Coffee filled…night

안녕 ♥

My previous post needed to be “replaced” :D having that as my most recent post just makes me sound like a very crazed and deranged person hahaha!!!

I’m still on the coffee though but not because I need to stay awake but because I am freezing cold at the moment D: it’s very cold here at the moment no rain or anything but the temperature is low ><

So I am sitting in my Study at my desk with a blanket on me just to keep warm enough but not too warm that I fall asleep. With my cup of coffee ^^ I can’t afford to fall asleep right now, I have an enormous amount to get done (working on a Character Sketch) and I have just until about 10am tomorrow morning ~ its 12am right now ㅋㅋㅋ don’t even ask me why it took me this long to actually get round to writing it!!! The answer is a simple one LOL you might figure it out ^^

Actually typing this post on my little “break” just need some rest time and thought of updating the blog haven’t had a coherent post in a long time I have either been too tired or simply a little high on caffeine and Action-RPG games to even type two sentences that make sense to a normal human being ^^ when I read some of that stuff I wonder to myself “wth where you doing Kay? Yikes.”  although so far I am certain I am making sense! Am I right? Hope so. Been writing a lot of literature which calls for perfect and mistake free grammar and wording, which means that it’s still in my system to type like I am writing something formal not like I am a 12-year-old texting her best-friend HAHA!!

Which is my usual modus-operandi when I am tired and its late at night :) I don’t know why I do that. Mentally I turn into a 12-year-old. Or am I already a 12-year-old mentally? I’m confusing myself with that one actually ^^

Okay. I have said enough on that…now let me say a few things before heading back to my school work!!! More like a mini-update than a few things to say OK.!!

Korean I feel like I am in the ‘right’ place with this very dear language!!! I have struggles as can be expected with the route of learning I have chosen (I will tell you more on that in a later post!!) but I can feel and see my progress and its making me smile from ear-to-ear with happiness ^^ I feel like shouting it from rooftops preferably in 한국어 ㅋㅋㅋ

Can I say I am proud of myself with out sounding like an ass? I’m not really sure. Although I am sure I can, because its not being rude or arrogant just being honest with everyone. :) You can give me an idea on that LOL

Chinese Ummh! This needs an update only for one reason. Call me stupid. Call me ambitious whatever but I have decided that even with my minimal knowledge of the Chinese language (and minimal it is!) I am going to buy a Chinese novel in Simplified Chinese obviously! I think its reasonable because I want to read something in Chinese and I know I can do this no matter how long it takes me I can do this on my own I am certain of it ^^ I have decided on the book already (its inexpensive too. at about 17$) its a popular one so maybe when I get it. Not sure when. Won’t chicken out though, but its will be a few weeks, maybe some of you readers here that have Chinese as a first/ near native language can help me out I would appreciate that very much ^^

K-Horror One more! Earlier this evening I watched a Korean horror movie called “Into the Mirror” and damn it was freaky hahaha! I’m serious. The plot was about this crazy woman who has been murdered by [Director CHOI] and stuffed into a mirror in the department store where she worked. Now all this time people think she has died in a fire a year prior to all this, the mysterious deaths, but her sister who is a mental patient and also creepily her twin insists that “my sister is still here” claiming she is in the “mirror” obviously no-one will believe her. Would you? Don’t think so. But the HEAD of Security (Woo Young-min) actually kind of does. He helps her out only to discover the end that this girl is not crazy. That is about all I can explain without sounding lost XD

I guess that-is-that :) I have now run out of coffee D: won’t get another because to be honest I am just too damn lazy to get it myself and my sister fell asleep about an hour ago does not seem humane or fair to wake her up just to make me a cup of coffee so- I go without it I can survive I think!

PS :- I am still a little scared of mirrors after that Horror movie to be honest :D it seems silly but I really feel weird ^^ my mind playing random tricks on me!! and I am alone in my study. Everyone is asleep. This does not help my situation (:

Everyone have a good day ^^ bye. A Thank-you to everyone that has liked my Facebook page now up to 221 likes :) so cool. 고마워요 친구들 ….사랑해용 ㅋㅋ ♥♥♥

Bye May. Hello June

Mood : Irritated because I have the flu!! Pain. Headache. Ah.

It’s almost June. Wow. This month for me went kind of fast (: it seems like just a few days ago that it was April. I did so much little I finally got round to actually studying Chinese not just saying I will do it and then getting freaked out at the pronunciation, or whatever excuse I had chosen to make (: and I’m glad I actually just started to study because now I really enjoy Chinese and I don’t think I am studying it for Korean anymore.

I’m studying Chinese for Chinese :) which is a lot better!!! Right? I now see the beauty of the language not the benefits it can give me which I never thought would happen. My Korean I think is picking up from its former disaster of me not studying a bit due to being busy or whatever the case was, but now I think I am were I left off and I will continue further non-stop because whenever something is wrong (stress, tired, sick…etc.) I feel like studying I have no idea why but it seems to help with getting new grammar and vocabulary in my head (:

So weird situations now make for the perfect study time for me :)

Example,

Last night/ or this morning at 00:47 AM I just woke up because this flu was really killing me and I just stayed up did some of my homework due Thursday and then continued studying Korean till 3:30 AM studying honestly made me feel ten times better than I was already feeling (that was like death all warmed up…btw!!) ㅋㅋㅋ

Just a few pictures of some notes I wrote early this morning!!

#KoreanNotebook

I like drawing boxes now to cut off from other things in my notebook (:

 

These days I feel like drawing boxes around my notes (: for vocabulary and then write a Korean sample sentence outside the box next to the vocabulary word I think it looks a lot neater :)

Writing full dialogue using whatever grammar or vocabulary I am learning ^^ its a good idea for on the go of note reading ….and I have a habit of taking my notes everywhere with me so if I am bored or have no interest in what’s happening around me I will just start reading notes or think of something to write in Korean (:

ㅋㅋㅋ :)

Looking forward to June now (: 뿅!!

———————————————————-

On a separate note! Have people lost all consideration for others? I say this not to be whiney or anything like that but it seems like some people really don’t see what they are doing, or simply don’t care!!!! The reason I have the flu is because of some people like this ): I was fine and not exposed to anything and stupidly decided to go with my Mum to pick her niece up (supposedly) to go to the hospital for visiting hours next thing I know I’m in a car with two very sick kids and they are coughing heaps on me, I regret going, but then it also made me think that we should have been called and notified “My kids have the flu so don’t come” because to me that seems like the right thing to do not make another child sick because you either don’t see what is happening or you simply don’t care!!! Whatever the case I honestly believe people should think more of what they are doing and about who and how it will affect. Tomorrow I have a 2 hour Biology lesson and I just hope I am all better otherwise I might have to miss which is really disappointing.

I guess my rant is over :)

미안해요!! :)

PS : need to sort out my categories they are getting a bit long-er than I thought they would :p

1st Chinese Learning update!!!

Hii!!! my first Chinese learning update :D

So I think I now have it down how to pronounce things in Chinese it does not seem that complex as it did to me about 3-4 weeks ago even tongue twister words like 再见 [zai2jian1] Chinese for ‘See you again’ (:

xuexiba (fellow Chinese learner)  ^^ advised me that it would be important to learn the Chinese stroke order because it would help in making my characters look more beautiful and help with the fluidity in writing *ehm* I am going to take your advice xuexiba because I really didn’t believe that stroke order was that important to take into account I just thought ‘If I can write it then that should be alright’ seems I was off track on that one …so thanks for the tip ^^

#Resource

Yikes. I thought looking for Korean resources was a pain in the !@#$%^&* I was very wrong Chinese is much  worse actually, so far I have only found one site that I find reliable and that teaches in a reasonable way compared to others out there with the very idiotic copy and paste names like ‘Learn Chinese Mandarin in 30 Days’ because it is way impossible to learn Chinese in 30 days!!!! The names of these sites scream SCAM very irritating when looking for sources for dictionary/ and learning ):

Best Chinese learning source *I’m using it”* is ChineseClass101

I think its also time I start looking about on online stores for some Chinese study textbooks ^^ I know that most times studying without a textbook can have more benefits for Chinese I want to have a different approach than to my Korean study and who knows maybe if its better I will switch to this method *whatever this method*

So if you guys *Chinese learners* out there know of any good Chinese learning textbooks leave a comment :)

Bye!!! 再见！！！

What looks simplest may not be SIMPLEST!

