I am an exchange student from Brazil and I will be here for just one semester. I started learning more about Korean culture at the end of 2017 when I watched my first Korean drama and also became an "Army" (BTS fan). Since then, I have joined in several Writing Contests related to Korean politics, literature, and entertainment. I have already worked as a waitress in a Korean restaurant. All of those things helped me to learn more about Korean culture and increase my interest in the country. My favorite Korean foods are Jaeyook Bokkum and Haemul Pajeon. I have already been in a K-Pop concert in 2019. I am always trying to find new things related to Korea in my own country. At the moment, I work in a Brazilian-Korean magazine, which focuses on bringing news about K-Pop, K-Drama and K-Sports to its audience. I am majoring in Film Studies and planning on working on a mass cultural series, maybe as a screenwriter.
I have been studying Korean since 2018 when I decided that I would try to get a scholarship to get a Master's degree in South Korea. The most difficult issue about studying Korean in my home country is that I did not know any Koreans with whom I could practice. Also, I had to focus on my studies from university and on my work. Because of that, I did not dedicate too much time to practicing what I had learned. I hope that having Korean as a current class here will help me to focus on strengthening my speaking skills. I will focus on reviewing the main grammar points using the "Grammar in Use" book trilogy. Korean dramas will also be an important tool for my learning. I will watch some series` episodes, write down some words and expressions that I do not understand, and also rewatch the same episode how many times I think it is needed. With my Korean partner Vivian and my Korean friend Yujin, I am going to try to speak casually in Korean about everyday topics.
The most difficult thing in the Korean language for me is the sentence order. Portuguese sentence order is "subject+verb+object", while the Korean one is "subject+object+verb". It can seem easy at first sight, but in a long sentence, it is really difficult to reformulate the order's sentence. The various ways to end a sentence are also something that makes me confused when speaking. We have to use some specific types of words depending on the formality of the speech. So when I am speaking to my friend, I need to say 나 instead of 저 if I am not being formal. I must also use the 아/어요 ending. Because of that, I sometimes say 나 and use the ending 아/어요 and vice-versa. It is really difficult to speak to an older person because I do not know any Korean who is older than 30 years and wants to speak Korean with me. For this reason, I will try to reach out to some of the Korean-American friends I have met here to see if they know a place I can practice speaking formal Korean 높임말.
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