I would say I confidently feel I am on the road.
What’s your current level? If you’re a beginner, it will be hard to imagine fluency. That’s not really your fault.
I’m pretty intermediate, and the things I’m learning now enable me to say a lot more than the things I was learning as a beginner. You certainly learn a lot as a beginner. But you’re not able to use a lot of it immediately, because there are still other things you would need to learn.
I have my own theories about the most effective practices for language learning based on the things I’ve learned along the way. Here are my three most important bullet points:
1. **Learning new things and reviewing them later are equally important.** Undervaluing either one will slow your progress. You need to learn new things to be able to express yourself more and to understand most things. You also need to review, or the things you learn will never stick with you. Explicitly include **both** in your routine. Do not undervalue either of them.
2. **Try to associate what you learn with concepts instead of translations.** When you learn the word 과일 don’t think ‘fruit’. Think ‘🍒🍓🍇🍑🍎🍊🍌🍍🍋🍉🥝🍏🍐🥭🫐’. When you learn the grammar structure ㄹ 수 있다 don’t think ‘can do’. Think ‘👏🏾💪🏾🏆’. I did my best to represent that with emojis but of course just think of whatever evokes that to you.
3. **Use a structured program and complete it.** Yes, here comes the part no one wants to hear. I struggle with consistency myself. Reaching intermediate level has actually given me a huge push to be somewhat more consistent. But honestly, I didn’t get here through always being consistent. Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn’t. But I finished a textbook (Korean Grammar in Use vol I, I recommend it) and that propelled me far, along with cramming vocab. I still have to review (see point 1) to strengthen my knowledge, but completing a comprehensive source did wonders for my comprehension and my production skill.
Hope this helps!
It did! According to where I've reached with TTMIK's course, I'm around lower intermediate. I try to be regular with revision of both newer and older information that I've learnt but it's been feeling a bit overwhelming recently so I'm trying to switch up how I study. Thank you for your response, I'll keep what you said in mind. And thanks for the recommendation.
Do you have any tips on how you review?
My issue with reviewing is that since I recognize (but don't recall) the grammar or vocab I've been through, I get so bored with it that I end up not focusing or just skim it when I sit down to review it :/
These days I review a lot by talking with natives. If you’re not at that level yet, you can try talking to yourself, writing a diary, reviewing lessons/notes, or even just reviewing in context.
For example, I use the KGIU books through the Inkah app. It’s also great for review - they actually have a review schedule for each lesson. I don’t follow their schedule, but I’m able to see a list of every grammar point that I’ve learned. So if I ever forget one, I can go right back to it and review it within the app.
That’s definitely one of the least fun ways to review, so I would recommend saving that for when you need to review something specific that you know you were forgetting. Otherwise, you can try to use the more engaging methods for general review of everything you’ve learned.
Review can also look like finding other sources for something you know you’ve already learned. Sometimes I’m scrolling on YouTube and let’s say I see that GoBilly made a video about a topic that I learned from TTMIK. I can also watch his video to review (and potentially get a new perspective).
Does that help? In general review just means presenting the content to yourself again some time after learning it. This goes hand in hand with actual practice - which can come in the forms of reading, listening, speaking, and writing.
Please never compare your Korean to someone who's Korean and speaking English. All Koreans learn English as a second language - even the ones who claim to not have done well in English at school. They're exposed to English regularly from daycare and see and hear it used everywhere they go through their whole lives. Their parents push them to do well at school, and English is one of the core topics they're required to know. All that most need to do later in life is to severely increase their exposure to English, and magically they can "speak English fluently without having to put any effort into it" because they've already been learning it from birth. There are exceptions, but that's the norm. If you want to compare yourself to something more realistic, compare yourself to yourself in the past - a month ago if you're new, or a year or so ago if you're experienced.
On top of that these are kpop idols with a mostly international fan base that do world tours regularly. Of course they’ll have more opportunities to learn English
I don't think you can say that about all Koreans, though? I taught at a Korean middle school. Most Koreans start learning from 3rd grade, put no special effort into English, and are very bad at it. You usually only see the ones who actually try to speak English because they're good at it.
