This has been my problem. Been studying Korean for almost a year now and I can say I am Elementary level already but when it comes to listening, it is hard to understand. I can understand what I read but not what I hear... I wish to improve as I progress studying.... thank you Billy!!
I have been doing Korean for about 3~4 years now, and I still remember how frustrating it was in the first year as you seemed like you haven't accomplished anything. Ultimately just don't doubt yourself and keep at it. I work a lot on listening too so I agree with Nicole, a lot more work has to be done on that. Right now I am studying at an intermittent level, I am able to converse and even if I hear words I don't understand (which is still very often), I can ask for it's meaning in Korean and then I can understand the context enough to carry on. But even so my heart beats really hard everytime I speak to a Korean, because every sentence demands 100% focus and the fear of not understanding them is still really great.
I think you can absorb alot by watching Korean shows, interviews and listening to songs. I started learning Korean this year and due to health problems I've not been able to get down properly and study but I listen to alot of Korean music and watch alot of variety shows so I'd say my listening is my strongest skills even though I don't know what the words mean yet, I feel that I'm laying a good foundation for learning the language without it feeling like a chore
Thanks for the suggestions Billy and Sofie. My listening comprehension is the worse, but I'm working on it. A small suggestion for the reading portion, is I like going on hilokal and joining one of the room advertising reading practices. They read the text and go over the paragraphs meaning and grammar points, and then have everyone take turns reading after them. It's helped with my vocab, pronunciation, and listening
I'm not studying Korean but after watching so many videos done by kpop fans I have picked up a couple of phrases, in any language the more you listen the more you will be able to understand eventually. While I was learning English I exposed myself to different accents and that helped me to be able to understand more.
It was a very helpful video. My listening comprehension needs to get better. My problem is that I hear the words but then I stuck at one word and try to "translate" it ... "I know the word, I know it..." arghh. Mostly the conversation is too fast. So listening at a slower pace and shadowing is my next step I guess.
Yeah. I don’t understand people in bars when they speak English and it’s my native language. I also watch tv shows and movies with the English captions on by default. I’m so lost when listening to Korean mumbles or when people talk over each other. 😅 It’s going to be a long road. 😆 My friend is J-교포 and a TikTok streamer. So, I’ve started following Korean streamers and am starting to understand more. 😊
Ooh I love that area! It's in Hongdae😁 it is a nice place to relax. Listening is so hard in Korean because of how much focus it requires and a speedy reply back to the speaker which adds some stress. But the feeling of understanding them when they speak is so great!
Thank you for these suggestions Billy! I was literally today trying to find a cartoon network show dubbed in Korean to practice listening and do like a dictation exercise and I got very quickly frustrated cause the characters are so hard to understand with their voices being very silly.
So good. Thank you for this!! Listening Comprehension is definitely an area I know I need work on & have been trying to be more international about it. So I'm grateful for these tips! 🥰 Sidenote: I laughed so hard at the, "Hey 현우 *wink*" shoutout. It legitimately made me BUST out laughing! You are so hilarious 🤣 I love your videos. Thank you for helping us SO much & SO continually!
Recently I started Taekwondo and as I have 3 years studying this language I watch the Kukkiwon Taekwondo's videos explained in Korean to learn the 태극 and I'm learning a lot of Taekwondo words
I listen to Korean radio while I work. When I drive, my listening becomes passive, and when I'm stopped for a while, my listening becomes active. I found it funny when a segment was talking about food while I was driving, and I understood everything he said. I was like "I guess that's what my brain cares about the most" xD Maybe I should listen to more food related stuff, but I like having the variety lol
Billy, could you show us your notebooks and the notes you took when you studied Korean? Whenever I try using notebooks, they become an unorganized mess. And I never review them because it's appalling to look at that mess
Thanks it was good listening to you guys actually one of Billy’s videos encouraged me to learn Hangul!! I have a 6 months old granddaughter and I am trying to talk to her in Korean 😊 so I need to use more children material to be able to communicate with her I read The very hungry caterpillar and other stories to her in Korean I am not sure about my pronunciation but we are having fun . I am learning at TTMIK but at 69 years memory is a problem I keep forgetting and have to put in much more effort. Where and how do I find native Korean speakers?????
