#Approximate translation / transcript as always please let me know if there's a better way to phrase things! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

absentplatypus · 3 years

Text

Hey, remember how I said I was going to post a little something writing today? Well, here it is. It’s called ‘The Krakow Tapes’ and it’s a story/document about five tapes found in Krakow, Poland, (hence the name). It’s very inspired by the SCP Foundation, but it is not an SCP, it’s my own original piece. I think it also has some of the vibes of the Magnus Archives, so think of it as a bit of a combo between the two. Full story under the cut, as it’s 3,556 words.

Entry #: 4061---------> The Krakow Tapes

Description:

The Krakow Tapes are a collection of five recordings recovered in Krakow, Poland in 2015. These recordings feature a variety of locations in and around the city. The recurring cast, so to speak, is formed by a redheaded woman, a blonde woman, two men with dark hair, and the man behind the camera, of whom we only get scant glimpses.

The recordings are made using equipment that would date them to the 1960s, but the dress of the people and the tapes they are found on would suggest the 1980s. (Note: The tapes were able to be played on a VCR.) The one exception to the 1980s style clothing is the shirt worn by the blonde woman in one of the tapes, which displays an asexual pride flag, despite that flag’s creation dating to 2010.

The identities of the five people in the tapes remain unknown, but efforts to identify them are continued as of the writing of this entry.

The recordings are of comparably high quality, given the equipment used, but all of the tapes experience audio or visual interference at a variety of points. All those present in the recordings speak in Polish, and translated transcripts are available, attached to this document.

The tapes were found scattered on the ground in an alleyway unlabeled, and no other physical evidence has been found pertaining to these recordings, as of the writing of this entry.

There is no official order, chronological or otherwise, for the tapes. Additionally, as of the writing of this entry, they remain undated.

[End description.]

Transcripts:

The following are the transcripts of the tapes, translated into English. As such, the transcripts may not be fully accurate.

Tape #: 1.

[The recording begins with the redheaded woman, standing on a rooftop. It is late afternoon. The rooftop is painted white. Other buildings are visible in the background. The woman is wearing ripped jeans with a short sleeved shirt and leather jacket.]

Cameraman: “We’re going.”

Redheaded woman: “We’re going? Oh, good, good. Hey everyone! [She spreads her arms wide, smiling.] “We’re back home again, back in the city.”

[The camera turns to show the skyline, and the blonde woman is visible in the shot.]

[The redheaded woman laughs.]

RW: “We’ve been having a good time so far, much better than we’ve had recently.”

CM: “Yeah, safe to say we’ve been sleeping a little rough.”

[RW nods in agreement.]

RW: “Yeah. I always have us prioritize food and water over other things.”

[The blonde woman walks into frame.]

Blonde woman: “That’s because you’re bossy. When you get going it's hard for us to get a word in edgewise, much less argue.”

[A vocalization is heard. The camera pans over, and the source is revealed to be one of the dark haired men.]

RW, from offscreen: “What are you doing?”

[The two men are embracing, and swaying back and forth. (Note: Due to what evidence is available, it is believed that they are in a relationship. This theory has not given light to any new leads to the identity of the people, or purpose of the recordings.) The vocalizations are believed to be singing.]

Singing dark haired man: “Having fun, buzzkill!”

Other dark haired man: “He’s gonna be a music man. Right?”

DHM: “Shut it, you.”

[The other dark haired man smiles and rests his head on the other man’s shoulder. The camera moves back to the RW and BW.]

RW: “Right, back to it. We’re staying here for now, but the view is gorgeous.”

BW: “We love this city.”

[The CM vocalizes his agreement.]

[RW begins to walk, and reaches a cooler, opening it. The sound of heels clicking is heard. She removes a bottle of water.]

RW: “We’ve got lots of water this time, so we’re set for at least a month. Food’s easier to come by, since we’re in the city, so I’m not worried about that.”

[RW takes a sip of her water.]

CM: “Yeah, we’re way better prepared than Paris.”

