How to Learn Korean Step 1: Master the Korean Alphabet
When I lived in Korea, I met lots of people who had tried to speak Korean without taking the time to learn to pronounce Korean characters. It seems like a quick shortcut to speaking the language. Glossing over Korean characters, though, impedes the learning process greatly. It causes problems because the sounds of English characters do not translate well into Korean. For example, here's how you say, "Korea has four distinct seasons." Hangugeun ne gyejeori tturyeothada. Read that and try to get the pronunciation correct! You're not going to like the results. What will happen is that you'll learn Korean with terrible pronunciation. Correcting bad pronunciation, bye the way, is much more difficult than just getting it right the firts time. So, don't use English characters to learn the Korean language--learn Korean characters now.
How to Learn Korean Step 2: Master Korean Grammar
Learning Korean grammar is essential to speaking Korean correctly. I see you cringing, and I feel your pain, but hear me out. I'm not suggesting that you spend tons of time doing sentence construction drills. What I'm saying is that you should get familiar with the basics. Why? Learning the basics of Korean grammar is necessary because it goes against what you'll "feel" is normal. For example, in English we use the structure Subject + Verb + Object. We would say, then, "I threw the ball."
Korean word order, on the other hand, is Subject + Object + Verb. In the example above, then, we must say "I ball threw." Notice also that I left out the article in this sentence. The Korean language does not make use of articles. Now, look at these two simple grammar rules I have given you. Then think about saying a sentence like, "I bought lunch." It's going to be easier knowing the grammar rules I gave you above, isn't it? It's going to be far easier, I'm sure you'll agree.
How to Learn Korean Step 3: Find Someone to Talk to
It's actually a good idea to begin speaking right away. I just want to make a point, though. Of course, my point is that you must learn proper pronunciation and correct grammar from day one. If you don't, you'll suffer from poor pronunciation and terrible grammar. Now you've got a great plan for learning the Korean language. Get to work, and enjoy your new language learning experience.
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Teaching in Korea is fun and easy, and you can make a ton of money doing it. Discover it now!
Teaching in Korea is fun and easy, and you can make a ton of money doing it. Discover it now!
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