Tag: Language learning

J-Variety Review: TORE!

J-Variety Review: TORE!

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

It’s really really difficult to find Japanese Variety shows online with some exceptions like Gaki no Tsukai. But those kind of comedies don’t appeal to me. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what is so funny in there (obviously, I’m not at that level of Japanese). And my quest for Japanese variety shows (with no videos other than youtube working here ¬¬) led me to to two – Hey! Hey! Hey! and TORE!

Hey! Hey! Hey! is a talk show and only eng subs I found for were the episodes where DBSK have appeared. So I’m not gonna talk about that. I did stumble upon this game show – TORE! which made me remember all those game shows they used air on cartoon network and other channels when I was a kid. Takeshi’s castle and Wipeout are still popular because they are still aired on channels like Pogo and AXN.

But TORE! was kind of new to me. I remember seeing a variety show with some temple guards in it but the things are hazy and I’m pretty sure it was an English game show. I don’t remember the format either.

So, yes. About TORE! They say it’s kind of mummification program. Ah! Yes. If you get squeezed by the walls or you fall down through a hole whose end you can’t see from above, you’ll definitely become mummy unless you give the correct answers asked in the show. It’s super entertaining and thrilling. The setting is Egypt kind. The keys, the walls, the Pharaos with the most modern instruments and equipments, you’ll all find in here. I watched one episode only, today and unfortunately, the subtitles weren’t available. ¯\(°_°)/¯

You can actually feel their anxiety during the games. When they fall before finishing the sentence they were saying, the breath stops! I mean I know they’re safe and that the hole may not be that deep that they show, but that’s the magic of directors and the technical staff out there and they work for this only. As their audience, I salute them! (￣^￣)ゞ

For Japanese language learners, it can be very helpful. Most of the words can be looked upon in dictionary and I can already see changes in my kana’s reading speed. The contestants (generally celebrities) have to answer the questions so fast with their lives (kind of) at stake that you have to read things fast if you’re staying with their speed. Of course, you can slow the videos down, but where is the fun in that? One of the most fun way to learn Japanese. Highly recommended.

I’ll post the episode I watched. Happy learning!

How language learning helped me in my interview

How language learning helped me in my interview

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

So, as I told in my last post, I appeared through the interview yesterday. Although language learning has been written on my resume from the beginning itself, nobody had asked me about it till now. Yesterday they asked me for the first time – about my level and all. And I told them the truth – what all I can do with Japanese and Korean and Thai. It took like five minutes of my interview. That means they were interested in that aspect of me too.

Yesterday’s firm (which is my employer now XD) was a first for me in many ways – I cleared my first GD of my life. The topic was related to current Indian political scenario and even a person, who doesn’t read much newspaper should be able to speak on this particular topic, coz it’s all over internet these days, you know?

So where was I? Ah! Yeah. The main thing I wanted to tell was that I was  a depressed soul before yesterday – going for tests and all everyday, missing classes (though I’m not that much of a class going person), the fun others already placed people were having and such were all frustrating me. I had started searching for a career in languages.

And then I came across this particular article where people had listed their experiences with languages and their current jobs. Quite awesome experiences. The only difference was, they all had degrees in modern languages or the particular language of interest whereas I am a complete self learner.

And then they said, “Oh! You’ve listed Korean and Japanese in your resume. Then you can do project in Japan!!” I was on the seventh heaven…… So yes, finally, my language learning did me wonders. 🙂 So now I gotta work harder for the languages and increase my level soon.

Today’s Song – Oh yes, the third and last song from my current playlist of DISH//. Technically, since my last post was published today only, I should’ve inserted that song only. But oh well….

Studying Japanese from Genki + Time management

Studying Japanese from Genki + Time management

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I managed to grab an e-copy of Genki Integrated Elementary Japanese I and II from a friend and I’m glad I did. I probably haven’t given any time to a textbook like I’m giving to this one in my four years. It is a good practice for me. The workbook covers everything taught in the book extensively apart from the exercises in the book itself. I am printing and practicing everyday. Thus my reading, writing and listening skills are getting better.

