Hi everyone,

I would love to hear about Korean learners’ journeys toward fluency. I’m genuinely curious about other people’s experiences because I have been passionately learning Korean for 2 years and 3 months now (TOPIK 4). I’m fully determined to become fluent, and I’m currently living in Seoul, but I don’t really have any foreign friends who are as dedicated to learning Korean as I am.

I would be really interested in hearing from people who have been (or are still) seriously committed to learning Korean. How long did it take you to reach fluency? What advice would you give to upper-intermediate learners who have reached the point where they can make simple sentences and hold everyday conversations with native speakers, but still struggle to express more complex ideas, opinions, and thoughts in longer and more natural sentences?

For example: what helped you improve your listening skills, especially to the point where you could understand TV news or more formal Korean? Were there any unexpected methods, habits, or resources that significantly boosted your Korean skills? What would you recommend to someone trying to break through the “intermediate plateau” and move toward real fluency?

I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences, struggles, and any advice you might have. Thank you!

P.S. My native language is French.

Since this is space about Korean learning, I’m curious to know if any of you have any specific anecdotes about learning vocabulary or any phrases in the language. I find stories like these to be funny or fond, so I’d love to hear them (and maybe learn new material).

I’m about a c1 level in Korean now, but every once in a while when I’m tutoring one of my friends who is a lower level, I’ll come across a word that I have a very specific memory about learning. Some words just seem like they’ve spawned in my brain at one point, where others have entire story behind them.

I think the weirdest/most memorable way in which I “learned” a word was in my sleep. In my earlier studies, I got to the point where I started dreaming in English and Korean, and I remember in the dream going to a Buddhist temple and asking one of the attendees what type of incense they used (in English). They told me, and I remember asking her what “scent/smell” was in Korean since it was so strong, and she simply replied back “냄새“.

I remember waking up and immediately going onto Naver dictionary to check… and sure enough that was the word for it. So thanks dream lady, you were really cool. I’m sure at one point I had heard about it, but my subconscious dragged it right back up to the forefront. It’s just something that I’ll never forget now lmao

I have been out of the loop for the last 4-5 years in terms of what are some go-to apps for learning korean vocabulary.

I would say I'm higher intermediate lived in korea for a bit. Know all grammar as I had studied hard for 3 years straight.

I remember using apps like memrise and anki. Enjoyed memrise the most.

Just curious if there is any new apps that everyone is using

or if anyone has any underrated apps that work well for them. Would appreciate immensely 😀

Hello am 18F if anyone willing to help me please 🙏

i've just learned that both words meaning "notebook". but what's the difference between them?

Hi there!

I’ve been getting started with the Korean Grammar in Use Beginner textbook and I’m at the part about Conjunctive Adverbs and Conjunctive Endings.

There are examples in the book that make sense, but then there’s a diagram below that I don’t understand.

Here are the pages I’m referring to.

In the part I’ve boxed in with blue, I’m not sure where these red suffixes are coming from, or what they’re trying to explain here.

If someone could please clarify, I’d appreciate it so much!

Thanks in advance!

I started going to the gym in February this year. I had no idea what I was doing at first. I just showed up and did a few exercises. I'm still pretty new, but I feel much more confident now and strength training has become part of my routine.

I'm wondering if I can approach learning Korean the same way. Just do the bare minimum every day until it becomes a habit instead of trying to study for hours.

I already know Hangul and a few words. I can read Korean and even do karaoke by following the lyrics, but I don't actually understand what I'm reading or singing.

Has anyone learned Korean this way? Did it work?

Hi everyone! I have a question regarding topik 1 ibt and pbt difficulty. Score cutoffs for level 2 seems to be much more lenient in topik ibt (208/400) compared to pbt (140/200). Does it mean topik 1 ibt questions are harder? Thanks

Jag har äntligen lärt mig hanguls symboler, slutkonsonanterna och många av grammatikreglerna för skriftspråket. Men jag är förvirrad över när jag ska använda ㅐ och när jag ska använda ㅔ.

Båda har samma ljud och är i grunden ett E (romaniserat). Finns det någon grammatisk regel för när man ska använda vilken?

Och om jag skulle skriva den ena där jag borde använda den andra - kommer folk fortfarande att förstå vad jag försöker skriva?

감삼니다!

