[Languages] Taking French in College

Starting next semester, I’ll be taking French classes as a part of the foreign language requirement for my associates degree. Out of all of the languages that my community college offers(French, German, Spanish and American Sign Language), French sounded the most interesting. Plus, I already took German when I was in high school, so I didn’t really want to take it again. Spanish and American Sign Language are languages I’m not interested in now, but would love to learn them in the future, preferably on my own by self-studying.

I do have a little bit of knowledge of French since I self-studied the language at one point on Duolingo, Babbel and Memrise. This is another reason why I chose French as my language requirement because I can get through at least the beginner classes with a little bit of ease. I could have done the same with German since I have prior knowledge, but I wanted to learn something different in a school setting.

Fall semester ends in December. After winter break, I would like to possibly talk about my journey to learning French on this blog. Spring semester starts in January and the plan is to take Beginner French I(January-March) and Beginner French II(March-May), two French classes in one semester.

I’m very excited to finally start a foreign language. I wish Korean was offered at my college so I can make the classes count toward my future minor, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Who knows, maybe I could double major and have French become another major of mine since I have thought about majoring in a language in addition to my psychology major and Korean minor(there are not enough Korean classes for me to have a major in it at the university I’ll be transferring to, the only language majors are French and Spanish and the rest are minors).

I’ll talk more about French when it gets closer to the second semester. It’s a couple more months away, but I know it will be worth it!

[Languages] Korean Goals

I recently made a list of Korean learning goals to keep myself motivated to learn something new almost every day. I put this list next to me on my desk next to the Korean workbooks I’m currently working on.

• Learn at least 10-15 words on Memrise

I’m trying to get back to where I used Memrise every day. I lost motivation a while ago when I didn’t have any motivation to keep going with Korean. Now that I found a reason to keep learning and that I’m more motivated than ever, I’m getting back into the habit of using the site. Most of the items per level in the Korean courses I’m learning from average between 10-15, which is plenty enough for me in one day. I also usually alternate between courses each day as well, learning from one one day and learning from another the next day and go back to the other one the next day and so on. The only time I don’t learn new items on Memrise is during the weekend, usually because I’m busy on those days.

• Complete one chapter from any Korean workbook

As you guys probably seen from my previous posts, I have plenty of Korean books. I like to try to work through one chapter a day in a book of my choosing. I also usually alternate between books, doing one chapter from one book one day and doing one chapter from another book the next day, etc. The only time I don’t work on a chapter is during the weekend.

I do have goals that I want to start implementing soon, such as working on reading Korean and creating my own sentences. Lucky, I have the sources I need to do these and I can get started when I’m ready.

To my readers/language learners, what are your goals like? ^^ Feel free to share in the comments!

Have a wonderful November!

 

[Languages] Babbel’s Swedish Beginners Course 1 Completion

Babbel is a really cool website to learn languages. It’s almost has the same concept of Rosetta Stone if you’re familiar with that kind of thing. I never tried Rosetta Stone before, so I can’t really compare the two, but I’ve seen many people say Babbel is better than RS, especially in terms of price. Their language selection is not too wide yet, but I believe over time more and more languages will be added.

A half a year ago, I was lucky enough to win a free year subscription to use the site. Since then, I’ve been messing around with what language I wanted to stick with. I’ve tried Portuguese, French, Dutch, Russian and Swedish, none of them I’ve fully completed yet.

I would just like to share that I’ve got my Swedish Beginners Course 1 certificate last night. This is not the first certificate I got from Babbel(I have two from Portuguese and one from French, all beginners courses), but it still makes me excited to receive this type of thing every time I complete a course!

Swedish currently has four beginner courses and I’ll be starting the second one soon. Hopefully I can stick to a language and complete all courses available before my free subscription runs out in April.

But yes, I totally recommend Babbel! You can sign up and learn the first lesson of all languages offered for free. After that, you have to pick a subscription plan to keep going(or look on their facebook for any contests on free subscriptions since that’s how I got mine).

Until next time~ hej då!

[Preview] Various Language Books #2

My latest package from Amazon!

Korean From Zero is the book version of a free online site here. This is currently the only book they have and I’m not sure if they’re planning to make a series like Japanese From Zero. Though I already have plenty of beginner Korean books, this one has caught my attention every time I go on Amazon to look for language books. I skimmed through it and I already like the variety of exercises I see(exercises is the thing that stands out to me the most when skimming through a book like this).

