节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-06-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:research, baffle, translate, scenery, forum, I Spy
Today we are learning more about one of the adventures that Jo has gone on.
And here we are talking about how she learned to read and write Korean.
When she graduated from university, she moved to a city in South Korea.
And she was baffled by all of the lines and circles that she saw around her.
Her research told her that she didn't need to learn Korean, and now she is
finding it difficult to get around South Korea.
Well, we have some more to learn from Jo's article in the next part of our
reading.
How I Learned to Read and Write Korean.
On the bus ride to Daegu, Korean was on every sign we passed.
It bothered me that I couldn't read anything.
I looked at the bus ticket in my hands - more lines and circles.
My eyes settled on one symbol - it looked like a phone hanging on a wall.
I decided to play a game of I Spy with myself.
I searched the passing scenery for this same symbol.
Later I would discover this symbol, "(Korean)," is the first in the name
"Daegu," my new home.
(Music).
Well, it seems like Jo is getting a little bit frustrated not being able to
understand everything that she sees around her.
We continue with her story.
On the bus ride to Daegu, Korean was on every sign we passed.
I think that's how it feels when you go to another country.
Everything you see, all the signs are in that language, just seems very foreign.
It does. And it can be very confusing.
And perhaps some of the blogs that she had read before were from people who had
stayed in larger cities.
But she is on a bus going to Daegu; and all of the signs are in Korean.
We see that "It bothered me that I couldn't read anything," so.
She really didn't understand anything that was on the sign that she went passed.
That's right.
She describes these signs earlier as lines and circles.
That's kind of how the language looks what it's written down.
And it would bother me too if I went somewhere, and I just couldn't understand
anything.
Well, Jo continues.
I looked at the bus ticket in my hands - more lines and circles.
That's right.
That's how she describes it.
More lines and circles.
My eyes settled on one symbol - it looked like a phone hanging on a wall.
And this is kind of an interesting way to look at other languages and their
writing systems.
When you look at something that you don't understand, you try to make a
connection.
And here she found one Korean word that looked like a phone hanging on a wall.
And so she decided to play a game.
She says: I decided to play a game of I Spy with myself.
Carolyn, this is a fun game.
How do you play I Spy?
Well, one person will pick an object, and then the other person will have to
guess what the object is by asking for some clues.
OK. And usually there's kind of a little rhyme with this game.
Here's how it goes...
Actually, let's play!
OK, it goes like this.
Um, I spy with my little eye something that is orange.
Carolyn, what is it?
Orange... Something orange.
It's her shirt!
Oh, Gabe.
What?
Is it my shirt?
Ah... you hurt me.
No? No. But it is the only thing orange here.
So it's a little easy, actually.
Right. That was quite an easy game of I Spy.
Well, Jo played a game of I Spy with herself.
So there wasn't another person guessing.
She says: I searched the passing scenery for this same symbol.
So she looked at the things around her for this symbol that looked like a phone
hanging on a wall.
And she uses that word "scenery." She looked at the scenery.
What does this mean, Gabe?
Well, scenery is anything that you can see.
So I usually think of it in a positive way.
Maybe you go visit a certain country, and there is great or beautiful scenery.
You could see mountains and rivers and lakes.
And lots of nature I think of when I think of the word scenery.
Yes, that is usually what I think of as well.
Or the place behind you.
You might say this scenery here is lovely.
Or the scenery on the stage was very well done in that play.
That's right.
But I think Jo is also talking about basically anything that she saw in the
city.
It doesn't have to be nature.
You could be talking about the city that you're passing on a bus, the things
that you see, the passing scenery.
Well, let's learn about this symbol, this phone hanging on a wall.
She says that later I would discover this symbol, "(Korean)," is the first in
the name "Daegu," my new home.
So this symbol that she was playing the game of I Spy to find turned out to be
part of the name of the town.
The part of the name of the town, the new home, new place she would be staying
or living.
I like that she wrote that - her new home - because she wanted to feel like she
was at home in this place.
Well, it's time for us to learn something new or have fun with a review skit.
And then we'll join Michelle in the Language Lab.
Here I am, in Korea!
I decided to move here to teach English.
Ah, English, English.
I wanted to study Korean before I came, but no!
All my research said it wasn't necessary.
Every website, blog and forum said no.
No. No.
So here I am in Korea, and the only Korean word in my vocabulary is kimchi.
Ah, kimchi.
Yeah.
Korean writing baffles me.
I see lines and circles everywhere I look.
Even on my bus ticket, it has lines and circles.
Lines and circles.
Yeah.
On my bus ride to Daegu, I saw Korean writing on every sign.
Only some were translated, so I couldn't read anything - just lines and circles.
Lines and circles.
That bothers me.
So I'm playing a game with myself.
I'm trying to find this symbol, the one that looks like a phone hanging on a
wall.
Yeah, a phone! Hello. Hello...
Yeah. I wonder what this symbol means.
Daegu. Daegu... Here, here.
Really! So this symbol is the first name of my new home.
Home. Daegu. Welcome.
Oh. Thank you.
Uh...
Uh, you want some kimchi?
You look hungry.
Let's go eat.
You speak English!
Of course.
(Chinese).
And let's get back to our lesson now.
Well, we found out in today's lesson that Jo didn't learn much Korean before she
went to South Korea.
And so she had to learn everything while she was there.
Well, have you had a similar experience like Jo?
She looked around, and everything she saw was in a foreign language.
Has that ever happened to you, Carolyn?
Well, actually a very similar experience: I was studying in university... or it
was a college in the United States.
And I decided I wanted to learn Chinese and study abroad to do it.
But I went to China, and I had never studied Chinese before.
So it was a little bit confusing.
I felt very baffled by all of the strange characters because I couldn't read any
Chinese.
Yeah, that's true.
Well, I think sometimes this can even happen in your own language if it's a
topic you don't know much about.
I might open a science book and not know anything that they're talking about
even though it's in English.
Has this ever happened to you?
Well, thank you for joining us for today.
And we'll see you next time right here on Studio Classroom.