你好吗？

For me this is Pinyin :p

It looks real simple and your like “oh its in the English alphabet….simple I can learn that real fast” Turns out that yeah I can learn it really fast but remembering the pronunciation is a real killer for me :p its actually not that easy.

But even though I find Pinyin actually worse than learning the Chinese characters themselves I have just decided to deal with it to get a better understanding but I am not going to dwell on it for weeks just a few days to get my understanding then I am gonna chuck Pinyin out the bloody window :D but my main focus when I have found the time and energy in the last few days has been tones ~ because Chinese tones make me very very scared ^^ in a good way though (:

So simple advice is don’t dwell on learning Pinyin no matter how intimidating those crazy looking they look, although I don’t doubt the helpfulness of Pinyin in the extreme beginning (like me ^^) but don’t stick with it for weeks it will drag you down ^^ and you don’t want that now do you?

And the picture shot I have is what I am focusing on (: the “Tone Changes”  will tell you how that goes ^^

This week is Chinese week :D

How I love learning new things :D

There is gonna be lots of bad grammar here ㅎㅎㅎ blogging from my cellphone!!! but it’s almost home time and I know I still have a seriously large amount of homework to do but today I want to study some Chinese even if it’s just basic phrases :D

Although it would be kinda nice to be able to write a little introduction here in Chinese ^^ a bit ambitious  I know but still if I dream then it will happen :) right?!

Later ㅎㅎㅎ

#happychinesestudy :)

 

中文流行音乐

A girl self-studying Chinese should have some Chinese music or something to help her be exposed to the language :D and now I got my favourite Chinese music videos that I have been listening to over the last few days!!

Wanting 曲婉婷 – 我的歌声里 (You Exist In My Song)

When I listen to this song I feel lighter ~ I don’t really know what it means but when people say that “Music is a universal language” I know what they mean when I listen to something and I don’t know what the hell they are really saying (:

I looked up the lyrics and read them and wrote the Pinyin down in my new Chinese notebook and it’s really a lovely song the words are so poetic [here]

Jay Chou周杰倫-Mine Mine﹝官方MV﹞

Oh! my! gosh! I just find this song so ~~~~ so~~~ cute :D its like a K-pop video but like not, do you get what I mean? it’s just lovely to watch (: I haven’t looked up the words to this song so what its saying is beyond me but I can roughly tell by the body language in the dance and the line “coz your mine mine baby” that it must be a love song?! Am I right?

周杰倫【傻笑 官方完整MV】Jay Chou “Smile”

Oh! first of all this song had made me both a Cindy Yen (not sure if its Yen or Chen?!) and forever Jay Chou fan!! and this song is just perfect it’s not too fast and stuff like that you can put your head down and listen to it for hours with Cindy Chen’s calming voice and Jay’s angelic voice :D and I love the way all Jay Chou songs have the unique feel to them like your not sure whats gonna happen and then all of a sudden you get a shock and your like ~ “this is not a typical Pop song….its a poem that makes such sense”

These are the lyrics (already in my notebook!!!) [here]

周杰倫【明明就 官方完整版MV】Jay Chou “Ming Ming Jiu”

This was the first Jay Chou song I listen to and I was reading the lyrics in Pinyin and the English and I found it such a gentle song (: it sounds pathetic of me to say that but I’m pretty emotional so when I read something that really touches my heart I want to know more and that let me to look for more and more Jay Chou songs and then now I have heard almost 30 of his songs :D

I understand that makes me sound obsessed (:

周杰倫【大笨鐘 官方完整版MV】Jay Chou “Big Ben”

Simple clear love song that makes you feel super happy :D and the “Notting Hill” touch I adore it ㅎㅎㅎ makes it so much more romantic like :D and the houses in the back being pink and then the lyrics at the bottom being pink made me totally fall in love with this song :D I have played it so many times >.> not as much as “Smile” though but almost :D

The lyrics here (again….they are in my notebook ^^) [here]

Oh I didn’t expect it to be this long :D but seems like I am really embracing theses C-pop songs :D I love them!!!! even though I barely understand them but I am picking up small words as I go along with the lyrics (: its so much fun doing this (:

Which song is your favourite?

