Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Talk to me like I'm a child...

K: Last year we bought Korean textbooks with every intention of becoming fluent in the language. Easier said than done. We memorized each letter and what it's supposed to sound like. But Korean seems much like English in that there are exceptions to nearly ever rule. And then there is the oddest practice of just throwing letters that are not to be pronounced in the front of words for the heck of it. Anyway, we learned the alphabet and deciphered several words, trying to figure out what we thought they should sound like... and then we'd listen to the online tutorial and hear words that sounded nothing like what we thought. Needless to say, this became a very frustrating experience.

My co-worker, who also happens to be 1/2 Korean, mentioned that she was using the Rosetta Stone. Apparently it is used by ambassadors and is billed as the "fastest way to learn a foreign language." The program teaches you to speak the language much like a child would be taught, through pictures and immersion.

Mark ordered it today, so we'll see how well this miracle product works... Won't you all be shocked if our next post is in Korean!?!?!?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've heard Rosetta Stone is the way to go. It's pretty expensive, though, right?

Unknown said...

Well, we actually found a used version on Amazon for a decent price. Hopefully it works. If Rosetta does not workout, Mandamus, maybe you can shower us with some of your infinite wisdom. I am sure we would be fluent in no time.

pitchfest said...

Korean is probably the most difficult thing I've ever encountered. And that's including my thesis.

It's not the just the technical difficulty and completely upside-down grammar, there are also a lot of cultural differences that emanate through the language. I've given it a decent go and am still pretty poor, really. The most difficult thing is DAILY practice, because if you don't, it just slips away from your mind like it was never there.

I've seen a lot of programs, including the Rosetta Stone, which was okay. If you have the motivation though, anything will work. Try searching for a program called "Let's Speak Korean" on Youtube.