Tonight I was chatting with a young Korean lady via Skype and I had one of those moments were I thought "My Korean flippin sucks". Basically I could pick up one or two words in some sentences and could understand some really basic phrases. I could produce very little.

I have been studying Korean about 3 months now and have about 2200 sentences in my anki deck. Is this just a case of "you have only been studying 3 months idiot" or is there some way I can mix it up to get my production and listening up to scratch. I'm thinking possibly idiot option.

My anki deck is recognition only KOREAN > English. I probably listen/watch about 1-2 hours of Korean a day. A lot of it is hip hop, which is blistering fast.

I was a bit dismayed by the conversation because I realised how far I have to go, however, it has now strengthened my resolve and I want to study more, but make sure I am doing it the best way.

Should I just up my immersion levels and keep doing recognition cards? Or should I cut ties with Khatzumoto and try something else?

Looking forward to your responses!

"you have only been studying 3 months [word omitted]"

Give it time.

And sentences doesn't exactly make speech better, so just practice more at that if you want to speak better, not just rely on sentences.

You're just an idiot, give up.





Just kidding obviously. What was your problems during the conversation? Could you not hear what she was saying (but would have understood it if she wrote it down) or was it that you didn't understand the words she used? Were you not able to speak because you couldn't form sentences, or didn't you remember words?

There is so much which can go wrong in a conversation and what you have to do to improve varies.

"Time is the healer of all wounds."

Plus, it makes you better at things.

Was she cute? Maybe you were just blinded by her cuteness.

And don't worry. I have no confidence making sentences, or even listening, after 10 months of studying Japanese. I should actually try harder like you.

Try something else. I doubt if even a whole year of hip hop and anki sentences will get you much closer to conversational Korean.

And be patient. Three months of anything, let alone AJAATT, is unlikely to get you past the tourist/survival level of a language.

Pffft, I was conversationally fluent on Korean in less than a month - if you can't speak yet, you may as well quit right now.

[/sarcasm]

Seriously, you expect to be able to speak a new complex language like that in 12 weeks? Keep studying, keep immersion going, most importantly give it time. whats the rush.

time is what you need. It's been almost 7 months me actively studying Japanese and i can understand a lot of things. But my output isn't good yet. Time/immersion/practice

For me personally it's just i can't seem to output what i want to say, even though i can understand almost anything i hear(well depends on what they are talking about)

Tobberoth Wrote:You're just an idiot, give up.





Just kidding obviously. What was your problems during the conversation? Could you not hear what she was saying (but would have understood it if she wrote it down) or was it that you didn't understand the words she used? Were you not able to speak because you couldn't form sentences, or didn't you remember words?

There is so much which can go wrong in a conversation and what you have to do to improve varies.

Hmm all of the above. I think everyone is right and that time is needed. I was able to use some basic structures, but while I can recognise a lot of structures I am not yet able to produce them. I also think I can produce about 20% of words I can recognise.... (obviously a rough guess). There was also one point where she said a phrase and I didn't understand, but then she translated in to English and instantly I realised oh I know those korean words and the sentence like broke apart in my head...

Thanks everyone for the kind words and advice.

Three months really isn't long... but make sure you practice production, do more skype, and also writing. If you concentrate only on srs then in a years time you'll probably be back saying I have 15000 sentences in my anki but I can't speak...

thegeelonghellswan Wrote:Hmm all of the above. I think everyone is right and that time is needed. I was able to use some basic structures, but while I can recognise a lot of structures I am not yet able to produce them. I also think I can produce about 20% of words I can recognise.... (obviously a rough guess).

This is completely normal.

thegeelonghellswan Wrote:There was also one point where she said a phrase and I didn't understand, but then she translated in to English and instantly I realised oh I know those korean words and the sentence like broke apart in my head...

The good thing is, you're MUCH more likely to understand it next time.

caivano Wrote:Three months really isn't long... but make sure you practice production, do more skype, and also writing. If you concentrate only on srs then in a years time you'll probably be back saying I have 15000 sentences in my anki but I can't speak...

haha i agree with this. Practice both those skills as soon as possible, it will build up over time with the other skills as well. Peronsally i've started to get lazy with writing, well adding more new production type cards into my srs. I'm noticing i can randomly remember kanji i've seen so many times over and i can write them just fine. But it's best to do kana to kanji production cards, as it will train memory of writing the kanji.

