eido wrote:I've been interested in Korean for about three years. How did you get to an intermediate level with it? I have several resources I'd consider using, but I never get far with the language. I think getting to your level is an accomplishment, and of course getting to an advanced or higher level is surely more wonderful still. Not many keep up with the study of Asian languages after the first 6 months or so, if that. I guess I could be an example.
Good luck studying! I'm sure you'll be quite proficient in no time.
Hi eido, it was really a big trial and error process. I began to be hugely into Kdramas about 7 years ago but it quickly developed into a super unhealthy obsession, I was doing nothing but watching dramas all day for about 3 months. I took a gap semester in Spain and of course was unable to watch dramas at that time (no wifi where I was) so after sort of breaking the cycle I vowed that if I was going to watch Kdramas I had to actually study Korean.
About two years later when I finally left school I started with the 2 Pimsleur Korean program levels and then used TTMIK. I did all the levels of TTMIK but was having a really hard time acquiring vocabulary, so I put grammar essentially on hold for an entire year and studied only vocabulary using the Scribe Korean app (6000 most common words) for about a year. After that I did some studying with the beginning lessons in the free Berkeley Korean course and in Ross King's Continuing Korean book.
That was at the end of my third year of studies. I left my job at this point to do an 8 week Korean intermediate intensive course here in the US. This is what really propelled me into B1/B2 and after the course I was able to start reading books and webtoons with just a dictionary, and I can watch family dramas and romantic comedies enjoyably without subs (not 100% understanding everything though). It was a pretty difficult process and of course it's disappointing in some ways I haven't been able to get to advanced level/near fluency yet after 5 years of study but I have confidence that if I get an opportunity to go and live in Korea for a few months I'd be able to get there soon. I've enjoyed my studies a lot and have never regretted the time I spent even though sometimes I went down study avenues that weren't very fruitful.
Feel free to ask any more questions if you have them!
Combined Evening and Morning Log
Mandarin
-Next two episodes of Heavy Sweetness Ashlike Frost (17/18). They are doing their earthly trial and I love it, it's like watching AU fanfiction haha.
Classical Chinese (goldlist method)
-3 distillations, to catch up on the last few days of missing them
Korean
-Ugh didn't get to any extra reading last night or any reading at all this morning...
