We have Bill Bryson to blame for this post, and indirectly, Simon, who gave me the book. The book being, that is, Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson.
Being one for rules and that, I like the idea that one can learn grammar. I'm learning otherwise. It's not sitting very well with me.
I mean, if traditionally unapproved structures are adopted by society (e.g. "I'm well hungry"), or even to an extent, if you can make yourself unambiguously understood without employing perfect grammar (e.g. "Me go market now"), what's to say that these are 'wrong'?
I like to write using unfamiliar syntax, justified by the idea that it is 'idiomatic', or something, and yet I'll still strive to be grammatically correct. But what does that even mean? Who decides whether or not we can split an infinitive? When did it become acceptable to say, "I'm going, aren't I?" and yet we can't say, "I'm going, are I not?" It does concern me that I will find myself on a slippery slope if I continue to think about these things - it's one thing to edit every comma that gets published on a personal blog; another to debate the validity of every word that hits the page.
As far as written conventions are concerned I'll refuse to substitute cant for can't and dont for don't, yet I'm not about to write piano', 'phone or Hallowe'en. At what point can we accept change in our language? When will we agree that we can say, "Ten items or less", "To boldly go", or "I'm well hungry"? Or have we already done so?
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Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
If it's a competition, I'm there.
For reasons not totally unbeknownst to me, but certainly unnecessarily, I've been placing a lot of stress on myself this last week. Issues with unruly students have been coming to a head lately making my working day just a smidge less than tolerable, resulting in a tired and grumpy Chi-Hé. And she's not someone you wanna reckon with. But above all, today was the day that I would potentially take the unprecedented leap from BEGINNER to INTERMEDIATE level Korean class.
Now it wasn't that I wanted to level up for self-congratulatory purposes. I'm not really about to bust a gut over something that is ultimately a hobby with beneficial outcomes. For instance, if I felt I could do with the extra practice I would willingly - perhaps voluntarily, as I have previously done - retake a class. But it wasn't about how good I felt I was; it was about how good I felt I was in comparison to other people. Feeling that I was on a par with my classmates, the fact that the fate of my progress was at the mercy of a subjective aural/oral test and the whim of my teacher made me feel a little uneasy.
The teacher composed the level test as a kind of on-going competition, whereby each time you formed an accurate sentence or answered a question correctly you would score one point (or two, or three, depending on the generosity of the teacher at that particular moment; as I say: subjective). Now, by half-time I was already ahead. Not necessarily because I was the best, but because I was the most keen.
I often go out of my way not to be the irritating student who calls out all the answers as a Miss-Know-It-All. In fact, being a teacher, I now FULLY appreciate the merits of waiting one's turn and giving other students a chance. However, since there was a competition in play, I naturally made today an exception.
The fact that everybody in the class passed the test is irrelevant. The fact that I tripled some people's scores due to my speedy hand-in-the-air is clearly what matters.
Now it wasn't that I wanted to level up for self-congratulatory purposes. I'm not really about to bust a gut over something that is ultimately a hobby with beneficial outcomes. For instance, if I felt I could do with the extra practice I would willingly - perhaps voluntarily, as I have previously done - retake a class. But it wasn't about how good I felt I was; it was about how good I felt I was in comparison to other people. Feeling that I was on a par with my classmates, the fact that the fate of my progress was at the mercy of a subjective aural/oral test and the whim of my teacher made me feel a little uneasy.
The teacher composed the level test as a kind of on-going competition, whereby each time you formed an accurate sentence or answered a question correctly you would score one point (or two, or three, depending on the generosity of the teacher at that particular moment; as I say: subjective). Now, by half-time I was already ahead. Not necessarily because I was the best, but because I was the most keen.
I often go out of my way not to be the irritating student who calls out all the answers as a Miss-Know-It-All. In fact, being a teacher, I now FULLY appreciate the merits of waiting one's turn and giving other students a chance. However, since there was a competition in play, I naturally made today an exception.
The fact that everybody in the class passed the test is irrelevant. The fact that I tripled some people's scores due to my speedy hand-in-the-air is clearly what matters.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sticklers unite!
There are some standard questions one is destined to encounter on striking up conversation with a fellow Westerner or local alike.
"How long have you been in Korea?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What was your major?" ("Well, I didn't minor in anything...")
"Math? And you're an English teacher?"
