Although I have been intrigued by Korean for a while, this semester I have the opportunity to start learning it! Starting out has been kind of slow so far and it has mostly consisted of me googling Anki sets or Quizlet to find flashcards to start learning the Korean alphabet and the sounds. I think learning the alphabet and the Korean characters will be a very good place to start since the letters are completely distinct from English. I have also spent some time during these beginning stages to search for suitable books. I have looked on the Global Studio’s page for different resources and found a book called “Korean From Zero” that seems to have numerous good reviews and has a lot of activities throughout it to test myself with.
On top of researching these resources, I have also thought a lot about what I hope to learn this semester. As last week’s article highlighted it is incredibly easy to say we want to “learn” a language, but what does that really mean? To me, learning a language will mean being able to hold a conversation in it. While learning Korean, I would like to focus more so on speaking and listening than reading and writing. Especially since I am working with a language partner I would like to make the most use of having a native speaker by having lots of conversations. I particularly want to work on fine-tuning my accent.
In order to keep myself on track and create a schedule for these first weeks, I plan to dedicate about 30 minutes each day to learning Hangul and/or listening to Korean tv shows or the news. With this time I will read the books I have/will obtain, watch videos to help me learn, and speak with my language partner and other friends who know Korean. As you are probably very aware Kpop is very popular and it offers a great opportunity to expose myself to the sounds of Korean. I really like the way Korean sounds and this is a major reason why I decided that I wanted to learn Korean over other languages.
I also have decided that I would really like to learn about the cultural aspects of Korean culture. Since I have never traveled to Korea before or really know anything about Korea I would love to learn more about the county and its culture.
After meeting with Jannette in our small group for the first time I am more than ready and excited to start learning Korean! I had decided that I would like to focus on my speaking and listening skills over my reading and writing abilities in general. Although a bit vague still, we discussed how I want to get a very general sense of Korean and learn how to hold a basic conversation. For the first couple of weeks, we will focus on learning basic concepts such as introducing oneself, the alphabet, basic grammar (i.e. how to combine Hangul to make words), how to describe personalities, and how to order food in a restaurant. While these topics are not finalized they reflect the kinds of concepts I hope to learn in Korean.
Additionally, during our class time we have agreed to have some oral quizzes so that we may practice our speaking skills. I also asked Jannette if she could send us some homework for the week, any resources she may find, and one video/podcast/song that is in Korean. For this upcoming week my first assignment is to learn the first half of Hangul! Jannette was very enthusiastic which just made me even more excited for this semester. We even talked about how she will teach us about Korean culture and we may be able to try some Korean food together.
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