[RW laughs. The motion shakes her earrings, which dangle from her ears, and the chain attached to her jacket.]

RW: “Paris was a mess! We were stuck down there for days, and then we got separated.”

[RW shakes her head. There is notable visual distortion here.]

RW: “It was a lot.”

[BW fully enters the shot.]

BW: “All because that one guy wouldn't leave us alone.”

[Both RW and BW shake their heads.]

RW: “Some people just don’t know when to live and let live, as they say.”

CM: “We didn’t even take that much from him. And it’s not like any of the stuff was stuff he couldn’t replace.” (Note: This conversation, along with other bits of information found in the tapes, would imply the people in these recordings are involved in criminal activity. No police or court records have been found matching what evidence is available. This aspect is still under investigation.)

[The dark haired men move closer, and BW greets them.]

ODHM: “It’s getting about that time. Who’s turn is it to grab the night supplies?”

RW: I’d do it, but my ankle hurts so I’m not gonna be up to the climb.”

CM: “If you don’t feel up to it, we’re not going to make you, sweetheart.” (Note: There is evidence suggesting CM and RW are in a relationship. This theory has led nowhere.)

DHM: “You might be willing to let her off the hook. We’ve all done more in worse states.”

BW: “I’ll do it.”

[The camera is set down on a ledge, and the remaining fifteen minutes of the recording is footage of the skyline and the sunset.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 1]

Tape #: 2

[The recording begins on the same rooftop as before. It’s nighttime, and a few stars are visible. There are sleeping bags spread around the roof, duffle bags and backpacks, and a second cooler in addition to the one from the first recording. A fire pit has been set up in the center of the roof, and a fire has been lit. Wood is piled beside it.]

CM: “Beautiful night here. Not too cold, and we managed to snag a fire pit.”

[The sound of heels is heard, and RW jumps on CM from behind.]

CM: “Hey, hey! Careful of the camera!”

RW: “I know, I know.”

[The camera turns to face her, and she is dimly lit by the fire.]

RW: “You can be no fun sometimes, you know that?”

CM: “I’m careful.”

[The camera is moved in a panoramic shot of the rooftop. The dark haired men are sitting in chairs next to the fire, holding hands. The blonde woman is walking on the ledge, making a vocalization that is believed to be humming. She is holding a glass bottle in her hand.]

RW: “Do you want me to grab you a drink?”

CM: “Sure. You know what I like.”

[RW moves into frame as she walks to one of the coolers, and removes two glass bottles. One of the bottles is lit well enough to identify it as beer. RW hands one of the bottles to CM.]

DHM: “Come sit!”

[RW and CM walk over to the chairs, and each take a seat. CM sits across from the three of them, so that they are in frame. The camera zooms in on the night skyline, and remains there for five seconds, and then zooms back out, and the people are again in the shot.]

ODHM: “I love the city at night. So peaceful. Plus, I’m with you.”

DHM: “Yeah.”

[DHM smiles and gives ODHM a kiss on the cheek. RW smiles.]

RW: “Anyway, we plan on staying here for a while. We’re not going to have the fire on too much longer, but I’m not super concerned as there’s a chimney on this building.”

[The vocalizations from BW grow louder, and appear to be singing. It is noted that there is audio distortion at this time.]

ODHM: “Be careful! None of us are going to catch you if you fall off.”

[The camera is moved so that it is pointed at BW. She is still walking along the ledge with the bottle, and her step is noticeably more uneven. There is slight visual distortion, which may be a result of the equipment used.]

BW: “I’m fine.”

RW: “Just come down, please. You can come sit with us!”

[BW stops walking. The camera zooms to show her mock pout, and zooms out to film her walking towards the rest of the group. She takes a seat next to DHM.]

RW: “Should we talk about our plans for what we’re going to do next?”

ODHM: “Sure. We’re going to lay low for a while. Like we said before, there’s that one guy who won’t get off our backs.”

[RW and DHM roll their eyes.]

