Animaniacs!

I have quite a few Korean text/reference books to pick from so sometimes I do have difficulty in deciding which Korean textbook I like best. Usually it's based on how I feel that day, whether I want to do some reading or to practise grammar. Had to make a trip back to school today so decided to drop by the library to check out if they had Korean language books, and I was in luck! And so I just added two more text and workbooks to my collection, Sogang's 2A series and Ewha's 한국어II

Ewha's 한국어II is set for low intermediate, but the passages and instructions look really long! Will try them out to see how it goes (: As much as I like to own these books, they're a tad too expensive to ship over, so I guess I'll just make do with photocopied ones for now.

Anyway I was having my lessons a week back when my tutor drew something very useful! Well, for me at least haha. I always had problem differentiating between the actions 내려가다, 내려오다, 올라가다 and 올라오다. The other set would be 나가다, 나오다, 들어가다 and 들어오다. I just drew it using paint so it's not the best art but it gets the job done (: hope it's understandable! The pink and blue arrows represent the girl and boy moving respectively.

Book Review: Part 2

My dad just came back from a business trip to Korea and I got him to buy some language books back for me! (: I wanted SNU's workbook and some hanja books actually, but apparently they weren't sold in Changwon's Bandi and Luni's. Oh wells. So anyway he got me the 기탄국어 series instead (: The D series is targeted for preschool (유아) and elementary school (초등1) so the basic vocabulary are relatively easy. I like that the reading passages are long yet simple enough to understand with the help of a dictionary. And as usual, the cute printings are a push factor to get work done! Makes learning so much more enjoyable (:

I also borrowed Beginning 1 of KLEAR series from the library a week back. I've heard really good reviews about it, but I don't seem to be getting much out of it. Am I using it wrongly? 좀 도와주세요! Maybe I just prefer using books with answers provided. I do like the appendices provided at the back though. Good and concise summaries of irregular verbs and grammar taught for easy reference.

motivations.

I'm beginning to love holidays more and more! More time for myself and being able to do what I want, like watching korean dramas/variety shows and studying Korean (: Have been spending my time doing 완자 국어 to increase my vocabulary, although it's really tough. I take about 45minutes to finish one page! And it's only primary school standard. Seems like I've got a long way to go~

"What's my motivation to study Korean?" you might ask. I guess at first it was my love for Korean dramas, and also K-pop. It might have been my love for music that pushed me to learn this wonderful language. I wanted to understand what I was listening, be it for dramas or songs. It has been an amazing journey of discovery. That it is more than just a language for mere communication. The kind of respect Koreans give to their elders. The culture and sense of camaraderie.

I can't really explain why, but I was hooked onto 7년간의 사랑 by 규현 ever since the first time I listened to it. I couldn't understand what the lyrics meant, but I seemed to be able to feel what he was trying to say. I've probably listened to the song more than 100 times (no kidding!) since then but I never got sick of it. In fact i'm listening to it at this very moment haha. For now, 규현 is my motivation! It's not something I'll say normally, but I really admire his determination and never-give-up attitude. Add a boyish smile and awesome voice to that..it's everything you (okay, I) ever wanted =p

here's a link to 7년간의 사랑. enjoy! (:

____________________________

"이별하면 아프다고 하던데
그런것도 느낄수가 없었죠
그저 그냥 그런가봐 하며 담담했는데"

규현--7년간의 사랑

lost in translation

It was only after I decided to spend some time helping out with translating pdfs on koreanwikiproject that I realized how out of touch with Mandarin I was. Once my mother tongue and having studied it for maybe say 16 years?, I am pretty disturbed by how little I remember of it. Reading isn't much of a problem, but when I need to write it out, I can't seem to remember the exact word and thus have to resort to typing. I even need to search the dictionary for some of the translations
=(

Sometimes I wonder if I should even be studying Korean, when I'm not even very fluent with my Mandarin as a Chinese. But I must say, studying Korean has always been fun. It's probably one of the only times where I actively search for classes/books/online materials to learn from, and do homework with a kind of drive I never found for any other subject.

On a lighter note, I'm taking up language and dance lessons at Korea Plaza! Just attended my first lessons last Thursday (: The language class contents were kind of simple since I've learnt them in school before, but it's good revision nonetheless. Dance class was quite cool! Actually I've never learnt dancing and I'm always afraid of embarrassing myself as I don't dance well, so it's a big step for me. As to the reason why I finally signed up for the dance class, it's because they're teaching hoot this month! (: Will be going for the Fun Fun Korean class on Tuesday evening too. It's taught by Jay Yoon, DJ of 96.3FM Cool K-time. Really looking forward to it! (: