learningard

[learningard]

Hanja: an in-depth look

Although Chinese characters aren't used in everyday life in Korea anymore, they are still crucial to your understanding of the Korean language: with the help of Hanjas, you can easily find patterns in the way Korean words and Chinese idioms (사자성어 — generally 4 syllable sentences made of Chinese characters) are built. Moreover, it can help you with your Korean vocabulary learning, since 70-80% of Korean words have Chinese origins. This post is aimed at intermediate level Korean learners who wish to better their vocabulary skills.

Korean words that come from Chinese (we call them sino-korean words) are usually composed of one or more Chinese characters. In Korean, these characters are all pronounced according to a Korean pronounciation, not Chinese. For example, the character "人", which means "person" in Chinese, is pronounced 인 in Korean. This does not mean that the word for "person" is 인 in Korean — since, as you all know, it's 사람 —, it simply means that when the syllable 인 pops up in a word, you can deduce that the word has something to do with the person, the being. For example, the word 한국인 is composed of the word for Korea, 한국, as well as the Hanja for "person", 인 — you can deduce that 한국인 means "Korean person."

Chinese characters were created thanks to a rule called 육서(六書), literally "Six Writings", which sorts Chinese characters into 6 types. Four of them are classified according to the structure of the character (called 체), meaning the way a character is built graphically. The last two are classified according to their usage (called 용).

Characters classified according to their structure 체

상형자: these are pictograms, meaning they are stylized drawings of an object — this object can be drawn from any angle, which might explain why they might be hard to recognize at first glance. The simplification of characters might also explain the reason why the object drawn does not look like reality, while still being classified as a pictogram. If you look at the way the same simplified character was written with the Oracle Bone Script (the very first Chinese script), you might be able to recognize the character more easily. For example:

These are two exemples of pictograms. Can you recognize the character for "rain" (비 우), with the rain falling on the windows, and the character for "fire" (불 화), representing flames? The drawings from left to right highlight the way the same character changed throughout the centuries. The far left corresponds to the Oracle Bone Script, while the one at the top corresponds to the more simplified version we use now.

지사자: ideograms are icons that generally express an abstract idea. Numbers from 1 to 3, for example, are represented respectively by 1 (一), 2 (二) and 3 (三) lines. They are pronounced 일, 이 and 삼 — familiar, right?

Among these, can you guess which one means "above", which one means "under" and which one means "middle"?

On the character on the left, you can see that the small horizontal line is above the long horizontal line: this character means "above", because the smaller line is above the longer line. On the other hand, on the far right character, you can see that the small line is under the long line so, you guessed it, this character means "under." The last character is made up of a square which is cut in the middle by a long line, so it is the character meaning "middle".

회의자: compound ideographs are some of the most interesting types of Chinese characters in my opinion. They are characters composed of two or more 지사자 or 상형자 in order to form another word. They are always composed of a key (부수), also called radicals. These keys are semantic indicators, meaning they are an indicator of the meaning of a character. (Example: 물 수氵is key 85 meaning "water". This key can be found in the phono-semantic compound character — cf. 형성자 —, 江. If you knew the meaning of key 85 before even seeing the character 江, you might be able to deduce that this character has something to do with water — and indeed, it is 강 강 江 meaning "river".)

Examples of 회의자:

-> 사람 인 人 (person) + 입 구 口 (entrance, gate) = 가둘 수 囚 (person stuck in an enclosure = a prisoner, a convict)

-> 나무 목 木 (tree) + 나무 목 木 + 나무 목 木 = 나무빽빼할 삼 森 (three trees together = forest)

형성자: phono-semantic compound characters are, as indicated by their name, a compound word made of a key (부수) — which gives us the meaning, so the semantic part of the character — as well as a phonetic component, which gives us roughly the sound of the character. To use an example we used before, the character 강 강 江 is composed of the semantic indicator 물 수氵, which relates to water, while 장인 공 工 (which is pronounced 공 by itself) is the phonetic component: so 江 means "river", and it is pronounced 강 (which is close to 공).

