My Search for the Most Effective Way to Memorize Vocabulary

I love to learn grammar. I could sit and study grammar all day long. On the other hand, I find it hard to memorize vocabulary. For the longest while I was trying to find a way to memorize vocabulary that I could stand. Of course there are:

• classic flashcards and spaced repetition systems
• Mnemonics- I love doing this. My latest one that I find hilarious  산소에 사는 사람들이 산소가 필요 없어요. ( People who live in tombs don't need oxygen)
• Creating crazy stories around a particular word
• Memory palaces- which I never tried because I figure it would be too time consuming

There was an article I found called "Vocabulary Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching" by Keith Folse which aims to debunk the following ideas people have concerning vocabulary:

• In learning another language, vocabulary is not as important as grammar or other areas.
• Using word lists to learn L2 vocabulary is unproductive.
• Presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets facilitates learning.
• The use of translations to learn new vocabulary should be discouraged.
• Guessing words from context is an excellent strategy for learning L2 vocabulary.
• The best vocabulary learners make use of one or two really specific vocabulary learning strategies.
• The best dictionary for L2 learners is a monolingual dictionary.
• Teachers, textbooks, and curricula cover L2 vocabulary adequately.

These are three things that Folse discussed that I found interesting:

a) Making vocabulary lists by grouping words in to "scenes/events"(thematic sets) is better than making a list simply based on similarity(semantic sets).
Example: Making a vocab list including the things related to a birthday party vs making a list of colours.

b) Word lists may seem not useful but they are. However, too much information should not be used. A study done showed better retention using a single word or a word in a single sentence(minimal context) versus words in text context or elaborate text context.
I also learned about word lists for English learners like the Dolch list, the University Word list and the Academic Word list.

c) Guessing from context for native speakers of a language can be difficult and so therefore it is more difficult for a foreign language learner. The possibility of inferring the meaning of a word incorrectly is high. Folse therefore recommends "reading with explicit, planned vocabulary work."


Every time I think about memorization, I always think about my lovely childhood memories of memorizing times tables. I can't count how many times a week we had to stand in class and recite the times tables. We went over them countless times and now (even though some of them still always seem to escape me) they are practically engraved in my brain. Not to mention that we need to recall them often in our daily lives. If this method has been proven effective to memorize times tables, why not do the same for language? These days people are always crying down rote memorization. As a science student I can see how this type of 'learning' is not the best. In science you need to understand most concepts and not just simply memorize them. In the case of language, particularly vocabulary, there is no need to understand anything in that manner. All you need to do is remember. I was reading an  article by Ask a Korean in which he talked about his English language learning journey and how rote memorization played an important role. One of the things that he said which remained with me was this

"But there are certain things about contemporary America drives the Korean crazy, and this is one of them: the idea that the process of learning is somehow supposed to be fun. Just drop it. Forget it. What is fun is the result of learning – the infinite amount of fun when you finally put the finished product to use."

These days everyone says that the learning process should be fun. I thought (think?) like this as well. I am beginning to think that this is not necessarily so. Discipline is key.

I decided to heed the Korean's words to just 'suck it up' and get to studying. After taking a look at the shared decks on Anki, I found a Korean deck that is called 'Grand sentence mine'. This was just filled with sentences. I tried using the deck for a while. Before, when I used flashcards I just used single word flashcards. This was extremely boring and seemingly not very effective. Somehow, using the sentences, though not necessarily fun, was much more enjoyable. In addition to reading the flashcards, I say them out loud. Instead of just repeating a single, solitary word, I feel like I am actually using the language because it is an actual sentence. This also provides context for the word being studied. Not only do you learn vocabulary words, but sometimes you also end up learning grammar as well.

The only thing is that these sentences may not be related to my own personal interests. I always wanted to have the ability to save sentences like I could words into my Naver wordbook. I would therefore have to start creating my own decks but.......truthfully I am too lazy to do that.

For the past three months or so I have been using this method. I started off using sentences in a phrasebook in preparation for my trip to Korea. Now I have moved on to using the sentences on Learning Korean with Oliver. I downloaded all the flashcards from the intermediate to very advanced and started going over them. I am enjoying it and actually feel that I am making some sort of progress. I really think this sentence mining thing is the way to go.