ODHM: “Besides that, we never do anything here, in our home city.”

DHM: “Yeah. We want this to be our safe spot, a place we can come back to. Whenever we do something, if the fallout is bad enough we may never come back. We like the freedom to move.”

BW: “We talked a little about going to Moscow next, right?”

RW: “Yeah, we did. Nothing’s set in stone, as if we ever do that, but yeah, I think we should.”

ODHM: “From what we’ve heard, there’s definitely a space there for what we do. Even if it’s not what we do next, we’ll definitely do it at some point.”

CM: “Personally I’d like to go because the city is beautiful. I’d love to take pictures there. City that big’s gotta have a decent place to develop them, too.”

[DHM and BW sound their agreement. RW gets up and tosses a couple of logs onto the fire.]

RW: “We’ll let it get through those and then put it out. Gotta sleep sometime, and we really shouldn’t be sleeping with an open fire around.”

ODHM: “Yeah, I’d rather not go up in flames in my sleep.”

[The next few minutes of the recording are extremely distorted, and when that ceases, RW and DHM are putting out the fire.]

BW: “You guys got it?”

RW: “Yeah, you head to bed. Or bag, rather.”

[The fire is put out, and the camera lingers on a shot of the city skyline. The recording is turned off after approximately a minute and thirty seconds.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 2]

Tape #: 3

[The recording begins with a shot of a rose. The camera moves to show a park, all of the people, save CM, are shown in this shot.]

CM: “You guys can talk now, I’ve got the shot.”

RW: “Oh, cool. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

[BW nudges RW in the arm. They are seated on a bench, and BW is wearing a shirt with the asexual pride flag on it.]

BW: “Didn’t you say we were going to have lunch now?”

RW: “Yes! I left the basket in the car. I’ll be right back.”

[RW gets up and heads offscreen.]

DHM: “While she’s getting that, I’ll give you a brief rundown. We had a bit of time to ourselves, and we decided to hang out in this park and have lunch.”

[ODHM laughs.]

DHM: “Well, I said it’d be brief.”

ODHM: “Yes you did.”

[RW returns with a picnic basket in hand.]

RW: “Did we decide where we’re eating?”

DHM: “Uh, the park?”

[RW rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.]

RW: “I know that, Mr. Sarcastic, but I’m talking about the specific spot. We can eat on the benches, but I did bring a blanket.”

BW: “Just spread it out in front, if someone wants to sit on the bench they can, if someone wants to sit on the blanket they can.”

[RW and BW spread the blanket on the ground. RW sets the basket down on the right side, and CM sits on the blanket, with the others remaining in frame. RW and BW sit down on the blanket, and DHM and ODHM remain on the bench.]

ODHM: “Can you still see us okay?”

CM: “Yes.”

ODHM: “Cool, cool.”

[The next ten minutes of the recording are of them eating. There is light conversation throughout, but audio distortion makes it mostly inaudible.]

DHM: “So yeah, not eating there again.”

[They all laugh.]

BW: “Fun story, but it is really the one to tell while we’re eating?”

ODHM: “She’s got a point.”

[DHM rolls his eyes.]

DHM: “You’ll be fine.”

[ODHM takes DHM’s hand.]

ODHM: “You’ve gotta lotta snark in you, don’tcha.”

RW: “Yeah, he does.”

[RW pats DHM’s knee.]

CM: “If we’re all done, we should put the food stuff back in the car.”

BW: “Ever the clean freak.”

[BW smiles into the camera, looking at CM.]

DHM: “I’ll help, if you’re doing it.”

BW: “Okay.”

[BW and DHM clean up. RW and CM get off of the blanket. RW and ODHM fold up the blanket and pass it to BW. BW takes the basket and heads offscreen. The other three sit on the benches while CM stands.]

CM: “Good to be here, with you guys. I hate it when we can’t be together.”

DHM: “Yeah. It almost feels like we’re always together when we are, but when we’re apart it’s like we never have.”