Note: 장인 공 工 means "labor, worker", so you can see the meaning of this component has nothing to do with the reason it is in the character — here, it is used purely for phonetic, not semantic, reasons.

Characters classified according to their usage 용

전주자: I'm not sure what to call them in English... they are simply characters whose meaning has evolved as time passes due to an extension of its meaning (we call that process 파생). This phenomenon can sometimes be paired with a change in pronounciation. For example, from "bad" (악알 악) to "hate" (미워할 오). Or from "music" (풍류 악) to "pleasure" (즐길 락) to "like" (좋아할 요).

가차자: these are sometimes called phonetic loans. They are characters that were once used to mean something else, but were borrowed because of their similar sound to another word and have now completely changed meaning. They might spring from : 1) a lack of existing character to write a word, which results in the use of another similar-sounding character or 2) an error made by accident or by ignorance. These are often used to transcript foreign words or names.

Hanja dictionaries

Hanja dictionaries are called 옥편. Let's take a look at the most famous, Naver Hanja Dic (네이버 한자사전):

In the search bar, you can choose to type the way a character is pronounced in Korean, but you can also copy-paste the Chinese character. Once you press enter, you will be able to see all of the Hanjas that correspond to your search.

A Hanja is always written this way : Korean equivalent to the Chinese word (which is called 훈 and corresponds to the meaning of the word) + pronounciation of the character (called 음). On the picture above, we have 사람 (the 훈, the meaning in Korean) followed by 인 (the 음, the way you pronounce the Hanja).

Bellow, you can see the key or radical (부수), which are very important to learn. Next to it, 획수 corresponds to the number of strokes needed to write the character. Right below, if you click on the small arrow-head, you can see the 획순, which is the stroke order (because stroke orders are very important when writing Chinese characters — they are not random). You might also see stroke order written as 필순.

Now, let's click on 사람 인 人. If you scroll down, you will find this: first, in what 육서 it is categorized (some characters have no 육서 written — some you can guess by yourself, others are just not categorized because we just don't know what category to put them in). Here, you can see that 사람 인 人 is a 성형자, meaning it is a drawing of a person. Then, followed by the little explanation, you can see the way its writing has evolved throughout the centuries, and the drawings they give help a lot in remembering the character.

How Hanjas Can Help Vocabulary Building

We now know that 인 人 means "person." By knowing that, can you guess the meaning of these words?

-> 인형 (with 형 形 meaning "shape, appearance")

-> 인종 (with 종 種 meaning "race")

-> 거인 (with 거 巨 meaning "large, enormous")

-> 군인 (with 군 軍 meaning "army, military")

-> 노인 (with 노 老 meaning "old")

(Answers: 인형 = doll, 인종 = human race, 거인 = giant, 군인 = soldier, 노인 = old person)

[learningard]

Since COVID I’ve noticed more Korean teachers posting lessons on Youtube. A lot of them have criminally low views so I thought I would provide some links as I think they would be useful to many of you. 

While the lessons are mostly in Korean please don’t be put off. The teachers speak slowly and clearly so even low intermediate learners should have no problem understanding :)

아임달imdal Korean teacher

Grammar and vocab videos both TOPIK specific and more everyday content. Beginner through to high intermediate level.  I really like all of the videos I have watched. In some of her videos she sets ‘homework’ and asks viewers to post in the comments and she will personally mark it for you! 

현명한 선택,知好樂

Mainly intermediate level grammar comparison videos (ie, what is the difference between similar grammar points). She takes requests from viewers.

10분한국어 10min Korean

As the channel name suggests most of her videos are around 10 minutes long. Predominately intermediate and advanced grammar lessons but she also has videos on hanja. 

베이직 코리안 basic Korean

Beginner content from reading and pronouncing hangul through to basic grammar. Videos are in Korean but have English subtitles. 

PARKSSEAM OK-KOREAN

Intermediate level. It seems like she goes through a whole textbook in her videos. There are also TOPIK writing videos. 

