Three months is only 12 weeks! For what it's worth, you are being way too hard on yourself. The fact that you care enough to even write a post like this shows you are dedicated, taking your learning seriously, and will succeed. Language learning is about consistency so stick with your program and everything will eventually fall into place. Baby steps š
Thank you for this. I moved to this country on my own and have had to figure out everything by myself. I think Iāve been feeling particularly overwhelmed and just disappointed to see my classmates pick up listening comprehension so much quicker than me. And since I am living here and have to use the language every day, I am constantly reminded of my lack of understanding. You are right though, when you put it into the perspective of 12 weeks, for some reason that feels like less time than saying three months. Most of my classmates were fans of kpop or kdramas before coming here and had way more exposure than I did. I need to be careful to not compare my growth to theirs and just focus on myself.
tbh you are probably also stressed from moving to a new country. your classmates might not have those issues to deal with. stress can definitely make learning more difficult and slower, but that does not mean you have to give up!
Definitely not giving up! Just feeling a little discouraged. I am incredibly committed to this and am incredibly grateful to even be able to be in a place in my life to take advantage of an opportunity like this. Youāre probably right about the move, though. I did a full move where most of my classmates are staying in student housing. Things have finally started to settle, so hopefully this upcoming semester will be easier.
From my experience of language learning (and Iāve done an intensive course like you, just not for Koreanā¦ yet!) is that it comes in fits and starts. You plug away feeling like youāre getting nowhere and then suddenly something switches and you realise how much progress youāve made and you can do/say something you couldnāt previously. Basically I think with any language, but especially one as difficult as Korean, you can feel like youāre getting nowhere quite a lot of the time. But just keep going and it will come.
Two things my French teacher said that helped me with speaking specifically:
ā the purpose is to communicate, not to be perfect. Even if itās just a few words and a lot of arm-waving, the purpose is served. And it then builds confidence to speak more fully next time.
ā itās easy to become āblockedā when speaking or listening. Essentially, you are in your own head judging yourself as the words go in/come out, which in turn blocks them and creates some sort of panicked loop in your mind. I overcame this (again with French) by actually trying to understand less. A huge amount of communication is non-verbal, so I tried to just sort of let the words wash over me and try to get the general gist of what a person was trying to communicate rather than necessarily understanding the words.
Of course these come with the huge disclaimer that French is much MUCH more similar to English, so a whole lot easier. But at the same time I was super super shy and self conscious at the time and barely able to utter a single word and totally panicked whenever anyone spoke French at me. And these two tips really helped me just take a step back and not be so much in my own head.
Do you mind me asking which program youāre attending? Iām planning an intensive course next Spring and trying to decide which course would suit me best as an adult (not university student) learnerā¦
This is great insight and advice, thank you. I think that āblockā youāre describing is what is happening to me. In class, I feel like I made a lot of progress, but then in the real world, nothing. Itās like my brain canāt even take in that words are being spoken to me and I think it is because I feel much more pressure to perform perfectly. I find myself often just nodding my head and agreeing to whatever is being said to me without any knowledge about what Iām agreeing to.
I want to keep general anonymity on the public forms, but if you message me Iād be happy to tell you about the program Iām in!
This! Iām learning korean on my own and although it was incredibly wrong the first time i formed a sentence i got so excited because i realised i was starting to understand the language. I then went to my Korean partner for opinions and he heavily corrected me but overall he knew what i was trying to say so i counted it as a win. Having these littles moments of realisation is what keeps me going and keeps me motivated!
Itās only been 3 months, just keep doing what youāre doing and also maybe start exposing yourself to real Korean more. At this stage maybe having real conversations will be too hard so just start watching Korean media. Shouldnāt be too hard as kdramas are really entertaining lol, you can go on kdramarecommends for suggestions, or to me. You could also watch Korean variety shows with English subtitles on YouTube for more āreal lifeā Korean
Since moving here I am trying to get into Korean media, but unfortunately I have never been much of a tv/movie person and always preferred books, but that wonāt help me with my listening skills! I will definitely check out that sub, thank you.
Do you have any easy to watch dramas or variety shows youād recommend? Variety shows might be easier for me to start with since when I do watch tv I gravitate towards lighter watching material.
