Korean Job Discussion Forums

[VC]

According to the experience of the Foreign Service Institute, 2200 hours of class instruction are needed to achieve a level of general professional proficiency in Korean (a level at which US State Department employees can do their job). Compare this to only 600 class hours needed to attain the same level in Dutch or Spanish (look at the chart at the end of the article).

The article also says that for every 5 hours in class, atleast three hours of additional independent study are usually needed. That's another 1320 hours. So a minimum of 3520 hours are needed to attain this level in Korean.
www.govtilr.org/PapersArchive/TESOL03ReadingFull.htm

[Mashimaro]

dang, I've only done about 400 hours of korean classes... loooong way to go!

[Drakoi]

I guess I shouldn't be so dissapointed with my slow progress so far...

seems rather daunting.

[Derrek]

So if you study 24 hours a day, you could learn it in under half of a year!

[Wangja]

In two years I've clocked well over 1,000 hours in private study and am appalled at how little I understand around me. My grammar is not too bad, but I lack the vocabulary. It's coming though.

I did take some private lessons and must say that in imposing an external discipline, they did force the pace and progress after each lesson was notceable. Bloody expensive though, at least witrh Berlitz.

Maybe after new year I will sign up for some more at KLA, which is a lot cheaper.

[VC]

Here is a more complete list. As you can see Korean is one of the most difficult languages for a native speaker to learn.
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html

Also look here-
"For learner to achieve these goals, classroom study should be supplemented by a minimum of two to three hours of preparation for each five classroom hours."
http://www.icls.com/FLD/ILRlevels.htm

Based on information from the last link and adding 3 hours of independent study for every 5 hours spent in class-
It takes 560 hours of study to reach a level 1 in Korean.
It takes 1,760 hours of study to reach a level 2 in Korean.
It takes 3,250 hours of study to reach a level 3 in Korean.

[the_beaver]

I've posted this before but, in a feeble effort to stave off work for a little while, there are several things that should be mentioned here.


First, the proficiency level given doesn't say to what degree. That is, it says it says that US State Department employees can do their job but what the *beep* is their job? An accurate (arguably) and generalizable set of level descriptions, and the one I use, is the ACTFL Scale.

Proficiency in another language can mean almost anything along the ability continuum so what you personally need/want to use the target language for affects the number of hours of practice/study required. Compare this to Erisson's studies of expert behaviour and it is probably (this I qualify because it's just my idea how the number of hours spent studying/practicing correlates to level of proficiency) reasonable to say that the target of 10,000 hours of quality practice/study will bring a person to a native or near-native speaker level while 5,000 hours of quality practice/study will bring a person to an advanced level. If the student's goal is everyday usage intermediate mid/intermediate high should suffice and that would take around 2,500~3,500 hours.

The important thing to realize is that, while students who study in a formal manner tend to get better faster, formal study is of less value in the equation than good quality practice.

[Wangja]

Interesting - from the *.pdf attachment from the second link, I grade myself as between 1 and 2, so 1+, between 350 and 1100 class hours. Having spent over 1,000 I'd say that proves that classroom hours are more efficient. Good news for you English teachers in fact.

I should add that being a lot older than most students I am now convinced, if I was not before, that the earlier you learn, the faster it is absorbed.

[VC]

[the_beaver]

[gi66y]

I sense disagreement, but aren't you two both saying the same thing?

It takes over 2000 hours of study to learn enough to do a job? This makes sense keeping in mind that any job you do will end up being repetitive enough that you don't need a native speakers grasp of the language to do it well.

As for myself, I suppose I'm somewhere near 2000 hours (including 800+ hours of classroom study) and I suppose if I keep talking to my girlfriend and her friends and family in Korean I'll get to 5000 hours eventually, but I doubt that without studying subjects in Korean I'd ever get to a native speaker's level.

I suppose I should watch the news more often, but sadly I still don't understand much more than the general idea of what they're talking about.

[VC]

[Rather_Dashing]

[just because]

[Rather_Dashing]