Rooks57

I hadn't thought of recipe's changing so much when a language change. I think I'll try that too with Korean, because most of the recipe books I've picked up will have strange ingredients like milk and butter. I know this is true with Indian food, most of the English translated recipes have sugar, dairy, and other European ingredients. I think it's normal for cooks to change up a recipe to make it their own and to fit what can be found in their country. I also think it could be a really fun exercise to translate a recipe and then cook it.

Thanks for posting this! I find this so confusing when I translate it because I don't really know how you're supposed to know when to use the honorific or the more casual version. There is like five ways to say sorry but I feel nervous at the prospect of talking to people in a natural setting. But it's kind of nice how they show respect to their elders by having a special way of saying thank you, sorry, and hello to other people. I wonder if Koreans see English as disrespectful because she kind of just have one way of saying it instead of four or five. I know my mindset has to change to properly speak Korean.

I started watching a Korean show about U-Kiss and it was really funny. Then I got into K-pop, then variety shows, dramas, and other Korean videos and got caught up. Between the music, culture, food, and architecture, I have a huge desire to go travel South Korea by myself without a translator. I would love to be able to attend my favorite bands' concerts and sing along without mangling the Korean.

I personally like translating songs and then comparing them to some of my favorite translators to see how I compare. Usually, the native speakers have a more eloquent way of translating. I've come up with some hilarious translations because I usually translate word for word and miss the idiom. I find that this helps because I can listen to the song, sing along to it, learn words, and practice memorizing words. But translating kid's books or articles is another great way to practice.

Thanks for posting this, this will help me a lot to memorize the Korean alphabet. Hopefully when I get better at Korean I can try reading Hangul subtitles along with the English when I watch dramas. I find that I switching half of them and forgetting the others. I'm going to mix this with my flashcard training. Then I can move on to words.

What is your master plan when learning a language? Do you study everyday of an hour or in small bits throughout the day? Do you study with a book or with a tutor or an app, or a mixture of both?

With enough studying, you could probably grasps the core structure of a language in ninety days. In ninety days, you could figure out how to structure sentences, how verbs work, grammar, and other aspects of writing. I'm not great at the verbal and listening aspect, but some people just have the ear for it and could probably master the core sounds and replicated them. With all that mastered, they would probably know enough to self correct but I still think learning a language is a life long process.

I've noticed this with Korean and Japanese dramas because of how expressive the actors are. I usually watch without subtitles when videos are taking a long time to get translated. I had done it so much that I could pick out words like 'I love you', 'sorry', and other small words. It's probably this that encouraged me to take up learning Korean.

I feel like there are two definitions for fluent. On a technical level, probably a masters degree in a language or over ten thousand hours of focused study in a language would make you fluent. Then on a practical level, I would consider myself fluent when I can listen to music, watch movies, dramas, and interact with native speakers without needing a translator or dictionary. Even if I don't know all the words, I feel as long as I understood the majority of it, I'm fluent. Because even in my native tongue, English, there are still words I have to look up because I've never heard them or seen them. So the same will always be true in any other language. You could even add to the practical part and include the social aspects of language like knowing how to properly greet your elder or be in a foreign country without sticking out like a tourist.

I've tried learning from people who have the authentic thick accents that are the most common and I can't hear them. Not really, so I don't learn. I had one Spanish teacher from Spain who spoke with a real accent and I regressed in my Spanish class because of him. For me, a cleaner accent, even if it's not the most common works the best for me. Because from the clean words, I can start to pick out words within the deep accents. When it comes to speaking, I find I need to work from simple to more complex in both sound and structure otherwise I can't be understood because I slur the words in the attempt to make recreate the accent.

I have a wall with pictures to remind me why I'm learning a language and the places I want to go. In the middle of the wall of pictures is an elephant to remind myself of the quote that you eat an elephant one bite at a time instead of all at once. So I should approach learning a language like eating an elephant. Between the constant reminder of why I want to learn a language and my love of k-dramas and music, I do alright to keep motivated. I think the best approach is to tackle a language a little at a time instead trying to learn it in a week. Having said that, I have a friend who saved up for a tutor for a month and focused on learning as much as he could in a month. After that month he was proficient enough that he could self correct as he learned from books and audio. From time to time, he hires a tutor to correct him or goes to events to practice speaking only that language. So that's another approach to learning a language. I think everyone needs a plan that fits their personality with an end goal.

I think it depends on how thick the accent was. My mom has a couple of friends who are native speakers in Farsi. It's a beautiful language and they were nice enough to teach small things like greetings and small words but two of them had heavy accents. And it's not just my point of view. One of her friends who speaks Farsi but he's from a different country originally teased them about their thick accents. I find that when I'm just beginning, I prefer a cleaner accent to practice with until I understand how the language works and then I can upgrade to a more 'authentic' accent. I think of accents as the icing on the cake. For me, I don't mind having an American accent as long as it's clear what I'm saying and I'm saying it correctly.

