Read 달까지 가자 for one hour while listening to the audiobook
Total(s):
1 hour of listening
42 pages read
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
I cycled through pausing the audiobook to look up words, looking up words without pausing and then reading extensively with no lookups and only the audio and context clues to guide me. There was a brief passage in the story and my comprehension dropped so I couldn’t follow along completely, but in general I feel like I’m understanding enough to catch most of the details and enjoy reading.
Discovery of the day:
고데기 = hair straightener
This stuck out to me because it sounds really similar to the Japanese word コテ! So, I googled the origin and it turns out it came from the Japanese. Funnily enough though コテ normally refers to a curling iron and not a straightener, but a google image search of 고데기 seems to indicate it usually refers to a straightener?! Will need to remember to keep these two straight ( low hanging fruit to make a pun there).
Read 달까지 가자 | L30 for 40 mins while listening to the audiobook
Did one chapter worth of dictation, shadowing and reading out loud
Worked through the last 6급 읽기 chapter in TOPIK 합격 레시피
Made 60 paper flashcards of vocab from my current vocabulary textbook (できる韓国語)
Total(s):
~ 1 hour of listening
~ 15 mins of shadowing
36 pages read
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
Finally the first long study day I’ve been able to have for weeks! I’ve finished the last 읽기 chapter in 합격 레시피 and now only have “less fun” stuff left, aka 듣기 and 쓰기 but I guess it’s time to leave the comfort zone. I am currently averaging around 75% for the 6급 reading questions which I would prefer to be higher so I can get points there to make up for the fact that my listening is weaker. I think I need to just persevere and keep studying vocabulary over the next weeks to make that happen, though. I shall report back after a few more weeks of good vocab study.
Discovery of the day:
헬리콥터🚁 can be shortened to 헬기 (헬機). Oh hey it’s the same 기 from yesterday’s 고데기 discovery!
Read 달까지 가자 | L30 for 1 hour while listening to the audiobook
Listened to 4 podcast episodes of 라디오 북클럽 (approx. 3 hrs 15 mins)
Made 60 paper flashcards of vocab from my current vocabulary textbook (できる韓国語)
Total(s):
~ 4.25 hour of listening
42 pages read
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
Listening practice day! I got in a very good amount of hours (for my standards) today! I’m already noticing comprehension gains compared to just 10 hours of cumulative listening prior. I am also noticing the dictation is helping me notice sound changes better and giving me a very subtle, but effective, boost. I am now at 265 cumulative hours of listening and as much as I hate doing listening at intermediate levels, it is really cool that just a 10 hour increase is enough to notice a difference at this point. I’ve been studying Japanese so long and have a much higher hour count so I never notice those gains anymore there - that reminds me to treasure the learning process with Korean now and look for ways to stay positive while working on the skills I enjoy less!
Discovery of the day:
A cuckoo bird is called a 뻐꾸기 I found this somehow very cute because it sounds like the sound cuckoos make!
Listened to an episode of 라디오 북클럽 (approx. 45 mins)
Total(s):
~ 45 mins of listening
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
I’m on a business trip this week so getting in any study time at all was a challenge today and probably will continue to be so for the next days, but I at least had some contact with Korean today and am keeping things moving. No matter what I’m doing or where I am though, vocab review is always a must!
Discovery of the day:
Stage fright = 무대 공포증 (恐怖症)
Following that thread a bit further, 공포증 refers to phobias in general and you can find it in other expressions such as:
비행 공포증 - fear of flying
고소 공포증 - fear of heights
Or build your own:
Noun + 공포증 - fear of, -phobia
In general, I make anki cards out of words I encountered already in context in a textbook, media, or similar.
Anki doesn’t work well for me for memorizing a large number of fresh words found out of context, though, so for vocabulary from a vocab textbook I started making paper flash cards and found it works a lot better for me. Once a week I make around 100 new cards from my textbook and the experience of writing them, seeing the word in my own handwriting repeatedly, and the tactile feel of flipping through the cards helps me remember them well. I can also review them as much as I want throughout the week, including multiple times per day which is harder to do with anki (without messing with settings and all that stuff). I basically just review them a lot and when I feel like “I’ve got this word now and will remember it” I actually just throw the flash card away so that the overall card pile stays a manageable size and doesn’t grow very much every week.
Is it the best way to make sure I remember all of those words forever? Probably not, I’m sure I’ve “forgotten” some of the words I threw a card away for, but I’m sure when I encounter them in media again my memory will be jogged and I’ll know the word even better due to forgetting → remembering. Despite that challenge, it is the best way I’ve found for myself to consistently learn a large number of new words per week with relatively high success.