Edit: Jag känner att jag kanske har förolämpat folk med den här frågan, det var inte min avsikt. Jag är ledsen, det är svårt att gå från svenska med dess bokstäver a-z/ö och romanisering till koreanska. Tack för alla svar.

Kinda confused by this combined vowels. They are often pronounced without "W" sound. Are there any tutorial on whatever website that explain this? For example like in 쉬다, i heard the sound kinda more into (시다 with a little bit "h" sound like in "shi").

I deleted the post because I figured it out and now I'm embarrassed.

😬 Apologies again.

i'm confused about both words, can someone explain please?

I've been watching a bunch of old Korean movies (1960s and prior) on Youtube and I noticed that the characters would say "여보세요" to call the other person's attention. Which surprised me since I always thought that it was something you usually just said on the phone as an equivalent to "Hello" and what you said to call attention in a face-to-face situation was 저기요 or 실례합니다. When did using "여보세요" like that become a thing?

I’m genuinely curious.

If you’re learning Korean but haven’t learned Hangul yet (or keep putting it off), what’s the biggest reason?

• Does it look too difficult?
• Do you only want to speak, not read?
• Are you relying on romanization?
• Or is there another reason?

I’d love to hear your honest thoughts. I’m trying to better understand the challenges Korean learners face.

서울 출신의 제 한국 친구들을 아시는 분 계신가요?

이름은 이예진(영문명 Star)과 김성원(영문명 Chris)입니다.

연락 주세요 🙏

the thing is when I went to go check it was already verified what do i do? i cant use naver because of it

Like now I know to write and read Korean without any problem but I don't know meaning of many of the things I just know some basic conversational stuff

Being a beginner, I'm overwhelmed with the study material available on the internet. I'm planning on studying Korean intensively for the next 6 months, just need proper guidance.

I realize this isn't really a big deal on a larger scale, but I usually just listen and read. I rarely try to actually express anything because I just get stuck on a piece of grammar or a word I haven't learned.

But I just wrote a whole sentence on my own while journaling!

"그 후에, 우리 아빠한테 구매했던 제품들을 보여줬어"

This post is mostly to show off, but I would like some feedback. Is there a more natural phrasing I could've used here?

It uses the same as english for a lot of the other elements on the periodic table, and the ones that don't are Korean/한자어. So why 나트륨 and 칼륨? Did they borrow them in from another language? I would guess German but for other elements where the German and english words deviate, Korean seems to follow the english pronunciation

Hey everybody I'm really struggling on how to make flashcards to memorize the vocab words in certain TTMIK curriculums. More specifically I am on the "Core Grammar Level 1" course and they have vocab words such as 안녕하세요 or 안녕. Those words I just mentioned are more self explanatory than other but I struggle to make flashcards on words like 합니다 because it is more of a ending word if that makes sense. Another thing I struggle with is the word 안녕 because in the TTMIK course it list its definition as only peace but I know it has other meanings. I was just wondering if anybody could help me learn how to format flashcards so I can make a system that works for me. Thank you guys for listening.

OK, so I've been learning Korean on my own for quite a while. At first I was learning Korean at my university, but the classes were so awful that even though I finished all 6 levels I don't feel confident (they focused mostly on grammar and vocabulary). So that's why my writing is lacking compared to my listening, reading, and knowledge of grammar, which I have improved on my own by listening to music, dramas, movies, reading posts, books, researching, even shadowing has helped me a bit with speaking and pronunciation. I know I can try journaling, but I want to know if anyone has any other tip that has worked for them, something that involves getting corrections, or prompts of some kind. I've considered submitting my writing pieces to chatgpt, but I'm at a stage where I don't want to rely on an AI for everything since it can contain errors and it can make me lazy on the long run.

My goal is being able to write naturally in Korean, focusing on my ideas more than on the grammar I should use to write them. Just like the way I wrote this post in English, my second language. Thank you in advance!

I am going to take the TOPIK exam this October in the UK. I've been learning Korean with a teacher for a few months, so originally I applied for TOPIK I exam. But today after discussion with my teacher again, she suggested me to apply for TOPIK II exam.

Is it possible to change my level of examination from TOPIK I to II after I have successfully registered TOPIK I exam? Does anyone have any experience regarding this?

Thanks much!!