French?

Hiya readers! Again I have been absent from this blog...with good reason though! I am settling into my lovely university and course. Tourism management is so good so far is all :)
As you know I love languages and have the option to study one at beginners level. Unfortunately, that meant I cannot do Spanish with my course but independently at the library! The other options was Mandarin Chinese, French or Tourism Society and Culture. Though Mandarin would be interesting, I decided to return to my first. It has been too long French! Time to study you with a willing heart.
So I am studying Tourism, French and Spanish and Korean independently. ¡4 idiomas - caramba! I could not be happier!
Hope to update soon once I get my head around this crazy new world!

10 Hardest languages to learn

10 Hardest Languages to Learn
Do you know / learn any of these languages? Do you think it that hard?

Sorry for the hiatus, but... are you ready!

Hello all! I welcome you once again to this blog that I have for a long time been neglecting. This summer has just been THAT crazily busy. Good news only; I got into university! 

University and A-Levels

So I am leaving my home to go study Tourism Management in a lovely lovely place! As I have said in the past, my geography grade has always been disgusting but luckily this year, the geography module that I completely failed last time, I got an A in that module - which was enough for my happiness. Another module I basically failed last time went up to a B grade. The rest of my grades were not as impressive (I was really disappointed by Spanish but I took that exam as a completely broken student...lol)  but I am now moving on from the A-Level world. I would have started my course by this time next week.

Spanish

So I finished learning Spanish in school. My sixth year finished of learning this beautiful language - and as some of you may already know - it will not stop there! I am definitely doing a Spanish module at university and hopefully can do a term abroad in Spain or even a placement year out there...when I get more knowledge on things I will decide; but that is all in the future! I have a friend who is like a sister that has gone to do a year of volunteer work in Peru so I am jealous her level of Spanish will overtake me really soon haha :) but I do wish her the best experience for this next year. I have another friend that studies Spanish at university and has gone to Spain for the year as part of her course . 

I went to my school to say goodbye to some teachers recently and had a really nice conversation with one of my Spanish teachers about keeping the language alive in my life, If anyone here is reading this and is a learner of a language, please remember to keep practicing the language or you will forget things more and more. Utilize it whenever you can! I have tried to keep Spanish alive by watching films in Spanish like 'nueve reinas' and 'perdon si te llamo amor'. I will soon watch 'diarios de motocicleta' which is about famous figure Che Guevara. I also have been listening to a wider range of Spanish / latin music (not just the Shakira I am used to) like 'bachata' and reading articles on 'BBC Mundo'.

There was one day earlier this summer I was on the bus and could hear several people having Spanish conversations in different accents and it was killing me because I automatically go to translate and listen to their conversations as if it is a listening exercise! 

I will try to improve my grammar but I think I am getting better with automatically responding in Spanish!

Korean

I must say I have made progress with Korean, mainly because I surround myself with many Korean things and ways to learn. Another mission I gave myself was to learn the meanings of those little things I do not know in a sentence instead of skipping them and translating the words I am used to; also, enriching my vocabulary and trying a bit harder with grammar. The next thing I need to try is stop mixing Korean and English in sentences when I have no idea what to say - I do speak in very broken sentences sometimes haha. 

Our class 'successfully' carried out our annual Korean event, though there were many difficulties that I will try to forget about (the stress was unbearable)! We filmed our drama parody video, performed a dance, cooked and served food and had a really good time. Our hard work paid off and so thank you to everyone that helped made it possible, my lovely Korean teachers and those certain few unnies and chingus that worked hard.

 

Like with Spanish, I cannot help overhear Korean conversations to test out translation skills. I did visit Korea Town a few times this holiday and on one occasion I was sat next to a father and his daughter. The father was teaching her Korean etiquette like how to wrap the meat in the lettuce, checking if she knew how to hold her chopsticks properly; as he spoke to her in Korean she would reply in English. I just found that situation really cute and funny - especially when the father told her to eat the hot soup slowly saying '천천히' which reminded me of a key line from a sketch from KBS's 'Gag Concert' called 'Hidden Masters'. I was mid conversation with my friend when I had to stop speaking in case I burst out laughing. Anyways, another reason I listen to others speaking their language is in case if they were to say something bad about me and I could surprise them by understanding. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to anyone as with my friends we use Korean as almost a code (never for bad reasons) but for secret jokes which I find fun, or to warn someone about something in subtle way. 

Other languages

So at the start of summer I gave myself a challenge to also improve my Portuguese, Chinese and French (I am on absolute beginners for Portuguese and Chinese). I have basically done no French, I have not tried to learn anymore Chinese symbols last time but have worked just a tiny bit with Portuguese lol. I did meet a Chinese girl in a Korean class and she was surprised when I knew the meaning of three very basic symbols '男' '天' '美' when we were reading a Korean article about 3 members of Exo on the cover or a Hong Kong fashion magazine. With Portuguese I just have worked with my pronunciation and try to recognize the words that are similar in Spanish and French. I find that really fun and I just listen to my Portuguese music :)

I resumed reading my book about North Korea 'Nothing To Loose' and my Bible in Spanish. Still many more updates to happen...once I find the time in my busy schedule, but thank you for reading! See you soon!

