The downsides of conversation partners

 So recently I have been trying out the conversation method of practicing a language. It has many upsides I've found out.

• They can correct your pronunciation - the one thing you cannot learn by yourself is pronunciation because you cannot magically in-tune yourself to a native speaker. It is impossible so either get used to watching a lot of movies, listening to music, or find yourself some sort of friend in the target language.
• Help you understand things better - In theory a native speaker will be able to correct your word usage and tell you what you are supposed to use.
• Make new friends - Friends are good, there is no reason you should not make them, seriously stop being a loner. Especially since the internet has made it so you don't have to actually meet face to face.

Okay, so there aren't thousands of reasons to use the conversation partner method opposed to other methods. There are the perks of meeting with an actual person and feeling less like a creeper, but there are downsides as well.

1. You can meet a lot of creepers - So let's say you went to website to find a conversation partner, great start right? No, because if you are a woman you will have to wade through a lot of men only there to hit on you and be inappropriate towards you in general. When you finally find one you might be a little frustrated in general. Or if you are a man....you will have to prove you aren't a creeper if you happen to find a female conversation partner.
2. They are a real person - So if they are in another country, you may have to bend to their schedule. Either of you could get distracted by the real world and just drop off the radar without notice, it has happened to me and I've done it several times. Life is rough gotta pick your priorities.
3. The give and take balance - You help people, you expect to get something back in return, right? Right. The problem is when someone is taking a lot more than they are giving, or just not giving. It can be frustrating when you are teaching someone your native language and they aren't helping you with their language.
4. The inability to explain - The truth is, as a native speaker it is really hard to explain why we do things. Yes all English speakers sat through hours and hours of grammar classes during school, but who really remembers them? I don't or I was sick during them and there was n way to make them up. So when someone asks me to explain something, it may take awhile to explain why it is so.

That is what I've got so far, it maybe that conversation partners when you find the right one is a break even. I haven't found that yet so....this is my take on the idea. Even when you hire someone to teach you, they can still fall through with expectations. Conversation partners are not for everyone, but a lot of people enjoy them as part of their language learning experience.

A fun way to learn?

 So talking to a co-worker he helped me stumble upon a website called memrise.com, it is much like quizlet.com (I highly recommend this for any high school or college student with tests coming up) where you can pick a language (or any subject really) and basically you are trying to learn to recognize the words and their definition/English meaning. You can create your own set or go off the ones others have created. Nice, unfortunately this website is still new enough that it does not have a corresponding app yet.

Here is the little gimmick, your words are seeds and you are planting them in the garden of your mind. Memrise.com will send you e-mails to remind you that

a) Your short term memory words are ready to "harvest" or move to the long term memory garden.

b) Your long term flowers need to be watered to keep them in your long term memory.

PROS:

• It is kinda fun, at least for me, the idea that these words are seeds and I'm making a garden of words in my brain. What can I say I'm all about the cute factor. 
• You can create your own set and they currently have tons of different language sets to chose from.
• It is free, that is a huge pro because not everyone can shell out $500 for Rosetta Stone (and you shouldn't)

CONS:

• While you can use other people's sets, you are reliant on how they spelled things, if you are learning a language with a different alphabet besides the roman one you could be screwed. I have run into this problem a couple times. You are also reliant on them for what the word means, and they can be wrong. You can suggest a change, but it is up to them to change it. 
• Currently as of 6/18/2012 the site is down for maintenance very often making it difficult to maintain your garden.
• The quizzes on the words are timed, which can be very frustrating when you are typing in a foreign alphabet on a English keyboard, it can be utter fail.

 Overall:

  This is a great site, although it seems to be in their fledgling stages, if you want to build and maintain your vocabulary this is a great place to go. I have yet to see anything about sentence structure or grammar as of yet so for people who want to learn  a language you are going to need supplemental material.

It has been awhile

  I am now halfway through my contract in Korea, and only slightly better at the language. I feel horrible about it too. I can answer basic questions like "Where are you from?", "Can you speak Korean?", "Would you like a bag", and "Do you have a point card?" ...yes the last two I consider basic because it is asked of me every time I go grocery shopping. I've learned a little, but nothing I have learned has been magical immersion learning, I've had someone either tell me the meaning of the question or have enough vocabulary via forced study to piece together the question listening for keywords.

 I really need to think on this language more because I am finding that it doesn't interest me as much as I originally thought it did. I think I saw it as exotic so I wanted to learn it. I still plan to work on this language, but I will move it much further down the list now. So here is my progress with my other languages.

 Japanese: Still working on kanji and vocabulary I think I am at 750 kanji at the moment. I am actually debating making my next job in Japan so I might speed up the learning a little bit.

 Hindi: I have finally learned the Hindi alphabet, and with the help of some native speakers am actually learning! I have learned basic sentences and I am working on building my vocabulary. I am now debating trying to plan a fun vacation to India because I now know that I could at least ask for directions and read a sign.


I'm debating starting up Chinese again because I now have the correct copy of the textbook I was using, but I feel like I should keep reluctantly studying Korean instead and focus on these three languages for now.

Learning through immersion

I'm still not a fan of this theory and living in Korea for 4 months has really encouraged this. The only words I've learned are words that have been explained to me, or that I've taught myself and use daily. There is no obscure magical word I know that I haven't asked about or looked up at some point. Maybe there are different circumstances for different types of learners, I am a visual learner so immersion is not for me. Which may explain my ability to pick up Hindi by watching movies and reading the translation.

I feel that learning via immersion is really a personal experience on how immersed you are. I'm pretty sure that if I was dumped somewhere with no way of communicating with English, I would be learning Korean a lot faster, but still I would like to meet someone who has actually learned a language purely through immersion like many companies claim.