5 July 2015

Korean for beginners - D.I.Y Flashcards


Hello and welcome to my first ever blog post! *panic breathes*

I currently self teach myself Korean, and one of my essential study materials are flashcards. I highly recommend flashcards to anyone who is studying any language or subject, they are so quick and easy to make and are of great benefit to your learning. Below I'll be discussing 5 reasons why you should make your own Korean flashcards!

IT'S FREE

Sure there are some pre-made flashcards you can buy, but don't! Why waste your money when you can make your own flashcards for free. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how to make flashcards, so go ahead and start making some.

IT WON'T MATTER WHEN YOU GROW OUT OF THEM

One of the reasons I think you shouldn't buy pre-made flashcards is because over time you will 'grow out' of them. I own the Tuttle 'Korean For Kids' flashcards which I use all the time, however now that I have memorised most of the words I don't need them any more. It doesn't matter if you grow out of your handmade flashcards since they were free to make anyway.

YOU CAN GET CREATIVE

I'm no artist, but even I will say it's fun to create your own flashcards. Make them as creative or simple as you want with drawings, colour and whatever helps to stimulate your learning. I learn best by just reading the words over and over, so my flashcards are rather plain, some don't even have images on!

CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN

Buying flashcards or using flashcards online usually means you learn the words that you are given. This can be great for learning new words but, if you are like me, I want choose what I learn! Use your flashcards to keep track of new words you discover, categorise them and learn what suits you best.

PAPER FEELS

Lastly, d.i.y flashcards are just awesome because nothing beats the feel of paper in your hands! It's kind of like with books, sometimes nothing wins over the feel of the product in your hand. The flashcards I purchased had a laminated feel, and some funky plastic smell, thanks but no thanks.

I thought I'd share a little bit about the way I use my flashcards, the kind of categories I have for words. If I'm working in a Korean workbook I will make any words that are key words into flashcards, I find this ideal so when I'm not looking at the book I can still learn the content through flashcards. I also jot down any words I keep hearing repeatedly in K-Pop songs so I can learn the meaning of the word and memorise it, most recently I kept noticing the word 외톨이(loner) in 'Loser' by BIGBANG, I recognised the word from C.N.Blue's 'I'm A Loner' so I made note to learn this word once and for all!

Here are some useful categories with examples for you to start making your own Korean flashcards!

I'm really this bad at drawing!
Good luck with creating your flashcards! Which way do you learn new words best? I'd love to know!

No comments:

Post a Comment