We’ve all heard of the Intermediate Plateau. That stage in language learning where you’ve mastered enough grammar and everyday vocabulary that textbooks alone are no longer enough to keep you engaged, yet you feel like you’re never making enough progress. You understand so much more than you used to, but at the same time, there’s […]
Read more "6 Ways to Spice Up Your Studying Routine as an Intermediate Learner"
In a mysterious town that lies hidden in our collective subconscious, there’s a quaint little store where all kinds of dreams are sold. Day and night, visitors from all over the world shuffle in sleepily in their pajamas, lining up to purchase their latest adventure. That’s the premise of Dallergut’s Dream Department Store (달러구트 꿈 […]
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Reading webtoons has to be one of my favourite ways to study Korean, and I mostly use them for light reading alongside heavier, more advanced novels. The vocabulary you get out of them is very different from that you would expect from a novel, though, because unlike novels, comics do not rely on lengthy descriptions to establish settings and describe actions. It’s also more dialogue-driven. As such, you’ll end up learning words and phrases that people actually use in daily conversations. You’ll probably pick up some slangs, too.
The pictures also provide contextual clues, which will help you decipher at least half of what is being said, even when there are a lot of words you don’t know. So if you’re looking for something fun (and lighter than a novel) to practice reading comprehension with, webtoons should be perfect for you.
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It really is a blessing to be learning languages in 2020. There are interesting, entertaining videos in all sorts of languages on Youtube, and never has it been this easy to access native content in our target languages. The tricky part is finding the ones that suit our needs. This is especially true for intermediate learners, who find themselves in a position where they’ve outgrown the boring textbook dialogues, but are not yet advanced enough to understand content targeted at native speakers without some help.
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Han Kang has been one of my favourite authors since I first read her novel on the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, Human Acts, two years ago. A harrowing, painfully poignant tale about those whose lives were shattered, or as she put it in this book, irreversibly altered by the tragedy; people who had at one time […]
Read more "흰: A Tribute to All Things White"
So, for the past 11 months or so, I have been self-studying for CATTI – China Accreditation Test For Translators And Interpreters. I want to take on Mandarin-English translation work eventually, so I need some sort of certification for that. Plus, it would be a good way to brush up on my Mandarin skills, which […]
Read more "Reviewing All My CATTI Books"