Learning to Play Korean Traditional Instruments

During my trip to Korea, I wanted to do a Korean traditional music experience. Specifically the danso or the gayageum. I wanted to try the danso because it is a flute, and I already play the flute. As for the gayageum, I had seen it many times when watching Korean historical dramas but I only wanted to learn how to play it after hearing this cover of Alicia Keys' If I Ain't Got You by a YouTuber called Luna. Online I saw a workshop for a danso making and performing , but unfortunately it was no longer offered. Most programmes I saw were long term programmes for residents of Korea.

Since the danso has fewer holes than the flute and even the recorder, I was curious as to what music for the danso was like- there could only be so many covered-uncovered hole combinations. First I just searched for "Korean Flute Sheet Music". I saw sheet music for Arirang and also another song called Doraji, which I had never heard of before. I found them on a website called Flute Tunes which I would normally go to to find flute sheet music. I just played the two songs on my flute. They were quite simple.

I then changed my search terms to 단소 악보 (danso sheet music), I came across a treasure chest of apps. These apps were created by CATSNU. They have apps which allow you to "play" many of Korea's traditional instruments including the danso and gayageum!!
**Random Prezi giving an introduction to Korean Traditional Instruments.

I downloaded these two in a hurry on my iPad. Since the gayaguem had the names of the notes beside each string, I played Ariring using the sheet music I found online. I like the fact that there is a function where you can "press down the string" to make the vibrato sound. The danso app is soooo cool, there is a mode where you have to blow into the mic in order to play the danso. Amazing! I tried the danso app on my android phone but it was different and more complicated. I have no idea why.

The danso app on the iPad is a bit complicated too. In the settings you can change the range of the notes but I have no idea which one is most appropriate in which situations. Random information I found about the danso is that danso music has names for different notes - 태0 황1 무2 임3 중4 협5 (numbers represent the number of holes covered from top to bottom- a special note seems to be 남3.5). I guess it would be equivalent to do re mi fa so la ti do.

I won't bother my head too much with the details though. When I go to Korea to live for an extended period of time, I will most likely take a course on how to play some traditional instrument.

A Language Epiphany: Chinese Tones

When I first started learning Mandarin Chinese, I thought is was the most fun thing ever. Even trying to master the tones was fun. I learned simple vocabulary and simple phrases that I could reproduce correctly, but at a very unnaturally slow speed. I didn't mind. After attending a summer programme which had a Mandarin component, I was ready to pick back up Chinese since I had taken a long break from it.

Moving forward in my study, I wanted to have a more native-like speaking speed, but this brought a lot of frustration. In order to speak more smoothly, I figured that I would need to practise combinations of tones and not only separate words. At that time, I could not find any websites that would allow me to practice tone combinations the way I wanted. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough. However, last year,  I came across a video series called Break Through Chinese Pronunciation by Chris Parker from Fluent in Mandarin which did exactly what I was looking for. I only actually watched it in detail this week. In addition to providing basic pinyin explanations, it also covers all of the 20 tone pair combinations, giving various example of each. In this playlist there is a video where you can check to see if you can identify these same tone pairs. When I watched the video, it was clear that identifying the tone pairs is A LOT harder than just saying them.

In this same video series, Chris also offers his advice on saying sentences in Chinese. His main piece of advice was to break the sentences in to "units of meaning". It was after watching this same video however, that I was reminded of one of the main things that put me off Chinese. In spoken Chinese, with the exception of the first tone, most times the tones just seem to disappear. It seemed like a waste to even learn them. In one of the sentences in Chris' video, "mei2 you3" came up. From what I heard, the third tone was completely gone. This was so frus-tra-ting. I was about to give up again when I saw a video from Chinese with Yang Yang in the video suggestions. The title was "Chinese Tone Pairs: How to Practice and Master Chinese Tones". I know that Yang Yang always has quality material, so I decided to give it a watch. I really love how she uses words in English to show learners that tones indeed exist in our own language. This video really cleared up a lot for me. The main thing that it cleared up, was the whole crazy third tone thing. In her video, Yang Yang described the third tone simply as a low tone and not the typical falling and rising tone. She however emphasized that the third tone is only a falling and rising tone when used in isolation. (Unfortunately in Chris' videos as well as the sound-file Anki deck from Yang Yang herself, the third tone is emphasized as a falling and rising tone in the tone pairs).

A little more searching led me to Hacking Chinese's blog post on the third tone. Apparently he did a whole thesis on this - how interesting. He had even more detail on the third tone and its usage in relation to the other tones.