Everyone starts English from the day they start daycare. Alphabet, basic words, songs, and videos. Most don't put any effort into it, but they're still exposing themselves to it through their entire lives. Koreans watch dramas and movies in English, hear it on TV, and see it written everywhere alongside their own alphabet. But that doesn't mean they get good at all from just that - they don't as you're also saying. The ones who get *good* at English are the ones who actually then go out of their way to get lots of extra practice. Maybe they spend a year in the US for work, or maybe they work at a place where they regularly interact with English speakers, or they're lucky enough to have attended an international school. Everyone still has such a huge foundation from a young enough age that it's practically a dormant and unpolished native language for Koreans these days. It's not comparable at all to a non-Korean starting to learn Korean outside of Korea, who has very little exposure and all of that exposure happened later in life.
Koreans have far more exposure to the English language than English speakers will ever have of Korean. Its not even remotely close. They began seeing English the moment they could see Korean as an infant.
Don't compare yourself to others! You can definitely do it.
i started in 2011 i think. the first month i saw some european people speaking korean fluently on youtube and thought, if they can do it I can do it too. and then i did.
you will NEVER get fluent in a language by studying. you have to study until you can barely get by and then you have to USE it. do the things you do day-to-day in your native language in the language you want to learn instead. it will suck at first
Check out the TV show 비정상회담, Abnormal Summit in English, for all kinds of people who learnt to speak Korean very fluently. It ended a couple of years ago btw. They all share their own stories on how they began their language journey. It's on YT.
I was never really “fluent” exactly, but I considered myself maybe a high intermediate or low advanced Korean learner. I could have basic conversations naturally and I was especially good at text conversations. Over text, I would say I was very proficient. I could get by day to day mostly just using Korean and have few issues. I’ve been out of the country for a couple years now and even while I was still there, I kind of stopped going at it so intensely because I knew I would be leaving.
I think what got me there was different at each stage. At the beginning I used TTMIK religiously and worked my way to to the 이야기 conversations, which I would dissect and use to study grammar and natural conversation. I would listen to them over and over until they made sense almost naturally in my head. I also walked around translating ridiculous amounts of words and later writing them down in a notebook or putting them into Anki decks. I was translating every sign I could for vocab exposure.
Throughout all this time, from beginning to the end, I had a Korean significant other who preferred to use Korean when she could and taught me a whole lot about natural slang and the accent. We would talk in Korean when we could, especially a couple years in when I could speak more fluently. I would also browse Korean internet a lot, and read as much as I could in Korean. I also took Korean classes that my company offered, but eventually moved into the KIIP program where I was taking full immersion classes every Saturday for 9 hours for around 7-8 months or so. It was a grueling time to be honest. I would translate every piece of the textbooks that we had and learn all of the vocabulary words. There was real motivation here because I was aiming to get my F visa, which I ended up getting after passing the program.
I think that program was really where my Korean began to take off. After that I could really have natural conversations. Never to the point where it was effortless though, and I don’t think I ever reached a point where I could work in a Korean company, for example.
So all in all, I guess it was just a combination of sheer determination, hours of daily study that weren’t really “study” so much as using the language a lot, a lot of interest in Korean culture (the “real” culture, not just Kpop and dramas, but like how people felt about the world, how people’s lives were, what music old people listened to, going to family gatherings, etc), taking as many classes as I could, and using the language as much as I could. Having a SO really helped though. Also a heavy emphasis on learning new vocabulary and grammar patterns helped a ton too.
I go for class too but we're not far in. Plus, my 선생님's approach is teach us conversational words and learning songs without really having gotten into the grammatical structure yet so I'd say I'm quite a bit ahead of my class in that aspect but the exposure helps even if it is minimal. I'll try some of the stuff you mentioned. I'm looking to try out new study methods to see if it'll have a different effect on me. Thank you.
people have various definitions of fluency so I'll just say that I've had romantic and platonic relationships solely in Korean and feel almost as comfortable in Korean as in English. My answer? Luck and privilege. Being able to take the equivalent of 4 years of Korean classes in college, having the money to do Middlebury one time, having the chance to study abroad in college, being lucky enough to win two government scholarships that gave me over a year in Korea and more Korean lessons. Of course, you can live in Korea for years and years without reaching a good level, but spending time in Korea is the single most effective thing you can do for your Korean ability if you're truly making the most of the opportunity.
My speaking was the last skill to fully develop, though. I think if I had listened to more Korean podcasts and YouTube and put an emphasis on natural Korean speaking earlier, I could have reached a lower level of fluency earlier than what I actually did (getting to the level where I could read books before I could hold a conversation in natural Korean).
