It’s no secret on here that I enjoy Korean entertainment. I’ve written about kdramas, I’ve written about webtoons (which aren’t solely Korean, but a lot of the ones that I do read are Korean with English translations), but other than in my New Year’s Resolution post, I don’t think I’ve written about learning Korean. Maybe in passing, but regardless, that’s what I wanted to talk about today.
The Timeline
It was 2018 when I started watching Kdramas. I was watching dramas, and SHAZAMing the OST numbers so that I could listen to them on Spotify (and buy quite a number on iTunes before I got Spotify premium).
I didn’t take the time then to learn the language other than picking up a word or two from the Kdramas (which I’m sure fit the same vocabulary list everyone who watches Kdramas picks up). In 2020, though, I decided to actually start learning.
Was it a hot mess? Oh yeah, I wasn’t working hard at it, and I was only looking for free resources, and not looking very hard. I created index vocabulary cards from watching YouTube videos and researched free apps online. Now, I don’t blame the resources or apps for my struggle at learning. It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
2021 rolls around
I downloaded (and paid for the lifetime membership for) the HelloTalk app, which is a language-sharing/community app. As a side note, thanks to that app, I got the opportunity to work as a private online English tutor for 18 months.
I met people through that app, chatted, but still wasn’t learning a ton, because I wasn’t putting myself out there and trying. Thanks to my joining TikTok, I found a couple of apps I use that really help: Memrise and Lingodeer. Both did much better for me than Duolingo. TikTok also led me to another girl who has been studying Korean, specifically a video of her talking about getting a tutor.
And I decided to do the same.
She found her tutor on Preply, and I, having no experience in finding tutors or even ever researching tutors online, went to the same site. I spent a few days going through profiles, narrowing it down until I picked out a tutor to do a trial lesson. I signed up for the trial lesson in November of 2020, had the trial lesson in January of 2021, and I have been working with him ever since, though I work with him through AmazingTalker, not Preply.
Other than when he is on vacation or I have an extra tight budget, we have been meeting once a week every week for over a year*. And I kid you not, a lot of the grammar and lessons I learned months ago are just now taking hold in my brain.
Since he got back from his latest vacation, he has joked with me in every lesson about how good I am at Korean, and why couldn’t I be this good last year.
Oh. My. Laws.
No, we get along really well, and I joke with him as much as he jokes with me.
I have improved so much in learning Korean over this past year than I was in 2 years of “self-study”.
It wasn’t just weekly lessons, though that consistency certainly has paid off, but also I started doing group lessons through my tutor on top of the private lessons. It has helped me far more than 5 semesters of being in a classroom setting taking Spanish (though that was a combination of my learning habits and being in a larger class setting than my current group class of 4 people).
All that talking, and not one mention of why. Well, we can edit it later.
Why am I learning Korean?
Simply put, I don’t want to have to look up English translations for song lyrics or webtoons or read subtitles while watching Kdramas.
That is true, but not complete. I also want to travel to Korea and not get lost or depend on others speaking English in order to get around.
There are so many incredible locations that I want to see in Korea, and I don’t want to miss out on anything just because I don’t speak or read the language.
And if I never get the chance to visit Korea in person, I would still be able to enjoy an even wider spread of media because I don’t need English subtitles. I’m also proud of myself for pursuing this language so actively. Even though I still have such a long way to go, the improvement continues bit by bit.
*Currently I am not taking lessons because of financial needs, but I will be resuming classes in August, and I am so excited!
Leave a Reply