Learn Other Language

[SilverMoonTea]

Study Language Together

 

@abs-oluteM's 2022 resolution kind of inspiring me to open this thread. How about we study together to improve our knowledge to 4 languages that I put in tag. Let me just share a bit of my background. 

 

English is not my first language, I study the written english formally in class since primary school. The way it's being taught to us really totally just in writing form, we never spoke the language itself until I'm in highschool. Since it's not taught intensively, even just to read novel was a struggle back then. 

 

As I graduated I took TOEFL, and the lesson in EF (English First) did help me a lot on reading and speaking portion. And even I spent many years studying english, it still haven't reached to natural fluency as native speaker. I often lost with words. I guess I need to revisit learning english more to improving it. Probably by listening more podcast / TED Talks and improving my spelling. Singing song in english also helpful for me. 

 

As of mandarin I did enroll to class on and off, and this one is really HARD! My tongue just seems can't roll to the right direction, not to mentioned about many different tones to make the word become meaningful lols. 

 

So in this thread, I think we can share any tips / knowledge about language that we're interested in. I think mostly will be english, korean, mandarin and japanese. 

 

Tag @LaLa@stroppyse@mademoiselle@NiteWalker@JenL that I think know a lot of language to share tips if any. Thanks in advance first. The rest feel free to share too. 

[ssteph]

@SilverMoonTea I did enroll to Mandarin class too but gave up because of my school schedule.

 

I learned basic Korean from a Korean girl, she stayed in my town for 3 months and taught Korean in the library.

 

Fangirling sometimes motivates me 😂 I have a notebook where I write sentences and vocabularies I get from oppa's updates (IG post, K-netz posts, etc.). If I am not lazy, try to translate it.

[JenL]

7 hours ago, SilverMoonTea said:

Tag @LaLa@stroppyse@mademoiselle@NiteWalker@JenL that I think know a lot of language to share tips if any. Thanks in advance first. The rest feel free to share too. 

 

Hahaha, I'm not sure if I'm a great language learner to be honest! I think your English is amazing @SilverMoonTea. If I had to write on a forum in Chinese at the level you're doing in English, I would cry  Can I ask what language you normally speak? Is it Indo?

 

I learnt English as a kid coz it is the official language here. And my parents spoke Mandarin and Cantonese to me, so I can understand and speak (although I'm better at one dialect than another)...And I went to Sunday school to learn to read and write, but stopped when high school finals came. I learnt French in high school because we had to do a language, though I've forgotten a lot of it now...but I can still read some basic sentences. And I've been learning Korean this past year at a school and I've gotten up to Elementary lvl 3....but it's getting a little harder now... 

 

For learning a new language: My friend suggested putting baby shows in the background since your level is only shallow when you begin. For example, she watches Peppa pig in Korean. Also try to speak as much as possible when you can. I would also say keep an easy diary using the words you know or spend an hour a day just using that language...like naming things around you in that language (ie. going for a walk and instead of tree, say 나무, instead of weather say 날씨)

 

For refreshing a language you know but need practice on: One way I practice Chinese is by watching Taiwanese dramas/ films - sometimes I watch with no subs so I'm forced to just listen. This is also another reason I sub behind the scenes videos (not just because I like them haha), because they usually have captions on screen, so I practice reading. Since the captions are also the words that are spoken, I can just play and listen if I need to find out what was said. Occasionally I have to look up an idiom - the hard thing about Chinese is that they like to use 4 words idioms...so sometimes if 4 words don't make sense, it's because it's a saying...haha, this is what I get out of watching Taiwanese dramas. Maybe it would make more sense to watch mainland series, but I don't really get into the stories and I don't want to watch 40/ 60 episodes (standard Chinese drama) when I can just watch 13/ 20 episodes (the standard Taiwanese drama). 

 

I can't technically write words from scratch in Chinese because it's hard to remember the characters when I rarely use them and I don't know if I'll ever be good. But because I recognise what a number of words look like and understand sentence structure I can compose things like letters or basic articles/ diary entries. I could always improve more that's for sure! 

