Korean Job Discussion Forums

[theredfrog]

I have a question that sort of falls along the same lines as the original post, but I hope I don't change the subject too much on this thread...

I'm already plannning on taking Korean lessons when I arrive in September, but I wanted to know if any one of you guys has taken any Mandarin lessons while in Korea. I know Chinese isn't one of the easiest languages in the world, but I figure living in Asia for a year is the best opportunity I'll have to pick it up. If anyone knows of any Chinese language schools in the Seoul area, or has any experience learning it in Korea, I'd love to hear about it.

[Trinny]

Zyzyfer,

Yes. The sheer number of katakana and hirakana is a challenge, too. As I said, conversational & verbal Japanese is easy to pick up, but reading any meaningful Japanese sentences without looking up on the Hirakana/katakana charts or dictionary is a totally different story.

theredfrog,

Check out the language schools (hogwons) in downtown Jongno (sp?) area for Chinese classes. Most hogwons geared towards adult students offer Chinese language classes, as well. The lecture will be given in Korean, so you have to have some Korean to take Chinese classes.

[Zyzyfer]

[Seoultrader]

Not really useful info but an interesting tidbit - did you guys know that the probably best school to learn Korean (and a selection of other languages)is the US military's Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA?

I have some old intel linguist friends (all 100% white boys, never stepped foot on Korean soil previously) that scored high on their language aptitude tests after enlisting or getting their officer comission, got sent to DLI for 2 years intense immersion, and came here able to speak fluent, near-native-accent Korean in various local dialects.

[kimcheeking]

I heard that from a couple of military friends that I used to have. Interesting fact one of the Korean teachers at my school used to teach Korean at Monterey.

[matthewwoodford]

[Austin]

Romanization is a waste of time for everybody, so do not let your students do the same thing with their language when they are learning English.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

The reading is easy, what I find more troublesome is the patchim, where the written sounds change due to what letter comes after.

PS I like learning Koren but I'm going slow, I'd like to think that what I know is solid, but I really would like to speed it up. I guess I just lack the drive to sit with a book, pen, and paper for two hours a day. I learn by talking to people, watching tv, and yeah I do hit the book a bit, but not evey day. And everyday I tell myself I'm gonna change and get into a SERIOUS study habit. And it's not like I don't like it or feel it's just too hard for me to ever learn. Anyone else have laziness problems around getting into regular serious book study?

[Derrek]

I just started taking lessons at a Korean Hagwon in Kangnam. I had tried the same school last year and quit, because I didn't know the Hangul characters yet. It was too overwhelming for me, because the other students in the class already knew it and one guy spoke a ton of Korean (he was just there to learn to write).

This year I can read the Hangul, and pronounce a lot of it correctly -- or at least close. Things are much easier this time around. I just started a few weeks ago though.

By the way, if you want to learn to speak it quickly, then the Intensive Morning program at Seoul National is the way to go. It costs though -- as in about 1.3 million won every 2 months and a week, or so. And it will take a year and a half, if memory serves.

I know one guy who attends Seoul National University (foreigner) and he took afternoon classes at the University while learning the language in the mornings. Don't know how he was able to do this for the first 6 to 12 months.

[Son Deureo!]

[katydid]

[the_beaver]

[Zed]

[l'il kim]

FYI, SNU has a morning intensive program from 9-1, as does Yonsei, where I've been enrolled since April. Ths cost for Yonsei is W1.3 million. There are two separate streams (in principle, anyway): A, which takes 18 months, and B, which takes 2 years to complete. The idea is that the A course is supposed to be for kyopos and Japanese, while B is for "real" foreigners. However (mainly because the foreigners for whom the B course was intended thought it was for retards, I suspect), nearly everyone is enrolled in the A course: when I took level 2, there were 16 sections for A and only 1 for B. Frankly, there should be way more people in B, as those distinctions exist for a reason.

This is just my personal opinion, but I think that if you are truly serious about learning Korean, an intensive program (20 hours a week) is the only way to go. In the beginner levels at Yonsei (1 and 2), we did almost nothing but grammar, and even after 400 hours, it still hasn't quite sunk in. And it's supposed to be easier for me, as I'm kyopo and was a diligent student! But my feeling is that Korean is a damn hard language and not one that people are likely to pick up by osmosis, or by studying 5 hours a week.

[shawner88]

Anybody else here have trouble pronouncing leer? I have a hard time with that especially when it's frequent in a word or sentence. I also get frustrated when I think I know how to pronounce something, then I try it out in real life nobody understands me. You have to be dead on with pronunciation with most things.