Decompressing and Recalibrating

Posted under A Writer's Life, Adventures in Korean, Adventures In Real Life on August 8th, 2020 by

I’m going to assume that most of you already follow me on my FB page, Instagram, or through the WR(ite) Newsletter, but just in case you’re new here–hi! I’ve just recently returned from a nearly 5 month exile in South Korea due to the sudden explosion of C. Virus around the world two weeks into my holiday. What was meant to be a four week holiday turned into a 5 month adventure, and I’ve just gone through two weeks of quarantine in Sydney, only to do another two weeks here at home.

as you can see, the dogs were flatteringly glad to see me…
(jk, they were insanely excited and then insanely tired)

So I’ve been doing a lot of decompression (letting go of Korean habits and societal mores and trying to get back into Aussie ones) and recalibration (mostly of my stomach, which does NOT like the fact that I’ve stopped eating Korean food and started eating Western food again).

On the bright side, now that my stomach is starting to recover, I’m back into my regular writing schedule (I had to bribe myself with stickers, but it WORKS so WHATEVER). It’s been weird to get used to living with people again, and by and large I’ve been walking around feeling like I’m in a bubble and the world isn’t quite right.

At the same time I feel that I’ve been gone no time and all, and gone for such a long time. I feel like I came home, but that I had to leave home to do so; I left quite a large piece of my heart in Korea when I came back.

Not to worry: I’ll collect it next time I go back, Lord willing…

it’s called DECOMPRESSION, not PROCRASTINATION

In the meantime, I’ve started a campaign of decompression that includes copious amounts of tea, finally putting Machinarium onto my new computer so I can play it again, and making (very short) TikTok videos to make sure I keep practising my spoken Korean through the week.

And best of all, most of this can be done in front of the fire, which is a relief since I came from summer and was dropped right into the depths of Tasmania winter…

Here’s hoping that everyone is staying sane in quarantine, lockdown, or whatever the heck is going on in your life. And here’s looking forward to the day when we can all go out travelling again safely!

Until then, wear a mask, drink lots of water, and “run mad as often as you chuse but never faint!“

i mean can you REALLY drink too much tea…?

How I Study Korean These Days…

Posted under Adventures in Korean, Uncategorized on July 6th, 2019 by

If you’ve been reading my books for any length of time (or have been active on my Facebook page), you’ll know that I’m learning Korean. I’ve been learning for a couple years now to indifferent success, and it has, predictably, bled through into my writing.

I have what I call my “kdrama series”, where I mess with kdrama tropes with as much glee as I mess with fairytale tropes in my retold fairytales, and in my UF I have a Korean character who refuses to speak English.

This means I always have to keep my Korean fresh, and keep getting better, to boot.

So at this point, you’re probably asking–how do you study Korean these days?

Honestly, it involves a lot of mumbling to myself.

Oh, you mean apart from that.

Well, these days I have a teacher. It’s going to sound really stupid to say so, but having a teacher makes a world of difference. You guys probably already knew that, but apparently I’m slow in the uptake. When I first began to learn Korean, I didn’t have the extra cash to pay for a tutor: things are different now, and I’m so glad I took the plunge!

I’m with Preply for lessons at the moment: you can buy bulk lots of lessons and get a reasonable discount, which I’ll be doing now that I know I learn effectively this way. I was looking for a male teacher in particular, since although female voices are pretty easy to understand, I struggle to understand male Korean voices. I also knew that I would want to select a tutor based on when they could tutor me, as well as the cost of the lesson. It was easy to refine my choices by all of those considerations on the Preply website.

With those criteria in mind, I narrowed down my choices to about three tutors. Each of the tutors also has a short video introducing themselves, so that you get an idea of how well they speak English, what their qualifications are, and how they propose to teach.

Out of those three, I found one had a voice I would find difficult to listen to for more than a few minutes, and another didn’t have enough of a grasp of English to effectively teach me.

And that’s how I ended up with Dylan. He’s an extremely patient and thoughtful teacher (he has to be, to teach me!), and he speaks at a really comfortable speed for me to be able to understand him during the lesson. So apart from recommending Preply as a good platform in general, I would specifically recommend Dylan as a teacher if you’re trying to learn Korean. You can check out his profile in the link above, or check out Preply to see what other languages you can learn through the link above that.

Finally, I’m writing what basically amounts to a diary entry every day in Korean, talking to the dogs in Korean, studying with the Sogang Korean books (also highly recommend them!), and still watching a lot of KDrama. Not to mention, of course, that one of my favourite bands is Day6, which basically means I get great music and Korean language exposure in one delightful package…

All of those things are great, and good–but the thing that has made me jump up a level in my learning has definitely been getting a proper lesson each week. The prices are not at all steep, and the accountability is A++

If you have any questions about my study habits or my experience with Preply (this is not a sponsored post, btw, I just love their service so far šŸ˜€ ) comment below and I’ll answer them.

Until next time, happy reading, everyone!

The Perils of Learning a Second Language

Posted under A Writer's Life, Adventures in Korean on May 19th, 2017 by

Okay, that’s a bit sensationalist.

It’s not perilous, exactly—unless you consider feeling like an idiot roughly 2-5 times per lesson a peril, that is—but thereĀ isĀ a steep learning curve associated with it, and certain pitfalls that come with that. At the moment, I study at home, go to a lesson with the lovely Kara, and on the same day spend an hour or two speaking an English/Korean hybrid with another girl who is learning English as I’m learning Korean.

This week, I went to my English conversation appointment feeling buoyed and eager.

Why, you ask? Well, Ko-Eun (the girl I am speaking English with) had suggested we each write a series of sentences in the language we were trying to learn. She would write hers in English, and I would write mine in Korean. I had put in about three hour’s work on my sentences, and I was feeling pretty good about them.

I mean, I even checked ’em in Word! (Did you blokes know you can get Hangul grammar and spelling checked in Word? You do now!) No squiggly lines, and it all looked correct.

Then Ko-Eun looked at them.

I was expecting some notes and changes—minor spelling issues or slight grammar fixes, yanno, nothing dramatic. So when she assured me that my sentences were very cute, that was my first warning sign that my sentences were not as solid as I’d assumed.

You can see the picture below if you want to snicker at the distinctly imperfect sentences I had actually turned in.

And I thought having my English language writing edited was bad…

The bright side of all this—aka, my cheerful feeling of competency that I’d madeĀ goodĀ sentences being dashed by an equally cheerful Ko-Eun wielding a pencil—is that I learned aĀ hugeĀ amount during the slashing of my hard-won sentences.

Also, I have a really cute drawing of a crab, which is a pun about ź²Œ (it both denotes place, and is the noun ‘crab’: if used in the wrong place, there are seven crabs in my house and not seven places for books). So there’s that.

Obviously, my next sentences will achieve the perfection at which I have, this time, failed.

ģ•„! ģ‹¤ķŒØė‹¤! ģ•„ģ‰½ė‹¤!

ė‹¤ģŒ ė²ˆģ—….

English Version below, for those who care/can compare/want to laugh, mock, or generally giggle at my Korean translation.

I live in a house with a green door. Some of the walls are yellow, and some are blue. The curtains are colourful, too. At first, I didnā€™t like it.

In my house there are seven bookcases. I like to read a lot. But I like writing better than reading, so there is a special place where I can write, too.

When I write, I drink tea from a blue teacup with a yellow sunflower on the side. I like bright teacups. My house is as colourful as my teacups.

I live in a house with a green door. Some of the walls are yellow, and some are blue. At first, I didnā€™t like it.

Now, I like it a lot.

 

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