Hello guys, ladies and gentlemen good morning!
Alright guys, we are in K-Town
New York City
So guys, what I am going to be doing over the next 24 hours
Is attempting to learn Korean
It's not really going to be 24 hours, because
I'm gonna actually try to get some sleep
So it's gonna be less than 24 hours [of studying], but
Today I'm here in Koreatown New York City
Where I'm gonna try to learn some Korean
Tomorrow I am going to...
...do a little bit more studying, and then...
Just try going to speak with random people, random strangers on the street...
...here in K-Town
Some actual Koreans, and see how much I've learned
So I have zero background in Korean at all
You know, I do speak Chinese
Given that Korean is consistently ranked as...
...one of the most or the most difficult languages for native English speakers to learn in the world...
I definitely don't have any illusions that I'm going to become fluent after 24 hours
But my goal is to at least be able to learn to speak a little bit
Just be able to have some basic conversations with people
Now, in terms of how I'm actually going to try and learn
You know, I think that like...
Trying to learn grammar and pronunciation and all this stuff separately...
Is really ineffective
So what I'm gonna try and do is just find people to speak with
Just try and learn grammar and pronunciation and all that as naturally as possible
I have no idea if this is gonna work, but
I'm just gonna give it a shot, and...
See what I can accomplish in 24 hours
So I have a tutor...
Who is coming to meet me today
Should be around H-Mart over there, the Korean supermarket
Is that her?
Hi, Danne!
Hello, how are you?
Hi, nice to meet you!
You too!
How's it going?
I'm good!
Are you ready for this challenge? Are you excited?
I'm scared!
I'm scared too!
I'm maybe a little bit more scared than you are!
We have a very quiet place to study
Great
But if you want to study inside [here]...
Let's do quiet, I love that idea
Alright Danne, so I am super excited
Let me show you what I have prepared for our studying
I've got my little notebook
So, I was kind of thinking I want to learn...
Naturalistically
You know, I kinda want to just like...
Study sentences and just learn grammar and pronunciation naturally
So I have a list of sentences here
And...
You know, I just kinda want to write down...
The sentences and how you would pronounce them
I'll try and record you saying them, so I can...
Like, let it sink into my ears, so...
There's this guy...
Do you know Tim Ferriss?
No, who is that?
So he...
He basically has a list of sentences that he often uses for breaking down new languages
Because if you learn these sentences it helps learn the structure of how the whole language works, a little bit
Any kind of language?
Any language, right, exactly
So if you know how to say those in any language, you kind of have a better feeling for how the whole language works
Xiaoma: What do you think? Do you think I'm gonna be able to do this? Danne: I think so
Is this crazy?
Okay...
Xiaoma: I'm really nervous guys! Danne: I hope so!
I hope so!
So let's just get started then
One thing I've heard is that Korean pronunciation is really hard
So, "the apple is red", how would I say that in Korean?
"sagwa" is apple
"Gwa", a little bit softer
Oh, good
It means "apple is"...
Yeah
Red...
Oh jeez, there's more
This is gonna be harder than I thought guys, holy s***, okay
I think you picked a difficult sentence!
Wait wait wait, okay
Say that one more time
Oh jeez!
No no no, we gotta do this, okay
So wow, we have like...
We have a couple...
We've been learning for an hour or two
We've got a couple pages of notes here
Wow, this is...
You're a good student!
No, me? No...
You catch really fast!
Good!
So...
My first impressions of Korean
With a couple hours, it's...
Very difficult!
The word order is completely different from English, it's just like...
You have to totally change your mind, because...
I speak Chinese also, but
Chinese is more similar to English
Word order is more similar to English
But Korean has different categories almost, it's like...
You don't say, "can you speak Korean", "can I speak Korean"...
They're just different ways of thinking, so...
Xiaoma: You have to reformat your brain Danne: We have a similar meaning sentence...
But not exactly the same
Right, right, exactly
But you're doing well
Thank you, appreciate that
Oh, "thank you", wait...
Did I learn "thank you"?!
Yes you did!
Wait wait...
Yes!
Thank you!
Oh my gosh, we did about...
Four hours of studying here, just now, and...
We did like...
I don't know, we did a lot of stuff!
And you absorbed everything!
Well we'll see about that!
So quiz me! Okay...
Excellent!
Yes!
Wow
Difficult!
Xiaoma: I don't know if this is gonna work out with people in the street Danne: It will
Okay, so...
I say let's maybe go eat some Korean food?
Sure!
Yeah?
And...
I'm gonna go and take a nap
And then...
Come back tomorrow!
Maybe tomorrow we can do a little more practice and then go find some strangers to talk Korean to!
Okay, this was great!
