Korean Job Discussion Forums

[World Traveler]

For me, I'm up to about 250,000 per week (which is a little over a mil per month). Can anyone top that? It's a lot of money (pretty much all of what I had been saving per month previously or at least somewhat close to it). I keep telling myself this investment (20k per hour in fees plus the opportunity cost of lost wages for each of those hours studying) will someday pay off. I hope it does. Before anyone says U DUMB BRAH GET A LANGUAGE EXCHANGE LOL, allow me to explain why that is a bad idea. Politically correct or not, the English language is MUCH more valuable than the Korean language. Trading an hour of English (worth 50,000) for an hour of Korean (worth 15,000 to 20,000) is not a wise exchange for the Westerner. Pay someone to teach you Korean (and anyone who can speak both English and Korean( Korean at a native level that is) will do). Bring your own materials and tell the teacher what to do. That's what I do. Don't pay a ridiculous amount of money per hour though. (The last Korean tutor I encountered advertising told me the fee was 40,000 per hour; what a joke.) It's not necessary. For a large class, it is important for a teacher to be trained and skilled. For one on one it is not. (Not if the learner (Western in this case) is motivated and wants to learn and knows how to learn). Print off elementary and intermediate TOPIK tests and work through those. That's what I do. Also, record your teachers voice speaking in Korean for at home self study. Learning with a private tutor is a good idea. It is expensive and the progress comes slowly, but with other methods it come even more slowly.

[nicwr2002]

I would think joining an intensive college course would be a better investment if you can make the time. A 9am to 1230pm class Mon~Fri for 1,200,000won would be way better in my opinion.

[fezmond]

I study another language but when I meet the tutor, it's 60,000w for 4 hours a week. 240k a month.

[edwardcatflap]

You really like it here that much to want to invest all that time and money? You don't even have any romantic ties here either from what I can tell. Just curious about your motivation

[Lucas]

[John Stamos jr.]

You're doing crazy stuff. If you can already somewhat decently speak the language, and having put so much effort into reaching that point, with this unstoppable mindset, there's no excuse for why you can't just pick up a nice girl/guy who will be attracted to you because of your interest in her/his culture, and osmosis that shit in over a period of time. I'm sure you can find someone that will cost less and provide better services for that one mil a month you're dropping, count that as a fact. One guy I know who'd been in Korea for less than a year when I met him, spoke it well and learned it fast because he dated a girl who basically couldn't speak English. Considering your level of interest and motivation, I don't understand why you're ignoring the easiest, and most obvious piece of the puzzle, regarding your efforts to learn such a useless language.

[nicwr2002]

[ghostrider]

The guy who is always posting about how impossible it is for adults to learn a second language spends one million a month on learning Korean?

[creeper1]

Congrats to World traveler.

The guy who epitomizes a "can't do" attitude finally seems to trying to accomplish something.

[DaeguNL]

[World Traveler]

I think a university course could be good, but nothing is as good as a personal tutor, in my opinion. I should do both though (both are helpful in different ways), and that in fact is my future plan. I will study Korean like mad at a university program and and also continue to see a tutor. I think I will keep sticking with a tutor forever. It is expensive which sucks, but is helpful for making progress. Korean is a hard as hell language to learn. Most expats never make it past the beginner stage. I want to be one of those rare few who can speak and understand it.

[PatrickGHBusan]

WT your efforts to learn the language are impressive.


Can I ask what your goal is here with regards to Korea? What level do you want to reach and why?

[Weigookin74]

Before you do anything, you must memorize hundreds of vocabulary words. You will not aquire a language without this crucial step. Learn as many words and a handful of expressions as possible. Than you can go for the teachers, tutors, etc. Those who go for the tutors rehearsing phrases never bothering to memorize always fail miserably and then give up on it. I've been dragging my @$$ the last couple of years, which is my own fault. But I went through intermediate phrases of pushing hard and then slacking during my first two to three years here and it's got me to a level 2ish. A bit more studying, I could go for a level three.

Anyways, that's my experience with Korean. You must learn lots of words before you can start forming sentences and even begin to listen to conversations on TV.

(Of course, I don't think I need to mention learn Hangeul first.)

[chungbukdo]

I spend nothing.

A 2000 sentence book and accompanying MP3s (I guess this was 10-15$), naverdic, and anki are all free. Speaking and Kakao practice are free. Obviously you can also immerse yourself for free in Korea as well.

[World Traveler]