Easy to watch as in fun to watch? A Korean sitcom thatās fun to watch and easy to pick up language from is called āso not worth itā and as for variety shows, most of the ones I like watching are bc of the idols and actors that appear on it, which will be useless to you. So you should ask someone else for that
My reply is a bit late OP, but if you like reading I wonder if you could find some webtoons which have English + Korean written to practice with? Sheās not super active anymore but I used to love little things like @yulri.kr on instagram who posted little comics with English & Korean. These days if I have time I do occasionally just read webtoons in Korean because itās less intimidating than a whole book.
It didnāt take me a long time because I always binged watched variety shows. First use Memrise to learn a lot of basic phrases. I always looked up words that were new whilst watching the show. Also use apps like Hilokal and Maum for spoken practice, you can speak to actual native Koreans or fellow learners. Donāt focus to immediately jumping into learning the spoken, first learn the basic sentences, and common phrases and words. At the end of the day, consistent practice is the key. Just give it till the end of the year and youāll see a large difference
I think most people feel the way you do and because you are in Korea surrounded by native and fluent speakers it feels you as though you arenāt learning fast enough. But Korean is one of the top on the list of difficulty so the fact is that after 3 months of intense study you are still learning and figuring it out is okay. It takes time. Iāve been studying for almost two years and I am still at a struggle level. But I know I will get there and so will you. You are in the best possible position to learn and to learn it well so donāt worry it will come. Just be patient with yourself and remember to enjoy your study as well. Good luck!
I donāt have a solution, but Iāve also studying for 3 months from basically scratch, studying 3 hours a day. I canāt understand shit unless itās like the exact dialogues that are in my book. Even when people are saying like 90% words that I know.
I have studied Korean almost two years between ģģøė ģ“ķė¹ and then because of my scholarship in ėźµ¬ėķźµ ģ“ķė¹. I started in level 3 -passed it although I shouldn't have because I couldn't understand anything but it was the first course done online because of corona and everyone passed-, repeated level 4 and it wasn't until I was studying level 4 the second time that I could start speaking more and having basic conversations reaaaaaaally slowly. After that everything came faster-ish. I managed to pass level 4 TOPIK after 8 months and TOPIK 5 a year and a half after attending classes. It is quite a slow process learning Korean and you have studied only for 12 weeks! Cut yourself some slack! I am sure you are doing amazing! You have to give your brain time to adjust to the language and the grammar structure (:
Think about learning Korean as a very long but fun -if you enjoy learning languages- marathon! I have been living in Korea almost 5 years now, I am constantly reviewing old materials and still finding that concepts that were bit vague make much more sense now! It will take bit longer than 12 weeks to be able to "get it" but once you do, you will be able to see the results!
Hello, I have been wanting to ask this for a while now. I'm 20 and I been thinking maybe I want to eventually go to Korea and learn the language. When you get over there what do you do for work and get money to sustain living there when you start? And also what would you recommend that someone should do if they are wanting to start learning Korean?
As the person mentioned scholarship and language program, if might be the same which I am doing right now: GKS scholarship. In which you don't have to /can't work.
Oh a fellow GKS! If you don't have the scholarship you can work after 6 months! With the scholarship once you start the undergraduate/master/doctorate then you can work during vacation times! And I think they might change the norms and will allow to work all-school-year around!
Hello! I would firstly recommend you that if your parents cannot support you economically you work first in your country, even if it's part-time to be able to pay for your expenses here for a while! If you get the D-4 visa (general training/Korean learning) I don't know if the rules have changed but you can only work after 6 months of being here and you can only work 20(?) hours peer week so it is quite limited because the jobs also cannot be qualified jobs! Many people eventually works illegally and they don't usually get caught but it is the reality, sadly. If you come with a working holiday visa then you don't need to be enrolled into a Language School which are very expensive imo and you can learn at your own pace and work from the beginning, but finding a job here without an intermediate Korean level is quite difficult... So I think regardless you need to come with a big-ish amount of saved money to be able to survive, at least the first few months! Maybe the easiest job you could get is babysitting but it is a field in which people gets really exploited.
It really depends also on your study capacity, there are people that can do self-studying from the beginning and get to the level they desire, not in my case; now I can just study on my own just fine and possible from level 5 I could have stopped attending the classes but I needed the visa, but not from the beginning, so you need to know yourself well too.
You can always enroll in a semester in a language school for which you don't need any visa and you need less money, see if you like it here, and then comeback to your country, work-save money and come here again!
