Blog

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…

March 19, 2010 | Korean

Early Spring, with Foreign-Language Encounters

In which I encounter people walking around in the sunshine speaking different languages.

Yesterday and today were around 70 degrees. Tomorrow will be more of the same. A beautiful and premature spring. This morning I wanted to go for a run, but for some reason found myself strangely indecisive about audio accompaniment: would it…

March 20, 2010 | Korean

I Need to Go Faster!

I am running out of time.

I am in a race against time and language ignorance. I need to learn way more Korean between now and March 31. That is 12 days. My current status: not good. It is morning, and I am about to do lesson 9, Pimsleur…

March 22, 2010 | Korean

It’s Harder to Study After Half-Marathons

In which I discover that racing 13.1 miles does not, in fact, enhance my language-learning abilities.

Yesterday I woke up shortly after 5:00 a.m., ate breakfast, put on running clothes, and jogged over to Central Park for the start of the NYC Half-Marathon. It was my first race of that distance in 11 years, on an amazing…

March 23, 2010 | Korean

Dilemma: Which Languages to Include?

I want to add languages to the schedule, but my eyes are bigger than my brain.

For the first half of the day, I was not entirely functional, as I was still tired from my half-marathon on Sunday, but I worked on more Korean Pimsleur and didn’t do all that terribly. I got through lesson 11 …

March 24, 2010 | Korean

Nice Weather, Lost Hats, and Korean Writing

In which I experience strange word associations.

With Pimsleur, words and phrases you learn in early lessons tend, after lying dormant for a while, to resurface in later ones. When I am asked to recall things from past lessons, I have noticed that surprising non-verbal memories sometimes…