It doesn't seem logical. Of course when you realise that your job requirements are a degree and a native passport, what it says on your graduation certificate is of little importance as long as you know a few English idioms.
I realise I'm teaching kindergarten. I can barely get them to sit still let alone sit through a lesson on plurals. I do teach a class of predominantly enthusiastic nine year old girls once a day, and in exchange for cute stickers I get my fix of basic grammatical and spelling quizzes in. It doesn't quite cut it, though.
If you're a fellow pedant, perfectionist or downright obsessive, and we've ever had an online chat (or indeed offline, but the spoken word is so much more subjective, especially if we're not from the same country, or indeed county) you may have been subject to a correction or two. In fact, I like nothing more than to be corrected myself, to then do nothing less than shake my head in disbelief and hide in shame as I see I've just pressed "enter" to the opening, "So, its just that..." Admittedly my apostrophe key does stick and has often been victim of severe banging to get the little dash in place, but this is often a case of a bad typist blaming her keyboard.
Anyway, it has occurred to me that this is why I studied maths. I'm a grammar freak; a punctuation fascist; a spelling enthusiast. I like rules, I like to stick to them, and I like things to be right.
Since I've started studying Korean more seriously, my obsessions with language have been cranked up a notch or six. How can I possibly master a foreign language if I've not even mastered my own? It's got so bad that these days I don't even trust my Korean friends to give me accurate spelling advice, and certainly any blog post is always subject to extreme scrutiny and will likely be edited for comma use several times after publishing.
So, after this morning's ponderings on the Oxford comma, I left my apartment specifically to pick myself up a copy of Lynne Truss's "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". I remember it adorning every bookshop window at home on its first publication but was never aware of its contents. How I've been missing out. In the words of an old school friend, this book is orgasmic. It is feeding my incredulity at poorly punctuated signs, and consolidating my notions of when we should or should not use that poor apostrophe. Ms. Truss deems herself a "stickler" and, on racing through this book, it is evident I am one too.
Certainly badly signed shop windows are not something that I miss about England, but my fellow stickler friends I do. There are only so many people in one's social circles that you can share a good punctuation joke with.
"How long have you been in Korea?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What was your major?" ("Well, I didn't minor in anything...")
"Math? And you're an English teacher?"
It doesn't seem logical. Of course when you realise that your job requirements are a degree and a native passport, what it says on your graduation certificate is of little importance as long as you know a few English idioms.
I realise I'm teaching kindergarten. I can barely get them to sit still let alone sit through a lesson on plurals. I do teach a class of predominantly enthusiastic nine year old girls once a day, and in exchange for cute stickers I get my fix of basic grammatical and spelling quizzes in. It doesn't quite cut it, though.
If you're a fellow pedant, perfectionist or downright obsessive, and we've ever had an online chat (or indeed offline, but the spoken word is so much more subjective, especially if we're not from the same country, or indeed county) you may have been subject to a correction or two. In fact, I like nothing more than to be corrected myself, to then do nothing less than shake my head in disbelief and hide in shame as I see I've just pressed "enter" to the opening, "So, its just that..." Admittedly my apostrophe key does stick and has often been victim of severe banging to get the little dash in place, but this is often a case of a bad typist blaming her keyboard.
Anyway, it has occurred to me that this is why I studied maths. I'm a grammar freak; a punctuation fascist; a spelling enthusiast. I like rules, I like to stick to them, and I like things to be right.
Since I've started studying Korean more seriously, my obsessions with language have been cranked up a notch or six. How can I possibly master a foreign language if I've not even mastered my own? It's got so bad that these days I don't even trust my Korean friends to give me accurate spelling advice, and certainly any blog post is always subject to extreme scrutiny and will likely be edited for comma use several times after publishing.
So, after this morning's ponderings on the Oxford comma, I left my apartment specifically to pick myself up a copy of Lynne Truss's "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". I remember it adorning every bookshop window at home on its first publication but was never aware of its contents. How I've been missing out. In the words of an old school friend, this book is orgasmic. It is feeding my incredulity at poorly punctuated signs, and consolidating my notions of when we should or should not use that poor apostrophe. Ms. Truss deems herself a "stickler" and, on racing through this book, it is evident I am one too.
Certainly badly signed shop windows are not something that I miss about England, but my fellow stickler friends I do. There are only so many people in one's social circles that you can share a good punctuation joke with.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Oxford Comma
A fellow syntax enthusiast enlightened me of this delightful punctuation debate. It is not directly linked to my experiences in Korea (though I admit not all my posts of late are either), though as an interesting[1] aside - and something that may influence my writing style in the future - I am feeling compelled to share it.
