Can I do it? Is my monitor too strong?

It's not really intelligence which determines whether you will be good at picking up languages by ear; it is your personality.

Those who are outgoing and extrovert will find it easy to pick up languages by ear. Those who are introvert and shy will find it hard. 

I don't know where I fall in the spectrum. I used to be shy when I was young but the circumstances have changed since then. Now, people tell me I am outgoing. I still feel shy but I can fake it. I think I do have a strong language monitor. I don't like making mistakes. I don't like to plunge in. 

I guess it's bad to have a weak monitor. You don't pick up nuances. And later on, it does affect you. You might become fluent very quickly but you will make mistakes that you never fix as it becomes habitual to make them. 

With those with a strong monitor, it might take a while for them to become fluent. But once they are fluent, they don't make many mistakes in talking. 

For example, many Koreans never learn to add "s" when it comes to third person singular verbs or to plural nouns. They might be fluent when it comes to speaking English but their monitor is such that they never pick up this mistake and keep dropping the "s". 

I am not extreme when it comes to monitor use. I think that would be terribly handicapping to have too strong a monitor. On the other hand, I do tend to employ my monitor a lot when speaking. I feel inhibited about making mistakes. 

I also have a bad memory when it comes to listening to language. Someone can say one word and its meaning and a few minutes later I will have completely forgotten it. 

I think I have to see the word written down before I can "learn" it. This slows down my learning. I don't trust my ear when it comes to sounds. It's a weakness and will hamper me I know but I can't help it. 

I have trouble memorizing long words - say words of three syllables or more. I don't like memorizing new words that I have been taught by a speaker. I like memorizing words from a book that teaches vocabulary though. 

Today, I don't think I picked up a lot. I am still hearing a lot of English from the Korean language teachers. I had better remind them to go full-on immersion and not speak any English. I will have to find EASY material. I don't think a teacher translating Korean text into English for me is that helpful. I really don't. I am starting to think the 3D workers all have EXCELLENT memories. That can't be the case. 

Swear words are easy to remember. Why? Because the context within which the swear words are used makes a deep impression on your mind. You feel a strong emotion when you hear swear words. Similarly, when the 3D workers come across words that relate to their work, these words make a deep impression on them. These words are very important. Not only that, these words are repeated many times as they are used a lot in their work. 

I think once these 3D workers have built up enough vocab consisting of words relevant to their work, they will find it easy to acquire grammar. They use these words in sentences. Then once they start using sentences they are using grammar in speech. Then from there on, they can pick up more and more words easily (from the context). They recognize the grammar of the speech because they have come across the grammar before. Then they can concentrate on understanding the new vocab. They can work out what the vocab is from the context. 

So once you reach a certain point on the learning curve, the learning happens more or less naturally and almost effortlessly. And the learning speed accelerates. You can function quite well on your own even though your Korean is not perfect. And because you are able to cope on your own, you can mingle and communicate with Korean people. Doing so will improve your knowledge of the language. 

I think you have to be also outgoing. Willing to make small chat with strangers and have a word with people you encounter in your daily life. For example, if you have had a meal at a cafeteria and you are returning the tray to the counter,  you can tell the cook, "That was delicious."

If you see an old woman (halmoni) in the elevator and she seems to be unwell, you can ask her how she is. She might tell you about her aches and pains, and you can interact with her. 

So, it helps to have an outgoing personality. To be someone who likes to interact with people. 

I think that this is the way to go. I personally do not have that personality. I am not a people person. In social occasions and in work environments, I can put on a friendly air. But I don't really like to do this kind of thing in normal life. I am not interested in other people, and find their lives kind of boring. I don't want to know about an old woman's ache and pains. I do not like to say the meal was delicious out of politeness when it was ordinary and so on ..... 

I guess I can make myself like this but it's not the normal me. I am not highly reserved and with friends I can talk a lot, but with strangers I do not like to break the ice. 

I seem a bit aloof and businesslike I suppose. I can talk with taxidrivers - but I don't initiate the conversation most of the time. 

I think I will just have to try and be a bit more outgoing and try and find opportunities to use the little Korean I know. 

I like talking in English of course and I can talk someone's ear off in English but in Korean, I am not like that. And with some English speakers I am a little shy. I am not shy talking in English with Koreans, even Koreans I don't know that well. But with some English-speakers especially strangers I can be a bit shy especially if it's in a group situation. One on one I am OK and am not very shy at all speaking to native English speakers. 