Edited January 3, 2022 by JenL

[SilverMoonTea]

@JenLThanks so much, that's a good idea to start with baby show. 

 

Spoiler

Yes, haha if you see anything in indo that need to be translated I can help 🤣 But it's seldom happen. 

 

I have flash card mandarin and japanese 😅 But like all my resolution that always went to the drain, they're still put neatly in the box. Maybe I should retrieve them and start to open it 😂. 

 

@sstephLooking forward to your sharing, I did learn Hangul before but now already forgot hahaha.... 

I found this apps Write It Korean is the best to start learning. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jernung.writeit.kor

Tag @abs-oluteM

 

[mademoiselle]

I didn't take classes for Korean so whatever I learnt thus far for vocabs and able to understand via listening is through watching Kdramas. I once come across a blogger saying she could speak Korean (but not write) solely from watching Kdramas. She would do other things while listen to the Kdramas. It does work especially when we already know the storyline and know what the lines are (I'm listening right now while composing this and I know exactly which scene it's at and what it's about without seeing it).

 

I've only self learnt Korean alphabets but find it difficult to remember them by heart so I've print-out of the alphabets stuck on the wall for whenever I need to read them. If I travel, I'd have the alphabets (in image) saved in my phone in case I need to read Japanese/Korean.

 

I'd say there's a slight advantage for learning Japanese or Korean when you already know Chinese. Some words in Japanese and Korean sound the same as either Mandarin or Chinese dialects. Japanese Kanji is Chinese characters so it helps if you can write Chinese.

 

Speaking wise I'm the weakest since there are no one to practice with but communicating in simple sentences or vocabs is doable in Japanese and to my surprise, even Korean. I still can't forget how happy I was I could understand what the old Korean couple asked me when I was in Korea and I answered them back in simple Korean. They asked if I was travelling alone. I said yes and they went "Waaa" and I even asked "Wae-yo?" and they said something like they were impressed I could travel alone. 😆

 

The thing about language is, if you don't constantly expose yourself to it, it deteriorates. So my biggest problem is if I spend too much time on Kdramas, then my English, Japanese and Mandarin deteriorate.

 

These days, it's so much easier now with the availability of translation apps and lots of YouTube channel teaching Hangul. You just need to find one you like.

Edited January 4, 2022 by mademoiselle

[stroppyse]

I've always found it totally amazing that people could learn to speak another language based on dramas or songs in the foreign language.

 

I changed countries when I was a toddler, so even though Korean may be the first language I was exposed to, English is the language that I'm most fluent in and that I consider to be my first language. However, growing up in a duel language household definitely helps with knowing and learning a language. I also studied other language (Spanish and French) in schools, but I'm pretty rudimentary in those languages and my diction is terrible. Oh well.

 

There are some really good tips on this thread on learning a new language. I loved the idea about watching children's shows. That's especially good since children's shows tend not to use as many slang terms or trends which can get really confusing when you're learning a language.

 

It's also helpful to watch dramas with good subtitles since you can pick up quite a bit by word repetitions.

 

Though nothing helps learning a foreign language as much as being able to use it every day or being immersed in it for awhile, if possible. So, finding someone fluent in the language you want to learn who is willing to speak with you in that language somewhat frequently may be the best way, even if they can't always break down the language for you.

 

It is easier to learn Korean if you already speak Mandarin, and to a lesser degree, Japanese. It's because of all those wars of conquest in East Asia where the vocabulary was spread around along with the conquest. When I'm watching c-dramas or t-dramas, I can pick out some words even though I don't know any flavor of Chinese at all.

 

As for writing hangul, I do think it's important to learn the basic alphabet which is relatively simple: 10 vowels and 14 consonants for a total of 24 characters. It's understood that the basic alphabet is a bit simplistic, since there are also combinations for both vowels and consonants which create an additional 27 characters that are pretty commonly used, however, those are combinations of the basic alphabet.

 

Where I feel it gets complicated is actually in the translations of those vowels and consonants. In the quest for phonetic translations, there is a lot of randomness.

