So 3 months ago I wrote about My New Language Challenge where I gave myself 3 months to learn Korean.
It did not go as planned…
Starting on a High
So at first I was incredibly motivated. I was studying Korean vocabulary everyday and finally managed to arrange a Skype meet with a Korean girl. I even went to a local meet up and took a class in Korean!
This went on for about 1 month before my studying went down hill and I stopped altogether for about 5 weeks.
What Went Wrong
There are a number of reasons. Sheer business, more projects coming in, a full time job in an office, moving house…
Basically each time I had a chance to study or go to a meetup something came up or I was too tired.
These may have been excuses but it was honestly how I felt at the time.
What Went Right
Some thing DID go right though! I labeled objects at work in Korean which REALLY helped! (I can easily remember the words for chair, table, phone etc…)
I also named objects and tried to remember words while walking down the street (i.e tree, man, woman, school, bank, etc…)
I wrote a few scripts and learnt how to say “my husband is American”.
The meetups and skyping DID help a lot too!
I also started to learn through Japanese and got some vocabulary and phrase books.
So the learning, script writing, and trying to remember thing DID go well. I just needed to keep it up!
What Now?
I’m really glad I set myself this 3 month deadline. It showed me what is achievable (or not) when you suddenly get really busy and have life events get in the way.
So my new plan is:
1. Learning 800-1000 basic vocabulary in 3 months (8-11 words a day)
How to Study Korean is an amazing website! It had a full course with vocabulary and grammar with clear explanations for everything. It also has a Memrise course to accompany the lessons! It’s this Memrise course I’ll be using to try and learn my 8-11 words a day.
I’ll also be learning and trying to remember said words and practice writing them when I have free time.
I need to schedule a best time to focus on this vocabulary study, and set an alarm to remind me to get it done. It should only take 10-20 minutes a day to learn the 8-11 new words, plus 10-20 to review previous vocabulary. 30-40 minutes a day to study is a good, steady goal!
2. Writing out my conversations in a script & 3. Speak often with Koreans
I have another incredibly exhausting and busy month coming up with a lot of busy weekends. Including 1 week to fly back to the UK to see family.
I will try and attend more Meetups and skype with Korean people in May, and book some days in advance.
HOWEVER, I will see how things go. Hopefully May and June will go well and having 1 month of vocabulary/grammar study and 2 months of frequent speaking will help.
I know I won’t be able to speak it every day with a native because of scheduling, but I will see how things go.
I think it’s important to be flexible, realize what does/doesn’t work and keep going. Sure I stopped for 5 weeks, but I haven’t given up! That’s the most important thing: Don’t give up!
