As school has ramped up and swimming has started, these past few weeks have been very difficult in terms of learning Korean. The time I used to spend in my workbook is now taken over by a sport, and the period that is designated for my independent study has sometimes been relegated to a study hall due to the amount of homework I have and SAT studying. However, I have been trying to find ways to stay engaged with my study even if I have a lot less time. Due to the capstone that I hopefully can go on, I’ve been learning about the history and culture of Korea so that I can be well informed and not make a fool out of myself. I’ve also been listening to some audio workbooks that help me with pronunciation and listening. I am going to start a K-drama that my friend suggested, and I am also working in the Korean textbook that Ms. Wang gave me- albeit I’m working slower than I thought I would be. I am also thinking about starting my essay for the end of project assessment. I want to talk about my learning path, hopes for the future, and ideas about how I personally could have done better. Overall, these past few weeks have definitely been slower than I would have liked, but I have still found ways to interact with my project.

During the week of October 17th to the 23rd I worked in the workbook that Ms. Wang gave me. I learned about simple endings and new vocabulary that would be helpful in a school setting. I also took some time outside of my class period to watch a K-Drama. While watching the K-Drama t was really cool to see how even though I couldn’t understand most of it, I could pick out certain words and conjugations. Listening and watching it also gave me a better sense of pronunciation. I managed to pick up a few words from each episode.

During the week of October 24th to the 30th, I met with Dr. Lee again and he helped me with understanding 이, 가, 은, 그리고 는. He also helped me understand the sentence structure with Korean, which was incredibly helpful.

Overall the past few weeks have been good. I am excited at the prospect of a trip to Korea for a capstone, and I can’t wait to learn more.

안녕하세요! 죄송합니다 for not uploading my blog posts for so long. Unfortunately, my computer was not functioning properly and wouldn’t allow me to access my blog. However, it now works, and I am happy to talk about my experience so far. For the past few weeks I have been working on learning different expressions that are commonly used in a classroom. If I’m being honest, my most used phrase from all of them is 모르겠어요. Learning Korean is a lot harder than I originally expected, but it’s really cool to be able to connect and learn about a language and culture that is a lot different from my own. Besides meeting with Wang 교수님, I also got the opportunity to meet with Dr. Lee again. It was a great experience because I got to speak and get taught by someone whos job is to teach Korean. It also made me realize just how hard it is for me to learn Korean. As much as I would like to become fluent, my high expectations sometimes lead to me to feel like I’m not doing enough, and it therefore affects my ability to learn. I am trying to think of ways to overcome this obstacle, so that I can make learning Korean as much fun as I can. I am starting to use a new book, which makes the Korean lessons very entertaining. It has sections for vocabulary, grammar, and how it ties into the culture. I also have an online website that I think I’m going to start using, because it does a great job of teaching common phrases by listening to native speakers. Overall, learning Korean over the past few weeks has been really cool, and now I’m trying to find a way to make it even more enjoyable so that I can continue my studying in the future.

This week I studied different school supplies and also a few different sentences. Mrs. Wang and I worked together and she introduced me to colors, seasons, and emotions in Korean. She and I also learned the present tense/conjugation of verbs. Here are some examples:

펜– pen

연필– pencil

여기– here

첵– book

가방– backpack

컴퓨터– computer

핸드폰– cellphone

공첵– notebook

첵상– desk

의자– chair

when the last vowel is 아 or 오, 아요 is used

all others take 어요

the ending 하다 turns into 해요

August 29th to September 2: This week I worked a lot on practicing character strokes and pronunciation. I managed to memorize all of the vowels and consonants in hangul. I then worked on putting them together to make words and common phrases that are used in every day life. Mrs. Wang then took me to a Korean class at UNC where I practiced my speaking, writing, listening, and reading. I had such a fun experience. The phrases that I used the most were:

 이름이 뭐예요?- What is your name?

저는 마가렛 이 에 요- My name is Margaret

어느 나라 사람이에요? – What’s your nationality?

미국 사람이에요- I am American.

몇 학년이에요? – What grade/year are you?

이(2) 학년이에요- I am a second year (Korean school systems work differently than American ones)

반갑습니다요 – It’s nice to meet you

September 5th-9th: During this week I worked on phrases that are commonly used when ordering food. I also studied the different number systems that Korea uses. I learned how to count to ten in both Sino-Korean and Hangul, and learned how to read numbers such as 234,524,435 in Korean. While the numbers are difficult, I went over them and my newly learned phrases with one of my friends named Claire. Here are some of the phrases I learned:

이거 주세요- This, please.

이거 뭐에요- what is this?

_____ 명이에요- We have ____ many people. (when referring to the number of seats you want at a table)

메뉴 주세요- May I have the menu?