Information TOPIK Writing (or, Korean writing in general), pretty much follows the same punctuation conventions as English. Periods mark the end of sentences or abbreviations and separate dates Commas create lists, separate phrases, and mark speech Question marks finish questions Exclamation marks express animated remarks (surprise, shouts, rebukes, etc) Quotation marks express speech and animal […]
Information Although previously this section has always been titled “Inspiration”, I find that as I get further into my studies with TOPIK that “Information” is a more appropriate title. Therefore, I will use the two interchangeably from now on depending on context. 논설문 채점 기준 (Editorial Essay Grading Standards) These tips are taken from the […]
Inspiration **Note: These are ALL the tips my Korean tutor has given me about my TOPIK Writing thus far. I’ll continue to update this post as I receive updated info. Bookmark it now if you think it’s useful. First of all, there’s a big difference between the first essay type question (200-300 characters) and the […]
Inspiration My TOPIK Writing stinks. Like, really stinks. Last time I got a 22/100 on the Writing portion (and at least 1.5 times as high on all the other parts). So, I don’t want to repeat that. Therefore, I’m going to spend the next handful of posts in the 120 TOPIK Challenge ONLY on Writing. […]
Inspiration Actually, I like to know the odds. I find it helps me structure what to focus on primarily. TOPIK II Points 300 TOTAL Points 1교시: 100 Listening (50 questions in 60 min) + 100 Writing (4 questions in 50 min) 2교시: 100 Reading (50 questions in 70 min) Time: (60 + 50) + 70min = […]
Inspiration Since I posted last time about Extensive Reading using familiar texts, here’s some helpful advice I found recently about how to effectively read UNfamiliar texts, like on TOPIK. Reading passages. THREE stratgies: Read to find information (charts/graphs/images) Basic comprehension (gist/main idea) Reading to learn (details) Question types on TOPIK (in increasing difficulty): Read the […]
Inspiration Cardinal Mezzofanti was an 18th/19th century (1774-1849) hyperpolyglot who spoke 39 different languages “with rare excellence”. Here’s a list: Biblical Hebrew • Rabbinical Hebrew • Arabic • Aramaic • Coptic • Ancient Armenian • Modern Armenian • Persian • Turkish • Albanian • Maltese • Ancient Greek • Modern Greek • Latin • Italian • Spanish • Portuguese • French • German • Swedish • Danish • Dutch • English • Illyrian • Russian • Polish • Czechish, or Bohemian […]
Inspiration In honor of Terminator: Genisys (which I’ll be going to see later tonight), I thought I’d resurrect two of our old posts that include language learning tips from the major stars of the movie: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lee Byung-Hun. I’ve reposted the main points of each article below – click the heading to go […]
Inspiration After watching Tim Ferriss explain language learning shortcuts that people like he and Cardinal Mezzofanti (supposedly able to converse convincingly in up to 39 different languages) used to learn languages quickly, I started browsing for other language learning tips from “professionals.” I happened to stumble upon some biographical information of a Hungarian woman named Kató […]
Inspiration Tim Ferriss has some pretty incredible (nearly unbelievable) stories about how he learned various languages. Here’s a brief preview (from the video above) about the amount of time he spent to learn these languages: Japanese: 11 months (while living in Japan & using Judo textbooks, comics, etc) Chinese: 6 months (Chinese 101 in Princeton – […]