That’s Korean for “Hello”…

Not content with just six foreign languages and in conjunction with a thought I’ve had to visit South Korea following the IJP program, I’ve signed up for a 10-week basic Korean class at the Sejong Institute in Los Angeles. I started last Tuesday night and will finish up 2 days before I leave for Japan.

At first I was mildly concerned about taking on another language both so close to the time I’m going back to Japan and because it’s another asian language—I don’t want to get confused. But what I’ve seen and heard so far is that Korean is very different from Japanese and I don’t think it’ll be a problem. All I want to do anyway is get a few words and phrases down so that I can travel there and not be completely in the dark. I’m hoping to learn to read Korean writing (which is not as daunting as it looks) so that I can figure out where I am and what I want to do.

So in addition to sprucing up my Japanese before I go (I want to review both Genki books and all my kanji before I leave in 10 weeks—yikes!!!), I’m going to be “moonlighting” at the Korean Cultural Center.

I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment!