So shall we speak in Korean?
Korean - ah, to me, Korean...
to me, Korean is difficult
I see
Yes
I -
I can speak Japanese well
but, Korean
to me, reading in Korean is difficult
Reading is difficult?
Listening is hard
Everything is hard
It's OK!
So [switching to Japanese] is Japanese more comfortable for you?
Yes.
I lived in Japan for 9 years.
Ah yes, that's right.
So, I studied Chinese and learnt Chinese characters for 3 or 4 years
so generally I could read Japanese Kanji
of course, I studied very hard
I didn't go to a school
I listened a lot every day
Listening a lot, reading a lot...
and then I lived in Japan and spoke a lot to Japanese people
To me, Japanese is alright (meaning he is comfortable speaking it now)
Even if many years pass and I don't speak Japanese, I do not forget it.
That's really amazing
It seems that it's very easy for Japanese people to learn Korean
and Koreans also find it easy to learn Japansee
but I'm curious as to why you said you find Korean tricky
Why it's difficult to me:
first, well, Japanese isn't easy per se but
I lived in Japan for 9 years
and I guess if I live in Korea for 6 months it might become easier for me
another thing - the content of what you read and listen to
it really needs to be something you're interested in
but there aren't things right now that I can read and listen to
the things I find interesting are too difficult for me
To me, TalkToMeinKorean is not interesting at all.
I don't want to listen to it.
I see.
So you're saying you just want to read things that are interesting to you.
That's right. You need to want to read and want to listen to it.
The content of what you listen to,
it needs to be interesting and have relevance to you
Shall I say it needs "resonance"
if 'resonance' is there, it's easy to learn.
As for Korean, if I found a podcast to do with politics
or...
ah, I forgot now but
even if there's someone doing a podcast about a cultural speciality
there's no transcript. No characters (for me to read)
if I just listen, I can understand 30 to 40% but
but if I could understand 70% that would be much better
Before I started studying Russian, I learnt Korean
I just went to Ukraine and spoke Ukranian and Russian on TV without problems
of course I made mistakes
but it was no problem
but something like that wouldn't be possible for me in Korean
I see - for me, it's the opposite.
I'm the same with Chinese.
Before I learnt Japanese, I started with Chinese but
even until now, it's very difficult to me
it's like the words just don't come out
in Chinese
Hmm, about Chinese
I listened to it a lot.
For example, XiangSheng (CrossTalk) - comedy
and CDs too
there are many CDs behind me
I have so many Chiense CDs
A lot
Anything and everything
You need to listen a lot.
And I also have Chinese friends in Vancouver
I haven't lived in China.
And Chinese people tell me I speak Chinese really well
but I tell them I've never been to China
[in Chinese] but you lived in Hong Kong, right?
Shall I reply in Chinese?
or Japanese?
Chinese please!
I studied Mandarin when I lived in Hong Kong but
I studied putonghua
[in Cantonese]
but at that time, I didn't study Cantonese. I studied Mandarin.
you studied in Hong Kong?
Yes, I studied for one year.
I read a lot. You need to read a lot and listen a lot.
That's right.