Taking Korean Classes

I must have mentioned in the past that i find languages fascinating and moreso from a young age. I wanted to be a Linguist so bad when i was a kid. I enjoyed reading the dictionary, learning transcriptions and was active in my Yoruba and French Classes back in Secondary School. I speak Yoruba fluently now, my French is 'so so' (they eventually cancelled french classes in my Secondary School but i took some classes after NYSC at CCF, Abuja and i have a Delf A2 and B1 certifications) but i still try to keep up on the Duolingo App and whenever i run into anyone that speaks French. As with most languages u don't practice, i'm better at writing, reading and listening than speaking French. I still have dreams of travelling to the French Village and spending 3-6months there, i swear that's all i need and imma be 'mademoiselle-ing' on y'all 🍭😄

When i moved to Abuja in 2008, of course i fell in love with the Hausa Language and did all i could to learn, sadly English/Pidgin is the regular lingo on the streets of Abuja. I had to force/nag my Hausa friends before i learnt a bit plus i bought any mini books i could find and whenever i could i practiced what i had learnt (on friends, traders, okada riders, strangers,etc.). 

I'm already used to being laughed at when trying to speak any language 'cos i do my best to learn the accent and proper pronunciations which can be quite funny. My Hausa improved slightly during my limited stay in Zaria but its sooooo far from where i want it to be. 

I'm still on the Byki App and earnestly searching for other apps/ways to help improve my vocabulary (btw AfMag Hausa did not help 😢), sadly i'm not usually around Hausa-speaking people long enough for me to pick up more of the language so i am starting to forget the little i've learnt. 

If you know of any Hausa Language classes, please let me know. I really wanna learn. As far as i'm concerned its never too late, you just have to have the interest and an enabling environment. 

I'm sure you're like 'what is all this story na, thought she was writing about taking Korean Classes'. 😁. My bad, i am, i just tend to go off on a tangent and anything about languages gets me reallllllyyy excited.

I'm taking Korean Language Classes!! 

I started on Thursday 9th 2017. I know what you're thinking, how do i find these stuffs ba? It was pure luck, i didn't even go hunting for it. My friend who i trade Korean Dramas with (i shall do a special post dedicated to Korean Dramas and my former addiction to them) told me about the class and i decided to 'Just Do It' (My Motto for this year). It was totally free to register and take the classes at the Korean Culture Centre, 2nd Floor Rivers House, Central Area, Abuja and it was an easy and straight forward process.

I have attended one class so far and thoroughly enjoyed it(The beginning is always the easiest and fun)! My brain is super-excited at this new form of stimulation as well. 

The class was surprisingly very full, it holds once a week (Tuesday or Thursday), lasted for 2 hours {5:30 to 7:30} and was very interactive. We learnt the Korean alphabets (Hangul), pronunciations, how to write, positioning of the alphabets, a few words and we did classwork. Our tutor was quite thorough and went through everyone's work.

I have already started practicing, rocking my Byki App, looking up content online and i'm back into my Korean Dramas (currently watching Another Oh Hae Young)to aid my pronunciations. I pray i don't get sucked into the vortex again. My all-time fave actor is Lee Min Ho, in case you were wondering😁🙌 

I'll keep you guys updated on my progress, hopefully my work hours will not get hectic and make me miss any class *fingers crossed*.
Annyeonghaseyo!! (Translation-Goodbye)😉

Toodles!XooX

Ibeyi - Mama Says (Official Video)

Ibeyi - River

I fell in love.

Language & Me

I love languages so so so much,sometimes i can't believe how much i do ,one of my friends even said that she's sure i'm a language in another life,lol,i wish i could understand and speak all the languages in the world even; when i was in Secondary school i used to think i would end up being a linguist as i was very good in French and Yoruba which were the only languages that were taught in my school at the time, i was equally quite good in written and spoken English,so funny now thinking back,i was obsessed with my Oxford Dictionary then and would read it after most English periods if i was free to learn new words and memorize transcriptions and i would practice pronouncing most of these words in front of everyone in class by mimicking my English Teacher (Pastor Saint),i was quite mischievous then and a 'tomboy'. I also loved reading novels a lot which kept my dictionary and i close friends as some big words would pop up once in a while in my novels ranging from 'Silhouette,Harlequin,Mills&Boons,Danielle steel,Heartsong,Nora Roberts,Stephen King,and so many others i cannot even recall now' (sadly i don't have the luxury of time to read novels as i would love to these days). ok..ok...novels will be for another post, back to my love for languages...as much as i loved French and was tired of always conjugating verbs,they scraped it when i was in JSS3 for lack of a teacher to my great disappointment, but i excelled in Yoruba, partly because i am Yoruba by tribe and it was spoken often to my siblings and i @home,and also because i had great interest in it and would go through my Yoruba literatures and textbooks during my free time to get a deeper understanding of the language and its history. I remember once reciting a Yoruba poem in class from a literature called 'akewi n ke' titled Ekun(cry),i remember some bits of the poem and it made me smile.

I believe all children should be encouraged to know @least 1native language and 1foreign language apart from English which happens to be our 'lingua franca'. From observation i have noticed most children can only speak the language from their mother's side,guess that's why its called 'mother tongue',since most mothers spend more time with the kids at home and speak their native languages to them.....back to me anyway,my 'Yoruba' which i am very proud of is quite good and give me an advantage since i look 'Igbo' so i get to know if a Yoruba person is gossiping about me and most times they are,lol,out of mischief i wait till the end of my interaction with them before i let it out that i'm 'Yoruba' and leave them with stunned expressions ;).

Yoruba aside, i did something about my interest and love for French after Youth Service (NYSC), when i had some time on my hands i enrolled in Centre de Culturel Francais and it was a wonderful experience and due to my background i moved up very fast and between September 2009 and June 2010, i became very good @it and took the DELF/DALF A2 & B1 exams which i passed although the B1 was quite challenging. I had to stop the classes though 'cos i was taking them in the evening after work and my workload became more hectic,i intend to go back to school soonest though and master the writing and speaking of the language thoroughly :).

I love Hausa also since i came to the North and interacted with the people #IMO its the sexiest language in Nigeria, and i intend to master it completely by hook or crook :D, i know the basics though and i'm getting better thanks to my curiosity and my Hausa friends.

Other languages though i just know the common ones, Japanese i know some words in, thanks to my love for Anime (Arigato)..lol., Indian/Hindi thanks to my immense love for their movies and their songs (so soothing,makes me feel like i'm in another continent when i'm listening to them{i'll upload some on ma YouTube page soon}) a few of my faves are Yuvvrajj, Kuchi Kuchi Hota Hai, Kal ho na ho, Kabi Kushi Kabi gam, Mard, and some others that i can't spell, Malay which my chinese friends taught me when i was in singapore (ni hao ma), German thanks to my aunt that lives in Germany and dropped brought a dictionary along (Guten Morgen), Italian thanks to one time when our TV was stuck only Italian stations for about 6 months and oh well French, Spanish and Italian are all kinda related.

Hopefully when i have money i will still have interest in learning the languages, i will stick to my French for now tho :D