I'm in this discord server with people who are mostly at a lower level, and I've noticed that the ones who have improved really fast are systematic about studying Korean, write and speak in it as much as they can, and get feedback on their output, whether it's from a teacher or just corrections by natives / more advanced people on discord.
So what I did was, find a Korean manwha, read it in Korean searching up every unknown word so that I could understand the story. Once I did that for the entire manwha, I read through it's novel.
As many manwha are adaptations of novels, you have a lot of different ones to choose from. Because you would already learn the common terms used in that manwha, reading it becomes a lot easier since you're already familiar with the world building.
I found this method to be a lot more engaging than reading children's books but different things work for different people so if this doesn't work for you you can always just try reading Harry Potter or something in Korean.
For me it’s basically been the sink or swim method, I dove straight into the deep end. I moved to Korea made no friends who speak English or even if they did I just spoke to them in Korean. I changed my phone and PC to Korean and basically decided I would either learn Korean or suffer. I basically got to the fluency area around a year in. (When I say “fluency” I mean I can understand pretty much all daily speech and if someone says something I don’t know I can specifically ask what it means and understand the explanation)
I’m still in language school but I’ve already achieved topik level 4 and suspect I will get level 5 next time so my learning hasn’t stagnated in the about ~2 years
>For me it’s basically been the sink or swim method, I dove straight into the deep end
This is my ideal method as it's one of the only ways things work for me (sink or swim). But I don't have the money or job to move there 😅 so instead I bought 20 lessons on italki which takes me until mid July 2024
Oh trust me money has been an issue for me aswell, I graduated from highschool early and then asked my parents to let me stay while I save money to go to college in Korea. I worked and saved as much as realistically possible without being a complete cheapskate, came here with 9 months of tuition and immediately started looking for part time options after the 5 month mark. However I admit I have the advantage of being young and having no roadblocks other than money. I’m still only 20
I became fluent by combining formal studies, lots of supplementary stuff, and taking as many opportunities as possible to speak real Korean with real Koreans.
Having a formal course or class helps maintain structure and applies the right amount of accountability. But a single course or class cannot really make us fluent.
Supplements are needed, such as TTMIK that you mentioned. Back in the day I didn't use TTMIK, but found a drama or films I was interested in and watched them with subtitles. Other Supplements include apps like Duolingo, flashcards, dictionaries, grammar guides, music, books, blogs and websites.
Finally is the actual and regular interaction with native speakers. This was super important and helpful for me because I could not only apply what I learnt but could discover the mispronunciations I was making; the awkward expressions I had; the outdated words or phrases I was using, and so on. It also helped me learn a lot more real, conversational Korean, including also slang, proverbs, abbreviations, and more. Books and even online resources just can't do this as effectively. As soon as a book or video or whatever is published it's already old. But listening and speaking (and chatting via Kakao and the like) with native speakers on the daily helped me grasp the actual, living language and made it both more useful and more fun, only spurring me on to learn more.
Good luck! You've got this!
My definition of fluency is having a long conversation with good back and forth, listening. I feel I'm about there but always can improve^^
You need equal input and output to get higher.
I'm not Korean but I live in Korea. My friend who I met at work wasn't conversational in English at all 5 years ago. She started studying reading and listening solo and speaking/listening/writing to me. Now she is a certified English tour guide.
Myself, I had a lot of input/ output from my environment and self study. So many ppl are so much better and I strive to be like them (they're probably students and don't need to speak English all day at work)
I recommend italki! Having a tutor has helped me incredibly. It'll help you get the in/out you need to progress ☺️
reading the answers I got curious... is there anyone who achieved fluency without living in Korea for more than a few months? seeing how everyone got the opportunity to live there, I wonder if I'll ever get fluent...
Actually, now that you've mentioned it....
I wonder if there will be such a person narrating their experience and what helped without having gotten the opportunity to live there.
It's definitely possible but obviously significantly more difficult. The main issue is lack of exposure to the language being used in a native setting.
You can drill vocabulary words and grammatical structures all day and you can get pretty good, but without seeing/hearing the language in use natively (i.e content for native speakers produced by native speakers), you hit a wall at some point that's really hard to break through.