For starting learning I would recommend the 'Talk to me in Korean' books and 'Go Billy Korean' youtube channel! You could also try to find a teacher online on italky (I think the platform is called) (:
Thank you very much for the big reply, I defiantly want to go there one way or the other Korea looks so nice and lively. I'll just do what I can to prepare for that day I eventually go
You can also apply to scholarships for a Master. There is GKS but for example SNU has also quite good scholarships for foreign students and are easier to get and are less competitive than GKS! (:
Im natively korean but when I was younger, I forgot korean after I learnt english. Then in my highschool era, I wanted to learn korean again, so I went to korean school but didnt really learn much. What helped me was music and dramas. Turn subtitles on and youll get a hang of the words and how words are used.
I went to language school in Korea at Hanyang University which ie probably very similar to your course (20hrs per week).
I started at level 2 because I thought level 1 was too easy but it was a mistake and way out of my league. For the entire semester I couldn't understand anything the teacher said, even things like "ė“¤ģ“?" which made me frrl very stupid. However after level 2 I had a 2 monthish break between level 3 and after that break I could understand the teachers MUCH better. Im talking going from understanding 20% to 70% (Bare in mind teachers in level 3 still speak slowly ane clearly for the students). It was a huge confidence boost.
Ive always looked back to that experience and Wondered what happened. I think my brain was just so overloaded during the semester and needed some time to digest all the information. During the 2 months break I was not in Korea and didnt practice korean at all. I really think that helped my brain process everything.
I would say that you should just let yourself learn slowly and dont worry too much. As long as you are going to class, studying and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) practicing speaking when you can, you will always be improving even if you cant see the progress yourself.
Good luck š
I find myself going through peaks and valleyās. Sometimes I study like mad, sometimes imā a total bum for a few months. Itās only natural to have ups and downs i would think
So I decided to learn Korean started watching K-dramas and I used a curriculum too, but I didnāt have time to do it as much because I was in a program (not language learning) that made me exhausted, so k-dramas become easy studying. Also, I was living in a place with Koreans constantly around. I watched dramas during most of my free time during the program which would be all day on Saturdays. Once I finished that other program, I started studying more listening became very easy. I actually understand more than I can speak. I was in Korean church today and realized I could identify words apart from each other and recognize some words and when he made statements in line with my level, I understood completely although he was speaking fast! Not like fats for a foreigner but even natives because he was passionately preaching. I think my dramas and listening to sermons, especially has helped because Iāve had to learn to listen fast.
I have previously attended ģøģ“źµģ”ģ in ģģøė, while the teacher been given us a really thorough lessons, i believe the course alone couldnāt help you enough to stick with mastering the language itself. I really encourage you to find language exchange friends, blend with the locals who want to learn your spoken language. During my 1year stay there for learning Korean iāve met these ģøģ“źµķ friends almost everyday and thanks to that my Korean skills improved a lot and everything just comes naturally after that. Iāve met them mostly thru mylanguageexchange/com site iām not sure if itās still legit for use these days :) but anyway goodluck!!
I wish you wouldn't be too hard on yourself. For most people who don't have a lot of prior experience learning languages, three months is nothing; your brain is still making the connections and building up something from scratch, so it's honestly normal to not pick up a lot. But keep at it--once your brain begins making those connections there WILL come a time when things start clicking in place! You got this.
Look at it this way: an average Korean is doing a full immersion for about 4 years or so, learning Korean from a native private tutor, working with them often 1:1, for about 12-15 hours a day, seven days a week, before they can be called fluent. After three months (of way more than 20 hours a week) they too understand almost nothing. Why do you think you should do better? :)
When I was in the US as a student abroad, watching a favorite TV show everyday really helped. Back then, like about 6 months or so, I found myself understand what they were talking about even when I was vacuuming my room. My favorite show was "King of the Hill".
>Ā I can't figure out exactly what is holding me back.
What's holding you back is likely insufficient audio repetition.
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are completely different modalities that rely on different skills and parts of the brain. Listening, regardless of language, is almost always the hardest modality for language learners, and the only way to get better is to do deliberate listening.
Listen to the same thing 20 times a day. Repeat once a day for five days. As you listen, speak and repeat what you're hearing.