Yeah for sure!! I try to write as much as possible while studying so I can vouch for that! Plus writing by hand is a great excuse to collect stationary and pens then too.
Read 달까지 가자 | L30 while listening to the audiobook for 40 minutes
Total(s):
~ 40 mins of listening
~ 28 pages
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
Short entry for a hectic day! Another day where I didn’t have much time, but I managed to get in some reading and listening and feel happy about accomplishing that. I also encountered many vocabulary words that I recently learned from my vocabulary book in 달까지 가자 | L30 today which cemented them into my long term memory.
Discovery of the day:
입에 침이 기였다 - my mouth watered
고이다 - to fill with tears/saliva or stagnate
Read 달까지 가자 | L30 while listening to the audiobook for 60 minutes
Total(s):
~ 1 hour of listening
~ 42 pages
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
Did a lot of reading today and am nearing the end of my book finally! I am noticing a marked difference in my listening comprehension now versus when I started reading it. I look forward to reading another book together with an audiobook but I think I also to read something without to focus on reading slowly and acquiring new vocab (that’s harder to do when following the audio for sure!).
Discovery of the day:
확률 is pronounced [황뉼]
Even when I know rules for sound changes, my brain still doesn’t automatically apply them to lots of words I haven’t heard before often when I’m reading, which is why reading with the audio or listening is beneficial.
Read and finished! 달까지 가자 | L30 while listening to the audiobook for 50 minutes
Total(s):
~ 50 minutes of listening
~ 34 pages
Comprehension, challenges, misc notes:
I finally finished 달까지 가자 and wrote a review about it for the interested:
It has a cute and colorful cover design but the subject matter may leave you surprised just like I was haha.
My study log has been a bit dry and monotonous this week due to 1) lack of study time and 2) the Wi-Fi in the hotel I’ve been staying in being broken, both of which limited me in terms of immersion activities. I’m still happy with what I’ve accomplished this week though, and will take the weekend to review my progress, current goals and plan some new study activities.
Discovery of the day:
큰코다치다 - to pay dearly
I thought the expression was interesting because it sounds like “to hurt your big nose” and googled about it - it turns out a lot of people misspell as exactly that: 큰 코 다치다 which is “wrong” as it then literally refers to hurting your nose and not paying dearly for a mistake. I’ll make sure to remember the spelling/spacing! I still don’t know the origin of the expression but surely something nose related
The vaporwave aesthetic of the cover lured me in, but then I saw ‘crypto’.
Nice review, though! I appreciate how thorough it is.
I find it difficult to guess the meaning of idioms, but tend to remember them more easily precisely because of their strangeness. One I came across recently was 엎드리면 코 닿을 데 (and the alternative 넘어지면 코 닿을 데): “the place your nose touches when you lie/fall down”, meaning somewhere very close. I think it’s clearer than “a stone’s throw” would be to English language learners.
I find part of the fun of learning a new language is seeing your native language in a new light. English has some strange idioms as well: “let the cat out of the bag” (who’s keeping poor cats in bags?).
I’d imagine 큰코다치다 would originate from a warning that if you do something wrong, your nose will be punched/pinched/tweaked/hurt somehow. It reminds me a bit of the expression “keep your (big) nose out of [something]” (and the similar “stick your nose into [something]” or being “nosy”); the nose being a prominent feature that’s the first part of the face to enter a space, and using “big nose” implies the person is more “nosy”.
Korean does have a large amount of idioms and 속담 but I find a lot of them very fun which makes it easier to remember them!
Or maybe if your nose is big you have a lot of pride, and that can lead you to a situation that is your downfall? We may not know but we will certainly remember this expression now haha.
불금:
low hanging fruit to make a pun there).
I’ve finished the last 읽기 chapter in 합격 레시피 and now only have “less fun” stuff left, aka 듣기 and 쓰기 but I guess it’s time to leave the comfort zone. 
I am currently averaging around 75% for the 6급 reading questions which I would prefer to be higher so I can get points there to make up for the fact that my listening is weaker. I think I need to just persevere and keep studying vocabulary over the next weeks to make that happen, though. I shall report back after a few more weeks of good vocab study. 
I’ve been studying Japanese so long and have a much higher hour count so I never notice those gains anymore there - that reminds me to treasure the learning process with Korean now and look for ways to stay positive while working on the skills I enjoy less!
I found this somehow very cute because it sounds like the sound cuckoos make!
No matter what I’m doing or where I am though, vocab review is always a must! 
and wrote a review about it for the interested:
I’ll make sure to remember the spelling/spacing! I still don’t know the origin of the expression but surely something nose related 
Maybe it’ll get translated one day though!