Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fusionbarnone]

The book suggestions and advice are excellent.

Buy a Berlitz pocket phrase book. It will give you situational replies in hangul and romanization in order for you to become familiar with the system.
Memorize courtesys and some small talk(will give you an idea about sentence structure and develop confidence).
Learn key words for each; nouns, wh-qs, etc.
Memorize 20 nouns, 20 verbs, 20 adjectives(by doing this will give you more language ammo than many others in Korea).
Do learn numbers as they'll obviously be a big part of your life.

Practice to a tape, cd or visit a site with free language classes(Groninberg? deals with rapid memorization through visualization and association).
Write all words you are commiting to memory on pieces of cardboard(flashcards) Korean in hangul and romanized version at the bottom, with an English translation on the reverse.

Hangul(reading) you will get together within days, I'm sure. In a way this is essential as when you catch a bus(as you will) the English version aren't always accurate. If you mispronounce your town when buying a ticket you could find yourself anywhere but home.

I knew many people that employed some practical and novel ways to learn Hangul.

The easiest is to get a friendship going with a family/Korean friends. On many occasions I appreciated their company more than hanging with waygooks.

One guy I knew hung with the "scooter" girls. He'd buy a coffee and practice away.

Another, helped out at the Worker centre. Korean students would help unemployed 3d workers with their Korean, he'd join in.

My Russian ex-girl-friend once told me that getting a girlfriend in the host country is the fastest way to learn any language. From many I've seen in korea, seems to help a lot.

There are free classes around Seoul. Others on this board could point you in the right direction if this is where you could be working.

I tried applying to universities but got nowhere with that. If you don't mind travel that is and at times that conflict with regular work schedules.

A few additional resources.

Pimsleur is expensive but outstanding for mastering the language through graded progression(Koreans know where to download books, software for free; wish I knew that one). I was given full versions of Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur Chinese this way. Having the "right" friends comes in handy too.

Learning Korean through English; set of three books. One blue, one green, and one brown, are well structured for reading, stuational grammar study and writing. There isn't an emphasis on unneccasary words and focus is on utility words you will need.

There are many resources but in my opinion, breaking language function to a priority of becoming conversationally capable, should be your prime directive.

A friend once told me 2,000 words gives one functionality in any language. I like to think concentrating on 200-400 words can also take you places. Anyway, by looking at learning hangul this way learning seems achievable and a degree of meaningful interaction/comprehension becomes, attainable.

Good luck in your studies.

[fusionbarnone]

The book suggestions and advice are excellent.

Buy a Berlitz pocket phrase book. It will give you situational replies in hangul and romanization in order for you to become familiar with the system.
Memorize courtesys and some small talk(will give you an idea about sentence structure and develop confidence).
Learn key words for each; nouns, wh-qs, etc.
Memorize 20 nouns, 20 verbs, 20 adjectives(by doing this will give you more language ammo than many others in Korea).
Do learn numbers as they'll obviously be a big part of your life.

Practice to a tape, cd or visit a site with free language classes(Groninberg? deals with rapid memorization through visualization and association).
Write all words you are commiting to memory on pieces of cardboard(flashcards) Korean in hangul and romanized version at the bottom, with an English translation on the reverse.

Hangul(reading) you will get together within days, I'm sure. In a way this is essential as when you catch a bus(as you will) the English version aren't always accurate. If you mispronounce your town when buying a ticket you could find yourself anywhere but home.

I knew many people that employed some practical and novel ways to learn Hangul.

The easiest is to get a friendship going with a family/Korean friends. On many occasions I appreciated their company more than hanging with waygooks. The only shortfall with this is many Korean will want to be your "friend" in order to secure a free tutor. My friends owned business' and were great to know as well. I was lucky as my company was equally important or appreciated to them.

One guy I knew hung with the "scooter" girls. He'd buy a coffee and practice away.

Another, helped out at the Worker centre. Korean students would help unemployed 3d workers with their Korean, he'd join in.

My Russian ex-girl-friend once told me that getting a girl/boyfriend in the host country is the fastest way to learn any language. From many long-term multi-cultural relationships I've seen in Korea, seems to help a lot.

There are free classes around Seoul. Others on this board could point you in the right direction if this is where you may be working.

I tried applying to universities but got nowhere with that. If you don't mind travel that is and at times that conflict with regular work schedules(2:00pm).

A few additional resources.

Pimsleur is expensive but outstanding for mastering the language through graded progression(Koreans know where to download books, software for free; wish I knew that one). I was given full versions of Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur Chinese this way. Having the "right" friends comes in handy too.

Learning Korean through English; set of three books. One blue, one green, and one brown, are well structured for reading, stuational grammar study and writing. There isn't an emphasis on unneccasary words and focus is on utility words you will need.

There are many resources but in my opinion, breaking language function to a priority of becoming conversationally capable, should be your prime directive.

A friend once told me 2,000 words gives one functionality in any language. I'd like to think concentrating on 200-400 words can also take you places. Anyway, by looking at learning hangul this way learning seems achievable and a degree of meaningful interaction/comprehension can/becomes, attainable.

Good luck in your studies.

[the_beaver]

[Axl Rose]

where the hell's Sogang? i'm interested. i'm above beginner level but i'd quite like to go because i would imagine it'd be pretty cool.

[thekingofdisco]

Shinchon station ���̿� line 2
or
Daehung station ���￪ line 6

[the_beaver]

[SuperHero]

I just finished 10 weeks at Sogang and I would have to say it is worth it.

[Matt DuGhee]

I have had (am having) a lot of trouble with learning Korean myself.

I'm in a very small town about 1.5 hours from the nearest available "lessons", with no bus service after 8 o'clock. I teach at a public school so I asked my coteacher about options, and he put me in touch with a family that had moderate english skills. We get together twice a week and trade time.
It's very slow going, but it is nice to have the extra help if I need it, and I guarantee you will be well fed at least two nights a week if you do this.

One warning though, is that they may try to completely take over your schedule! They want to learn english just as much or more, so if you offer to "trade" time, it'll be seen as free english lessons! Make sure you draw the line early, so that you don't have twice nightly drop-ins and a phone schedule (as my girlfriend and I had with our first tutor).

[cazador83]

Ok, has anyone ever taken these night classes at Seoul National University?
It's Monday and Thursday, 6:30pm-9:30pm, so 6 hours a week... for 10 weeks, and it costs 400,000 won.
Scroll down to "Survival Korean Evening Class" http://language.snu.ac.kr/english/eng_pages/SN00181_00.jsp

I wish after it was over they would give you a certificate or something...that's a lot of hours just to say you took classes with no little something to put on your resume or wall

[crazylemongirl]

[cazador83]

[crazylemongirl]

[cazador83]

i'll definitely be looking into this. does the certificate just say something like "completion of session x" or something that sounds a bit more professional?