Quick Progress Report!

 So...I may or may not have impulse bought the remaining textbooks in the series I started this summer. I wasn't expecting to rely this heavily on textbooks, but they are a really good series and don't have a bunch of pointless things and outdated expressions/politeness. My learning has still slowed quite a bit from the summer, but that was expected with my full school load plus doing college searches. I have worked through the first chapter of the second textbook and done some more song translations. I am finding that I understand more and more words from just listening to Korean music, and that makes me feel really good when I don't have the time or energy to do exhaustive work and memorization in a textbook. 

When I was first learning Hangul, I found a really nice, informational, and easy-to-use app on my phone that also had a "Korean I" version. I downloaded and worked through both, and those really helped make a strong foundation in the language for me. I recently discovered another app by the same developer for Korean vocab, and I've found that immensely helpful as well! Sometimes, you don't have time to do exhaustive study and that is okay. Finding loopholes that keep you learning, like learning a few new vocab words a day, still help on that journey to fluency! That app also has a TOPIK frequency number below each new word, and that has made me feel very good about my learning habits as well. The main goal of this project is to be able to pass the intermediate level of the TOPIK, and knowing common vocab words used on the test are going to be hugely helpful.

However much progress it seems I have made in the past few weeks, I have still been slacking on having actual conversations with Koreans. I am a bit scared to contact new people about having conversations. It feels really weird, and I'm a bit embarrassed at this point because my grammar is certainly not at an advanced level yet. However, I have a Korean friend in my youth orchestra, which starts up in the next two weeks. I am promising myself that I will ask him to help me with conversations as soon as I see him at orchestra. This timeline will also be good for me because I have time to learn a few new grammar points and sentence structures before attempting the conversation. I am hoping this will make me feel more confident in seeking out other Korean-speakers!

I am also still on the hunt for a tutor...and by 'on the hunt' I mean not having researched as much as I should. I definitely need that tutoring aspect of language-learning because it allows for guided, teachable moments in conversation. I feel as though I would learn much faster in this environment. Self-studying can be difficult because there is really no accountability for not getting everything done in time. I am just not as motivated as I need to be right now, and that will change this week. I am going to find a tutor this week and commit to lessons because I am in dire need of a teacher other than myself.

The progress has slowed, but not stopped, and I consider that a win. This week, I want to challenge myself to sit down with the textbook more often and learn even more vocab than I have been studying. Even watching K-dramas would help! I just need to consume more Korean media so I can start to understand the language better, piece by piece. I appreciate that this blog is an accountability partner of sorts: if it's written down that I intend on doing something, I'm definitely going to follow through. I am cautiously optimistic about the success of this project!