My Korean Diary ❤

Fantastic Tips on Learning Korean

Before we start, I'll give you 6 fantastic tips on how to learn Korean. Let's start right away!

1. Learn Hangul
➡ This point can't be emphasized enough! Some people try to learn Korean by using Romanized Korean instead of learning the Korean alphabet (Hangul). For example:

Hangul: 커피 (✔)

Romanized Korean: keopi (✖)

2. Use Flashcards Everyday
➡ Mom always said "practice makes perfect". She was right!

Everyone goes through ups and downs with studying. It's natural.

The one thing you can do to make sure you always get in at least a little bit of studying each day is to use a flash card application, such as Anki, Quizlet, or Memrise.

3. Use Korean Daily
➡ Just like Mom in #2 above, your doctor also had some words of wisdom:

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away".

We like doctors, we don't to keep them away. The expression really means to "maintain good health". Same with your Korean studies.

No matter where you are in the world, you likely have chances to use Korean daily. Some situations may be easier than others, but it's always possible. You just have to be creative!

Here are a few ideas:

Commute: If you live in Korea, make sure you engage people in Korean on your way to and from work. This could be ordering at the cafe, asking for your gimbap to go, asking the bus driver if the bus goes to your stop, or greeting the people at the front desk at your workplace.

Spouse or partner: If you are dating a Korean, ask to speak in Korean as much as possible. Express your interest in learning the language, and make an effort to learn at least a new word or two each time you see him or her. Your vocabulary and speaking ability will quickly shoot up!

K-Pop: Download some Korean music and listen to a few songs each day. Make it active listening instead of passive by downloading the lyrics and singing along.

4. Screenshots is your friend
➡ One of the best ways to learn Korean fast is to actually use the words you're studying.

So, it makes sense to study the words that you'd use most often.

Let's say that you're out and about one day, and you realize you want to know the word for "receipt". You look it up in the dictionary on your smartphone, say "영수증" to the cashier, and then go on your way.

• Speed up Korean learning with screenshots

It's very likely you will forget that word unless you use it on a regular basis! A good strategy for helping you remember this word is to add it to your flash card deck.

But we all have busy lives, and it's hard to do this during the busy parts of your day.

So instead, make sure you take a screenshot of the word when you look it up in the dictionary.

Then, when you have focused time to sit down and study Korean, you can go through your screenshots and add them to your deck of flash cards.

5. Make Studying Fun
➡ Studying shouldn't be all grammar and vocabulary. You need to mix in things that will keep your language learning journey interesting so you stay motivated.

Read Korean books or comic books, watch Korean TV shows and movies, and talk to Koreans!

And even if you don't have Koreans to chat with, find a language partner who is studying Korean so you can help each other practice.

You'll learn Korean much faster if you actually put things into practice. You'll be amazed at how much quicker you learn a word when you read it, write it, speak it, and listen to someone say it.

6. Break Down Words
➡ One fun way to help learn Korean words quickly is to break them down into components. You end up learning a bunch of new words all at the same time!

For example, let's say you want to learn the word for "eraser" in Korean. The word is "지우개".

"지우개" doesn't sound ANYTHING like "eraser". What to do?

Well, you can try breaking the words down into simpler forms.

For example:

지우 = means "to erase" (지우다 is the base verb)개 = means "tool"

If you put them together, it's means "erase tool" or "지우개".

Meet the 지우개's from the 개 family!

Then you can start recognizing other words that have similar parts.

For example:

이 = tooth
쑤시 = to poke or pick (쑤시다)
개 = tool

Any guesses what an "이쑤시개" is? (answer at the bottom of #6)

There are many other "개" (tool) words in Korean. Once you start to learn elements of a word, they start to become a lot more familiar right from the start.

Note that this isn't always easy to do when you're first learning the language, but it becomes easier the more you do it. The main point is to be aware of this trick so you recognize it when you see it!

ANSWER FOR #6: 이쑤시개 = TOOTHPICK