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studiousbees:

Oops, bought more books… thanks to @nocturnalinseoul for the 빈도별 토픽 recommendation! That was the only book I was actually looking for, but while I was searching for it on the shelves, my boyfriend picked up the idiomatic expressions book, flipped through it, and said that it actually had a ton of really good expressions that he and other Koreans use frequently. Sometimes it’s hard to know when certain phrases like that are up-to-date and actually well used or not, but this book got his seal of approval, so I just had to buy it as well 🙂 I’ll do reviews for both of these once I dig into them a bit~

SAY: A new online learning platform

pihaenggi:

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Don’t know if this is pretty known throughout the online Korean learning community but SAY (which stands for Seniors and Youth) is a new Korean learning platform made for Korean learners wanting to practice speaking Korean. It first started out as a volunteer project for seniors living in Seoul–they tutored students in Princeton and Yale. The project became a success, and SAY was born, now as a company providing students all over the world with opportunities to have 1:1 conversations and learn from a 선생님 willing to share their experiences and knowledge not just about the language and the culture but also about life.

I had the chance to check out the free 30-minute trial earlier today. Prior to that, I emailed say asking if they could place me in a particular level, since I honestly have no idea which level to pick. For the curious: SAY currently offers 5 levels. Levels 1 and 2 are beginner levels (Level 1 is currently unavailable), levels 3 and 4 and intermediate, and level 5 is advanced. As someone who’s never attended an actual class (except for that one time I participated in a Nooma class when it was just starting out) and has never taken the TOPIK, all I know about my level is that I’m somewhere in the intermediate range. I just don’t exactly know where I stand. This is where SAY is still trying to figure out the little kinks, since a placement test was still unavailable and the person who responded to my inquiry just suggested I pick level 3, which is the basic intermediate level.

In each level, there is a list of topics you can choose to talk about. The list for level 3 looks like this:

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I don’t think it’s necessary to go from lesson 1 downwards since I had no problems picking lesson 3 (It’s only natural I pick it, being a drama fan). You can pick the time and date you want based on availability, and then wait for the SAY team to pair you up with a SAY tutor, based on your answers to the profile questions. I mentioned wanting to learn more about Korean history since I’m fascinated with it, and they paired me up with my teacher, 이계원 선생님 (tutor profiles can be found here).

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Hey! So after I finally learned how to conjugate verbs and adjectives and how to form negative sentences I wonder how to put two verbs in one sentence. Something like “I like reading books.” or “I don’t want to study right now.” How would you say this? Thanks for helping~~

Hi! There are a lot of ways to do this. Are you working through a book or website? If you’re going through lessons the ways to do this will come up pretty soon! For the sentences you mentioned, try looking up ~기 and ~으(ㄴ)/는 것, and ~고 싶다 for specific ‘want to do ___’ sentences. 🙂

Would you please share your experiences or tips on taking notes of textbook or other resources for learning Korean? Thank you very much!

Hi! I’m afraid I might not be the best person to ask because I’m not good at note-taking. If you like note-taking I’d ask some langblr/studyblrs because those guys are pro!

I’ve never taken notes on paper because I like to go back and edit/add to them, and I like to be able to find what I’m looking for easily but don’t want to spend time organising notes haha. I started just writing them on a word document, and then had the idea to put them on this blog instead so it would be even easier to find what I need (through tagging). So now every note I’ve ever taken is on this blog.. 

Hi~ I am the one who asked about your usual studying schedule. Thank you so much for your sincere answer. Would you please share a little bit about attending a formal class versus self-study? I am just confused to make a decision… Actually I prefer to self-study more as it’s free to study whatever I like. But I am a bad-organised and low self-discipline ability person. Please advise me. Thank you so much and sorry for writing so long. Best wishes.