[RW and CM make noises of agreement.]

ODHM: “I love you guys.”

[The camera is set down, and all but the legs and feet of the people are out of frame. It is believed that they are embracing each other here. The camera stays on this shot for six seconds, before becoming incredibly distorted. When the recording is clear again, it is on a shot of BW and RW embracing each other. BW is holding out a camera, pointed at them, and RW has her arm draped across BW’s chest and her hand is resting on her shoulder. ]

[End transcript of Tape #: 3]

Tape #: 4

[The recording begins with footage of the carpeted floor of a restaurant. The camera moves as CM walks. After fifteen seconds the movement ceases.]

DHM: “We’re clear.”

[CM moves through a door into a bathroom. The camera remains pointed at the tiled floor.]

CM: “We’re the only ones in here?”

BW: “Yes, we are.”

[The camera moves up to about eye level. BW is in front of the camera, wearing a deep blue dress with criss-cross cording down the front. RW is half out of frame.]

ODHM: “Everyone’s in here, we’re just behind the camera. Small bathroom, you see.”

[The camera moves in a circle around the room. RW becomes fully in the shot, wearing a knee length silver dress. DHM and ODHM are shown in frame, and they are wearing suits. The camera completes its rotation and stops once BW is in the frame again.]

CM: “Do you want to explain? I stopped on you, but I can move.”

BW: “No, no, I can do it.”

DHM: “Awesome.”

BW: “If you don’t interrupt, that is, please and thank you.”

DHM: “Sorry.”

BW: “Anyway, this is very impulsive and not what we’re supposed to be doing, we’re working right now but we all look gorgeous and we wanted to preserve it for posterity.”

RW: “Yeah we do!”

[The camera turns to focus on RW, and she spins to show off her dress. When she’s done, she blows a kiss toward the camera. The camera moves back to BW.]

BW: “So, yeah. We can’t talk about what we’re doing, we’re not supposed to, but we are enjoying ourselves. Can’t say that about every time when we’re working.”

[ODHM voices his agreement.]

BW: “How much time do we have in here?”

RW: “I think about five more minutes. Food is gonna be here soon and we’re already been gone for a while. Don’t want them to get suspicious.” (Note: Whoever ‘them’ is has not been identified. However, the restaurant the people are in has been identified, based on the carpet pattern. The restaurant is no longer in business, but the building still has the same carpet.)

[RW walks in frame. She stands next to BW.]

RW: “Let’s get a shot of us all together before we stop.”

[RW gestures DHM and ODHM over to the same side of the bathroom as her. CM has to take a couple of steps back to get them all in frame. As he steps back, a brief glimpse of his reflection is visible in the mirror. The facial features are mostly blurred, but the man appears to have light brown hair.]

DHM: “Can you see us all?”

CM: “Yes.”

[DHM and ODHM position themselves on the outermost side of RW and BW, respectively. They stand there and smile. A knock is heard at the door. The camera points towards the ground and is shut off.]

[End transcript of Tape #:4]

Tape #: 5

[The recording begins with a shot of a bridge. Traffic is moving at a steady interval on the road on top. The bridge was painted white, but the paint is peeling, and much of the bridge has been graffitied. One section has what more closely resembles a mural, with an impressionistic sea scene and birds flying above it. Four of the five people are standing under the bridge.]

CM: “You know, I like this bridge. It’s not the most unique, but something about it is just nice.”

[ODHM spots the camera and jogs over. He smiles.]

ODHM: “I knew you couldn’t resist filming the bridge.”

CM: “It’s a nice bridge.”

[ODHM laughs.]

ODHM: “Yeah, I guess it is. Come on, we’ve snagged some fruit. Your favorite!”

[He turns and walks over to RW, who is holding a plastic shopping bag. CM follows.]

CM: “For your information, fruit is not my favorite. I just like eating healthy food. It seems strange to you because you’re twenty-five percent chips.”

[ODHM and RW both laugh. RW rests her hand on her stomach.]

