Korean - from scratch to B2 in one year
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:54 am
Introduction
In addition to the ones I’ve already started, there are 4 more languages I want to learn in my lifetime. Of those 4, Korean is the one that attracts me the most right now. I’ve had this fantasy about trying to learn a language really fast for some time now, which would prove my method, and Korean seems to be the perfect candidate to satisfy it. So I’m going to see how far I can get in exactly 1 year. Based on the quantifiable things I think I can accomplish in this time period, I believe I’ll reach B2 by that time. Here’s a simplified list and current status – you can decide for yourself whether you think this will get me to B2:
alphabet, pronunciation of phonemes and words - done
Michel Thomas - done
Korean From Zero! book 1 - done
Pimsleur - done
hand write 5 lines of text per day (on schedule)
text/type on occasion (on schedule)
anki reps daily with a cap of no less than 100 per day (on schedule)
800 hours of listening (see bar graph below)
read to a level of 24,550 known words on LingQ (see bar graph below)
200 hours of conversation lessons on italki (see bar graph below)
After that, I’ll travel to Korea for a month to enjoy the country and see how I do. I plan on making some videos along the way. I’m not shy, and I’d make a lot except I’m not good at it; there’s a learning curve and I’d rather be learning Korean than how to make videos. But I promise those of you who are interested that it will happen.
At fist glance, you might think it’s unlikely that this slow learning 55yo native English speaker living in the US could reach a level roughly equivalent to B2 in Korean in one year. But I have some very powerful things working to my advantage too. I’ve learned many languages, the key ones being Japanese and Mandarin. I’m retired, and can devote a great deal time to this task. I’m currently maintaining 6 other languages, which is a time draw, but my schedule flexibility seems to keep review sessions from interfering with my Korean studies. Can I do it? We shall see.
This log is not only for reporting my progress but also for sharing my strategy. I’d like to write it in a way that someone learning Korean could mimic me if they so choose, so sorry in advance to others if I get into lengthy descriptions.
Why Korean? My primary reason is always the same; for the girls. I know that bothers some people, but I refuse to hide it. Next is the fact that so many consider it to be the hardest major language for a westerner to learn, even more than my personal pick, Japanese. This has always confused me. In the infamous HTLAL I hate Korean thread I was (indirectly) called an armchair quarterback for stating that the notion of Korean being harder than Japanese was absurd. Third, it’s the only one of the “Big 3” Asian languages I don’t know, and westerners who speak all 3 are extremely rare. Now I have a lot of other reasons for learning the language, but those are the 3 biggest, and I don’t doubt that there are some people out there that think there is no way these give me enough motivation to succeed. These people are so, so wrong. There is no such thing as wrong motivation; the thing to fear is weak motivation. Every single language I’ve learned has been do or die; you will not find a more motivated learner. After all, why would I devote thousands of hours to them if I wasn’t motivated?
I started learning Korean on Sept 16, 2016, which is six years after I started my previous language, Russian. In this 6 year span I refined my language learning method, the latest version of which hasn’t been neatly typed out yet, but I summarize here in 3 steps:
1) Pimsleur
2) Conversation
3) The 4 skills
Those are just the names of the steps. I’ll explain them a little better as they come up.
Welcome to my log, and enjoy!
In addition to the ones I’ve already started, there are 4 more languages I want to learn in my lifetime. Of those 4, Korean is the one that attracts me the most right now. I’ve had this fantasy about trying to learn a language really fast for some time now, which would prove my method, and Korean seems to be the perfect candidate to satisfy it. So I’m going to see how far I can get in exactly 1 year. Based on the quantifiable things I think I can accomplish in this time period, I believe I’ll reach B2 by that time. Here’s a simplified list and current status – you can decide for yourself whether you think this will get me to B2:
alphabet, pronunciation of phonemes and words - done
Michel Thomas - done
Korean From Zero! book 1 - done
Pimsleur - done
hand write 5 lines of text per day (on schedule)
text/type on occasion (on schedule)
anki reps daily with a cap of no less than 100 per day (on schedule)
800 hours of listening (see bar graph below)
read to a level of 24,550 known words on LingQ (see bar graph below)
200 hours of conversation lessons on italki (see bar graph below)
After that, I’ll travel to Korea for a month to enjoy the country and see how I do. I plan on making some videos along the way. I’m not shy, and I’d make a lot except I’m not good at it; there’s a learning curve and I’d rather be learning Korean than how to make videos. But I promise those of you who are interested that it will happen.
At fist glance, you might think it’s unlikely that this slow learning 55yo native English speaker living in the US could reach a level roughly equivalent to B2 in Korean in one year. But I have some very powerful things working to my advantage too. I’ve learned many languages, the key ones being Japanese and Mandarin. I’m retired, and can devote a great deal time to this task. I’m currently maintaining 6 other languages, which is a time draw, but my schedule flexibility seems to keep review sessions from interfering with my Korean studies. Can I do it? We shall see.
This log is not only for reporting my progress but also for sharing my strategy. I’d like to write it in a way that someone learning Korean could mimic me if they so choose, so sorry in advance to others if I get into lengthy descriptions.
Why Korean? My primary reason is always the same; for the girls. I know that bothers some people, but I refuse to hide it. Next is the fact that so many consider it to be the hardest major language for a westerner to learn, even more than my personal pick, Japanese. This has always confused me. In the infamous HTLAL I hate Korean thread I was (indirectly) called an armchair quarterback for stating that the notion of Korean being harder than Japanese was absurd. Third, it’s the only one of the “Big 3” Asian languages I don’t know, and westerners who speak all 3 are extremely rare. Now I have a lot of other reasons for learning the language, but those are the 3 biggest, and I don’t doubt that there are some people out there that think there is no way these give me enough motivation to succeed. These people are so, so wrong. There is no such thing as wrong motivation; the thing to fear is weak motivation. Every single language I’ve learned has been do or die; you will not find a more motivated learner. After all, why would I devote thousands of hours to them if I wasn’t motivated?
I started learning Korean on Sept 16, 2016, which is six years after I started my previous language, Russian. In this 6 year span I refined my language learning method, the latest version of which hasn’t been neatly typed out yet, but I summarize here in 3 steps:
1) Pimsleur
2) Conversation
3) The 4 skills
Those are just the names of the steps. I’ll explain them a little better as they come up.
Welcome to my log, and enjoy!