Out in Korean

# Children's dictionary

# Korean Grammar in Use (forgot totally about this one!)

# Teenage book

# Using Korean

# Surviving in Korean

I think this list is long enough. There is plenty of shadowing there. I just need the TIME. I can learn to be fluent in Korean quickly if I have enough time. 

Basically, I am learning like the FSI method which is similar to the Pimsleur method. Both involve mainly listening. It really helps to listen without looking at the Korean!

I might not be saying it exactly as the spelling of the word but I shouldn't worry about that too much.

It's going well. I am going slower but the sentences seem to remain in my mind more firmly.

I really think Glossika has a good method. I think that's the best way to learn a language - by listening to the words and repeating them. I don't think visual learning is the best way of learning a language. I wonder if musicians have an advantage because they have a good ear. I am interested in reading about this method of learning. BY LISTENING. I really think it's the only way to learn to be a fluent speaker in a language. I will have killer pronunciation after this. I really will. I enjoy this method of learning too. I really do. It's easier than the other methods. I think I can also do revision relatively painlessly by doing this method. I think I might have to do revision after all ... 

I have a lot of material to shadow and I'm picking up a lot of grammar this way. It's great. I don't think shadowing International Learners is a useful book to shadow. The sentences are too complicated. So far none of the sentences I learned were really useful. I think I went through it too fast and also the listening component was lacking. If there was audio, it might be worth shadowing. I'm not sure about this. Here and there there might be some useful phrases. I think I need to review things too. Now Korean Grammar in Use, I am not sure about that book. Is it useful or not? Don't know. It's been a while since I shadowed that book. I might try it using the listening and translation method. I think this method is GREAT.  

The new method is very relaxing

All I have to do is listen carefully. Just forget the other methods of study, especially the online methods. They are for more advanced students and those ways of studying are very disorganized methods of studying. 

The way you are studying is very good. You have the Korean, the romanization, the colloquial English translation and the literal English translation. You have the audio too.

I found that my grammar is really improving when I do just listening. I really need those audios but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Don't try and take on too much. Just do a lot of listening and repeating without looking at the Hangeul.

I wish there was a book like that, that had 10,000 phrases and there was the Korean, the romanization, the English translations - both literal and colloquial. That would be great.

That would get me fluent, well sort of semi-fluent.

And then after that, I would concentrate on reading and writing. Can't spend ALL my time on speaking. After I reach the intermediate stage of speaking, it's time to learn speaking from mixing with Koreans and speaking 100% in Korean. i could attend a hagwon at that stage. And then simultaneously, I could work on my reading. I think I am getting better at reading. Got to work on the grammar book to get better at reading. That's the key to reading - reading the grammar book and reading newspapers. Translating articles and so forth. The speaking is less important to me, I think. It impresses people but I am not really improving my reading skills by that much except in the area of grammar and a little bit of vocabulary. Apparently, I need to read lots. Once again, I don't like online sources for my reading.

Some people learn a language using the piecemeal fashion like Talk to Me in Korean and LingQ but I definitely DON'T. So forget about those sites for the time being. You can look at them when you've reached a certain level of proficiency.  

LingQ and Talk to Me in Korean
No, I don't think I will progress very far with these materials as a beginner. Just forget about them and concentrate on what you are doing now. 

Studying methods

I need something structured and systematic. I don't know if I can do listening. I suppose I need to introduce that into my repertoire eventually. But I can't do everything at once. It's not my style. 

I think these things are for later. I will stick to my plan which is shadow Essential Korean. I am only a beginner so I can't expect to understand or follow these audios. These audios are for more advanced students.

And also when I practice with people later, I will get lots of listening practice.

So just step-by-step.

Go through the Essential Korean. This will ground me in the basic stuff. After that, you can try out the simple easy readers like the Migrant book and the WOW comics. You can shadow them. You can shadow the dictionary as well. Then move onto harder stuff, like the Using Korean book and the teenage book. Eventually, move onto the International Learners book. I suppose I could shadow the dialogs in LingQ but they are all over the place. 

I think I will use these sites when I am at an intermediate level. Doing all the stuff I'm doing should bring me up to early intermediate level with speaking.

Then after I've done these things, you can start interacting with Koreans in Korean.

So there is a lot to learn ...

If you get too much input you don't understand, you get stressed out. So don't try. Just know the stuff you are learning well.

Don't get too ahead of yourself.

What about reading? You have to do that eventually. And the writing too.

But anyway, spend several months shadowing stuff for a few hours every day and eventually you will get there.

So just follow Glossika's methods for the time being. I find his methods to be the best.

The ones who have become fluent aren't necessarily good teachers. And their learning styles might be different to mine.  

I feel discouraged.

I tried out LingQ and found that hard. I don't like the layout of it. But it's good for listening and for speaking. It's good for natural conversation. Talk to Me in Korean is good too. But I don't like this style of learning. It doesn't suit me. I like Glossika's method of learning. 

What to do? How exactly am I going to learn these things? The short dialogs are good because they have the audio, the English translation and the Korean as well.

I think I will use them for listening practice and shadowing practice.

The audios that have no English translation are pretty much useless for me. I can understand bits and pieces though.

I will check out Talk to Me in Korean.