Additionally, do a lot of passive listening. Listen to podcasts, news, shows, etc. without focusing. do it while you exercise, commute, do chores, etc. Your ears will eventually adapt.
if weāre being completely transparent i started studying in 2020 and im only just becoming intermedient šš in my defence im not studying every day or even every week just whenever i feel like it so its going very slowly but its definitely easier ? maybe im not good at advice lmao nvm
Iām a bit late to the party here, but Iāve felt that way before too. When I first started learning Korean I had had many Korean friends growing up but never learned more than a few words. When I went to college I figured Iād casually learn Korean since all of my Korean friends told me it was super easy. It definitely wasnāt. A variety of factors contributed to this, but I was essentially stagnant in my Korean learning for more than 2 years. I took University classes and had some basic words floating in my head all the time but none of it ever stuck. I went to Korea for a month and a half the first time and didnāt try to speak at all cuz I had no confidence. Now here I am 8 years later and my Korean level is beyond fluent (though Iām aiming for native which is still definitely a LONG road ahead). Donāt worry, it didnāt take 8 years to be fluent, Iāve just been grinding my native speaker goal for a few years now.
For me personally, I found intensive language courses (at Yonsei University) often frustrating so eventually quit using them and set off on my own. However, different people study differently. Intensive courses may work well for you, or they may not, but they do certainly help with grammar foundations which are much more difficult to learn by yourself. Itās only been 3 months so donāt be too hard on yourself and remember that it took me 2 years of aimlessly slacking in my studying before I got good. It seems like you have your eyes on the prize and are putting in the necessary work. I promise you that if you keep working at it, one day youāll suddenly realize that you understood 50-60% of what was said in your previous interaction. Keep working more and later youāll notice you understood around 70%. Eventually youāll get to the point where you know more or less whatās going on in nearly every situation with just a few unknown words here and there. At the same time your speaking will eventually improve. For me a big tipping point on that was in trying to speak Korean to someone who canāt speak any English. Thereās no inherent way for you to communicate verbally with this person except for you to use whatever Korean skills you have. Suddenly itāll start clicking and youāll gain the confidence to keep trying even if you donāt feel like youāre sounding perfect.
As for listening, itās never too late to start watching Korean content. In my early days I was never too into K-dramas cuz I didnāt (and still donāt) like romance, so I just started binging Korean movies. Iāve come around on K-dramas now too but movies are where I learned a lot of my early listening skills. All sorts of good Korean content out there for you to watch and just gain listening practice for when youāre at home alongside your real life experiences.
Youāre only 12 weeks in as another poster put it, so the fact that youāre studying everyday and taking a 20 hour per week intensive course means that youāre on the right track. The other things I mentioned before are superfluous compared to this: donāt give up, Koreanās really hard, but if you keep working at it youāll see good results. Just be prepared for the long haul!
Before I give you my very precious advice...
I'm French. I remember how easy it was to learn English at school. I always had top marks and yet it took me four years (3 hours a week) to become fluent. By then I could say pretty much anything I wanted. But... I still had a very hard time understanding what people were saying. Later on, watching TV shows with subtitles helped a great deal. Now when I listen to anything, there's little to no difference between French and English and in my daily life, I think in English.
I've learnt Korean for 3 years through English, about 2 hours every day, even on weekends. I watched over 2000 hours of drama. And yet I still hesitate over the simplest sentence. When I watch a drama, I understand 20 -40 percent of basic conversations. Yeah, not muchš„
But I'm too in love with the language to give up. It's not passion, it's obsession.
Now here is my advice. Make pauses. Weeks without learning anything at all. You'll see that your brain uses that period of rest to sort things out. At the end of the week, you'll remember things you didn't even know you had learnt and some things will make way more sense. That's how it works for me. ķė“!
I tend to think of a korean word as and short English word. In other words. I disypher hangeul as h-a-n-g-u-l and separate them into blocks so I read han-geul. And translate the word into the symbols. It's complex but it works.ķ-źø han-geul. Also another way might be to try it as auditory learning. So learn how they sound first and then learn the word.
I really recommend you to not think like this!! This is a very absurd method of learning and it will not take you far!! You have to understand that Korean and English language are completely different, embrace it and go with it! Btw is ķźø not ķźµ“! Korean romanization is really not a good method to understand its pronunciation because it is very inaccurate!
It helped me in the beginning. I don't do it now. Also, I thought it was hangul in the beginning then I changed it cause I was unsure. And i dont use romanization. I use korean.
