Language learning is hard, but it can also be a lot of fun. Always keep in mind your personal goals and what success looks like to you. If you can understand and communicate effectively in your target language, that’s a win. Also, constantly be on the lookout for varied ways to challenge and motivate yourself.
One way I’ve recently discovered is using the Blue Letter Bible parallel version. On the left, I have Korean and on the right, I have English. This is really nice because I can read Korean in bite-sized (a single verse) pieces. I take each word and copy and paste it into either a Korean/English dictionary or Google Translate. In this way, I learn specific words and how ideas are put together in Korean. It’s cool seeing this side by side with English. However, it’s not a direct translation. There are subtle differences between the two that makes my Bible study much more rich. Korea has a very different culture from America. Therefore, going from the Bible’s original language (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic) to Korean is going to be different from the Bible’s original language to English.
Another fun way to keep myself motivated is language app games. There are SOOOO many available. I love the Patchim app. (I wrote a blog post about it recently.) Another fun app game is Infinite Korean (available on google play and apple app store) by Jernung. It’s a very simple space meteor game with pictures and sounds, focused on vocabulary, food, transportation, animals, etc. Korean Bubble Bath by Overpass apps is a lot of fun. It’s calm and you get to pop bubbles! A final (for now) is Learn Korean-Beginners by BNR Languages. This one is also vocabulary focused, with specific vocabulary for everything from verbs to food to body parts. Each section is further divided into three test areas, listening, reading, and writing.
A final way (for now:) to challenge yourself is through listening to songs in your target language and following along with the lyrics. Youtube has some really cool ‘Color Coded Lyrics’ available so you can follow along with your favorite songs. My favorites are the ones which show it with the Korean Hangul, romanized, and English. Another thing you can do is look up the lyrics to your favorite song online and simply play your song on repeat as you follow along. You can set it in either the original language script or romanized.
Language learning is such a wonderful way to challenge your brain, gain new skills, give yourself opportunities to make new friends, and play games guilt free. Enjoy the process!
ChristinaLiLanguages 