#The French subs are a bit different. more veiled.

[spockvarietyhour]

The Battle of Algiers

[mayohr]

hi! i was just wondering if you had any pointers for someone wanting to learn korean? i've wanted to for so long but i'm having so much trouble ; o ;

Hey there! Thank you for asking. Of course, I’d be glad to share a few tips with you. First, I must tell you a bit of my journey learning it, because I believe it is important to consider the environment surrounding any person learning a foreign language. Long post warning, I’ve put it all for you Anony.

I do not reside in Korea, but I have been two months last year. However, I barely practiced there because I was constantly surrounded by english speakers. 

- Lesson 1: If you go to Korea, do not hang out only with english speakers...or with one Korean and english speakers, because people will all switch to english. - Lesson 2: Whenever you meet Korean people, they will 99.99% of the time try to speak English to you. Do not give up, and continue speaking Korean to them. Even if it’s broken. Even if you’re shy. Speak Korean even if they reply in English. 

My main language is French. I have learned English mostly by myself while playing video games (therefore Korean is not the first language I’ve self-studied). I’ve been learning Korean for three years now mostly by myself, and I’m far from fluent. I’m an intermediate, and I’m planning to do TOPIK2 this year and I’m reaching for level 4/6. I must warn you however that I have been Italian and Chinese at the same time with my university, so I don’t spend 100% of my time learning Korean, but I’ve been spending minimum 30 minutes a day learning it in various ways:

Learn the alphabet 한글. No only it will be much easier to learn new words, but your pronunciation will be much better.  Try this order.

Learn the “soft consonants” ㅂㅈㄷㄱㅅㅁㄴㅇㄹㅎ

Learn the “hard consonants” ㅋㅌㅊㅍㅋ

Learn the “double consonants” ㅃㅉㄸㄲㅆ

Learn the “basic vowels” ㅗㅓㅏㅣㅐㅔㅡㅜ

Learn the “complex vowels” ㅛㅕㅒㅖㅠㅑ

Learn the differences between polite speeches, especially the -요. 

NEVER use Google Translate (it doesn’t do the difference between the polite and impolite speechs). Use Papago translator with moderation. 

Never ever translate literally, it’s hyper unnatural and I’m guilty to have done it. Especially expressions like: “It depends.” or even “How are you?”. 

Learn vocabulary with Anki, which I recommend HIGHLY (it’s free) and I still use it now even after 3 years!

I have Korean friends (I also met some on hellotalk, no need to go to Korea, even though I must say it’s quite crucial at some point to try to understand the culture and practice!), and I still write a lot in Korean to them, so I practice writing and reading with them. 

Writing a diary is super effective as well! Because you learn the words that you’d actually use! It doesn’t have to be a paper diary. What I do is every time I post on instagram, I write in Korean, English and French.

I talk to myself a lot in Korean and read aloud. So if you’re like me and you basically have no one to practice your speaking abilities with, don’t worry.

Listen to music in Korean. Find the lyrics. Make a file or print them. Highlight the words you don’t know. The grammar you don’t know. (It’s especially hard because there are a lot of abbreviations.) EXAMPLE I DID A YEAR AGO WITH JIMIN “PROMISE”.

Even though vocabulary is important, grammar is crucial. Learn a bit everyday. I recommend learning with Integrate Korean Grammar and howtostudykorean.com

Use Naver dictionary a lot to learn new words and it also has grammar!

Watch Netflix dramas with subtitles in Korean. It’s REALLY discouraging when you’ve just started, I would literally watch 5 minutes of the show in 30 minutes because I would pause all the time. You can also watch it with two subtitles using the app Ntflx multi-sub, but you have to be careful to not just look at the english subtitles. 

Watch every day life show. You know those cheesy high school love romances? They are the best to learn because the plots are simple. Do not do the mistake (like me) to watch Holo and cry because you can’t understand anything: AI and investors and scientific vocabulary is very advanced level. Hell, even cop dramas are hard. 

Please, do not get discouraged if you don’t understand what the actors say. EVEN KOREANS have to focus to understand them because they speak REALLY fast. I still can’t understand all and I watch with Korean subtitles. 

Play games in Korean: as you might have noticed my Animal Crossing: New Horizons game is in Korean. And god did this help me to learn vocabulary and grammar.

Listen to ASMR in Korean. I know people hide ASMR like it’s an addiction, but I swear, it’s SO GOOD to learn the pronunciation. They speak slow and say short sentences. I recommend: UNO ASMR, Veiled ASMR, Loadiy ASMR and Boyoong ASMR. 

The best for last: Motivate yourself. Learn anything about Korean culture. Watch videos. Watch movies. Read articles. Cook with Korean recipes. DIY in Korean. There is more than Kpop and Kdrama, and it saddens me that a lot of people stick only to that phase. (BUT REMEMBER THERE’S NO SHAME TO LIKE THOSE, I literally starting learning Korean because I wanted to understand more the lyrics of BTS’s songs so...)

Look, I know there are tons of people who say they’ve learned it in a ridiculous amount of time and it is extremely discouraging. Even Korean friends might discourage you at some points because they come from a culture where “productivity and effectiveness” is EXTREMELY HIGH. 

But, seriously, language learning is not a race, and I try to remind that to myself everyday. Also keep in mind that it’s one of the HARDEST languages in the world for English speakers to learn (and has been classified so by the United-States foreign office).  Two summers ago, I spent 5-7 hours a day studying in the biggest stress ever and I realized it lead me nowhere because stressing yourself to learn impacts your brain in a way that it just doesn’t want to retain information. So if I can give you a final tip is: Enjoy learning this amazing language and if you have any questions feel free to ask me. :)