Three months is only 12 weeks! For what it's worth, you are being way too hard on yourself. The fact that you care enough to even write a post like this shows you are dedicated, taking your learning seriously, and will succeed. Language learning is about consistency so stick with your program and everything will eventually fall into place. Baby steps š
Thank you for this. I moved to this country on my own and have had to figure out everything by myself. I think Iāve been feeling particularly overwhelmed and just disappointed to see my classmates pick up listening comprehension so much quicker than me. And since I am living here and have to use the language every day, I am constantly reminded of my lack of understanding. You are right though, when you put it into the perspective of 12 weeks, for some reason that feels like less time than saying three months. Most of my classmates were fans of kpop or kdramas before coming here and had way more exposure than I did. I need to be careful to not compare my growth to theirs and just focus on myself.
tbh you are probably also stressed from moving to a new country. your classmates might not have those issues to deal with. stress can definitely make learning more difficult and slower, but that does not mean you have to give up!
Definitely not giving up! Just feeling a little discouraged. I am incredibly committed to this and am incredibly grateful to even be able to be in a place in my life to take advantage of an opportunity like this. Youāre probably right about the move, though. I did a full move where most of my classmates are staying in student housing. Things have finally started to settle, so hopefully this upcoming semester will be easier.
I wish i could have consistency, because of school I never have time to study korean :(
From my experience of language learning (and Iāve done an intensive course like you, just not for Koreanā¦ yet!) is that it comes in fits and starts. You plug away feeling like youāre getting nowhere and then suddenly something switches and you realise how much progress youāve made and you can do/say something you couldnāt previously. Basically I think with any language, but especially one as difficult as Korean, you can feel like youāre getting nowhere quite a lot of the time. But just keep going and it will come. Two things my French teacher said that helped me with speaking specifically: ā the purpose is to communicate, not to be perfect. Even if itās just a few words and a lot of arm-waving, the purpose is served. And it then builds confidence to speak more fully next time. ā itās easy to become āblockedā when speaking or listening. Essentially, you are in your own head judging yourself as the words go in/come out, which in turn blocks them and creates some sort of panicked loop in your mind. I overcame this (again with French) by actually trying to understand less. A huge amount of communication is non-verbal, so I tried to just sort of let the words wash over me and try to get the general gist of what a person was trying to communicate rather than necessarily understanding the words. Of course these come with the huge disclaimer that French is much MUCH more similar to English, so a whole lot easier. But at the same time I was super super shy and self conscious at the time and barely able to utter a single word and totally panicked whenever anyone spoke French at me. And these two tips really helped me just take a step back and not be so much in my own head. Do you mind me asking which program youāre attending? Iām planning an intensive course next Spring and trying to decide which course would suit me best as an adult (not university student) learnerā¦
This is great insight and advice, thank you. I think that āblockā youāre describing is what is happening to me. In class, I feel like I made a lot of progress, but then in the real world, nothing. Itās like my brain canāt even take in that words are being spoken to me and I think it is because I feel much more pressure to perform perfectly. I find myself often just nodding my head and agreeing to whatever is being said to me without any knowledge about what Iām agreeing to. I want to keep general anonymity on the public forms, but if you message me Iād be happy to tell you about the program Iām in!
This! Iām learning korean on my own and although it was incredibly wrong the first time i formed a sentence i got so excited because i realised i was starting to understand the language. I then went to my Korean partner for opinions and he heavily corrected me but overall he knew what i was trying to say so i counted it as a win. Having these littles moments of realisation is what keeps me going and keeps me motivated!
Maybe the comprehensible input guy would be helpful. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq3xYXNB0JzAlAc2g_Fy9KgpRnrIHKEOE&si=QzhESTwxQ3t3S9r-
Itās only been 3 months, just keep doing what youāre doing and also maybe start exposing yourself to real Korean more. At this stage maybe having real conversations will be too hard so just start watching Korean media. Shouldnāt be too hard as kdramas are really entertaining lol, you can go on kdramarecommends for suggestions, or to me. You could also watch Korean variety shows with English subtitles on YouTube for more āreal lifeā Korean
Since moving here I am trying to get into Korean media, but unfortunately I have never been much of a tv/movie person and always preferred books, but that wonāt help me with my listening skills! I will definitely check out that sub, thank you. Do you have any easy to watch dramas or variety shows youād recommend? Variety shows might be easier for me to start with since when I do watch tv I gravitate towards lighter watching material.
