[cascadecombo]

I've got 7 weeks at home before I start my next career.

I've already got Japanese but I want to see how much I can learn in Korean before I get back on the grind.

I know there are several dudes here who have taught themselves or been taught korean. What are some of your resources?

I already have some native friends I can harass, but I want to dive into some there where a guy can make a solid language base.

[Hades]

There is a Korean course on Duolingo for free.

I have used Duolingo to review German. It's pretty solid, make sure to take notes on the simple stuff and rehearse in your off time. The coursework is not terribly rigorous or comprehensive so I would consider it a supplement to what you're already doing.

I am using it currently to learn a little Norwegian for fun. It covers the basics pretty well and you can do it on a smartphone no problem.

[rungoodinc]

The free podcasts at KoreanClass101.com, Talk to Me in Korean are good.

Also Pimsleur in Korean is good if you can download a torrent somewhere.

For getting a foundation in Korean, you might wanna try 90 Day Korean. https://www.90daykorean.com/

[cascadecombo]

I have a few sources of my own. Some things I pulled from the web, lessons etc.

I'll post them up here as I go. I was really hoping to hear how you guys got your own fluency down. rungoodinc, you're fairly proficient in Korean if I remember correctly.

For me with Japanese, specific books being [Remembering the Kanji] which is cited by literally every single guy I met who had N1 level Japanese.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%...4757418868

Has also been a great resource for grammar.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...5z2FS9AIkg

great for self study, most the books in this series.

An amazing application for kanji was Kanji sempai, memrise was pretty good but just wasn't as good.

For the most basic, I had started with 元気 series.

[cascadecombo]

http://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit1/un...-lesson-1/

[cascadecombo]

After typing up the first lesson into memrise I saw that they had already put in their vocab into memrise as a study aid.

http://www.memrise.com/course/150816/how...nit-1-2/1/

Going to have to learn the Korean keyboard by keeping an image of it up on my keyboard unless there is a phonetic version of it like they have with Japanese. Does that even exist?

[rungoodinc]

(05-02-2016 10:00 PM)cascadecombo Wrote:  

I was really hoping to hear how you guys got your own fluency down. rungoodinc, you're fairly proficient in Korean if I remember correctly.

This is copy and pasted from a thread I started a while back:

The key is to learn the alphabet well. There are around 35 characters and most of them have an English equivalent. The characters are all phonetic, so make sure you are pronouncing them correctly. Good pronunciation goes a really long way.

And honestly, a lot of words in Korean are the same as in English. For example, Koreans use English words such as "hotel" or "taxi." I think something like 10% of Korean is actually just modified English: this is because of the U.S. presence in the country since the Korean War.

The grammar is pretty difficult, but you don't need grammar to speak well. They will understand what you are saying, especially based on body language and whatnot.

How did I learn?

I spent a month studying every day for 2 hours before I went to Korea. This gave me a base of knowledge so that I could start practicing immediately once I got to the country. Everything else I learned from pure practice, speaking and listening and lots of texting. I was doing cold-approach 3-5 days a week so I got a lot of practice in.

I would focus on speaking above all, because speaking will open way more doors for you than listening or reading. I listened to podcasts from Pimsleur, TalktomeinKorean and KoreanClass101.com. Honestly, I found pimsleur quite useful in helping me understand proper pronunciation and giving me a foundation of basic phrases to work with.

[whiteknightrises]

I'm Korean-American but lived basically my entire life outside Korea...

Considering that fact, I am really good at Korean and have improved quite a lot since I came here (~7 months ago). For instance, in the beginning, there would be a lot of times where I wouldn't know a word or understand something and conversation would be hampered but now I'm good like 95% of the time.

I also got to a high level of Spanish before this

Things that worked for me...

- First step: get a basic grip of the language by learning things like the alphabet, some grammar, basic phrases. I have seen people like Fluent in 3 Months (basically a Tim Ferris-esque charlatan internet marketer but for learning languages) advocate just going straight to speaking first. I think learning the basics first is good so you actually know what you're trying to say and can notice some patterns in the language as you progress (like words with a certain root will mean a certain thing - 학 = study, 수학 - study of numbers (math), 학기 - study + period of time (school semester), etc.

