Now, this is sort of silly. I've been in Korea for seven months now, and yet I haven't made a concerted effort to learn the language. I made sure I learned the Hangeul writing system before I came, and I know enough to get around, order food, count - and that's about it. Apart from random bits of vocabulary picked up from my students.

Moreover, the teachers at the school I'm with haven't been particularly helpful (or I haven't been persistent enough, or something).

So I thought this over, and decided, "Hey, maybe somebody on tl has a good idea." So, I'm asking for your ideas (see how that works?) For anybody else in Korea who's interested, I'm in Suwon, south of Seoul.

Chef

10810 Posts

July 06 2009 03:37 GMT

If you're lucky, maybe someone TL will live near you and they can just give you an opportunity to practice speaking Korean with them :o

Otherwise you gotta do it the hard way, books and classes.

illu

Canada2531 Posts

July 06 2009 04:08 GMT

In my opinion learning the grammar is of the utmost importance.

Elric

United Kingdom1327 Posts

July 06 2009 04:16 GMT

Suwon... ah. are you GEPIK? or Hagwon-ing?

Anyway, normally my advice is to join a language course at one of the unis in Seoul. Suwon though.. is a bit far from the ones in Seoul. Maybe you could try Seoul University.. as its prob the closest place to you. (They might not offer evening courses though which is a problem if I assume you are working full time).

If you can't join a uni course, I suggest just trying to buy your own books and studying in your own time. This is actually the best method if you are serious about studying. Go to a library and study there. If you look foreign and you have books with huge "한국어 공부하자!!!" on your desk, I will guarantee you will have Koreans coming to you to help you/ask for language swaps.

This leads me to the obvious point of just making more Korean friends and hanging out with them more. Obvsly it's the most fun way of learning but actually it's not that effective, especially if are just a beginner. Serious language swaps are good though.

edit: also, you did try the search function.. right?

clazziquai

6685 Posts

July 06 2009 04:58 GMT

give me your msn or aim, i can help you speak korean on daily basis :D

GoSu

Korea (South)1773 Posts

July 06 2009 05:10 GMT

Hey ~
I live in Hongdae. Suwon is arround 40 minutes by subway. We could meet if you want. Send me pm if you want I will give you my e-mail.

McCrank

204 Posts

July 06 2009 08:29 GMT

Watch a lot of korean TV while looking up day to day vocabulary and learn the pronounciations. So you can recognize them when spoken. You keep understanding more and more. You learn way faster by immersing yourself in the language than just studying.

That's how I learned english in elementary school. Of course english and norwegian has the same sentence structure. Makes it a bit easier I guess.

Too_MuchZerg

Finland2818 Posts

July 06 2009 11:41 GMT

Do not use english to communicate. After 3 to 4 months pure korean language you should be much better. This means not reading english websites/books or watching english TV series. Main point is not to hear english.

ShloobeR

Korea (South)3820 Posts

July 06 2009 12:36 GMT

I spend like 2 hours a day inbetween work shifts self studying with my own books and things... and I try to my best to speak korean when im out with my friends...

other then that, the obvious advice is get a korean gf (works wonders) or meet someone who wants to do some serious language exchange... I dunno about Suwon... I've only been there once but I'm sure you'll have no problem finding people who are interested... Because I live in Sinchon it's dirt-easy to find people who want language swap (nice people too... not weird ass freaky people)... or hey if you're really eager you could always try a foreigner/korean meeting (like the mathews club meeting at the end of every month)... Elric might be able to help you there! I dont go too much anymore

Rekrul

Korea (South)17174 Posts

July 06 2009 15:44 GMT

#10

rub it on my titttttieesssssssssssss

ghostWriter

United States3302 Posts

July 06 2009 21:25 GMT

#11

How do you stay in a country for 7 months without picking up the language?
My friend was in Korea for 8 months and he's practically a native speaker even though he is white.
Learning the writing system isn't a big deal, it was made with simplicity in mind.

Musoeun

United States4324 Posts

July 07 2009 02:37 GMT

#12

Thanks for the advice, guys.

On July 06 2009 13:16 Elric wrote:
Suwon... ah. are you GEPIK? or Hagwon-ing?

Anyway, normally my advice is to join a language course at one of the unis in Seoul. Suwon though.. is a bit far from the ones in Seoul. Maybe you could try Seoul University.. as its prob the closest place to you. (They might not offer evening courses though which is a problem if I assume you are working full time).

If you can't join a uni course, I suggest just trying to buy your own books and studying in your own time. This is actually the best method if you are serious about studying. Go to a library and study there. If you look foreign and you have books with huge "한국어 공부하자!!!" on your desk, I will guarantee you will have Koreans coming to you to help you/ask for language swaps.

Thanks for all the help. Next step: find the library. Shouldn't be too hard. For your first question: I'm teaching at a hagwon. It's not a bad school but I'm starting to really dislike the hours. 2-9Pm is not my cup of tea.

On July 06 2009 13:16 Elric wrote:edit: also, you did try the search function.. right?

Yes, I did, but you'll notice the last result is seven months old. It seemed easier to make my own thread than to search for information which might or might now be relevant.

On July 07 2009 06:25 ghostWriter wrote:
How do you stay in a country for 7 months without picking up the language?
My friend was in Korea for 8 months and he's practically a native speaker even though he is white.
Learning the writing system isn't a big deal, it was made with simplicity in mind.

It's really easy when you don't know almost any Koreans outside the school you teach at. Which is also my fault, of course, but that's the current situation.

Elric

United Kingdom1327 Posts

July 07 2009 03:00 GMT

#13

If your hours are 2-9pm you might be able to join a morning class at a uni~ They normally run from 9/10-12/1. You'll be pretty shattered if you did it but I'd still recommend it.

7 months isn't too long really, there is a lot of good info in the old threads, like internet learning links and things.

On July 07 2009 06:25 ghostWriter wrote:
My friend was in Korea for 8 months and he's practically a native speaker even though he is white

just lol.

clazziquai

6685 Posts

July 07 2009 03:07 GMT

#14

lol yeah. Korean isn't THAT easy....ghostwriter ;p