[learningard]

Korean Resources

I’ve updated the Korean Resources section of The Library and I’ve made it rebloggable for those that prefer that :)

Korean

Routledge Grammar - Basic Korean - A Grammar and Workbook (second source) (third source)

Routledge Grammar - Intermediate Korean - A Grammar and Workbook (second source)

Using Korean - A Guide to Contemporary Usage

Korean Grammar for International Learners

Colloquial Korean - The Complete Course for Beginners

Korean Level 1 (Seoul National University)

Essential Korean [Ellen K. Yoon]

Dirty Korean: Everyday Slang from “What’s Up?” to “F*%# Off!” [Haewon Geebi Baek] (second source)

Korean Grammar for International Learners [Ho Bin Ihm, Kyung Pyo Hong, Suk In Chang]

Korean Word Book [Marshal R Pihl]

My First Book of Korean Words: An ABC Rhyming Book [Henry J. Amen IV, Kyubyong Park]

Using Korean: A Guide to Contemporary Usage [Miho Choo, Hye-Young Kwak]

College Korean

Intermediate College Korean [Clare You, Eunsu Cho]

Elementary Korean [Ross King, Jae-Hoon Yeon]

Hippocrene Beginner’s Series - Beginner’s Korean

Korean From Zero 1

Korean Grammar in Use: Beginning to Early Intermediate

Korean through English, Book One

Korean: A Complete Course for Beginners [Jaemin Roh]

My Korean 1 [Young-A Cho, In-Jung Cho, Douglas Ling]

My Korean 2 [Young-A Cho, In-Jung Cho, Douglas Ling]

Step by Step: Korean through 15 Action Verbs [Dr In Ku Kim-Marshall]

Beginner TOPIK Grammar & Vocabulary

Intermediate TOPIK Grammar

TOPIK Elementary Adjectives

TOPIK Elementary Grammar

TOPIK Elementary Nouns

TOPIK Intermediate Adjectives

TOPIK Intermediate Grammar

TOPIK Intermediate Nouns

TOPIK Intermediate Verbs

TOPIK Listening Files

Korean In Action: For International Learners [Gi-Hyun Shin, Adrian Buzo]

Making Out in Korean (second source)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone [Korean]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [Korean]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [Korean]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [Korean]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [ Korean]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Korean]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [Korean]

[learningard]

Hey everyone, if you’re looking for a site to read korean ebooks I have one!

https://www.millie.co.kr/

[learningard]

Korean Pronunciations Tips

These are some tips on how to sound more natural when speaking Korean. Please note that these aren't official rules by any means, just my personal opinions about some things I've picked up from many hours of listening to the language!

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are sounds created when vowels flow into each other (ex: oi in coin, ai in hair). The English language uses these a lot more than Korean, since even the basic individual English vowel sounds are actually diphthongs.

For example, try slowly pronouncing the letter a, and listen to the way it actually slides from eh to ee. In Korean, this sound doesn't exist on its own, but it can be created by combining 에 and 이 -> 에이.

So even though these diphthongs don't really exist in Korean, they can often be heard in everyday speech. For example, something I've noticed is that, when used at the end of a word, 에 and 애 are sometimes pronounced more like 에이 or 애이, and 오 is sometimes pronounced more like 오우. My personal theory is that this is a result of English influence.

My point in all this is that, although it is generally taught that the Korean vowel sounds are short and tight, with no flowing of different sounds into one another, the pronunciation of the language in everyday life can be different!

봐 or 바 ?

This one is simply a matter of speed and ease of pronunciation. While the syllable 와 is a combination of 오 and 아, a distinct 오 sound isn't usually heard when the word 봐 is spoken, so it sounds more like 바.

Similarly, the syllable 왜 is a combination of 오 and 애, but the 오 is not distinctly pronounced when a consonant comes before 왜. For example, the word 안돼 often sounds more like 안대.

