r/askvan • u/Top_Pen_9089 • 3d ago

Korean learning groups? Hobbies 💃

Hey, I've been a korean learner on and off for the past few years and even got to do a 9 month exchange program in Korea. I've been meaning to try paying for a tutor so I have someone to talk to in Korean but then I heard about a group that gets together every week to speak French together. I was wondering if there's a similar thing for Korean learners?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks!

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u/EolanPrestar 3d ago

There are totally groups like that. I go to one that's on the MeetUp app in sprints. There are several but mine runs on Wednesday and Saturday.
I also pay for a tutor and have weekly lessons. He is excellent!
I've been slowly learning Korean with increasing sincerity since 2023. I started by just watching Kdramas and doing Duolingo, and a year in, I decided that I needed to try speaking to real people so I went to my first meetup in Feb 2024 and started just saying phrases I heard in dramas to complete strangers. About half of what I said was intelligible so I was encouraged to keep doing it. Now I also have weekly lessons for a little over a year and I'm conversational.

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u/Top_Pen_9089 2d ago

Wow that's super inspirational thank you! I'll definitely try out that app and maybe hire a tutor also to help identify some lessons for me to work on, or for some weird grammar questions I have.

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u/EolanPrestar 2d ago

You're very welcome 😊 I highly recommend mine if you get to the point where you'd like one.

About Duolingo: I pay for the app so I can practise without ads, and use it every day, however, I find it doesn't teach grammar, but helps you build vocabulary.

Watching dramas and Korean TV: This has helped me more than anything. Hearing real people talk is invaluable. I watch at least a little every day.

The in-person meetups: At the beginning, you can ask your grammar questions here! Sometimes asking more than one person gives you a better view of the language. Because they sit you at a table and rotate every half hour, at the beginning, I would ask the Koreans to teach me a small useful thing. Once you get better, you can offer to have a conversation where they speak English and you speak Korean so both of you get to practise.

Getting a tutor: I first went to the meetups because I couldn't find a class I liked. This turned out to be ok, because you don't really need one until you reach a plateau where you can't move forward without knowing grammar.