Thank you for asking! So the only time I’ve attended classes was for one semester at Sogang KLEC. At that time I had already self-studied for around 3 years, and I found that the grammar I had learned was way ahead of what we were taught in class, but my listening skills and confidence speaking were way behind. The people in my class who had studied at Sogang since level one had learned in a much shorter time than I had. After one year studying Korean I learnt a lot and could read and write well but I could not speak or listen at ALL. So classes definitely have advantages in that they give you opportunities to practice, review, do activities, check your level, get feedback from teachers etc. which are all great! 

That being said, I prefer self-study way more and like to study whatever I like as well :). I was bored in class and wasn’t motivated to do homework or review vocab or whatever. My advice to stay motivated and organised when self-studying is formal language exchange! This doesn’t mean just free-talking or online chatting with people but setting up regular times to meet every week with other people who are serious about studying. You can check and give feedback on each other’s writing, do speaking and listening activities together, review what you’ve learnt that week by specifically practising those things, or whatever works for you both.  

I’m also interested in this because I always wondered whether I should go to classes before. If anyone else wants to share their experiences of self-study/classes please do!      

B는 창고에 가득 쌓인 구두 재고를 해결하기 위해 새로운 시장을  찾아 떠나기로 했다.  그래서 배를 한 척 구입한 다음 창고에 쌓여 있던 구두를 모두 실었다.  그러고는 멀고 먼 길을 항해해 아마존에 도책했다.  B가 듣기로 아마존에 있는 사람들은 아예 신발을 신기 않는다고 하니, 그곳은 정말 블루오션일 것이다. 배 구입 비용, 인건비 등 시간과 비용이 매우 컸지만, 모두 해결하고도 큰 이익이 남을 것이다. 배가 해안에 도착하자 머리에 깃털을 꽂고 나뭇잎으로 하반신만 가린 원주민들이 환영했다. B가 말했다.

“구두 팔러 왔어.”

원주민 족장이 말했다.

“줄 게 없는데.”

새각해보니 그렇다.  원주민들은 가진 게 없어서 구두와 교환할 만한 게 없다. 그때 원주민들 뒤로 소들이 지나가는게 보였다.  B가 말했다.

“소 한 마리당 구두 다섯 켤레로 하자.”

원주민 족장이 준비한 듯 그 말에 대답했다.

“나는 당신의 말을 이해할 수 없다. 소에게는 우리 선조들의 영혼이 깃들어 있으며, 우리 종족과 함께 수천 년을 아름다운 자연의 어머니 품에서 성장한 형제다.  형제를 사고판다는 것은 가족을 사고파는 것이며, 지금까지 지켜온 우리의 아름답고 성스러운 영혼의 연대를 사고파는 것이다.   그런 일은 있을 수 없고, 이해할 수도 없는 일이다.”

B가 준비해온 총을 뽑아서 족장과 함께 나온 원주민 중 한 명을 쐈다.

원주민 족장이 말했다.

“일곱 켤레로 하시죠.”

시장이 개최되었다.

An explanation of how the need for market expansion bred imperialism from 지적 대화를 위한 넓고 얕은 지식 1권.  This particular passage made me laugh out loud on the bus this morning, so I had to share. (via koreangrumblings)

reportinglivefromkorea:

For anyone who’s looking for real Korean speaking practice, here’s a plug for this cool startup thing my fellow Fulbright alum is doing! Learn and practice Korean with seniors of Korea! With Seniors and Youth (SAY), he’s trying to bridge the gap between generations by empowering elderly Koreans, esp. relevant as Korea has the fastest aging population in the world. 

From their Facebook page, “As these seniors navigate through their second acts of lives, many are searching for meaningful activities and relationships. That’s where SAY comes in. We provide seniors high-quality employment with unrivaled opportunities to engage with students from all around the world. We believe that our SAY tutors have so much untapped talent and knowledge left to contribute to society. Our company provides them a way to regain their dignity, interact with the youth, and become cultural ambassadors of Korea.”

https://www.sayspeaking.com/