An Introduction

¡Hola!

Ever since elementary school, that has been the greeting I have given or received when walking into a foreign language class. I’ve learned the basics of the Spanish language, and concluded my studies last year with the final exam of Spanish 2. I’ll be honest, some part of me wishes that I had continued on to Spanish 3 and beyond. The largest lesson that I took away with my dabbling in Spanish was that I love to learn new languages; the whole concept is just very appealing to me. I love the idea of being able to communicate with others in new ways. Being able to connect with people who I would otherwise not have been able to because of a language barrier is one of the coolest things out there. Some of my greatest memories that are tied with Spanish are texting friends using new vocabulary or testing out my knowledge with a native speaker.

So now I’ve decided to learn Korean.

Seems like quite the change from Spanish, right? Well, that’s sort of the point. While learning Spanish was cool, I’m ready to switch it up and step outside of my comfort zone. To me, learning a language that is so completely different from my own seems like a daunting task. That being said, I’m up for it and excited for a challenge that will hopefully prove to be a rewarding experience.

Why Korean?

For ten years, I did Tae-Kwon-Do. In the process of doing so I picked up on some very basic Korean vocabulary. As we did warm-ups or exercises we would count reps in Korean, and all of the names of the forms as well as some of the moves we did were in Korean. That was how I was introduced to the language and what prompted me to learn it now (in addition to what I mentioned earlier about the challenging aspect of it).

As for my goal for this whole 20-time experience, I’d like to become fluent in the language. While I don’t think that is a remotely attainable goal for the time this project spans, it is a long term goal that I am shooting for. Another nifty goal of mine is to write a whole blog post in Korean. ;)

So far, I’ve done some research as to what the best way to learn the language is. My original thought was to invest in Rosetta Stone, however- upon reading reviews - I’ve decided against it. According to many, the program didn’t prove as worthy as they had hoped. Ultimately resulting in a waste in money, people commented that it was hard to follow and that its program structure is sub-par. A few people commented some recommendations for other methods of learning Korean. Books seem to be my best option next to having an actual teacher teach me (which could possibly be something I look into). After paying the library a visit, I now have Korean for Dummies in my language-learning arsenal. Additionally, it was advised to watch Korean dramas and listen to K-pop to get a better feel for Korean.  From here on out my plan is to do just that and plow my way through Korean for Dummies as well as get some advice from outside resources.

I’m just going to end this post now with a nice little inspirational quote:

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

Wish me luck!

Lauren