This isn't a huge deal, but I find it helps your pronunciations sound a lot more natural and closer to that of a native speaker if the 오 isn't so clearly pronounced in these sounds. It's still there, of course, but it sort of takes a back seat.

Disappearing Consonants

As we've already looked at with vowels, some sounds are disregarded for speed and ease of pronunciation. In the following cases, I believe this is due to the same consonant appearing more than once in a word, so one of the occurrences is ignored.

For example, something I've heard many times is the word 맛있어 pronoinced as 마있어. I could never find a solid explanation for this. My theory is that the ㅅ in 맛 is disregarded because the ㅆ in 있어 comes right after.

Another slightly less common example is 것 같아 being pronounced as 거 앝아. Again, my theory is that the ㄱ in 같아 is disregarded because of the ㄱ in 거 that comes right before.

Again, this is not a very big deal, and not every native Korean speaker does these, but it is something I've picked up on that may help you sound more natural and comfortable with the language.

Slurring

If you've listened to any Korean spoken in a natural situation rather than an educational one, you've probably noticed that native Korean speakers slur their words. A lot. To the point where some words are almost unrecognizable. In terms of listening and understanding, this makes things a bit difficult. It's also something to keep in mind when speaking.

The most common example is 안녕하세요. I have never once heard a native Korean person pronounce each syllable of this word clearly and distinctly. Slurring is already normal, but the fact that this is one of the most used words means that it's likely to be understood no matter how intensely you slur.

I suppose for a beginner it would be a good idea to start out with clear pronunciation to help you communicate better and fully understand what you're saying. But I think the more you get used to speaking the language, the easier it will be to emulate this natural slur.

-

I hope this was helpful! I'll be sure to add more tips to this post if I think of any.

-

[learningard]

How To Use Movies To Learn a Language

Greetings, Polyglots! I’m back with another post about how to use movies to learn languages!

I’ve noticed a trend among language learners. Especially among those learning English. Those who spoke English the most natural and fluently have all said that they frequently use movies to learn English. I’m telling you, it’s uncanny! I’ve taught English in three countries and in every country the most standout students have always said that they watched videos and movies for idioms and phrases. The result was almost always natural and fluent sounding English. So I began to wonder do movies work to help you learn a language and how do you watch a movie to learn a language anyway!? Movies are like an hour to two hours long! I don’t have the patience for that.

Movies can, however, help you learn languages in a more natural and casual way. Depending on the genre of the movie, you can learn some interesting vocabulary as well. Movies and television shows are very important for language learning, because they not only teach proper use of grammar and vocabulary, they also introduce you to the humor and culture of the people who’s language you’re studying. After only one or two weeks using movies learning Chinese, my casual Chinese has certainly improved and I have learned a few funny phrases to keep things light too. So how do you use movies to learn languages? Here’s how:

Keep reading

[learningard]

Good Tumblrs Blogs for Korean Learners

After spending a lot of time on Tumblr I’ve found it to be a great resource for language learning. Here are some of my favourite blogs centered on the Korean language. They are varied in theme but all have great content for learners of Korean. Definitely recommend checking them out and giving them a follow!

@chloeskoreanblog

@bulletproof-korean

@studykorean101

@jojal-jojalkorean

@koreansoulstudy

@i-can-korean

@ggkorean

@dailydoseofkorea

@patrooocle

@a-pop-of-korean

If you have any favourite korean blogs not included on this list, feel free to reblog this post and add them!✨🌸

[learningard]

Handwritten VS Typed Korean

This post has been requested by @softsoundmidnightcarlight !

The letters in purple are the letters used for calligraphy but some people with messy handwriting use it for everyday use (not recommended)

When handwriting Korean letters, you’ll notice that Korean people don’t write the letter as you see in when it’s typed! Korean people tend to write these letters so that it’s easier to write. You’ll notice this the most with ‘ㄹ’! Since ‘ㄹ’ is made up of 5 separate lines that are very straight and rigid, when you write it quickly it tends to look more like the English letter ‘z’!

