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[seoulinguist]

2021 Korean Goals

Hi it’s been a while! I didn’t post my goals for this year on January 1st so I’ll use the Korean 설날 new year to finally make this post :)

In 2020 I managed to achieve my two main goals – get Topik 6 and successfully complete my first semester as a grad student in Korea.

What I want to do most in 2021 is utilize my time productively.

Studying for my major (Korean linguistics) is priority #1 so most of my efforts during the semester will go towards maintaining a high GPA, which isn’t easy since I’m studying 100% in Korean. I want to increase my study hours and use those hours more productively with less procrastination. In addition to my university subjects, I want to start studying for my comprehensive exam that I’ll have to take in about a year.

My second goal is fluency in Korean. Since I already got Topik 6, I’ll stop focusing on Topik vocabulary and get back to basics. My plan is to immerse in Korean as much as possible by consuming native materials so that I can 1) get better at casual everyday conversation topics and 2) be able to construct natural non-foreign-like sentences. Immersion in large quantities is key in developing language intuition and achieving fluency.

If I need to procrastinate, I want to do so productively. I like reading Korean webtoons and watching Korean variety shows so if I use that as my resting activity then this will keep improving my Korean skills and I won’t feel too guilty – this is immersion, after all.

Happy Year of the Ox, everyone!

[seoulinguist]

Hi! This for the GKS anon! I also do my masters via GKS. Knowing korean is a huge plus - many of my professors ask about my proficiency prior arriving to Korea. It helps them know that you’re truly interested in their culture and not just kpop. Which country you come from is important and so are your grades - I was interviewed and asked why don’t I have any special certificates and I told them the truth (I worked all my free time during uni since I have only one parent) Honesty is a plus!^^

Of course, the better your credentials are the more chance of getting in. What I’m trying to say, though, is don’t give up even if your grades aren’t the highest or you aren’t the best at something. Maybe you have some award that others don’t, maybe a publication, or even a great motivation letter - you never know what your particular judges will prioritize, so just try!

Also, knowing Korean is advantageous but not necessary - in fact, among my GKS-G peers most people started from low levels of Korean language courses, with few people being in the higher levels. But if your country is very competitive, your topik level is more important - applicants from China, for example, almost all have topik 5-6 and skip the language year.

In the end, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take ;)

Unrelated to this, but I keep getting asks about specific GKS questions - please message me privately about those as that info is not useful to a lot of people. I don’t want to turn this blog into a personal GKS Q&A haha. Also please make sure your question isn’t already answered in the official guideline...

[seoulinguist]

Is TOPIK I useful for anything? TOPIK II I understand, since that actually certifies some level of proficiency. Like, would anyone ask for a TOPIK I certificate in any kind of circumstance?

No university or workplace in Korea will ask you for a Topik I certificate, it’s pretty useless. Maybe it could be used for level placement at a Korean language course, but they usually just test you themselves anyway. Can’t think of any other uses.

[seoulinguist]

Hi! I’m new to your blog and I really enjoy it! It seems as though your a recipient of the KGSP scholarship which is great because I am thinking about applying for it come February because I want to get my masters in korea! I just wanted to know what the process was like and how hard it was, any tips you have, what you had to do to apply, and how big grades played a part. I’ve been on the deans list every semester of college but I’m not sure if that will suffice depending on how intense the application process is. I also want to know if I should start studying korean again. I know you have to take Language courses first anyway but I wonder if it would help to start now? I hope my question want to much I just want to be fully prepared and committed by the time February comes around! Love your blog and thank you!! :)

Thanks for your kind words~

The application process is pretty straightforward – just make sure to follow the GKS-G guideline in everything when gathering documents and you’re good. I sent all my docs to the embassy; they contacted me through email when I passed the screening and called me in for an interview which lasted 15mins. Later I was contacted by them that I passed the round and they were sending my documents further to NIIED. Once you pass the NIIED screening, you might have to get interviewed by all or some of your chosen universities, or maybe not – depends on the uni, some just accept you without an interview. After that you find out if you got in to one of the unis you applied. This was for the embassy track, I don’t know much about the university track.

As for the actual application and grades, it’s impossible to say what they’re looking for because they don’t give you any feedback. It is also largely determined by the competition in your own country. Personally, I don’t think grades are too important as long as they are over the required minimum. Make sure to write a strong personal statement to convince them that you’re awesome. Attach any awards or relevant certificates you have.  

Would it help to start studying Korean now? Sure, why not? Certainly won’t hurt.

[seoulinguist]

안녕하세요! What exactly does a literary translator do? Since you speak Korean as a second language, would you only be translating books into English? I looked around online and seems like non-natives can only translate books from Korean and not into Korean. Is that true?

안녕하세요~ I’m not a literary translator and I’m not planning on becoming one, not sure where you got that idea! I’d recommend asking someone who actually knows. I have also heard that one would usually translate only into their first language.

[seoulinguist]

do you speak English?

Ummmm yes? starts doubting herself

[seoulinguist]

TOPIK 6급

Long time no see! I was busy with my finals but the semester is over now and I can rest at last~

I got my Topik results a few days ago and I still can’t believe I got Topik 6급! I was aiming for level 5 (for extra scholarship) but got a nice surprise. It’s a requirement for my major to achieve Topik 6 by the end of my studies, so talk about 일석이조 killing two birds with one stone, huh.

Striving for “TOPIK 6″ was nice in a sense that it gave me a clear goal, motivation for studying, a sense of achievement with progressing levels. But it’s good to be done with it now, too. Before I used to analyze each new word in terms of how useful it would be for Topik, focusing mostly on those. Now I can actually learn what is useful to me in daily life.

