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Korean via Duolingo?

ColourMePurple

She mentioned the same thing I did - that to improve your Korean fastest you need to increase your output which is speaking and writing. Unfortunately, this year I haven't been able to dedicate enough time to practice writing and hardly any for speaking but hopefully when things settle a bit, I will be able to improve. But I already understand quite a bit of Korean when I simply watch Korean variety shows. So that's something.

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DmXas
 ColourMePurple:

She mentioned the same thing I did - that to improve your Korean fastest you need to increase your output which is speaking and writing. Unfortunately, this year I haven't been able to dedicate enough time to practice writing and hardly any for speaking but hopefully when things settle a bit, I will be able to improve. But I already understand quite a bit of Korean when I simply watch Korean variety shows. So that's something.

Good luck with your practice ;)

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ColourMePurple

Thanks. Unfortunately current circumstances aren't allowing me to practice Korean. Hopefully when things get easier I'll be able to focus more on the output.

Still doing daily practice for an hour so thankful for that.

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Badass Bunny VIP

So, I tried duolingo and it is total bull....


I learned 80% of my Korean through watching and I know that everyone has completely different style in learning. I have always excelled in listening, so I do retain the words super fast, so my vocab is great. With each language I always learn vocab first, than sentences and no, I do not combine them. I tried, but this method always failed me. So, I have this app called ''Avocards'' and it is used for vocabulary. They even use song lyrics so it is very fun to learn. 


In terms of hangeul, even before I enrolled in my Korean History major I have always loved going directly to the source of knowledge. There are MANY romanizations and it isn't possible to just ignore it, because I am a translator and I do need to use romanization for others, so....National Institute of Korean Language guys :)

https://www.korean.go.kr/front_eng/roman/roman_01.do

That is the most correct form of romanization and most approved. The most common romanization around the world is the romanization which was ''created'' for native English speakers. I do not approve it, and at my uni it is not taught (yes, we do have Korean professors). 

Funny story; I was bashed by someone online by talking about an EXO member because I said "Do Kyeong Su" well...it is really his name LOL

Funny story2; I can't forget how some ppl went crazy when I think JK from BTS posted his name card for some event and his name was written in the correct form, which is ''Jeon Jeong Kuk''. You can't imagine how livid some people were...


So, recapitulation of my advice; vocab, watching dramas, learning proper romanization for better  pronunciation and than grammar and sentences. 

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ColourMePurple

Different methods work for different people. I definitely agree that vocabulary is important when you are first starting. The more words you know the easier it will be to form sentences that you actually need.

I don't care for romanization because it will not give you the correct idea about the pronunciation. I remember 3 years ago I was trying to look up an actor and the letter ㄱ was romanized as both g and k and because of that I was struggling to find the actor because his name started with ㄱ. I couldn't understand how one letter in Korean can be both G and K so I thought it was a different person. I also didn't know about MDL at the time.

I started learning Hangul quite late. I first just started by picking words up while watching kdramas. Now I think Hangul should be learnt as early as possible.

Once you have the basics down, learn about Korean sentence structure and then slowly learn more vocabulary and grammar. Simple grammar at first like present, past, future and formality levels. And also learn the pronunciation rules as you progress.

Duolingo was still okay some time back when they had the discussions available on each sentence. There was so much valuable information in the comments with actual Koreans explaining things. But now it is totally up to you to figure out what is going on. They added very very basic grammar explanations on the Korean course recently. So duolingo cannot be your sole source of learning but it is good for listening and writing  practice.

One other option for practice is having a conversation with an AI. A Korean also recommended the naver app for speaking practice recently. Then there are YouTube channels that help with listening and speaking practice. Consuming as much content in Korean as possible is helpful so you pick up how Koreans speak. Imitation is the best start for speaking practice. 

Memrise has a decent Korean course but it is all going paid so it's usefulness will decline greatly unless you can afford to pay. But they teach far more natural and useful sentences than duolingo.

There are community courses also which are now moving to a website and I like the one based on Talk To Me In Korean.

A lot of free sources of learning are sadly becoming paid so Youtube still is the best source and some books that you can find pdf versions of if buying them is not a viable option.

But if you can spend money then getting a Korean tutor is probably best especially if you are a high beginner. I feel like leaping into intermediate level is what I am struggling with the most and a Korean tutor would help a lot with that. But I am going to be at it alone as I lack both time and finances at this time. Next best thing is to get other Korean learners who are at a higher level or similar level to ask doubts to. You can also ask doubts to Korean tutors in comment sections. Many of them reply with explanations which are quite helpful. Especially when it comes to grammar.

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Seruhio

For hangul and basic pronounciation you have a crash course in Coursera by "Yonsei University"
For grammar and vocabulary I started with the books and youtube videos of "Talk to Me in Korean"

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ColourMePurple

TTMIK books do come highly recommended. I haven't gone through them diligently enough to judge since I discovered them late. But they have several good series that I like referring to.

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ColourMePurple

Just wanted to update my progress. I have gotten the hang of Duolingo and maybe in a few months I will complete the Korean course (unless they add more units).

The most frustrating thing about Duolingo at this point is having to learn topics that I truly have no interest in. Like there was a unit on sports and there will be a unit on the Olympics. I just don't find them as important so I don't care much if I remember those words. So the organisation is just terrible. 

It is also quite hard to learn words that you specifically struggle with. I wish there was a feature to mark a word or sentence as weak (this can be done in Memrise) so that it would be repeated to you without you having to get an answer wrong. Although every 50 days, it gives me 3 days of super which has a words practice feature, it doesn't let you choose words to practice. I find some words very similar and would like to have those repeated  but can't or at least I don't know of a way.

Grammar wise, I feel like the lessons are not really introducing many new grammar forms. Because I also use Instagram accounts that teach Korean as my source, I pick up on many words and grammars before Duo actually covers it.

If you are using Duo as a main source, I would definitely recommend ignoring the tournaments because proper learning takes time. So take the time to understand each sentence but if you end up focusing on the tournament, you'll be more worried about the speed at which you go through lessons.

The main positive about Duolingo is you form a habit of learning in an attempt to keep your streak.

Finally, I don't think Duolingo can get you to a C1 or even B1 level. A2 might be the best. So you will still need other sources to work with. But hopefully as a high beginner it will be easier to progress and pick up on grammar more easily.

If you don't prefer books, I have seen several wonderful channels teaching Korean and are great if used consistently. They probably introduce the most natural sentences as well because Duolingo sentences aren't so great. Do try to find a channel that suits your need and speed.

And if you are picking up words through kdramas, I found this neat YouTube video that has useful vocabulary.

 https://youtu.be/pVqDK8wnONs?si=_5AKdKAQxe4Rvf9I

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