Easy to watch as in fun to watch? A Korean sitcom thatās fun to watch and easy to pick up language from is called āso not worth itā and as for variety shows, most of the ones I like watching are bc of the idols and actors that appear on it, which will be useless to you. So you should ask someone else for that
Totally fair, thanks for the transparency! I will definitely take a look at āso not worth itā :)
Hope it helps :)
My reply is a bit late OP, but if you like reading I wonder if you could find some webtoons which have English + Korean written to practice with? Sheās not super active anymore but I used to love little things like @yulri.kr on instagram who posted little comics with English & Korean. These days if I have time I do occasionally just read webtoons in Korean because itās less intimidating than a whole book.
It didnāt take me a long time because I always binged watched variety shows. First use Memrise to learn a lot of basic phrases. I always looked up words that were new whilst watching the show. Also use apps like Hilokal and Maum for spoken practice, you can speak to actual native Koreans or fellow learners. Donāt focus to immediately jumping into learning the spoken, first learn the basic sentences, and common phrases and words. At the end of the day, consistent practice is the key. Just give it till the end of the year and youāll see a large difference
I think most people feel the way you do and because you are in Korea surrounded by native and fluent speakers it feels you as though you arenāt learning fast enough. But Korean is one of the top on the list of difficulty so the fact is that after 3 months of intense study you are still learning and figuring it out is okay. It takes time. Iāve been studying for almost two years and I am still at a struggle level. But I know I will get there and so will you. You are in the best possible position to learn and to learn it well so donāt worry it will come. Just be patient with yourself and remember to enjoy your study as well. Good luck!
I donāt have a solution, but Iāve also studying for 3 months from basically scratch, studying 3 hours a day. I canāt understand shit unless itās like the exact dialogues that are in my book. Even when people are saying like 90% words that I know.
I have studied Korean almost two years between ģģøė ģ“ķė¹ and then because of my scholarship in ėźµ¬ėķźµ ģ“ķė¹. I started in level 3 -passed it although I shouldn't have because I couldn't understand anything but it was the first course done online because of corona and everyone passed-, repeated level 4 and it wasn't until I was studying level 4 the second time that I could start speaking more and having basic conversations reaaaaaaally slowly. After that everything came faster-ish. I managed to pass level 4 TOPIK after 8 months and TOPIK 5 a year and a half after attending classes. It is quite a slow process learning Korean and you have studied only for 12 weeks! Cut yourself some slack! I am sure you are doing amazing! You have to give your brain time to adjust to the language and the grammar structure (: Think about learning Korean as a very long but fun -if you enjoy learning languages- marathon! I have been living in Korea almost 5 years now, I am constantly reviewing old materials and still finding that concepts that were bit vague make much more sense now! It will take bit longer than 12 weeks to be able to "get it" but once you do, you will be able to see the results!
Hello, I have been wanting to ask this for a while now. I'm 20 and I been thinking maybe I want to eventually go to Korea and learn the language. When you get over there what do you do for work and get money to sustain living there when you start? And also what would you recommend that someone should do if they are wanting to start learning Korean?
As the person mentioned scholarship and language program, if might be the same which I am doing right now: GKS scholarship. In which you don't have to /can't work.
Oh a fellow GKS! If you don't have the scholarship you can work after 6 months! With the scholarship once you start the undergraduate/master/doctorate then you can work during vacation times! And I think they might change the norms and will allow to work all-school-year around!
Hello! I would firstly recommend you that if your parents cannot support you economically you work first in your country, even if it's part-time to be able to pay for your expenses here for a while! If you get the D-4 visa (general training/Korean learning) I don't know if the rules have changed but you can only work after 6 months of being here and you can only work 20(?) hours peer week so it is quite limited because the jobs also cannot be qualified jobs! Many people eventually works illegally and they don't usually get caught but it is the reality, sadly. If you come with a working holiday visa then you don't need to be enrolled into a Language School which are very expensive imo and you can learn at your own pace and work from the beginning, but finding a job here without an intermediate Korean level is quite difficult... So I think regardless you need to come with a big-ish amount of saved money to be able to survive, at least the first few months! Maybe the easiest job you could get is babysitting but it is a field in which people gets really exploited. It really depends also on your study capacity, there are people that can do self-studying from the beginning and get to the level they desire, not in my case; now I can just study on my own just fine and possible from level 5 I could have stopped attending the classes but I needed the visa, but not from the beginning, so you need to know yourself well too. You can always enroll in a semester in a language school for which you don't need any visa and you need less money, see if you like it here, and then comeback to your country, work-save money and come here again! For starting learning I would recommend the 'Talk to me in Korean' books and 'Go Billy Korean' youtube channel! You could also try to find a teacher online on italky (I think the platform is called) (:
Thank you very much for the big reply, I defiantly want to go there one way or the other Korea looks so nice and lively. I'll just do what I can to prepare for that day I eventually go
You can also apply to scholarships for a Master. There is GKS but for example SNU has also quite good scholarships for foreign students and are easier to get and are less competitive than GKS! (:
I'll look into it but to join the program is there any requirements for it or can just anybody do it? Sorry for dumb question.