The Oxford comma, or serial comma, is the last comma in a list of items preceding a conjunction: usually 'and' or 'or'. The list "red, white, and blue," uses the Oxford comma yet, while being identical in meaning, the list "red, white and blue," excludes it.
Apparently it is more common practice in American English than British English, though, and I imagine hence the name, the Oxford University Press recommends its use. There are arguments both ways for its use regarding standard conventions, ambiguity and redundancy.
Personally I have found myself making a conscious decision whether or not to include this comma, but until now have been unaware of its propriety, or indeed the scale of its worldwide debate[2]. Intuitively as I write I have felt it has been incorrect to include this comma, however I have been guilty of using it in order to emulate speech in its intended manner, or indeed to use the comma instead where semi-colons might also have been appropriate.
Since language is so subjective, ever changing and open to debate, I suppose I will continue to sit on the fence on this issue, use it where I deem necessary, and continue to blog in my occasionally haphazard way.[3]
[1] another debate
[2] this is another literary device. It is not the Oxford comma itself that is doing the debating as is literally suggested, but about the Oxford comma that there is debate. I forget the name for this and on searching am still none the wiser. Help would be appreciated.
[3] I purposefully (perhaps ironically) both used and did not use the Oxford comma in this sentence. In the first instance I felt it unnecessary since the meaning would not change with its inclusion; in the second I was replacing commas where semi-colons could have been used, and in which case the final semi-colon would always be used to indicate the list items clearly.
The Oxford comma, or serial comma, is the last comma in a list of items preceding a conjunction: usually 'and' or 'or'. The list "red, white, and blue," uses the Oxford comma yet, while being identical in meaning, the list "red, white and blue," excludes it.
Apparently it is more common practice in American English than British English, though, and I imagine hence the name, the Oxford University Press recommends its use. There are arguments both ways for its use regarding standard conventions, ambiguity and redundancy.
Personally I have found myself making a conscious decision whether or not to include this comma, but until now have been unaware of its propriety, or indeed the scale of its worldwide debate[2]. Intuitively as I write I have felt it has been incorrect to include this comma, however I have been guilty of using it in order to emulate speech in its intended manner, or indeed to use the comma instead where semi-colons might also have been appropriate.
Since language is so subjective, ever changing and open to debate, I suppose I will continue to sit on the fence on this issue, use it where I deem necessary, and continue to blog in my occasionally haphazard way.[3]
[1] another debate
[2] this is another literary device. It is not the Oxford comma itself that is doing the debating as is literally suggested, but about the Oxford comma that there is debate. I forget the name for this and on searching am still none the wiser. Help would be appreciated.
[3] I purposefully (perhaps ironically) both used and did not use the Oxford comma in this sentence. In the first instance I felt it unnecessary since the meaning would not change with its inclusion; in the second I was replacing commas where semi-colons could have been used, and in which case the final semi-colon would always be used to indicate the list items clearly.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Parents' Day
Tuesday was the bi-annual Parents' Day. It was originally scheduled for sometime last month, but was postponed due to lack of preparation. At the time I wondered how they could just change the date so flippantly, but as the new day approached I was glad they did. Having originally considered it as an excuse for a lazy day - just four half hour classes all day! - the prospect of having all the mummys scrutinising my classes and keeping count of how many times their darlings raised their hand suddenly became a little daunting, and it dawned on me that running through the day's events a couple of times beforehand might not be a bad idea.
One of my co-teachers suggested that I ran a post office themed class. With this in mind I got the kids to scrawl an "I love you mummy" note, complete with picture of mummy, which they could then 'send' at the 'post office' for Mary Teacher come Postman to deliver.
[On writing 'Mummy' on the board, I was ushered over by the boss who had chosen to sit in on one of my classes with her electronic dictionary out suggesting I'd spelt the word wrong. On explaining that we didn't use an 'o' in England, she then told me to write it both ways in case people got confused. I didn't.]
The day was generally a success. The mothers were embarassed as I asked them concurrently with their little ones how they were ("Oh!" they'd giggle. Making a big circle with my arms to help them understand I'd ask, "Tiger's Mummy, are you happy?" to which I might receive an embarassed nod, or if they were feeling especially brave a, "Yes, happy") and the children seemed to have miraculously learnt my simple post office roleplay dialogue overnight. Really, my fears were unfounded as my initial visions of an easy day came true.