1. Before a 1st, 2nd or 4th tone, the 3rd tone is pronounced as a low, falling tone
2. Before another 3rd tone, the first 3rd tone is changed into a 2nd tone
3. In final position, the 3rd tone is often (but not always) realised as a low, falling tone
4. In isolation or when stressed, the 3rd tone is usually pronounced as a falling-rising tone      

**Other wonderful posts by Hacking Chinese on How to Discover Your Problems With Tones AND   Focusing on Tone Pairs to Improve your Mandarin Pronunciation.

I feel extremely good that I came across all of this wonderful material. I don't know how much Chinese I will study in the near future but understanding and getting better at Chinese tones is something I want to be able to say that I finally conquered. Better understanding of tones could aid other language learning as well.

My Plan:

Use Yang Yang's tone chart that has commonly used words for each tone pair to help pairs stick in your brain.

Use Sinosplice's tone pair drill files for both speaking and listening practice. (Sinosplice's tone pair files third tone is stressed the least in my opinion)

My Trip to Mecca

After four years of Korean study, somewhat in a bubble (the closest thing to reality being one-on-one Skype calls with my conversation partner), I finally set foot in the motherland. 

DAY 1- Arrival

After a 15 hour flight, an eight hour layover and another two hours of flying, we (my friend Kimberley and I) finally arrived at Incheon International Airport. It was such a great feeling to hear Korean being used all around me. When we came out, there were many people waiting in the arrivals hall, so I jokingly said to my friend that all the people were my fans. While withdrawing money from the ATM after the millionth try we were startled by extreme fangirling coming from behind us. All of the people actually came to see some celebrity. From a distance I could see the person because he was fairly tall but I had no idea who he was *clueless me*.

One hour hadn't even passed and I was faced with several opportunities to use Korean but silly me just played the foreigner card and only spoke in English. I was so disappointed in myself but hey. I finally understood how scary it can be to try to speak in another language with real life people. Strangely when I first arrived in the city, it didn't feel very strange. I guess I watched so much Korean TV and researched so much for the trip that everything somehow seemed familiar.

DAY 2

경복궁 and 광화문 Square, 북촌 한옥 마을, 교보 Bookstore

This day was one I was really looking forward to. Thanks to the drama My Fair Lady Gong Shim, I realised that you could rent a hanbok to walk around in, and not just do the typical experience where you are confined to a particular space. Walking around in hanbok was therefore one of the priorities of the trip. After meeting Kimberley's Korean friend Yera, we went early and got our hanbok and headed out to the famous palace, Gyeongbokgung. Because we were wearing traditional clothing, we got into the palace for free :). Inside was really beautiful- the buildings, the foliage, the paths- everything. It was like being in the middle of a historical drama. I could hear Oneora, Oneora playing in my head as we strolled along LOL. We went to get food from a nearby restaurant, still in costume, (I had bulgogi- barbecued beef) and then we went to greet King Sejong in Gwanghwamun Square. It was then time to watch the changing of the guard at the palace. It was a nice little show.

Our tour guide ,Yera, left us after sharing a bowl of patbingsu to roam through the little streets of traditional houses in 북촌 한옥 마을. We got so lost. I was hoping to see the house which was featured in the drama Personal Taste but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Somehow on the street I ended up buying a dojang (name stamp) while practicing Korean along the way. The nice man had explained all the meaning of the different plants engraved on the stamps. Even when I didn’t understand clearly, he even simplified his explanations for me. That was so nice of him. I then struggled all the way to 교보 Bookstore because the ballerina shoes I wore to go with the hanbok were not suitable for walking AT ALL. My plan was to buy the Ewha Level 5 textbook but after looking inside, it seemed like it would be a waste. There were too many exercises, which I never do in textbooks.

During the day, sooo many people stopped us to ask where we rented our hanbok from or to ask us to take pictures with them. It was so weird...Superstar for a day??