I haven't really tried this 'immersion' long enough. I think with some teachers I am getting a solid block of immersion - the science teacher and the Saturday morning teacher, but with the others so far ... I don't think I am. The English teacher this morning did not talk solidly in Korean. I think because he was translating a news article for me. I don't think that's a good idea. The article was too high level. I will ask him to translate manwha for me in the future. That is more the kind of Korean I need to learn. 

I really think my monitor is stronger than those 3D workers. I noticed that the Turkish kebab shop owner was kind of confident in the way he talked. He didn't bother about the grammar. He concentrated on the sound he heard. 

I don't know why I am finding it hard to pick up Korean. I do not want to be like those bookworm people who have trouble communicating to people. I am not really like that. I AM a bookworm but I don't have trouble communicating with people; it's just that I want to minimize my involvement with people because most of them bore me to death. 

I probably do not know who the interesting people are because I can't communicate with them. It's a catch 22 situation. For example, I think a lot of the variety shows are boring and humorless. But actually some are interesting. (I found this out when I watched a variety show with subtitles.) But because I can't understand Korean I can't see the humor in them and I end up not watching them and passing them off as silly and immature and lacking in humor. 

I think I have to try and put my monitor aside. However, Krashen says don't make yourself talk if you aren't ready. I am not really ready to string together words in Korean yet. But some teachers are pushing me to speak in Korean. I don't know what to say to them. They are trying to help me, I know, but I HONESTLY don't feel ready to speak to them in Korean. I feel hesitant and slow and am constantly translating in my head. 

I guess I need to THINK in Korean. When I've learned to do that, I think I will be fluent in Korean. 

So it's a matter of hearing Korean over and over again. Comprehensible Korean. Hearing the same Korean sentences repeatedly - each one maybe fifty times. By that point, I would have learned the sentence I would think. And the sentence is in context and there are many contextual clues then I will learn the sentence that much faster. 

So it's a matter of learning some vocabulary - a wide range of vocabulary and hearing it spoken out aloud. I think I am at the stage of recognizing familiar vocabulary. My ear is trying to pick out vocab I know from people's speech. So my ear isn't really tuned into grammar. If I understand the meaning of the vocab I hear, I am satisfied. I feel like I've made progress. Speaking whole sentences will come later. I just have to be patient and continue as I have been doing for two months. At the end of the two months I will evaluate how I have done. I think at the end of the two months, I will be able to tell whether I have improved or not. I should be more comfortable with listening and will be able to recognize a whole lot of vocabulary words in speech. I might not be comfortable yet in speaking by that point, but I will be able to communicate with people at a low level, making small chat on common topics. 

I think the people who are helpful are those who use the same phrases over and over again in their speech. I recognize the meaning eventually.  As I have said, repetition is so important. I think the reason why those homestay people pick up the language very quickly is because they have input all the time. And they have context so they can work out the meaning easily. I don't have that kind of input so much so I will have to try and get people to do activities with me where there is context. Such as teaching me a skill. Such as doing an activity together. I don't mean learning Korean .... If they speak to me 100% in Korean while teaching me something, it will be very helpful. Even if they just act or draw. It should be like mimes! 

I think I might suggest this to people. We can play mimes! We can have a board or something and we can draw and get each other to guess what they are trying to say. They are not allowed to use English. They have to keep drawing  and speaking in Korean until I say the right meaning in English.

I will have to set up a board or something. I think this will be a fun game! I think I will get a white board or something like that. I am a beginner and I really need to be taught BASICS. While trying to explain the meaning, they will have to use Korean words and so forth. They can use any Korean they like, they just cannot say the actual Korean sentence that is the target sentence. I can say the sentence in English and if I hit the right sentence, I get a point. 

I think this will be a great learning tool! 

Charades and a combination of white board drawing and writing. But it might not work because I might be able to work out the sentence purely from the drawing. But still, my ear is taking in the words spoken in Korean. 

It will be mainly a vocabulary exercise too. I still think it can work. I will get a whiteboard, a small one, from Alpha supplies and play the game. I have whiteboard markers. I can explain the rules of the game. 

The other thing I can do is ask the people to give me a cooking lesson. I will ask them to make something out of a recipe book. I will buy all the ingredients beforehand. Then we can have fun making the thing and end up eating it at the end. I think this might be fun if the person is willing to relax a little and do something different. 

I will find something in one of the recipe books that I want to make and I will buy all the ingredients for it and we will make it. 

The person has to enjoy cooking. Some people hate cooking I know. I think the ajummas might like this method of teaching. I can suggest it to them. 

I will bust out the cards, manwha, white board, cooking materials and ingredients and we will have some fun. 

