Down the 토끼굴: How I Learned Korean

If you read my previous post on how I fell in love with Korea, you have probably been looking forward to this post as most K-Pop fans at one point or another have pondered learning the language, but are deterred either due to the time it takes, they are unsure of where to begin, or they haven’t yet found the motivation to actually even begin looking into how to learn. The task of learning a foreign language is not an easy one. It is very time consuming, and can take years to truly master, and even when you have gotten “good”, you will still doubt yourself every time you run into something you don’t fully understand and every time you do, it will make you forget how far you have truly come.

This is how I felt when learning my first foreign language, French. I am proudly fluent in the language, got my college degree in it, studied abroad in the country, and now spend quite a bit of time working in the language. Even though I still come across words that I don’t understand, I’m now at the point where instead of seeming them as a fault, I see it as a learning opportunity, a chance for me to improve my knowledge.

This experience in the classroom, as well as abroad, has definitely influenced how I have tackled learning Korean and the approach that I take in learning everything. Now, I will point out in advance, the resources that I used, may not be the best for you if you are a first time learner, or you simply learn better in a true classroom setting. I, personally, work quite well when it comes to being primarily self-taught because I’m stubborn, anal and when I find something I like, I typically latch onto it like glue, anyone who happens to know me personally can attest to that in the comment section below. Personal endorsements are, in fact, quite welcome here at The K-Pop Hero. If you don’t think you have any of those traits, it might be better for you to find an actual instructor with set class times to make you more inclined to learn and then you can stop reading right here, because this is probably not the method for you.

Who do I recommend this specific language learning process for:

• Stubborn, Anal, Passionate people like yours truly
• Those who already know a second language or have a thorough understand of grammar and how it works
• Those who have the motivation and desire to learn a language

If you fit any of those categories, you may continue reading. Hell, you can continue reading anyways. I won’t have any idea. Down below, I will detail my tips and tricks for learning Korean, especially when you do not live in that country:

• • Start by learning Hangeul (한글). It is the Korean alphabet, and just like our alphabet, specific letters make specific sounds. Learning the alphabet from the get go will make your pronunciation far better in the long run, and also help you actually survive if you go to Korea. Plus, the romanizations are hella inaccurate. You can learn how to read 한글 here. There are also a number of really good books out there to help you practice writing it. I highly recommend this one from Talk to Me in Korean. They are a phenomenal website that legit have helped me improve my fluency and understanding of the nuances so much.
  • Practice every single day. I recommend for at least 1-2 hours a day. That can be just reviewing vocabulary, trying to read the lyrics of k-pop songs for an hour, anything. Especially in the beginning. Learning a language is all about exposure. The more exposure you have to something the more likely you are to pick something up.
  • Make sure to watch or listen to something in Korean daily. I watch a TON of Korean Dramas and listen to even more Korean music. Honestly, you don’t realize this until it actually happens, one day you will begin watching or listening to something that you had watched or listened to previously, and suddenly it will all make sense, just out of the blue. You will magically understand the words. Those moments for me are the most gratifying and double fist to the air moments that you will experience when learning a language.
  • Don’t get discouraged when you do not understand something. I have a habit of getting mad at myself for not knowing something. I like to flip that “not knowing” from a negative to a positive by considering it a valuable learning opportunity.
  • Find someone who speaks Korean already. It is truly invaluable. I have a friend from college, and another friend who was introduced to me by a colleague. They have proven themselves invaluable in this process, and have answered so many questions from me, no matter how dumb the questions may be, as well as corrected my grammar numerous times. I’ve discovered that usually after someone corrects you, you are less likely to make that mistake again. If you are unsure of where you can find Korean Speakers to talk to, try HelloTalk . Just a quick note about this website, it is a form of social networking platform, and there are a number of thirsty people hanging out on there. Avoid the thirst, and find the real people.
  • Make sure to teach yourself grammar. If you understand how a sentence is put together, you can more easily create your own sentences. There are a number of language programs out there who teach you how to say “Hello”, “Goodbye” and “Where’s the Cheese?” that fail to tell you how those sentences are made. I personally used howtostudykorean.com when teaching myself grammar because the owner of it, Will, just dives right into basic grammar. It is awesome and truly satisfying. Now, I will point out, for some people this website may not work, especially if you don’t understand grammar or parts of speech in your native language. In that situation, I highly recommend talktomeinkorean.com
  • Make sure to take handwritten notes on what you are learning. This works two-fold: It helps you learn to write in that language, and it helps you remember what you learned better the first time around cause you are basically writing it on your memory. Additionally, I bought a number of little adorable Korea themed notebooks off of a website called redbubble.com (um, hello 예성 공책!) that really make me want to write all of the notes out, and carry the notebooks around with me because they are smaller than your average notebook. They honestly have hundreds of thousands of designs on their. Just type in your bias’ name and die over the selection.
  • After you are comfortable with most of the grammar and how it works, get books on slang  and idiomatic expressions . Books like these are honestly invaluable. As they help you understand a little about modern culture, as well as make you aware of particular expressions that would make no sense when taken literally. I personally recommend Everyday Korean Idiomatic Expressions: 100 Expressions You Can’t Live Without for Idiomatic Expressions and Korean Slang Expressions (Downloadable Audio Files Included) (English and Korean Edition) for slang. They both have pictures, and are written quite well with explanations of all of the phrases. Honestly, you would have no way of knowing that by saying someone’s ears are thin in Korean, that you are in fact saying that they are super gullible.

• When you get comfortable with the language, another thing you can try is putting your phone in Korean. This will be a constant reinforcement of vocab and grammar, cause let’s be honest, we are always on our phones. This can also teach you what to do when you link your phone up with something, and it automatic changes that object to Korean, but other people have to use that so you have to figure out how to get it back to English. This is the main thing I get in trouble for nowadays. Whoops…
• Install a Korean keyboard on your phone, and if you can, get one for your computer. One day you will wake up and be touch typing in the language on a keyboard that doesn’t have the letters on it, and be all David After Dentist “Is this real life?”

Other than all of these beautiful little tidbits that I have presented above, the biggest thing that I can remind you all of is to just have fun with it. You are going to make mistakes left and right, but through those mistakes, you will improve so much more quickly. And next thing you know, it won’t be reading the words that’s the problem, it’s just that you don’t know what specific words mean, at then finally one day, you will magically wake up and be able to cuss someone out in Korean. I still am not able to cuss people out, but this is one of my many Korean dreams I hope to achieve one day. When I do get there, I can guarantee you that it will be a magical day that will be posted all over social media for everyone to see.

Alright my K-Nuggets, until next time.

사랑합니다!

–Rachel