Japanese From Zero, probably better known as YesJapan, was around longer than Korean From Zero. YesJapan has more site content and you have to buy a membership for most of the lessons and features. I have no idea if Korean From Zero will be going the same route or not, but that’s nothing to worry about right now. Japanese From Zero currently has four books published and I, of course, bought the first one. Though I already know hiragana(and katakana, but that’s not introduced until book 2), I want to work on grammar. I don’t have a clue about Japanese grammar with the exception of 私はメロディーです(my name is Melody), so I hope this book will help me when I start my Japanese studies!

[Preview] Various Language Books # 1

I received two packages today from Gmarket and Createspace!

Gmarket is a fairly large online Korean mall you can say. Go on there and you can find basically anything(the link goes to the global site, to go to the Korean site just simply remove the ‘global.’ part of the link). Createspace is a self-publishing website owned by Amazon.

The book I ordered from Createspace is a Toki Pona book. Toki Pona is a language that only has 120 words(not including borrowed words). Toki Pona was created in 2001 and can be learned for free on this site. They recently released a book version this summer, which I only found out about a week ago! I bought it right away and I hope I can learn this little language better now.

The other three books I bought from Gmarket! What do these books all have in common? They’re written in Korean! It’s because these three books are made to be used for native Korean speakers. The reason I bought these when I’m not a native Korean speaker is for two reasons:

• To improve reading in Korean
• To learn other languages I’m interested in learning in Korean instead of English(my native language)

To start out, the orange book is a book written for Korean students who are in middle school. It’s kind of like a study book and it covers the topic of Korean Literature. I thought this book would be good to help me improve reading in Korean when I’m at a more intermediate level(or maybe upper-intermediate). I’m no where near intermediate Korean as of now, but I hope having this book waiting for me to use it will strive and motivate me to continue to work hard and study the Korean language so one day I can go ‘I can read this book! I can read a Korean middle school review book! I can understand it!’

Next, the green book looks like it has Kanji on it! Another give away is the ‘Minna no Nihongo’ on the front cover and if you know basic Japanese, you might know what this book is for. It’s to learn Japanese! When I become better in the Korean language, Japanese is one of the next languages I want to learn. I plan on learning Japanese in both Korean and English one day, and I hope this book will help me when I want to study the language in Korean.

Lastly, the blue book is for learning Chinese! As I said in my previous preview post, I would love to learn Chinese in Korean one day, and that’s exactly what I bought this book for. As of right now, when I get to Chinese I plan on learning it only in Korean, as Korean has a lot of Chinese roots that could possibly help me figure the language out. If all else fails, I can use both Korean and English.

So it seems like I can’t use the last three books until I know Korean at a more intermediate level. But that’s okay! Having these books here now can help me work hard.

As that being said, the Korean books won’t be reviewed for a long while. You guys will probably forget about them by the time I review these. OTL As for Toki Pona, I’ll be working through it here and there. ^^

I might be posting another review soon. A review that is not really a book, but something online that I think you guys might be interested in. Please anticipate!

[Preview] Korean Language Books #5

Two packages came in yesterday from twochois and amazon!

From twochois, I’ve purchased Useful Chinese Characters for Learners of Korean and 2000 Essential Korean Words for Beginners(plus the notebook as a freebie~). From amazon I got Go Billy Korean’s Korean Made Simple.

I’m most excited about the Useful Chinese Characters book because I’ve always wanted to learn Chinese, especially in terms of Korean. They say if you know Chinese, or learn Chinese/Hanja, Korean will become easier. I know that’s true because Korean has a lot of Chinese roots. I’m also excited for this book because once I become at a more intermediate level in Korean, I plan on studying Chinese next. I’ve learned basic Chinese before but for fun instead of serious study. ><

I’m sure most of my readers are language learners or lovers, so let me ask you guys this! If you’re learning a language now, are you planning on learning another language afterwards? What are you learning now and what do you plan on learning next?

If you’re not a language learner or lover, what are your interests? I personally also love to write, help others and read and learn about other various topics(such as learning about another country’s culture). ^^

[Review] Talk To Me In Korean Workbook Level 1

TTMIK’s workbook level 1 is to be used along side the level 1 lessons on the TTMIK website. You can work on it when you’re working through the lessons, or do like I did and use it as a review after you learned all of the level 1 content. I don’t believe this book can be used on it’s own without the lessons.

I’ve personally finished TTMIK’s level 1 lessons a loooong time ago. >< I went through the lessons on the website site and I also purchased the book version of it a year or so ago. I bought this workbook as a review of those lessons and for extra practice.

The workbook has six categories(such as vocabulary, reading, writing, etc) and thirteen exercises(such as multiple choice, short answer, dictation, etc). These are to help you get a better understanding of the level 1 lessons and put it into practice. The answer key is in the back so you can check your work and make corrections if necessary.