I think the key is to have fun. If I can't have the relevant context, for example, by working in an environment where I have to communicate with Korean people, then having a fun environment is the next best thing. 

The reason why this is so is because your emotional guard is down. When you are having fun, you are relaxed and somewhat disinhibited. So this is helpful. Also you associate learning Korean with enjoyment. Also, you are creating your OWN context. The aim of the game is to guess the meaning of the sentence so you have an incentive (a fun one) to concentrate. 

So I will gather the materials for the next lessons and see whether this kind of thing works or not. Having a serious discussion is kind of boring. I am not an amusing talker like some of my friends are (Biryong) but I am a good listener. Even though I can't tell funny anecdotes I can make people laugh with my comments. I am good at pointing out absurdities of a situation and making people laugh that way. I can for example, predict what a person is going to say in a movie or what is going to happen and this makes people laugh. So I can make funny comments and I am a good listener. So I will use my talents in this way. Watching a movie ... reading manwha together, having a cooking session, teaching one another a card game, teaching one another a board game or a computer game, playing a game together, playing charades on a white board,  teaching one another a new skill (inline skating, how to make a fire, how to knit, how to crochet, how to do a sewing stitch), talking about one's experiences overseas -- all these things are very fun and enjoyable. 

I think I will try and have fun the next few weeks. I won't focus so much on learning Korean as on having fun. Then I think I will pick up Korean as a by-process. And because I am having so much fun, it will be fun learning and interacting with native Korean speakers. I think this is the way to go. So far I haven't done a lot of fun stuff yet. I went clothes shopping with a teacher but we weren't really having a lesson and she was learning more English from me than I was learning Korean from her. She can speak more Korean than she is doing during the lesson but I think she forgets as she is so intent on learning English from me. I think the next lesson I will remind her to speak 100% Korean though I speak English sometimes. 

They can't really have a proper conversation with me because I don't know enough Korean.  So I don't think they should try and get me to talk by asking me questions in Korean. So I think they should kind of do a monologue occasionally checking for understanding. That's why these activities are good. The teachers are giving a sort of monologue while they are engaging in these activities. But because they are engaged in something purposefully, they don't have to think too much about what they will say in the monologue. They just have to do the activity and do the speaking that is relevant to and related to that activity. 

I think this will free up the teachers from constantly having to think about what they are going to talk about. We have exhausted certain topics I think such as their lives including their jobs, families, hobbies and so on. We need to do some more purposeful activity. Like baking cookies and making some simple dish following a recipe. 

I think I would like this kind of activity. 

I think I will get a whiteboard from a stationery shop. I hope the teachers can draw well. It would be disappointing if they had no drawing talent. I will get out the playing cards. I will get out the chess set. I will also get the game of Risk from the computer. I will get other games if I can get them. I think Pictionary is a good game. What about the game of Battleship. 

I have heard of someone learning Korean through his love of the game Starcraft. He is an American man. 

So I think doing some fun activity is the key. Not just sitting down and having a boring conversation. I am not at an advanced level yet. I am a mere beginner and so need these kinds of things to get me going and forgetting that I am learning Korean. It will make the hour go by real fast I think. The teacher will have a lot of fun too. 

So I have to think of games! 

 

 

Reviewing grammar

I think learning grammar is important not from the point of view of creating output from scratch but from the point of view of making acquisition easier.

From my experience, I have found it useful to review grammar after a period of time, preferably studying the language in other ways. When I reviewed the grammar, I approached it with a fresh more targeted approach. I zeroed on the areas of confusion that remained in my mind and which I was only vaguely aware of previously and cleared those areas up. This was satisfying and also time-sparing. Instead of reviewing the grammar as I had done many times before - starting from the beginning of the book and going to the end of the book, I just selected certain sections for close review. As a consequence, my understanding of Korean grammar improved a lot. 

I think reviewing grammar after being away from it for a while is a good approach. You forget a lot of grammar besides so reviewing grammar is necessary. And since you have done a lot of reading in the meantime, reviewing the grammar is more relevant as you have seen many examples of the grammar in use in your reading. 

So I think I will have to review the Korean Grammar in Use frequently, not going through it intensively as before but just selecting certain parts for review or going through it quickly, doing a broad review. 

And reading is so important. The key is to find easily comprehensible material.

I might just approach a reading passage by learning the vocab first and then tackling the reading. That way I can concentrate on understanding the sentence's construction. The grammar of the sentence are the bones. The vocab are the flesh.

Reminding myself it's all about COMMUNICATION. 

"It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act." From an essay summary of Stephen Krashen's theories. 

