Korean Job Discussion Forums

[byrddogs]

learn korean? i've been a little stubborn about doing this and am a bit embarrassed that i have gotten by this long without really using the language. any advice or tips?

[giraffe]

complete immersion... korean friends , trying to use korean everyday and not worrying about making mistakes, reading korean everyday, watching korean tv and movies, studying . Exposing yourself to it as much as you can. Self study and language exchange can only take you so far. Self studying is good for learning basics and reviewing stuff. Language exchange in most cases dont work. Most people tend to get a gf/boyfriend out of it and end up teaching them english more than anything else. I can be good in some cases but most of the time it doesnt benefit you language wise. Taking korean lessons is good too But can only take you soo far. Most important thing is to just surround yourself with korean and use it as much as possible. Eventually things sink in.

Ive done language exchange, self study and korean language programs but they either didnt help much or taught me ALOT of stuff that i just couldnt retain like grammar rules.. Ive learnt most of the korean i know from living with my parents in law and its pretty natural way of learning the language. Have you maybe thought about living with a korean family? Doing a homestay? In those kinds of situations you're kind forced to learn it to communicate and its really good.

Edit: Also, learn about stuff that interests you. If you have an interest in music or movies or skateboarding, try to find korean material that you would want to watch / read about. It makes things fun. Dont worry about the grammar TOOO too much that stuff kinda comes naturally over time. The hard part is to learn all the vocab and verbs and remember them. Dont get me wrong though , im definitely still learning and i have lots and lots of stuff to learn but its progressing nicely. You just have to make the learning fun.

[redaxe]

[Xuanzang]

Buy a textbook for your language exchanges. Resist the urge to go back to English. Pay money for classes. Tuition is a great motivator. I recommend Sogang`s program. You actually get to speak and use your Korean in that program. *cough cough Yonsei

[Bryan]

Don't get a bilingual Korean girlfriend. My girlfriend speaks English, French, and Korean and we always fall back on English. In my case, I try to get a lot of studying done alone and then ask her questions later.

I recommend what the other poster said. Abandon English. Check out this site (the author writes about Japanese but it can be applied to Korean too):
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency

[byrddogs]

[mc_jc]

For me, I was always told to learn to read first and I did. I learned pronunciation and word structure by reading movie billboards, subway and bus signs.
Then one day I bought a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets and realized that Korean grammar structure is similar to what was written and I then I read bilingual reading material and movie subtitles to learn vocabulary and sentence structure.
Do I speak 'fluent' Korean? No, but it is enough to communicate over the phone and to express what I want to say. But as others profess, immersion is the key and over time, I believe I am getting better

[Draz]

[giraffe]