Blog

February 27, 2010 | Korean

Snow Bombs and Pimsleur in the Park

Dr. P. and I enjoy a wintry stroll in Central Park.

I woke up too early, again. I tried Pimsleur lesson 17 (Level I), but was doing so horribly that I stopped after less than 10 minutes. I decided to save it for later, for a walk, to see if the exercise would…

March 1, 2010 | Korean

My Husband Goes Thirsty

In which I struggle to explain what my spouse wants to drink.

It is March! I can’t believe it. This is so exciting. I woke up a little after 5:00 and promptly got to work on Pimsleur. As I went through my lesson, I watched the sun rise, and felt glad to…

March 7, 2010 | Korean

Particles and Plurals

Korean grammar continues to mystify me, but maybe a little less.

I was supposed to run a race today in the Bronx, but didn’t because I have been sick all week. I am coughing and my chest hurts. So, instead of racing, I ran a loop of Central Park, very…

March 10, 2010 | Korean

Korean in Indianapolis!

I keep studying in Indiana.

I have now finished teaching my third day of writing workshops for my client in Indianapolis. I discovered yesterday that a number of the employees there speak, or at least are familiar with, Korean. It’s not too surprising, I…

March 11, 2010 | Korean

An Original Thought in Korean

I come up with my own sentence (i.e., non-Pimsleur-prompted) in Korean.

Tonight is my last night in Indianapolis. During one of my phone conversations with Brandt this evening, I told him in Korean, De-il chonyogay diogero toraga gesaio. I’m 90 percent sure I succeeded in saying to him, “Tomorrow night I…

March 12, 2010 | Korean

Bye for Now, Indiana

I find Indianapolis International Airport a surprisingly pleasant place to study.

This was my last day in Indianapolis. I finished teaching my final writing class of the week at 3 p.m., at which point I went downstairs to wait for the Carey Limousine car that would be taking me to the…

March 14, 2010 | Korean

A “Scientifically Designed” Writing System

In which I finish Korean Pimsleur Level I (finally!) and practice the alphabet.

Today I finished Level I of Korean Pimsleur. It took me 42 days, the longest by far it has taken me to get through a single level of Pimsleur. Following on the heels of Italian, where I finished all three levels…

March 15, 2010 | Korean

A Strange Journey Forward, and Backwards

I feel as though I am traveling backwards in time.

Time continues to flow strangely backwards. Yesterday I ran more than 12 miles (to test my legs for the NYC Half-Marathon next weekend); it is a distance I have run many times in my life, but probably not for more than…

March 16, 2010 | Korean

Field Trip: Flushing, Queens

Korean is everywhere in Flushing.

I have been spending a lot of time on Pimsleur (Level II) over the past few days, and my progress is painfully slow. I had to do lesson 1 four times, lesson 2 four times, and lesson 3 three times before I did…

March 18, 2010 | Korean

VocabuLearn Epitaph

Alas, VocabuLearn is dead. Or at least dying.

This morning I left a voicemail message for Penton Overseas, makers of VocabuLearn (and “The Global Language Specialists,” according to the back of the VocabuLearn packaging). I wanted to see if I could get on their mailing list for product…