[pacman990]

I know there's a very very slim chance of this happening but has anyone here taken Elementary Korean (EAS110Y) at UofT? I wanted to know how much workload it is, whether you actually learn something from the course, and whether you guys would recommend taking it. Oh and what teaching materials/books were used. It's just that I'd have to specifically make room for this course so I have to make sure it won't adversely lower my gpa and if it does, I need to make sure I actually learn something from it hehe.
I've tried asking around UT boards but I guess I was asking the wrong people.
Any help would be appreciated

[Chocobo]

There's billions of Koreans at U of T

[azn_dark_angel]

did you try asking on biome?

[pacman990]

There's billions of Koreans at U of T

lol yea but I don't know any that have taken elementary korean (EAS110Y). Even if they had taken it, it would be useless to ask what they think of the course because they most likely had enough exposure to the language prior to taking the course to make the course seem extremely easy.

did you try asking on biome?

I did but I guess nobody that checks biome around this time has any experience with the course

[joogrlpekaun]

I'm interested to hear about that course, too. I'm an incoming freshman and will have a grand total of maybe one course left up to my own discretion, so I don't want to cram that Korean class in if a freshman seminar would be better. You'd think there might be someone who'd taken it on Soompi since U of T has soooo many Asians (and just many people in general) and this board is mostly people interested in Korean stuff...

[pacman990]

^just in case you do want to take it this year, there's two things you should know, one of which I didn't find out until today and I'm entering my 3rd year >_<
1) if you do 3 years of korean/japanese/chinese at UT and get at least a B- in all three courses, or do 2 years of a middle eastern or european language and get at least B- in both courses, it will say that you have knowledge of that language on your transcript once you graduate. Kind of late for me if I want to take an east-asian language but just letting you know.
2) if you plan on taking korean, you have to attend an interview in mid august. I think it's on Aug 16 and 18 or something like that but confirm if you're interested. I've asked about this and it's essentially a placement interview to make sure you don't know any korean at all. They also ask why you want to study the language and so on. Only 40 people are allowed to take this course per year

[joogrlpekaun]

Thanks for the info. Those are definitely good things to know. I know I've heard about the transcript thing, but no one every mentioned anything about interviews to take language classes. A little strange, but I guess it makes sense if space is limited. Wait, you said they want to make sure you know absolutely no Korean beforehand? Then would I actually be penalized for being able to read, write, and construct really, really basic sentences? That's seriously all I know, though. It's not like I can actually speak or understand much of any Korean.

[izawa]

ooo i need to do my humanities course too Dx
would it be easier to take japanese or korean? or other languages O_o;;
pretty sure i cant get into the easy chinese xD
lol like...... elementary korean..... what type of work do u have to do???

=,= would it be weird for a chinese to take korean?

[pacman990]

^lol well i think it'd be a bit more weird for a brown guy to be taking korean Anyways you can check what people from previous years have had to say about the course on the ASSU website/Anti-calendar. It seems korean is easier than japanese if you base it on the responses there but normally ASSU takes these surveys before the exam so it doesn't always paint a perfect picture of the course. This is why I wanted to ask someone who's actually taken the course. Too bad finding someone who has is like finding a needle in a haystack. (40 students in a population of thousands of students lol)

[azn_dark_angel]

could always try finding the korean club's listserv...but wondering how you would get access to that...call the club?

[pacman990]

^smart! I'll try contacting them. Not sure if they'll even respond but no harm in trying heh

[knickstorm]

littel off topic, but i took a road trip to montreal over spring break, i gotta say, them asian in canada on the whole are helluva lot better looking than those here in the US

[evelyn168]

I know tons of ppl lie about their knowledge in order to get into beginner's class for languages course... So u might find it a bit competitive if u are a non-Korean speaker...

[joogrlpekaun]

littel off topic, but i took a road trip to montreal over spring break, i gotta say, them asian in canada on the whole are helluva lot better looking than those here in the US

Haha i didn't really agree either of the times i visited recently. some of the guys are hot, but overall i didn't think they were hotter than the guys in the us. at most they're about equal. a lot of them are paler, too.

[pacman990]

I know tons of ppl lie about their knowledge in order to get into beginner's class for languages course... So u might find it a bit competitive if u are a non-Korean speaker...

yea that was my concern too. They have an interview and stuff but if they've been in canada for a while and have a pretty good english accent, i'm sure they can easily fake not knowing korean and being able to pass the interview without any probs. This is why I wanted to ask someone who actually took the course and did not have any prior korean knowledge to see if the course was too competitive for non-korean speakers.

[pacman990]

I'm interested to hear about that course, too. I'm an incoming freshman and will have a grand total of maybe one course left up to my own discretion, so I don't want to cram that Korean class in if a freshman seminar would be better.

Well I was able to grab a hold of someone who took this course last year. The only korean exposure she had was from watching subtitled korean dramas lol. She said it was a very fun and educating course and the workload wasn't that hard either compared to life science courses. The material was also custom made by the prof and you will be able to carry out a convo for at least 5 mins by the end of the class, which is pretty good imo.

[joogrlpekaun]

^ Finally found someone? Cool, that actually doesn't sound so bad. I'm gonna be a lifesci person, too. Thanks for sharing.

[pacman990]

^a bit off-topic but if u need past tests or general administrative help in life sci at UT, let me know.

[joogrlpekaun]

^a bit off-topic but if u need past tests or general administrative help in life sci at UT, let me know.

haha thanks, i'll keep that in mind. i have a feeling i'm gonna need help from somewhere to get through 'cuz i'm going with a $5,000 scholarship & i gotta have a crazy high GPA every year to even be considered for in-course scholarships to stay in school. and good luck with your korean.

[pacman990]

^i had something similar. I believe I went in with $4000 in scholarships or something? Yep, all got taken away after they saw my first year marks haha.