what am i even doing

While the lessons are mostly in Korean please don’t be put off. The teachers speak slowly and clearly so even low intermediate learners should have no problem understanding :)

아임달imdal Korean teacher

Grammar and vocab videos both TOPIK specific and more everyday content. Beginner through to high intermediate level.  I really like all of the videos I have watched. In some of her videos she sets ‘homework’ and asks viewers to post in the comments and she will personally mark it for you! 

현명한 선택,知好樂

Mainly intermediate level grammar comparison videos (ie, what is the difference between similar grammar points). She takes requests from viewers.

10분한국어 10min Korean

As the channel name suggests most of her videos are around 10 minutes long. Predominately intermediate and advanced grammar lessons but she also has videos on hanja. 

베이직 코리안 basic Korean

Beginner content from reading and pronouncing hangul through to basic grammar. Videos are in Korean but have English subtitles. 

PARKSSEAM OK-KOREAN

평일 vs 주중

Most people are taught 평일 quite early on to talk about ‘weekday’, but actually it technically is not the opposite of ‘weekend (주말)’. The opposite of 주말 is actually 주중, which refers to Monday to Friday. So, what about 평일 then? 평일 is very similar to 주중, but actually it refers to a ‘working day’, relating more to the average non-rest day which, for most people, is Monday to Friday. If a public holiday falls on a weekday, that day is technically not a ‘평일’ as people will not be working, but it is still a 주중 (a weekday). You will hear both of these used quite a lot, and mostly used interchangeably.

*For anyone that finds Hanja helpful - 주말 has the characters 週末 which means ‘final part of the week’, and 주중 has the characters 週中 which mean ‘central/middle part of the week’. Whereas 평일 has the characters 平日 which means ‘average day’.

담 vs 벽

Both of these mean ‘wall’ but the distinction is actually very clear between the two. 벽 is a wall in a building, such as the four walls of your room, or the walls of your house (바람벽 is specifically a partition wall for inside the house, but 벽 is sufficient). 담 is a wall that has a purpose of guarding or preventing entry, such as a fence or a perimeter wall (like a city wall, or a wall around a building). It is usually used when talking about outside walls or fences.

놀이동산 vs 놀이공원 vs 놀이터

Playground? Since all these words start with the same two characters, it might be confusing to some regarding whether there is actually any difference here. 놀이터 is a playground that children usually play in, with slides and swings and climbing apparatus. Meanwhile 놀이공원 and 놀이동산 are used when talking about an amusement park with lots of fun rides for all ages. Both 놀이공원 and 놀이동산 are actually completely interchangeable with each other, it’s just that 놀이공원 has a Chinese root, and 놀이동산 is pure Korean. Either is fine and both are used in almost equal amounts, but it is useful to know that they mean the same thing.

늦다 vs 지각하다

I think one of the earliest words everyone will have learned is 늦다 to mean ‘late’. This can be used universally to mean ‘late’ and can be used for all contexts and subjects. However there is a more specific term for a person being late to work or to school which is 지각하다. Although you can use 늦다 in school and work settings too, 지각하다 is more specific. You will hear 늦다 far more, but it is good to be familiar with its more specific counterpart.

사무실 vs 사무소

세탁하다 vs 빨래하다

Both of these have the meaning of ‘to do the laundry’ or ‘to wash clothes’ but there are some small differences. 세탁하다 has a Chinese root (洗濯) whereas 빨래하다 is a native Korean word - this is why you might hear people say 빨래하다 a lot more in colloquial speech. However, specifically, 세탁하다 refers to the washing of clothes using a machine (세탁기 is a washing machine), whereas 빨래하다 can be used when talking about washing clothes with a machine, but also for hand-washing clothes. 빨래하다 is a universal term for washing clothes, but 세탁하다 really only talks about using the washing machine.

짓다 vs 만들다

만들다 is probably one of the earliest verbs that any of us learn when learning Korean - it means ‘to make’. But some of you may have come to a point where you have learned the verb 짓다 which conveys a similar meaning but is slightly more nuanced. 짓다 does indeed mean ‘to make’ but may also mean ‘to build’ - it is used in situations like making/building a house or building, giving something a title or name, or making a facial expression or smile. Comparatively, 만들다 is used more for making objects of a smaller scale. 

When talking about ‘building something’, 짓다 is used to talk about referring to something of large scale, like a building or a house, but 만들다 is used to talk about building something like a doll’s house or a pet house (something small). 

When talking about ‘making food’, both can be used, however 짓다 is specifically used for cooking/boiling plain rice, but 만들다 is used for making other foods with numerous ingredients.

When talking about ‘making a name’ or ‘giving something a name’, both 짓다 and 만들다 can be used. 짓다 sounds a little more formal, so it is a bit like ‘giving something a title’ or ‘giving a baby a name’, whereas 만들다 is a bit more like ‘giving something a nickname’.

