안녕하세요!

I've been taking Korean Language classes for some time now.



My 선생님 (teacher) is a middle-aged Korean lady from Seoul. Her husband and her daughter works and studies in Singapore respectively.

Enunciation of the Korean terms does not come naturally for me, but my 선생님 (teacher)'s infectious energy and personality make one pay attention in class. It helps that she does not speak fluent English because it forces the class to focus on what she's trying to put across, especially when she is describing a Korean term or phenomenon. From what I have gathered, it seems she has a post-graduate degree in Korean linguistics.

The class is made up of say around 25 students mostly in their 20s (=_=) in tables of 4 to 5. There are only 2 guys in the class. Apparently, there is a table of Samsung staff. Also, there is this particular table which is located right in front of our 선생님 (teacher). That table seems to be quite advanced. They know many Korean terms, always finish their homework, and always score highly for the weekly spelling test. (Nabeh.)

Somehow, I ended up at a table at the back, consisting of 3 females (all working in accounting firms), a guy in a software firm (who plays soccer with his Korean colleagues), and me. One of the females at my table has a Korean boyfriend. The girls are obviously K-wave fans. I only know Cruel Temptations, Here Comes Ajumma, Kim Yu Na, and some swear words taught by my Korean MBA classmates (which I tried to teach my table last week when 선생님 (teacher) introduced us to the word 'dog' *evil smile*).
Damn! I'm very behind.

And the other day, one of my table mates asked me if I had a blog. O_o

I love being back in class.
My mind cannot help but to wonder about South Korea's history, cultural influences, similarities with the Chinese language/dialects, national pride etc.
For example, 'radio' is formally known as 라디오 'lah-dee-yo' in Korean. And it is incorrect to pronounce it as 'radio' when you are speaking in Korean.

Now, compare that with how embarrassed we are taught to feel if we cannot speak English/Mandarin 'correctly' in the Singaporean context. I think such self-chastising is symptomatic of underlying and fundamental inferiority complex and insecurity of a people.

Ok, I have to go study... There is a major test next week, and I have only been scrapping past my spelling tests!!

My brain is too slow and my heart is too purist.
I have been resisting to memorise the Korean terms, but instead attempting to learn by phonetics. This has proven to be ULTRA inefficient, because whenever I try to give myself mock spelling tests at home, I confuse myself with my own bad pronunciation. Then, during the actual test, I can't recognise what my teacher has read to the class. DUH?! I have to fix my learning technique, i.e. going back to good old rote learning. =_=

ROAR! 죽어!