Yesterday Lauren and I spent our morning at Children's Grand Park. Not a national holiday this time, but a whole school inspection by the board of education in Korea. When we arrived at school for our afternoon classes we came to realise that as we were enjoying the animals and gardens, the time off might not have been quite out of the kindness of their hearts but a ploy to hide us from sight. I know we're not technically employed by the kindergarten itself, but perhaps this English teaching is all a little more underhand than we'd realised.
One of my co-teachers suggested that I ran a post office themed class. With this in mind I got the kids to scrawl an "I love you mummy" note, complete with picture of mummy, which they could then 'send' at the 'post office' for Mary Teacher come Postman to deliver.
[On writing 'Mummy' on the board, I was ushered over by the boss who had chosen to sit in on one of my classes with her electronic dictionary out suggesting I'd spelt the word wrong. On explaining that we didn't use an 'o' in England, she then told me to write it both ways in case people got confused. I didn't.]
The day was generally a success. The mothers were embarassed as I asked them concurrently with their little ones how they were ("Oh!" they'd giggle. Making a big circle with my arms to help them understand I'd ask, "Tiger's Mummy, are you happy?" to which I might receive an embarassed nod, or if they were feeling especially brave a, "Yes, happy") and the children seemed to have miraculously learnt my simple post office roleplay dialogue overnight. Really, my fears were unfounded as my initial visions of an easy day came true.
Yesterday Lauren and I spent our morning at Children's Grand Park. Not a national holiday this time, but a whole school inspection by the board of education in Korea. When we arrived at school for our afternoon classes we came to realise that as we were enjoying the animals and gardens, the time off might not have been quite out of the kindness of their hearts but a ploy to hide us from sight. I know we're not technically employed by the kindergarten itself, but perhaps this English teaching is all a little more underhand than we'd realised.Tuesday, May 13, 2008
They killed Wash! (i.e. I ♥ Joss)
Life
Somehow life got busy. I don't know how, or when, but not so long ago the days at school were seriously dragging and I was struggling to get through to the next 'checkpoint', be that the next national holiday or kindy field trip. But somehow, I guess since we stopped feeling guilty about leaving over an hour earlier than the other teachers at school, the days are flying by and with them the weeks, and now, months.
But not only that, it seems my Sundays in front of MegaTV have been somewhat limited lately. It's a shame, since I do love a good Sunday afternoon film, but travelling Korea's most "well-touristed" sights, fuelling my growing salsa dancing obsession several times a week, and working on my slowly improving Korean skills seem to be taking up the majority of my free time. Nonetheless, last Sunday I sneaked in a morning film.
Serenity
Reminiscent of my childhood obsession with vampires, I spent a good portion of my revision days at university watching all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer plus commentaries and generally falling in love with creator Joss Whedon. On chatting to a fellow Whedon fan about Buffy's final villain Caleb, I learned that the actor was the star of another of Whedon's creations: Firefly.
Now I've heard several times over that the show was a flop due to FOX airing the series out of order, and yet a good handful of my geeking acquaintances were selling the series to me. The concept - set in the future after "Earth-that-was" has long been destroyed, a bunch of misfits follow captain Malcolm Reynolds in his Firefly spaceship, taking on whatever jobs they can to rub a few pennies together - honestly sounded a bit, um, crap. Sci-fi isn't my preferred genre of big-screen action, but in true Joss style, the characters are so endearing, and Mal is so dry-humoured and witty, that to this show, too, I became addicted.
So of course watching the follow-up film Serenity was a must-do on my ever-long to-watch list. I am in fact amazed that it took me this long to get around to it.
If I'd not seen the series I'm not sure I'd have been quite as enthralled: even though the plot was well executed I didn't feel all the characters were developed well, and that it was taken for granted that the viewer knew the background of their relationships. (Like, was there any sexual tension between Caleigh and Simon? And where did Inara spring from?!) Nonetheless, Mal's character shone through from the start, and the film resolved all hanging issues nicely. And of course, someone had to die; I can only apologise for the spoiler.
OK, enough rambling about random films I'm watching.
Another national holiday
Yesterday was Buddha's birthday and thus another day off work to take advantage of. Unfortunately due to frolicking in Busan, we missed the Lotus Lantern parade last weekend. Still, last night Lauren and I got to Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul to witness the lighting of the lanterns that have been slowly increasing in number across the country over the past couple of months.