Am I picking up grammar through immersion?

This is a crucial question. This is the main reason for doing immersion for me. It is to pick up grammar naturally. I can't tell whether this is happening or not. I have only done this for a few days I suppose. It might be too early to judge whether I am acquiring grammar through this method. I think my listening comprehension is improving but I don't think my speaking is getting better. I want to speak naturally and not struggle constantly to find words. I am also worried that because I don't really have to use Korean much in my daily living that the Korean I acquire will become rusty.

This is my concern. I think the youngish English teacher who runs his own study room will be a good teacher. I think he knows what I need. I will ask him questions. He doesn't talk that much but what he says is clear and I can understand what he says. 

I will just have to continue with this and treat it professionally. I have to try and extract as much benefit from it as I can. 

I also have to be patient and not expect miracles to be wrought overnight. Slowly and steadily does it. I think it's good I am being exposed to Korean speaking a little every day. I think I should have a study plan to implement straight afterward. 

I think I should try and learn more vocabulary continuously. I should be on the hunt for vocabulary books but ones aimed more for high school students and adults. The problem is that the vocabulary books that are available are aimed at learning English. Sometimes learning from these books isn't as helpful as learning from books that teach Korean using English. 

I find learning synonyms confusing. I don't like the revision exercises in certain books. I think I will skip the revision exercises and just do the main exercises. This way it speeds up the learning. I don't have lots of time to learn vocabulary and I know I will forget a lot of the vocab I have spent time learning. So I need to supplement the learning of grammar with a lot of reading. Hopefully, I come across the vocabulary I have learned from the vocabulary books and the vocabulary sticks in my mind better. So it's a matter of studying and then reinforcing what I have learned by reading and doing the immersion a lot. 

I am still not 100% confident about Stephen Krashen's theory. I think he is right but I don't understand the process of acquisition through immersion exactly. I have seen some immigrants become fluent almost by a miracle. They are just amazing to listen to. I am sure they learned to speak Korean through Stephen Krashen's method although not consciously. I am just surprised that ordinary people, those without outstanding academic skills, can achieve these things. I am very very surprised. I must have done something similar when I migrated to Australia but I don't remember doing this. I think I became fluent in English in  a short time.

I think living with a Korean person will be beneficial. It really is intensive immersion. 

I don't know whether these chat sessions are useful. We are sitting down and we don't have many visual cues or physical cues. I am just picking up a word here and there and trying to make sense of what the person is trying to say from that. I think I was surprised at how much I understood. I think lots of visual cues is good. I don't know how to do that. I think watching TV and talking about what's happening in that TV program is good. I think reading manwha together is good too (one without any English translations) is good. I will try that this morning with Mrs Lim. I think doing activities is good. Learning some skill or making something together is good. I think I can get a lot out of doing something like that. 

I might ask someone to teach me how to make something out of the Korean recipe book. 

We can make something delicious and fun. 

I think I will try that. 

I think that's better than just sitting down without any plan and chatting. I think in the beginning after the introductions are out of the way, we have to have a program. I think I will get the women to help me make something. I will get the men to teach me some skill like how to play a game or something - even just a card game. 

Or we can talk about history and so forth though this might be difficult to do considering that this kind of discussion requires high level language. 

My reading is too slow. I really want to improve my reading. The fairy tale books are a little too difficult for me, and the stories are a bit long. Some of the sentences are constructed in a complex way. I must say Korean grammar is kind of hard. They use adnominal phrases and it takes a while sometimes to decipher the meaning of a sentence. Koreans don't use much punctuation which makes things harder. I am also having difficulty understanding vocabulary and grammar together. If I know the vocabulary already, working out the meaning of a sentence is easier. 

But it is bewildering when I encounter unfamiliar grammar and vocabulary within the same sentence. I think I will have to read the fairytales over and over again. Probably, my reading speed improves the more I read. 

There is a lot to study in my case. I am trying to learn everything at once. I don't want to write a diary either as one of the interviewees suggested. My writing isn't good enough for this and I think it will be a boring exercise. I would rather concentrate on speaking when communicating. 

I think I am 10% towards my goal. So there is a long way to go. I have to pick up lots more vocabulary. I probably know about 2000 words at a guess. I have to learn perhaps 8000 more .... it is a lot. I have to learn all the vocabulary that I need to read the newspaper. I think I have to learn lots more grammar. I have to learn "Using Korean" after I have become more fluent. I think at that stage, reading that book will clarify and reinforce what I have already learned. 