When talking about ‘making a facial expression’ or ‘making a smile’, you can ONLY use 짓다  (표정을 짓다 = to make a face / to pull a face).

When talking about ‘making objects’ like ‘making clothes’, you can ONLY use 만들다 -  the scale is not big enough for 짓다 (인형을 만들다 = to make a doll).

핸드폰 vs 휴대폰

Some people may never have even heard the term 휴대폰, I only heard it because my Korean teacher uses it all the time instead of 핸드폰. Of course, both actually mean a cellphone / mobile phone and are completely interchangeable. 핸드폰 is a loan word from English (hand phone), meanwhile 휴대폰 originated from 휴대전화 - 휴대 (携帶) means ‘carry’ and 전화 (電話) means telephone. In recent times, the 전화 has been replaced with 폰 (the English loan word ‘phone’) for ease and is said as 휴대폰. No difference - just preference I guess, and mostly reflects a change in the times / generation thing. Most people call cellphones a 핸드폰 these days because 휴대전화 or 휴대폰 originated from the initial cordless home telephones.

어렵다 vs 힘들다

I have noticed a lot of situations where people use the word 어렵다 when what they really mean to say is 힘들다 (myself included) - this is because in English, we refer to things being ‘difficult’ whether it’s talking about something being difficult to do (as in, not easy), or whether it’s difficult to do because you’re having a hard time. Tricky to conceptualise - here’s some easy examples. 

시험이 어려워요 - The exam is difficult

제 일주일은 힘들었어요 - My week was difficult (tough)

한국어를 배우는 것은 어려워요 - Learning Korean is difficult (not easy)

한국어를 배우는 것은 힘들어요 - Learning Korean is tough (mentally difficult - you might not find Korean a particularly difficult language, but you might find it hard to do for whatever external reason)

깜짝 vs 갑자기

This is a post about masterposts about resources and books for studying many languages. I made this since many people do not know about all the resources that have been posted.

Resources for Many Languages: thelanguagecommunity

General

Language Library  

Free Online Language Courses 

Massive Language Resource  

Language and Linguistics  

Language Resources  

Language Families/Groups

West African Languages 

Classics Resource Masterpost  

Latin & Greek Masterpost 

Celtic Languages Resources  

Celtic Family Masterpost  

Dutch, Afrikaans, West Frisian, Limburgish  

Finnish, Estonian, Saami, Voro  

Germanic Languages Resources  

Scandinavian Language Resources  

North Germanic Languages  

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Alien Languages of Star Trek 

Afrikaans

Learn Afrikaans Masterpost  

Afrikaans Resources

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Ainu Resources

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Albanian Resources  

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Arabic Learning Resources  

Arabic Language Resources  

Arabic Language Apps

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Armenian Language Masterpost 

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American Sign Language Masterpost  

ASL Masterpost

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Azerbaijani Resources 

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Belarusian Masterpost

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Bengali Masterpost

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Resources

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Bulgarian Resources

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Catalan Masterpost

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Catalan Resources

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Mandarin Chinese Masterpost  

Chinese Language Resources I  

Chinese Language Resources II

Pinyin Masterpost  

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Crimean Tatar Resources

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Danish Masterpost  

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Dutch Resources  

Dutch Masterpost

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English Online Courses  

English Resource Masterpost 

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Estonian Resources 

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Euskera Resources  

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Faroese Resources

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French Resources

French Resource Masterpost  

French Resources  

French Masterpost  

Intermediate Resources

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Georgian Language Masterpost

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German Learning Tools  

German Resources  

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German Sites   

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Gothic Language Masterpost

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Greek Masterpost 

Ancient Greek Masterpost  

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Greek Masterpost  

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Guarani Masterpost

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Learn Hawaiian  

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Hebrew Language Masterpost

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Hindi Language Masterpost

Hindi Audio & Video

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Hungarian Learning Resources   

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Icelandic for Everyone  

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How to Learn Italian 

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Free Japanese Resources  

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Japanese Resource Masterpost  

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Kannada Resources  

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Kazakh Masterpost  

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Khmer Language Masterpost

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Free Kikongo Resources  

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Korean Textbook Masterpost 

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Korean Resource Masterpost  

Korean Language Masterpost 

Ultimate Korean Masterpost 

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Kyrgyz Resources

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Learning Latin 

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Malay Resources  

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Maltese Resources  

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Nahuatl Language Masterpost  

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Nepali Masterpost

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Norwegian Masterpost

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Occitan Resources

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Resources

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Pashto Masterpost

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Persian Language Masterpost

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Polish Masterpost  

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Punjabi Masterpost

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Russian Masterpost 

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Learn Scottish Gaelic Masterpost 

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Serbian Masterpost  

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Ukrainian Language Masterpost 

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Urdu Masterpost

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Xhosa Resources

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Yiddish Language Masterpost

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Yoruba Resources

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Zulu Resources

Do’s and Don'ts of Designing for Accessibility

Anxiety

Autistic Spectrum

Dyslexia

Physical or Motor Disabilities

Low Vision

Screen Readers

Deaf or Hard of Hearing

A comfy morning before an exam. Also I had my first macarons, my new favorite.

