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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 ...

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' see...

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...