Image from: Wikipedia
By Sydney Mulvenon
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark — Many of us are feeling bored during this time and really can’t see ourselves doing anything other than a Netflix marathon. I’m in the same boat. I had spent two weeks being a couch potato until the idea came to me.
There are several new shows that come on to Netflix, but not all of them are in English. I got up on a sunny Tuesday morning and prepared to watch television as usual. As I arrived at my destination 20 feet from the kitchen I realized something: I had spent two weeks watching every english movie and tv show there was on Netflix. That’s when the idea came to me.
I thought that I would try watching some foreign TV shows and movies. Not only did I want to try watching a foreign movie, but I wanted to learn a language. I had been searching for just two minutes when it popped up on my Netflix home page: what about Korean?
I’ve done the research and I found that watching Korean drama films is a great way to learn various phrases for everyday vocabulary usage. My game plan became to pick a movie, watch the show all the way through with subtitles, then without subtitles and repeat. I’m currently applying this step by step method by watching the Korean teen drama “My First First Love.”
I highly recommend this show if you’re wanting to learn Korean. This show is centered around a group of friends in college. I decided on this show because of the relevance it has to me. I am also a college student and the slang that these students/young adults use is similar to things that I say. These everyday circumstances showcased in the scenes are similar to situations that happen and could apply to my daily life
A lot of the vocab used in each of these scenes fit perfectly with my lifestyle. Already I have learned the basics like “hello” is “annyeonghaseyo, “no” is “aniyo”, “thank you” is “gamsahabnida”, and “I’m sorry” is “mianhamnida.”
Taking the time to learn a new language this week has been very rewarding. I’m not just learning a new language, I’m immersing myself into a new culture. Netflix has more than 20 languages being offered for TV and film. None of us know how long quarantine will last. For the time being, social distancing is a must, but why not learn a new skill to pass the time. Learning a language takes time and time is what we have. Pick a language that most interests you and begin your journey into the world of foreign languages. I’ve already started looking at tickets for a trip to South Korea once this is all over. Cheers to learning a new language and a possible trip to practice your skills in the place where it all began!