DAY 3

아차산, 한 River

Today was exercise day for sure. We started out with a train ride to the mountain (아차산). Before we could even get to the base of the mountain we had to make a steep climb up a road. At the sign at the entrance, I asked an ajumma to take a picture of my friend and me IN KOREAN!! We then took to the trail. I personally thought I was going to die. If we didn't have water I probably would have. At the top of the trail we took, my friend forced me to sit with some old folks, in order to strike up conversation. My friend swore that one of the men looked like Confucius smh. I just mentioned where we were from, why we were in Korea, how long I was learning Korean and what my native language was. It was nice. After exiting the maze of a trail, taking more pictures along the way, I had to stop to ask for directions, IN KOREAN, to the subway station. We found it. Yay me!!
We then made our way to the Han River, or should I say tried to, because once again we were lost. The initial plan was to eat on the riverside but we were too hungry to wait, so we just stopped into a restaurant nearby. There I had gamjatang (pork bone soup) which was really good. However, my friend found the beef soup she ordered to be bland. After tasting it, I told her that she probably had to season it to her own taste (which I had heard was common in Korean restaurants). When the ajumma working at the restaurant came around and asked how our meal was, we reported our opinions. She and the other ladies went on about how it was impossible for their soup not to taste good. It was so funny. When my friend finally seasoned the soup, she found it to taste a whole lot better. She told the lady this and then the lady proceeded to give me one firm slap while saying 소금 넣으라고 했어야지! (You should have told her to add salt!). I was so taken aback but it was funny. When we were leaving I asked for directions to the river. After much debate, one lady took us right outside to show us the way. Everyone was so nice.
Braving the scorching heat, we went on to the Han River, where we ended up walking and walking since we could not find the cruise dock the we were initially planning to go to. There were lots of people riding, just chilling under the bridges, playing in the pool. There was one character we met, an old man on a bicycle, who told us that we were "beautipul" and asked us if we were from Nigeria. After finding out we were Christian, we then got an invitation to church. Lol. After, finally deciding to go back to the guesthouse, we took a different route on the way back, walking on the main road instead. It was there we got shot "secretly" by a passerby in a car and we realised that Korean drivers are cra-zy.

DAY 4

인사동, 조계사, Lunch at a friend, COEX mall with my conversation partner, 봉은사

We started off in Insadong where we walked around for a while and bought a few souvenirs. We then visited Jogyesa, the temple located right across the street. It was interesting to see Buddhism in action after only ever seeing it in books or television shows. There were many people there, the majority of them women. The statues and everything there were very beautiful. The experience was however a bit strange. If I had to describe it, I would describe it as a reverence in a bubble. Even though there was a ceremony going on, there were several tourists walking around doing non-religious touristy things all around. I even felt odd even simply taking pictures. Of course there was a lot of bowing and chanting. There was however one song that they sang that reminded me of a song that would be sung in the Anglican Church. It was sung very beautifully. I must say.

After a bus ride, the only one on our whole trip, we arrived at Yera’s house for lunch. We got a whole spread of Korean fare. Being the picky eater that I am, at first I was a bit scared. We had 잡채 (sweet potato glass noodles with beef), kimchi, sweet pumpkin and raisin salad, 유부초밥 (vinegared rice in tofu skins), fish soup, garlic stems with squid, and dried anchovies. Everything was exceptionally good that day- even the watermelon we had for dessert which actually had taste unlike the common flavoured-water taste that most of them have.
I then had one of the most surreal experiences. I met my conversation partner, Hyejin, who I only talked to on Skype before. It was so odd. We sat down for a juice and then since we didn’t really have any plans, we ended up wandering around COEX underground shopping mall and then going over to 봉은사, another Buddhist temple. My language partner, after hearing about our visit to the other temple dubbed the day Buddhism Day. There we had a much more interesting experience than at the previous temple since my friend was able to explain to us about Buddhism. We sat for a while in one of the great rooms with tagged lanterns (with prayers for others on them) and several gold Buddha statues at the front. It was so beautifully peaceful. At the time we were there, there was a 연꽃 (lotus flower)  festival. The lotus flower is representative of Buddhism. This beautiful flower is grown in dirty water suggesting that we should live pure lives even though we are subject to this dirty world we live in.

Today was perhaps my favourite day of the trip, I learned a lot, tried a lot of new food, got to meet my good friend and spoke a lot of Korean. 

DAY 5

명동, 남산, 쳥계천, 한River at night

Today I ventured out alone since my friend couldn’t make it out. I never felt unsafe and neither did I feel lost. I must say that I love taking the Seoul Subway. It is so easy to follow. I am a person who always appreciates signage in public places. They really overdid themselves. Anyhow…In the morning I went to Myeongdong. Since this location is all about shopping, I wasn’t really that interested. I ended up buying some face masks and socks. How exciting. I then went to find the cathedral in the same Myeongdong. Since we went inside at the temple, I decided to go inside the cathedral as well. There were a few people inside. My friend and I had commented the day before that we never felt such peace in a church at home. However, when I went inside, the peace found there was quite enjoyable. It was not as great as what I experienced at the temple but was still good.

