90 Once you’ve reached an intermediate level, though, it’s time to change strategy and dive into more material that’s geared towards native speakers. Think simple novels, magazines around your interests, etc. Blogs, youtube channels, portals: The internet truly is a fantastic resource for learning languages, and it’s easy to marry interests with educational opportunities. I’m a big fan of travel, for example, so one thing I enjoy doing is read blogs of world travelers in the languages I’m learning (especially Korean). I also love reading about international affairs and international economic policy. A great website I’d recommend is Project Syndicate, which features op‐eds from world leading practicioners in their fields. The cool part is that most articles are translated in 8 to 9 languages! Radio, tv, music: These days, you can listen to radio or TV from just about any country of the world on the internet. But personally I’m a huge fan of music and one of the delights of learning a foreign language is that you get to discover some really awesome music. My life simply wouldn’t be the same without Korean indie music, Brazilian samba and bossa nova, or Cuban salsa. If you’re looking forward to discover great music in your target language, just do a quick search on YouTube or on your favourite search engine. Then find the lyrics and print them out, and sing along! MY FAVOURITE WORD IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS: One of my favourite words is the Korean word “jeong”. It’s actually pretty hard to define, but in a nutshell it refers to the connection that is formed between persons. It includes affection, compassion, sympathy, community, and attachment. Older generations in Korea are known to have a lot of “jeong”. It’s one of my favourite words because it’s the type of concept that you really have to experience in order to understand. It’s a beautiful concept that speaks to the positive side of human beings. MY LANGUAGE „NIGHTMARE”… One of the things I’ve found really hard is to get used to levels of speech in Korean. There are roughly 5 different levels of speech, from highly informal to highly formal, with which you need to get used to if you want to properly communicate with people in the language. For example, speaking to children, to your friend, to your mother, or to your boss would require very different levels of speech, each with their own subtleties. Learning a language is a journey, not a destination. And it’s a life changing journey at that! See more at Sam’s blog >>>
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