i always say i'm not a study channel
and then i make all these videos about studying
hello my friends it's nina and i am here to give you more tips
for this video i am bringing together all of my
study tips on how to study korean
on my channel there are already two videos on how i study korean
but i just decided to do it again because i have new tips
i feel like some people have not seen those videos
so i'm just going to make a new one
so because of that i may repeat some tips i've said in past videos
but it's okay to refresh your brain
and these are all tips that are pretty helpful to me when i study korean
so hopefully this is helpful to you
but without further ado let's just get into it
so i actually wrote down all my tips in my bullet journal
i'm gonna say a disclaimer right now
i am not a study channel
i also don't teach korean on my channel
there are plenty of resources for that
i've gotten dms from people asking if i can teach them pronunciation
or how to say something
that's not what i plan to do on my channel
so that's just a disclaimer
i don't do that
so if you're gonna follow me for that, don't
these are just my tips, from someone who is also studying korean
and also if you don't know this, i'm korean
korean american learning korean
i mentioned that way too many times on this channel
but anyway we're going to get started
so as i was saying about many resources on the internet
the first tip i have is obviously starting with a website
i've mentioned this in past videos but
it is definitely helpful to start with a website
because it literally gives you somewhere to start
two websites i recommend are how to study korean and talk to me in korean
i primarily use how to study korean
it was the first website i ever found
and it is very helpful
it has a lot of units and a lot of lessons
and with this website there's no romanization
so it really forces you to learn the alphabet
and depend on only the alphabet
for some people romanization can be helpful at first
but i think it's important to learn the alphabet itself
rather than depend on romanization for the rest of your studying time
in korean there are only like 20 something characters
so it's really not the most difficult thing in the world
but talk to me in korean does has romanization if you need it
because obviously sometimes you need it
especially if you're starting out
they each have different features so just find what is more comfortable for you
and then once you found your website or your program
textbook, whatever it is
it basically covers all the foundation stuff that you need to know
such as pronunciation, how to write characters
how to literally learn anything about korean
but honestly pronunciation's not the most difficult thing in the world
just make sure you google it
or start from the beginning
if you just start in the middle of nowhere
you're gonna miss out on a lot
and the next tip i have ties into all of this
which is get down your pronunciation and spelling first
people can get excited and skip over this
thinking "oh i'll learn it later as i go"
if you want a good korean studying experience
please get down pronunciation and spelling as soon as you can
because if you don't get it down now
later on it's gonna get more confusing
and you're never really gonna learn it properly
you definitely sound a lot more proficient if you know
how to pronounce what you're studying
and then later on once you learn more words
it's going to help to know the difference between some characters
or you might think that one word sounds like another word
but it might mean a whole different thing
so be careful while you can
i have a german friend and she can read korean without romanization
so it's not impossible
you literally just have to teach yourself
please get that down first
moving on to the next tip i'm gonna talk about
engaging with korean entertainment
for ANY language you learn this is going to be extremely helpful
this is where you're going to hear people literally speak in the language
and you can just engage with it more
have fun with it
and apply it to your own life
i actually made a list of various forms of korean entertainment
that i'm going to tell you right now
my top favorites are definitely korean dramas and korean variety shows
i watch basically all my korean dramas on viki
and a special feature about viki is that it has a learn mode
which provides english and korean subtitles together
it might be korean and another language
depending on what language is your main language
so i watch my korean dramas on viki
i watch a lot of korean entertainment shows on youtube
just because they're available on youtube
an example is the return of superman
i really love that show and it's on youtube
so you can watch it if you want
but obviously with korean shows
you get to hear people literally speak to each other
and speak in conversation
but youtube itself is just a great resource for korean media
there are korean vloggers, korean beauty,
korean
this and that
just subscribe to a lot of korean speaking channels if you want
because you'll always have context there for you
i also highly recommend listening to korean music
you definitely don't have to be a kpop stan to study korean
there are other genres available
there's korean hip hop
korean r&b
korean indie music
korean folk pop (??) music
there's just a great variety
find what is best for you
i feel like being a kpop fan though just has a lot of advantages just because
a kpop artist is literally always active in the korean entertainment industry
so you're always seeing their variety show appearances
you're listening to a lot of their music
studying their lyrics
you read their tweets and other social media posts
so you're just constantly fed content basically
so if you're bored and have nothing to do i definitely recommend becoming a kpop fan
but if you don't like kpop, that's fine
just listen to any genre of music that is sung in korean
it'll help a lot
and also a bonus tip with korean songs
i mentioned this in a past video
but i like to study the lyrics as much as possible
i even have a notebook dedicated to-
oh shoot
i should've mentioned
i have a notebook for korean
this is the first thing i should've mentioned
but basically i do have a notebook for korean
i like to write my notes because it helps me with my handwriting
but you can also type your notes because that helps with typing on a keyboard
whatever you prefer but i just like handwriting my notes
this is a muji notebook by the way
it's an A5 notebook
this is my notebook for writing down lyrics
and a nice thing i like to do is
write down the korean lyrics
and then on the side i like to write the english translation
and then after i do all of that
i like to underline words in korean that i don't know
it's okay if you underline all the words
but eventually as you learn more korean
you'll recognize words and just be more comfortable with the language
but obviously there will be new words that come up
i like to underline words that i don't know in red
so that i can see it
and then at the end of all the lyrics i like to put a little word bank
which is where i will put new words
and then i'll just collect all the words that i underlined
and then write the translations
and that's just a good studying method for me
so this is just a great way to engage with the lyrics
memorize the lyrics if you ever go to a concert and you wanna sing the songs
but i like having this word bank system
because it allows me to see what words i don't know
what words i learned
it's just been a very effective method
so i recommend that as well
but basically engaging with a lot of entertainment provides context
for example i'm a fan of bts
and i get to watch their variety show which is 'run bts'
i get to read their tweets in korean
i get to listen to their songs and they have a lot of songs to choose from
and so me being a fan of bts i just always engage with korean
i also wanna give one example of how context works in my brain
so for example in korean there's this grammar structure
that allows you to say "can i do blah blah blah"
and the grammar structure goes something like
~면 안 돼?
such as 이거 하면 안 돼?
or 먹으면 안 돼?
something like that
and for some reason whenever i encounter
this grammar structure in my daily life
my mind always goes back to this run bts episode
in this one scene where jungkook asks
if he can ride a ride again
and he says this
which basically translates to
can i ride this ride, something like that
so my mind always goes to that
that's just an example of context working
but it's just a perfect excuse for you to relax
and watch something fun while learning at the same time
so the next tip i have is try to study vocab as much as you study grammar
a problem i have with studying korean
is i still don't study vocabulary as much as i study grammar
and that's not a good thing to do
you can study all the grammar you want
but if you can't expand your vocabulary
and put yourself in different situations
you're not gonna be able to survive
i have a very basic vocabulary
so i always tell myself "oh i don't need to learn vocab right now"
let me just learn all the grammar and then take care of vocab as it comes
but whenever i listen to anything in korean
i literally only understand half of what they're saying
so definitely expand your vocabulary
and try to study vocabulary as you go
with how to study korean
there's always a vocab set with every lesson
and you can make your own you can make some on quizlet
you can make your own flashcards
try to learn a lot of synonyms as well
maybe keep a thesaurus with you, or a dictionary
but if you don't know where to start with vocab
just think about your everyday life
and what you wanna be able to say in korean
think about words that you use often
foods, clothes,
household items, people,
animals, vehicles,
school related stuff, work related stuff,
just think of literally anything in your daily life
don't make it complicated
just think of words that you want to be able to say right now
you can start with chair
or lamp
or bed
or person
or water bottle
obviously learning a lot of grammar is good
but it's also good to be able to plug in as many words as you want into sentences
next tip i have is a pretty obvious one
which is keep a translating system next to you
whether that's a physical dictionary or an app on your phone
definitely have something with you all the time
if you're watching a korean drama or listening to a song
you can translate any time you want
on my phone i have the naver dictionary app
and on my laptop i use papago
which is i think the same system
it allows you to translate into a lot of different languages
but obviously i use it mostly for korean
but it does have other languages available