RW: “Hey, play nice you two.”

ODHM: “We will.”

[ODHM tosses his arm around RW’s shoulders. DHM comes into frame.]

DHM: “Did you get any bananas? I’ve been wanting some lately.”

RW: “Yeah, right here.”

[RW rummages in the bag, removes a banana and hands it to DHM, who begins to eat it.]

CM: “Now, what do we say?”

[DHM snorts.]

DHM: “Thank you.”

CM: “There you go.”

DHM: “You realize I’m, how old? I’m old enough to know when to say thank you.”

RW: “First of all, do you not know your own age? And second, it’s not just knowing when, it’s doing it, too.”

BW: “Manners!”

DHM: “Why don’t you come over here and tell me yourself?”

[BW jogs over to be in frame.]

BW: “I was talking to a squirrel, who was chasing another squirrel that was trying to eat a nut.”

[They all laugh.]

RW: “Yeah, sounds like you.”

[RW reaches out and pulls BW to her side.]

ODHM: “Dork.”

[ODHM smiles at BW, who smiles back.]

BW: “I am. And you are too.”

CM: “We’re all dorks, I think. It’s probably why we get along so well.”

RW: “Birds of a feather.”

CM: “Exactly.”

[BW points behind CM.]

BW: “There go the squirrels!”

[The camera is spun around to catch the squirrels chasing each other. The camera zooms in on the animals running after each other, and eventually up a tree. The camera turns back toward the people.]

ODHM: “Other than watching squirrels and eating fruit, we haven’t been up to much lately.”

RW: “We’ve decided to take a little break, and just enjoy life for a little while.”

CM: “Like this bridge.”

RW: “Like this bridge. And really, would we be proper miscreants if we didn’t hang out under bridges?”

DHM: “I feel like ‘proper miscreants’ defies the whole point of miscreants.”

[BW shrugs.]

BW: “It’s possible.”

RW: “Anyway, we were going to go down to this pond and feed some ducks. I have bread in the bag.”

[RW smiles at CM.]

RW: “Do you want to put the camera down and come with us? Live in the moment, you know?”

CM: “Yeah, yeah, alright. I’ll come along.”

[The closing shot of this recording is of the four people in the frame smiling, until the camera turns off.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 5]

End Notes:

There isn’t much to say, on this one. Most of the information we have is already in this entry, and what’s left is just menial stuff that is filed somewhere else. The annoying thing about cases like this is that unless any new evidence turns up, we’re never going to fully solve it. Usually if cases like this are solved, it’s just people messing around, making one of those ‘alternate reality games’ that are so popular nowadays. It’s rare for it to be something that needs a real investigation.

Well, I guess it’ll just stay open, then. This is just a weird set of tapes with a bunch of time inconsistencies and some possible offscreen criminal activity. Nothing we can turn over as actual evidence of something going on.

If you’re reading this, you know the protocol. If anything else turns up related to this case, you notify the research team. Unless you have specific permission to do so, do not edit this entry. You know the consequences.

[End (End Notes)]

[End Entry #: 4061---------> The Krakow Tapes]

#writing #my writing #The Krakow Tapes #original work #mine

11 notes · View notes

roseateglow · 7 years

Text

Korean^^

Korean - Easy Conversationalhttps://hangukgongbu.wordpress.com/category/korean-culture-lifestyle/easy-conversational-korean/ http://learnkoreanflashcards.tumblr.com/cards http://www.ryanestrada.com/ebooks/Learn%20to%20Read%20Korean%20in%2015%20Minutes.pdf

-----

I’ve been learning Korean for the better part of the past 7 years, and in 2014, I became the Grand Prize Winner of the first KBS World Korean Speaking Contest. The contest saw applicants from 44 countries around the world showcase their Korean skills through three rounds of elimination. As the Grand Prize Winner, I was invited to spend a week in Seoul in September 2014, where I participated in various broadcasting events, including on national radio, to showcase my knowledge of the Korean language and culture.

