Hi there! Happy New Year to everyone! It's been again a while since I posted last~
Thank you so much for your correction and help
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I discovered a few time ago a new method that I am currently experimenting in order to learn faster languages! I would like to share it with you today, but I can't guarantee that it works for everyone, but at least it works for me for the time being. I still need a few months of test to have the certainty that it is efficient. So this is how it goes: I previously mentioned ways of memorizing vocab, sentences and stuff. I referred to "external" and "internal visualization", which are about reading a lot and imagining the feelings and situations inside your head in order to "live" what you say and not overthinking too much about grammar. It is about the flow. If one thinks too much about the grammar, one will be slowed down a lot. Practice makes perfect, and we all need someone who is patient and nice enough to correct you (thanks Koreanclass101.com and the team!). Ok, now, the new technique which works even better is to actually COMBINE both methods in a single super enhanced internal visualization! Let me explain this:
Whenever we read something, we, as grown-up people, might sometimes have trouble memorizing all the details in one sentence. We might even reread twice, thrice or even more the same sentences which we didn't quite get. So, my method tries to overcome that step by step: what one needs to do is to actually visualize the letters, written words and sentences in one's mind! Just write the words in the head, as if you were writing the sentence you are reading! I guarantee that it will stick much better than simply reading and writing all the time with your pen. Of course you have to do both if you want to anchor everything and have it stuck inside your brain. This works because I believe we actually can train our visual and auditive memories. Some say that they are better at one than the other, which might probably be true for some people, but this method trains both areas if you actually try to "write" in your head and read it out loud or imagine the sounds at the same time. I bet you will be much better at reading quickly subtitles in movies, no matter the language, with some practice. This works well with Korean and probably any language that isn't too difficult to write (in opposition to Chinese etc.) because the letters are the same and the brain has to focus less on the actual spelling (or drawing). This way, people can make less spelling errors if done properly.
We can also push further the trick if we modulate the way we "write it" inside your brain. In extremely small letters? Very large letters? Simply imagine you're zooming or dezooming a Word document that you are currently typing. Then imagine words, sentences. Get faster as you get used to it. You would be astonished by how we actually can boost our memory that way. I believe that if it is correctly practiced, those techniques might help learn at least 1,5-2x faster, or even becoming "smarter". Maybe it is already the case for some of you, but I am constantly "learning" how to "learn" better since I am not a genius. The issues, however, are that if you learn something that is wrong (without you necessarily knowing that it is wrong), then your brain might have a hard time to forget that bad habit. It's like recalling some bad memories all the time. Should think about positive stuff all the time.
Oh yeah, and I am also trying a new method I have been thinking about using for a long time with a computer, but actually it might be better to apply it on a smartphone: try to type sentences that you learned (admittedly correct and native-sounding sentences) as much as you can to your language partners. Just write anything you can, it doesn't need a particular context. Try to type something difficult but that you understand perfectly (both grammatically and "vocabularily" speaking). Since many of us might be using a phone everyday, it could actually train quickly our brain to memorize sentences. Especially when you are setting yourself in a situation where you are actually sending messages to someone (ie. a native speaker of the language you're learning).
So yes, I really started to put in practice that method today, and so far it seems that it is working! Will tell you more how it goes later. Please tell me your opinion about those techniques if you do try them! My brain is from time to time heating up when I work that way aggressively! Maybe I am discovering and activating new parts and functions of my cortex lol.
Last but not least, I recently started to watch a drama more seriously, by that way I mean that I am learning the dialogues and the new vocab (this is extremely tedious and time-consuming, no doubt) ! Oh, and I finished almost a month ago writing down all the grammar points, sentences and vocab of the book "Essential Korean Grammar" by Tuttle Publishing Co. on my notebooks. I just need to go through them, despite many of them being seldom used. Better sample sentences can be found on Koreanclass101 and Essential Grammar in Use (Intermediate), but the book was still good in a sense. The last pages about the synonyms were a nightmare though. I spent hours and hours to decipher the differences between them (ex: 돌연, 갑자기, 별안간, 느닷없이 ... which all mean suddenly or also 가끔, 간혹, 이따금, 종종, 띄엄띄엄, 드문드문 which all signify sometimes). I also found some mistakes in some explanations in the book, but that is fine.
Anyway, that's it for today! I will tell you more if my method happens to be a success!
