On to the next

Because I’ve largely fulfilled the life goal of learning a third language - I’m on my sixth year of studying Korean - it’s time to move on to another item on the list. Since childhood, I’ve always wanted to learn the piano, so that is exactly what I am going to spend an hour on every single day for the next few years. My arthritic fingers already hate me.

Learning the piano has been a nascent ambition for the longest time. My family was too poor to afford me lessons when I was little. Throughout high school and college, other things took priority over learning an instrument. I took a year of piano in high school as an art prerequisite, but it was so slow going in that class that we didn’t even get to chords. Being able to play an instrument is one of those things that I think everybody should know how to do, like changing a tire, or speaking a second language.

In hindsight, I should have started on this at the beginning of this COVID pandemic, and not towards this tail end where vaccines are available for everybody very shortly. Soon, I’ll have a proper social life outside of the house to occupy my time. But, as they say, now is always a good time to start. I am ready to devote the time and energy that will surely be required.

It seems a lot of people have had the same idea during these COVID times. The piano I’m looking to buy - Yamaha CP88 - is currently backordered for what looks like a few months (the Suez Canal blockage probably didn’t help). A coworkers mentioned there’s a been a great shortage of guitars, and that instrument makers have had the best year in terms of sales during the pandemic. Unfortunately then, this endeavor will be delayed until I can get my hands on the keyboard.

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The other side from the sun.

Yeah maybe not

Okay, maybe this is a bad idea.

Every weekday I try to watch at least one hour of Korean-language television. It’s part of my ongoing quest to learn Korean that’s going on its fifth year. I’ve long surpassed the stage of book study, and now must rely on Korean shows to keep my mind fresh of the language. In my day-to-day life, there’s obviously very little exposure to Korean, outside of music.

The television shows I tend to watch are variety shows, because the words spoken between people are more natural and “everyday”, matching what you’d hear if you were dropped in the middle of Seoul (I can confirm). In contrast, the dialogue in scripted drama series always sounded a bit contrived to my ears, which is why I seldom watch them for my studying. Besides, I’m afraid that a series would be so good, I wouldn’t be able to stop and move on to other tasks.

Today I made the mistake of choosing a travel program to watch. Its’ a show about Kpop group ITZY’s adventures in Paris, France. Not to say there’s anything wrong with the program, it’s just that seeing people traveling to foreign countries and enjoying life threw up a massive mirror back to our current coronavirus predicament - none of us are taking a trip anywhere via airplane anytime soon. It’s a bit sad that I wouldn’t be visiting somewhere far in 2020, a would-be continuation of a binge of foreign trips in the past five years.

This would have been the year I finally make it to Europe, or go back to my beloved South Korea; you know, to use my improved Korean skills. But, as we can all see on social media, there are far bigger things going on right now.

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Piano man.

Duolingo finally offers Korean

Language learning app Duolingo finally released today the highly anticipated lessons in Korean. Even though my Korean fluency is decent enough, Curiosity got the best of me and I downloaded the app to have a look. The interface is supremely slick, and while I can’t immediately judge the effectiveness of it’s teaching methods, I like the fact it’s got actual pronunciation of words and sentences. That is an advantage it’s got in spades over the traditional textbook. 

And it was with textbooks indeed that I started learning Korean a year and a half ago, the good old-fashion way. During that time Duolingo already announced plans to offer Korean, but it was stuck in incubation until today. Honestly I really could have utilized such an app back when I was just starting out - I think Duolingo makes a great companion tool for the traditional textbook. Plus, the app resides in a smartphone so it’s highly portable and convenient.

I intend to go through the Duolingo Korean lessons to see if the later parts offer something more commensurate to my level. 

I think everyone should at least learn a second language. Trilingual would be even better. Plaudits to Duolingo for creating a fun and easily accessible way for folks to learn. 

Korean TV shows on Youtube in the early 2000's

I reflect on the time back in the late naughts and watching Korean televisions shows on Youtube. Unlike today’s treasure trove of shows available - many from the producers themselves and already subtitled - back then one literally had to wait many weeks for a skunkworks subbing team to put in english subtitles and upload before consumption. Those crackpot subbing teams, usually consisting of strangers - bilingual of course - having met online but with a common passion for a particular Korea show, are the true MVPs of my early foray into watching Korean language programming, and on a macro level spreading the joy of Korean variety shows to an English-speaking audience. 

Heavens know none of them will read this, but belated and heart-felt shoutout to the Ramen Soup Subs group for the painstaking work in putting English to the Korean on a show called Family Outing. 

Back then, you could nary find any of the Kpop music shows on Youtube, and the ones that were available were generously and illegally uploaded by intrepid folks over in Korea possessing their equivalent of a TIVO recorder. These days, the television channels themselves have official presence on Youtube, and music shows like KBS Music Bank are uploaded within hours of official airing. Such sweet nectar was so beyond comprehension to international Kpop fans that started in the later 2000s. You kids these days truly have it spoiled. 

These days there aren’t so much subbing teams dedicated to a specific show but rather whole entire websites dedicated to putting subtitles to Korean television shows. There’s so many more avenues to get your content if you’re starting today. Obviously, these organizations thrive because of advertising revenue, while in sharp contrast, the subbing teams of years past was pure and unfiltered altruism. The waiting for subtitles may be painful, but I could definitely feel and see the love.