Hitting the Wall -- again? yet?

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the my free day -- no class. So, having been so frustrated by numbers, as well as the quantity of other information I was trying to absorb, I spent over 6 hours studying. Didn't set foot outside my room (although did get a load of laundry done and changed my sheets).

By the end of the evening I had a handle on the numbers. It was very slow going (any clothing I might purchase would be out of style before I figured out how much it cost and whether I received the correct change), but I could understand and, mostly, remember the numbers, given enough time. Had a real sense of accomplishment.

Then today we had the second set of numbers (pure Korean) thrown at us. The good news -- they're used primarily for counting and only go to 99. The bad news -- there's little (no?) relationship among them. For example, in the sino-Korean system two is 이, ten is 십, so twenty is two-ten(s) or 이십. Not true for the pure Korean system. Two is 둘, ten is 열, and twenty is 스물; no relationship there! So even more strict memorization is required.

Then there's the need to know (memorize) counting units. If asked in English how many students are in the class, one would respond with the number, or perhaps the number plus the word students. Not so simple in Korean. . . . When asked how many students (학생) are in the class, one must know that the counting unit word for students (and other groups of humans) is 명 and use that word after the number. We went over 11 different counting unit words in class today, and I suspect there are more hidden away somewhere.

So, yes, this is difficult (어렵다). I appreciate having this blog as a way to vent. Now back to memorizing those numbers. . . .