My 11 Month Progress Video Learning The Korean Language

  • Donovan Nagel
    Written byDonovan Nagel
    Donovan NagelTeacher, translator, polyglot
    🎓 B.A., Theology, Australian College of Theology, NSW
    🎓 M.A., Applied Linguistics, University of New England, NSW

    Applied Linguistics graduate, teacher and translator. Founder of The Mezzofanti Guild and Talk In Arabic.
  • Read time3 mins
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My 11 Month Progress Video Learning The Korean Language

Yay! 🙂

Last September I had a great idea to put together a progress video of me speaking Korean every month during my time in Korea.

As much as I enjoy sharing it with you, it was mainly meant to be a way for me personally to track my gradual improvement in the language – something for me to look back at later on.

It didn’t quite work out the way I’d hoped (for reasons I outlined here) so there’s a bit of a gap sadly since the last video but I’ve finally got the renewed vigour and time that I need to get everything up to date.

Is my current level anything remarkable?

I don’t believe so.

Despite an unexpectedly tough year I did stick with it and pushed myself quite hard. As was the case with Irish, I refrained from studying any grammar until only two months ago (in preparation for TOPIK).

As I’ve said before, you don’t need to study grammar to learn to speak a foreign language and yea I make plenty of mistakes and I’m miles from perfect but that’s natural!

I can’t stress this enough – recording your own progress will help you a lot

Even if you feel a bit silly doing it! 🙂

I’m a big believer in the benefits of making progress videos like this one and I encourage you to do the same.

You don’t have to make them public like I do but just do it for your own benefit.

It’s very easy to think we’re not improving but when you listen to yourself speaking off-the-cuff (unprepared) like this at different stages, you can start to see how much better you’re getting and the areas you need to work on.

Don’t think about what you’re going to say – just hit record and say the first thing that comes to mind and let it flow out naturally.

You’ll quickly see how much you know (or don’t know) by doing this.

I can hear loads of things I need to improve on just by watching this video now but when I’m with native speakers I don’t always have a chance to stop and take note of things like this.

Back to Korea (briefly)!

I want to bring this language up another notch before I move on to my next project (I’ll be back to regular italki lessons to help me improve in the coming weeks).

Originally I was going to be moving to one of my favourite countries in Europe to learn that language this month (I’ll share more on those plans soon on my Facebook page! :wink:) but I’m just a wee bit unsatisfied with my Korean skills as they are.

So back I go for a little while longer. 🙂

Tomorrow I’ll be hitting the road down the east coast of Australia all the way to Melbourne where I’m hoping to get plenty of language practise along the way with lots of interesting people.

I’ll update my Facebook and Twitter quite a bit too so if you’re not already connected with me there, make sure you do!

UPDATE: I never made it back to Korea sadly (long story!). Instead I went to Russia and became fluent in Russian (see here).

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Donovan Nagel
Donovan Nagel - B. Th, MA AppLing
I'm an Applied Linguistics graduate, teacher and translator with a passion for language learning (especially Arabic).
Currently learning: Greek
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10 COMMENTS

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Craig

Craig

아아 도너번씨... 비디오를보니까조금슬퍼요. 11개월에만그렇게배운게정말잘배우셨는데조금더오래한국에서살고조금더노력을하시면정말잘하실것같으니까요. 한국어는결국시간이좀지나야만배울수있고마스터할려면평생가야되거든요^^ 저같은경우는호주사람으로서십년넘게한국어를공부했는데아직멀었다고생각합니다. 도너번씨의한국어와다른나라말어학연수에대성공되시길! I’m the Australian guy who was in Gwangyang and was going to meet you in Gumi back then but didn’t get around to it. 저도지금호주에있습니다. 중국어열공중입니다. 앞으로도한국어공부를조금씩계속하시죠. 화이팅! Craig.

Eleanor

Eleanor

Hello there, it’s good to learn that progress video of your regarding your Korean learning process. It’s a tough language and since 2008 I’ve started learning it but till now struggling to speak fluently, but I’m enjoying whatever I’ve learned so far. Hope you’re also enjoying learning Korean as well.

JJJ

JJJ

Learning Korean is like climbing up the Mt. Everest!! It’s a very difficult language to go through and I’m having hard time in my third month of Korean language training. Although your progress is very impressive!!

@LITMK

@LITMK

Thanks for this post. It seems like a good idea to record yourself like this. I also find it difficult to remember the mistakes I make during a conversation. I remember at the time, and then as the conversation progresses, I may forget. I will give it a try.

Olivia

Olivia

Progress video of your Korean language speaking is truly amazing. I’ve heard that Korean language is very tough to learn and they have lot of words and grammatical ways as well. I’ve intention to learn Korean but always feeling scary about the situation I will go through during such process.

James Duffy

James Duffy

대단해요! 11개월 밖에 공부 안했는데 그렇게 잘해요~ 앞으로 친구들이 한국어 어렵다고 불평할때 그냥 그 비디오를 보내줄거에요 ㅋㅋ

저도 한국어 공부하는데 이제 5년 됐어요. 제 생각엔 제일 어려운 점이 재미있는 미디어 부족하는거에요... 일본어 공부하려고 하면 재밌는 아니메이션이나 영화가 되게 많지만 한국어 미디어 좀... 저 한국 드라마 싫거든요 ㅋㅋ

암튼 진행을 공유해줘서 감사합니다. 다음 언어 도전이 잘 되길 바래요!

Lucian

Lucian

James, we don’t know what you wrote! What language is this,korean?

Max Bronson

Max Bronson

촉아해요 Donovan! You’re progress is pretty impressive. Hope you have a great time back in Aussie.

What was the thing about learning Korean that stands out as being extra difficult or interesting for you?

Donovan Nagel

Donovan Nagel

Thanks, Max! ^^

Definitely word order.

I think that’s hands down the most challenging thing for English speakers when learning a language like Korean. Other than that, I don’t think it’s a very difficult language.

How long have you been learning Korean yourself?

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