Alright, we're gonna go eat now
Korean food
I'm hungry
That means I'm hungry
It means good
Alright, we got a little bit of Korean lunch here
Oh my god
Wow, this looks...
This is a feast!
Oh my god!
I don't say that? No oppa?
Inappropriate
Okay, inappropriate
So I'm going back home now
Gonna do a little bit of review
And then...
Coming back to K-Town tomorrow for some more Korean practice
And then
The big day tomorrow, we're just gonna have to go and see how much I've actually learned
Alright, just doing a little bit of review of my Korean sentences
There's a lot to learn, oh my god
This is crazy
I'm just kinda reading this over and then just sort of speaking it
Back to myself with the audio recordings
My name is Xiaoma
I am American
So I'm gonna be doing a little bit of review
With a tutor I found on the Internet
And we'll see if I can use any of what I learned today
So let's give her a call
Okay, hold on
Just open up my Skype here
Nice to meet you, my name is...
So even though I was able to understand some of what she was saying
In general, I was having a really tough time with the listening comprehension
And I was getting increasingly frustrated as the lesson moved on
Oh my god guys
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this tomorrow
That was so hard!
I didn't understand anything
Well, I understood some of what she was saying
So...
Tomorrow's gonna be real fun
Okay
I'm gonna do a little bit more review
And then go to sleep
But...
See you guys tomorrow
Good morning guys!
Okay, so I'm feeling a little bit better
After the...after that disaster that was last night
I feel like my rest for some reason, my sleeping...actually helped consolidate my memories
And I just feel really good
And just ready to go!
Like I can speak a little bit of Korean, that's really cool!
Alright guys, we're getting some kimbap for breakfast
Smells really good
Thank you
Look at that guys, I spoke some Korean!
Wow, I think that was the first time I've ever spoken Korean with anybody in my life
Other than my tutor
That feels awesome! And I got some kimbap, alright
So when you're learning a language...
Gotta immerse yourself in the culture
This is so much better than cereal
Alright, finished eating guys
That was amazing
And now let's go meet our tutor
Nice to see you again!
Before we go into any new stuff today
I'm very excited
Because we're gonna try to speak to some people
But let's do like a...
...mock conversation, maybe?
Okay sure, okay!
So...
Yes
You're not supposed to ask that in Korean, I've learned
I wanted to learn a couple more sentences
Like I wanted to try to know how to say...
"I don't understand" in Korean, because I realized I don't know how to say that
Let's see, it's 11:30
So
It's right around the 24 hour mark of when I first started studying Korean
Wow!
Yeah, we did a little bit of review just now, learned a little bit of new stuff
And
Maybe we should go find some people to practice with?
Yeah!
Oh my god, I'm so nervous
What do you think?
I think you'll probably do well!
Really?!
I don't know, I don't know...
We're just gonna go see if we can find people
Yeah, let's go!
Alright guys, 24 hour Korean challenge
Let's go hit the streets!
And see what kind of Korean I can speak
Okay!
Alright let's go, come on!
So you're saying you think he's Korean?
I think so
Wait, you said he walks like he's Korean?
A little bit!
Alright, let's go try buying some stuff in Korean
Is this gonna work? I don't know
No?
Sorry
Okay
Korean
Top 10!
Hot
Very hot!
High five!
That was...
What did you think about that?
It went pretty well!
You were a little nervous
I was very nervous
They used words we never learned
But still you interpreted really well
Right, well some of it I could understand
That was really cool!
Yeah
Wow, I had my first conversation in Korean with total strangers
That was amazing
Do you want to try one more?
Sure, let's do it!
She's correcting you!
One day?
One day
Wow, I'm freaked out right now guys
That was so awesome!
Like look, I'm obviously not fluent, but like...
Wow!
You can communicate!
I can have a little conversation with people, that was so cool!
They didn't believe that you only learned Korean for a day
They keep saying, "he's studied before"
Xiaoma: That was less good than the older ladies Danne: Because you were a little bit nervous
I was kind of nervous there, yeah
But this is so cool, like...
I feel like at least I can have a very simple conversation with people in Korean
And honestly...
I think this is more than I expected I could learn
Really?
Yeah, I didn't really think I would be able to do this, but...
I'm so excited, and...
Thank you so much for helping me, that was really great!
A lot of people when they're first learning a language...
They're too nervous to go out and speak to somebody
Be brave
Yeah, I feel like you just have to be brave, and do it, and...
I think you can accomplish [a lot] if you just try...
Don't be ashamed of your mistakes
Right, don't be ashamed of your mistakes
You know, like I was...
...really disastrous today, but...
No, you were good, you were very good!
If you just try to be out there
I think this is a great way to practice
Like I feel like if I did this for a week or for a month...
I would be much better, yeah
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I'll see you guys all next time, bye bye!