Korean Classes

Sorry for the random post! >-<;;;

Ever since I have studied Korean, I have been searching endlessly for Korean classes. Unfortunately, I have yet to find any form Korean class. The area where I live does have a Korean community, but it's far away and I've heard (by my Korean friend), that their classes are not accustomed to teach anything past my level of Korean.

Being so, after studying Korean for a year now, I haven't formed any type of structure or objectives (which is probably why I fail at Korean ^^;;;).

As for now
I'll have to continue to self-study and hope for the best :D


If anyone has taken a Korean course, how was your experience? Did you learn a lot? Was the overall class beneficial?

Integrated Korean: Intermediate Series

My textbooks finally came in the mail a couple days ago (the ones I mentioned in an earlier post)!

I ordered the two intermediate books from the Integrated Korean series. I was satisfied with the first beginner book. Even so, it was not challenging, so I decided to get the intermediate ones. Being so, I was a little hesitant on studying from the intermediate series since I skipped one book in the series  -- which proved to not be a problem ;)

So far, I have been studying lesson one of the INTERMEDIATE 1 book. The grammar explanations are great and are in detail. The books even include culture snippets which can be beneficial in providing a break from studying.There are also conversations in the beginning of each chapter to introduce new vocabulary and grammar. Not to mention, the audio files for these conversations and more are available at http://www.hawaii.edu.

Drawback

The exercises (여슴) are a bit challenging – which brings me to the drawback of these books. I have skimmed through three of the books in the integrated series and none of them gave any sample answers  – nor were they online. It would have been really helpful to see some sample answers to reinforce new grammar/sentence structures.

In the end

I totally recommend these books. They offer an alternative resource outside of class that can teach and solidify previously learned material. I found that studying the vocabulary in each chapter really helped me understand external Korean material. I ordered these textbooks from Amazon.

소원이에요

내가... 한국어 제일 말하고 싶어요.

그레서 리스트 있어요:

1. 적어도 45 분 동안 공부 일상
2. 과거 수업을 검토하고 싶어요
3. 한국어를 사람들 말하고 싶어요


이것은 여름철이에요 ^^;;;

감사합니다

How to Type In Korean: Mac

I've noticed most people are interested in learning how to type in Korean on their computers. Unfortunately since I own only a Macbook, this tutorial will be covering the Korean IME on Mac computers.

Don't be scared though, it's really easy!

My computer is currently set in Korean but this should still work despite the language.

1. First, click the flag icon on the top taskbar.

2. Click the bottom option

3. Scroll down untill you see Korean. I use the Gongjincheong keyboard, which is romainzed version. It makes it easier to type and even reinforces hangul. Even so, you may want to switch to a traditional Korean keyoard later ;)

That's it!

Leave a comment if you have any questions/comments ;) And don't worry to change keyboards, all you have to do is click on the flag icon once again and select your language desired.

Korean Vocabulary Lists

Some people may argue that when learning foreign languages vocabulary lists are not helpful and rather detract from learning the language. To some extent, I do agree with that statement.

In these past two months, I have utilized vocabulary lists that revolve around the TOPIK test. For those of you who do not know, the TOPIK is basically a test that tests Korean proficiency. Even though most of these words have proved to be useless so far, I have found that some of the words I learned were really beneficial. I am able to understand selected words whether I'm watching Korean television or even readying an article on Naver due to the fact that I studied these lists.

Here are some links for some lists:

http://sites.google.com/site/topikrevision/beginnertopikvocabulary
http://www.topikguide.in/2010/05/most-common-korean-verbs.html

I recommend you print out these lists and study them whenever you have free time. I'm currently studying these two lists right now ;) Keep in mind, most of these words are beginner words, so I only suggest new learners of Korean study from these.

Startalk Program

Not much news lately, just waiting for the school year to end...

I have been studying for Korean rather than my finals that take place this week ^^;;; At least I'm studying, right?

Always, I just wanted to make a quick announcement about a program I have the pleasure of attending this Summer. The program is called Startalk, and it's basically a government ran program that creates classes that allow students to learn new languages. My local university has this program but they only offer Arabic and Chinese (Other Startalk programs offer languages ranging from Dari to Hindi). I couldn't decide between the two, so I decided to take Chinese this Summer.

Since the classes are time consuming, and apparently intensive, I won't be able to study as much Korean as I want to – – during the month of July at least. >-<

If you are interested in studying with Startalk as well, I recommend checking with your local university/college. I will be blogging about my experience with this program, starting with the orientation I will be required to go on June 2. Be sure to check back ;)

Self-Studying Korean: Year 1

Whoa! I can't believe it has already been a year since I've started to study Korean. I'll start this blog post by describing how I got into Korean.

I was on Crunchyroll.com (being the crazed-anime fan I was), searching for a new anime to watch. I looked at the drama tab and clicked it because I was curious on what kind of dramas were available. In the end, I watched Coffee Prince and ended up falling in love with Korean culture.

Drama wasn't my only interest, let's not forget kpop! Super Junior and U-Kiss have really motivated me to learn Korean for various reasons ;)

I then started to utilize on sources to learn Korean such as TTMIK and Sogang (Just recently, actually). Before I knew it, Korean became a part of my daily routine, thoughts, and even actions. I have purchased some textbooks, so I hope to use those efficiently.

It feels like only five months have passed by... Unfortunately it feels like I haven't learned much. Here are a few goals that I have for this year:

-Learn 500+ vocabular words
-Learn 한굴 irregularities
-Review past notes
-Form sentences longer than 17 words.
-Study for at least 45 minutes every day
-Find more resources to learn Korean

Anyways, wish me luck !! I hope to study Korean for another year!

Integrated Korean Beginner 1

안녕하세요! 지금... 한국어 잭에서 공부해요 "INTEGRATED KOREAN BEGINNER 1".

이 채을 좋아요. 하지만 정말 쉬은 네요 ㅎㅎㅎㅎ

I ordered two more books online, from the intermediate series (1 & 2). So far, I reccomend it.  The grammar points that are covered in the book have many examples and explanatoins.

If you are somewhat proficient in Korean, DO NOT get this book. It may be too easy ^^;;;. I took a risk and will be venturing into the intermediate series since I'm focusing on learning more information, rather than reinforcing it.

Anyways, if you feel like you need some basic Korean help, this book is great for basic Korean.

thanks sacred tree

Hi! This is my new blog! Thanks for visiting. I like mangos and japanese things. Anyways, feel free to bookmark and return. This blog will mainly contain my progress on some of the languages I'm learning- Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. Someday, I'll have a lot of content and other stuff. Just wait and see. anyways... see you sometime soon!