Halfway through the semester and it feels like I’ve learned NOTHING.

You’ve probably heard before that people take in new knowledge more effectively through different mediums. In other words, people have different learning styles.

The most common classification of ‘learning styles’ is the VARK method, which stands for Visual, Auditory, Reading, and Kinesthetic. It classifies people based on how they prefer to learn new material.

Instructors use these classifications to help their students understand new material. Students rely on them to identify their learning needs and find more efficient ways to study.

I often receive questions along the lines of ‘how can a [insert learning type here] learner study for [insert subject here]?’ or ‘what study methods work best for [insert learning type here]?’ Although I understand where you’re coming from, there are some problems with pegging yourself to a certain learning style.

Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Learning Styles

There’s No Scientific Evidence

Firstly, there’s no scientific evidence supporting the theory of learning styles. Teachers who adapt their lesson material to different learning styles don’t see an improvement in performance from their students. Students who believe they fit a particular learning style don’t do better in tasks associated with that learning style compared to their peers who identify with a different learning style.

Learning Styles are Preferences

They don’t tell you whether you receive information better a certain way. This is one of the flaws of the VARK questionnaire - it uses phrases like you would, you learn best by, you prefer, and you like. This only tells you the things you already do and the habits you’ve already formed, not what’s best for you and yields the best results.

Plus, the fact that these questions are self-reported undermines the reliability of the results of the questionnaire. Even if you think you’re extremely self-aware and can identify a single medium through which you receive information most effectively, adhering to a single medium will result in major drawbacks, which I’ll explain later in this post.

The Theory’s Inconsistent with Neuroscience

The idea of learning styles is also inconsistent with findings in neuroscience: the brain is an interconnected organ, so when you utilize one learning method, other learning methods are activated as well. For example, when you read a certain piece of text, your brain would then find a way to visualize what you read or to sound it out in your head.

What You Should Do Instead

Use All Learning Methods

Because our brain is so interconnected, it would be best to utilize all learning methods so that you can learn the material as comprehensively as possible. This was a method my seventh-grade science teacher taught me, and it’s been more helpful than I was aware of.

For example, when studying a relationship between two variables in a graph, you should

Study the physical attributes of the graph. Remember axes, units, the general shape of the graph, and outliers. This will help you understand the general correlation or relationship between the two factors. (Visual)

Read the explanation of the graph and rewrite it in your own words, either in the form of notes or a paragraph, so long as there is logical consistency. Also, redraw the graph. (Visual, Reading)

Explain (out loud) what’s going on in the graph and the explanation/theory behind it, while only looking at the graph you redrew. Do so by walking around. (Auditory, Kinesthetic)

Focus on the Material

The most important thing when it comes to studying is to focus on the material. The way that information is best processed by your brain depends on the type of information you’re receiving much more than what learning method you prefer to use. So, you should adopt as many of the learning styles as you can, focusing on what best suits the material you’re studying.

For example, you won’t understand geometry as comprehensively if you don’t visualize the shapes. You won’t be able to speak a different language without hearing how the correct accent is supposed to sound. You won’t be able to do math without actually doing the problems - just reading through sample questions and answers isn’t very effective.

After receiving so much positive feedback from people saying they’d love to join me in my latest quest to improve my speaking, I’ve decided to create an official langblr challenge: #SpeakingIn20

Background: I’ve always neglected my speaking skills in Norwegian, and I decided that for the remainder of the year I want to try to do 10 minutes dedicated speaking practice 6 days a week, clocking a total of an hour a week, and thus have 20 hours under my belt by the end of the year. I recorded an intro with the intention of rerecording a similar intro at the end of the year and seeing how much I’ve improved in that time.

Because this was born from the goal of using the last 20 weeks of 2019 to do 20 hours of dedicated speaking practice, so that in 2020 I’ll actually feel like I can speak Norwegian to some (small) degree, I felt like #SpeakingIn20 worked!

The goal of this challenge is to get in a set amount of speaking practice every week, and see how much you’ve improved by the end of the year.

The Rules Of This Challenge Are:

Start by picking a challenge level:

Chill - do the challenge 1-2 days a week

Medium - do the challenge 3-4 days a week

Hardcore - do the challenge 5-7 days a week

Pick a time goal for each day. (Eg 2 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins etc - this is totally up to you!)). You’re going to try to speak for that amount of time every day you do the challenge! Note: you don’t have to do it all in one go - if you can’t talk for 5 minutes straight, it’s okay to break it down into 5x1 minute sessions.

Record a little introduction. You don’t have to share it with tumblr if you’re too self-conscious; you just want to have a record of your starting point, so you have something to compare to at the end of the year. It can be as long or as short as you like!

You can talk about whatever you want, however I will be posting prompts at the start of every week and will keep a masterpost with all the previous prompts, so if you get stuck you can look to that for inspiration.

You can use notes if you want (eg vocab lists, things you want to mention, other visual prompts), but try to avoid just reading out something you’ve pre-written if possible. (It’s totally okay to write something out to start with so you can get an idea of holes in your vocab, just condense it down to notes before you try speaking!)

You can also do pronunciation drills such as repeating words you find difficult, practising tongue twisters, reciting the alphabet etc.

Record yourself speaking if possible. Again, you don’t have to upload anything if you don’t want to - you can just post about how you’re getting on - but you can if that helps to keep you accountable! Once you’re done, make sure you listen back to your recording and make a note of what you did well and what you need to work on still.

Use the hashtag #SpeakingIn20 so we can find each other. You can also hashtag with the level you’re doing and the language you’re learning like so: eg #SpeakingIn20Chill #SpeakingIn20German etc

If you want to do multiple languages, go for it! Just try to be consistent with what you do (ie don’t start skipping out on one language)

Anyone can join at any time! So if you miss the start now, or if you fall off the wagon, you can still (re)join later

Inspired by the Norwegian list by @lingolden

att attackera | att försvara: to attack | to defend

att öppna | att stänga: to open | to close

att börja | att sluta: to begin | to end

att ha sönder | att laga: to break | to fix

att älska | att hata: to love | to hate

att gå | att springa: to walk | to run

att ge | att ta: to give | to take

att kasta | att fånga: to throw | to catch

att köpa | att sälja: to buy | to sell

att komma | att gå: to come | to go

att låna ut | att låna: to lend | to borrow

att skratta | att gråta: to laugh | to cry

att läsa | att skriva: to read | to write

att leva | att dö: to live | to die

att lyckas | att mislyckas: to succeed | to fail

att tappa bort | att hitta: to lose | to find

att smälta | att frysa: to melt | to freeze

att prata | att lyssna: to speak | to listen

att äta | att dricka: to eat | to drink

att fråga | att svara: to ask | to answer

att stå | att sitta: to stand | to sit

att ta på sig | att ta av sig: to put on | to take off

att tillåta | att förbjuda: to allow | to forbid

att tvätta | att torka: to wash | to dry

Reblog/like this if you are small studyblr (like, if you’re usually getting less than 200 notes) and preferably if you post a lot of original content and I will follow you!

Hey! I definitely would encourage you to continue doing some form of your own notes! I know when I started rewriting notes during the week that would encompass my classwork, textbooks (required and other ones I had purchased), along with my own internet research, I understood everything so much more. I definitely attribute doing that to being able to recall more and improve my marks. However, as you said it was incredibly time-consuming. For me, it didn’t help that I was in that “everything has to be neat” phase so I was very slow with writing. Plus, I was using fineliners that moulded very quickly so I had to hold them in a specific way to make sure the line thickness was the same. For me, switching pens was an easy alternative! But here are some other things:

type notes - I used Microsoft OneNote for my final exam notes, it covered every topic and was incredibly handy to have. I did all my notes in a bullet point form/the outline method (you can see an example here). There is always going to be that handwritten-typed debate but this was a much faster option for me. It allowed for quick editing, copy & pasting, links to sources, etc. I did these about a month or two before my exams. I 100% wish I had made it a weekly thing to update them so it wasn’t a last minute rush to get everything done and dusted.

class review - I am 100% going to make some form a printable for this in the near future, but as my mind comes up with a design I’ll talk you through it. So, I’d recommend having maybe a notebook (or digital notebook if you’re using Goodnotes, OneNote, etc) that is specifically for class reviews. Or if you can, leave a page after each class in your regular notebook for this. Doing a quick review with say the key things from the lesson, a couple of questions you make up, etc could be an easier way to make notes. You wouldn’t necessarily need to rewrite everything but still provides you with a chance to revisit what you’ve done.

flashcards - I think this is a good option for anyone. If you’re able, after class write on a flashcard a very brief overview. Name it with the title of the content, the date of the class, etc. If you can do this after every class you have, by the end of the semester you’ll have a full stack of flashcards with summarised content. With these, you don’t have to add additional information for quickness but they’d be very handy in my opinion!

study like a hufflepuff: organize study groups, do your readings in your comfiest sweaters, write your own notes and study guides from the textbook, be unafraid of the hard work that studying takes

study like a ravenclaw: think critically when re-reading notes, quiz yourself while brushing your teeth, tackle the hardest practice problems, know that you have the skills to get it done