Spoiler Alert!

OR

Watch this video if you don’t want any spoilers and if you plan to watch this drama in the future.

(Gosh! I hate spoilers!)

After watching (or rather, listening to) this OST video from the Lee Jong Suk & Lee Bo Young starring K-drama “I can hear your voice” -너의 목소리가 들려” , you must be thinking that I am going to talk about Korean dramas again. Well! Not quite!

If you listen to the lyrics, you will hear the word “들려” (I hear it! Or I can hear it!) being repeated over & over again. (You will have to listen to 1:35 minute in the video for the first 들려).

That is exactly what I want to talk about in this post! Curious? Please keep reading on!

“들려” – This single word perfectly explains what I have been feeling for quite some time (quite some months actually). Ok, I am not claiming that I have suddenly developed the supernatural power like Lee Jong Suk’s character in the drama and that I can hear people’s inner thoughts. That would make me a weirdo! (The lyrics actually go : “깊은 맘 깊은 속 깊은 너의 목소리가 -들려~ 들려~” which translates to “Deep heart, deep thoughts, your deep voice I hear it, I hear it”). But I am talking about my Korean listening skills.

I have finally begun to “HEAR” Korean, if you know what I mean. And what a wonderful feeling it is! If you’re still not sure what I mean and if you are starting to thinyk that this girl has finally lost it, let me explain more clearly. What I mean is that the Korean sounds, sentences which used to sound like some alien language (random sounds put together) are finally making sense to me. I can actually hear them, pick up the words & sentences and understand what is being said. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Yes, after months of watching a lot of television content (variety shows, dramas, news, various videos, songs, etc) my listening skills have improved a lot and I can finally understand a lot of Korean, without subtitles. I can happily claim that the portion that I can understand exceeds the portion that I don’t understand. Especially my vocabulary is richer regarding day-to-day used words. As a result, my understanding is far better in regards to things like k-dramas and variety shows. I can understand as much as 85%-95% of them without subtitles. However, I still need to work on my vocabulary regarding technical jargons and field-specific terminologies. So comprehending news is still a challenge.

But still it is a stupedous and magical feeling when you can actually hear and understand your target language without any assisted comprehension tools like subtitles.

Whenever that happens, this OST –“들려” keeps playing in my head (The track is actually entiled “Echo” by the Korean band “Every single day” .)

This also happens when you learn a new word or structure. You keep on noticing that word or structure being used. Your brain goes into this super red alert mode in search for that particular word or structure and catches it the moment it is used next. And everytime that happens that word or structure is imprinted into your memory (which eventually allows quick retrieval).

Everytime I “HEAR” Korean, I also feel a sense of achievement. I get motivated to keep on with my language challenge. Therefore, it is truly a positively reinforcing factor for me and I am sure, for all language learners out there. So, have you experienced any “들려” (I CAN HEAR IT!) moments in your language journey too? If yes, when and how did you feel?

(Source of the featured image : http://m.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/when-it-comes-to-trolling-triple-js-hottest-100-the-winner-is-mockery-20150126-12yhf8.html)

CHEERS TO ALL LANGUAGE LEARNERS! 화이팅!