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!
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