My personal favorite exercise is the dictation section because I’ve always wanted to work on my listening. When it comes to Korean, listening is my worst. ><

My only con is the repeated vocabulary. But I understand that level 1 is for people who are just starting out on Korean and TTMIK tend to use the same vocabulary for a while. It’s okay! But sometimes, I want to learn how to use other words. ^^

This book will be good for people who are starting out on TTMIK’s curriculum and those who want to review what they have learned. The variety of exercises are a good way to work on your Korean.

To buy this book, you can get it from TTMIK’s shop here. You can download the MP3’s for the dictation section for free here. You can view all of the level 1 lessons on their site for free here, or you could buy the book version from twochois here(TTMIK does not sell the book versions in their shop at this time, as they’re all listed as ‘sold out’).

If you’re thinking about learning Korean, I encourage you to start! Go to links I provided above and get a feel for it. It may look very complicated at first, but TTMIK is a wonderful site with A LOT of lessons and explanations of the Korean language! I know I was worried about learning Korean at first and now I’m more motivated than ever to keep studying(for various reasons). I believe in you! The time to start learning is now! \(^-^)/

P.S.: I also have the level 2 version of this workbook for the same reason I’ve written this review. Unless there is anything different about it, I don’t plan on reviewing it. Thank you for your understanding. ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #4

I’ve found an online store that was based in California, called hanbooks, that sells Korean books!

I’ve decided to try them out and ordered the Ewha University Korean books and it got here so fast! I’ve ordered this on Tuesday, it was shipped on Thursday and arrived at my door on Saturday. O__O I know I live in the US and all, but I still didn’t expect this package until next week honestly! I’m very impressed with the shipping. ^^

These two books are Ewha’s version of the Korean textbooks and workbooks. They’re the first books in the series, hence the ‘1-1’. I’ll eventually compare this with the Seoul University Korean textbook and workbook I got a while ago.

I’m really excited to work on these books!

[Review] Hangeul Master

My first review on this blog! I hope everyone was looking forward to this. ^^

I’m not a master of writing reviews, but I’ll try to get the main points down and how I feel about the book over all. 😀

Hanegul Master is a book by Talk To Me In Korean that teaches you the Korean alphabet called hangeul(한글). The main point of this book is to teach you how to write hangeul, develop your own writing style and how to read other people’s Korean handwriting.

The book has three main sections. The first section is going over the Korean alphabet. You will got over consonants, vowels, double consonants, compound vowels, bat-chin(final consonants), and compound consonants as bat-chin. After learning a couple of ‘letters’, there is a quiz(answers are at the back of the book). After the first section, there is a ‘final test’ over what you have learned(answers are at the back of the book).

Before the second section, there is a page for linking sounds. This is personally my favorite part of the book besides learning how to read other people’s handwriting. This just explains how certain Korean words are pronounced when spoken(such as 설날 being pronounced as 설랄 when spoken).

The second section gets into the handwriting portion. It starts off by explaining how some Koreans write hangeul. After that, it will give you tons of samples that you can trace over and practice. There is also a section at the bottom of the page for you to write the word in your own handwriting style.

The final section is a quiz over reading other people’s written hangeul. This is to help you read written Korean. You have four options and you have to pick one on what you think the written Korean says(answers are at the back of the book).

I already know how to read and write hangeul. I mainly bought this book to develop my own handwriting style and to train myself to read written Korean. Though, I did go through the first section of the book just in case I could learn something I’ve never learned before. Again, I’m very thankful that the ‘linking sounds’ section exists in this book!

When I was working through the handwriting portion of the book, I’ve already noticed that I write hangeul in certain ways. I’m happy to notice that my own written Korean is coming along. ^^

I recommend this book for beginners of the Korean language and for those who want to practice reading and writing Korean. This book has plenty of quizzes and exercises to help you become a 한글 마스터!

If you would like to purchase this book, you can by the book here or the Spanish version here. You can get the MP3 files for this book for free on their site here(for both English and Spanish).

Now go and become a 한글 마스터 yourself! ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #3

As expected, my other Talk To Me In Korean books came on Friday! I didn’t have a chance to update sooner because I was busy over the weekend. ><

As pictured from left to right:

Survival Korean

Everyday Korean Idiomatic Expressions

My Weekly Korean Vocabulary Vol.1

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted a single review of any of the books I’ve got yet(and I’m expecting more in the mail honestly OTL). I will get my first review up as soon as possible. I’m currently working on a few books and I will post about them once I get used to the material.

Thank you for waiting patiently! I hope everyone is having a good day. ^^