Learning a language without paying for it.

We live in a world with countless amounts of technology and written-down material for us to use. Why waste* money on classes or language learning CD's when a simple click here and little bit of downloading (legally of course) there can further your knowledge of a language??!



There's no catch to this, I'm serious. Just don't leave me on this page alone! STAY! I'm lonely!!



The first steps I took towards learning Korean was super simple.

1. Learn how to read!
Depending on the language you are learning the writing system could be super simple or super difficult.
I managed to learn how to read Korean in about three days. Every vowel, sound, and accent was self taught.

How I did it - Countless amounts of picture references on Google search would appear when I looked up "How to read and write Korean". I wrote down each and every letter on the Hangul script and looked over them as I would for any vocabulary test in English class. Then I made references as to what each symbol would look like as you can see in the picture below. YouTube videos also helped out in the long run!

Then I quickly learned how to group the sounds together to fit in each syllable.

*NOTE: Some languages will take much longer to learn how to read in. Most notably Chinese. Chinese and Japanese tend to look a lot similar to each other but Japanese is relatively easier to learn the writing system for compared to Chinese where there are stroke upon strokes to create one sound in pitch.

2. If you are on year one, pretend you are one year.

The best thing to do is act your second language's age! If you are starting to form sentences but only small ones like "I'm hungry" and "I love you so much."...let's not lie to ourselves you're not fluent. Even if your accent is incredible you'll sound like a one year old to what ever native you are speaking to if you travel to your chosen Country.

Face the facts! You are not that good yet! It took me three years just to learn how to properly hold a conversation without sound like a robot. Pace yourself. Everyone learns at a different pace. Chances are if you are learning Russian, the language won't be wiped off the records in one night. If you rush yourself too much and it's finally time to talk to a native you're going to sound like someone shoveled a three foot rod up your rear and spun it around.

How I did it - 

Listen to Children's bed time songs

Watch child shows

I'll help out with this one a bit. If you are learning Japanese. The ever so classic "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

If you are learning Russian

Although the Russian song it kind of hard to hear, the lyrics are given and if you followed the first steps then try to read along with the song! You'll begin improving on you're recognition skills because of this!!

If you are learning Korean

The three bears song it the easiest to learn. Don't complain either! The lyrics are in English and in Korean, not to mention the sounds of the Hangul are written out just for you!

And one more. If you are learning Chinese. Another version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"!!

 I don't know why but I really this version. For some reason I want to hug the kid singing this but also kick him a few times.What!? He sounds like he's yelling!! ke

3. Memrise.com

I've only been using Memrise for a few months now and I've learned up hundreds of vocabulary words. Using Memrise is not only fun and competitive but it's also a great way to subconsciously pick up new words. Although some of the words might sound like they aren't very common learn them anyways! If there is a word for something then it's important! Just because you don't think you need to learn the word for dishwasher in German when you are learning that language doesn't mean you should ignore it !

There is only one problem with this one though....

For languages that don't use the roman alphabet (Asian languages, Russian, etc.") typing in the vocabulary word would be nearly impossible without having a type of writing system downloaded through your computer.

What I do is Copy and Paste the vocabulary word into Note Pad (I use sticky notes but they were downloaded onto my desktop when I first purchased it).

When the question comes up as to what the word for something it, quickly click over into word pad, highlight, copy, and paste the answer into the bar shown.

 4. Facebook

Depending on the language you have chosen pages could be spread out all over the web!

I myself am in the Korean Language Learning group along with countless other pages that are purely Korean. One of my favorites translates to "For a friend" and shows videos and pictures that are so touching or funny that you just have to send it to your friends!!

5. Movies

A great Japanese movie I have just bought through Amazon was actually directed by Clint Eastwood and stars a JPOP star as one of the main characters. It was one of the most beautifully written stories with dramatic twistes and heart breaking scenes. 

The movie depicts the battle for Iwo Jima during the 1944 Japo-American battle. 10/10 movie. It is almost completely in Japanese other than the few scenes that you could see in the trailer below. It is rated R only because of the gore. There is no boobies and sex men, sorry.

While watching a movie you might not be exactly speaking the language but you will be picking up on how certain words are said and how sentences are emphasized. A great way to practice your speech skills is by pausing the movie and replaying a certain sentence or scene until every word is burned into your mind. Then when you hear a word or phrases that was used in the scene you're brain will punch itself in the memories.... if that makes sense.

So as you can see, there are countless ways to learn. I would suggest not buying travel books unless you are actually traveling overseas and need a quick way out of a language boundary situation. Instead invest in a dictionary. 

What ever you can get your hands on that can you help, use it. Music, fashion, news, and movies are all small pieces of knowledge that will connect together when learning to speak, read, and write.

Tips and tricks

*Take a little bit of time each day to learn something new or review a previous lesson.

*Speak a bit of your language to yourself and test out your accent. Say it a few times in different ways until you are comfortable.

*If you learned some thing use it. Ex : If your dog is being loud and you just learning the word for "SHUT UP!" yell it a few times! It helps keep everything nice and fresh in your mind and on your tongue.

Good luck!

-Amber

Korean Music-From fire dances to booty shaking. (Through the years)

     Just like American music Korean music has different genres that are based towards a certain group of people or feeling.
It's very interesting to see how the music of Korea has developed and grown from it's original roots in the Joseon era.

Traditional

In the video below the woman is playing a traditional type of instrument called the  GAYAGUEM (say that five times fast and I'll give you a shinny nickel.

Because we are uncultured Americans, *sorry but it's a sad truth. we automatically piece together this type of music with Chinese, as we do with almost anything related to Asia.


Chinese have the Guzheng, Koreans have the Gayaguem, Japanese have the Koto.
All which are very similar in style but vary in sound.

Trot

The next type of music is called TROT music. Apparently to Korea it is an original form of pop music but..... Idunno. Trot music had become a thing of the past in South Korea but is still practiced and sung throughout  North Korea.... only because North Korea is stuck in the early and middle 1900's. Sad.

Here is a young high school student by the name of Yoo Min Ji singing trot on Korea's got talent. 

The Song starts on point mark   2:30

Rock

Now we can move onto rock music! WEEEEE! Here's a fun fact for you - Rock music was introduced to Korea by American soldiers after the Korean War.

Here is a song by the band Guyz (who I sadly haven't heard of until recently)

If you enjoy Japanese rock you'll love this especially because the lead singer looks Japanese. (No kidding- the shape of the nose and eyes really make it seem so but he is Korean)

 

Now we're talking!

Hip Hop

Now let's move onto Hip hop. GAWD IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!

By far my favorite type of Korean music is Hip Hop and Rap. I feel like the rhythm flows so freely and it almost feels like the singers are stumbling over their words but in a way to match the beat .

Here is a song made by the group MFBTY which is made up of three popular rappers and Hip Hop artists in Korea. 

Tiger JK, T- Yoon Mi Rae ,and Bizzy.

The song is supposed to reflect Tiger JK (AKA Drunken Tiger)'s sleep paralyses disorder and what an amazing job they've done!!!

KPOP!

Finally! I know everyone must have been on the edge of their seats to get to the ever so popular KPOP. So I'll be posting a few different songs. The first being one of my favorite songs of 2012, MAMA.

One of Exo's amazing debut songs MAMA is powerful and sexy. It tells the tale of each member and how they struggle to live among each other because of their fight for best hair---I- I mean fight for ultimate power...yeah.

P.s. there's even a little bit of scream-o in this one! Sweet! It only lasts for six seconds but it was a cool six seconds!

Sexy am I right? Mwhaha.

Now I'll show you another of my favorite bands. They debuted just a few years before I was introduced into the pop cultured world of Korea and sexy boys so it took me a while to catch up on the songs and interviews and blahblahbllllaah but I managed. It was so hard *sob. But I loved it. It was like striking gold in a field of mud.

The ever so strange Fantastic Baby!

P.s. - Top loving the hair but chill out on the green eye brows they scare me.

Okay, so here is a classic in the Kpop world as you can tell by the 105,546,595 views it has reached. Girls' Generation is made up of super spunky, super cute, and super...skinny girls. During their debut they stuck to the "oh look at my I'm so cute and fluffy" appeal but somehow managed to shake it off with a song called Run Devil Run which is shown below their most popular GEE.

RUN DEVIL RUN

wow.... that took a sharp turn fast didn't it?

R&B

Koreans have this one down in stone. Almost every R&B song I've heard or music video I've seen was oozing with sex appeal, fashion, and badassery. One of my favorites is the 2013 hit by CL entitled "The Baddest Female" but translates to "The Baddest Bitch" and I LOOOOOVE IT.

Enjoy

And finally the chilled down and ever so soothing K-Indie.

There are too many KIndie bands for me to show but I'll post a few of my favorites.

I had shown a video of Busker Busker in a class I had taught for my senior project this past year and they loved it! The video I had shown was Cherry Blossom Ending but I'll be showing a different song for now.

The song is called "

"  외로움증폭장치" - Loneliness Amplifier

Wow. If this was the last song I heard before I died my life would close perfectly.

For this next song I unfortunately cannot translate the lyrical meaning but the title meaning of "

"우리 지금 만나" means "Let's meet right now"

Welp.... I'm sure there are many more types of music I'm missing but I'm pouring everything I know into a little glass for you to drink so drink it an enjoy you greedy people! Just kidding don't hurt me.

-Bye for now!

Mom I want to be a porn star.

    Even at an early age we are asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and let's get serious.... has little Emily with the blond pigtails ever looked up at you with a smile and say "Mommy, I want to be a porn star?" I'm not bashing on porn stars just keep reading!

And if Emily has answered that question with that specific answer oh boy you better click that seat belt in because you are on the fail train and reality is a giant wall that your going to painfully eat sh*t on.

At an early age I knew what I wanted to be. I had my mind set to be an artist and if I was asked as to what my future occupation was when I was older I would say a painter, or a sketch artist but honestly I didn't know either of those words so I would probably say something along the lines of "a colorer...er?"

and hey, we all have our dreams. 

My brother wanted to be a firetruck. When my mom used to parade him around she would have to explain to all of her coworkers that he was a young boy with a big imagination but the week after he would suddenly change his mind and want to be a lawyer. Good for him!  The little truck who could. Please don't hurt me Eric.

But as senior year approaches and college offers start piling up I don't know whether to be happy or sad. It's like drinking a nice cup of warm tea in the morning but after you're finished with the tea you have to go to the bathroom. Oh NO!, to get to the bathroom you have to walk up allll of those stairs. (About 30 years of horrible hardworking stairs). Finally when you get to the bathroom a nicely dressed man kicks you in the jewels and you fall down the stairs only to start slowly walking up again.



This adds pressure. What if I end up going to a college that I don't like. What if I end up wasting my money learning something I don't like. What if I can't pay off my loans? What if I really do have to become a firetruck? *cough.How did that get there?

So this is what I have in mind. Bend the system until it breaks in two. Go for what I want instead of what I think will "benefit me". Meet people who are interested in things that I am interest in. Shake hands and smile....and mean it! Because if you play your cards right and always wake up smiling (ohgawdthisisgettingsappy) then chances are your mind frame will be a lot bright and wider and you'll be able to love your irreversibly short life! YAY!



-------- and a bit of Korean for the road.