Korean Language Learning Progress (1st Record)

Dramatic title but basically it’s just an update, partly to myself as well as to readers (if any), about my progress. I’m taking this pretty seriously and i know it takes a lot more commitment and effort than it seems. It always seems easy if you like what you’re doing, to do well in it, but it really isn’t the case. I love and enjoy learning Korean but I get frustrated or bored or tired too, and sometimes i want to stop, so yes it’s taking dedication. But also, just because it gets tiring or discouraging means that I don’t love it anymore. It’s a love hate relationship really.

So anyway, the 1st record of my learning progress in Korea! So far, I’ve been frustrated more than proud LOL. When Koreans, especially the older ones, talk to me I have a problem understanding and even more problems when speaking. It frustrates me that they have to slow down and find easier words to use and I would feel so useless and unaccomplished. Okay this post is going a bit negative, time to steer away~~

Listening & Speaking. After about a week, I kind of adjusted to the Korean way of speaking and have picked up certain terms, especially those used in shops. I’ve learned things i could never learn from the textbook, i’ve learned slangs, and i’ve become faster in listening and registering words. Earlier i was always lost when they spoke but it became much better and I could eavesdrop much better now HAHAHA. Speaking is still really a problem because when confronted with a Korean I’m usually afraid to step out of my comfort zone and I end up speaking English especially when they can speak English too. Mainly because it takes way too long for me to formulate sentences in korean. it baffles me too because in text I do pretty okay. I can text in Korean comfortably and I can think in Korean when I do so, but for some reason when I speak I blank out and it’s like I forgot all grammar and vocab and maybe my voice at the same time too. U G H. Which brings me to my next point.

Sogang Korean Classes. It’s getting easier to catch what our teacher is saying, but still of course tough speaking to the rest. I’m slowly easing into it though, nowadays trying to chat with the rest in Korean. Our teacher is really nice, she finds out what we want and what we don’t. She took out the tests because we didn’t want them and most of our class were working people in industries like education (professors in Sogang themselves), trade, media, consumer goods… and we even found out recently one of my classmates is a director in a company. Which company we don’t know haha I’d rather not know in case i get intimidate the next time he’s my conversation partner. So she understands and she removes things that she knows will be time consuming. Also after finding out we want speaking practice the most she stopped giving writing exercises and told us to practice writing on our own. So the class is moving towards speaking much more, and I like and need that. So far Sogang is living up to its name for being the best university for Korean lessons in speaking. The rest of the unis focus more on reading writing and listening.

Language Exchange Buddies. I’ve recently prowled through the net to find language exchange buddies willing to help me, and I’d help in return with their English. I stated that i prefer face to face conversations or phone calls, because if we’re gonna be texting i can do that pretty okay already. My problem is still really just talking, being able to think faster and respond faster, to be as fast and as good in speaking as I am in texting. I don’t even know why it is such a problem, since i can text okay. I think it’s a mental block so i want to try to conquer it somehow.

One person responded to me today directly via Kakao. She’s called Youngmi and she isn’t much older, but just started work this year. So far no talk of meeting or whatever cuz it seems like she’s really busy, but it’s a start! She’s already corrected me a few times and i’ve picked up new phrases already! I think this would really help! Consider doing the same if you’re learning a new language~ if you’re shy to talk or meet up i think texting is also an efficient way to learn! I cant tell if this exchange with her would keep up because we may not be compatible but well it’s always worth a try ^^

Drama and variety shows transcriptions. I’ve also decided to take dramas and shows to the next level, by paying extra attention to what they’re saying and writing down certain words and phrases. Granted, I take away maybe just 20 phrases and words each episode but it’s still progress. I try to take down more phrases because these will help later on when I revise and work to become more natural in speaking and forming sentences. I googled drama scripts earlier and saw that there were some korean drama scripts available online for download which is what i’ll do!

Flipcards. Haha what’s language learning without good old flipcards. I downloaded this nifty app called Study Blue to help me. This is mainly training and drilling me to remember vocab. Yes i know, not the most efficient way to learn, but it’s still necessary alongside all the other things I’m doing.

Future goals for my Korean language learning:

• Writing a Korean blog
• Finishing a Korean comic
• Finishing a Korean novel
• Reading Korean news sites
• Understanding Korean radio
• Speaking fluently and naturally with a native Korean (discussing things beyond basic introductory topics)
• Translating a show or book
• Going further into technical terms e.g. politics, historical, law

That’s going to take a few years but well, i don’t want this journey to end either 😀 Although I’ve been saying i want to take a new language after Korean… LOL. I want to be really good at Korean first before moving on to conquer basic levels of many other languages. I also want to brush up and become good at Bahasa and Chinese, since i’m already at a basic spoken lvel of those languages. All these are going to take forever but that’s good then that means i have lifelong goals already ^^

That’s all for the first record! I’ll have strength and persevere on to conquer them languages!