I feel like as if I haven't been here (Melbourne) for ages but truth is, it's only a few days, I guess? @@ TWO WEEKS.
Ok so, as the title says, I am now having problem with languages.
You guys know how much I love Korea and Koreans, and basically everything related to Korea I LOVE THEM! So here comes the problem, because I love Korea so much, it's one of my biggest dreams to be able to master their language. What I mean by mastering is that I can read, write and even speak in real accurate Korean. So every now and then when I watch a Korean drama series, or even listening to a song, I would, practically attempt to pick up some new words. Therefore, by now, SOMETIMES I am able to understand some people's conversation in Korean already :p
Unfortunately, my University (yes, I'm in Uni now, don't judge me, I know I'm still acting like a kid, but anyway) doesn't have Korean as an independent subject. I was so looking forward to picking up a new language as my breadth subject, which is something that is irrelevant to my majors, BUT THERE'S NO KOREAN! How disastrous~
Truthfully, the world doesn't end there, they have Japanese! Which is the other language that I love apart from Korean. So, now I'm officially taking Level 1 Japanese as the breadth subject for my semester 1.
Today, I had my first Japanese seminar, which is basically like a tutorial class where everyone sits down and listens to the sensei (means teacher in Jap) and also attempts to mimic after her. Funny thing is that, I was so confused. Since I know some Korean words, typically the greeting phrases, during the seminar, whenever the teacher asked something, and if I happen to know that in Korean I would be so tempted to raise up my hand to answer. Perhaps, I was trying to act like a pro, but don't get me wrong, I didn't even raise up, not even a single time, because the answers that I know were in Korean. LOL!
For example, teacher asked us to greet the people on the same table. And I nearly said "annyeonghaseyo!" ><
And when she asked, "If someone said "sumimasen" (sorry in Jap) and you would like to say nevermind, how would you said it?" I nearly told her "kwenchana".
You get me now? My brain is all tangled up! Hopefully I get to overcome this asap, the best is during next week, because we are actually having an oral assessment after a few weeks. I really can't imagine me speaking in Japanese, but I'm really really really looking forward to it :p
Apart from mastering Japanese, I have 2 more 2013 resolutions, which are equally important to me. Alright, eliminate my academic issues, I'm merely talking about language issues AT THIS MOMENT!
Hopefully my Korean language skills can really improve asap because I'm self-learning it because my dream is to save enough money within these 3 years so that after graduating from University, I can go travel in Korea for 2 months on my own!!! I want to experience their local life there! :3 If I don't know the language, it wouldn't be THAT meaningful anymore. If you get what I'm saying :p
Another thing, which is an issue that SUDDENLY became rather crucial to me >>> the ACCENT PROBLEM. I have to admit that my English vocab and grammar is no where near perfection, but I'm thankful at least I still have the ability to write and am able to express myself in words (just like typing this post). THE THING IS...I can't really speak. As in accurate English.
I guess this is the problem that most Malaysian students face. Well, initially I didn't see this as a problem anyway, but then recently, if not mistaken, it was just a few days ago or last week, I suddenly became really annoyed with my own Malaysian accent. The thing is that in school, most people travel in their cliques. It's a norm for Malaysian students to mingle with Malaysian students, you get the idea of what I'm saying, right? That's how I survived last year. Most of my friends are Malaysians and I also have friends from China and Taiwan. And you know what's the consequence of this? After spending 1 year in Australia, my English hasn't improved, not even a freaking 1% instead my Chinese and Cantonese improved a lot. OMG!
Ok so back to the topic of why I suddenly came to realization that my accent sucks?! The other day I attended a Youtubers gathering. Most of them were locals, as in Australian, only one guy from America. Honestly, if you were in my shoes, you might know how I feel. I left my home a thousand miles behind me because I wanted to come and experience different culture, meet different people and most important of all, improve my English, but then what have I achieved? NOTHING! WTF! At that moment, I feel really shameful of myself. Don't get me wrong, it's not that those locals teased me for having a bad accent or whatsoever, is just that I really look down upon myself. I had nearly forgotten what was my main aim to study here. ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH~~ And to me, their accents are just WONDERFUL. I personally love American accent, but Aussie accent is not bad to me too! AND I WANT TO LEARN IT! Gonna say goodbye to my typical Malaysian accent already, next year I don't want people to tell me "You are from Malaysia right?" following by "I can tell because of your accent!" WTF!
If you have been pretty patient and read through every single word of this post, till now you can probably sense that I have a keen interest in languages. Yes. I am. No doubt. That's why I want to improve, who can tell me the MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO IMPROVE MYSELF?
This is my last teenage year already and I truly don't want to waste it like a tap water anymore.
Be it Japanese, Korean or English, I swear I will definitely have you guys settled before I leave Melbourne. The challenge starts now, JYO ZIKZIN!