The best thing is, it is providing a definite shape to my Japanese studies. I had always been clueless as to where to start from, after Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji has always been an obstacle for me. But now I’m finally starting to grasp the things. Loving the book totally!

I wish to get a Korean book like this too. Although I do own a lot of e-books and I’m doing what I can from Basic Korean – A Grammar and Workbook, I don’t have much to practice my writing with. I need some workbooks for that but I’m broke nowadays to buy any book. Ah! I need some money or some source of free e-books.

Now, the time management thingie. I’m pretty much satisfied with the pace my Korean and Japanese are going on. I’m at least giving time to them daily (excluding Sundays since very less time is left for me to give to Thailand). Now that my mentor has gone to Japan and I don’t have many projects at hand, I have a lot more time. But sometimes, I feel that the time is just flowing by and I’m not able to do much productive work. I’ve been neglecting my blog too.

Only one month more to go and I’ll be in India. My stay in Thailand is coming to an end and I think I am getting depressed about that. If only I had the books, my new phone for awesome apps and GoGo Korean Beginners course from Pegasus Society and very inspiring fellow bloggers who are learning languages themselves earlier, I would’ve been one level up by now in both the languages. But I don’t want to regret and fret over the things, hence I’m trying to accomplish more in the given time. But even then, the time is flying too fast. In a blink of an eye, it is lunch time!

***After Lunch***

Ah! Why do we need to eat food? Why was this thing called stomach given to us? If only, we had the power to make food from sunlight like plants. Wastes a lot of time! This is going to happen again – I’ll become sleepy – then sleep for probably half an hour and it will be 3! Then in last two hours, I’ll study some Korean and waste some more time considering the body becomes so sluggish. I don’t have concept like Power Nap – a big tragedy in my life. Better chug down some coffee again and not sleep at all. I wonder, what I will do in my college if I get addicted again here…….

Side Story 1 – Day before yesterday, we went to the Platinum Fashion mall (This particular mall in Bangkok is just full of clothes and anything you name. I call it heaven for girls) again for probably 5th-6th time. There was a shop with traditional Chinese dresses that I saw for the first time yesterday. Those red and black beautiful dresses! I wanted to buy but I was running low on cash, so I had to postpone it. ㅠ_ㅠ

Side Story 2 – I’m sure, from my talks about money in this or other posts, you may think I’m stingy. I admit to the fact, I am. I tend to be very careful while spending money. But my friend here managed to convince me that, this whole trip of mine is being sponsored by me myself (credits to the company of course). Hence I should not think much. Moreover the clothes and accessories have far greater variety here than in India and are cheaper too. I have collected a lot now.

Side Story 3 – Now that I’ve mentioned in above story, clothes and accessories, I feel like writing about the fact that I’ve completely changed with regards to shopping attitude. I was never even interested in accessories, let alone buying them. But my friend has made me such a shopaholic that I want to take whatever I like including bags, earrings, lockets etc. etc. I shouldn’t become that spendthrift but when she says – In India, these are very expensive and you’ll need them when you start your office, even if you can’t use them in the deserted isolated college – BITS Pilani, of yours – I get allured by it.

Today’s song – Since, in my last post I said, I was listening to OSTs, I’ll post one again. In my school related dramas post I mentioned this anime and I just love such a peppy song. Again there are TV size and full size versions. Hope you enjoy this one –

TOPIK dates for 2014 confirmed

TOPIK dates for 2014 confirmed

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I need to keep these in mind this time and prepare accordingly….

Mai's avatarkoreanstudentblog

The dates for next year’s TOPIK tests have been confirmed!

제33회: January 19 – scores announced February 10

제34회: April 19 / 20 (Both Korea and abroad) – scores announced May 30

제35회: July 20 – scores announced August 5

제36회: October 11 / 12 (Both Korea and abroad) – scores announced November 10

제37회: November 23 – scores announced December 10

Please remember that the sign-up period varies from country to country so keep an eye on your local test organiser’s website.