It was a beautiful ceremony, and I was dead impressed at that monk playing that really big drum, but not being of remotely Buddhist origin the mass praying became a bit much for us.
Meeting the locals
Now admittedly people often like to practise their (occasionally limited) English skills on foreign passers-by. You can feel the covert looks on the subway, and can tick down the seconds until they pluck up the courage to engage you and ask the inevitable "Where you from?".
Not quite so covertly, on the ride home last night a bunch of high school boys were rock-scissor-papering it up under my gaze, daring one another to talk to me. Not fitting the usual motives, it actually turned out they couldn't even understand my basic "How old are you?" question despite the fact they've probably been studying English at school for a good several years now. Rather raised some doubt regarding the intense Korean education system. Still, it was amusing watching the boys beating each other up (literally and mentally) and simultaneously handy getting a free Korean lesson in at the same time. As politely as I knew how, I declined the invitation to meet them again...
Pottery making
To back-post even further, on Saturday Lauren and Anne-Sophie, a friend from my Korean class, hit the traffic-logged roads towards Icheon: a small city in the southwest of Seoul famous for its pottery and annual ceramics festival that is currently being hosted. Icheon is also apparently famous for its rice "that tastes so good it needs no side dishes", but it would seem that I'm no rice connoisseur as it neither looked nor tasted much different to the various rice-based creations that are doled out in every food establishment I've visited.
However, rather than a rice tasting day, we booked a pottery tour, of which the highlight was making our own clay creations.
Lauren turned out to be some kind of ceramics master, but without a doubt, despite a self-titled aptitude for arts and crafts, out of our group including the two fellow Brits who'd joined up with us, my attempt was literally the flop as it just failed to sustain any kind of pot-like shape. The nice lady watching over me was even in looks of despair, shaking her head with noises of "어떻게!" under her breath.
Unable to face the failure any longer, I succumbed to my clay and embraced the shape it was insisting on assuming. Still, with a burst in the fiery furnace and a lick of celadon, I'm sure my makeshift dipping dish will serve me well...
Somehow life got busy. I don't know how, or when, but not so long ago the days at school were seriously dragging and I was struggling to get through to the next 'checkpoint', be that the next national holiday or kindy field trip. But somehow, I guess since we stopped feeling guilty about leaving over an hour earlier than the other teachers at school, the days are flying by and with them the weeks, and now, months.
But not only that, it seems my Sundays in front of MegaTV have been somewhat limited lately. It's a shame, since I do love a good Sunday afternoon film, but travelling Korea's most "well-touristed" sights, fuelling my growing salsa dancing obsession several times a week, and working on my slowly improving Korean skills seem to be taking up the majority of my free time. Nonetheless, last Sunday I sneaked in a morning film.
Serenity
Reminiscent of my childhood obsession with vampires, I spent a good portion of my revision days at university watching all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer plus commentaries and generally falling in love with creator Joss Whedon. On chatting to a fellow Whedon fan about Buffy's final villain Caleb, I learned that the actor was the star of another of Whedon's creations: Firefly.
Now I've heard several times over that the show was a flop due to FOX airing the series out of order, and yet a good handful of my geeking acquaintances were selling the series to me. The concept - set in the future after "Earth-that-was" has long been destroyed, a bunch of misfits follow captain Malcolm Reynolds in his Firefly spaceship, taking on whatever jobs they can to rub a few pennies together - honestly sounded a bit, um, crap. Sci-fi isn't my preferred genre of big-screen action, but in true Joss style, the characters are so endearing, and Mal is so dry-humoured and witty, that to this show, too, I became addicted.
So of course watching the follow-up film Serenity was a must-do on my ever-long to-watch list. I am in fact amazed that it took me this long to get around to it.
If I'd not seen the series I'm not sure I'd have been quite as enthralled: even though the plot was well executed I didn't feel all the characters were developed well, and that it was taken for granted that the viewer knew the background of their relationships. (Like, was there any sexual tension between Caleigh and Simon? And where did Inara spring from?!) Nonetheless, Mal's character shone through from the start, and the film resolved all hanging issues nicely. And of course, someone had to die; I can only apologise for the spoiler.
OK, enough rambling about random films I'm watching.