 

For instance, in English, there is both an L and an R which are separate consonants, however, in Korean, there is only 1 consonant ( ㄹ ) that covers both of those English consonants. So, for Koreans, the surname Lee is the same as the surname Ri which can also be written as Rhee. To complicate things further, the English words "love" and "rub" sound the same to a Korean since there is also no distinct "v" sound in Korean.

 

This made for a lot of amusement in the drama 'High School Love On' starring Kim Sae Ron which when reading the hangul which phoneticized the English word "Love" so that when translated back, it originally seemed as if it was saying 'High School Rub On' which would have been a very different drama.

 

Anyway, I'm of absolutely no help with Mandarin or Japanese, but feel free to tag me and ask about Korean or English. Good luck!

 

[NiteWalker]

well all my languages are only half past six lols.....

 

i grew up using English mostly in a sense so my English is definitely way better than my Mandarin though im pretty fluent in 2 different dialect (Hokkien & Cantonese)

 

my written Mandarin is totally zero to be honest lols.....i can speak and read however i have a dictionary at the sides ever ready just to re-confirm lols....

[mademoiselle]

Not sure if it's just me but I find myself carrying out conversations in my head in another languages especially before I travel to that country. I think it was a mental preparation and a simulation of what if I'm in such & such situation and what I should do/answer. The funniest thing I realise was — in my mind — my pronunciation of Korean is superb but when I actually speak it, it makes me cringe coz I sound just like a foreigner speaking East Asian languages

3 hours ago, NiteWalker said:

my written Mandarin is totally zero to be honest lols.....i can speak and read however i have a dictionary at the sides ever ready just to re-confirm lols.

I think your Chinese is better than mine because you've been watching so many C-dramas.

[Nohamahmoud2002]

I started studying Korean using 2 apps: lingodeer and Duolingo. They are effective tools for beginners.

Edited January 8, 2022 by Nohamahmoud2002

[Nohamahmoud2002]

The program Annyeong Korean is a very good way to learn

 

 

[LaLa]

On 1/3/2022 at 12:51 PM, SilverMoonTea said:

@abs-oluteM's 2022 resolution kind of inspiring me to open this thread. How about we study together to improve our knowledge to 4 languages that I put in tag

 

Such an admirable resolution that both @abs-oluteM and you have. I too wish to learn and improve my ability in some languages, but usually this kind of wish, is just a mere wish and by the end of year is coming near, I didn't make any improvement as of yet  (*cough* buried my past 2021 resolution deep inside *cough*)

 

Some background about my language ability for the 4 languages that was mentioned.

Like @SilverMoonTea, English isn't my first language either. I came across to learn the language when my brothers were playing some songs at home when I was still in the kindergarten and probably from the Disney movie inside a CD that my mother bought for me. I think.. I just started to learn about it formally and properly when my mom enrolled me to an English course in the neighborhood which was the same course that my brothers also took. I remembered that at first I hated the idea to learn it, because well, it would cut off my time to play or watching cartoons at that time.  However because I started to have some interest in the games that my brothers played and I wanted to play the game as well but don't understand the language enough to play it, I accepted the offer and sit through the lesson. 

 

Between the extra lesson from English Course and the lesson at school, I think I have learned English in passively quite well. But because I rarely used the active English like speaking skills in my daily life, my ability in speaking is probably not in the same league that my passive ability. Moreover, outside those English lesson time, I don't think I used English at all, at one time my writing skills wasn't as good as it used to be. I guess the drilled I got during the lesson about how to make a proper sentence in a proper grammar structure stopped me in creating or forming something just because I wasn't sure whether the sentence I made is properly correct or not. It's not until I gathered my courage to join an international forum community and try to communicate as best as I can within my limited capability that I have become more relaxed in writing in English. Until now, I'm sure I'm still make mistakes here and there, but I hope I can convey my feelings and meaning for the people to understand and we can communicate well.

 

I only learned Chinese for a little bit during high school because it was part of the curriculum. For those 3 years, I think I learned the basic and quite okay during the quizzes, but the moment I graduate, those lesson suddenly also graduated from my mind at the same time.