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Underestimating a language

Underestimating a language

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Some two months ago, I had this strange experience. What happened was, I was asking the word for “home” from a Thai person and got confused with the ending of the word. The word is ‘Baan’. I just wanted to know if it is ‘Baal’ or ‘Baan’. I didn’t ask the Thai lady if it was Baan or Baal. I said something like this – Is it Baa ”n” or “l”? And the guy was sitting in the same room listening to us. The conversation from then on went as follows:

Him: They can’t perceive how you are saying. You shouldn’t ask like this.

Me: Why? They do have alphabets right?

Him: But still they won’t get it. Theirs is a different language and they just can’t understand like that.

Me: But ‘क’ (reads as ‘cu’ as in ‘cut’ in Hindi) will remain that only, right? It will be in English also, Hindi also and Thai as well

Him: But still

Me: Arey? Ok, tell me this. If a Japanese person comes to you and say ‘か’ (read as ‘ka’ in ‘kappa’ in Hiragana), you’ll think ‘ka’ (as in k+a in English) only right?

Him: That’s because I know English, they don’t.

Me (Still desperately trying): Then they’ll think in Thai alphabets..…

Him: They don’t have alphabets like that.

Me: How do you know? Do you know the alphabets?

Him: Because they can’t perceive it.

Me: Your thinking na, I don’t know what to do with it. (Was it a little harsh to say?)

Me to lady: Tell me, is it Baa ‘n’ or ‘l’?

Lady: Baan

Me to him: See? They got it.

Him: I wasn’t saying that.

Me: But I was saying this only. I don’t know what you were……

Him: Don’t argue on everything……….

……. And the door slams.

It was our time to go home and Thai people start saying “go home, go home” almost half an hour before the prescribed time. I still don’t know his side of story and I’m not asking you to judge the guy. Just that the fact that a language was being underestimated for not having some trivial capability infuriated me. Have you gone to their mind and see how they think? Come on!

Ok, I’ll admit. I did feel pretty bad afterwards thinking if it was mistake on my part. May be. May be I was wrong. While thinking of the things over again, I found out why I did that. The languages are the only passion I have in my life. Language learning is like my first love. I surely, don’t give that much time to actual learning but I get pretty excited on the thought of another language or culture (and Indian people here, my friends, get pretty amused on seeing my face suddenly light up when they talk to send me to South Korea and Japan, even when I know that they are joking).

 

Another such encounter happened sometime back. Thai has same thing for ‘r’ and ‘l’ as happens in Japanese and Korean. They have only one alphabet which lies in between “r” and “l”. Now, they sometimes use proper “r” sound and sometimes proper “l” sound as and when they feel comfortable. That’s how they have been living and using it. I was asking the meaning of word “aloy” (meaning delicious in Thai) from my mentor when another person (not the same one as above) says “It’s alright in pronunciation but it is wrong otherwise. The spellings are “a” “r” “o” “y” and hence should be pronounced like that.”

FACEPALM.

Tomorrow you’ll say since in English, “g” is pronounced both as “g” in “got” and “g” in “rage” and Hindi has two different alphabets for the two different pronunciations – ‘ग’ for first one and ‘ज’ for second one, hence, the English language is wrong.

I just don’t understand, how can someone be so ignorant and rude to consider the whole language itself to be wrong or inadequate. People, that is their problem and their easiness, how they understand things. It is enough to communicate. Please, don’t disregard others’ language. They are one of the most important part of the culture and at least I can’t bear this behaviour. But I’m helpless too. I can’t do much in that regard can I, besides defending? But that may be difficult too, especially when they are my seniors. But such things, I can’t take out of my mind. I don’t know what to do anymore……

Side Story 1 – Right now, I just don’t want to do anything besides learning languages. I want to immerse myself in that. I did do pretty good last week. But as my internship is nearing its end, I am getting a little more load and little more stress of going back and appearing for interviews. But, even still I want to just learn my languages and do nothing else.

Side Story 2 – I wanted to write a post about the place I got to visit on Wednesday, but I’m still waiting for the photos. And it was such a surprise thing. I had no plan for that holiday. Suddenly my friend called at 8 am and asked me if I could get ready by 8:30. It was such a hassle but we did get to go. But, guess I’ll have to postpone it a little. Even this post is a little late. I was preparing another manga review when the second story happened and I just felt the need to write it out.

