All posts filed under: Personal

Striving for excellence in language learning

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This post was going to be about how I’m preparing for the 55th TOPIK but it turned out being more about my insecurities instead. I’d normally scrap it but it’s been preying on my mind for a while now and I wonder if any of my fellow language learners have felt the same way. It’s hard to describe my relationship with language, and with Korean in particular. I don’t have a simple answer when people ask me why I’m learning Korean, or why I’m motivated to push myself, or why I want to pass TOPIK II. I don’t have any ethnic or relational ties to the language or culture. I’m not motivated by a love for Korean idol music or dramas. I have never studied abroad there. I have no particular interest in Korean brands nor do I aspire to work at Korean company. I developed a love for Korean literature and history only after I had achieved a certain degree of fluency. Now with Hallyu reaching the West, so many people automatically assume I’m part …

Goodbye 2016, hello 2017

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  I love this: 예전에 친구 은혜에게 내가 일 년을 낭비한 걸까? 라고 말하니, 괜찮아. 1년 더 살면 돼- 라고 덤덤하게 말했다. 고민하던 나는 묘하게 설득력있는 이 말에, 그래, 무병장수가 답이라고 외치며 껄껄 거렸다. 전에도 한번 올렸었는데, 난 이 기억이 참 좋다. 2016년이 끝나가는 요즘. 가끔은 나 혼자 우두커니 서있는 것 같을지라도, 모든 일이 마음처럼 잘 되지는 않았을지라도, 우리의 노력이 언제나 보상받은 것은 아닐지라도, 삶이 언제나 합리적일 수는 없고, 때론 낭비도 할 수 있는게 아닌가. 그러니, 낭비한 순간들은, 까짓것, 무병장수로 메워보자. 난생 처음 살아보는 삶속에서 고군분투하며, 서툴었던 우리에게, 용서와 축복을. ㅡ 얼마 전에 했던 작은 크리스마스 이벤트. 당첨자는 다음과 같습니다~ @jyseong0323 @aram_j_141227 @yu_chocopie_ @hana_kku @ji__h2__s2 @euniehwang @hyun_ssoou @yukinoyoousa @jiminkaaaang @snowy._.s @tomato8709 @hiss_g @heeyas20 절반은 제가 뽑았고, 절반은 책임 분담을 위해, 친언니가 대리 추첨 했습니다. 당첨되신 분은 지인 분을 다시 태그해서 소식을 전해주시와요ㅎ책 받으실 분께서 제게 다이렉트로 주소를 보내주심 됩니다~ 당첨이 안되셨다 해도 서운해하지 마시구요.ㅠ 그럼 다들, 메리 크리스마스입니다! 감사합니다~🎅ᆞ ㅡ #나는나로살기로했다 #그림에세이 #책속한줄 #글귀 #에세이 #글스타그램 #북스타그램 #에세이추천 #책스타그램 #일러스트 #illustration #illust #그림 #공감 #일상 #graphics #drawing #artwork #공감글 #공감글귀 A post shared by 김수현 …

Q&A: New site name

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Jeannie asked: Omg why did you change your URL? Astute readers of this blog might’ve noticed that my URL is no longer https://panjjakpanjjak.wordpress.com – gasp! Five years ago when I first created this blog on WordPress, I decided to go with my favorite Korean word (at the time) as its site name/URL. I was one year into learning Korean and was fascinated with mimetic adverbs (의성어/의태어 like 두근두근, 찰찰, 말랑말랑, 졸졸, etc.). For some reason, I really liked the word 반짝반짝; there was also the small matter of 반짝반짝 also being the title of an old Big Bang song that I liked. Heh. At the time, I didn’t really think about the URL from the perspective of the blog’s future readers. I didn’t consider whether the name/URL would difficult for people to remember or if people would have a hard time Googling the blog’s name in Korean or whether it would just be off-putting or unapproachable to have a non-English site name. Thinking about it now, I realized people can’t even really tell that this is a blog about language from just the URL. Despite the …

The most useful phrase to know in Korean (and any language)

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Literal ‘did that just happen?!’ moment last week. A friend of mine reached out to me last week, saying a coworker of hers needed help placing an order for 떡 for her child’s 백일 from a Korean bakery in Santa Clara. I’m not sure what this person’s situation was–whether she was Korean(-American) or married to Korean(-American)–but I was more than a little baffled when my friend reached out to me. Turns out this particular bakery (for fellow South Bay residents it’s 이화당 떡집 – Ehwa Dang Rice Bakery down in Korea Town Santa Clara, if you’re curious) isn’t English-friendly. It seems that they don’t have any English-speaking employees at all, in fact, which I found astounding–but I guess that just shows you what an arrogant American I am. Heh. Anyway, said coworker’s dilemma was three-fold: her Korean wasn’t good enough to place a phone order with them, the owner’s Korean was too fast for her to understand, and her Korean relatives couldn’t help because they didn’t understand her English. So, I guess that’s where I came in. She emailed me a bunch of …

