kimseokjin

Okay, even though we are already halfway through 2016, I want to hop on this bandwagon too. I guess for the rest of the year I actually want to use the elementary Korean I learned in the beginning half of the year and apply it to real world situations in the second half of the year. I to the lowest of keys hope that someone will approach me and ask me for directions in Korean, which is something I daydream about way more than I should. Learning directional words was one of the last lessons I learned before my class ended so it's still somewhat fresh in my mind. So if any of y'all in the NYC area and a native Korean speaker, please do practice on me!

Just by calling it a stereotype, we already know it to be untrue. I personally think I am well-rounded in both the humanities and the sciences, but within each field, there are disciplines I am better at than others. For example, you will never catch me taking a history course in college, but if the credits allowed for it, I would love to take all the language courses in our East Asian department. Similarly, I loved biology enough to major in it in high school, but once I got to college and took Gen Chem I, that was enough to deter me away from the pre-med track. Rather than strictly being left brained or right brained, I believe we are all on a spectrum of the two extremes.

Wow, thank you actually for this fun question! I think my top 5 would have to be: 1. English (native) 2. Hainanese 3. Korean 4. Cantonese 5. Mandarin Yes, I just listed three different Chinese dialects.

I speak a little Chinese dialect called Hainanese, which comes from the Hainan province. I believe it's only really used by rural villagers. In my lifetime, I've only come across a handful of other Hainanese folks, but unfortunately they don't know how to speak it like I do.

When I tell other Chinese folks that I speak Hainanese and they tell me that they've never heard of it in their lives, it's one thing. But when other Hainanese folks tell me they can barely understand, let alone speak it, it's another. It's a sad fact, but my dialect is dying, and if my native tongue is then others are too. My mother tells me stories about how when she was younger, the school systems would only really use Hainanese back in Hainan. Now, there's a greater push for the use of China's official language, Mandarin, in their education. Even in the Hainan province, you wouldn't hear Hainanese being used in the major tourist districts; it's only ever used in the backwaters and the villages. It might not be practical, however, I am blessed I was raised speaking such an unpopular dialect, even if I am no where near fluent.

Well, since Chinese is one of the most spoken languages in the world, I would personally go for Chinese. But really, it depends on what you want to use it for. If you want to be pragmatic and use it to impress employers, I think there's a higher demand for Chinese. But if you want to watch anime without subs one day, continue with your Japanese studies. It's a matter of what you value more. As for learning Chinese, Korean and Japanese, I think you can certainly do it if you have the commitment and motivation. Especially since East Asian languages all borrow words from each other, it makes it slightly easier to learn all three.

Certainly my taste in music differs based on the language. When I want rock/emo/punk, I'll listen to it in English. Even though I love K-pop, when the Koreans try to emulate it, it's just not the same (and frankly comes off a little cheesy to me). That said, I will only listen to rap if it's in Korean. I think the language is really rhythmic and is really fitting for the genre. And of course, when it comes to ballads, no one does it best like the Chinese. I generally hate slow songs, but if it's in Chinese I'm able to hate it a little less haha.

If I could even read a children's book in Korean I would consider myself blessed! Unfortunately, I have still yet to come across one at the library...

I take all my classes seriously, especially language. I would like to think that I pick up languages pretty easily, since I had no problem when I took Spanish in middle school, Chinese in high school and Korean in college. Foreign language has always been one of the few subjects I actually cared about. Rather than looking at it as an asset, I found it genuinely fun to master a language. It felt more immediate and practical, you know?

I'm the exact same way when I try to speak Korean. I can write just fine, but when it comes to speaking I stumble over all my words and I'm just a mess. It's because when you are writing, you are given more time to think about what you want to say first. When your actually using it, especially in front of a native, there's the fear of mispronunciation, etc. Certain words are harder for me to say as well because of the lack of particular sounds in the English language. And when you are still a noob like me, being able to listen and respond in an appropriate manner is another can of worms... So definitely with writing, you're able to go at your own pace whereas with speaking that's not quite the case.

English is my first language, but whenever I am required to fill out a survey that asks me to gauge my proficiency level, I'm very hesitant to say that I am fluent as well. Because for the same word in English there are 3253463 others that means the same thing, and I don't think I can ever master them all in my lifetime. But for simplicity's sake, I would consider anyone "fluent" if they are able to comfortably hold a conversation in said language.

To answer the question who threw out in the title, I learned to read through rote memorization. I didn't use any games or fun apps, I just Google imagined the Korean alphabet and spent a day connecting the characters to its English equivalent. I also broke down Korean words I often saw into its letters and mentally webbed it to its romanizations. I think it was something I sort of just picked up naturally. Through practicing my Hangul on every Korean word I came across, it made the process of learning that much quicker.

I rely both on lessons and on listening to native speakers converse for my language studies, and I do find that the latter is more practical. Even before I took formal lessons, I often watch videos of Koreans speaking and was able to pick a lot up, eventually impressing my teacher and other native speakers with how much I knew. But if you are someone like me, you might also want to know why exactly their grammar or sentences are structured the way they are, and that's something that just listening to natives can't teach you. I think if are able to take formal lessons, totally go for it because it will enlighten the way you speak a certain language. Even in American school systems, English isn't taught in a formal manner. As a former ESL student, I just sort of absorbed it and picked it up as I went along. I didn't learn the rules and conventions of it until I was in high school. High school. When I was preparing for the SAT's. And it's not just me, I've heard the same stories and testimonies from my peers. After learning the mechanics of English, a language that is now my first, I think my writing has improved a lot. This is just a long way of saying that yes, listening to natives speak in a natural setting is great but it doesn't offer you the same insight as you would get in an academic setting. Of course, not everyone cares about insight, so to that I guess it's a case of to each their own.

Even though English is my first language and my dreams are often in English, I find that some of my dreams are not even in any language. Like take last night for example. I'm currently studying Korean and I was able to communicate to my favorite Korean idol group in it, but I can't even tell you what language we were speaking in. It was more like our intent and actions are mutually understood. This goes for my second language, Hainanese, as well. In my waking life, I only communicate with my parents in Hainanese, but when I dream about them I honestly can't recall a single time I used it in a conversation (I swear I am at least proficient in it). If dreaming in a foreign language is a sign of mastering it, I'm not quite sure what this says about me as a speaker...

I don't listen to a lot of Chinese songs often but of the ones I do listen to I love Jay Chou's "Tornado" and "Simple Love." I found them English subbed with pinyin for you so you can follow along: Even for someone like me who don't listen to C-pop on the daily, even I know he's legendary.