[learningard]

hello! I'm going to Korea soon and I look very obviously like a lesbian, I've read your post on LGBT language but I was wondering if you knew if there were any slurs i should look out for? I'm really worried someone will try and teach me a word for myself that is actually a slur lol

Hi! First of all - SUPER EXCITING! Where abouts would you be staying? Because that also matters. In my shoulders post, I talked about the different cultural standards in Korea depending on where you go. Of course, I’m not comparing the LGBTQ+ community to shoulders, that would be ridiculous - they do, however, share similar taboos in that it’s ‘scandalous’. In short, if you’re in a big city; it might be more widely accepted. Whereas, if you in a smaller city / village it might be seen negatively. 

To answer your question, a lot of the slang or slurs that you’re looking for aren’t generally used by the public (unless the person is reallllllyyyyyyy old). In my post, I do talk about how there’s a different word for transgender - one being ‘sex change patient’, which can be rude depending on the person. Someone might use that language to you. 

Now, I will caution, this vocabulary is for EDUCATIONAL purposes only. I do not support the ill use of the list I am about to give, please do not use in a negative context. I have compiled this list with the help of my Korean friends and other resources. If you find a mistake, tell me. If you’d like to add to the list, comment in the reply section:

일반 - straight이반 - lgbtq+부치 - butch페므 - femme성소수자** / 퀴어 - queer           (**sexual minority - not common but may be used as a slur)이쭉 (사람) - commonly used in the gay community to refer to other gay ppl똥꼬충 - I’ve heard this means ‘f*gg*t’, but honestly I don’t know if this is true (do your thing Tumblr, if this is right or wrong tell me)

It’s a very short list, not much to it. Again, please only use these for EDUCATIONAL purposes. A lot of these phrases are used only in the LGBTQ+ community, but still, some can be used negatively. (check out my LQBTQ+ post)

I really hope you have a lovely time in Korea! Hopefully, people won’t give you too much trouble ~ Happy Learning :)

~ SK101

[learningard]

things i learnt regarding learning languages

recently i finished second stage of linguistic olympiad, which focuses on translating rare languages based on logical analysis, basically you don’t know the language but there is a logic rule you have to guess to translate things, yeah, its fun, now im waiting for the results of the second stage.

the thing is, after practicing, doing many problems from previous years, i found myself understanding languages’ rules easier. i’ve always been convinced that to learn language is not to learn the rules by heart, but to understand them, so here are my tips based on that:

1. native speakers are your best resource. some may disagree due to them often not being aware of certain grammar rules, but thats the point. learn the usage, not the rules. rules will come naturally to you when you analyse them for yourself based on using the language. 

2. ive been learning russian for almost 2 years now and my teacher has been focusing on remembering the rules, as if thats the best way to learn the language. so we didnt have much access to any context, not to mention poorly made textbooks. but now that ive become familiar with lots of usage, i dont need to stress about the rules, but base the grammar on previous, similiar contexts.

3. you dont need the rules unless youre majoring philology. for real, i understand that its not your native language, but whats so bad about treating it as one? learn it just like kids would. use it.

4. about using it, put yourself in native speaker’s position, change the language of your fav sites, talk to people even if you dont know much yet, stop stressing about grammar. imagine people talking to you without using cases, conjugations - youre still gonna understand them, so why not start with that yourself?

summary:

- analyse the grammar yourself instead of learning written rules (thats also gonna make you remember it better)

- vocabulary > grammar

- make friends with native speakers

- embarass yourself, make mistakes, talk bullshit - its all a way to success

[learningard]

free lang learning source

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue

although this website doesn’t offer korean, it has courses for: french, chinese, italian, spanish, and german.

turn this time in quarantine into something beneficial! :))

hope everyone is doing well <3

[learningard]

Korean Alphabet (Hangul): 한국어 알파벳 (한글) 

 Consonants: (자음) 