I really want to learn a language through listening people speak that language. Then I think all the "academic stuff" (writing, spelling, reading) will be acquired more easily. However, I have done it the other way around. I have learned the grammar first and have learned by reading and doing a little writing (exercises in the grammar books). Now I am trying to learn by listening and doing a little speaking. 

I just have to keep reminding myself that 3D workers are able to do it so I can too. 

Perhaps academically oriented people have a hard time learning to be fluent in a foreign language. Our language monitors are too strong. I have observed that some highly educated people are poor at learning to speak a foreign language. For example the PhD candidate did not know much English when it came to speaking but I think he can read English well. 

Perhaps I am like that ...... I can't say. I DID learn Korean when I was a child and I DID learn English when I was a still a child. So I don't know. I should relax and not worry about the method of learning so much. Just be sociable and outgoing and encourage people to speak Korean to me. Think of fun activities to do every day. I will just ask them to speak slowly. I think the main thing is to have people interested in talking. If they enjoy talking in my presence, I will get a lot out of them. For some I might have to introduce some structure. Because it IS hard finding material or content to talk about for one hour/45 minutes. 

I don't think I should fall into the trap of language exchange -- perhaps only with people whose English is very very poor. Then and only then it might work. 

How do I measure progress?

How do I measure progress in my understanding Korean? I find Korean language not that difficult to understand these days. Before it used to be impossible to understand any of it. Now, I am not struggling as much.

I really want to be comfortable speaking in Korean. I want to speak it naturally. I don't want to search in my head for words or translate constantly. There is no natural immersion possible for me in Korea. I have to create an artificial immersion environment for myself. Watching dramas, watching TV, doing these conversation lessons, and reading easy to understand reading material and doing vocabulary study and refreshing the grammar knowledge now and then is the way to go. Also going through the mp3 files once in a while. 

I think I have improved but don't have any concrete way of assessing this. I am much more comfortable reading Korean than I used to be. But I still am pausing at "k" and "j" because the letters look so much alike. 

I should not worry and just persist. I won't see these people again in the future so I shouldn't be embarrassed about learning from them and just soak up the Korean as much as possible. 

I have made progress with speaking and listening

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. 

 

I have made progress

When I feel discouraged I have got to realize that I have made solid progress. Reading and grammar I am starting to get a better handle of. If I know nearly all the vocabulary one needs to know to read say a newspaper, then I can just concentrate on grammar when reading. It's because I don't know vocabulary and I don't know grammar that well that reading a newspaper article, for example, gets very hard.

I DO want to master reading. 

I think I have to make the learning I do applicable to my needs. For example those small business owners paid interest to the Korean words that they needed for their business so they were motivated to learn these words. 

I have to do something similar. Learn the vocab that's applicable to my business/personal needs. Then I will pick things up fast. Once I have a core of vocabulary, picking up new words becomes much easier. You already have good listening comprehension so you can guess the meaning of new words by the context they are in .... 

So an environment rich in CONTEXT is what I need. So newspaper articles are good. They have pictures and they have topics pertaining to  current affairs.

I will learn from mangas as I am interested in certain mangas. 

I will organize myself and set up some time to read and learn vocabulary and study a little grammar. I don't feel ready to tackle the Grammar for International Learners yet and the Using Korean is kind of very comprehensive. I only find it useful if I just glean general principles from it. I don't have a hope of remembering all the examples in it. 

I think I will have to be patient. This is an experiment to see whether this immersion helps not only with SPEAKING and LISTENING but also with READING and WRITING and understanding GRAMMAR. 

I just have to persist with it. I really do. 

I just am not good at multi-tasking and it looks like that's what I will have to do ........

How did the first day go?

I met a Mrs Lim. I like her cheerfulness but she speaks in English too much. I think she spent 75% of the time speaking in English. I think she's out to get English from me. The only good point is that she tries to be entertaining and lighthearted. I think I will continue but I will have to keep reminding her to speak in Korean. I will also not talk in English. She also tried to teach me reading which wasn't that successful. I think it's OK but we should discuss things in Korean, not in English.

The main point is that she spoke in Korean too much. I think this isn't going to work out because most of the people do not treat it professionally as much. I don't want it to be too casual. 

I met another person and she could not speak any English at all. It was good. This was real immersion. I think I picked up a lot of Korean with her. This is the sort of thing I need. I can meet her twice a week. 

I have to meet someone tonight. 

It's getting confusing meeting all these people. So many people have rung up. 

I really do not think I have much in common with these people. 

I will just keep quiet and when I talk, only speak in Korean. I will keep it up a little bit longer and try out the people. 

