“A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.” – Gaston Bachelard.
I remember during my childhood years after I learned how to
read, I was thoroughly fascinated into reading one book after another. The
fairy-tale and fantasy ones are especially my favorites because the words
written in those stories have a particular enchantment on my mind. I never
thought that ‘words’ can be woven in so beautifully.
Soon after, I've grown a passion for languages. And it was
never limited at just English and my first language, Malay. I've also taken
interest in learning other languages such as Japanese since I love to watch
Japanese cartoon (Anime) and read their comics (manga).
In the past few years, I've put Korean language in my
next-to-learn wishlist. And my beloved mother gave me the opportunity to take
Korean classes in a private academy. I can’t ever thank her enough to express
my gratitude and happiness. Therefore, I've set my mind on trying my very best
to learn Korean language!
I attended the CLC Language Centre that offered Korean
program and the duration was about 8 weeks per level. The first time I went into the classroom, I was
the first one to enter it. I sat down and waited, I wondered what kind of
people I was going to meet and how I was going to introduce myself. Why? Well
because I’m a bit of an introvert kind so socializing wasn't exactly a skill of
mine at that time. Then, finally a young girl came into the classroom. I greeted her with a smile and she returned it with a cheerful hello. She took a seat beside
me, and immediately started talking to me. It was a relief, really, we got
along a lot smoother than I thought. Her name is Marie, she’s about two years
younger than me and we have the same interest that is K-Pop (Korean Pop). So
that definitely would be something we can talk about for days without ever
feeling bored.
Next came in another girl, older than us and probably in her
20s. She is really pretty! We both greeted and soon came to know she is named
Eryn. At that same time, a girl and a man entered the classroom. She sat beside
Eryn unnie (a term for older sister
in Korean). Her name is Farah and she’s the same-aged as me. And the man was
our Korean tutor named Shim Young-Jin. All of us were asked to introduce
ourselves (formally this time) and it was crazy awkward but everyone was laughing, so it wasn't all that bad.
One class after another, our relationships amongst ourselves
were getting better and the awkwardness disappeared with the flow. Shim
Young-Jin Sunsaengnim (a term for teacher)
is a really great teacher. We always had a great time throughout his class,
absolute zero-level stress! The classes were held on weekdays, I remembered how
I was going back and forth because I had tuitions just before the Korean
classes. But I didn't mind it because I really had fun learning Korean.
Sadly, those moments didn't last long because of some issues at the language centre. It eventually led the class to
being dismissed. However not once did I regret on my decision to start my
beginner’s journey in Korean language at CLC Language Centre. I treasure the
memories throughout the lessons I experienced with my newly-found friends.
Every moment from the time we first learned the Korean alphabets to getting
familiar with its pronunciation and finally able to read out loud with less and
lesser mistake would forever etched in my mind. We wouldn't have been able to
learn all of that in such a short period of time, if it weren't for our talented
Korean tutor. Thank you so much to our Sunsaengnim,
Shim Young-Jin, for teaching me and my friends so earnestly! You did truly a remarkable
job as our first Korean teacher.
After that, Eryn unnie and I had found another academy that
offered solely in teaching Korean. Thus, we decided to join there to continue
learning Korean language. We managed to ask Marie to come and join us, but
Farah couldn't because of the distance so it was only three of us attending
that academy. The academy is called Q1 Academy, a place that in my opinion,
felt very at home. The atmosphere there was lively for some reason. We didn’t
have a problem at all adjusting to our new environment.
Our teacher appeared in the classroom, and introduced
himself as Q1 Sunsaengnim. He is a
friendly person, and able to make people feel at ease whenever they feel
nervous or anxious. And we were in that situation when we were introducing
ourselves. Thankfully, the teacher supported us by asking some of his own
question and our talk went pretty well. Q1 Sunsaengnim methods of teaching are
always interesting because he uses the concept of ‘games’ such as naming the
objects available in the classroom in Korean.
Not long after, Q1 Sunsaengnim
told us about a short Korean course at Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC).
It was only for two months. He suggested the three of us join there to get the
Korean Certificate in Lower Intermediate Level so we can move up to the Intermediate
Level easily. And so, we joined the course!
We entered the course as outsiders and it was obvious as everyone there was TARCians. It
wasn't long before Teacher Q1 made his appearance, and introduced us to them.
We tried to make our self-introduction as short as possible so as to not make a
weird first impression. Albeit, the college students there responded kindly and
welcomed us as equals. They even helped us shake off the anxiety by joining
in our Q&A session. Once again, I found myself in a new circle of friends,
I couldn't ask for better.
Just before our two months lessons ended, we were given a
final project that is to make a video presentation where we need to talk in
Korean. You may do it according to whatever creativity you can muster out. So my
group decided to do a music video with a twisted story plot in it. I think our
members had shown much effort in the making of it and we got great people who
were willing to help. One of those people is Marie’s mother who delivered
us a great support all the way and made available the location of the music video. Also, thank you to my beloved sister, Ekeen who edited our music video which was the most vital element in making this video into an incredible one! And sure enough the result was satisfying, all our hard work paid off.
Ta-da~!
After completion of the video presentation, we prepared ourselves for our final examination. On the day of the exam,
thankfully, most of us in the class did just fine. When the result came, it
turned out I got a Grade 'A'! Eryn unnie
and Marie also got great marks and so, it was a time for celebration!
ヽ(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)~~(‾▿‾)ﾉ
By the time we got back to Q1 Academy we moved up from
elementary to lower-intermediate level right away. But then, we were once again
caught by surprise as he asked us if we wanted to take the Basic Korean Language
Proficiency Test (B-KLPT) conducted by the Korean Language Society. Considering
how I wanted to be able to work in a Korean company, so I took the test. On the
day of the exam, I went together with Eryn unnie.
I was a nervous wreck before, but when I realized that I have a friend by my side who's also going through the same thing, it calm me down somehow. That's was why I managed to pull myself together and face the music. 'Sometimes you just need a friend', I think I finally grasp the meaning of it.
Days after, our result certificates were given by Q1 Sunsaengnim personally during the class
at Q1 Academy. Fortunately, I was once again, able to get a good grade! I was
really happy and at that time, it felt like I really did manage to learn Korean
Language. Although not yet reaching that expert level but it still felt like an
achievement! In that moment, I believe that I can and will get better in the future.
여러분 감사합니다!
Thank you, everyone!