ㅂ - b/p 

ㅈ - j 

ㄷ - d/t 

ㄱ - g/k 

ㅅ - s 

ㅁ - m 

ㄴ - n 

ㅇ - -ng, silent 

ㄹ - r;l 

ㅎ - h 

ㅋ - k 

ㅌ - t 

ㅊ - ch 

ㅍ - p 

 Double Consonants: (쌍자음) 

ㅃ - bb 

ㅉ - jj 

ㄸ - dd/tt 

ㄲ - gg 

ㅆ - ss 

 Vowels: (모음) 

아 - a 

어 - eo 

이 - i 

오 - o 

에- e 

애 - ae 

우 - oo 

으 - eu 

 Double Vowels: (쌍모음) 

야 - ya 

요 - yo 

유 - yu 

얘 - yae 

예 - ye 

여 - yeo 

Combined Vowels: (더 쌍모음) 

외 - oe 

와 - wa 

위 - wi 

왜 - wae 

웨 - we 

의 - ui 

워 - wo

[learningard]

How to learn a language fast

1. Learn a sizable vocabulary, there is a good list of 625 words you should know in your target language. Spend time building this up and be sure to practice your pronunciation that is vital. To learn vocabulary there are many methods: flashcards, lists, apps, mindmaps etc. I personally use the app Quizlet as it has many learning tools and flashcards so you can practice on the go.

2. Learn basic grammar, for this you can use a book or there are plenty of websites online that will have resources. You just need to have master a section at a time so you have the basic learnt.

3. Listen to the spoken language, if you are in the country awesome but chances you are not so some ways to this are: listening to audio files, using apps (I know Duolingo has a aspect that reads stories), watch YouTube videos in that language, watch films and listen to the radio (there are lots of streams online).

4. Practice speaking, pronunciation is vital plus saying things over and over again can help move it to the long term memory. It will make you feel much more confident in your abilities. To practice speaking it would be ideal to find someone who is fluent in your target language but if not there are speaking exercises online, you could try read a book out loud or even learn a song.

5. Stick to it, this is probably the most important part if you don’t keep practicing regularly you will forget it all. Even if it is just something small it is better than nothing and will be worth it when you can speak a whole new language.

Good Websites

BBC Languages

Duolingo

Dictionaries

Quizlet

Memrise

Babbel

Fluent Forever

Feel free to add more helpful tips, tricks etc below.

I’m going to learn Spanish.

[learningard]

Is ㄹ pronounced as L or R?

This is probably one of the most common questions that beginners ask when learning 한글. Just like every beginner learners, I went through this as well which is why I decided to study pronunciation rules too. I created this post to help clear up any confusion.

When ㄹ is located at the beginning of a word, it sounds more like an R.

Example: 라디오 (ra-di-o), 레슨 (re-seun), 로맨틱 (ro-man-tik)

When ㄹ is located between two vowels, it sounds like an R.

Example: 다리 (da-ri), 사랑 (sa-rang), 어렵다 (eo-ryeob-dda), 모르다 (mo-reu-da), 노력 (no-ryeok), 매력 (mae-ryeok)

When ㄹ is located at the end of a word, it’s pronounced more like an L.

Example: 딸 (ddal), 아들 (a-deul), 월 (weol), 달 (dal), 칼 (khal), 연필 (yeon-pil), 교실 (gyo-sil)

When ㄹ is followed by a consonant or followed by another ㄹ, it sounds like L.

Example: 딸기 (ddal-gi), 힘들다 (him-deul-da), 몰라 (mol-la), 살자 (sal-ja), 고릴라 (go-ril-la)

When ㄹ comes after any consonant except ㄴ, ㄹ is pronounced as N.

Example: 생리 (saeng-ni), 국립 (gung-nip), 능력 (neung-nyeok)

When ㄹ comes before or after an ㄴ, both ㄹ and ㄴ are pronounced as ㄹ.

Example: 한류 (hal-lyu), 신라 (sil-la), 신랑 (sil-lang), 달나라 (dal-la-ra)

Disclaimer: Hope this helps but remember not to rely too much on romanizations and listen to the sounds properly as well.