So how did I manage to reach a relatively high level of spoken fluency in Korean, and how can you do it too? If I were to reduce the “secret” to 2 words, it would boil down to motivation and technique. Motivation, because Korean, after all, is ranked by the Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State as one of the hardest languages to learn for native English speakers (along others such as Japanese and Mandarin Chinese). This means that learning Korean is a considerable investment of time and effort, so you’ll need to be in this for the long-run. You’ll inevitably go through motivation peaks and troughs, but what’s important is not to give up and to keep progressing. And finally technique, because even you do manage to keep going for a long period of time, you’ll need to have the right tools in your toolkit to avoid plateauing and to improve your skills to a fairly high level. But beyond this, how exactly do you go about learning Korean?

In this article, I’m going to guide you through the exact steps I would recommend you to go through to begin learning Korean from scratch, and to eventually reach a high level of proficiency in it. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy, but it is, without an ounce of a doubt, absolutely worth it. Enjoy the post, and if you find it useful or interesting in any way, please share it!

An overview of Korean: What, Why, and How?

Korean is the official language of South and North Korea, and it’s one of the two official languages in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. It’s spoken by an approximate 80 million people around the world (including large overseas communities such as in Los Angeles and Toronto).

If you speak some Chinese, you’ll have a good starting advantage over other learners of Korean, since approximately 60% of Korean vocabulary is derived from Chinese (i.e. Sino-Korean words). If you speak Japanese, you’ll also have a considerably easier time learning Korean, since both languages—and up to a certain point, cultures—share many similarities, such as a similar order of words (subject-object-verb) and grammar. While many linguists classify Korean as a “language isolate” (i.e. not part of any other language family), some also consider it to be part of the Altaic language family.

So why would anyone want to learn Korean? Well, for starters, the language has gained a tremendous amount of popularity in the past decade, not least thanks to the so-called “Hallyu” (한류), or “Korean wave” as it is known in English. The Korean Wave evolved from a regional development (mostly Southeast and East Asia) into a global phenomenon due to the proliferation of Korean dramas (TV series) and Korean pop (K-pop) music videos on YouTube, of which Gangnam Style is but one prominent example.

So, in earnest, let’s look at the steps you’ll need to take to effectively learn Korean.

1. Set clear goals, a timeline, and a schedule

Here’s the secret to a successful start, in 3 simple bullet points:

Your goals must be specific. Vague, sweeping goals are too broad to be acted upon.

Your goals must be believable. If you don’t believe you can reach them, you won’t.

Your goals must be challenging and demanding.

A lot of language learners fail to reach a respectable level of fluency because they lack any clear goals and direction, and they have no regular study schedule. Don’t fall into this trap. Even before purchasing any learning materials, set yourself some very clear goals and a roadmap to reach these goals. More importantly, strongly believe in them and do whatever it takes to reach them.

Having goals helps you to track your progress and gives you a sense of direction. This in turns helps to increase motivation, and reduces your chances of giving up. Make your goals ambitious but realistic. I wrote an entire post dedicated to the importance of goals, so have a look through it for a more in-depth look at the importance of setting goals.

2. Get a good textbook/method

Getting a good textbook with which you’ll be able to work with for the next couple of months is a crucial step is the long and interesting voyage that learning a language is. I’ve seen a LOT of Korean textbooks and learning materials out there, and I’ve tested more than my fair share. Below I’ve listed what, in my opinion, are easily some of the best ones out there. Pick one or two (but no more), and go through them in a consistent, regular manner. It’s as easy as that.

Top picks:

Elementary Korean, Second Edition, by Ross King and Jaehoon Yeon Korean Made Easy for Beginners, by Seung-eun Oh Korean Made Simple: A beginner’s guide to learning the Korean language, by BillyGo Living Language Korean, by Living Language and Jaemin Roh Spoken World: Korean – A Complete Course for Beginners, by Living Language Glossika Korean (Mass Sentence Method – for intermediate learners), by Glossika

3. Learn Hangul

Now that you have your newly purchased, glossy shiny textbook, it’s time to learn Hangul (한글). Yep, it’s one of the very first things you should do before getting too absorbed in your studies.

So what is Hangul? Very simply put, Hangul is the Korean alphabet and the official script of both South and North Korea (don’t confuse “Hangul” with the name for “Korean language” in Korean, Hangukeo (한국어)). For over a millennium and up until the first half of the 20th century, Korean was written with adapted Chinese characters called hanja. However, Koreans now almost exclusively use the Hangul alphabet. You can easily live in Korea without knowing a single Chinese character, although it’s always helpful to know a few (or many), especially if you wish to learn Korean up to an advanced level. For example, in many news headlines Chinese characters are still used for brevity’s sake, and characters are also often used in between parenthesis to help clarify the meaning of a word that has many different meanings.

Hangul is composed of fourteen consonants and ten vowels, in addition to having double consonants and “clustered” consonants. Because of this, Hangul is in fact really easy to learn. You should NOT learn Korean by reading the romanized script. It’s a bad habit and simply not a smart thing to do. If you put one or two hours learning Hangul for the next couple of days, I guarantee you that you’ll be able to read by the end of the week. Even if you’re planning a short trip to Korea no longer than a week or two, I would still highly encourage you to learn the script.

4. Find a bunch of awesome tools online

These days it’s amazing the amount of great language learning tools and resources that you can find online. One of the first things you’ll need along with your textbook and newly-equipped Hangul reading skills, is a good online dictionary. Here are three very good ones (the last is for beginners but in Korean only):

Naver

Daum

한국어기초사전 (Korean Dictionary for Beginners)

Here’s a bunch of awesome websites and podcasts:

Talk To Me In Korean

Korean Champ

KBS World (check out their radio programs)

Lingholic

Here are news websites that are available both in Korean and English (and/or other languages):

Korea Times (this resource is great because it often contains the English AND translated Korean version of the article)

Korea Joongang Daily (look for the “bilingual column” on the right)

Yonhap News (available in multiple languages)

TED Talks (read the transcripts of TED Talks in English first, and then try your hand at the Korean translated version! There’s also TEDxSeoul and TEDxBusan, which are entirely in Korean)

5. Get exposed to as many sentences and dialogues as possible

Now that you’ve developed a solid and consistent daily study routine, you’ll need to get exposed to as many sentences and dialogues as possible. For example, if you’re working through a textbook such as the Living Language Korean series, you’ll get the chance to go through dialogues in every unit. Go through them repeatedly and ensure that you review each unit regularly.

It’s important, when working with learning materials, to repeat loudly the sentences that you read (unless you’re in a public place!). This will get your tongue and ear slowly used to pronouncing and hearing the language properly. Also, do bi-directional translation exercises in which you work with the Korean dialogue only during one day (and translate it into your native tongue), and do the opposite any other day.

6. Learn as much about the culture as possible

You may well have the largest vocabulary in the world in any given language, but if you’re clueless about the culture, you won’t know which words to use in any given situation at any given time. Unless you’re from East Asia, chances are that Korean culture is significantly different from yours. From my point of view, that’s exciting news, and discovering an entirely new and different culture is an enriching experience that really adds a lot of spices to your life.

So how can you get to know about Korean culture? For starters, find a good history book and start learning a bit about the country’s history. One of my favorite book is by far Bruce Cumings’ Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History, but there are literally thousands of good books on Korea out there. Next, and I’ll come back to this at point #8, as you’ll watch Korean dramas and movies and listen to Korean music, you’ll inevitably get exposed to the culture. Pay attention and takes some notes!

7. Find a tutor or a language exchange partner

Wherever in the world you find yourself right now, you’re reading this because you have access to the internet. Whether at home or in a library or café, internet brings you an amazing array of wonderful resources and technologies to help you practice your target language.