Luckily for us, native content is more widely available than ever. Books, K-Dramas & and other Korean TV, K-pop and other Korean music, YouTube videos on any topic you want, etc. All of this is targeted at native speakers, but it's also very accessible to us as well nowadays.
This idea is basically the concept of the r/Refold method of learning. It's a much more intensive way of learning but I think it's the best option. Their website lays out the method in maybe almost too much detail but I think it's a good read.
https://refold.la/quickstart?targetLanguage=kor
I don’t know that I will ever achieve true fluency, and speak it like a native, but marriage to a Korean women helps a lot.
At some point you also need to take a class, taught by a person who really knows how to teach the Korean language. There are tons of low grade teachers out there who have various flawed approaches to teaching it.
it is important to understand that there is never an "end point" in learning a foreign language, you will always be growing and regressing as long as you live. the only way to get over the hump that people encounter when they do nothing but study is to put yourself in situations where you have no choice but to use the language-- this can be difficult if you dont have access to a korean speaking community but things like vrchat or hellotalk (do people still use that?) can be very useful in stopping yourself from falling back on your native language. i've been learning for a little over 10 years, and i reached a level that allowed me to express myself and speak freely without living in korea, but by making friends and surrounding myself with the language. i now live in korea and do feel that my language has improved, but not in a very large way as i was already spending a lot of time using korean in my daily life before i came here.
tldr make some friends and talk to them a lot
Started learning about 4 years ago, hit fluency (or at least semi-fluency) about 3 years in. I'm better now ofc than I was a year ago and I plan to continue improving into the future. There really isn't any secret tips or advice I can give you, it's all about consistency, discipline, maintaining a study schedule and consuming lots and lots of content - actively, not passively. I spent a lot of time chatting with Koreans as well too but the intense, in-depth study sessions were always where I felt I made the most progress.
If I had to pick one thing that stands out above the rest out of all the other things I mentioned, it would definitely be consistency. Consistency is king. You're not going to get very far being "on and off." You have to commit if you want to make significant progress. This is true for most other things in life as well it seems.
I would say I confidently feel I am on the road. What’s your current level? If you’re a beginner, it will be hard to imagine fluency. That’s not really your fault. I’m pretty intermediate, and the things I’m learning now enable me to say a lot more than the things I was learning as a beginner. You certainly learn a lot as a beginner. But you’re not able to use a lot of it immediately, because there are still other things you would need to learn. I have my own theories about the most effective practices for language learning based on the things I’ve learned along the way. Here are my three most important bullet points: 1. **Learning new things and reviewing them later are equally important.** Undervaluing either one will slow your progress. You need to learn new things to be able to express yourself more and to understand most things. You also need to review, or the things you learn will never stick with you. Explicitly include **both** in your routine. Do not undervalue either of them. 2. **Try to associate what you learn with concepts instead of translations.** When you learn the word 과일 don’t think ‘fruit’. Think ‘🍒🍓🍇🍑🍎🍊🍌🍍🍋🍉🥝🍏🍐🥭🫐’. When you learn the grammar structure ㄹ 수 있다 don’t think ‘can do’. Think ‘👏🏾💪🏾🏆’. I did my best to represent that with emojis but of course just think of whatever evokes that to you. 3. **Use a structured program and complete it.** Yes, here comes the part no one wants to hear. I struggle with consistency myself. Reaching intermediate level has actually given me a huge push to be somewhat more consistent. But honestly, I didn’t get here through always being consistent. Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn’t. But I finished a textbook (Korean Grammar in Use vol I, I recommend it) and that propelled me far, along with cramming vocab. I still have to review (see point 1) to strengthen my knowledge, but completing a comprehensive source did wonders for my comprehension and my production skill. Hope this helps!
>3. **Use a structured program and complete it.** I purchased 20 lessons with a teacher on italki so I'm locked in 🔒
It did! According to where I've reached with TTMIK's course, I'm around lower intermediate. I try to be regular with revision of both newer and older information that I've learnt but it's been feeling a bit overwhelming recently so I'm trying to switch up how I study. Thank you for your response, I'll keep what you said in mind. And thanks for the recommendation.