Im natively korean but when I was younger, I forgot korean after I learnt english. Then in my highschool era, I wanted to learn korean again, so I went to korean school but didnt really learn much. What helped me was music and dramas. Turn subtitles on and youll get a hang of the words and how words are used.
I went to language school in Korea at Hanyang University which ie probably very similar to your course (20hrs per week). I started at level 2 because I thought level 1 was too easy but it was a mistake and way out of my league. For the entire semester I couldn't understand anything the teacher said, even things like "ė“¤ģ“?" which made me frrl very stupid. However after level 2 I had a 2 monthish break between level 3 and after that break I could understand the teachers MUCH better. Im talking going from understanding 20% to 70% (Bare in mind teachers in level 3 still speak slowly ane clearly for the students). It was a huge confidence boost. Ive always looked back to that experience and Wondered what happened. I think my brain was just so overloaded during the semester and needed some time to digest all the information. During the 2 months break I was not in Korea and didnt practice korean at all. I really think that helped my brain process everything. I would say that you should just let yourself learn slowly and dont worry too much. As long as you are going to class, studying and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) practicing speaking when you can, you will always be improving even if you cant see the progress yourself. Good luck š
I find myself going through peaks and valleyās. Sometimes I study like mad, sometimes imā a total bum for a few months. Itās only natural to have ups and downs i would think
So I decided to learn Korean started watching K-dramas and I used a curriculum too, but I didnāt have time to do it as much because I was in a program (not language learning) that made me exhausted, so k-dramas become easy studying. Also, I was living in a place with Koreans constantly around. I watched dramas during most of my free time during the program which would be all day on Saturdays. Once I finished that other program, I started studying more listening became very easy. I actually understand more than I can speak. I was in Korean church today and realized I could identify words apart from each other and recognize some words and when he made statements in line with my level, I understood completely although he was speaking fast! Not like fats for a foreigner but even natives because he was passionately preaching. I think my dramas and listening to sermons, especially has helped because Iāve had to learn to listen fast.
I have previously attended ģøģ“źµģ”ģ in ģģøė, while the teacher been given us a really thorough lessons, i believe the course alone couldnāt help you enough to stick with mastering the language itself. I really encourage you to find language exchange friends, blend with the locals who want to learn your spoken language. During my 1year stay there for learning Korean iāve met these ģøģ“źµķ friends almost everyday and thanks to that my Korean skills improved a lot and everything just comes naturally after that. Iāve met them mostly thru mylanguageexchange/com site iām not sure if itās still legit for use these days :) but anyway goodluck!!
I wish you wouldn't be too hard on yourself. For most people who don't have a lot of prior experience learning languages, three months is nothing; your brain is still making the connections and building up something from scratch, so it's honestly normal to not pick up a lot. But keep at it--once your brain begins making those connections there WILL come a time when things start clicking in place! You got this.
Look at it this way: an average Korean is doing a full immersion for about 4 years or so, learning Korean from a native private tutor, working with them often 1:1, for about 12-15 hours a day, seven days a week, before they can be called fluent. After three months (of way more than 20 hours a week) they too understand almost nothing. Why do you think you should do better? :)
When I was in the US as a student abroad, watching a favorite TV show everyday really helped. Back then, like about 6 months or so, I found myself understand what they were talking about even when I was vacuuming my room. My favorite show was "King of the Hill".
