Hello everyone! My name is Gloria and I am a 16-year-old ‘citizen of the world’ living in Washington in the United States!
I speak Russian, which I gained during a trip to Ukraine to visit my family when I was little. Unfortunately, my reading and writing in Russian are pretty much non-existent, so I am working on bringing those skills up to my speaking level. I learned some German at home from my parents when I was younger, but much of it hasn’t stuck with me, however, I definitely think I will continue with the language in the future. I am currently learning French in high school and have taken my learning somewhat into my own hands (per necessity), which has been a fun learning experience as it is the first language I have fully thrown myself into learning a new language. I have been self-studying Korean for a few months now, and so far have been really enjoying it, though maybe a little too much since I have been neglecting my other languages for this new exciting one!
This community seems to be so welcoming, kind, and willing to help and I am very excited to be part of the Polyglot Conference for the first time this year! I would love to get to know you all, so feel free to comment if you are learning any of these languages (or any others for that matter) and we can support each other in this crazy journey we are on to learn about the world!
It’s a delight to see someone your age here. I think if I’d have had the knowledge about how awesome languages are in high school, it wouldn’t have taken me quite so long to study all of the ones I do now. I hope you have a great time here.
I am so glad to hear from you and find other people around my age that have joined the conference this year too! Since I learned Russian very naturally from exposure, I am decently fluent in speaking and I practice with my mother who is a native Russian speaker. I have been watching some youtube channels to help my listening and comprehension. At the moment I am reading a book called ‘Short stories in Russian’ which is just a collection of easy stories to read as a beginner since my reading speed is very slow. I have also been reading some WEBTOONS that were translated into Russian which is a fun, low-intensity way of reading almost wherever you go. I mostly need to maintain the language so I don’t do much intense grammar or vocabulary study, but I hope what I’ve shared helps even if just a little bit!
Here are two links to YouTube channels I personally enjoy:
I definitely am very glad that I have discovered this passion for learning languages. I have so much respect for those that follow their passion at whatever stage they are in life; that kind of determination shows that it is never too late to do something you love and keep learning! I hope you have a wonderful time at this conference too and I am sure we will run into each other here again!
I am a Junior right now so I am just starting my third year of the language. I am in the International Baccalaureate program which is an international advanced course program and I am challenging myself to take the higher-level test to push myself to learn more. What has your experience with the language been so far and how long have you been learning it?
I’m a Freshman and I’m taking French through a virtual program offered by the state, but I’ve been learning it since I was 7. Sadly, I still haven’t reached an intermediate level.
It is so neat that you have been learning French for so long! I definitely think that there can be some challenges with learning languages in school, but if you are determined (and also self study a bit) I am convinced it’s possible! I am also still below an intermediate level as well but maybe we can get some practice here Did you learn it in school when you were younger too?
Hi Gloria!
I’ve been self-studying Korean for almost 2 years and it’s been a really good experience, so I’m glad that you’re enjoying it too!
I’m still not great at it or anything, but if you ever want to share anything about this journey of learning Korean I’m here
I am so glad you reached out because I have been wanting to get in contact with some other people that are also self-studying Korean!
What resources (textbooks/grammar lessons, etc…) have you been using to learn? At this point, I am looking to practice some speaking if I can which is something I haven’t done at all so far. I think the hardest thing for me is putting what I learn in terms of vocab and grammar into practice since I really haven’t done any writing or speaking at this point yet. How did you overcome the challenge of working on and improving output skills in your Korean studies?
I started studying through howtostudykorean.com - their content is good, but it’s too focused on grammar and I wasn’t improving my other skills. I got really serious about learning Korean 5 months ago, I started looking for other resources and now I’m at a point where I understand enough grammar to learn new vocab through content I like (song lyrics, youtube videos, things like that)
I never used their textbooks, but talktomeinkorean.com has a lot of great content too! I listened to some of their podcasts and their Easy Korean Reading for Beginners helped me a lot. I also recommend the naver dictionary app (it has these mini lessons where you can learn grammar in a more simplified way). Other than that I just really suggest you to focus on what you like and what your specific goals are, because I spent too much time learning what the lessons wanted me to learn and not what I really wanted.