I’ll listen to this song again and calm down – 

Improving reading skill – Short stories (Updated)

Improving reading skill – Short stories (Updated)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

I’ve been getting lot of topics to write lately, that I can’t resist blog posting. And when I really really want to write, I run out of ideas! So ironic! Anyways, I’ve been reading short stories now-a-days to improve my reading and speaking skills. And because I come across a lot of new words, vocabulary part is a bonus.

Although, many a times, it is really really difficult. I sometimes just throw the papers in frustration. But in the end, I pick them up again and start from the beginning. Since, I won’t be able to learn the stories in two or three readings except the words I already know, I can go to the same story again which I’ve already read.

It has been pretty hard for me to find stories online so that I can print them and read them, and sometimes I feel webtoons would be much better for entertainment and reading for Korean. But my schedule involves remaining glued to my laptop screen as long as I’m awake. Most of the work I do is on my laptop. If not, I’m watching dramas or MVs. If I’m revising flash cards, then it is my mobile screen. Too much strain on the eyes! (Ah! My eyes are already going bad. I don’t know when the optician uncle would be able to find my no.) That’s why, they are becoming a total no no. So I found out some and got them printed – for now, one in Japanese and one in Korean.

In this regard, news articles can do too! But stories are way more interesting. Last time I got an article printed and it’s still there in my bag, eating dust! (I’m sorry dude.) I haven’t even touched it (yet). I’m posting the stories link for Japanese stories, they are a few in number. Korean is only one though. I’m still searching and if I get some more, I’ll add in this post

For Japanese go here – http://life.ou.edu/stories/http://life.ou.edu/stories/

For Korean story go here – http://pds8.egloos.com/pds/200802/04/11/Episode_41_Worksheet.pdf

Side Story 1 – When my cousin went to China, I was so envious. Now my mentor is going to Japan. JAPAN! I’ve asked her to bring me souvenirs and I’ll try for books. That reminded me, I was searching for big book stores in Bangkok and there are plenty and at those places where I’ve already visited. I never noticed them *Facepalm*. If I had noticed them earlier, I would’ve spent my money on buying books instead of clothes. TT_TT (Now I’m a poor person)

Side Story 2 –  I’m using company’s waste papers for my printing. Here, they generally print on one side and the waste papers are either shredded and then sent to recycle or less important things are printed on the other side – much later. This time, after audit, there were many papers which were deemed to be waste but now I’ve found out the way to use them. Even for my writing, I’m using those only. (One more way to save money, yes!)

Today’s Song – After such a long time, I’ve found an idol group which solely is dominating my playlist. Yes, you guessed right. That is EXO. I already said that I am totally drooling over their charisma would be getting involved with their songs later than the variety shows. Now, not one day passes me without watching the MVs. I wake up and first thing I do is watch them before doing anything. And last thing before going to bed is their songs again. So, today’s song will be –

Update 22/12/2013: Aigoo!! Why didn’t I see this when I was in Thailand? So many worksheets are there and I was searching for them. Anyways, there are a lot of stories here and much more apart from that. So enjoy – http://freshkorean.com/free-resources/

Time to be serious

Time to be serious

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

October has started and I didn’t realize that. Now it’s time to get serious about studies for placement. I don’t have much time left and have a lot of coursework to do. Added to that is learning swimming, serious Thai lessons and much more…… I have to prepare gifts for everyone too. And I will possibly be giving English lessons to daughter of one of the workers.

So I’ve decided upon some things. I’ll write posts twice a week only – one on Wednesdays or Thursdays and one on Saturdays or Sundays. I’ll keep sharing other things as I find them but they would probably be quick posts. This does give my heart a rest. Now my writing schedule will become regular too.

I do have a lot of things to talk about. A lot of places to write about and a lot of manga, anime and dramas names stacked up in my list. But I seriously need to balance everything, now that the time is drawing near.

