My Memrise Lesson

I’m trying you guys. It’s just that learning vocabulary is so friggin’ hard! So I’ve started making a memrise lesson that divides vocabulary into categories that make sense. So like, the different rooms in a house and what’s in them and like different places and such…it’s a lot more than I expected it to be. So I’ve only done 2 lessons so far.

I’ve also been going over my notes from the TTMIK lessons and there’s so much I remember learning but haven’t needed to use in an actual conversation. I think at this point, I’m relearning everything just in case other people say it. I can successfully work my way around complex sentence structures if need be.  But, the other problem is that some of the people I’ve been chatting to on hellotalk seem to overestimate my ability and use such complex sentence structure and on top of that, MY VOCABULARY IS EXTREMELY LIMITED, so it’s been a challenge. I could just tell them that I need them to talk a bit more simply but I guess my pride won’t let me haha. I also need to find people who have some english ability. More often than not, I find myself chatting with people who can speak any english. It’s hard for me to explain and help them because I can’t do that entirely in Korean. I’m not nearly that capable!

I’m going to post a grammar lesson directly after this. It’s the only way to ensure that I actually do it hahaha

요리하기~~

오늘은 떡볶이 만들었어요!

This is supposed to have anchovies and kelp…but I’m not a fan of either of those so I just put some seaweed in and boiled it and then took it out to make the stock lol
This is a mixture of red pepper paste, red pepper flakes and sugar~

Add some green onions!

All mixed together! Looks super watery and unappealing. But after 15 minutes…

짜잔!~~~~ 떡볶이! 
Super spicy but that’s how I like it!

Study Technique: Webtoons~~~

Hey guys, it’s been another long while since I’ve posted. I’ve got commitment issues, what can I say? ><

Anyways, what I’ve been doing to better my Korean as of late is reading webtoons. And I have to say, I’m a little addicted!

The best thing about them is that it really helps you pick up your speed while reading. Just after a week I’m reading faster and able to pronounce the words in my head or out loud quicker.

BUT WHAT DO THOSE WORDS MEAN?

Well, I’m still working on that part lol. The good thing about webtoons is that you can figure out what’s going on by looking at the pictures. So, even if you aren’t sure what a single word means, you can understand the gist of the sentence as a whole. I feel like this is super important!! Especially when having a conversation with someone. Even though life isn’t a still image, if the person you are talking to uses hand gestures and facial expressions, you can understand the tone and overall feeling of what is being said. BUT, this isn’t enough. So when you come across an unfamiliar word, look it up! Because learning a new word from context isn’t always the easiest thing to do; well, maybe not in a foreign language.

I’ve also been looking up synonyms for words. That way if I forget how to say the word one way, I can say it another way! Super helpful.

I’ll start posting grammar points maybe later today. I’ve been trying to focus on vocabulary. I know enough grammar to have successful conversations with people now so that’s encouraging. But…there are waaaaay too many words I don’t know. Maybe I’ll do some vocab posts as well…? We’ll see haha

Hope you guys are studying well!

It’s been a while!

우와! 어떡해? 나의 불로구를 완전히 잊었어! 미안해 ㅜㅜ.

다시 시작할까?

내 이름은 테일러야~

나는 작년 한국어를 배우기 시작했어. 그렇지만 사실은 내가 7달 동안 얼심히 공부했어. 그래서…아직도 잘 할 수 없어ㅜㅜ.

오늘부터 나는 매일매일 공부할거야! 한국인 친구들은 나의 발음이 괜찮은 것 같다고 말했잖아~ 다행이야

Wow, what should I do? I completely forgot about my blog! Sorry…

Should I start again?

My name is Taylor.

I started learning Korean last year. Truthfully, I’ve only diligently studied for 7 months. So I’m still not able to speak very well.

From today on, I’m going to study everyday. Because my Korean friends said my accent was good. That’s a relief haha.

오래간만이야…

oh boy oh boy

let me tell you guys, it’s been a wild ride for me this semester. my classes are all super hard (but super interesting) and i’ve been doing homework for hours each night. i usually just happen to pick classes that don’t require much work but this semester i picked the ones with the most work haha.

also, i’m in a mini series for my college tv channel and a play. so instead of memorizing vocabulary, which is what i’ve been dying to do, i’ve been busy memorizing lines.

i literally sleep (maybe), eat (maybe), do homework (maybe?) and then go straight to rehearsal or filming. i can’t say that i’m not having a good time. the experience has been amazing so far and i’m really glad that the people i work with are awesome and my acting skills have really benefitted from this. it’s so funny. i had completely given up on acting like 3 years ago. but it’s beginning to become fun again 🙂

i really want to study korean. it’s been on my mind lately. i feel guilty for not talking to my korean friends or not even picking up a notebook to go over some kind of verb ending. it’s sad. but i know i haven’t given up yet. i still plan on becoming fluent in korean and going there some day and possibly living and working there for some portion of my life. and i can’t wait! in due time i will actually HAVE time to do everything i want to do.

시……작

hey guys!

so i recently started college again. woo hoo ㅠㅠ

it’s already stressing me out. the whole “new classmates, new teachers, new everything” freaks me out for about the first week and then it gets better. so after this week i’ll be firmly grounded in the course material and ready to start studying korean again! yay!!!

i’ve been always constantly chatting with my friends and learning slang terms and all that. but my conversations with friends always seems so simple:

안뇽~~ 잘 잤어?

Hey~~ Did you sleep well?

밥 먹었어?

Did you eat already?

지금 뭐 해?

What are you up to?

어디 가?

Where are you going?

i mean granted that these are questions you ask your friends on a daily basis, but since i’m always doing the same thing every day (school, video games, watching movies), our conversations reach their peak like 5 minutes in lol. so this is another reason for me to try harder. i want to have important and worth while conversations with people. but its hard when you’re not fluent and i am being 100% too ambitious.

all and all, i just really want this journey of learning korean to be one that is fun, enlightening and worth it. so i’ll do everything necessary to reach my goals and stick with this.

how is your studying going? have you reached a wall you just can’t get over? or have you exceeded your own expectations? i want to know!!!

just some thoughts/quick update

It’s getting harder and harder to retain information while studying. It seems that I’ve hit a wall? I feel like what I know as of yet is so embedded in my head that I couldn’t forget it if I wanted to. Those are the words and sentence structures I use on a daily basis while talking to my Korean friends. But when I think about it, I’ve studied countless other things in the past that I just have never needed to use in conversation. So it’s hard for me to retain information that doesn’t seem to be a necessity. But the thing is, it will be a necessity in the future when I have different types of conversations with people. It’s just hard to anticipate what I will need to know for the future. So my brain can’t seems to understand that I need to just memorize it ALL because eventually it will come in handy. I’m going to try to post a master list of everything I’ve learned/am currently learning and will be learning in the future. I’ve also decided that I need to start translating things more often. It really helps in understanding how exactly Korean sentence structure works. Anyways, Korean is really hard. But I’ve got to follow through with this till the end!

What K-Music Am I Listening To?

All sorts! I think most people would agree that at first, kpop was what got you into Korea and all the many things it has to offer. Or maybe that’s just how I got into it. The first group I ever heard about was EXO (thanks to tumblr) so I’m a bit biased when it comes to them. But after delving into kpop and such, I decided to branch out. I’m not a fan of pop music in America at all. So it’s funny how if it’s in a different language, I’m able to tolerate it and actually enjoy it a lot. AND it helps so much with learning the language!

So… what am I listening to recently???

Here’s a list with links to all the music I’m LOVING and want to recommend to you!!

K-Hip Hop:

Born Hater- Epik High (Verbal Jint killllls it in this)

How Do I Look – Beenzino

Au Revior – Palo Alto

Thinking About You – Loco

OLL’Skool – Olltii (18 or older to watch the video)

Psycho – Keith Ape

https://soundcloud.com/keithape14/psycho14-keith-ape

Go- Bobby (the performance version because he was SO badass)

K-Indie:

I Almost Had It- Jang Kiha and the Faces

BomBomBom – Peterpan Complex

술통 – Soundbox

팅커벨 – Jae Joo So Nyeon

Kpop:

Copycat – Orange Caramel

Ace- Taemin (I was so surprised when this song came out. Still a jam)

December 2014 – EXO (the live performance was a little lack luster but their vocals are <3)

Rewind – Zhoumi (I personally prefer the Chinese version of this song. I think it sounds a lot better. AND Tao is my bias so…)

하다 vs. 되다

나는 일했어 – I worked.

나는 일을 했어 – I did work, I worked.

both pretty much the same and either work fine in conversation

to make a verb passive, you add 되다.

이해하다 – to understand

이해되다 – to be understood

제공하다 – to provide

제공되다 – to be provided

more examples of the sentence differences:

이 값은 세금을 포함해요 – this price includes tax

세금은 포함돼요 – the tax is included

*되었다 and 됐다 are the same! they are both the past tense version of this verb*

저는 문을 열어요 – i open the door.

문이 열렸어요 – the door was opened.

회사는 기계를 대체했어 – the company replaced the machine.

기계는 대체되었어요 – the machine was replaced.

그것은 이해되었어요 – it was understood.

그것은 학생들에게 이해되었어요 – it was understood by the students.

**EXAMPLES FROM HTSK**

plans for the future

so in keeping up with this blog (which i’ve yet again neglected for about a week), i’ve decided that in order to better my korean, i really should practice speaking it. it’s easy for me to understand my korean friends when i’m reading what they’ve written (with the help my handy dandy dictionary). but when it comes to speaking, it’s a whole different thing. my friend eunyoung and i have been sending each other voice notes on kakaotalk. it’s easy this way, because i can re-listen to what she has said and practice what i want to say before i say it. but, this way of learning doesn’t prepare me enough for real conversation. i have to learn how to think quick and respond. but i’m so worried about my accent sounding silly that sometimes i’m too afraid. even if i don’t know how to say much, i want to be able to say it well. do any of you guys feel this way too?

there’s this website called lingq. i’m not quite sure how to use it entirely but it has passages you can read and listen to being read by a korean person. it helps if you just follow along and repeat it on your own. i’ve been doing that. i think i;ll make a soundcloud and post clips of me speaking korean and you guys can be the judge of my accent haha.

also, if any of you guys have kakaotalk and want to practice with me, that would be awesome! just comment your ID on this post and i’ll add you.