Back in early October, I decided to study Korean and French. I studied French in high school and freshman year of college. For Korean, I’m studying from the ground up. Since I’d like to track my language learning progress, I’ll update here on the blog, like a series. Because there are so many aspects to learning languages, it’s a lot to cover.
So how is it going? Ça va bien!
Obviously, I have a head start with French. So that is where I’m devoting most of my time. I’m using the Duolingo app and love it! It’s very convenient using it on my phone and I usually end up “studying” for longer than planned, because it doesn’t feel like studying. It’s set up like a game. But I can tell that I’m learning. It allows me to listen to French, speak it, read it and write it. Which is quite an amazing tool. The first week when I tried speaking, I was fumbling over my words and felt my mouth contorting. I forgot how physical speaking is when the sounds are unfamiliar. I hadn’t spoken any French in so long!
A friend, who is using Duolingo to study Portuguese, was the one who recommended it. I don’t think of myself as a particularly competitive person, but I find that I am motivated by seeing how well that I’m doing and what’s needed to perform better.
The first month or so most of the words were familiar, but I definitely still needed and need a lot of help with grammar. Now I’m learning many new words. Some just because I never learned them before. Other words didn’t exist back when I was studying. Technology changed everything!
Oh and I’m using the free version if you’re wondering. There are options to buy, but I haven’t used them and don’t plan to. My goal for using this right now is to brush up my skills. Early to mid next year, I may possibly take an online course in advanced French and/or hire a tutor.
For Korean, I am taking baby steps and my progress is so very slow. I’m using Coursera to learn Hangeul.
When I started the course, I thought that it was free. But when I went to submit a quiz today, it wouldn’t let me without upgrading to paid. And I couldn’t move forward with the lessons either. I was able to do all that before in this course, so I’m not sure what changed. I would not be surprised if in around five years or so, I receive a notification that I’m eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit of people who felt they were pressured and/or misled into paying for a “free course.”
It’s not that much, so I paid. Also, since I took a rather in depth marketing course several years ago for free.
That’s the first update for now. Stay tuned for more on my language learning journey!
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Images: Screenshots of Coursera and Duolingo
