5 Tips On How I Study Korean

Happy Wednesday, my dear souls! ♡

Welcome to my lesson hehe! Today I want to share with you my tips on how to study Korean by yourself using different methods. Yes, you read that right...by yourself!

QUICK LITTLE STORY BEFORE WE START

I've wanted to apply on a course for Korean language at my university, but unfortunately they don't have it. It's really hard to find anything Korean here in my city if I'm honest, so I wasn't surprised, when I saw a list of languages they teach at my uni and there was no Korean. BUT, I was pretty surprised that they don't have Japanese, only Chinese. Luckily, we all have internet access and can learn Korean or any other language by ourselves using methods that suit us the most.

You’ve probably came across many blogs about Korean language. I've notice that people start with one particular tip and that is: 'Create a Korean Language Learning Schedule'. I wouldn't say that this tip is the most important one.

Why not?

If you're an university student you know how to schedule your classes. Speaking for me, I always leave one day in a week 'free' (most of the time Fridays), which means without any classes. That one 'free day' really helps me relax, and focus on making notes for all classes that I had this week and also focus on things that make me happy, like blogging and learning other languages.

There is totally different story for other schools. If you're attending elementary school or high school, you get a whole schedule from your own school, which means, you cannot decide when you'll have classes. That also means, that you don't have a lot of free time for learning some extra languages, don't you? I also assume, that you spend weekends with your friends, watching Netflix/YouTube or making home-works for the next week and studying for exams.

And that's why, my dear souls. I have here a list of my 5 tips for learning Korean!

TIP 1: Learn Korean Alphabet (Hangul 한글)

The most important thing in any language is alphabet. For me personally is Hangul easier than Japanese and Chinese. Hangul is easy to learn and really really manageable. It consist of only 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

What was quite confusing for me at first were definitely vowel combinations. They are basically vowels, but put together into one character.

What is really important is also the way you write characters - which line to write first to get the whole character/letter? You can see this on my notes (number 5 and 6 - first photo)!

In order to memorize all of them, I wrote them down, together with 'pronunciation sound' and 'the name'. You can practice writing by simply writing down or reading Korean names multiple times. That's how I memorized characters really quickly.

TIP 2: Use Learning Apps

DUOLINGO

FACT 1 - ORGANIZED LESSONS

Duolingo is an amazing app! It is divided into multiple lessons. After you log in an app, you need to choose a topic that interests you the most, for instance: school, people, food, etc. What I like about Duolingo is, that every time you level up, new levels open up as your skill progress (examples: greetings, travel, schedule (level 1)). Remember that you can not continue on higher level if you didn't finish previous one successfully.

FACT 2 - IMMEDIATE SENTENCE STRUCTURE

My favorite feature of this app is definitely 'sentence structure'. You get few mixed words, which you need to drag into the right place to get the right sentence. If you're not sure how the word is pronounced, you can just click on it and BAM, you can hear a word. This function really helped me, because I find it easier to remember the words if I listen to a person speak. It's harder for me to recognize a word by reading, because I read really slowly in Korean, but I'm working on it hehe.

FACT 3 - GOAL SETTING

Duolingo is an amazing motivational app, which reminds you to study a language every day (it really sends you a reminder on your phone). If you're a person who can easily be distracted by other things and you usually feel unmotivated, then Duolingo is the right choice for you! It has so called 'streaks'. You get a 'streak' if you've completed at least one lesson per day. Duolingo allows you to set goals, win streaks and be awarded. Believe me, your motivation will boost immediately. I would consider Duolingo also as a 'game', not just as a 'learning app'. Why? Duolingo offers language-specific "leagues", which shows which member gained the most XP (points). By 'playing', members can gain virtual coins, reach the top spot of the 'Gold League' and improve their fluency. How great is that?!

HELLOTALK

HelloTalk is another great app that I use. I use it mainly for talking with native speakers, for sharing my blog posts and for reading articles in Japanese and Korean. It is important to know, that this app is just for 'language learners'. If you'll talk with people about topics that do not comply with the rules of HelloTalk, you can expect your account to be deactivated. App also enables members to use 'translation function', while chatting with other people.

© 2021 Anja Trokic

TIP 3: Use YouTube And Find Great 'Korean Teacher'

Yes, YouTube! You're probably not surprised at all.

My favorite YouTuber, exclusively for learning Korean is Korean Unnie. She is great and I watch her videos since 2017! She helped me improve my pronunciation. If you're still searching for the best teacher to teach you Korean, I suggest someone who is native speaker. I'm not saying that other learners of Korean are bad, but you can clearly hear the difference in pronunciation, especially with the sounds g - k. Native speakers will also give you examples of words in their dialect, tell you some words that only teenagers use, tell you about formal and informal sentences, tell you about some things that you are allowed to do and about the ones you are not allowed to do in Korea, etc. I learned about Korean currency recently and I really loved it! So, now is your turn! Go, take your phone, open YouTube app and search for the best Korean teacher :)

© 2021 Anja Trokic

Korean Unnie YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/KoreanUnnie

TIP 4: Download Korean Keyboard & Talk With Native Speakers

This tip is my favorite! I have many Korean friends and I love the way they talk or write. Even if they write in English, they will always end their message with ' ~ ' . This symbol just simply describes how excited they are, it shows their emotions of excitement, for example here is the difference:

1. 'Ah' simply means 'okay, I understand' (not really interested in topic)

2. 'Ah~~~' means 'omg, yes, now I know!' (excited!)

There are many other things Koreans use while they text, but I'll talk about this in my other post.

TIP 5: Watch K-Dramas, K-Movies and K-Shows, Listen To K-Pop & Translate K-Pop Lyrics

As a teenager, I used to watch Disney Channel EVERYDAY, and that's how I also learned English words. Of course, I had English in school, but the effect is totally different if you listen to native speakers, while reading subtitles in your native language. Now, I'm using the same tip for learning Korean. I watch Korean movies, with English subtitles. It's a good way to improve my English and learn Korean at the same time.

Do you also need a lyrics while listening to the songs you hear for the first time?

Yes, me to!

Every time a new k-pop song comes out, I open the lyrics and read the text while listening to the song. That's how my vocabulary expand and pronunciation improve.

So, my dear souls, we come to the end.

Thank you so much for reading.

I hope my tips were useful and that you'll use some of them for your own studies.

See you in my next post!

감사합니다~♡

With love,

Anja xx

© All pictures are mine - Anja Trokic