I don't understand why these people rang me up. I was very clear in my ad. I don't like people ringing me up out of curiosity. 

I think I will contact Zeal. 

I might cut it down to twice a week for each person. I think twice a week is good. I am getting confused because some people can only come in the evening. I don't want to wait all day to do it in the evening. I like to get it over and done with in the morning. 

I should get over my skepticism. Just persist with it a bit longer. Don't give up too early. Think about the endgoal. 

Consistency is the key. It's going to be confusing at first because you are not used to a person speaking to you in Korean for an hour. Just pay careful attention and enjoy the process. 

You might try volunteering at the library in Hagye dong. 

I think you should make an effort there. 

I think you should also meet with Bbensi's cousin at 11 in Hongdae and see how that goes. 

You will be really busy. 

Try it and also join Zeal's English Cafe for a Korean conversation teacher. You can try that too. Try and be flexible with your time. It's on Skype so that's good. You have access to Skype easily so that's good. 

I don't think those tablets are really useful. They are overpriced for what they can do. You are restricted in the things you can do. You can't even get the webpages you want. If they were exactly like computers but much smaller with less storage space then they would be OK. But instead of a tablet, I would buy an 11 inch MacBook Air. But I can't afford one at the moment. I have the 13 inch MacBook Air so I can carry that around with me though it is kind of heavy ... 

I need a calendar setup to fit everyone in and know who I am going to meet every day. I am meeting so many different people it's getting confusing! I will also have to set up a budget for this.

Honestly, blue collar people are better for this sort of thing ..... The ones who are already teachers and so on are not as good, I have found. 

And the ones who speak NO English are the best. I am getting IMMERSION from these people. The scouting lady I met just now spoke very very little English. I understood a lot of what she said. I have to study vocabulary a lot more so that I can recognize words that are spoken a lot more and I also need to practise listening on my own. 

I know my grammar in writing is OK for my level. I don't think I need a teacher for writing as yet. Actually, when Mrs Lim taught me reading, it was kind of interesting. 

I will ask for her help in getting the Saint Marie comics and so on. 

She is entertaining so even though I know she is trying to pick up English from me, I will keep going with her a bit longer. At least, I get to read different stuff from fairytales. I like reading the news, especially news about Korea. 

I will just keep trying and I will borrow the Saint Marie book and use that as a topic. I will get someone to help me translate it. 

I will do that tonight. So with the immersion and with self-study I am getting there eventually. 

I noticed some people looked askance at a book I was carrying around with me. It is a vocab book with exercises. On the cover, it says it's for Chodeung Hakkyo children (elementary age children) learning English. They were surprised I am studying from that. What do they expect? I don't have a problem studying from this kind of book because I am at that level and that's what I need. All language learners are the same and have the same needs no matter whether they are adults or children. I haven't been able to find a vocab book with exercises like they have in this book in the Korean language learning section for English-speaking adults. And this book is quite advanced - not many Korean children would understand this book or study it. Without studying vocabulary, how are you going to learn a language? 

I don't want to learn conversation from books. I want to learn vocabulary and grammar from books. I want to learn conversation from listening to people speak in real life and in movies (and from mp3 files of dialogs). 

I just hope my speaking really improves quickly like those foreigners who come to Korea and pick up the language really fast. Those foreigners have an advantage in that their workplace puts them in an immersion environment. I do not have that kind of environment naturally so I have to create it myself. 

Unless I open a small business myself or something. I could do that, I suppose. 

I have to think about that. There are so many things I have to do. I can't waste time. I think I will go out of the house and study. These days I can't study at home .......

Fairytales are too hard
Mood:  down

I feel the fairytales are too hard. I don't know why they didn't seem hard before. I feel kind of depressed about learning Korean. It's a hard slog studying by yourself. It's quite lonely. I don't know about this ad for teaching me Korean conversation. I don't know if it will work out. I think the major problem is finding something interesting to talk about. The people I've interviewed are kind of not that interesting really. I will just persist and try and learn basic Korean. I think the first lady was OK. She was sweet. She went to Hanguk School of Foreign Languages and learned Indonesian and Malay. She is also an accomplished pianist and attended the music conservatory. She was talkative which was good. I like her. The second lady was a bit hesitant. I have a feeling she won't last. I don't know why she answered the ad. Then there was the science teacher. She was OK. I had to push her a bit to talk but once we started talking, she was OK. Then there was the math teacher. She smiled a lot but didn't really speak that much Korean. I think it's obvious she wants to pick up English from me.