Posts coming soon!

I have a lot to say and a lot to do. I have not blogged since the start of the summer and now the summer has almost ended! I will try my best to update pages as well and I also have new ideas haha...we will see if they will be unveiled soon!

This video helps so much

This brief 4 minute video explains how languages may relate and can evolve watch it here.
"Next time you hear a foreign language, pay attention; it may not be as foreign as you think."

Chinese tag!

Again, the things that happen with procrastination has a good effect in one way. I needed to post about this immediately!

I posted early this academic year that I went to a Mandarin class at Sixth Form just for a taster. I did not want to take up another language beginner level at this moment in time; but honestly this wasn't the first time I have looked into Chinese. A lot of people say they wish they were fluent in Chinese just because. As I always say, my speaking has always been the weakest aspect whenever I start to learn a language - you should hear how bad I am at English the language I am 'fluent' in haha. The taster session focused mainly focused on pronunciation and intonation which I liked and I can also say I took something useful from that class (I can now pronounce the Chinese version to Exo - Wolf better by looking at the romanization) but I really wanted to learn more symbols; especially since I was looking at the characters a little bit before - mainly because of Korean.

I really like learning the origin of words that is why I was considering Latin or esperanto (modern day Latin as I call it as it is like a mix of many European languages and many European languages are formed because of Latin!) So with Korean learning the meaning behind symbols are useful to find the links int things and to understand why I am saying what I am saying - where did it come from? As Korean or Hangul rather was made, by King Sejong the great, for the people of lower status to understand Chinese it obviously has Chinese influence. That is why is is called 'Poor Man's Chinese'.

"The Korean script was developed by King Sejong for his people. Back then, the Chinese script was used by scholars to write Korean and people of lower status couldn’t read it. That’s why the King made Han-geul reeeeaaaally easy to read, so any idiot could learn it." [1]

Whilst watching Korean shows like 'Running Man' or the drama 'Jang Ok Jeong lives by love' which was set in the Joseon dynasty I would see some Chinese symbols pop up, get curious about it, look it up and remember it the next time I see it. Characters like 大, 天, 人, 王, 月, 無, 中, 金 and some more. And then my dad gave me this one day:

 

 Chineasy!
Learning these symbols are just really aiding my Korean learning I think but I enjoying it too; for example, I always knew 달빛 meant Moonlight (I have a friend and her Korean name is DalBit / 달빛) so when she mentioned how there is an Exo song about her (referring to 월광 (Wol-Gwang) which means moonlight also) it really irked me! Why was there another word to 'Moonlight' which was quite different to the one I knew? I instantly thought that it had to be Chinese. I knew that 월 meant month. The moon has a monthly cycle (like humans and werewolves haha). I knew that in Chinese month and moon share the same symbol '月'. I had a flashback to a Running Man episode when Gwangsoo said his name meant light '光' Gwang. So there is the Moon+Light that made moonlight. Hey, I am not claiming to be a genius but to realise that with my minimum knowledge in Chinese was quite handy (both symbols were in the top 100 basic Chinese symbol list I use).



I use my Spanish knowledge if I am ever reading something in French and it helps if I come across something in Italian or Portuguese. English and my limited French helps if my German friend sends me something in German. We are all tightly woven, more than we think. Languages are really similar. The other day I thought about 'specially' special and the suffix '-ly' is kind of the same in Korean 특별히- 특별 being 'special' and adding the '히' has the same effect as the '-ly' and makes it mean specially. It is a direct by translation and things like this amaze me. What a nerd!Doing things this like this also makes me realise only logical things e.g. 'pomme de terre' in French translates as 'apple of the Earth' which made me think 'wait, do apples not come from the Earth?' Obviously the come from apple trees.


I am still left with a few questions - 일본 in Korean means 'Japan'. If 일 translates to Sun does that mean like in Chinese 日本 (land of the rising Sun / Sun Origin) means Japan too? What does the 본 mean? Is it the 'origin' part? 수 means water. Is that why a WATER-melon is 수박 and there is water involved with 수영?

It is just for fun! Therefore I will only 'enriquecerme' (enrich myself) in learning symbols in Summer and regain my Year 9 level of French whilst striving forward with Spanish and Korean; but am I getting a bit a head of myself with all these languages?

The significance of the days of the week in Chinese - Korean
(Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold, Earth, Sun)

The meanings of the trigrams from the taegukgi and randomness

The elements / blocks from the Taegukgi

Directions Korean-Spanish-French-English-Chinese

Taegukgi decoded
Taiji Yin&Yang symbol
- Red is heat and light
-Blue is coldness and darkness
White background / flag = Peace, purity and cleanliness
The trigrams

The pronunciation guide I received at the Mandarin taster session

The symbols I recognise, please excuse my horrible
penmanship

Remember I am not a pro, just a learner 

Elements

These are my entries for a photo competition (all pictures my own of course) for my favourite singer for her new album. I do not know what I would win if I win but if I do I will make sure to mention it. Entries had to be an 'elements' related picture with a lyric from a song from the album 'Elements' by the lovely Kina Grannis. I hope you enjoy the pictures and even go search this lovely talented lady.