It’s great that I don’t have to take the test again for 2 years, but the perfectionist in me kinda wants to try for an even higher score hehe… I’m also curious what the test will be like in the future with a speaking part. Plenty more to strive for!

[seoulinguist]

Me when I have to study Japanese for uni: nuh i dun wannaaaaaaa

Me once exams are over: OH BOI let‘s use these 3 textbooks and study for 6h every day and plan in 100 vocab everyday pabdalsn I CANT WAIT TO STUDY

[seoulinguist]

서울로 이사한 건 아주 용감한 것 같아요! 파이팅! ✌🏻

고마워용☺️♡

[seoulinguist]

Autumn foliage in 평창

TOPIK is really coming up fast - only two weeks left. This is my first opportunity to take it since... January?? Assuming it doesn’t get cancelled again. I kid you not, I was super unlucky with the test cancellations - the July one was cancelled ONLY in Gwangju and not anywhere else in Korea, and guess where I was living then - yep, Gwangju! Then the August one was cancelled too, I didn’t even have time to sign up for the next one because it was cancelled so late and the next registration was already closed. Just my luck. It’s not that I care about taking the test itself, I just need it for the extra language scholarship.

I haven’t studied for TOPIK at all since starting grad school, I feel like I’ll definitely need to at least revise some things like writing the graph essay, maybe go through some of the vocab I learned during my language course. I’m just really hoping I haven’t forgotten too much since then and that my grad school materials helped me a little, too.

I wish I could drop everything and focus only on TOPIK preparation for the next two weeks. I kinda miss the kind of studying I did at my language course, when I learned a lot of new vocabulary with texts of various topics. I felt like that really helped prepare me for the test, but now that I’m just studying linguistics I’m mostly learning new linguistic vocab and forgetting TOPIK vocab. Sadly, since I don’t have lot of time due to my grad workload, I’ll just have to roughly revise key things like phrases to use for the essays.

[seoulinguist]

I’ve reached a thousand followers! I’m so glad I can share my life and my nerdy side with you guys~

What kind of posts would you like to see from me?

[seoulinguist]

I have so much to go through until my first grad school midterms next week 🙂🙃 yup, in Korean.

If I study a lot every day it’s pretty manageable, it just takes time. Because of corona and online lessons, my exams are open-book, which takes off some of the stress, but that probably means there will be no time to look up stuff from the book anyway so I better be very familiar with the material. Especially it’s location in the book lol.

It’s nice that the teachers are understanding and didn’t give us homework before midterms. Honestly I’m loving all the professors this semester.

I got this. 💪

[seoulinguist]

I’d like to introduce you to my Korean linguistics textbook. Isn’t she a beauty?

[seoulinguist]

It’s September. The start of a completely new life for me.

I moved to Seoul and I’ve started my master’s degree at Yonsei university.

Listening to lectures completely in Korean feels... surreal. You struggle for years in a language and you don’t feel your own progress. I can now understand lectures in Korean? When did that happen?

Just the fact that I get to listen to the Korean language during lectures makes me excited. I’m so incredibly happy. I’m finally studying what I really like and studying brings me joy instead of just being an obligation. It’s not a walk in the park, for sure, but I’m happy to put in the extra work.

[seoulinguist]

Now that Yonsei has sent me the acceptance email and student number I am officially enrolled as a graduate student...

I’m changing my username from 7jeon8gi to seoulinguist

Which makes sense because I’ll be living in Seoul and studying Korean linguistics starting this fall semester :) My old username must’ve been confusing for those who don’t know the 사자성어 anyway.

I finally feel like a student since I can now log in to the Yonsei website and there’s my name at the top~

(p.s. I still have a month of Korean classes left before moving to Seoul!)

[seoulinguist]

한국 노래 추천

(^Photo I took at offonoff’s event/concert thing)

I was tagged by @breadlanguages​ to do this music tag so why not.

I used to listen to a lot of kpop for many years but I don’t really listen to it anymore. I’m one of those oldies who likes kpop from 10 years ago and misses those wonderful times when every new song was a masterpiece :’) I have no idea who the new idols are, either.

Nowadays the only kpop I’m exposed to is the music I hear being played outside in cafes, stores, streets. I can’t even say I’m a kpop fan anymore. I do think the gradual alienation from kpop also has to do with my tastes changing with age, as well as having found music that I like even more.

So instead I’ve been listening to k-rnb and k-hiphop a lot in the last few years and my playlist consists of mostly that.

Rules: You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. Put your music on shuffle and list the first ten songs, then tag ten people. No skipping!

Yelloasis & JUNNY - Rise & Fall

pH-1 - Penthouse

offonoff - Gold (feat. Dean)

G.Soul (지소울) - Tequila (Feat.후디(Hoody))

JUNNY - BEAUTIFUL

Colde - 시 (Shhh)

pH-1 - Malibu (Feat. The Quiett, Mokyo)

DPR LIVE - Jasmine

Henmi(헨미) - Weak

OLNL(오르내림) - 선인장

I don’t really have anyone to tag since I don’t know anyone on tumblr ㅇㅅㅇ;; If you want to do it too, consider yourself tagged!

[seoulinguist]

(^교보 bookstore)

Tomorrow is the start of my last Korean language course semester at Chonnam National University in Gwangju. I’m starting level 6.

This semester is promising to be hectic because I have to move to Seoul in August to start my masters, which means changing my visa, finding a place to stay, registering course subjects at Yonsei university and figuring out a million other things. I’m anxious about all this but also excited because I’ll finally be able to move to my favorite city♡