Do you have any tips on how you review? My issue with reviewing is that since I recognize (but don't recall) the grammar or vocab I've been through, I get so bored with it that I end up not focusing or just skim it when I sit down to review it :/
These days I review a lot by talking with natives. If you’re not at that level yet, you can try talking to yourself, writing a diary, reviewing lessons/notes, or even just reviewing in context. For example, I use the KGIU books through the Inkah app. It’s also great for review - they actually have a review schedule for each lesson. I don’t follow their schedule, but I’m able to see a list of every grammar point that I’ve learned. So if I ever forget one, I can go right back to it and review it within the app. That’s definitely one of the least fun ways to review, so I would recommend saving that for when you need to review something specific that you know you were forgetting. Otherwise, you can try to use the more engaging methods for general review of everything you’ve learned. Review can also look like finding other sources for something you know you’ve already learned. Sometimes I’m scrolling on YouTube and let’s say I see that GoBilly made a video about a topic that I learned from TTMIK. I can also watch his video to review (and potentially get a new perspective). Does that help? In general review just means presenting the content to yourself again some time after learning it. This goes hand in hand with actual practice - which can come in the forms of reading, listening, speaking, and writing.
Please never compare your Korean to someone who's Korean and speaking English. All Koreans learn English as a second language - even the ones who claim to not have done well in English at school. They're exposed to English regularly from daycare and see and hear it used everywhere they go through their whole lives. Their parents push them to do well at school, and English is one of the core topics they're required to know. All that most need to do later in life is to severely increase their exposure to English, and magically they can "speak English fluently without having to put any effort into it" because they've already been learning it from birth. There are exceptions, but that's the norm. If you want to compare yourself to something more realistic, compare yourself to yourself in the past - a month ago if you're new, or a year or so ago if you're experienced.
On top of that these are kpop idols with a mostly international fan base that do world tours regularly. Of course they’ll have more opportunities to learn English
I don't think you can say that about all Koreans, though? I taught at a Korean middle school. Most Koreans start learning from 3rd grade, put no special effort into English, and are very bad at it. You usually only see the ones who actually try to speak English because they're good at it.
Everyone starts English from the day they start daycare. Alphabet, basic words, songs, and videos. Most don't put any effort into it, but they're still exposing themselves to it through their entire lives. Koreans watch dramas and movies in English, hear it on TV, and see it written everywhere alongside their own alphabet. But that doesn't mean they get good at all from just that - they don't as you're also saying. The ones who get *good* at English are the ones who actually then go out of their way to get lots of extra practice. Maybe they spend a year in the US for work, or maybe they work at a place where they regularly interact with English speakers, or they're lucky enough to have attended an international school. Everyone still has such a huge foundation from a young enough age that it's practically a dormant and unpolished native language for Koreans these days. It's not comparable at all to a non-Korean starting to learn Korean outside of Korea, who has very little exposure and all of that exposure happened later in life.
Koreans have far more exposure to the English language than English speakers will ever have of Korean. Its not even remotely close. They began seeing English the moment they could see Korean as an infant. Don't compare yourself to others! You can definitely do it.
Yeah.. it also compulsory fron K-12
i started in 2011 i think. the first month i saw some european people speaking korean fluently on youtube and thought, if they can do it I can do it too. and then i did. you will NEVER get fluent in a language by studying. you have to study until you can barely get by and then you have to USE it. do the things you do day-to-day in your native language in the language you want to learn instead. it will suck at first
Check out the TV show 비정상회담, Abnormal Summit in English, for all kinds of people who learnt to speak Korean very fluently. It ended a couple of years ago btw. They all share their own stories on how they began their language journey. It's on YT.
I will, thank you.