Still I will give all these people a tryout. I should stop being too picky and demanding and expecting a lot for 10.000 won. Maybe I should pay more? I don't know. I think I should really pick someone off the street who REALLY needs the money ....  

I think all of these people had ulterior motives, I really do. 

But anyway I spent all evening interviewing so I have to make the best of the situation and just try and do it, and not be too pessimistic. I think it's good to meet a variety of people. I can see how things are from the perspective of students so can see what is effective for teaching and how to relate to students better. 

I really do not understand how those foreigners became so fluent. Not all of them had Korean partners, surely? I am sure some of them learned from interacting with people at work. I am just so amazed at how much they pick up. I don't think I can pick up as much. In one month if all goes smoothly then I will have listened to 20 hours of Korean personally spoken to me. I think my plan is to be a passive listener. When I speak in English they tend to go quiet and let me talk. By the time I've finished it's already 10 minutes later. I think it's their strategy to let me talk. 

I need to remind them constantly to speak Korean. A couple of them get it; a few others don't. 

I think we will meet outside sometimes. Being inside the apartment feels claustrophobic. I will buy them coffee from the convenience store and sit in the playground on a bench or somewhere like that. I like to be outdoors. 

I will ask questions about themselves. I think the main problem is getting them to lower their speaking level a little bit. It's hard for them though because they are not used to talking to beginners. 

I will just listen and not talk that much. I will only talk when I feel confident speaking. I will try and not talk in English. Actually, I shouldn't chastise them for speaking fast. They forget and my constantly reminding them doesn't help. Pity the man who I spoke to first didn't want to do this work. He was the best. I could understand what he said and he talked of interesting subjects. Why did he answer the ad if he wasn't interested? I think when I said that commitment was important he backed off. He prefers to play tennis in that time. 

So I feel discouraged a little. The math teacher is a little manipulative. She stays silent at strategic times. I might have to push her to speak Korean. I really do not want to do this as language exchange. I need a lot of exposure to the Korean language and I do not get as much exposure as I need in language exchange. 

Perhaps I will offer more money next time - twice the amount. I can afford then to have lessons three to four times a week. Not that much but still better than nothing. I can supplement that by watching dramas and listening to mp3 files. 

I have to start listening to mp3 files again. I have been mostly doing vocab-reading-vocab-reading .... 

I need to do some listening and I should also brush up on my pronunciation. 

It's best if I mix things up a bit. 

I put the ad up

Just like I thought, many people are ringing me to try and get language exchange from me even though I clearly state in my ad that I will not teach English.

I have to keep it professional as possible, treat it like a business which it is, because I really need to learn Korean conversation. It is not a hobby as it is for some Korean people, it is more than that. 

So I have had to turn away a few people.  Typically, the ones I knew wouldn't work out are the ones who already know much English. One of them was an English teacher. I said specifically in the ad that I need someone who doesn't speak much English. She spoke 100% of the time in English on the phone. When I asked her to speak in Korean to try her out she couldn't. So that kind of person isn't going to be of much use to me. 

This is what I have found from doing language exchange. The ones who were interested spoke a lot of English and they didn't want to speak in Korean to me so it was lopsided the deal that was happening there. 

Because I am paying (not much admittedly), I have to demand what I need from the conversation teacher. I have to choose well because I can't afford to put up the ads again. They cost 30.000 won. This is the price of three lessons. If the person lasts three days and either stops coming or I have to fire them because they aren't doing the job then I have to pay for another ad. 

If this happens, I will contact Zeal and ask her to arrange something through her cafe. I realize she has to make a profit so I will ask for fewer hours than 5 x a week. I think something like 4x a week for one hour is reasonable. I can pay 13.000 won per class or something like that. That will be 52.000 won per week or around 210.000 won per month. She makes a little profit and she can more easily find a suitable person than I can. 

So I will see how it goes. 

It's just annoying when I put down clearly what I want in my ad and the wrong people answer. Clearly, they are out to learn English from this situation. I will have to be firm about that. If I find that it's turning into an English lesson and not a Korean lesson, I will terminate that person. I don't PAY someone for them to learn English from me. 

I can't really afford more than this. I might have to find people on my own, poor people who are really desperate for the money. 

Because this is the sort of person I need. Someone who regards it as a job. I really resent the idea that people see it as an opportunity to learn English. There was one person who rang me and she was already trying to pick up English while I was talking to her on the phone. She hardly spoke any Korean. 

