Korean Job Discussion Forums

[morrisonhotel]

[andrewchon]

TPR and Immersion. Get yourself Skype and start video conferencing with Koreans on Skype.

[Old Gil]

[morrisonhotel]

[redaxe]

[SeoulMan99]

Part of the problems with learning Korean is that the resources aren't as adequate as a lot of other languages. Pimsleur is expensive (not if you get a torrent) and it is rather formal, but it is still great for pronunciation and getting a feeling for the language. Get Let�s Learn Korean by B.J. Jones and use the audio to shadow (look up shadowing technique). Learn hangul well and practice writing and reading it a lot. Get decent grammar books like Francis Y.T. Park�s Speaking Korean series (Hollym Press) and Fred Lukoff�s series of Courses in Korean from Yonsei University Press and just work through them systematically.

I'd also get some graded readers or children's books and read through them until you understand what you're reading.

You could use the free FSI program designed by the US government, which while not as good as some of their other programs, it is still a solid enough program to use. It is not for the casual student though. http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Korean

Speak as much as you can with native speakers and study everyday.

Also, look up anki.

[andrewchon]

[Zulethe]

The key for me has been to use a ton of references. This way I don't get bored with one and many of the same patterns keep repeating themselves, which further cements learning.

Currently I'm using 6 differrent books. Also, just like studying anything else, just do chunks at a time throughout the day instead of one long continuous session.

I'll study ten minutes here and ten minutes there throughout the day.
My Korean ability has come a long way using this process.

Also, as another poster stated, if I hear a word used frequently by the locals, I'll immediately learn the word and I'll never forget it.

[morrisonhotel]

SeoulMan99, thanks for the tips. Wonderfully helpful.

[mithridates]

I've got another one. Go here:

http://www.ted.com/translate/languages/kor

Pick a video you like that has been translated into Korean and go over the Korean script first. You could also type it out on Google Translate because even though it's pretty iffy it still works fairly well as a fast dictionary. After that then watch the video with subtitles and/or compare it to the English dialogue.

[fezmond]

mithridates

I understand you were already fluent in Japanese, so had a headstart with the grammar already, but how many hours would you say you worked on Korean per day?

[coralreefer_1]

[littlelisa]

ARGH, I was thinking that registration for the April TOPIK started around now. I just checked the site and it ended two days ago. Phooey. I did some practice tests and I'm consistently passing at level 2. I guess I'll just study for level 3 for the fall.

[Jeonmunka]

Once you get to grips with the syntax, no probs.
For me, I say syntax because that was a real big stumbling block. After that sorted the raciness came in and was/is the cream. So, much more fun. But, still not elegant - not really spoken spontaneity.

[mithridates]