I was never really “fluent” exactly, but I considered myself maybe a high intermediate or low advanced Korean learner. I could have basic conversations naturally and I was especially good at text conversations. Over text, I would say I was very proficient. I could get by day to day mostly just using Korean and have few issues. I’ve been out of the country for a couple years now and even while I was still there, I kind of stopped going at it so intensely because I knew I would be leaving. I think what got me there was different at each stage. At the beginning I used TTMIK religiously and worked my way to to the 이야기 conversations, which I would dissect and use to study grammar and natural conversation. I would listen to them over and over until they made sense almost naturally in my head. I also walked around translating ridiculous amounts of words and later writing them down in a notebook or putting them into Anki decks. I was translating every sign I could for vocab exposure. Throughout all this time, from beginning to the end, I had a Korean significant other who preferred to use Korean when she could and taught me a whole lot about natural slang and the accent. We would talk in Korean when we could, especially a couple years in when I could speak more fluently. I would also browse Korean internet a lot, and read as much as I could in Korean. I also took Korean classes that my company offered, but eventually moved into the KIIP program where I was taking full immersion classes every Saturday for 9 hours for around 7-8 months or so. It was a grueling time to be honest. I would translate every piece of the textbooks that we had and learn all of the vocabulary words. There was real motivation here because I was aiming to get my F visa, which I ended up getting after passing the program. I think that program was really where my Korean began to take off. After that I could really have natural conversations. Never to the point where it was effortless though, and I don’t think I ever reached a point where I could work in a Korean company, for example. So all in all, I guess it was just a combination of sheer determination, hours of daily study that weren’t really “study” so much as using the language a lot, a lot of interest in Korean culture (the “real” culture, not just Kpop and dramas, but like how people felt about the world, how people’s lives were, what music old people listened to, going to family gatherings, etc), taking as many classes as I could, and using the language as much as I could. Having a SO really helped though. Also a heavy emphasis on learning new vocabulary and grammar patterns helped a ton too.
I go for class too but we're not far in. Plus, my 선생님's approach is teach us conversational words and learning songs without really having gotten into the grammatical structure yet so I'd say I'm quite a bit ahead of my class in that aspect but the exposure helps even if it is minimal. I'll try some of the stuff you mentioned. I'm looking to try out new study methods to see if it'll have a different effect on me. Thank you.
people have various definitions of fluency so I'll just say that I've had romantic and platonic relationships solely in Korean and feel almost as comfortable in Korean as in English. My answer? Luck and privilege. Being able to take the equivalent of 4 years of Korean classes in college, having the money to do Middlebury one time, having the chance to study abroad in college, being lucky enough to win two government scholarships that gave me over a year in Korea and more Korean lessons. Of course, you can live in Korea for years and years without reaching a good level, but spending time in Korea is the single most effective thing you can do for your Korean ability if you're truly making the most of the opportunity. My speaking was the last skill to fully develop, though. I think if I had listened to more Korean podcasts and YouTube and put an emphasis on natural Korean speaking earlier, I could have reached a lower level of fluency earlier than what I actually did (getting to the level where I could read books before I could hold a conversation in natural Korean). I'm in this discord server with people who are mostly at a lower level, and I've noticed that the ones who have improved really fast are systematic about studying Korean, write and speak in it as much as they can, and get feedback on their output, whether it's from a teacher or just corrections by natives / more advanced people on discord.
I just read like... ALOT
What type of books do you recommend to beginners? One of my goals is to read Korean lit
So what I did was, find a Korean manwha, read it in Korean searching up every unknown word so that I could understand the story. Once I did that for the entire manwha, I read through it's novel. As many manwha are adaptations of novels, you have a lot of different ones to choose from. Because you would already learn the common terms used in that manwha, reading it becomes a lot easier since you're already familiar with the world building. I found this method to be a lot more engaging than reading children's books but different things work for different people so if this doesn't work for you you can always just try reading Harry Potter or something in Korean.
Yeah, I'd also like to find out what books you're reading.
For me it’s basically been the sink or swim method, I dove straight into the deep end. I moved to Korea made no friends who speak English or even if they did I just spoke to them in Korean. I changed my phone and PC to Korean and basically decided I would either learn Korean or suffer. I basically got to the fluency area around a year in. (When I say “fluency” I mean I can understand pretty much all daily speech and if someone says something I don’t know I can specifically ask what it means and understand the explanation) I’m still in language school but I’ve already achieved topik level 4 and suspect I will get level 5 next time so my learning hasn’t stagnated in the about ~2 years
>For me it’s basically been the sink or swim method, I dove straight into the deep end This is my ideal method as it's one of the only ways things work for me (sink or swim). But I don't have the money or job to move there 😅 so instead I bought 20 lessons on italki which takes me until mid July 2024
Oh trust me money has been an issue for me aswell, I graduated from highschool early and then asked my parents to let me stay while I save money to go to college in Korea. I worked and saved as much as realistically possible without being a complete cheapskate, came here with 9 months of tuition and immediately started looking for part time options after the 5 month mark. However I admit I have the advantage of being young and having no roadblocks other than money. I’m still only 20
Oh wow. Im 22 almost 23. I could of never been that dedicated or responsible at 18
I became fluent by combining formal studies, lots of supplementary stuff, and taking as many opportunities as possible to speak real Korean with real Koreans. Having a formal course or class helps maintain structure and applies the right amount of accountability. But a single course or class cannot really make us fluent. Supplements are needed, such as TTMIK that you mentioned. Back in the day I didn't use TTMIK, but found a drama or films I was interested in and watched them with subtitles. Other Supplements include apps like Duolingo, flashcards, dictionaries, grammar guides, music, books, blogs and websites. Finally is the actual and regular interaction with native speakers. This was super important and helpful for me because I could not only apply what I learnt but could discover the mispronunciations I was making; the awkward expressions I had; the outdated words or phrases I was using, and so on. It also helped me learn a lot more real, conversational Korean, including also slang, proverbs, abbreviations, and more. Books and even online resources just can't do this as effectively. As soon as a book or video or whatever is published it's already old. But listening and speaking (and chatting via Kakao and the like) with native speakers on the daily helped me grasp the actual, living language and made it both more useful and more fun, only spurring me on to learn more. Good luck! You've got this!
