Don’t listen to the naysayers. You’ve done a good job and you’ve been honest about what you can do and can’t do. I hope you have a great time in Korea. I think you seem like a social animal so any approach you take should include some regular social interaction.
Thanks Nendo! 😊 Yeah, in future, I think taking 3 months to be antisocial, especially this relatively close to the pandemic already being a much longer period of that, is something I should avoid for better mental health, which as well as simply being more fun, gives you more energy to be a better learner anyway!
Good luck with everything. I haven't been practicing or learning Korean much lately myself but I want to jump back into it. On a trip in Japan right now so getting plenty of Japanese practice... But haven't took any time this trip to study Korean... Occasionally looking at Korean signs though here is nice to know I can read it at least which isn't something I could have said last year. Lol. Have fun in Korea.
So interesting what you say about community - I 100% agree! With Spanish I was lucky to find ‘mi gente’ very early on. With Italian not so much and reflecting on it, it really affected my learning
You know it! I think you've given as concise a summary as I'd have been able to, for if I successfully push my Korean up a serious notch in these next short months: Will I find "mi gente" here or not? That's ultimately the deciding factor 😁
Viewers should keep in mind that Korean is what the Foreign Language Institute deems to be a “'super-hard language' - a language which is exceptionally difficult for native English speakers," requiring 2200 hours of classroom study to become fluent in, not to mention all the exposure you'd get outside of the class. If Benny's self-assessment is accurate, he's certainly progressing at an accelerated pace.
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence! But I've never held that FLI grading in much regard. So many aspects of what makes other languages hard like Slavic language many word case morphing, Celtic language lenition, very hard to pronounce letters, tones, Chinese characters being central to being able to read (Chinese and Japanese), Romance language conjugations, so many prepositions, separable verbs and a host of other things that can be a real pain to have to process in your brain as you're speaking so many foreign languages, are absent from Korean. There are certainly unique aspects of Korean to get used to, but my main problem is simply absorbing all the vocabulary and getting used to hearing and processing the language quickly, which would be an issue no matter what language I'm learning. Korean does have a very different word order, but fortunately I've learned enough non-western languages that it wasn't AS hard as it could have been. Learning any language is hard work. I'm not a fan at all of grading them on difficulties; I prefer to find the silver lining of why they may be easier, as this attitude can help a lot to encourage a learner to ultimately learn it faster.
I hope you have a great time in Korea. After all the self-imposed isolation you seem ready to burst 😄 Really interesting to hear your learnings and what you would try differently. Have fun 😊
Congrats man! We could have used you as part of our language learning community here in Chiang Mai! You know where to find us if you ever return! -Drew, Chiang Mai Language Exchange Party
Interesting! What makes you say that? If it's the eagerness to practise English, I've come across that almost everywhere in twenty years of travels around the globe, including in other Asian countries. I've found there are various ways to make sure they don't switch to English, or I simply gravitate towards situations where I'm more likely to use my target language. It also helps that I'm an incredibly stubborn bastard 😂. I've just lost 3 months of my life that I could have been social and enjoying Bali, and instead was having a very boring life of mainly studying, so I'm motivated to put what I've learned to good use, and I'll be way more reluctant than nearly all other fresh arrivals to give in to speaking English, unless it's truly necessary. But maybe you mean something else?
@@fi3m I'm sure a determined person (like yourself will find opportunities, but in most places (in Seoul, anyway) people will go for the easiest option, which is English. Probably easier to find people who don't/won't speak English outside of Seoul.
I'll be outside of Seoul for over half of my 3 months, so even if it is a particularly tricky city for a white guy to escape hearing English, I'm sure that will change quickly for me in my travels!
@@fi3m I lived in South Korea for a decade, and I can guarantee you will run into many people who cannot speak English. English is a required course in Korean education, but the focus is on grammar and not conversation, so while educated Koreans can understand spoken English, few speak it comfortably. One cool aspect of Korean culture is politeness, so expect to be praised extravagantly for having even a basic grasp of the language. Koreans don't expect foreigners to speak their language, and they will genuinely appreciate hearing you speak to them. Be sure to visit Andong and the Hahoe Folk Village, a locale that has preserved ancient Korean cultural and culinary traditions. Soraksan National Park close to the North Korean border has stunningly beautiful mountain vistas right out of a painting.