1) (Key) Immerse yourself in the language as much as possible
- This is easy for me right now since I'm living in Korea. But I also take extra measures here, such as working in a Korean environment and with zero foreigners (this one not so much intentional) and not seeking out any expat groups or friends. Other examples that don't involve just living in the country where you pick up the language fast would be telling anyone Korean I know like family to use zero English when interacting with me (whether that is via text, conversation, etc) and setting my phone to Korean instead of English.

2) (Key for speaking) Lots of language exchange
- When I picked up Spanish, I did as much language exchange as possible. IIRC, you're in the states - I used this site while there to find some Korean partners:
http://www.conversationexchange.com/
^ Site looks ghetto but I think it's good because if I recall, people didn't have actual pics up. All the other language exchange sites I feel have a dating twist built in, whether that is explicitly mentioned or not. Or if you are on sites where people have pics and you feel inclined to message chicks, message the busted ones (or dudes) so you don't get distracted. I still keep in touch with a girl from there to this day that I met in NYC. She's smart and nice but not exactly K-pop material and I'm mad smart in terms of English so it works out

3) Find ways to learn that you enjoy
- I do a lot of learning just by looking up words I don't know via this app: 영어한방검색 - download that or just bookmark dic.naver.com (Naver is the Google of Korea). But more enjoyable ways of learning for me are watching Korean dramas or movies and turning the subtitles on, then looking up things I don't know or making a note of things that are said a lot or seem useful. PM me if you want a link to a great streaming site (HD, subtitles, everything). Another enjoyable activity of course is gaming chicks entirely in Korean lol. Something I will be getting into soon is reading in Korean. This is what I think will push me to the next level (truly fluent and knowing obscure words and phrases vs. just being "conversationally fluent" and able to do most day-to-day activities) as it's what made me a master of English growing up (was reading hefty chapter books while ninjas were still on picture books)

4) Be wary of online resources unless they are vetted by Koreans or have the face of a native attached to it
- I was looking for Korean resources at one point and some expat blogger recommended Koreanclass101. I signed up for their word of the day and unsubscribed pretty quick. I don't think the person who made that site is Korean - the word of the day example sentences as well as some of the lessons had very awkward phrasing and expressions that aren't used by Koreans. I can however vouch for TalktomeinKorean like rungoodinc said. I subscribe via iTunes and watch the podcasts as I run on the treadmill. I think they have stuff other than the free podcasts (they are always upselling on the podcast) that might be worth checking out since they are actually Korean

Basically you just gotta hit your brain on multiple levels (not JUST grammar or speaking or whatever) and "immerse" yourself as much as possible in your current situation to really make significant progress. If you aren't doing anything in your 7 weeks, I think you can learn a lot. Let's say 3 hours/day x 49 days = 147 hours - that's a lot of time

[cascadecombo]

Quote:

I was looking for Korean resources at one point and some expat blogger recommended Koreanclass101.

I had someone similarly suggest that for Japanese when I first started. I shared similar sentiments.

I'm gonna keep up with the memrise vocabulary while slow, the pestering is quite helpful for reminding me to crack a book and not waste time on netflix. Unless I set up a VPN to watch Korean netflix.

I also appreciate that podcast. That's been put on my ipod and I'll be doing what you did as well. Hit it up for the cooldown part of my workout, it was actually pretty interesting and shed some light on a lot of the little things I had heard when I was there but didn't quite get 100%.

[cascadecombo]

I was recently alerted by a friend about a course on coursera.org

https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean/
Begins May 30th, a free course from Yonsei University. One of the top 3 institutions in Korea and also has a very strong language school for foreign students learning Korean, I've had several of my friends study there and are at fluency now. Most living in Korea, or using Korean in their work.



Since I am trying to study now, all the material on the course is on there, minus the tests which a person could do once the course officially becomes active.