Also, how much do you know about North Korea? I took a quiz and got a disappointing 8/15 though some were obvious and guessable others were hard and random. You think you know North Korea?

A tiny greeting with a link

I have done it. I have entered the dreaded exam season. I had my first Geography exam on Monday and it went better that last years. The next is on Friday and then I have my 4 A2 exams after in June for English Literature, Geography and Spanish. Freedom arrives in exactly 1 month and 1 day! Then I am free to fix up this blog (which truthfully I have been neglecting since I started haha).

I am preparing for the annual Korean Event that my class hosts as I self-nomitated myself onto the organiser committee (no one else was going to do it!) It should take place mid July before the Summer break.

I feel my Spanish improved in my 15 hour Easter workshop over the 7 days I spent in Spain! I had my oral exam not too long ago and I feel more confident speaking. I really hope to do well with Spanish. To think I almost didn't take the subject for A-Level; now it has it's special area in my heart! You get out what you put in eh! If I do well with all my exams...or at least get into the university of my choice I will be over the moon! Results day is in exactly 3 months; a scary thought! I will be back to greet my readers whoever you are eventually. Until then, be well and do well and check out this interesting article below!

The visual contrast between Korea - North and South

I need to find an old computer! Pronto!

Haha so I found this recently. It must have been sitting in a drawer for years! I just want to test it out, see what it is like and since it is too old for newer computers I must hunt downnan old one!
On other language news, there is a film 'Spanglish' on my sky recorded list waiting for me to watch. After many years I heard the word 'andale' and realised what it meant. All these years (for some reason) after hearing it in a video game I thought it was 'under-lay'...I am disappointed in my obliviousness. It is exam season so I will probably not post until mid June; I have a lot of exams. Funny, in September 2012 I was definitely not most confident in Spanish a level or even passing, but now I think it is surprisingly my strongest subject (I do not know if that is a good thing for Spanish or if it means my other subjects are really bad). Well, everyone enjoy May...I know I've jumped the gun but May the 4th be with you ㅋㅋㅋ

It is that time of year again!!!...well

What I mean by that is that I am on my way back to London, from a Geography class trip in (of course) the Lake District! My class consisting of one other student, my teacher and I stayed 2 nights near to Glenridding and on our trip we done activities including a steam boat ride, a mountain walk up to 941m(!), collecting some [--some--] information for my Unit 4 exam (The rural landscape - Leisure and Tourism) and of course eating! What an enjoyable trip it was. The sights of course is a big attraction as the views are just amazing to look at. It just leaves you with a feeling, especially when on mountain treks, that you are so small; these mountains are so big yet they are only a tiny portion of this region which is a tiny portion of England which is a tiny portion of this world etc. (How big God is!)
Yes, the sights are so great...when you can see that is! We were so high up that the cloud mist blocked the distance that we could only see a few metres ahead when we were up in the colder part of the mountain at the Red Tarn.
Geography trips are always refreshing! The hike up and around(?) Helvellyn was 5 hours long and so I had a lot of quiet thinking time, self reflection and all that! It is like a medicine, helped with all my worries I guess too - pressed them all into a small ball! I did fall a few times as I was clumbsy, not correctly equiped and not used to the long walks combined with heights (I have a certain fear of hights). So obviously I tore my favourite pair of jeans and ended up almost slipping down a slope to try and save my teacher that had slipped too (no worries, Kaycey stuck the landing! ;]). So this is Kc reporting from the coach going back to London! Hope you all a lovely Easter and a lovely mountain climb when you too go and explore the world outside your front door (...okay, that was a cheesy end but cheesy is my middle name!)

Language interference

Is there anyone that knows or is learning more than one language? I know I am nowhere near fluent level or polyglot in the languages I do learn, however I am starting to feel the language interference! Does that happen a lot? I start off a sentence in one language but then in walks the other language and I confuse a lot of people including myself and my Spanish and Korean teachers >.< As Spanish has to be the most important at the moment, I really can not risk letting Korean or English in my case take over. My tongue can not resist the temptation to speak those two languages at times even though I know in my mind I must speak Spanish.
Today I surprised my Spanish teacher when I answered her in whatever French I remember! Well...I have a very important Spanish test coming out so time to drench myself in the lovely español. Will return to blog soon and edit some very important pages. Reader, stay well until then at least.

I made a new page...again!

Photo Page!
I put my pictures from my Valladolid trip onto this page! I will update it more frequently. I thought the homepage looked a bit messy so the pictures are here now!

A very nice summary of South Korea in article form

South Korea

I am back from Spain

...obviously. I promise I will update properly. It is just that week away really diverted my attention from work and I am now washed under. Spain was a fiesta. Work experience was lovely. More updates to come - the holiday page, Korean page, and Spain story.

More fotos

I love it here