Another national holiday
Yesterday was Buddha's birthday and thus another day off work to take advantage of. Unfortunately due to frolicking in Busan, we missed the Lotus Lantern parade last weekend. Still, last night Lauren and I got to Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul to witness the lighting of the lanterns that have been slowly increasing in number across the country over the past couple of months.It was a beautiful ceremony, and I was dead impressed at that monk playing that really big drum, but not being of remotely Buddhist origin the mass praying became a bit much for us.
Meeting the locals
Now admittedly people often like to practise their (occasionally limited) English skills on foreign passers-by. You can feel the covert looks on the subway, and can tick down the seconds until they pluck up the courage to engage you and ask the inevitable "Where you from?".
Not quite so covertly, on the ride home last night a bunch of high school boys were rock-scissor-papering it up under my gaze, daring one another to talk to me. Not fitting the usual motives, it actually turned out they couldn't even understand my basic "How old are you?" question despite the fact they've probably been studying English at school for a good several years now. Rather raised some doubt regarding the intense Korean education system. Still, it was amusing watching the boys beating each other up (literally and mentally) and simultaneously handy getting a free Korean lesson in at the same time. As politely as I knew how, I declined the invitation to meet them again...
Pottery making
To back-post even further, on Saturday Lauren and Anne-Sophie, a friend from my Korean class, hit the traffic-logged roads towards Icheon: a small city in the southwest of Seoul famous for its pottery and annual ceramics festival that is currently being hosted. Icheon is also apparently famous for its rice "that tastes so good it needs no side dishes", but it would seem that I'm no rice connoisseur as it neither looked nor tasted much different to the various rice-based creations that are doled out in every food establishment I've visited.
However, rather than a rice tasting day, we booked a pottery tour, of which the highlight was making our own clay creations.
Lauren turned out to be some kind of ceramics master, but without a doubt, despite a self-titled aptitude for arts and crafts, out of our group including the two fellow Brits who'd joined up with us, my attempt was literally the flop as it just failed to sustain any kind of pot-like shape. The nice lady watching over me was even in looks of despair, shaking her head with noises of "어떻게!" under her breath.Unable to face the failure any longer, I succumbed to my clay and embraced the shape it was insisting on assuming. Still, with a burst in the fiery furnace and a lick of celadon, I'm sure my makeshift dipping dish will serve me well...
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Korean language course
Having been in Korea for over three months now, and having not really learnt very much Korean, I thought it was time to enroll in some kind of course. I'd done a bit of self-study, but it turns out that after a long day at work going home to use my brain even further wasn't very appealing and motivation was running thin.
It is thus that I have enrolled at the Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, where they give free Korean lessons to foreigners (that's tautology; if you're not foreign why do you need lessons?). The lessons are conducted by volunteers, and there are several levels to get through with a level test on completion of each month. Apparently having learnt a bit of basic vocabulary allows you to jump straight in the second class, so I was a bit unsure of what to expect.
My first class was good though - we learnt a bit of grammar and did lots of partner dialoguing. Though the class is only on once a week, there's plenty of material to be getting my teeth into before the next class! Motivation is still needed for self-study, but a bit of friendly competition with ones classmates always helps -- at least for me. "If it's a competition, I'm there". Certainly makes me hope I'm as inspiring to my kids to study hard...but the number that appeared to have learnt the entire English language overnight is a positive sign ;-)
And as a quick plug for those in Korea, if you're not looking for a serious course, I'd certainly recommend these classes for a well thought-out, free programme; check out their website for more details.
It is thus that I have enrolled at the Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, where they give free Korean lessons to foreigners (that's tautology; if you're not foreign why do you need lessons?). The lessons are conducted by volunteers, and there are several levels to get through with a level test on completion of each month. Apparently having learnt a bit of basic vocabulary allows you to jump straight in the second class, so I was a bit unsure of what to expect.
My first class was good though - we learnt a bit of grammar and did lots of partner dialoguing. Though the class is only on once a week, there's plenty of material to be getting my teeth into before the next class! Motivation is still needed for self-study, but a bit of friendly competition with ones classmates always helps -- at least for me. "If it's a competition, I'm there". Certainly makes me hope I'm as inspiring to my kids to study hard...but the number that appeared to have learnt the entire English language overnight is a positive sign ;-)
And as a quick plug for those in Korea, if you're not looking for a serious course, I'd certainly recommend these classes for a well thought-out, free programme; check out their website for more details.
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