First day of class
Slacker that I am, I have refrained from updating for a while. Last week was mostly devoted to sight-seeing, and I happily played the role of tourist, taking numerous pictures of various palaces and city landscapes. There are still so many places I want to visit, but I figure I have plenty of time for that in the coming months. Eventually, I will try to upload some pictures here, but as those of you who know me well can attest to, I'm rather lethargic with the picture-sharing/uploading. My bad.
This week marks the first few days of my language classes, and I already have a good feeling about the Institute. The placement test was grueling, and I felt rather disheartened after taking it, especially since I had reviewed quite a bit beforehand. The good news is that I did about as well as I could on the material that I had learned at school, but then I definitely hit a wall where the material was way over my head. I was simply clueless about a good three-quarters or more of the exam. I ended up testing into the highest class of the first level in the fast-track (regular) program. I'm rather happy with the placement. Most of the students in my class are Japanese, or of Korean descent, and they seem to know quite a bit of Korean already. Comparatively speaking, I know rather little, and I think that I'll learn quite a bit from my classmates, as well as from my instructors. Sometimes it can be advantageous to be on the lower end of a higher class.
Orientation was rather uneventful. I met an American who had tested into the fourth level (there are six levels in the regular fast-track program and eight in the other track.) He seemed nice enough, but somewhat distant when he learned I was only going into level one. It's funny, because I completely understood this. After all, I (initially) spent little time with the beginner German students when I was in Freiburg, preferring to hang out with students I could actually converse with in German (limited and poor though I was). It seems the tables have turned. Now I'm the beginner.
My first day of class was nice. The first few hours were rather stimulating, and I was excited to be there. (I was a bit exhausted by the end of the day.) The lectures were entirely in Korean, with pre-made signs and gestures used to indicate when we were to repeat, read aloud, etc. Most of the first day was devoted to greetings and pronunciation drills. I was happy to see that my listening skills had vastly improved from my very first Korean class, when I couldn't distinguish/hear the differences in my vowels (there are 10 in Korean) and some of the consonants (e.g ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ). Unfortunately, I was rather mortified with my pronunciation. Quite simply: it's awful. I can hear the sounds, but I can't always say them. I suppose this is a natural side-effect of never speaking Korean. Even at home, when my mom spoke to me in Korean, I always responded in English. That will clearly have to change. In fact, one of my ultimate language goals is to be able to converse with 엄마 in Korean. For now, though, I will have to be content with trying to get the shop-keepers and my roommates to understand me. Sounding less like a foreigner and more like a native will just have to come with time.
This week marks the first few days of my language classes, and I already have a good feeling about the Institute. The placement test was grueling, and I felt rather disheartened after taking it, especially since I had reviewed quite a bit beforehand. The good news is that I did about as well as I could on the material that I had learned at school, but then I definitely hit a wall where the material was way over my head. I was simply clueless about a good three-quarters or more of the exam. I ended up testing into the highest class of the first level in the fast-track (regular) program. I'm rather happy with the placement. Most of the students in my class are Japanese, or of Korean descent, and they seem to know quite a bit of Korean already. Comparatively speaking, I know rather little, and I think that I'll learn quite a bit from my classmates, as well as from my instructors. Sometimes it can be advantageous to be on the lower end of a higher class.
Orientation was rather uneventful. I met an American who had tested into the fourth level (there are six levels in the regular fast-track program and eight in the other track.) He seemed nice enough, but somewhat distant when he learned I was only going into level one. It's funny, because I completely understood this. After all, I (initially) spent little time with the beginner German students when I was in Freiburg, preferring to hang out with students I could actually converse with in German (limited and poor though I was). It seems the tables have turned. Now I'm the beginner.
My first day of class was nice. The first few hours were rather stimulating, and I was excited to be there. (I was a bit exhausted by the end of the day.) The lectures were entirely in Korean, with pre-made signs and gestures used to indicate when we were to repeat, read aloud, etc. Most of the first day was devoted to greetings and pronunciation drills. I was happy to see that my listening skills had vastly improved from my very first Korean class, when I couldn't distinguish/hear the differences in my vowels (there are 10 in Korean) and some of the consonants (e.g ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ). Unfortunately, I was rather mortified with my pronunciation. Quite simply: it's awful. I can hear the sounds, but I can't always say them. I suppose this is a natural side-effect of never speaking Korean. Even at home, when my mom spoke to me in Korean, I always responded in English. That will clearly have to change. In fact, one of my ultimate language goals is to be able to converse with 엄마 in Korean. For now, though, I will have to be content with trying to get the shop-keepers and my roommates to understand me. Sounding less like a foreigner and more like a native will just have to come with time.