This is a post that I shared on Amino app and I decided to post it here as well.

[learningard]

Multiple Language Learning Methods: One Isn’t Going to Cut It

Hi guys! Thank you for your patience as I get adjusted in China and try to find time to update my studyblr! Between studying my languages and teaching, it’s been a bit of a struggle. But I’ve finally got situated enough to get on Tumblr and get to work on a new post that I’m excited to finally share with you!

How many methods do you use to study languages? If you say one, you’re probably studying wrong. When you were in grade school studying the alphabet, did you just read a textbook and BAM you knew the alphabet? OF COURSE NOT! As much as our parents and instructors would wish we did learn that easily, no one ever does! No one. The best way to learn something is to experience it in different ways, situations and formats. You listened to the alphabet spoken in class by your teacher, then by an audio cd, then on tv when you watched Sesame Street, then in a song at a babysitters house, then read them in a textbook, then maybe played computer games to help you practice on top of all that. You heard the same alphabet over and over in different contexts. I used to be a big fan of Between the Lions back in the day because they would teach you a letter then a few words, then use those words and letters over and over again in different skits during the show. If the word of the day was dig, then in the cartoon Cliff Hanger, Cliff would need to spell dig to figure out how to come down from the cliff (of course it never worked, but that’s besides the point), there would be a song with dig in it, there would be activities where you’d have to insert the missing letters, and then the lions themselves would get into situation where they would need to dig something and you’d learn the word dig AGAIN. You get the point. This stuff isn’t just for children. This stuff is gold for language learning as adults, so how do you tap into this knowledge? By giving yourself multiple methods of language study just like a kid! By creating multiple methods of language studying, you are cementing everything you have learned into your memory. With this in mind, you must always have at least three methods of study to pull out when you study every week. Here are mine:

Video/Audio lesson method (example: video based lessons, Youtube video lessons, TTMIK) 

1. Watch/listen to video/audio lesson once all the way through (just listen and repeat)

2.  Re-watch while writing down new vocabulary (listening writing)

3.  Study new vocabulary (reading)

Write out and use a joke or story to remember each word

Look for examples of uses for words using videos or songs or something (Listening) (speaking)

 (if learning Korean, use Naver. If learning Chinese or Japanese use Fluent U to search for videos, commercials, music videos, and episodes of shows containing your vocab word. For everything else just search Youtube)

Write out each word ten times (writing)

4. Re-watch video/audio (Listening)

5. Repeat after video/audio (Speaking)

6. Study vocab again at end of the week

 Textbook method 

Tip: If you buy a textbook for self study, definitely get one with audio

1. Read textbook lesson with audio if included (reading) (listening)

2. Read lesson without audio

2. Study vocabulary (reading)

Make and write a joke or saying or story to help you remember each word (Exam

4. Look for examples of uses for words using videos or songs or something (listening) (speaking)

5. Write character out ten times each (writing)

6. Repeat after audio if included (speaking)

Vocab lists (example: Tumblr, Pinterest, etc)

Say you find a list of interesting vocabulary on Tumblr or Pinterest. You can plan to use this during the week!

1. Read vocab list (reading)

2. Find corresponding audio and repeat. You can use a dictionary audio (listening) (speaking)

3. Study vocab words (reading)

Make jokes or some story to help you remember

5. Look for examples of uses for words using videos or songs or something (reading) (speaking)

6. Repeat after audio (speaking)

Shows, Movies, Youtube Videos

1. Watch video 10 minutes at a time (listening) (DO NOT watch the whole thing unless it is short)

2. Study vocab and grammar (reading) (writing)

3. Make inside jokes or story to help remember vocabulary

4. Look for examples of uses for words using videos or songs or something (listening) (speaking)

5. Write vocab out 10 times (writing)

6. Make  any relevant notes about culture and usage

7. Repeat after video sentences (speaking)

This method takes a long time over a course of weeks to finish a movie.