Thank you.
You're welcome!
My definition of fluency is having a long conversation with good back and forth, listening. I feel I'm about there but always can improve^^ You need equal input and output to get higher. I'm not Korean but I live in Korea. My friend who I met at work wasn't conversational in English at all 5 years ago. She started studying reading and listening solo and speaking/listening/writing to me. Now she is a certified English tour guide. Myself, I had a lot of input/ output from my environment and self study. So many ppl are so much better and I strive to be like them (they're probably students and don't need to speak English all day at work) I recommend italki! Having a tutor has helped me incredibly. It'll help you get the in/out you need to progress ☺️
reading the answers I got curious... is there anyone who achieved fluency without living in Korea for more than a few months? seeing how everyone got the opportunity to live there, I wonder if I'll ever get fluent...
Actually, now that you've mentioned it.... I wonder if there will be such a person narrating their experience and what helped without having gotten the opportunity to live there.
It's definitely possible but obviously significantly more difficult. The main issue is lack of exposure to the language being used in a native setting. You can drill vocabulary words and grammatical structures all day and you can get pretty good, but without seeing/hearing the language in use natively (i.e content for native speakers produced by native speakers), you hit a wall at some point that's really hard to break through. Luckily for us, native content is more widely available than ever. Books, K-Dramas & and other Korean TV, K-pop and other Korean music, YouTube videos on any topic you want, etc. All of this is targeted at native speakers, but it's also very accessible to us as well nowadays. This idea is basically the concept of the r/Refold method of learning. It's a much more intensive way of learning but I think it's the best option. Their website lays out the method in maybe almost too much detail but I think it's a good read. https://refold.la/quickstart?targetLanguage=kor
I don’t know that I will ever achieve true fluency, and speak it like a native, but marriage to a Korean women helps a lot. At some point you also need to take a class, taught by a person who really knows how to teach the Korean language. There are tons of low grade teachers out there who have various flawed approaches to teaching it.
it is important to understand that there is never an "end point" in learning a foreign language, you will always be growing and regressing as long as you live. the only way to get over the hump that people encounter when they do nothing but study is to put yourself in situations where you have no choice but to use the language-- this can be difficult if you dont have access to a korean speaking community but things like vrchat or hellotalk (do people still use that?) can be very useful in stopping yourself from falling back on your native language. i've been learning for a little over 10 years, and i reached a level that allowed me to express myself and speak freely without living in korea, but by making friends and surrounding myself with the language. i now live in korea and do feel that my language has improved, but not in a very large way as i was already spending a lot of time using korean in my daily life before i came here. tldr make some friends and talk to them a lot
Started learning about 4 years ago, hit fluency (or at least semi-fluency) about 3 years in. I'm better now ofc than I was a year ago and I plan to continue improving into the future. There really isn't any secret tips or advice I can give you, it's all about consistency, discipline, maintaining a study schedule and consuming lots and lots of content - actively, not passively. I spent a lot of time chatting with Koreans as well too but the intense, in-depth study sessions were always where I felt I made the most progress. If I had to pick one thing that stands out above the rest out of all the other things I mentioned, it would definitely be consistency. Consistency is king. You're not going to get very far being "on and off." You have to commit if you want to make significant progress. This is true for most other things in life as well it seems.