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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Homer
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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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Posco:
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| I've never wanted to learn Korean. In terms of world culture and economy, it's an unimportant language, and I wager it will only become more unimportant in the next 25 years. |
Don't you think there are a lot more reasons to learn a language then its imagined "rank" in world culture...whatever that is.?
I learned it to be able to communicate with people around me. To speak to my in-laws.
It has also opened up job opportunities for me. Its all relative posco and just because you do not see any redeeming value in learning hangul doesn't mean thats its useless as a language....  |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
But what I can't figure out is, why does a Korean have a right to practice English in my country if I don't have a right to practice Korean in their country? |
Most of the koreans I've met overseas hardly practise their english at all.. the just hang out with koreans and speak korean all the time.
The only way I can understand people being unhappy for foreigners to practise their korean is if the Korean speaks very good english. As that applies to about 0.0001 percent of the country, it shouldn't happen that often! |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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A few points often overlooked: it takes thousands of hours to learn a skill (and brother, there's no skill as complicated and convoluted as a new language) and most of those hours should be dedicated to practice. To put it in perspective, if you study for 1 hour a day and practice for 3 hours it'll take you over two years to get to upper intermediate level (some lucky sods do it more quickly and a few unfortunate souls take longer, but that's accurate for the average joe). I'm almost at the end of the Sogang program (I'll be going into level 6 of 7 when I get a chance to go back) and I can tell you that most of the people who finish that program are an advanced on the ACTFL scale, which puts them halfway to what a native Korean can do -- that's after 1,050 to 1,400 classroom hours as well as personal practice and study time.
Thus comes the "crux" of the problem. I don't seem to have the time/energy to study Korean (at least not as much as necessary) while I am working full time. I have been told several times that what I need to do is take a couple months off work (perhaps more) and study Korean full time. I have been told this by people who have been here a lot longer than I, and this advice seems to be common.
Do you agree? Will I have to take a break from work and study full time in order to get anywhere? I'm just curious as to how you have gone about it.
Incidently, I didn't say that I am not learning, I said that I am learning, but very very slowly. My Korean is much better than it was last year at this time, but it's a long way from being anywhere near where my Spanish is.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and advice.
Cheers
I could blather on about this forever. . . I'll cut it here.[/quote] |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
Thus comes the "crux" of the problem. I don't seem to have the time/energy to study Korean (at least not as much as necessary) while I am working full time. I have been told several times that what I need to do is take a couple months off work (perhaps more) and study Korean full time. I have been told this by people who have been here a lot longer than I, and this advice seems to be common.
Do you agree? Will I have to take a break from work and study full time in order to get anywhere? I'm just curious as to how you have gone about it.
Incidently, I didn't say that I am not learning, I said that I am learning, but very very slowly. My Korean is much better than it was last year at this time, but it's a long way from being anywhere near where my Spanish is. |
The time/energy thing is a problem for doing anything. The trick is to find a regular time that you can study/practice (regardless of energy level) and stick to it. That's the greatest strength of attending a program -- it forces you to study even when you have no energy. If you can't attend a full-time program then it's a good idea to get a tutor (there are very few good ones and the they're expensive, but still. . .) because, again, it forces you to study.
Take a couple months off to study? Works for me. I work a while, quit, study, work a while, quit, study -- been doing it for years. Attending a full-time program is necessary for the average learner so it'll probably work for you (attend a good program like Sogang -- screw Yonsei [unless, of course, grammar translaton/audiolingual is an effective style for you]).
'Learning slowly' is subject to scrutiny. Maybe if you look at it as a yearly thing it's true, but if you break it down to number of hours maybe not. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks again for your comments and advice. I do appreciate it. I've just extended my visa for an extra 6 months, so at least during that time, I will only be able to study on Saturdays and some evenings.
I have a problem with the Sogang on-line program. Well, it's not really a problem with the program, but where I have to go to use it. I don't have a home computer. I have to go to a local pc bang to work with the Sogang program. The problem is that pc bangs are generally quite noisy places and I often have trouble hearing the audio portions of the course. I've asked to use headphones at times, but these are usually broken and only function in one ear. (not really inspiring me to want to learn)
The other problem is that pc bangs tend to be very smoke-filled places and I have a low tolerance for cigarette smoke. I bought the book for the Sogang course, so I can study at home. I just wish it came with tapes so I could practice the listening at home as well.
One final thing I have to say about the Sogang course is that I think they could have done a lot more with the beginner lessons. They probably could have doubled or even tripled the amount of questions for each section.  After all, the more practice one gets with the basics, the better you will know it. 
And if I may, one last thing about every Korean language course I've ever used, (including Sogang) They always overload you with all the grammatical forms at once, and never give enough practice with each form. Why is that? They should be developing your vocabulary using the present indicative tense before they start showing you all the propositional forms and the past, future forms, and all the other forms that I don't really understand yet.
I just think Korean could be a lot easier to learn if the courses were set up a bit better.
Anyway, sorry for whinging. Thanks again for your time.
cheers
Some waygug-in |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
I have a problem with the Sogang on-line program. Well, it's not really a problem with the program, but where I have to go to use it. I don't have a home computer. I have to go to a local pc bang to work with the Sogang program. The problem is that pc bangs are generally quite noisy places and I often have trouble hearing the audio portions of the course. I've asked to use headphones at times, but these are usually broken and only function in one ear. (not really inspiring me to want to learn)
I just wish it came with tapes so I could practice the listening at home as well. |
If you have a tape recorder bring it to the PC band and buy yourself a small cable with two male connectors (cost less then 2,000 won). Plug one end into the headphone jack and the other into your recorder's mic jack.
| some waygug-in wrote: |
One final thing I have to say about the Sogang course is that I think they could have done a lot more with the beginner lessons. They probably could have doubled or even tripled the amount of questions for each section. After all, the more practice one gets with the basics, the better you will know it.
And if I may, one last thing about every Korean language course I've ever used, (including Sogang) They always overload you with all the grammatical forms at once, and never give enough practice with each form. Why is that? They should be developing your vocabulary using the present indicative tense before they start showing you all the propositional forms and the past, future forms, and all the other forms that I don't really understand yet.
I just think Korean could be a lot easier to learn if the courses were set up a bit better. |
Overloading is a problem for people with a tendency to go for discrete point understanding. It might help to think about it this way: people do not learn on their first exposure to a bit of grammar so the goal is really just to understand it for that moment and then move on. Later, when you come back to it, it'll be a little easier to understand and so on -- quantity exposure.
A final note:
It's almost impossible for the average person to learn a language by studying alone because the name of the game is practice and in particular it's hard to practice speaking alone. Get a language exchange partner (a lot of people looking for language exchange partners are really just looking for dating partners, but not all). At the minimum it gives you speaking practice, but if you take a little prep time you can make some personalized lessons for yourself (quite possible) and your partner can teach you that.
Have fun. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:08 am Post subject: |
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A ju gom ap sum ni da.
Chu - sok chal pon es oyo..
Thanks |
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