From Myeongdong I went to see the famous Namsan tower. The trek to the cable car ticket booth was no joke. The walking in combination with the supposedly abnormal Seoul heat, nearly killed me. After taking the cable car, a somewhat scary experience, I was at the deck with the drama famous locks of love. A nice lady took a very nice picture since she saw me struggle trying to take a picture of myself. I then paid extra to go to the actual observation deck of the tower. Truthfully the whole experience was underwhelming. Perhaps it would have been better with other people…After, I went to Cheonggyecheon Stream and just topped up on walking. There, more nice people offered to take pictures for me. One was this ajjushi who was treating me like a model giving me instructions about how to stand for the picture. I had to struggle to hold back my laughter. I wonder if he was/is a photographer. Who knows?

Later that night, Kimberley and I ventured out to the Han River for take two. We found the cruise ticket booth easily since it was two minutes in the opposite direction from where we started out the day before. We took the regular night cruise. It was short but seeing the night skyline was very nice. The night scene at the river was much better and MUCH COOLER. There were many buskers all along the river so we just sat around for a while listening to some free music. I could see myself going to the river often if I was a Seoulite.

DAY 6

Church, 노량진 Fish market, LOTTE Mart, 동대문, Play on 대학로

One of the things my friend wanted to do on our trip was to go to a church. There was an evangelical church we would pass every day on our way to the subway station but at the times we would pass there was no service. Since it was Sunday, when we passed there were people outside. We asked about the service and found out that it was about to start. We decided to just stop in for a while. They started out with singing and then prayers and then more singing. The hymn they sang was one that Kimberley knew so she sang along in English while I followed the Korean lyrics on the screen. Interestingly, the congregation read the bible lesson together. I couldn’t even follow. They were reading too quickly for me. The language itself was also unfamiliar both in vocabulary and style. I figure it was like the Korean equivalent to the King James Version style of English. One thing I ended up learning was a sentence ending that I heard a lot during prayers-옵소서. The choir there was small but was one of the best church choirs I have ever heard. Their rendition of whatever song they sang was beau-ti-ful. I am really glad we ended up going.

We then got back on schedule and headed to Noryangjin Fish Market. On the train ride there we got to see some sights outside instead of the usual underground nothingness. We only walked up and down the market to say we went. It was nothing too special. One vendor asked if we were from Kenya and if we were just eye-shopping lol (window shopping = lit. eye shopping in Korean). I guess that many Koreans think that most of the black people in Korea mainly come from Africa. I was surprised that people just didn’t ask if we were from America.

We then stopped by LOTTE mart at Seoul Station and I picked up a few snacks and then moved straight on to Gwanjang market for street food. As we were walking through, some lady lured us to her stand. There my friend had kimchi dumplings and we were both offered this barley drink which was not sweet at all but not bad. I guess it was like iced barley tea. There my slight germaphobia started to kick in. I thought it would be a good street food experience but turns out it wasn’t. I just had kimbab (“seaweed rice roll”) and ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes). Just thinking about the cleanliness made it hard to swallow but the food itself was ok.

After our “meal” we met Yera once again. We went to Dongdaemun where my friend bought bedding from the underground shopping centre and we walked around the shopping centres Doota and Migliore. After eating samgyeopsal (grilled pork) as our last meal in Korea we caught a play on Daehak-ro. It was called “The Art of Seduction” based on the movie of the same name. It was hilarious. I was extremely proud of myself for being able to understand most of what was said. I really enjoyed myself. I could see myself going to this mini Broadway street often. After, we had hoddeok (sweet pancake with a sugar filled centre). It was delicious.

We decided to end the night with Karaoke- a must for any trip to Korea. This karaoke room was another place in which I got to use Korean. I was happy. When we got there the air-conditioning machines were being cleaned, so the owner asked us if we would wait. Since we didn’t really have a choice, we did. In return we got a drink as “service”. Later during our belting session we were asked to switch rooms which got us a whole heap of extra time as more “service”. My friend who initially was adamant that she was not going to sing was rejoicing at this extra time. One thing that made the experience even more interesting is that when I went to the bathroom, there were SQUAT TOILETS. Boy was I surprised. To say the least, it was interesting…

We finally headed in around midnight. What a day it was.

DAY 7- Departure

We got up early to take the train to the airport. Walking out the door of the guesthouse and swiping my Tmoney card for the last time was truly heartbreaking but unfortunately it had to be done. This trip only served to further inspire me on my Korean language journey and also to solidify my desire to live in Korea for some part of my life.