Looking Back on My Korean Language Learning Journey

Published in

Hoxy (Perhaps)

10 min readMar 2, 2022

With how Korean media, food, and pop culture has taken over the world, almost everyone knows at least a couple of words in Korean. A huge chunk of K-Pop fans who have been into the genre have taught themselves Hangul. At the very least, they’re familiar with how their faves’ names are written in the Korean alphabet.

Yet not a lot of people have the time or dedication to really learn the language.

Like most Asian languages, Korean is a high-context language. This means a lot of meaning is rooted in the context and culture of the society it is predominantly used in. You might look at English subtitles and see that the simplest words can convey so much.

I came to understand why this subbing team had “Korean is a language spoken at home” as a requirement for their translators. Knowing grammar and vocabulary means very little in a language where figures of speech and cultural, historical references are abundant.

Why Did I Start Learning Korean?

To make things short: K-Pop.

I was frustrated with a general Korean entertainment update account that didn’t share complete details, often causing anger and confusion in the fandom. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of existing lyric translations for my favorite songs. I wanted to enjoy content in real-time without having to rely on others.

(K-Pop is arguably one of the things you cannot easily enjoy on your own. Translators, subbing teams, update and support accounts’ thankless and unpaid efforts help others have an enjoyable fandom experience. I am forever grateful and many of them became my good friends. It’s the other, demanding fans that dim my mood.)

As I started to enjoy other aspects of Korean media, I naturally came to know more about South Korea’s history, culture, and its socioeconomic and political topography.

With the way language and culture are entwined, learning more of the language meant building my understanding of both.

How I Started Learning Korean

And more importantly, how you shouldn’t do it the way I did.

Although I started trying to learn Korean in 2017, I didn’t do it properly until 2020.

2017

I installed the Korean keyboard on my phone and familiarized myself with the corresponding sounds and letters as I learned words. I used Naver Papago to translate sentences from Korean to English, again learning words as I went.

If the machine translation didn’t make sense, I used what I know from linguistics lectures to parse sentences into phrases then auto-translate those and piece the meanings together.

I deduced the grammar structure from doing so and studied the definitions provided by the app. When that didn’t make sense either, I would look up words to find historical or cultural context.

You could tell that’s not how the average person would learn the language. You’d study the alphabet first, then sounds, then basic grammar and vocabulary. Am I crazy? Not exactly.

If you’ve read my other blog, you’d know I’m not wired like the average person. I have ADHD and ASD. My brain has an affinity for identifying patterns, deducing information, and predicting outcomes from said patterns.

Words don’t exist in my head as direct translations from one language to another. The meanings for each one are stored as abstract concepts and held together by grammar structure. Once I have the grammar patterns down, acquiring vocabulary comes easy.

Would I say language is intuitive to me? Maybe. Korean would be the nth language I’m studying after English, Filipino, two semesters of Elementary Japanese, and an elective in Mandaya languages. I also learned Ilonggo and Bisaya from interacting with my peers (and just the right amount of teasing and peer pressure).

2020

Considering my next steps, I decided I want to pursue further studies related to Korea. Being able to prove my proficiency in the Korean language would give me an advantage so I made the decision to study it formally.

As a beginner, these were my top three resources:

Duolingo

Anyone who has tried learning a foreign language in the age of smartphones has probably tried Duolingo. The app is freemium and you could go a long way without paying anything.

It’s great for beginners who want to learn the alphabet and sounds. The entire premise is that learning is gamified so there’s that boost in your brain’s reward centers whenever you make progress. Vocabulary is classified by context and divided into levels of difficulty.

The questions are constructed in a way to test your listening, speaking, and comprehension.

Duolingo is both practical and impractical. While it’s useful to learn words and phrases you can actually use in different contexts, some of the examples definitely will not happen in real life.

One major downside of Duolingo for me is that they provide zero explanation for grammar and even pronunciation rules. This is when I decided to explore other resources.

King Sejong Institute

The King Sejong Institute is the official Korean language learning institute. They have a website where you can study using their free resources on their own platform but I find it too laggy and unappealing. What I did find most useful was their Online Level Test which helped me determine which resources I should study for my level.

While I was still actively using Duolingo, I watched videos from their YouTube channel Learn Teach Korean. Each video isn’t too long and the content is explained quite well. I started watching one video a day from their Korean Conversation series. Levels 1 to 3 have English subtitles but starting from Level 4, you’re expected to have enough knowledge to understand the lessons entirely in Korean.

The content is easy to digest but it would have been helpful to have quizzes or a workbook so I can practice what I learned. Even taking notes would have been helpful to me, but I’ve never been good at taking notes. Do what you can based on what learning method works best for you.

I’ve only watched up to Chapter 10 of Sejong Korean Conversation 2 because I started the Learn To Speak Korean 1 course on Coursera.

I’m in the process of reviewing my old lessons so I might go back and finish the series! I’m also interested in looking into their Business Korean 1 and 2 playlists but that’s more on equipping you to work in a Korean company than engaging in day-to-day conversation.

Coursera

If you’re learning Korean from zero or you want to have a solid foundation, I highly recommend Yonsei University’s free Coursera courses First Step Korean and Learn To Speak Korean 1.

Each course comes with a digestible syllabus of video lessons, readings, quizzes, and homework. You can take the course at your own pace and even finish it faster if you have a lot of time. The professors who created and taught the content gave great explanations for vocabulary, grammar, and phonetics.

Since it’s been a while since the course was built and uploaded, the examples and videos may look dated but they do the job well.

Another Korean university offering Korean language courses on the platform is Sungkyunkwan University. You can study their courses in this sequence:

I haven’t tried their courses but I’m interested in enrolling in the Advanced I class since it’s appropriate for the level I’m at now. From the syllabus, it explores a variety of advanced topics namely Language, Work, Ethics in Science, Pop Culture, and International Issues.

2021 to Present

Most if not all of the Korean language academies in my vicinity are geared towards aspiring EPS-TOPIK takers rather than for conversational, academic, or business applications.

Luckily, I found Jung’s Korean Classroom on Facebook. JKC is a language academy based in Makati. The professors teaching the lessons are currently based in South Korea in light of the pandemic so classes are held online.

Even if the classes are taught via Skype, I can attest to the quality education they promised on their pages. Teacher Jung and Teacher Heo even make the effort to know us a little more on a personal level. They’re both highly educated in teaching Korean as a Foreign Language and are faculty members of esteemed Korean universities.

Lessons start at P3000 per level but there are a lot of discounts for early birds and existing students as you progress. There are 10 1.5-hour lessons in each level. This is shorter (and faster?) than other courses I’ve seen online but I can follow along well and still learn a lot.

Levels 1 to 4 will have more input from the teacher but Level 5 onwards encourages you to practice your speaking and composition skills. Similar to the Sejong Institute Korean Conversation video course, the lessons will be almost entirely in Korean starting from Level 4.

The books used for Levels 1 to 4 are the Active Korean series while the intermediate and advanced levels use the Ewha Korean Textbooks. You can order copies online or even find full PDFs for free if you know where to look. We received textbooks and workbooks in PDF form.

We get a certificate for each level we complete. There are exams for Levels 1 to 4 but there are none for Levels 5 onwards. Teacher Heo said it’s easy to cheat online so she prefers to hear us practice what we learned in class to gauge our progress and knowledge.

I didn’t enroll right away because of personal circumstances but I resolved that I needed formal classes. Self-guided modules and courses weren’t a fit for the way I learn. I have a group chat with my classmates where we exchange notes, help each other with questions, or simply chat.

What I appreciate the most from my lessons with JKC is when they would teach us grammar patterns, idioms, and figures of speech that native Korean speakers use. They even provide cultural explanations and relate lessons to recent events or our personal experiences. This was definitely a major factor in my perceived leap in fluency.

My Progress

When I first took the King Sejong Institute Online Level Test in September 2020, I was placed at Level 2A or Beginner Intermediate. I was humbled. I haven’t learned a lot in three years of just trying to pick up the language from consuming Korean media and music.

I scored highest in understanding or comprehension at 70%, followed by vocabulary at 64%, and lowest in grammar at 50%. I was mostly just trying to understand things using context clues. It wouldn’t be enough to get me to where I want to be so I knew I had to take proper lessons.

After taking their level test, you can retake the same level test after 3 months. The test above was for the beginner level and, feeling more confident in my progress, I took the Intermediate level test in January 2022.

15 months later (and 6 months of continuous lessons with Jung’s Korean Classroom), I reached Level 4B or Advanced Intermediate. I now score highest in Vocabulary with 91% correct answers, 80% in understanding or comprehension, and 79% in grammar.

You could see in the radar chart above that my skills are now more equally distributed. As of writing, I’m about to start Advanced 3 classes with Jung’s Korean Classroom.

Outside of the test results, I do feel a huge jump in my proficiency. I’m not as intimidated by long paragraphs in Korean and I can engage in text conversations with Koreans. I can translate to and from Korean without needing the help of a translator app most of the time. I can enjoy content even without subtitles, even listening to radio programs as a listening exercise.

Although I probably have the vocabulary of a Korean elementary student, I do feel I’m equipped to absorb new words as I go.

Next Steps?

While translating for a fandom is a labor of love, I feel confident this is something I can do professionally. I’m planning to do a degree in Linguistics and specialize in Korean so I can open opportunities for myself to work in a Korean company, become a professional translator, or even receive training to teach Korean as a Foreign Language.

While the regular TOPIK (Test of Proficiency In Korean) is currently suspended in the Philippines due to the pandemic, I’m also preparing myself to take the TOPIK II. At the very least, I aim to obtain a Language Placement Exam result equivalent to Advanced or higher so I can take the more advanced Korean classes and finish my degree while taking less classes.

I also ordered a copy of TOPIK II Essential Grammar 150 Intermediate and TOPIK 2300 Vocabulary with the goal of studying a chapter a day until the TOPIK or my Language Placement Exam — whichever comes first.

Finally, to improve my vocabulary, I’m going to try consuming more Korean media — dramas, films, stuff that would help me become more familiar with day-to-day conversation.

Learning a language never really ends. I often find myself learning new words or gaining more understanding of grammar rules of the other languages I read, write, and speak

As someone who gives up easily when things get too hard or simply drop hobbies once they no longer give me that spark, I’m proud of myself for keeping up with this for so long. It’s not perfect, but nothing ever is, so I’m happy to share my journey so far.