Revisiting Korean

So what's been going on in my Korean study world? Hmmm...

Well, from the last time I posted until now, I took a Korean class that happened every Tuesday night for 2 hours for a span of 12 weeks. Did I learn a lot? Well, I learned some stuff. And also the teacher made each of us give a presentation during these 12 weeks, so that was good because it pushed my Korean skills a bit farther. Would I take the class again? Probably not. If you talk about effectiveness, then this class is not it. I love the teacher... he's one of the best Korean teachers I've had in the sense that he is EXTREMELY knowledgeable of both Korean and English so he often bring small nuances into awareness. However, as far as whether it made me use Korean better? Nope. Not at all. Although I must say, without being in such a Korean class, I wouldn't have been able to get to know my classmates, who have like-minds so that we can study Korean together (at around the same level). This is important! I remember wanting to find people to study Korean WITH and couldn't.... because either the level is too different, or I simply cannot find someone who wants to do that. But since we're in the same Korean class together, we are in the same level, and it really helps to have people going towards the same goals!

So! For the last 12 weeks or so (maybe less?), I've been studying with this group of people from the same class on Monday nights. We'd read an article in Korean and try to translate it. Through translating it, we learn new words and grammar patterns (or rather, how to use the grammar patterns). I think it definitely pushed my reading skills to a higher level because it forced me to read harder and longer sentences. You know how English sentences often have clauses, modifying clauses, and etc? Well, Korean does too.... and it's really hard to decipher when you're still a Korean learner! But with a group who studies together, it's like solving a puzzle every week with your friends. I look forward to that much more than the Korean class! Haha. 

I've also made a new friend two weeks ago through the language exchange app, and she lives only 5 minutes away! She's an intern here so she'll leave in a year, but it's still very awesome to have someone live close enough that we can ACTUALLY meet up. It has been really nice to meet up with her and just talk, even if only in English! She's just a really great person and I enjoy spending time with her! But yeah, we did start our language exchange weekly along with another classmate on Saturdays, and that has been fun too.

Just yesterday, I opened up my Korean grammar book that I finished studying during Christmas break to look up a grammar point, and then, I saw some grammar patterns that I said "omg.... I studied these in the summer and I totally forgot about them!" (Sorry, my thoughts are quite jumbled and I'm having a hard time organizing them to express myself clearly). I think what I was trying to say is, I saw the the grammar points and they made such an impression on me because 1) I've studied them in the past, but I forgot that I studied them, 2) I've been hearing these patterns MORE recently either in songs or in readings, that they're making new impressions on me. All that to say is, when you study something for the first time, you didn't learn it - it is merely making an impression upon you. Until you see it reappear in multiple sources, in various forms, then you start to make an emotional connection with it, and you start to grasp HOW that grammar (or even vocab) is used in various ways (and the most dominant forms they appear), and NOW you're actually starting to really learn it. And then, you'll start using it in your writing, speech, etc, and THEN you've actually acquired it. 

So that's what happened to me. I saw at least 3 grammar patterns that I said, "OHHH!! I've been noticing these more and more in songs, Webtoons, articles, and etc..... let me go back and re-read these chapters so I can REALLY learn it". So I did, and now I can actually use them in a sentence that seem natural! 

I've heard it said before that you'd only be comfortable using grammar structures that is one level below your current study level. For example, if you've studied up to intermediate level, then you'll be comfortable using grammar points from the beginner level, but not so much the intermediate level. So now that I just finished studying the intermediate level and am now in the advanced level, I'm more comfortable using grammar points from the early intermediate levels, and have only now started to acquire the later intermediate level grammar points in my writing and speech. But I mean, that's that only way it makes sense right? Joyce had also told me before that this is how she had noticed her Japanese learning too. She'd learn a Japanese grammar, but wouldn't be able to really use it... however, she'd start noticing it more in people's speeches, and other sources... just starting to have that heightened sense of awareness OF this grammar now that it is explicitly taught... and THEN she'll feel comfortable enough to use it.

So all that to say, I should revisit my grammar book regularly to sharpen my understanding of grammar points that I didn't feel comfortable enough using. It's almost like there is a proficiency bar on each grammar point, from red (don't know it) to green (very comfortable using it). The ones I read for the first time would be marked red. As I begin to be exposed to it more, it starts to become more familiar to me, so it starts to become orange and yellow.... and then once I start to work with it, and have even more exposures, until it comes to a point where it becomes part of my regular speech pattern, then it becomes green. I can attest to that on SO many grammar patterns! Like quoting others... I used to have such a hard time doing it. I'm not perfect on it yet, but I'm definitely about 75% comfortable with it. Or I remember thinking it's impossible for me to remember how to change verbs into their passive voice... but now I feel very very comfortable with it, where I know which ones have irregular passive voices automatically, because I've been exposed to SO much Korean stuff that what sounds natural and what doesn't are engrained. 

All those things that I thought was impossible to remember and become part of my speech are now regular and easy stuff. I need to remember this small success when I learn new grammar patterns! I always have this "this is impossible. I'll never be able to do _____" in my mind whenever I learn something that I think is beyond my level. But I REALLY need to get into the habit of looking back on my successes and tracing my steps to apply to new ones.

ONE DAY! I will be fluent in Korean! (O_o). To be honest, I don't really believe it..... but again, look at how much I didn't even believe I COULD actually hold conversations with Koreans.... so it IS possible!