I think it depends on how thick the accent was. My mom has a couple of friends who are native speakers in Farsi. It's a beautiful language and they were nice enough to teach small things like greetings and small words but two of them had heavy accents. And it's not just my point of view. One of her friends who speaks Farsi but he's from a different country originally teased them about their thick accents. I find that when I'm just beginning, I prefer a cleaner accent to practice with until I understand how the language works and then I can upgrade to a more 'authentic' accent. I think of accents as the icing on the cake. For me, I don't mind having an American accent as long as it's clear what I'm saying and I'm saying it correctly.

I think it depends on how thick the accent was. My mom has a couple of friends who are native speakers in Farsi. It's a beautiful language and they were nice enough to teach small things like greetings and small words but two of them had heavy accents. And it's not just my point of view. One of her friends who speaks Farsi but he's from a different country originally teased them about their thick accents. I find that when I'm just beginning, I prefer a cleaner accent to practice with until I understand how the language works and then I can upgrade to a more 'authentic' accent. I think of accents as the icing on the cake. For me, I don't mind having an American accent as long as it's clear what I'm saying and I'm saying it correctly.

I think the reason to learn a language is very important. I want to learn Korean because I want to go to South Korea and travel without a translator. Plus, I watch k-dramas and listen to k-pop all the time so I get constant 'practice' listening to the language. I don't necessarily agree that it's wrong to pick a language based on how common it is. In America, Spanish is probably the second most spoken language and I don't think it's wrong to learn it so you can speak to people in your country even if you have no other desire to speak it. The same could be said of French in Canada. So there are practical reasons for picking a popular language because you have a higher change of using it. But I do understand picking a language you're interested in for your own reasons.

I have a feeling everyone learns French for the food. Joking... But I would speak English, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and French. And most of those choices are because of food. I live in California and I feel bad that my Spanish isn't better than it is. I'm half Japanese and wish I had been taught it by my father so it could have also been a native language but it's not. It's next on my list. I want to go to France for the food, art, architecture, and fashion. I really want to go to South Korea though and see Big Bang and a bunch of other bands live. Plus it would be nice to watch dramas without having to wait for subtitles. Plus, the street food looks awesome.

This is a great idea! I wish there was a book just on idiom for Japanese and Korean. When I read manga and manhwa, watch day shows, and dramas there are always unique references to idioms that are completely foreign to me. I think understanding idioms and symbolism can be half the battle when trying to learn a language. Understanding idioms is one of the deeper aspects of learning a language.

My native tongue is English. So my favorite genre is metal, rock, punk, rap, and music that has meaning and is serious with meaning. But when I listen to music in Korean, I love k-pop which is like a super sweet and superficial versions of the U.S pop music. The music is so fun and catchy that it's really easy to listen too. I also like indy music in Korean. I don't like rock done in Korean or Japanese because they don't go as hard as English singers. I also like listening to softer ballads in Korean because of how gently they sing their songs.

I'm biased for Japanese because I'm half Japanese. But I really like the simple Sumi ink on a white piece of paper with some word or poem. Though I really think that it depends on the calligrapher and how it's presented. I've seen flags with Arabic script painted in gold in mosques and old scripts carved in pottery. Even the prettiest script can look hideous in the wrong hands.

I've always had trouble with the vocal and listening part of a language. I can usually figure out how to write really simple sentence antiquely within a couple weeks. But I don't have an ear for languages even when people speak slowly to me. When I was learning Spanish in high school I didn't understand a word my teach said until they wrote it on the board. But with Korean, I find that because I listen to k-pop, dramas, movies, and show that I have a better ear. I can pick out simple words like sorry, I love you, and other small words despite how fast they speak. What is the hardest part of learning a language for you?

Yes, I was in a period where I was constantly watching k-dramas and had a dream where everyone was talking in Korean but me. I didn't understand what they were saying so it was really stressful. But in hindsight I'm pretty sure that it was just my mind mashing together all the words I had been listening to. I haven't had a dream like that since but hopefully when I get more fluent it will happen again but I'll be able to pick out certain words.

I think that when it comes to picking a language it was important to have a final goal in mind. When I was learning Spanish in high school and college, no one spoke Spanish so I didn't feel the need to work really hard to learn it. But now I live in California and not do I have people who I would like to take Spanish with but there are definitely times when I could have used it. So I'm restarting to learn what I've lost in the last couple years. The second language I'm trying to learn is Korean because I want to go travel South Korea. I love the music, movies, and food so I keep that in mind. So I agree that you should like parts of the culture of the language you want to learn but sometimes you just want to visit a country or speak to a couple people in their native language. I do think that picking the 'easiest' language is a wrong way to go about it because you need more to keep going since learning a langue is a long continuous process.