I feel the pressure for sure when it comes to my listening comprehension. I'm a lady and I seem to have an easier time understanding Korean when spoken by a man more than I do listening to a lady. Is that the case for anyone else? I get the shadowing the way a Korean speaker talks but I'm not sure I want to sound like 현우 씨. I also do shadowing without realizing it. Now that it's been pointed out I will try to do it more often. I have just started getting to the point in studying where I will think things in Korean before English. Only small words like 네, 좋아요, 또는 물. I say water a lot since I am always misplacing my water cup haha! Thank you for the tips!!! 👻
I started attending a Korean church a couple years ago. It’s getting me used to hearing the speech but I sure wish I could slow down the playback speed on conversations. Koreans talk very fast. But God bless them many speak enough English that we can talk. Any tips for older learners? I’ve spoken English for 66 years and have a lot of ingrained habits I struggle with (ex: reading a ㄹ as an S, ㄴ as L etc.). Thanks for your books and videos.
I feel like now that I'm almost at an intermediate level that I had to switch from trying to express something I wanted to say in my language (english) to Korean which hurts my brain cause it's not English, so I feel that I had to understand the usages and feel to certain things instead a direct translation from English to Korean. But what I'm finding is the more I spoke and practiced the more I could connect or pick up on what native Koreans where saying whether it be on social media, or a show, I don't understand everything but through exposure and knowing the general meaning I could understand what I learned.
When I was in school I found words in my 듣기 book that I couldn't hear on the CD. It was so frustrating. What I ended up doing is first send the sound bite in which the word occurred to a Korean friend. They wrote out exactly what was in the transcript, but I simply couldn't hear the sound. The sound was invisible to me, but not the Korean. I ended up putting the sound bite in a loop and listened to that one thing for maybe 15-20 minutes. Slowly the sound appeared in my mind. The reason I mention this is that listening actively doesn't work when you can't hear or differentiate the sounds.
I can read more but LISTENING is hard the only Way I can explain it is when I hear someone speaking. I understand what they say, but it doesn't click. As fast, as when I read. My mind takes to long to processe the words😭😭
Im native english speaker and my daughter was talking so fast i had to ask her whst did you say 3 times. I do that with watching tv in any language to make sure i understand it.
Hi! I have a question for Sofie, since she mentioned it.. On Ridibooks, are there any graded reader series? I've looked and I've not found any. But perhaps I just don't know the right words in Korean to find them! Any help would be so much appreciated. 감사합니다 선생님
Litsening is SO Hard cause I hate bot understanding? LIKE how am I gonna learn if i dont even understand!! I Mean I can listen to BTS but the problem is I don't want to get distracted. I MAY BE LOOKING AT THEM THAN PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THERE SAYING
Is it passive listening when you watch a kdrama while reading with subtitles? Generally I feel like I'm pretty engaged with the story while reading the subtitles. But I'm not sure if that would count as a sort of active listening. 🤔
Only you can answer that, but simply reading without trying to study from something is typically considered passive. For example, just reading a book in Korean without studying from it or looking up the words/sentences you can't understand would also be passive. It's not useless or anything at all (it's still helpful), but it'll be less effective than active studying.
how do you find content for you level ? what kind of books can you read that is beginner level. what audio content can you listen to when your a beginner. finding content for my level is difficult.
Just being surround by a language environment doesn't help, as you said. The Italian nonna or the Chinese grandfather never learn English even after 20 years in the country. Same thing other way around, especially if you don't live in the country and only watch dramas.
Whatever you use (books, lessons, etc.) you need to be practicing by using what you're learning. No amount of RU-vid videos or books (even my books) can make you fluent without doing your own practice outside of lessons.
@@GoBillyKorean I did now not the big Muzzy :) So you are the big Muzzy 😀 J’avais compris ‘la grande musique’ car tu prononces le ‘d’ à la fin de ‘grand’ , avec un accent bien de là-bas 😂: il ne faut pas :)
Learn vocabulary. Far more important than Grammer. Early on. Put the words in basic sentences and have no expectation that you will understand korean talking until several years of study and listening. Many words are not pronounced like they are written due to patchim and other rules. Learn vocab!
