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Top 3 Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language from a Native Speaker

I lived in Seoul, Korea for 16 months in my early 20's.  I was immersed in the culture, lived with other Koreans, worked and served with them day and night.  I love Korea and I love Koreans.  Loyal, kind and smart.  Also fun, very fun people!  In fact, I lived above a bar for a few months and heard the fun of the  노래방 , Korean style  karaoke , late into the night.   As I walked and talked with Koreans for many months, I realized something.  The best way to truly learn a foreign language is from people who are actually from that place with the language you're trying to learn.  Now don't get me wrong, learning from other non-native speakers still has it's place and is still good practice.  But have you ever looked at some (not all) of the English workbooks created by non-English speakers?  I've tutored plenty of Koreans and Chinese in the English language and some of the things they learned in class were straight from the 70's or things we would never actually s

Where do I start? What I did to start teaching my kids Korean.

If you're reading this you might be like I was 2 years ago. I wanted to teach my kids a foreign language. I wanted them to start learning while their brains are young and sponge-like and ready to absorb new information easily. I had been thinking about this foreign language learning thing for a few years but was plagued with my fantastic ability to overthink and over-analyze everything.  Which language should I choose? One that I know or something more commonly heard in America like Spanish?  Is it too late?  Should I teach them myself or hire a tutor?  Should I use YouTube videos or books or buy a big expensive program?  What if they hate it? How can I make them love it?  Do I have time? Heck, do I have the energy to add one more thing to our days?  What if I get bored with making them learn a new language?  Will they ever actually use the language?  Why am I trying to answer all of these questions? Why can't I just START ?! 'START' seemed too easy and too simple.

Why are you teaching me Korean?!

Memo To: My Kids From: Your Semi-Tiger Mom Date: November 6, 2019 Re: "Why are you teaching me Korean?!" _________________________________________________________________________________ To date, neither of you have actually asked me this question.  I'm just assuming someday you'll ask and I better have a good answer.  I've been a parent long enough to know it's best to have a well thought out answer for every question that comes up. <Cue gut-belly laughing with a side of snort>  In all honesty, I wish I would have started teaching you Korean from day 1.  Day 1, as in 'the pee-strip-formed-2-solid-pink-lines' day 1.   " 안녕 little tadpole! I'll be right back while I look up 'Tadpole' in Korean...."    15 minutes later after I looked up 'tadpole' in Korean, clicked on an ad for tiny onsies with tadpoles, remembered I should probably call dad-to-be before anything else, then back to onsies because now