That reminds me, in the final presentation by the assessors providing summary of their thoughts about the company, the starting went by like this – “One should give importance to his/her strengths and try to strengthen them even more because that does 90% work for you. One should not forget about his/her weaknesses but working on strengths can be more fruitful.” So I’ve decided to make languages my strengths. Not that I’m forgetting about my Chemical Engineering studies but languages will certainly give an edge to me. So I’m taking them seriously now, even learning Thai. Strangest thing is I was so afraid of tones, on the top of that Thai has 5 tones! But one of my seniors, who is Thailand born Indian said, “So what? Hindi has two tones. What’s the problem with 5 tones?” And I was like, “How could I forget that?” I became so oblivious to my native language that I forgot even we start with tones! This new perspective has made learning Thai easier. Today I discovered, they have same sounds as in our language. If only, I had realized that earlier! Sigh!

Anyways, I can put new and more efforts now.

In the end, today’s song – 

Link

Mistakes we make while learning Kanji

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Mistakes we make while learning Kanji

No matter what, this article needs sharing. For all those people like me, who are attempting to learn Kanji and have not reached there yet, we can try changing our approach and this article is perfect for that.

But, somehow, I don’t regret it…….

But, somehow, I don’t regret it…….

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

Yup, I committed a grave grave mistake and I’m very sorry for that to myself. I don’t know how I missed it. Why did I think it was in September? And I didn’t even bother to check it. On the top of that, I came across the whole thing on the last day of all days, not even once in past twenty days?

Oh, sorry sorry. I was talking about 32nd TOPIK registration. I just came to know yesterday that I had already missed the deadline. Everybody keeps a milestone for the date of exam but no one tries to display registration dates. I had a list of plans to execute before and after the exam. I have to take another engineering exam in February and I thought I would start preparing for it after this one. But oops! Everything failed. So what now?

Nothing. Life will go on and I will take the exam next year. 34th TOPIK for sure. And I won’t be outside the country at that time so I won’t get confused as to where to take the exam and where to register. That being said, now I’m going to study even harder and become serious. I already started from yesterday. Everyday, learning new words feels so great. And I have decided to continue with Japanese also.

It makes me a little worried though. Now I’ll have to give time to everything including my engineering related studies whereas earlier I was thinking of taking up Korean only till TOPIK exam.

I know I am 바보 and I seriously wanted to clear at least one level before sitting for placements in December, but oh well, it may as well be advantageous for me. May be, that’s why I’m not regretful about it.

 

It’s been a while since I posted some song with my post, so here it is – 

Pegasus SERIES 6!

Pegasus SERIES 6!

by eastasianlover ♥ 4 Comments

This all is free? Whoa!
I finally get some concrete course which will keep me engaged and make it compulsory to attend and not miss out on classes.

Pegasus Society for Korean Studies's avatarThe Pegasus Society

The Pegasus Society for Korean Studies 2013 

Series 6 

-Application Form & Series Information – 

Dear Applicant, 

I am very pleased to introduce to you a new, exciting opportunity to learn the 

Korean language free of charge, also with the addition of further opportunities to expand 

your general Korean Studies knowledge in other areas, and to integrate other languages 

and language skills into your course. 

In Series 6 the Pegasus Society will aim to provide for you an intensive, vigorous 

and thorough training in the Korean language, whether it be our Beginner’s, Intermediate, 

or Advanced level. We hope to provide this to you through the combined teaching of 

Korean Studies university students and graduates, as well as native Korean speakers, 

allowing you to immerse yourself in the four main language areas of reading, writing, 

listening and speaking. 

Our courses are largely conducted via the internet calling programme Skype. We 

offer…

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Language learning – part 2 – The answer

Language learning – part 2 – The answer

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

In the last post you read the story. But the main question remains unanswered – how to approach the things. I, till now, have tried a lot of things – creating flash cards of my own, flash cards in my phone, writing things again and again, sticking hand-made fully decorated charts (wasted a lot of time in that) on walls of my room, downloading language learning apps, and what not. I did learn (and now, know) a lot of languages’ alphabets but then vocabulary remains weak. In that case, I can’t actually say I know the language, can I? (Yeah, in resumes, it looks good and if you write that you are learning the mentioned languages, you can answer if someone asks that yup, you do know the alphabets, at least!) Then I saw my juniors studying them in schools. Not the foreign ones but the common ones. And, I remembered how my mother used to teach me and how I used to help my sibling learn things.