Until now I think I still could recognize the Chinese letters, but I don't know how to read it properly or how to write it in the right sequence or strokes. It just so difficult in learning it because with a wrong tone or even strokes it would have a different meaning. 

 

For Japanese, I only familiar with several words thanks to the years I spent in my youth for liking manga and anime. I mostly watched anime that already got dubbed into English. But when I got introduced to internet and want to search for newest videos about the anime I was invested in, there's only English sub available. So it was pretty much like killing two birds with one stone. I watched one videos and learned 2 languages at the same time, although in the end I only gained more knowledge in English and just familiar with little words in Japanese. :P

 

Lastly for Korean, it was thanks to Family Outing, the first Korean variety show that made me learned the language. I was watching the shows with English sub, but sometimes there were parts that weren't translated by the subbers. At first I didn't mind because between watching the shows, looking at the casts expression, reading the subtitles and translating it inside my mind already took a lot in the space of my mind. However when I re-watched those parts without the subtitles, I became curious and started to learn the language little by little. Firstly with the alphabets and I started to learn about reading the words and its meaning in English. While watching the shows I also started my journey as a fan of kpop world where it was such a difficult era to find a proper translations for the video of my favorite idols back then and I started to learn the words by myself. It's not good enough to understand the whole sentence, but at least I could form the gist of what they were talking and enjoy it. 

 

I took a short formal course in learning Korean when I got the chance during my university days. I learned to form basic sentences. It's not that easy because the sentence structures is quite different with English sentence structure so I was struggling a lot at first. But after few practices and tried to apply the lesson while watching dramas and shows, it got a lot better. 

 

Soo.. basically my language journeys started because the influence from my brothers and the interest I have for the language itself. I wouldn't dare to stay that I'm fluent in English, but I think I'm pretty good to at least communicate with it for daily conversation. I do understand Korean a little bit and can give a rough translation for it, but with a help of dictionary and done with some guessing for some parts. 

If you need any help or partner in learning Korean, I'd be glad to help and let's learn the language together :)

[Unnie0110]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Hello Chingus! I speak and write fluent English since it's the official language here. I learned Spanish and Latin during my university days but can only remember bits and pieces of these languages! hahaha  I did my Masters in Japan so I can speak and write in basic Japanese since it was a requirement before we can do our program. However, our course was entirely in English. I can converse pretty decently with the locals and can read the basic Kanji around me but that's about it! Incidentally, when I was in my first year of studies in Japan, my dorm mates were 2 Chinese and 1 Vietnamese. They taught me the basics of their languages and can say hi, hello, sorry, excuse me in them;)

 

I'm happy to learn other languages with you all;)

 

 

[NiteWalker]

i was once told that the best way to learn a new language is to start with the bad words..... 

[mademoiselle]

@abs-oluteM @SilverMoonTea Learn this... hahaha!

Can't say I remember all of them but the ones using English pronunciation are definitely easier. xD

[abs-oluteM]

@mademoiselle oh I didn't realise so many words are adapted from English too

The peach one is very familiar cause many shows always talk about peach blossoms

[mademoiselle]

Just now, abs-oluteM said:

@mademoiselle oh I didn't realise so many words are adapted from English too

My mind got confused when watermelon came out. I blurted out "Sui-ka" = "Suica"

Suica, I'm sure a lot of you will know, it's the name of the MRT card in Japan.

 

You can tell from this that which fruits are "foreign" fruits to Korea

[abs-oluteM]

Just now, mademoiselle said:

Suica, I'm sure a lot of you will know, it's the name of the MRT card in Japan.

Yes. 

The grape actually sounds like the how it is in Mandarin isn't it?

[mademoiselle]

2 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

Yes. 

The grape actually sounds like the how it is in Mandarin isn't it?

True. Po-do = pu tao (Mandarin). Maybe another dialect sounds more similar than Mandarin.

[abs-oluteM]

I think step 3 , many of us are already doing it