My experiences about learning foreign languages as a Korean - Part 1
My experiences about learning foreign languages as a Korean - Part 1
Hello, everyone. 
I am Korean, so it is natural that my mother tongue is Korean language.
Since Korean is a language isolate, it is difficult to learn another language for Koreans. It is very different from, for instance, Indo-European languages or Turkic languages. Even Chinese or Japanese are very different from Korean.
So, it is easy to guess that learning a language is quite a hard work for Korean people. I think it is the reason why so many Koreans are not good at foreign languages and are afraid of speaking those (including English which they learn from their age of ten.)
How about you? Maybe your mother tongue is English, or maybe you are from a country that does not speak English. Whether you are the former or the latter, you may have learned a foreign language or would like to study a foreign language. I want to share my experience about studying languages (English, German, Finnish). I would be very happy if my story is helpful to you.
###Part 1: Purpose of study
When studying a language(as well as other things), the most important thing is the purpose of study.
Why study it? What do you study for? Is there a clear short-term (or long-term) goal? If not, you will find it difficult to study consistently. To set a clear goal is very important to keep studying. A purposeless study is like a sand castle. You may think things are going well at first, but it will collapse soon. Let me tell you my story.
My first purpose to study English was to understand the lyrics of my favorite songs. When I was about fourteen, I heard a song by chance on the internet. Until then, I have no interest in English. I was not used to it, and school lesson is too difficult to me. But the moment I heard the song, I fell in love with the song. And I wanted to know what this song was saying.
This is the song. I liked the melody. I liked the voice. And I wanted to like the lyrics. But I couldn't understand what on earth he is saying. Not a single sentence. This is the first moment I decided to study English.
I can still remember the words I remembered for the first time. delicate, fill, sorrow, place... After I was barely understand this song, I challenged other songs. At first, I was tempted to simply memorize words, At first, I was tempted to simply memorize words, but then I got used to the sentences that appear frequently. Later, when I listened to a song, I even got a hobby to find and interpret the lyrics. When there is a expression that catch my eyes, I write it down in my notebook and try to memorize.
This is my first moment when I found myself enjoying to study English. At this time, my English skills increased noticeably.
My second purpose to study English was to understand the books that I want to read. Bach in high school, I watched the Lord of the Rings movie and fell in love with it. I want to know more about Tolkien and his world. So I decided to purchase his books.
*The books are still at my desk :) *
But when this books are delivered, I realized that reading this books is very (more than I had thought) difficult to read! They are 'literary' works, and written in antiquate style. Like this.
"...Thou hast dared to mock me, and to question the power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes thou shalt see, and with my ears thou shalt hear; ..."
'Thou? hast? shalt? ???????????????'
I wanted to give up reading, to some degree, but I decided to read because I invested a lot of allowance to buy this books.
My third purpose to study English: academic requirement. I am now studying in university(I major in physics). As I was studying physics, I realized that I could do nothing without English. Textbooks are written in English, Assignments are written in English. Exams are also in English... In order to gain academic knowledge, I had to study English.
Well, I think I am quite familiar with English. It is because I studied English with a clear purpose. Then, is it enough to have only a purpose? I will talk about this in the next post.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this! If you don't mind, please leave a comment or upvote.
And, if you find an awkward sentence or an incorrect grammar, do not hesitate to say it to me!! Your comment will be very helpful to me.
Thank you again for reading :D