Music and Songs

1. Listen to entire song without looking at lyrics (listening)

2.  Go find lyrics and study vocabulary line by line (reading)

3. Make jokes or a story to remember vocabulary

4. No need to look for examples of word usage if you don’t want to

5. Write out vocabulary 10 times

6. Stop studying after one paragraph or verse

7. Read the lyrics

8. Listen to the song and try to follow along

9. Do this until you learn the whole song

8. Make any cultural notes

Okay, so let me explain some details in the post. In every method, one of the steps is to make a joke or some kind of phrase to help you memorize a new vocabulary word. Let me explain. Sometimes it is very hard to remember vocabulary words unless there is a story behind them! Say your words is 苹果 (apple) so you write the English translation and then below it you write, “Sarah refuses to eat her 苹果 and has now tossed it onto the floor. Sarah is 24.” Now you’ve written a short and memorable story about apples and are more likely to remember the word 苹果 . Got it? They teach this stuff in kindergarten and now you’re going to do it for you!

Note: If you are learning Chinese, you can use the radicals to make a story if you’d like. But that would require learning the radicals for every single word, which I encourage you to do anyway, but you don’t have to.

So how do you plan these into your weekly schedule? Easy! Pick a method and do that for one week and then change it to something else the next week. Or you can change it everyday or every few days. I will talk about it more in another post!

Thank you for reading! I hope this was helpful!

[learningard]

휴가때 공부가 제일 잘 되가는 것 같아🤓😍 아무 걱정 없이 열심히 집중 할 수 있으니까. 오늘은 디자인 기사를 읽으면서 새로운 단어를 배우고 있어. 🇰🇷 How I take notes while reading articles:

Write the main sentences of the article on the left, write new words in black and definitions in blue on the right. After the article is done, I'll add the words into Quizlet and review the vocabulary.

[learningard]

Korean Through Games: Hongsam (홍삼)

This game (like a lot of Korean games) is played with the same beat as the Frying Pan game (lap clap right thumb left thumb)

*see gif below*

Intro:

아싸 홍삼 에브리바디 홍삼! 🎵

아 lap 싸 clap 홍 right 삼 left 에브리 lap 바디 clap 홍 right 삼 left

아싸 | assa (general cheer)

홍삼 | red ginseng

에브리바디 | Korean pronunciation of everybody

Rules:

첫 번째로 시작한 사람은 “아싸~ 너! 너!” 라고 외치며 두 사람을 지목합니다

The first person to start yells, “Assa~ you! You!” and picks two people

지목을 당한 두 사람은 “아싸~ 너!”라고 외치며 각자 한 명씩 다른 사람을 선택합니다. 속도가 빠를수록 게임의 난이도는 높아지니 스피드를 점점 UP 시켜주세요~!

Those two chosen people yell, “Assa~ you!” and each choose a person. The faster the speed, the higher the level of difficulty, so slowly speed up how fast you go!

서로 다른 사람을 지목하다 두 사람이 한 사람을 동시에 지목했다면 지목 당한 사람이 “아싸~ 홍삼~!” 이라고 말하며 자신만의 제스처를 보여줍니다. 그럼 다른 사람들도 모두 함께 “에브리바디~ 홍삼~!” 이라고 외치며 제스처를 따라 해야 합니다.

If the two people both pick the same person, the chosen person has to say, “Assa hongsam!” while doing a gesture of their choosing. And everyone else has to follow by responding with “everybody hongsam!”

그리고 지목을 받은 사람이 다시 처음으로 돌아가 “아싸~ 너! 너!” 라고 외치며 두 명을 지목합니다. 

And the person who was chosen has to start over from the beginning with, “Assa~ you! You!” and pick two people.

*you lose by not responding/choosing someone after being pointed at. ( basically if you miss your turn, you lose)*

Loser usually has to drink or receive some type of punishment

Vocab:

외치다 | to yell/call out

지목하다 | to pick

선택하다 | to choose

따르다 | to follow

속도 | speed

난이도 | level of difficulty