i use naver dictionary because a lot of people recommend it
a lot of people use it
i definitely recommend those
and relating to that tip,
my next tip is to have some kind of word dump next to you
and i'll show you an example of what a word dump is
oh where is she
i lost my word dump
so i have a sticky pad on my desk
and whenever i'm watching a korean drama
or whenever i'm watching something on youtube
and i hear a word that i'm not familiar with
i jot it down in korean
and then i translate the word and you just learn another word
and then once you fill this out
i like to stick it into my notes
here are some examples of word dumps that i stuck into my notebook
it's just a nice way to practice your handwriting
and literally also learn words as you go
i like to keep them in my notebook
so i have all my notes with me
if you don't use sticky pads you can also use literally your notes app
i like to use my notes app whenever i'm out of the house
or whenever i'm just not near my sticky notes pad
but i feel like also since we are in a digital age
it's good to practice your typing
and using a keyboard
try to use both maybe
i like to use both
i literally use both
but i write words all the time
so it's nice to have a word dump next to you
another tip that i kind of just came up with is
once you get to a more advanced level of korean
maybe try to watch things without english or whatever language subtitles
sometimes i like to watch shows without english subtitles
because sometimes i find myself to be dependent on just the english subtitles
to the point where i won't really have the volume of the video up really high
i'll just kind of read the video
just like with an english video
i'll sometimes have english subtitles on
just so i can read the video if i can't hear the video
especially if my surroundings are loud
but sometimes i will watch a korean show
or video or music video
without english subtitles
just because it's a good way to challenge your brain
and i feel like it forces you to recognize the korean you're learning
rather than just seeing the english subtitles
now this is obviously for people who are able to listen
i know that not everyone can listen to a video
my mom told me that when she was learning english
she would watch english shows without korean subtitles
and so she would be able to recognize english words that she learned
and she would be able to notice what words are used for whatever situation
the more tv she watched without subtitles
so that's what i kind of do with korean
i try to see what words sound familiar
what words are used for whatever situation
so that's just another tip
obviously you can do this when you are more comfortable with korean
i also like to do this tip when i've seen a video already once
so if i'm watching a run bts episode
i'll watch it for the first time with captions
but then when i watch it again later on
i'll watch it without captions
because i've already seen it
definitely try to challenge yourself by not depending on english subtitles
even if you don't understand every single thing
that's kind of the entire point of this
it's for you to be able to exercise your brain
and listen for words that you've studied
and for you to try to figure out what words are being used
and why they're being used
and all that
my mom told me she wouldn't understand what they were saying in english
but sometimes she would catch some words
and eventually she just got used to it
i haven't drank water at all in this video
(rip ryan water bottle)
and then my final final tip
that i can think of for this video
is to remember to speak out loud when you're learning korean
you can learn as much korean as you want
but if you're not speaking out loud
if you're not training your muscles
all that you studied is not going to help you
when you're actually speaking to someone in korean
speaking in korean is still hard for me
i still have to train my mouth to say words that i'm not used to
when you're watching a korean show, try to say what they just said out loud
maybe just pause the video and say it out loud
sing along to songs in korean
that's like the best way to do it
try to have conversations with yourself
ask yourself how you would answer a question in korean
if you don't have someone to speak to, try to speak with yourself
obviously if you have a friend or family member or peer that speaks korean
speak to them
because conversations can be difficult
especially if you're starting out
but it really trains you to be more spontaneous
and think
and really just engage with what you're learning
rather than just reading everything
and just putting everything in here
you have to train your mouth as well
get a korean book (novel, magazine, etc) and read it out loud
or read the sentences in how to study korean
or whatever program you're using
just read the sentences out loud
the words are gonna feel a little awkward in the beginning
but you really gotta train your mouth to be able to form these words basically
but those are all the tips i can think of for this video
these are just tips that i've used in my experience
so obviously if you have more tips
share them in the comments
help each other out
help me out i guess
but let this be a good fun experience
i hope that this video was helpful to you
and i will see you in my next video
let's bring it in for a hug!!
good luck studying and i will see you next time
goodbye my friends :)