Sounds like you're on the right track if you're already making an effort to practice your listening and speaking in a real conversation. It's pretty common on this forum (myself included) to disregard speaking practice for a long time while focusing on input.

Skype after 3 months?

*face ---> palm*

I just tried to write a Japanese college textbook and failed badly. I started learning Japanese last week. What am I doing wrong??

ruiner Wrote:I just tried to write a Japanese college textbook and failed badly. I started learning Japanese last week. What am I doing wrong??

Hmm depends. Were you trying to write it by hand or on computer? If the former then perhaps your pen was out of ink, or your pencil too dull? If the latter, did you check to see that your keyboard was plugged in?

There are so many possible points of failure here that I'm afraid we are going to need more information before we can accurately assess the situation.

blackmacros Wrote:

ruiner Wrote:I just tried to write a Japanese college textbook and failed badly. I started learning Japanese last week. What am I doing wrong??

Hmm depends. Were you trying to write it by hand or on computer? If the former then perhaps your pen was out of ink, or your pencil too dull? If the latter, did you check to see that your keyboard was plugged in?

There are so many possible points of failure here that I'm afraid we are going to need more information before we can accurately assess the situation.

So you're saying I have too many fail points? That's not what your boy/girlfriend said last night.

ruiner Wrote:

blackmacros Wrote:

ruiner Wrote:I just tried to write a Japanese college textbook and failed badly. I started learning Japanese last week. What am I doing wrong??

Hmm depends. Were you trying to write it by hand or on computer? If the former then perhaps your pen was out of ink, or your pencil too dull? If the latter, did you check to see that your keyboard was plugged in?

There are so many possible points of failure here that I'm afraid we are going to need more information before we can accurately assess the situation.

So you're saying I have too many fail points? That's not what your boy/girlfriend said last night.

Leave my cat out of this.

kazelee Wrote:Skype after 3 months?

*face ---> palm*

haha i agree, even after almost 7 months i still have trouble keeping a flow to japanese let alone having full-blown conversations in japanese without referring back to english in some way,shape or form.

To the people who responded sarcastically, it may seem incredibly apparent to you, but when you study alone sometimes its hard to know what is right. For example: a classroom will have you speaking from day one, khatzumoto (whose method I follow) recommends waiting until you reach some critical mass point, is there a happy medium? Obviously the point isn't at 3 months I learned that last night. I also have NO idea what this critical mass moment is going to feel like, I doubt the heavens will open up...

Kazelee are you suggesting that I shouldn't even be speaking yet?

Avparker - thanks

Caivano - thanks, has that ever happened to anyone? I cant think of anyone claiming that...

Ruiner - When did you start speaking on skype?

Maybe you converse smoothly in esperanto after 3 months....

thegeelonghellswan Wrote:Caivano - thanks, has that ever happened to anyone? I cant think of anyone claiming that...

It's actually a fairly common topic on this forum. We concentrate a lot on input, and think that output will magically come. It doesn't; you have to actually make a decision to start outputting at some point.

Although having said that, a lot of input really does help (you can't output something you don't even understand). But it won't take you all the way.

Anyway I wouldn't worry about trying to figure out exactly when is the optimal time to start speaking. I think its a great that you are already trying to have conversations. Just remember, you're only 3 months in- so don't expect to be perfect (or even any good).

thegeelonghellswan Wrote:I have been studying Korean about 3 months now and have about 2200 sentences in my anki deck.

Didn't cross my mind to think of asking when I first read this post but... these are recognition sentences aren't they? So, you see the sentence then just have to read it and understand it.

If so... you can't expect (contrary to what you might have heard) that you will be able to output all of that material (maybe 1/10th if you're lucky). If you flip that deck and turn it into output Eng - Korean, you'll be able to speak a fair amount of Korean at the end of it.

If you want output, try it.

Krashen is wrong then I guess...

Mezbup, that is something I have been thinking of, but been reluctant to do as I will instantly have 2200 new cards to review...

I think I am going to do it though. It makes more sense to me. Thanks guys.