Once you’ve learned a bit of Korean, you’ve gotten to know more about the culture, and you’re eager to practice your speaking skills with an actual human being, it’s time to make the great leap forward and start chatting with natives—the sooner the better. If you don’t live in Korea or in a place where many Koreans live, you’ll probably have to fall back on finding tutors or language exchange partners on the internet.

Not to worry, though, because there are amazing websites that do just that. One that I can recommend, since I’ve tried it a number of times, is Italki. at the time of writing this article, 8 Professional Teachers and 40 Community Tutors are teaching Korean on the site. Prices vary, but for around 10 to 15$ an hour, you can have a private tutor who will help you practice and develop your speaking skills in the language. If you don’t feel like spending money, don’t worry, you can always find language partners for totally free and practice over Skype, but then you would usually be expected to also teach your native language in return.

8. Get exposed to as many engaging materials as you possibly can

As you progress through your Korean learning adventure and reach a level that allows you to access and understand a wider array of materials, it’s time to give your textbook a break and get exposed to as many engaging materials as possible. I’ve written an article that introduces people to Korean Indie music, so if you’re eager to discover interesting Korean music, check it out.

These days it’s also easy to watch Korean movies and dramas online. YouTube is of course a very useful resource, but if you wish to actually download stuff, check out websites such as Dramaload. A quick search on your favorite search engine will yield hundreds of other good sites. Finally, use Amazon’s awesome “language” filter and look for popular books in Korean and get them mailed to you directly at your doorstep.

9. You’ll feel like you’ve reached a plateau. Don’t give up

Almost everybody, no matter how experienced they are at learning languages, feels like they stop making progress in their target language at one point or another in time. That’s normal. I’ve written a detailed post about reaching plateaus, so you might want to have a look at it.

Essentially, a lot of us feel like we reach plateaus at a certain point in time while in fact all what’s happening is that we simply learn at a slower pace. At the beginning when you start from a blank slate, you feel like you’re making a lot of progress quickly, since it’s easy to see how many new words you can now recognize compared to the previous day or week. However, as time goes by, the same amount of time invested in learning a language will yield smaller returns; in other words, our learning curve is not linear, but rather round-shaped (see the graph below). Don’t worry about it and remind yourself that it’s absolutely normal to feel this way. Just keep enjoying the language and don’t give up!

10. Make the language part of your life

Think about this for a moment: what are the things that you do every day in your native tongue? Just how many hours a day do you spend watching TV, reading the news, and talking with friends? Once you’ve reached a low intermediate level in the language, it’s time to really make it part of your life.

Whatever you enjoy doing in your native tongue can be enjoyed in a foreign language.Don’t see Korean as something you have to “study”, but rather something you can enjoy. Plus, make an effort to really immerse yourself in the language, by, for example, changing your language settings to Korean for things such as Facebook, YouTube, or even on your cellphone.

11. Plan a trip to Korea

That’s it, you’ve made it all the way up until here. You’ve kept your motivation high, consistently for a long period of time. You had clear goals when you started and you feel like you’ve reached a lot of them. In fact, maybe one of your goals was to visit Korea. Well now’s the time to actually do it!

If you want to work in Korea, you might want to considerteaching English there. Otherwise, why not travel around the peninsula for a few weeks and practice your newly-acquired Korean speaking skills? This will sure turn to be a memorable trip.

12. Find more engaging material, and keep going

Language learning is a lifelong journey with no clear destination. After all, you’ve begun this journey to enjoy the trip itself, didn’t you? Once you’ve reached an intermediate to high level of proficiency, just keep doing what’s worked for you up until now. Read interesting blogs, watch more movies, find literary gems, and, who knows, you might one day call Korea home!

Conclusion

That’s it. I’ve just shared with you what well over 7 years of experience learning Korean has taught me. Has this been useful to you in any kind of way? I sure do hope so! If you have any questions, remember that I always love to help others and I would be more than happy to respond to whatever you have in your mind. Let us know in the comments below why you’re interested in Korean, and if you’ve been learning it for some time, how your studies are going!

0 notes