Hello! I'm new to this whole site as a user (been lurking for a bit), and this looked fun so I'll join. Please treat me well!
Why are you interested in Korean?So, funny story, I'm obsessed with 90s K-pop (if you get what my username is referencing you're a real one), and a lot of K-pop content from then doesn't have English subs. And one day, I decided I'd had enough, and started to really learn Korean last December. I'd been picking up random Korean for a bit before then, but December was when I decided I was truly going to study. But the reason I keep going is that K-pop and Korean culture's history is so fascinating to me! Sometimes I can find myself just really getting into a really weird topic that would probably not be accessible if I didn't know Korean. That's one of the benefits of learning a new language – you can learn stuff about the country it comes from along the way.
What is your goal for this language?I'm already intermediate, so I can read a good amount of stuff, but I'm still not an expert. Understanding the majority of most spoken Korean content without subtitles would be nice – I'm already at that road, but of course I can't understand everything. And also being able to read proper novels would also be nice. Again, I have done that somewhat, it's just that I'm at a lower level than would allow to read an 이상 or something; guess I'll just have to stick to 어린이 and 청소년 books.
Do you have a favorite Korean language song?Oh god, even before I started learning I've always been a huge K-pop fan. (Well, not always, but for a pretty long time.) My favorite K-pop song of all time would probably be
Romeo + Juliette by SHINee. No matter what goes on with my actual faves, SHINee will always be special to me because their music is just so!! Damn!! Good!! (Oh, and if you haven't before, please listen to
Love Belt by Jonghyun and Younha. You won't regret it, especially if you love R&B goodness like me!)
What is your favorite feature of the Korean language that you've encountered so far in your studies?Hmm, y'know, I think it's all the verb endings. Just when I thought I've finally got hang of all the ways you can say 구나 or something like that, I come across, like, 구먼. I have all this grammar in my head I probably will never get to use or see often and that's okay. Also, dialects! I've been getting into the Chungcheong dialect lately, but other dialects are cool too. Sometimes I randomly find myself saying 뭐라카노, y'know?
Have anything else you'd like to share about yourself?So, y'know, my primary reason to learn Korean was because I wanted to understand my 1st gen 오빠s and 언니s, but a secondary reason is that I also wanna sub videos from those idols so less people have to go through the process I have. And I have succeeded at that front - there's this segment on this TV show 놀라운 세상 called 스타의 전생, and even though I don't believe in the concept behind it, it's very interesting and it also has Korean subtitles for the most part and I'm good at text. The segment basically uses hypnosis to get a glimpse of idols' so-called past lives. It's still fun to watch even when you're not into that kind of stuff – I like to think of it as telling a story in your head. Sometimes it can get really dramatic too, like
when Yoon Kyesang from g.o.d did it. (Actually, crying while under hypnosis is a rather common occurrence on this show...)