A language learners’ forum

David1917 wrote:In this thread, Prof A suggests using that Francis Park series so, I'd say you made a wise purchase.

I bought the first three books, and they seem very well made. They're in good condition and I enjoy looking through them. The first book, at least, has a guide on how to write Hangul, which I've never learned. I can recognize the letters and read okay, but I don't know how to write them -- that is, proper stroke order and everything. It has a very serious linguistic take on pronunciation. I looked briefly through my Hanja book, the third book in the series, and it seems good, but with all the shiny apps and shortcuts made for learning the Chinese characters these days it makes me waver. It's surely interesting and a good reference.

Hi all! I'm trying to pick back up after a while of not studying, and just discovered this forum. I don't really know how to quantify my level of Korean, but in terms of studying I'm mostly focusing on vocab and lots and lots of input right now. I look up grammar principles occasionally as I come across stuff I don't know, but I feel like I'm pretty well set up there.

Why are you interested in Korean?
I really like Korean music, and at some point I thought I might look into learning some word or phrases just for fun. I'd never thought I was interested in languages before but I guess I discovered a passion for it. 2 years later and still going strong
What is your goal for this language?
I'd like to be able to read works of history, nonfiction and literature, especially poetry. I also want to be able to communicate effectively with native speakers. My ultimate stretch goal is to have a firm enough grasp of the language to understand humor and carry my own sense of humor (more or less) into Korean
Do you have a favorite Korean language song?
I like lots of Korean music from all genres. Lately I've been enjoying more and more older music, 노래방 classics, old OSTs and ballads, stuff like that. I love how Hong Jin Young marries old and new and her songs never fail to make me smile

What is your favorite feature of the Korean language that you've encountered so far in your studies?
I like how many words are built out of components that have their own meanings. Not just hanja, but also pure Korean words are often built up like this too. It makes vocab acquisition sort of a satisfying puzzle sometimes, and I like how it almost adds a little bit of meaning underneath the word itself
Have anything else you'd like to share about yourself? Go ahead!
My embarrassing pipe dream is to someday make music in Korea. Not really realistic, but it's fun to daydream about and in a weird way it's kind of a motivator for me. In my free time, my Korean study has to compete with piano and other music stuff. But I have no problem studying on work time, and I do plenty of Anki and reading at work :p

Axon wrote:What are some free online audio-based resources that can help me with polite "transactional" Korean? And, taking into account what you folks know about Korean, should I start by memorizing cafe phrases or start with general beginner materials?

Pimsleur is downloadable and there is probably a kindle version of Teach Yourself, but it sounds like you're after phrases. Korean From Zero is a great free online course. They have a lesson on starter phrases, with audio. You'll probably want to add on to those eventually, but it's a good start.

edit: oops, looks like I'm 5 months late

안녕하세요! It's been a long time since I spoke Korean, and seeing this group while looking for a Russian one may have peaked my interest once more! I've been very inconsistent with my studies, so I hope this group can help me out more.

Mocha wrote:seeing this group while looking for a Russian one

Welcome, but fyi there is a Russian one here

Mocha wrote:안녕하세요! It's been a long time since I spoke Korean, and seeing this group while looking for a Russian one may have peaked my interest once more! I've been very inconsistent with my studies, so I hope this group can help me out more.

Hi, nice to meet you!

I haven't been very active in this group. Never know what to share. I usually share resources (sites I found, books I want to get) and recently what I've learned on my blog. I haven't been all that consistent though

Edit: I tried reviving the Korean group in the multilingual sub forum to get some kind of running chat going in Korean. If anyone is interested, go check it out and reply!

I am not a student of Korean. Nevertheless, during my recent searchs of the internet for language-learning materials, I came across an offer for a vintage set of Korean Bible materials which might be of some interest to students of the language. I well appreciate that digitized versions are freely available on the internet. All the same, it is possible that a member of this study group shares my interest in vintage materials and would enjoy adding this rather rare item to their collection.
SET of Korea Bible, Korean Language CASSETTE TAPES and Book, Bev Kyung Whan Son – EBAY.COM

안녕하십니까? 어떻게 지내십니까?

저는 배웠습니다. 너무 재미 있기 한국어입니다.

What have y'all been up to? What are you learning?

just watching high school rapper season 2. i plan on watching high school rapper 3 and show me the money 8 and superbee's show on youtube afterwards. i love how mnet uploads vids of the performances on youtube with english subs now (definitely wasn't there for me for like show me the money season 4 haha. there's fansubs though). it's very helpful with understanding the lyrics since just hangeul is sometimes not enough for me to figure out what the lyrics mean. I probably suck at comprehending english rap lyrics too actually if it gets too slangy haha. i love in general how korea is dead set on being global and there's a lot of youtube channels with english subs uploaded. the non-rapping parts are very easy to understand for me.... hovering around 95-99% comprehension.

Hi everyone. Moving to Korea in a couple of months to teach English (as long as the plague doesn't mess with my plans!) so have started learning Korean. Enjoying myself so far, though finding the learning curve with Assimil Coréen sans peine rather steep. Here's hoping I manage to learn a decent amount before I arrive, so the culture shock isn't too enormous!

EDIT: Forgot to answer the questions:
Why are you interested in Korean?
Moving to Seoul in Aug/Sep, so doing some intensive lockdown learning sessions.

What is your goal for this language?
Would like to be able to speak enough to get by in Korea on a day-to-day basis, maybe around an A2 – really all depends on how I enjoy my experience there! Russian is my main priority at the moment.

Do you have a favorite Korean language song? If so, what is it?
Haha nope, I seem to be one of the few people not learning Korean because of a love of k-pop.

What is your favorite feature of the Korean language that you've encountered so far in your studies?
I love the writing system! Looks really cool, but is still not that hard to decode once you get used to it. I am also enjoying how different everything is to the other languages I've studied before – the phonology, the vocabulary, word order, etc. Always refreshing to experience an entirely new form of self-expression!