它很难。learning Chinese

Oh! it really is difficult learning Chinese ㅠㅠ

Today just focused on learning a few phrases in Chinese some basic vocabulary words and tried to pronounce words but, eh, I think I need a bit more work on the pronunciation of Chinese words ^^ it really is one of the hardest languages ; but the more I learn the easier it will become (:

Next week for me is “Chinese learning week” I just made a week long dedication to study Chinese all of next week :D looking real forward to that (:

빙빙빙 my Chinese name is : 克里斯汀

Here are a few phrases I remember by heart ; will be studying more though ^^

 

Useful phrases

很高興見到你。 – Nice to meet you

你好。- Hello (the only word I know from memory)

嗨！- Hi (assuming this is just a slang term/ or borrowed English word)

早上好。- Good Morning

下午好。 – Good Afternoon

晚上好。- Good Evening

晚安。 – Good Night

你好嗎？ – How are you?

That’s it ^^ all I know in Chinese, till next time on the subject of Chinese (:

 

 

Motivation like a Steam train

Sorry if I start to rant!

W.O.W!? today my motivation to study languages is like a steam train I just want to GO-GO-GO don’t want to stop actually ^^

Though today I would just focus on my Korean ; some things I can hopefully get done today ^^

• record an audio blog
• write a few Lang-8 entries
• translate a naver article (this one specifically GD guest post on Naver)
• maybe even do a video instead of an audio blog?! what do you think?
• analyse a few pages of Big Bang book!
• and write a blog post for my Naver blog (blog.naver.com/leesumin2394)

 

Now for Chinese….I want to do something BUT I’m actually afraid of the Chinese accent, its a hard accent to imitate LOL!! but am I going to give up? Hello no! I’m going to learn some stuff in Chinese ; then read my introduction ~ it will be short though :D my first Chinese words, ha-ha!

Chinese things I would like to do today,

• say a short introduction in Chinese
• write a Lang-8 entry for Chinese
• find some good online resources for Chinese learners
• find a good Chinese dictionary (online or offline)
• Any Chinese comics online to read! (kinda like Daum or Naver has for Korean!!!)
• find some Chinese language exchange partners ^^

Ah! that’s a lot to do :D but I will get it done through-out the day! For Chinese, I still feel a bit weird because now I’m a beginner at a new language and that is always the most delicate part of the language learning journey, easy to get frustrated when things get tough. Keep fighting though :)

This will be fun ㅋㅋㅋ

Leave you with a snapshot of my new pens to write notes with ^^  0.03mm fine tip pens!!

#newpens

used a #filter that’s why the color looks weird ^^

 

Scrap those January resolutions!!!! its MARCH now

Writing a new set of resolutions :D

Because to be honest its March tomorrow (or already is for you ^^ YAY!!!) and I have done NOTHING ㅋㅋㅋ

I know it so its cool :D

But….HELP is on the way for me ^^ with some new resolutions ^^ here goes!!!!!!!

Blog more …because for me its the spice of life ^^ this blog is my baby and I wanna take care of her fill her with all my language learning journey (and of course random spazzzzz :D)

Read more #Korean ^^ because its fun :D

This one is a secret

And this one too :D

Latter on in March when I have less to do in my life ^^ I wanna put up my translation attempts of the Big Bang book!!!

Think in Korean ^^

During the course of the year I would love to buy 10 novels (like the Big Bang book) and 10 textbooks at a higher level (maybe TOPIK?!)

Blog on my Korean blog more ….I tend to forget because saying what I feel in both Korean and English sometimes is just so frustrating :| sometimes I play the “Latter” card :D

Cut out your G-dragon bias long enough to read the other parts of the Big Bang book (yeah! I only started reading it from GD parts and ended with them :D)

Watch drama with no subtitles….because subs make me so lazy to think of the words ^^

Did I say BLOG more?! Yeah I think I did :D

Do more Kakao calls with my Korean friends to improve on pronunciation ^^

Pay  more attention to my Chinese ….not only on my Korean ^^

And on a personal note ~

I need to get tougher I always feel like a weakling in Karate class :D

I guess that’s about it :D I will keep up with these :) sometimes I just need a little reminder of what I really want ^^ and Korean is a very important part of my life!!!!! and so is Chinese now :D …Chinese is so damn hard though HAHA!!!!

And  thank you to everyone who has liked my Facebook page ♥ http://www.facebook.com/seoulinme

#happystudy!!!!