If there is a peak to language learning motivation, I think mine comes at the year-end. It’s the thought of “shit, the year is ending and what have I accomplished?!” that makes me suddenly very motivated lol. After spending an entire year some time trying to develop the optimal language learning routine (amongst all the other commitments blah blah), I hereby announced that I AM STILL NOT GETTING ANYWHERE. uh oops.
There is some slight improvement over the months, but I’m still nowhere near a good routine. But at least the number of “motivated days” seems to be increasing haha.
December 2017 is not too bad so far. I’m learning to factor in more Korean news tv time and trying to read more during commute time. I also made a video of me getting my Japanese books dusted and ready to be used (hahaha ok the video does not include the actual act of wiping the books lol). I’m still very proud that I managed to record a video!
Using new equipment, so hopefully that means more videos in the future!
Another accomplishment (of sorts) is that I’m starting to learn the Russian alphabet!!! привет! I typed that out ok!! Not copy and paste. Although I must admit that I used the phonetic keyboard on the Mac, instead of the proper Russian keyboard which I can’t quite comprehend yet (is the assignment of keys to alphabet not according to sound??).
I don’t know why I suddenly feel like learning Russian. I even added a lot of Russian pop songs on Spotify hahaha. But it seems like such a cool language and I’m excited to learn more about Russia 🙂 I don’t know if this will end up to be a long term thing (or I’ll give up soon), but I’m at least determined to finish learning the whole alphabet (I’m 2/3 through). Since it’s a new language pursuit, I think I’ll probably be more open to trying out different resources. Downloaded Duolingo and Memrise (which I don’t foresee myself using for Korean/Japanese learning) and will talk about them next time! Found another interesting app that I’ll play with first before sharing 🙂
Languages aside, I need to do something about my lifestyle/posture. I kept looking down to read stuff on my phone (on the table) and I’m nursing a terrible neckache. and backache. and everywhere ache. lol. I need to watch my diet too but urgh I tend to snack a lot when I’m very busy (and I’m very busy this year….) hahaha. Oh well.
Hope you guys enjoy the video and do leave me a comment too!
27 Comments
Riccardo
18 December, 2017 at 2:13 AM新完全マスター’s grammar books are really dry, but they are useful especially if used together with other sources ^^
Good luck with Russian alphabet! During high school I attended some Russian lessons, but I’ve forgot almost everything lol
Hangukdrama
18 December, 2017 at 10:32 PMyes really dry >< Trying to balance that out with other reading materials such as Japanese novels or articles online hahaha. I wished I had taken Russian classes in school too! I went to look for classes and they are expensive!
Rebecca
18 December, 2017 at 9:18 PMRussian seems nice (and difficult hahaha)! 🙂
You’re such an inspiration for those you are self-studying foreign languages! I’ve attended Japanese class for 5 years and I recently decided to quit and study by myself. I thought it was impossible, but then I found your blog and realized that it’s not impossible at all.
I’m currently using Nihongo So Matome N2 for grammar, but I plan to use the Kanzen series later as review. 😀
Hangukdrama
18 December, 2017 at 10:35 PMHi Rebecca!
aww happy to hear that!! 🙂 Is that book good? have seen it in bookstores!
Penelope
19 December, 2017 at 2:47 AMAre the aches from lack of exercise ? If so go exercise. I find it so random that you’re learning Russian but go for it. I know you mentioned you had no interest in learning Romance languages and you’ve only learned Asian languages so it was a surprise for me.
Penelope
19 December, 2017 at 2:48 AMAs a long time learner of Japanese I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to learn a language is AJATT and reading and listening which Steve Kaufman ( he has a blog and YouTube channel) believes in . I think memrise and duoligo is a waste of time and terribly inefficient
Archana
19 December, 2017 at 4:15 AMOoh, good luck with Russian! It’s always seemed like a really cool language to me. I find Duolingo so boring — though from an app development/growth perspective, what they’ve built is pretty snazzy.
My posture is SO BAD. I have constant backaches hahaha…
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:12 PMIt’s a pretty cool app, but I don’t know if it’s something I would really use consistently.
Fay
19 December, 2017 at 9:10 AMHi Shanna! First I want to say I have enjoyed reading your blog and have been following it for awhile!(although just recently subscribed)
But on this topic I totally understand! I do this every year with my Korean and Japanese studies haha. It’s not like I’m slacking ..much, but by the years end I’m thinking what did I really learn?
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:12 PMHi Fay! Thanks for liking the blog 😀 hahahaha I know right. Year end reflection. 😛 But I’m sure in our own ways, we are still progressing!
sfsd
19 December, 2017 at 10:36 AMone quantitative thing that i can measure is the number of books i read. for japanese i read about 24 books and in english i read about 35 (this includes audiobooks) and 0 books in korean. so i am disappointed by the number of books i read in japanese but at the same time i think it’s inevitable since there’s so many books i want to read in english and in japanese and i also work full time. i ordered a bunch of korean books in the beginning of 2017 but i’ve been deodorizing them for a long time as you can tell since aladin screwed up the packaging. I did read a few short stories in korean though. I was dokusho meter for japanese and goodreads for english.
sfsd
19 December, 2017 at 12:12 PMOH AND I also have my anki decks so i can look at the stats or how many cards i added over the years. do you have any quantifiable data you could share with us? lol.
sfsd
19 December, 2017 at 12:20 PMdokushometer is cool because it gives me stats like number of pages read and i can interact with japanese peeps
https://bookmeter.com/users/124681
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:13 PMhaha I’m never a “numbers” person so I don’t keep track at all. I guess I read the most in Chinese 🙂
Penelope
19 December, 2017 at 2:20 PMMaybe you should consider getting a kindle for learning Japanese. They have great dictionaries for Japanese English and Japanese Japanese. You can email articles to the kindle and also read books on them ( there are lots you can download for free and illegally that won awards or are famous light novels… and there’s great stuff on Aozora bunko as well). You could look into buying stuff on Japanese Amazon. It also saves all your lookups so you can later look at them on the computer and do whatever you want to do with them. If you read in English your local library might have ebooks available to borrow. Only downside is kindle does not have Korean. Dictionaries. In fact most ereader s don’t have Korean dictionaries. You can still email Korean articles and read them on the kindle. Best of all your eyes don’t hurt like when you stare at the computer.
It just seems like a better use of 90 dollars than 4 textbooks that you have to force yourself to read
sfsd
20 December, 2017 at 6:01 AMI got curious and searched for korean books with 도서 소설 토렌트 and there’s a lot of books. i just gotta figure out which of these books are the ones for me. so ther’es another reason to get a kindle!
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:14 PMI thought of a kindle before but I guess I didn’t need another device. I read quite often on my phone though 🙂
sfsd
27 December, 2017 at 6:43 AMmy eyes hurt looking at the phone or computer screen so i love my kindle. i also send articles to my kindel .the kindle has a great pop-up dictionary for j-j- and j-e
Grace Osas
19 December, 2017 at 8:36 PMGood luck on your Russian language learning!
I myself have not progressed a lot in Korean when it comes to writing, but I do understand a lot now and am starting to take down korean vocab with spanish explanations to help with language laddering.
sfsd
20 December, 2017 at 12:05 PMand looking down promotes neck lines and face sagging and all that so definitely try to change your habits!
sfsd
21 December, 2017 at 6:30 AMby the way how is your comprehension of korean news? do you know most of the vocabulary or are there big gaps? is your listening comprehension effortless or do you find that it just goes through you if it’s too fast or unfamiliar or you’re zoned out? just curious !
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:15 PMI guess it really depends on the topics. You?
Samara
23 December, 2017 at 6:37 PMI am studying so hard because the year ending is coming XD I thought that it was just me haha
I am planning to take the Topik II in April of 2018 and only now I am looking for old tests… I want finish books that I’m using at least.
Recently I’m copying so much texts in Korean from books and reading it aloud. It is wonderful how my brain can keep a word used in context.
I need to end 2017 finishing something haha
Shanna, you’ll always be my inspiration to keep studying Korean!
Hangukdrama
23 December, 2017 at 9:16 PMNice! I’m probably taking TOPIK then too 🙂
Maria
13 January, 2018 at 2:00 PMHi Shanna! I was so glad to see that you became interested in Russian because I’m Russian) You videos always motivate me a lot! No matter will you continue with Russian or not, this just made a little bit happier?
I wish you good luck with your learning and never loosing motivation?
Hangukdrama
13 January, 2018 at 9:10 PMHi Maria! aww thanks :))
Maria
14 January, 2018 at 3:14 AMOh my god…Sorry for my English)