Hello everyone. I'm looking for something to make me think in Korean so I'm here hoping to find someone who can help me. I would appreciate it if someone can point me to some good helps, or can take me on in conversation.
I'm 46 years old. This month, (Feb, 2011) my wife (혜경) and I will celebrate our 26th anniversary. She is from ,부산, and I lived in Korea for a total of 4 1/2 years.
My problem is that I have difficulty keeping the Korean language. Now, I can understand my wife when she speaks to me (in her 부산 사투리 ... :) ), but I have lost the ability to think in Korean, so I cannot speak. More and more, I am losing ALL of my Korean. I'm not a beginner anymore, but I have developed huge holes in my ability nowadays, and in some places, I've learned some subjects very well, but probably don't understand in areas you would expect me to understand.
The problem with learning is that language courses either want to start with learning Hangul, or else they jump in at a point that is well beyond what I can now do. If I start with the beginning lessons, the next lessons get so bogged down with items in a classroom and things that don't relate to my conversation or life that I can't keep interested. I also have a lot of frustration with Korean lessons that don't understand that people like me (whose first language is English) don't just automatically understand when some parts are added into a sentence. We have questions of why something was added in so we can use it again, and without these explanations, we can't really learn and reuse. So I have a lot of questions, and I need someone who is not afraid to answer me when I have to ask questions and clarify.
So I am looking for friends that will help me learn, point me to appropriate level reading, and writing exercises, and will discuss with me in Korean so that I can be mentally engaged in Korean and regain my ability to think in Korean again. And PLEASE, DO NOT be afraid to correct me or even argue with me. I learn a lot when someone will argue (or discuss intensely if you prefer) with me. I don't mind - you won't hurt my feelings.
Since I seem to spend a lot of energy on facebook anyway, I'm hoping that someone with a similar interest can converse with me here so I can keep the interest going.