Language Tag

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Well, this is fun! Riccardo of Kaito Monogatari tagged me in this language learning questionnaire. Of all the people I know studying Japanese, Riccardo is the most prolific reader of Japanese literature that I know of. I hope I can be just as good some day. Anyway, thanks for tagging me, Riccardo! I’m always happy to talk about myself (heh). What would you consider your native language? English and Marathi (of the South Indian variety, but who’s nitpicking?). Marathi is my mother tongue; my entire extended family speaks it and I’m still attached to it, though I’m not very good. What was your first language learning experience? French class in 5th grade. I don’t know why my elementary school offered a second language, but I’m glad it did, and I learned a lot, surprisingly! Pretty much all of high school  French 1 was a repeat of what I had learned in 5th grade. What languages have you studied and why did you learn them? Oh gosh. Where do I even begin. French  – I studied this for four years in high school (and that …

Blogging resolutions for 2016

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I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I think people can and should resolve to improve themselves throughout the year. (Besides, most people end up giving up on their resolutions mere weeks into the year, so why set yourself up for failure?) Dividing up time into years and such is a human construct and celebrating a new year is actually meaningless. But no need to get nihilistic about it, right?! Joking aside, I get it. What with the holiday spirit in the air and days off from work/school and time spent with family, people get nostalgic at the end of the year. They reflect and realize things they could have done better. Things they will do better in the coming year. On that note, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can be a better language blogger in the coming year. So here we go. These are my blogging resolutions for 2016. Post more.  I’ve been fairly regular with my blog posts, averaging about 1 a month. What a sad number though. I’m not going to get too …

Brief Update

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So I see that I have been getting in at least one post every month and I don’t plan on breaking that flow (though I really would like to post more often though).  I have SO many posts still stuck in drafts because they take thought and energy to write and… honestly, I’ve been lacking in that department for a few weeks now.  I’ve made no secret about the fact that I struggle with depression and, yes, I’m going through a bit of a low at the moment. But for those of you who may be curious, here are a couple general updates about the state of my life, this blog, etc. 1) For various reasons, I deleted my tumblr a few months ago and I’ve been much happier without it.  The downside is I’ve lost all the casual translations that I’ve posted on there for the past 4 years so many of the links on my “Translations” page are dead.  Boo.  But not to worry – I have started a portfolio of my translations on Google Drive …

Epik High in San Francisco

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Okay so this happened:  On May 28, Epik High commenced their 2015 North American Tour at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. AND I WAS THERE. This was a big deal for me because it was my first ever concert.  I’m a homebody and the idea of standing in line, enduring screaming fans and general madness just to hear/see artists live never seemed appealing to me – especially since I can just listen to a CD or watch a YouTube video in the comfort of own home.  But I’m thrilled to give up my… uh… concert virginity to Epik High.  Honestly there’s no other group I’d want that honor to go to.  Hee. I still can’t believe my two eyes saw them in the flesh. San Francisco was the first stop on their tour so their energy was really fresh.  Tablo’s always been my musical bias (I still think he’s one of the best wordsmiths in this industry) but Mithra was FANTASTIC at rapping live.  The venue was small enough that the whole concert itself felt intimate.  So intimate, in fact, that their true …

Achievement Unlocked: Siri

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Funny story.  Sometime last month I happened to be studying next to a group of very excitable medical students.  In the middle of eavesdropping on their conversation, I overheard one person saying that she had changed Siri’s settings to Japanese and that she had instructed it to address her as hime-sama.  I almost cried trying not to laugh. First beta launched with the Apple iPhone 4S back in 2011, Siri is the “intelligent personal assistant” component Apple’s iOS.  In all honesty, I don’t really use Siri.  I think some time right after I got my iPhone 5 like a year ago, when I was feeling particularly existential, I think I told Siri that “I’m lonely” and she replied back with something surprisingly poignant for an AI device.  And then I disabled her. Out of curiosity, I launched Siri in Korean.  Spoke a few, really simple, beginner-level sentences.  The cool thing is you can actually also see the Hangeul transcript of what Siri thinks you said! Now, when I went to Korea, I was pretty successful at getting around speaking …

2014: A Year of Change

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Stuff happened in 2014. So.  Much.  Stuff. When I think about growing up and taking on responsibilities and such, I think this is the year that I really threw myself into the ocean of adulthood and taught myself how to swim.  It wasn’t easy.  I’m fairly sure that I cried more this year than I ever have in my recent past and was almost continuously sick because of stress.  Nevertheless, 2014 is a year that I will look back on fondly in the future.  These were the highlights of my year.