Onions and Tomatoes
My friend in the army told me, “Just smile and say, ‘Onions and Tomatoes.’” I was 25 years old and my first word was “annyeonghaseyo” which vaguely sounds like “Onions and Tomatoes”. This would be enough Korean if I was staying for a week, but I planned to stay at least a year. The phrasebook I got as a gift would not be enough to get me through.
The first thing I did was memorize the alphabet. At that time there wasn’t much information online but I bought a CD-ROM program to practice the phonetics of the alphabet. I practiced the sounds and then created words I knew or words I heard and thought about how they would be spelled using the Korean alphabet. Finally, I wrote the Korean alphabet saying the sounds. I did this for two or three days until I thought I perfected the sounds. If I started today I would start with an online game like this one .
Grasp Vocab
The second thing I did was talk with Korean people. Korea has a lot of store signs. One friend gave me a quiz when we were in the car asking me to read all sign and she counted how many signs I could read and checked to see if I read them correctly. Another friend taught me words I couldn’t learn in any school. He asked me,
“Do you know what 멋쟁이 means?”
I had no idea what “MeotJaengEe” means. He said,
“That’s my name. Just call me ‘MeotJaengEe’”.
Another friend said,
“Don’t call him ‘MeotJaengEe’ (멋쟁이). Call him ‘moht-saeng-gee’” (멋생기).
So many word parts sounded the same to me but to Koreans they had a complete opposite meaning. ‘MeotJaengEe’ means handsome boy and ‘moht-saeng-gee’ means ugly. They both pretty much sounded the same to me. I listened carefully and wrote down what I heard and checked it with my Korean friends. For the first two months I wrote down everything I could catch and checked it with friends and with the dictionary.
Own the grammar
Next, I got a grammar book and wrote down basic grammar patterns in my notebook. I made my own sentences with my own words using the example sentences from the book. This is still the only way to get Korean grammar structures. If you translate sentences in google translate or other translators the correct structures will not be translated. One of the best place to look for sentences to play with is https://www.topikguide.com/category/topik-grammar
I kept a notebook each day with ten sentences following the basic structure of one grammar point.
This took me about a year and I was still sounding like a robot. The only way to jump from textbook Korean to real life Korea is active listening and guts to speak. Active listening is not just watching a Korean drama and think I got it. Active listening is hiding the screen and listening. Then listen again and write down everything you can catch and then listen again and watch and correct your sentences. Finally to check with the script. This kind of listening brings your level closer to a native level. Many can get this far but still have trouble speaking because they don’t speak. They are shy and let their Korean friends do all the Korean speaking. The only way to learn a foreign language is to use it in every possible situation. This take guts and room for a lot of misunderstanding.
Find the heart and the guts to use it
Sometimes the sentences I used didn’t get the expected response. I discussed this with friends and found out slight pronunciation differences could mean totally different things. If I had just planned to stay in Korea a year or two and go home I wouldn’t bother with this but something happened that made me go from hearing,
“Wow your Korean is good.”
To nowadays...
진짜... 한국에 얼마나 계셨어요?
What makes the biggest difference in learning a language is desire. A lot of languages sound cool and would be nice to learn but for me it comes down to practical use. When I lived in Chicago I learned Spanish because I could talk to friends and neighbors in Spanish. When I moved to Korea speaking Korean was more than a necessity for me. It was the way into understanding the heart of the people I met there. It was the way to understand what my mother-in-law and father-in-law were saying. And it was the way into understanding what my wife was really meaning to say.
I’m glad I got to this level that I can understand others and speak what is on my heart. That’s what learning a language has been to me...
...the ticket to a new world.
The pictures were taken by my wife at her friends pansori recital
You did great learning the language. It seems difficult and one needs years to perfect it.
Thanks @redheadpei,
A lot of time and heart and purpose is necessary to get to the level that anyone takes you seriously. It made me appreciate those who struggled with learning English .
You know that home feeling whenever you learn the native language of a new place you move to. It will enhance the quality of your interactions and also accompanied with a kind of welcome by the society.
Korean is a beautiful language, i always enjoy watching their k-drama series, not without English subtitles though, what i like mostly is how gentle they always speak in these movies.
Fun fact, some of my friends here can go about braging knowing a few words in Korea they learnt from series of k-drama movie time, but i bet they haven't gotten close,
The basic fundamentals are so important but you gotta rack your brains a little bit and do the dirty work. Read, write, listen and practice like a three year old sounding out words and asking again and again until someone says,
I learned from an immigration integration program.
That's a good crash course. I forgot to add trauma to the list. The couple days I was my wife'sgaurdian at the hospital I learned more Korean than I had learned in one year.
I studied a lot on the side, especially vocabulary and grammar. And like most classes, speaking and liatening are really straightforward, so immersion helps.
Being forced to use it really works. I once ran into a non-native guy who was just starting a year on Ulleungdo, I'm he learned farily quickly.
A year on Ulleungdo would definitely do it.
Props my man. I can’t imagine learning Korean. #POB for reelz!
Hola my friend. I haven't seen you since COM. Sorry I was so late to follow.
그것이 언어를 배우는 방법입니다 :D
맞아요
DAWG
Your text came at the right time. This year I want to become fluent in English. I would to travel to a primarily English-speaking place to improve my skills as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, I don't know when I'll be able to do that. Anyway, I don't want this to be an obstacle anymore. After all, I've had this goal of becoming fluent in English for a long time, but I never dedicate myself as I should.
Hi @aiuna,
You are right. You don't need to travel to an English speaking country to be fluent. There are many who travel to English speaking countries and never become fluent. My children have only spent a few weeks altogether in America. They attend Korean schools but the decided to speak English to each other.
I recommend keeping a note book for one week. Each day or two learn a new grammar pattern and try at least five of your own sentences.
Also listen with intent. This means choosing a short segment of the type of English you would like to speak. Next listen with no picture and try to write down the key points. Listen again and try to write more. Finally listen with the picture and check the text. Think about why your text may be different from the script text. Maybe there are some grammar points and vocabulary you can learn.
Finally, practice with somebody. When I started learning Korea I had about twelve different friends I bothered with Korean language questions. This made the burden less for them. I think if you kept asking questions to a native speaker about grammar points they would eventually stop talking to you.
This site looks ok for studying English. To get some lessons you have to sign up with an email address, but I think it is all free. https://www.englishclub.com/efl/category/listen-learn/
Thank you so much for your precious tips. I'm going to scour this site right now. God bless you.
It must be a tough language to learn. Sounds like you were diligent in learning. I want my baby to learn Chinese and that's another language where some words look alike but have totally different meanings.
Most foreign languages feel like that.
Learning language when you are 25 and learning language as a baby are totally different things. The language is formed naturally in the brain but along with it all kinds of other stuff. If you mix your native language with another language the baby will be confused. When our kids were learning English and Korean at the same time my wife spoke only Korean and I spoke only English in front of the kids. They were not learning foreign languages. They were learning Dad's language and Mom's language.
A baby should learn from play by touching things and tasting them. A baby should never feel some kind of study pressure but naturally immerse in the language. The consequences of associating some stress with learning the language will later cause the child to avoid studying the language in the future.
Be creative and make a plan with the family how to best approach language acquisition. Discuss what goals you have and why. Then the best way to help your child will become obvious.