Beginning a Language: How I'm Getting Started w/Korean
I'm a year into deciding to intensively learn a language and I hit a point with learning Mandarin where doing a lot of vocabulary work wasn't really doing it for me anymore. I was learning new words better in context with the occasional lookup because I had learned enough words and gotten enough exposure to listening to and reading the language that I could get things in context.
I'm still studying Chinese, but the challenge there is more in staying consistent with continue to engage with the language to improve comprehension - I still miss a lot with spoken stuff, and I'm still oh so slow at reading. Brain is still translating most of the time instead of just understanding it in Chinese. Like, sure, common stuff like 你好 I know longer "translate" to English in my head when reading or hearing it. Common verbs and nouns I less and less need to do that moment of translation to grasp the meaning. But it's stilted, I still have to pause to grasp the full meaning of the sentences, and getting past that is just a matter of more and more and more content consumption.
So I decided to add another language a few weeks ago. Cuz I need challenge to continue engaging with something. ADHD thing. I love it. Crave it. And rather than letting myself self-sabotage to create dramatic life challenges, I choose challenges.
I decided to pick Korean.
Now, when I started learning Chinese, I knew that if I did manage to stick to it, I was gonna want to learn other languages. One of the reasons I chose to start with the "hardest" languages for native English speakers (of which I am one) is because if I could learn one or more of those, the rest would be that much easier to tackle.
I sort of had this idea that I'd do one language from each major language branch, and was thinking about Arabic or Kiswahili next. Dabbled in both a bit, and they're still on the list, but one day, I came across a YouTube video about learning Korean, Chinese, and Japanese together because of the commonalities - even though they are in different language families.
First thing you have to do with Korean is learn Hangul. It's not hard. http://letslearnhangul.com/ really helped me with that. I'm also using https://www.hancomtaja.com/ for Hangul typing practice once I learned the alphabet.
Now, I'm in the "vocabulary mining" stage of learning. Through learning Chinese last year, I developed my own personal learning method which is a mix of techniques and theories that turned out to work really well for me.
From learning Chinese, I discovered there's a tipping point where I know enough words that making my way through a novel isn't too terrible. And I figured this out because I picked some novels in Chinese I wanted to be able to read, bought them in paperback, and every couple weeks or so, I'd pick one up and see how much of it I could understand. At first, I was looking up multiple words a sentence. Exhausting. So I'd go back to mining vocabulary and adding them to my review system (which continually evolves as I find new tools that work better for my study flow).
I'm just starting my "vocabulary mining" in Korean. I know how to read and type in Hangul - which is easier to read than Chinese since it's phonetic, but "harder" to type in that with Chinese, you type in pinyin using the English alphabet keyboard and just pick the character from a selection panel, but in Korean, you have to swap to a Korean keyboard layout and learn how to type on that. I'm slow, but the more I do it, the faster I get at it.
Vocabulary Mining
You need enough words to be able to even make sense of sentences. There's a few different ways I do this and it really just depends on what I feel like doing on any given day.
Right now, in Korean, I'm using very basic Korean graded readers, inputting the words into Migaku to create flashcards, and then reviewing cards daily. I ended up liking that tool so much, I subscribed after the first three cards I created.
I also use ChatGPT to make vocabulary lists. Things like common greetings, numbers, colors, common household objects, etc. Cards get made of all of those.
And I use language learning apps. Duolingo, Lingo Legend, Memrise, and Clozemaster are all in my rotation right now.
The goal is exposure. Lots of exposure. To the most common words of the language. In a variety of different ways. Having some self-directed methods is important. Self-motivation reinforces learning. But you don't know what you don't know, so having some lessons curated by others is also helpful.
Along with vocabulary mining, from the start of learning a language, I commit to content consumption in the language.
Content Consumption
Getting both written and spoken content is important. Thank goodness for streaming! Netflix has content in 30 languages. Other services also have content in multiple languages. YouTube is a goldmine of content. Language teachers are all over TikTok, you just have to want to find them.
Right now in Chinese, I'm focused on improving comprehension, so I'm doing a lot of intensive content study. A lot of pause and repeat, pause and repeat until I'm clearly hearing what they're saying. Using Chinese subtitles to also try to improve my reading speed as I'm listening. It's mentally exhausting, so I'm using a show I've already watched through a dozen times so I already know the plot very well and I don't have to strain as hard. It's Comprehensible Input.
In Korean, I don't understand anything. A greeting here and there. I can distinguish the names of characters. I'll catch a word I've learned here and there, but not much at all. Even kindergarten graded readers are new vocabulary to me!
But I still watch content aimed at native Korean speakers. The aim here is Extensive exposure to a language that still sounds unfamiliar to me. Get my ears used to the cadence of the language. Of how to distinguish one word from another. The patterns - already starting to notice the various word endings that denote tense and formality. I'm relying on the English subtitles to understand anything at all. I'm not straining here, I'm just watching a show to enjoy a show, but I'm doing it in my new target language because exposure is good even this early on.
I pick content that I think I'll enjoy. I'm learning languages for fun, because I turned out to be good at it, and I really enjoy it. So I'm not going to force myself to slog through anything that bores me.
Thankfully, there's a lot of really great stuff out there! I especially like fantasy and sci-fi, so I tend to seek that out first. I'll also watch stuff in other genres because exposure to new things is helpful. Also, watching stuff in modern settings gives you exposure to more common language than genre stuff does.
Current Content Focus
Right now, I'm watching three shows - one for intensive Chinese study, and two for extensive Korean exposure.
For the intensive Chinese study, I'm going through Love Between Fairy and Devil again. I'm going deeper into the meanings of words to learn nuances that I've missed because I'm not a native speaker. Like 赤地女子 (Lady Chidi) is translated as something like "Red Earth Lady", but I recently learned the nuance that 赤地 implies "blood-soaked earth" as well, which totally makes sense for the former war god who left nothing but blood in her wake...
For the extensive Korean study, I'm watching Alchemy of Souls and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Alchemy of Souls is a fantasy drama, which I love, and does give me exposure to the language, but not really the way that modern Koreans would actually use the language. Which is why I added a modern Korean drama that's still super interesting to me and SUPER relatable because I, too, am Autistic and I relate to Attorney Woo SO MUCH. For both of those, I'm using dual subtitles. I can read English really fast, so I can grasp what's going on quickly, then switch to trying to follow along in Hangul with the dialog. So far, I can only catch the first syllable of most words, but that will improve with time.
Tomorrow, I'll discuss how I studied grammar in Chinese, and how I'm approaching it in Korean.