Learning Korean

This entire past year has been a struggle with learning Korean. There had been A LOT of ups and downs. Every time I meet a language group (or anyone who can help me learn Korean), the first thing they ask is "What made you want to learn Korean? When did you start learning Korean?" My answer is always, "I watched too much Korean drama and wanted to sing along to the Korean songs... so I thought that I should just learn it" and "I started 4 years ago, but I didn't really try learning it until this past year". And that is the truth, that this past year has been a serious growth struggle and growth spurt for me in terms of learning Korean.

Ever since my trip to Korea last summer, I struggled to maintain the same rigor of studying I had in that intense Sogang atmosphere while in US. It's really hard. I can hardly find anyone who teaches Korean around me with a reasonable price. I honestly tried everything I can think of..... I looked through all the local colleges for Korean classes and the closest ones are all 30 minutes away by driving. I tried Coursera, but the classes on there are too easy. I tried to find Meet Ups, but they're either very far (K-Town or Irvine), or they want you to go to their church. I tried HelloTalk, which is an app I still use to write to people, but I rarely TALK to anyone on there. After feeling really discouraged about my learning process.... I finally found some solutions! I found a website that helps you find locals who also wants to do language exchange and I am now doing video conference with a woman living by UCLA. A new Meet Up started in Hacienda Heights/La Habra area and we've been meeting for 5-6 times already! Amanda introduced me to AmazingTalker from Taiwan where I study with a Korean teacher (she speaks Mandarin) about once every 1-2 weeks.

After such intense studying this past year, and many many discouraging thoughts, I finally feel like I'm getting better! There were many times that I really wanted to give up being fluent in a third language.... there were just too many walls. Every time I make up a sentence, there is always something wrong with it. It just seems like I couldn't get better. It was so discouraging so frequently. Thank God I persisted..... and now looking back, I can definitely say that I'm much much better than I was one year ago.

I took a sample TOPIK I exam last night on reading only and I actually passed it! TOPIK exam is a Korean fluency test, and there are only two tests: I or II. This is the quick summary from Wikipedia:

TOPIK I - Level 1: 1st grade fluency (beginner)
TOPIK I - Level 2: 2nd grade fluency (beginner)
TOPIK II - Level 3: 3rd grade fluency (intermediate)
TOPIK II - Level 4: 4th grade fluency (intermediate)
TOPIK II - Level 5: 5th grade fluency (advanced)
TOPIK II - Level 6: 6th grade fluency (advanced)

So the test I took said that I should take the TOPIK II exam instead. Honestly, even though the highest level says it's 6th grade fluency, it actually means you're fluent enough to be able to attend a Korean university... although you're still not as fluent as a native Korean. Looking at my goals realistically, I think it would be nice if I can even reach Level 4. If I can get there, then I can already converse with Koreans regularly without too much problem. So.... just to set a milestone for myself, I'm gonna plan to take the TOPIK II test some time within the next two years! Just to push myself a bit more with a clear goal ahead of me.

Anyways... what I really wanted to say is, I can really see my improvement! The most visible improvement is my listening and reading skills improved a lot! When I'm watching Korean drama, if they don't use too much slang and speak at a medium pace, I can probably understand 50% of the content! For variety shows, it's just way too fast for me... I would say that I can understand maybe 10%. When I read song lyrics, if it's not a rap song, I can probably understand 50%+ of the content! *patting my back* Good job Ann! Hard work pays off...... or does it? Why the heck am I learning Korean anyways? Haha... great question. I think it's just a nice thing in my bucket list to achieve :)

Just wanted to share my excitement about my progress..... and just being able to notice my progress is quite amazing!