Learning Languages | GRRRL TRAVELER

Just Show Me Pictures! Simple Things that Slay an Expat (Pt II)

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by Christine Ka'aloa on May 5, 2010 at 6:32 pm {7 comments}

Living as an expat, you get to realizing culture shock comes in daily life-sized capsules called Language Barriers.; but unlike vitamins, these will eventually wear on you. They mimic your inability to sometimes do the simplest things. Do you feel stupid despite your MFA degree? Yes. Can you erase this feeling? Not easily. To an expat living in a new country, it’s the everyday, mundane things which quickly become your greatest enemies.

Beauty, Skin Care & Health Products:
Being here, I realized that I micromanage my life in unusual areas. I find pleasure in reading the ingredients of what healing powers my “miracle beauty products” possess. I also like knowing I’ve got the right product and am using it correctly!

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5 Tips for Speed Learning a Language

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures! by Christine Ka'aloa on February 8, 2010 at 11:36 am {2 comments}

Trying to learn a new language or in a rush to learn the language of the country you’ll be moving to? Here are some tips to help you with your memory technique, as well as ideas to help you optimize your speed learning process.

5 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY & TECHNIQUE FOR SPEED LEARNING A LANGUAGE:

• Practice first thing in the morning.
Did you know that the morning is the best time for learning and memorization? Your mind is fresh, alert (after you’ve had your coffee…), retentive and most permeable to suggestion.

• Create your own immersive environment.
Dress up in your sari or beret and bombard yourself with the language in various forms- watch films, listen to radio news and music, listen to language tapes, join language groups. The more you surround yourself with a language, you become familiar with its sound and the way it’s spoken. This will help your mind’s receptivity to it- intuitively, rhythmically and tonally.

• Employ active listening.
Listening to a language doesn’t have to be a passive sport- you can add other activities to it to optimize your lesson and make it fun. Be creative! If (more…)

Learning Survival Korean (Part 1)

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on February 6, 2010 at 4:43 pm {no comments}

Living Language Korean

Two weeks ago:

Vegetarian Mouth to Language
It’s hard to imagine that food and learning a foreign language can feel so intimately connected, but right now it does. To learn a word is to chew into it and digest it; and when you’re a vegetarian moving abroad to a foreign country like Korea, to eat you’ll eventually need to learn to read a restaurant menu, food ingredients or be able to ask the waitress about vegetarian options. If eating is important to you…

Which brings me to- learning survival phrases. Mastering survival phrases are great for a short-term travel band-aid and may even get you through the course of a year of living abroad. But I think- being able to read bus schedules, store/street signs and to communicate in a more modes, than mute, giggle, or grunt all help to create an easier road into expat life. Right now, my dangling carrot for focusing on Korean literally starts at food. (more…)