Learning Target Language #1 in Native language vs. Learning Target Language #1 in (Target Language #1 or # 2)

I understand the title is a bit long and confusing, but I’ll explain what I mean by this.

I’m learning four languages mainly and I’ll rank them in order from what I study the most to least: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish.

I’ve started studying all of them to the point where they are around the same level but this is just an example. My native language is English and I’ve learned Spanish from my family members and from school, hence why I study it the least. I’ve done it a few times in the past, but I’ve recently started to study my foreign languages in either the language that I’m learning or one of the other languages that I’m learning. For example, I have many textbooks that are geared towards foreigners (which speak/know English) and are written in English. I get bored after a while (attention span of a squirrel) and forget about them. I recently picked up on learning Japanese again and decided to find some materials on learning Korean in Japanese and vice versa. This is a win-win because usually when I don’t know vocabulary or grammar in one language, I usually know it in the other. This also helps since Japanese, Chinese, and Korean have either very similar grammar points or very similar sounding vocabulary words. I also recently started to listen to videos and read books which they teach you grammar and vocabulary in the language that you’re learning (similar to how we learn English grammar and vocabulary in English). It trains my brain to listen harder and it’s a very exciting feeling when you realize that you actually understand what’s being explained. Baby steps 🙂

About My Language Journey

It’s sad to see posts from two/ three years ago and I feel/know that I haven’t done a lot to improve my Korean. I am starting again and I’ll try to blog/log what I have been  doing. I’m going to be a university student in September with a major in English education. I plan to teach English overseas. I moved to New York a little over a month ago. Since I’m outdoors a lot more than when I used to live in Florida, I come in contact with many different languages. My ear picks up certain languages more than others because I’ve had a little more exposure to them (I.e Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean). There has been a few times where someone would be speaking Korean and it was super fast. When I went to see Lucy the bad guy was Korean and would speak Korean throughout the movie. I was surprised and happy the I could understand what he was saying. There is a sign on the subway that has Korean and I can break down certain parts the I know. I have challenged myself to complete 11 of my textbooks in 3 months. It seems like a lot but I think it will be fine because most of the books go over the same grammar points. I will leave a list of the books that I’ll be using.

Let the games begin!  하자!