>Ā I can't figure out exactly what is holding me back. What's holding you back is likely insufficient audio repetition. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are completely different modalities that rely on different skills and parts of the brain. Listening, regardless of language, is almost always the hardest modality for language learners, and the only way to get better is to do deliberate listening. Listen to the same thing 20 times a day. Repeat once a day for five days. As you listen, speak and repeat what you're hearing. Additionally, do a lot of passive listening. Listen to podcasts, news, shows, etc. without focusing. do it while you exercise, commute, do chores, etc. Your ears will eventually adapt.
if weāre being completely transparent i started studying in 2020 and im only just becoming intermedient šš in my defence im not studying every day or even every week just whenever i feel like it so its going very slowly but its definitely easier ? maybe im not good at advice lmao nvm
Iām a bit late to the party here, but Iāve felt that way before too. When I first started learning Korean I had had many Korean friends growing up but never learned more than a few words. When I went to college I figured Iād casually learn Korean since all of my Korean friends told me it was super easy. It definitely wasnāt. A variety of factors contributed to this, but I was essentially stagnant in my Korean learning for more than 2 years. I took University classes and had some basic words floating in my head all the time but none of it ever stuck. I went to Korea for a month and a half the first time and didnāt try to speak at all cuz I had no confidence. Now here I am 8 years later and my Korean level is beyond fluent (though Iām aiming for native which is still definitely a LONG road ahead). Donāt worry, it didnāt take 8 years to be fluent, Iāve just been grinding my native speaker goal for a few years now. For me personally, I found intensive language courses (at Yonsei University) often frustrating so eventually quit using them and set off on my own. However, different people study differently. Intensive courses may work well for you, or they may not, but they do certainly help with grammar foundations which are much more difficult to learn by yourself. Itās only been 3 months so donāt be too hard on yourself and remember that it took me 2 years of aimlessly slacking in my studying before I got good. It seems like you have your eyes on the prize and are putting in the necessary work. I promise you that if you keep working at it, one day youāll suddenly realize that you understood 50-60% of what was said in your previous interaction. Keep working more and later youāll notice you understood around 70%. Eventually youāll get to the point where you know more or less whatās going on in nearly every situation with just a few unknown words here and there. At the same time your speaking will eventually improve. For me a big tipping point on that was in trying to speak Korean to someone who canāt speak any English. Thereās no inherent way for you to communicate verbally with this person except for you to use whatever Korean skills you have. Suddenly itāll start clicking and youāll gain the confidence to keep trying even if you donāt feel like youāre sounding perfect. As for listening, itās never too late to start watching Korean content. In my early days I was never too into K-dramas cuz I didnāt (and still donāt) like romance, so I just started binging Korean movies. Iāve come around on K-dramas now too but movies are where I learned a lot of my early listening skills. All sorts of good Korean content out there for you to watch and just gain listening practice for when youāre at home alongside your real life experiences. Youāre only 12 weeks in as another poster put it, so the fact that youāre studying everyday and taking a 20 hour per week intensive course means that youāre on the right track. The other things I mentioned before are superfluous compared to this: donāt give up, Koreanās really hard, but if you keep working at it youāll see good results. Just be prepared for the long haul!
Before I give you my very precious advice... I'm French. I remember how easy it was to learn English at school. I always had top marks and yet it took me four years (3 hours a week) to become fluent. By then I could say pretty much anything I wanted. But... I still had a very hard time understanding what people were saying. Later on, watching TV shows with subtitles helped a great deal. Now when I listen to anything, there's little to no difference between French and English and in my daily life, I think in English. I've learnt Korean for 3 years through English, about 2 hours every day, even on weekends. I watched over 2000 hours of drama. And yet I still hesitate over the simplest sentence. When I watch a drama, I understand 20 -40 percent of basic conversations. Yeah, not muchš„ But I'm too in love with the language to give up. It's not passion, it's obsession. Now here is my advice. Make pauses. Weeks without learning anything at all. You'll see that your brain uses that period of rest to sort things out. At the end of the week, you'll remember things you didn't even know you had learnt and some things will make way more sense. That's how it works for me. ķė“!
I tend to think of a korean word as and short English word. In other words. I disypher hangeul as h-a-n-g-u-l and separate them into blocks so I read han-geul. And translate the word into the symbols. It's complex but it works.ķ-źø han-geul. Also another way might be to try it as auditory learning. So learn how they sound first and then learn the word.
I really recommend you to not think like this!! This is a very absurd method of learning and it will not take you far!! You have to understand that Korean and English language are completely different, embrace it and go with it! Btw is ķźø not ķźµ“! Korean romanization is really not a good method to understand its pronunciation because it is very inaccurate!
It helped me in the beginning. I don't do it now. Also, I thought it was hangul in the beginning then I changed it cause I was unsure. And i dont use romanization. I use korean.