Hence, the solution I found out was – Start From The Basics. In Indian system the procedure goes as follows (at least I did that).  Learn the alphabet. Start reading small small words, then larger ones. If possible arrange some newspapers in the target language and then start slowly. When you get a grip over reading, start with dictations. Obviously, you need some native speaker friend of yours or you can use your favorite dramas for that. For vocabulary, you can begin, like small children, with fruits, vegetables, colors, parts of the body, counting etc. Then you can go to the newspaper you started with and add to your vocab.

For writing part, you can start with short compositions like describing things in small sentences. Then go to bigger things like essays and all. Last remains speaking. First the pronunciation needs to be accurate. For that, native speakers are the best source. You listen to them and repeat them. In this regard, the movies and dramas can help too (but, no matter what, don’t get hooked to them!!) Even better, if you know some native speakers.

Ah! This is nostalgic. All the school memories ran through the mind. See, it isn’t that difficult. But this covers basic only. If you want more, you can read this book – How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. It not only tells this person’s journey of language learning but also how to learn, how to take out time when you don’t have any, but still want to explore new cultures through their mother tongue and the languages themselves. It’s a great resource for those who want to start anew as well as those who have become frustrated with variety and never reached anywhere (include me too in the category)

how to learn a language

This brings me to the idea, that I can write reviews for the resources available online which I found useful! Hmmm…. I should go and find a good name if I want to do a series of reviews like that.

Language Learning – Part 1 – The story

Language Learning – Part 1 – The story

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I did say in my first story, how due to envy, I got introduced to languages. But waaaay before that, I had had some exposure to a lot of languages, not foreign though. Being in an English medium school, you have to learn English from the start. Then obviously you know your mother tongue. In India, there is vast diversity in terms of culture, people and languages. If your father is in a job where he and the family have to move a lot, you do get a lot of experience, meet new people, make new friends and learn how to adjust. In different regions, you get to learn a different language. In my case, I got to learn one in my 3rd class (which would probably be Grade 3rd of Elementary School in East Asian countries) because my father got transferred to a new region. Then, generally, in north India (I don’t know about other regions and there may be variations in this region as well! It depends!) you are given a choice between 2 languages – Sanskrit, which is considered to be mother of all languages and the one which I learnt before in my 3rd grade. So I chose Sanskrit (and did really well too! Thank you, thank you). So now four languages were added to my account – English, Hindi, Sanskrit and last one Punjabi (this one belongs to the state called Punjab).

In my 10th class (this will be !st year of high school in East Asia) I started with Japanese but I only had one small book. I never had a look on the kana charts earlier in my life. In those days, internet used to be a rare commodity, so I didn’t have it. The kana charts given in the book looked suspicious. Some syllables in the end were missing (which was because they didn’t exist but hey, I didn’t know that!). And it was only a phrases book and I wanted to start from the basic. But even so, my curiosity wasn’t gratified. Nonetheless, I copied it in hopes of learning a new language and did learn some words but 10th class, here, is a major class. I couldn’t give my new found “hobby” enough time. Next two years are the most important from career making point of view. Preparing for various entrance exams for getting admission in the best colleges takes hard work of your two years.  Can’t even think of other activities. Before college admissions, I did get time and took up French. Learnt some. But again there was no proper guidance. I never got to understand how to start things. Vastness of material available on net confuses you more.

Then college life started. And here I got to see different kinds of stuff. Travel books basically give you phrases which will be useful while roaming around in the concerned country. Phrase books include some more, related to daily life. Then there are grammar books. But they seem so high leveled sometimes that you want to give up. There are a lot of websites, books telling you how to learn a language, other kind of books, audio lessons, youtube tutorials etc. etc. And if you get into the trap of watching dramas and movies of the language you wanna learn, with the desire to grasp something in an entertaining way, then my friends, you get deviated from your goal. Trust me, I’m one of them.

In the next post, find out the answer I came up with for all my troubles.

And today’s song is: