Overall I believe that I achieved most of my goals which I set out to accomplish at the beginning of this semester. Based on my learning plan, I can read and speak Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, on a very beginner level, and I can greet people, introduce myself, and say farewells. I can also describe myself and order food, to name a few examples. There are many other aspects of the Korean language which I learned as well yet it is still difficult for me to remember information off the top of my head as a novice learner. I need to continue to progress in my language skill through drilling, using the resources that are available online and on my IPhone, as well as practicing with friends who speak Korean.
One stumbling block which I encountered was adapting to a language which does not write letters in a line from left to right but from top to down in a block format. One has to be able to understand which characters are consonants and which are vowels and figure out the placement of each character. This is a unique way to form letters which I think is beautiful. Yet it was something new to adjust to. I encountered my second obstacle the day that I realized that Koreans use two different number systems: the Sino-Korean and Native Korean versions. Sino-Korean is used for many situations such as money/currency, math, phone numbers, and for any number 100 or higher among other occasions. On the other hand, Native Korean is used for one’s age, counting physical objects, and hours, to name a few, key examples.
Therefore I had to overcome these obstacles by taking on the challenge and putting in effort to learn and memorize the placement of characters and when to use which number system. Working with Sun for accuracy and simply practicing on my own showed improvement in how much I would retain.
I found this entire SDL Korean learning experience to be interesting and fun. I would describe this educational experience as holistic because I was able to learn so much more than simply how to say and write words in Korean. I also learned about the culture of Korea through my own cultural presentations and those of my peers who are also learning Korean. Therefore this was a very holistic course which brought in aspects of Korea’s economy, LGBTQ community, cosmetic surgery culture, dating culture, etiquette, and so much more. I really enjoyed this aspect of exchanging information about the same culture and language which we were studying with my peers.
In the future, I want to continue my study of the Korean language. I will need to remain determined and consistent with my practice in order to advance in my skills yet I know that this can be achieved with perseverance and enthusiasm. I am very glad that I took this course during the final semester of my senior year, and I am very blessed to have been under the guidance of such wonderful professors and tutors.
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