Blog
Ciao, Italiano
I take my Italian exams and promptly begin Korean.
Today was my official goodbye to Italian—for now. Though I think I will be spending more time with it in the future. Technically I said goodbye yesterday, but since yesterday was not a business day, I had to wait…
The Art of Handwriting
There is art in learning a new alphabet.
I am having trouble “graduating” from the beginning Pimsleur lessons. I did lesson 1 for the third time in three days and decided I can finally move on. Then I did lesson 2. I did not do well enough to move on.…
Word (Dis)Order
After years of ordering words a certain way, I take a while to get used to completely new sentence patterns.
Today I had an appointment with my internist. I walked there through Central Park, past the reservoir, and past lots and lots of ducks. When I arrived at my doctor’s office, I was blown away by a sign in…
Native English Speaker?
In which I confuse my husband, again.
Today I was talking to my husband when I mixed up words (in English) that I would not be comfortable reprinting here. Brandt said to me: “Talking to you is like talking to a non-native speaker of English. Non-stop…
A Pimsleur Walk in Central Park
It's cold, but there are signs that spring is near(er).
Today the two main venues for my Korean studies were (1) Café Margot, where I practiced my writing skills, and (2) Central Park, where I went for a walk as I did lessons 7, 8, 9, and 10 of Pimsleur (Level I). As usual, I did …
Blizzard!
A snow day shuts down schools, except at our place, where I keep studying.
It is a true snow day in New York City! City schools are closed, and parents everywhere are despondent and/or desperate. I am doing Pimsleur and watching the snow fall outside our living room windows. Currently I am on…
Pimsleur and Running: Incompatible?
There are only so many things you can do well at the same time you are running.
When I woke up today, I went for a 9-mile run in Central Park, doing two Pimsleur lessons while I was out there. It has been a long time since I have run with Pimsleur. It sucked. The only reason…
Korean Pimsleur Is Very Hard
I am not progressing as fast as I'd like.
I am not doing so well with Pimsleur. In order to finish all 60 Pimsleur lessons for Korean, I need to be doing a lesson a day. I am only on lesson 14, and each one is taking me a long time,…
Counting in Korean
There appear to be two sets of numbers in Korean. Crap.
I am finding Pimsleur lesson 15 (Level I) absolutely impossible! It is one of those Pimsleur lessons I feel as though I will never, ever get. Ever. What is causing me the most trouble is the Korean numbers. Even though I…
Pimsleur Lesson 15: Conquered!
It took me many tries, but I have finally reached Lesson 16.
I think I have commented on this before, but since beginning this language project, I seem to need less and less sleep. I don’t know why, but whatever the reason, it is great. Less sleep means more hours to…