Korean - from scratch to B2 in one year

[Sayonaroo]

(은/는) vs (이/가) vs (을,를) vs (no particle)

I can understand the first 2 but the 3rd one seems pretty distinct and the no particle thing is just omission which happens frequently in conversation (someone correct me if i'm wrong about the "no particle" thing). by the way have you gotten the wa/ga in Japanese right almost always? (I'm sure you've noticed that wa/ga isn't 100% equivalent to the n-eun/i-ga because there's cases where they was use "wa" for a particular sentence but in korean they use "i/ga" etc etc). I've actually googled in Japanese on this topic because I noticed that for Japanese for most of the time if I mix-up wa and ga I use "ga" when it should've been "wa" and I have a feeling it's the Korean that's influencing me. So nowadays if I'm unsure if it's wa or ga I go with wa lol.It doesn't bother me too much because I like reading/watching/listening to stuff in Japanese and dont' have much opportunities to speak and I only write if I feel really compelled to write about something.

[leosmith]

I can understand the first 2 but the 3rd one seems pretty distinct and the no particle thing is just omission which happens frequently in conversation

Using (을,를) isn't always distinct to me because what's intransitive in English might be transitive in Korean. I'm not a grammar person, so maybe "transitive" isn't the right word here. By (no particle) I meant omission in colloquial conversation, but again this isn't a no-brainer to me; you can't always drop the particle.

Regarding は vs が in Japanese, when I was studying Japanese diligently I got pretty good at it, but I knew the basic rules, practiced conversing a lot, and specifically studied that grammar point with good resources. I haven't found a good resource for doing this with the Korean particles I mentioned.

[Sayonaroo]

well I don't know your level in Japanese but I remembering finding lot of useful stuff just googling in Japanese on that topic so I recommend Japanese google. I think there's just more resources available in Japanese for learning Korean especially the free stuff on the internet.

[leosmith]

Transcripts for 미생.

[AndyMeg]

Transcripts for 미생.

Awesome! Thanks a lot!

[smallwhite]

Whew – I’m now down to an equivalent of a 90 day challenge to finish this thing off.

So a 60-day challenge now? How are things going? Your progress bars look excellent!

[leosmith]

How are things going?

Pretty well, thanks. I had some major life events, mostly good, that took place over the course of the past 3 weeks which kept me from studying like I normally do. I probably put in about half as much time as usual. Regarding the progress bars, I'll probably reach my goals in conversation and reading, but not listening. But even listening will be close - at least 700 of my 800hr goal, probably over 750.

Here's where I think I am in the skills:
Listening - I understand 90%+ of 1 on 1 conversation; 30% of Dramas; 10% of news
Reading - Without tools 80%+ TTMIK iyagi; 50% of Dramas; 30% of news
Writing - I can write anything I can say; 90%+ on spelling; 100% legible; grammar and vocabulary levels same as conversation
Conversation - Pronunciation 95%+; grammar 80%, meaning I make minor errors or use the incorrect construction in about 20% of my sentences; vocabulary (3000 active; 5000 passive) 95%+, meaning I can almost always recognize or produce the correct word.

For the purpose of this challenge, my goal is to be able to pass for a B2 converser, as judged by my peers. I'm on track, but I feel I'm still not quite there yet (somewhere between B1.5 & B2).

My private goal for the year was to get to a good enough level where I can just leave this language alone for long periods of time, and be able to pick it up and use it again with little review. I want to just put it on the same light maintenance schedule as my other languages, and when I maintain I want to use nothing but native material or converse with natives. I also wanted to be able to speak comfortably with natives, without the frequent pausing and blatant errors of typical B1 speakers. Finally, I wanted to be able to read and understand Hangul, at least as well as I could speak the language. I feel I've already met all these private goals.

[smallwhite]

the skills...
this challenge...
My private goal...

Thanks for the detailed report! It's been great to have your log and your challenge on this forum. A log with a goal and a time frame, for a change.

I'm pleased to know that you've met your private goals. I think the "in one year" bit is really just a click-bait for us readers or a way to keep us involved, as it's actually impossible to predict how much time you'd need to reach B2 given your background. The other interesting bit is whether you can do those hours you had planned, and I really admire your consistency here Not just the progress itself but also the balance between the 3 progress bars. But at the end of the day, it's really your private goals that matter.

Keep it up!

[leosmith]

Keep it up!

Thanks buddy! Yes, the one year thing was definitely click bait. But I'm actually shocked/very happy that I could reach this level in Korean in one year. It makes me confident that I can reach my language goals that I set so many years ago. There are only 3 other languages on my list, and they are all significantly easier. So naturally I'm looking at my secondary list now too, haha.

I've decided to back off a bit in these last 5 weeks to give myself some time to take care of a lot of chores that have been stacking up here, and to enjoy the summer more. I'll be doing my normal routine 3 days a week now, progress bars be damned. On the off days I'll try to do my reading, listening, writing and anki reviews, but I won't have italki lessons or the new vocabulary items generated by them. That's what I'll shoot for, but if I need to skip stuff on my off days to get things done, I will.

As I've mentioned elsewhere in the forum, after visiting Korea I'll be going to Thailand for 3 months, and during that time I plan on studying some Filipino. It's a language off my secondary list, but it makes sense to work on because I see the Philippines becoming one of my more frequent travel destinations.

[Snow]

(...) I plan on studying some Filipino. It's a language off my secondary list, but it makes sense to work on because I see the Philippines becoming one of my more frequent travel destinations.

Do you also have family ties here like sfuqua and Stelle?