Kirby's Study Journal

[Kirby]

Hi Kirby,

Here is a picture of my dinner:

Korean restaurant ?

Not exactly Korean. Here's their website:

http://slurpingturtle.com/annarbor/mobile/menus.php

Pretty good ramen place. They have other food, but I like the ramen.

[Calvin Clark]

Reviewed how the week went, and I am going to take a break from studying go for a bit - more interested in Korean right now.

How do you like to study Korean?

[Kirby]

Reviewed how the week went, and I am going to take a break from studying go for a bit - more interested in Korean right now.

How do you like to study Korean?

Traditionally, I'm pretty intense in studying new vocabulary. I also go through textbooks and read novels. Occasionally, I post on Lang-8.

But the gap between my reading ability and listening/speaking has grown so much that these days, I'm watching a lot more movies, taking notes of what i didn't catch. Sometimes I take dictation tests. On Saturdays, I've been going to a Korean class, and I've been trying to talk as much as possible, even if I wouldn't normally speak in English.

I still have reservations about speaking with my wife in Korean, even though that would be helpful. Somehow, I have too much pride for that. A personal fault, i guess.

I kind of want to take the TOPIK again, too. I took it once like 10 years ago, but was only level 3 of 6 then. I think I'd score higher now, but I want to get 6 if possible. I don't think I'm at that level, yet.

[EdLee]

Hi Kirby,

I still have reservations about speaking with my wife in Korean, even though that would be helpful. Somehow, I have too much pride for that.

I don't quite follow this part.

[Kirby]

Hi Kirby,

I still have reservations about speaking with my wife in Korean, even though that would be helpful. Somehow, I have too much pride for that.

I don't quite follow this part.

Weird thing I have. We are both somewhat competitive, and I don't particularly like it that she can so easily see my weaknesses. If it's a stranger, I care less about what they think, and can move on.

Maybe like if your wife were a pro go player, it might not be that fun to play against her, since she can clearly see your weaknesses. Or maybe you don't feel that way, and it's just my personal fault. Losing against a stranger seems less painful to me.

[Bill Spight]

I still have reservations about speaking with my wife in Korean, even though that would be helpful. Somehow, I have too much pride for that. A personal fault, i guess.

When I was living in Tokyo I knew a couple with an American husband and a Japanese wife. He spoke to her in broken Japanese and she spoke to him in broken English.

There is actually a theory behind that, which is that we are in general better at guessing what people mean in our own language than speaking clearly in a foreign language. (IMO, or in our own language, as far as that goes. )

[Kirby]

Agree with that - interesting story.

In our case, my wife has neither broken English nor broken Korean (pretty decent at Japanese, too)

[EdLee]

Hi Kirby,

Thanks for explaining. The mentality does make a big deal difference.
If it's coming from a place of helping each other ( improve, etc. ), it's a very different feeling and environment indeed.

[Kirby]

Hi Kirby,

Thanks for explaining. The mentality does make a big deal difference.
If it's coming from a place of helping each other ( improve, etc. ), it's a very different feeling and environment indeed.

Hrm - I think she has good intentions and wants to help me. It's just that I have nothing to teach her when it comes to language, so the one-sided nature of the instruction makes me apprehensive to appreciate the gesture.

Maybe I feel inferior in some ways?

On the other hand, if it's a total stranger, I have less apprehension.

[EdLee]

Hi Kirby,

That's interesting...

There's an ancient saying, attributed to Confucius: 三人行，必有我師焉。

I can see how a total stranger can make a difference.

[Kirby]

Cool, Ed. I had to look that up. I guess in korean it might be 삼인행 필유아사언 using those characters.

My interpretation is something like, "if there's three people walking down the road, one of them must be my teacher"... maybe something about teaching one another?

Can you provide a better translation? I guess I could ask my wife when I get home, but we already discussed that dilemma

[EdLee]

if there's three people walking down the road, one of them must be my teacher

Yes; today it's almost a certainty one can learn something from anyone.
( Back then it was way before industrialization and specialization. )

[Kirby]

if there's three people walking down the road, one of them must be my teacher

Yes; today it's almost a certainty one can learn something from anyone.
( Back then it was way before industrialization and specialization. )

It's a good point. I don't learn from people enough. On one hand, I think it's a strength to lean toward independent thinking (though, in reality, I still often imitate others' thought processes). It's served me well in many cases - I probably wouldn't have gone to college if I just followed advice from the adults around me growing up.

On the other hand, I'm limited in perspective and growth, because the default assumption is that the person I'm listening to is overlooking something, or maybe if they're devious, trying to trick me in some way.

Dunno.

[jlt]

A big difference with Confucius' time is that nowadays, we have a much easier access to information through books, softwares or the internet. I know a European guy who decided to learn chinese by himself (he was in his forties). Five years of hard work after he was able to speak and write fluently, and had a decent accent, although not perfect of course.

Nevertheless, a teacher can often speed up the process by showing you the correct path.

Concerning languages: western people learning asian languages are usually in a comfortable situation, as they are usually praised for making the effort, even if they make mistakes. The converse is not true, as everybody is expected to learn English.

[Tryss]

Concerning languages: western people learning asian languages are usually in a comfortable situation, as they are usually praised for making the effort, even if they make mistakes. The converse is not true, as everybody is expected to learn English.

For many western people, English is a foreign language too. Sure, English is closer to French or German than Chinese or Japanese, but it's still not trivial.