Being 100% honest I haven’t worked a lot on my output skills because my main goal is to understand enough Korean to consume content in the language, so I’ve been really focused on reading and listening. One thing I do sometimes is try to take notes in Korean, to practice my writing skills. Practicing speaking might be the hardest one, and I haven’t tried it yet, but I know a lot people recommend finding tutors on italki to talk and improve your pronunciation.
I know this is a really long answer and I might not have helped a lot, but this is what I’ve been doing so far. I don’t know if it’s the best way to learn a language, but it’s working for me, and using content I enjoy keeps me a lot more motivated And I’m always here if you have any other questions, I swear I’ll try my best to help you!
Thank you so much for this! I have been using howtostudykorean.com and I do think it is a great resource but I have found it to be very grammar intensive as well. I am finding that though I am learning a lot of vocab on anki and grammar, I haven’t done much active practice of writing and speaking. I would love to be able to speak and get some practice with that if I can but I want to make sure I have a solid foundation of vocab and grammar. I suppose I might just be making excuses though.
I am curious about what did in your studies to learn vocabulary early on? And what were the best ways for you to practice writing? I find that for me the hardest thing is not having someone who can tell me when I am making a mistake or using grammar incorrectly.
Anyway, thanks again for this response! I will definitely keep all your tips in mind. It is so helpful to hear from someone who has done what I am trying to do and your post really motivated me to continue with my studies!
Hi Gloria. Nice to meet you. We spoke very briefly in one of the rooms. I’m so excited to be a part of this community and to meet more like minded people. Hope to meet and speak to all of you soon. Anyone studying Russian, feel free to connect.
Hey, sorry for taking so long to reply, uni has been killing me lately
But anyway, it’s super understandable that you wanna wait to have a solid foundation before speaking! I’m like that too, and it’s okay if you want to wait a little to be more comfortable, but it’s also good to push yourself out of your comfort zone, so I guess it’s more about the timing that is right for you.
I think I learnt a lot of vocab because of the amount of content in Korean I consume. I really like kpop, so even before I decided to study Korean, I was already getting exposed to the language. Even when I don’t understand everything (or even when I understand basically nothing), the content is still enjoyable for me because it’s something I like, and I’m still learning even if little by little.
And yes, I also find it hard not having someone to correct my mistakes for me! I wanna try a language exchange at some point for that reason, but for now I’m just trying to get over my perfectionism - kind of allowing me to do something even if I’m not 100% sure that I’m doing it right (?) I don’t know how to explain, but it’s more so I don’t postpone writing too much out of fear of not being perfect straight away. I recognize it may not be very efficient because I don’t know what I’m getting wrong so I can’t exactly learn from my mistakes, so I don’t know if I’d recommend it to you My plan is to try journaling in Korean next year, and hopefully find a language partner to help me improve my writing!
I’m glad my other post helped you and motivated you to continue studying, Korean can be really tough sometimes but it’s definitely worth it!!
I know it has been a while but I am back (school has also been taking up a bunch of my time). Thank you so much for the responses and all the encouragement! I am definitely beginning to look for opportunities to do some speaking practice. It is nice that there is a ton of content in Korean which makes being exposed to the language very easy. Let me know if you have any show or movie recommendations!
And I can defiantly understand what you mean about perfectionism because I am like that myself. For me I have found that the fear of messing up or not knowing or sounding stupid get in the way, but it is something I like to work on. I really value being able to push myself out of my comfort zone and language learning is the perfect way to practice that. Hopefully we can meet in the live rooms at some point!
Привет Глория! If you or anyone else is interested in speaking Russian, I’m planning on meeting up with @Amirul in Earth-Slavic tomorrow at 6am EDT (New York time zone). Take care!
Did you learn it in school when you were younger too?
And I’m always here if you have any other questions, I swear I’ll try my best to help you!
My plan is to try journaling in Korean next year, and hopefully find a language partner to help me improve my writing!