I came here long ago in 2001 to do a intensive Summer program at Yonsei KLI, and I was bored to tears. There were no instructions in English about the grammar or what to do in class. The majority of students, Jaemi-Gyopo (Korean Americans), were fine with the program as most of them understood Korean., and they assisted the teachers by translating to English for other students.
I understood the grammar easily enough without English instruction because the grammar is similar to Japanese. Still though, I wasn't really learning what I felt was anything useful. They required using only polite formal verb form, i.e. -sumnida (습니다) and -sumnigga? (습니까?) forms. These forms are useful in talking to strangers that are of high status, such as president of Korea. I wanted to learn how to speak with people, make appointments, etc. and I was just not getting it, and speaking this polite formal form is really awkward. I became utterly bored and impatient with the course. Thus mentally, I dropped out of the program, showing up, but not mentally present in the course. I never really developed a strong desire to study the language in earnest afterward. Yonsei KLI killed it for me.
I understood the grammar easily enough without English instruction because the grammar is similar to Japanese. Still though, I wasn't really learning what I felt was anything useful. They required using only polite formal verb form, i.e. -sumnida (습니다) and -sumnigga? (습니까?) forms. These forms are useful in talking to strangers that are of high status, such as president of Korea. I wanted to learn how to speak with people, make appointments, etc. and I was just not getting it, and speaking this polite formal form is really awkward. I became utterly bored and impatient with the course. Thus mentally, I dropped out of the program, showing up, but not mentally present in the course. I never really developed a strong desire to study the language in earnest afterward. Yonsei KLI killed it for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment