Category: Tips & Thoughts

8 Ways to Sound More Natural in Korean

   

This article is a compilation of all the things I wish someone had told me when I first started practicing speaking Korean. None of them are ‘hacks’ – I’m not going to give you a list of 10 Korean slangs that would ‘make you sound like a native’, or cool phrases that’ll help you impress your language exchange partner.

What I’d like to share with you, instead, is a collection of ‘patterns’ that I have picked up over the years, while I was studying Korean. Some of them are grammar structures, while others are quirks I find unique to the Korean language.

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How to Practice Your Target Language While Travelling

   

When I first bought the plane ticket to Seoul, I was extremely excited. Not just about experiencing the food and culture of South Korea, but also at the opportunity to finally practice speaking the language. I had been doing language exchanges for about two years, but nothing face-to-face. And since I was going to be there for 3 weeks, I’d expected to get a lot of practice out of this trip, just by being physically in South Korea.

And it turned out that wasn’t the case. At least, not really. I’d gone into this with minimal preparation (I’d picked up a phrasebook) and a vague notion of improving my Korean skills just by surrounding myself with the language. Simply put, I’d kind of expected that just by putting myself in a purely Korean environment, my brain would somehow absorb all the knowledge by osmosis and magically activate half of my passive vocabulary.

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A Language Learner’s Guide to Pen Pals

     

Writing letters has always been one of
my favourite things to do. As a language learner, I find it to be one of the
most effective ways to practice my target language. It is essentially writing
exercise, vocabulary revision, reading comprehension practice and cultural
exchange rolled into one.

If you’re old-fashioned like me, snail mail would be right up your alley. But if you prefer something more fast-paced, you might want to start with email.

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Improving My Korean Writing Skills via a Book Club

   

Writing is extremely important when it comes to language learning, because, like speaking, it is how you communicate with native speakers, and communication is kind of the whole point of acquiring a new language. Most people start small with things like writing their memos or keeping a journal in their target language.

As you progress, however, you might move on to more challenging exercises. You can start a blog and review things. You can write essays or stories and post them online. There is an endless list of things you can do when it comes to improving your writing skills, but what I’m about to suggest is perfect if you’re:

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How I Learned to Write in English through Text Roleplaying

   

If you don’t know what text roleplaying is, it is basically collaborative story-telling, where several people, each writing from the perspective of their own character, create a story together.  It can be done over instant messaging apps and in chat rooms, although the more organised ones are usually found on online forums.

Here’s an example of what text roleplaying looks like. Let’s say I’m playing a character named Lisa, and the story takes place in a middle school. I might start with a post like this:

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