That's why I think this Mr Lee might turn out OK. I am not sure. I think he knows a lot more English than he lets on. For example, he said, "I majored in architecture," in fluent English. But he did speak to me in Korean off the bat and spent most of the time speaking in Korean. I could understand his Korean too. It wasn't too difficult. I think he's more intelligent than some of the callers who didn't understand what I wanted. Still, I wonder why he wants this job. I don't think he needs the money. Probably wants to practice English with a foreigner. I will see how I go. If I am not picking up Korean at a moderately fast speed with immersion then I will let him go and either pick some poor person off the street or ask Zeal to find someone through her cafe. 

I mean the people have to be realistic. It's a job and it's not going to be enjoyable. I hope he doesn't stop coming because he realizes he's not going to learn English from me and picks up very little English from me. 

I think I have to be prepared for that. I think 99% of the people will have ulterior motives when they apply for the job. But I will have to be professional about it. I will test him out and honestly ask him whether he can do it or not. If he realizes it's going to be tough and I will be speaking in Korean and not in English most of the time, he might give up. I will have to stop speaking in English myself. I don't want to turn it into an English lesson. It has to be immersion. I will keep quiet and see whether the person can initiate conversation in Korean. I want to see whether they can dumb it down for me to without my having to remind them to do so. 

I am tired of mucking around. I didn't get anything out of the homestay ad (that turned into a language exchange ad), and I wasted 30.000 won. I got a lot of selfish people who weren't willing to give but were taking only, and not only that they treated it as a frivolous activity, not a real commitment. I am treating it as a matter of survival. I am very determined. I am tired of mucking around. And that's why I am putting the money up. 

If I offer more, I might get a better-quality person so I have to consider that. 

I think I need someone intelligent. I don't want one of these stupid people who don't get what they need to do. 

An hour with someone who is an effective conversation teacher is worth more than three hours with someone who doesn't take their duties seriously and doesn't bother to give me what I want. 

It's a business contract and if they are not willing to do what I ask then they shouldn't take my money - they shouldn't accept the job. 

I don't want to TRY OUT a lot of people either. If I meet everyone who calls, I will be spending all my time meeting people. I will try and weed them out over the phone. At the end, when I have assessed that the person will not make a good conversation teacher, I will politely and firmly tell them that I have already hired someone and ask their permission to keep their number and call them back later if I need their help at a future date. I think this is the best way. 

It's best to be business-like about it. I have to keep in my mind that I have paid a lot of money for these ads. 

I will make a promise not to speak ANY English for the first three lessons and I will mostly LISTEN. If the person isn't a good talker and can't initiate conversation, I will soon find that out. I will ask leading questions in Korean and get the person to talk about themselves. People love talking about themselves so if I keep my mouth shut then the person will keep talking. 

I have to curb my natural tendency to talk a lot and dominate the conversation. 

I will keep the meetings professional as possible and keep the personal stuff out as much as possible. We are not friends, and I have to learn to keep a distance from people in this situation. The same as if I was a student in a hagwon.  I will be wary of people trying to make things too personal. Just stick with conversation surrounding work, travel, hobbies, movies, current affairs, entertainment, history. Also, do not get into politics too much. 

I will have to have my monitor turned on during these lessons so that things remain professional and I derive MAXIMUM benefit from it. I will see whether the person realizes that I am not speaking in English at all. 

Too bad if they get tired of my poor Korean -- that's the nature of the job. If they don't like it they shouldn't have applied for the job. 

I think it's better too if we meet outside the apartment. I feel kind of claustrophobic in the apartment all the time. We can meet at a cheap coffee shop, or buy coffees from a convenience store and sit outside or just sit on a bench outside the apartment. My place isn't really ready for having guests anyway. 

I might ask the person to help me get a driver's license and so on. I won't do this straight away. I will try not to get PRACTICAL help if I can - not for a while at least. 

I don't think I should become FRIENDS with these people. I think some of these people have ulterior motives. 

I will try and turn off a lot of these applicants by talking in Korean all the time. I will also stay quiet and see whether they initiate conversation or not.

 

I like Tripod because it's easy to use but I don't like the lack of stats
I like Tripod because I like the layout and it's no fuss but I don't like the lack of stats. I want my blog to be seen by the public and want to know how many people are looking at it. I also want comments. But with this blog I don't think I can get this sort of information. Wordpress has advantages in that you get the stats but I prefer typing on Tripod for some reason .... I like the formats, the lack of fuss of Tripod. You create a blog and away you go. You don't have to have a Google account and link everything together as you have to do with Google blogs. Also I find the set up of Wordpress a bit confusing. So I want to stick to Tripod for the time being but I wonder if there is any way of finding out the stats for this blog.