Korean Job Discussion Forums

mithridates · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 5:21 am Post subject:

It took me:
12 months of study in Japan
3 months living in Korea in 2002

to become fluent, but it's easy for Japanese speakers...Japanese took me twice that time to learn it back when I only knew English.

ohahakehte · Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: The State of Denial

i feel really guilty and frustrated w/ myself that ive lost most of my passion to learn korean since i arrived last october. also my day to day routines dont require that i say much beyond "chamchi chigay chuseyo", etc. though i would like that to change. the guilt is worse because im a languages and linguistics geek but my drive to study korean doesnt match my drive to read chomsky's linguistics books. i speak better mohawk than korean for crying out loud! a language spoken by 2000-4000 people! i bet less than 5 mohawks a year visit korea!

since ive met a korean woman here who speaks better french than english, im more intent on mastering french (im almost there) than korean. i guess because its easier cause ive been learning french since i was 5.

princess · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: soul of Asia

Just my two cents...but I find it very hard to believe that a person knows Korean fluently in 3 months...

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

I believe he means 12 months of Korean study in Japan.... studying Japanese and then stuying Korean or vice versa is a huge advantage, but from what Ive seen Mithrates grammar and written Korean is great, I'd be surprised if his spoken and listening was an advanced level in that period of time

Jensen · Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Location: hippie hell

shakuhachi · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Sydney

It is possible to learn a language in that time. It takes lots of effort and a little talent. Japanese to Korean is the easiest way.

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

I dont speak japanese, but I can tell that the pronunciation is incredibly different. Getting the correct pronunciation of Korean is very difficult, and I know people that have studied it for years but still have problems with correct pronunciation.
Personally I studied Korean for 3 years and have lived here for another 2. But I was lucky enough to spend 12 months at the earlier stages of study in Korea. I get comments from people on the phone that they think Im Korean all the time. Even from people that have known me for years dont recognise that its me on occasions.

Eazy_E · Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Location: British Columbia, Canada

Someone please answer the question: how long does it REALLY take for someone with no background in Asian languages to become fully functional in Korean in almost all situations?

mithridates · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 4:51 am Post subject:

I spent the three months not working, living in Shinchon and studying in coffee shops during the day and hanging out with friends at night. Going Japanese to Korean is like going English to French.

I'm also going to be interviewed on KBS Radio One tomorrow night...it's the 11pm to 1am show so you can hear me speak then.

Sorry, I don't have any tapes of me after the three-month stint, but I was fluent enough to read Dostoevsky's The Devils (I think that's the English title) in Korean during that three-month period.

mithridates · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 4:53 am Post subject:

Oh, and for a person with no Asian language background, it would take about a year of study at home and then a year or two of living here. The reason why I emphasize the study at home is that when people arrive here with no Korean language skills, they either make friends with English-speaking foreigners or English-speaking Koreans. Almost nobody can go a long time without friends and it's not nice to throw away your English-speaking friends after you've learned Korean either, which is the dilemma that a lot of people go through here.

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

Eazy_E · Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Location: British Columbia, Canada

[quote="komtengi"]

mithridates · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:37 am Post subject:

Ah, sorry - when I said home I meant in one's home country, so taking a class would be recommended. Let's change that phrase to:
-A year of study before coming to Korea

My ancestry's all English/Scottish/Belgian/bit o' Spanish/5% unknown, but I do love RPG games; that's why I first started studying Japanese.

Because Dragon Warrior only goes up to #4 in the English version!

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

Eazy E.... learning from friends means you tend to pick up bad habits. Which will be a bigger pain in the long run. Iv'e found that people that learn from friends often dont understand the formality of the language. Learning from a woman will also tend to have you sounding like a woman when you speak in Korean.
If its the only way to go, you have to do it like that I guess. Just try not to pick up any bad habits. Smile

In your photos that I've seen Mithrates I presumed you had an Asian parent.... my bad Embarassed