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Korean - TOPIK Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| stevesayskanpai Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4491 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 23 11 August 2012 at 12:46am | IP Logged | ||
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I want to achieve basic / conversational Korean. I lived in Seoul for twelve months but regret having not learnt any of
the language. My aim is to take the TOPIK and gain a Beginner Grade 2. I have a few questions regarding this. 1. How many hours of study should this take? 2. What are the best resources to use for this goal? I currently have four sources of study in mind: http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/ http://www.topikguide.com http://language.snu.ac.kr/site/en/klec/click-korean/index.js p Complete Korean: Teach Yourself (Amazon UK) I don't know which source to prioritise. The first (in podcast form) seems fun and useful, but I also think I need to mine vocab using Anki. If anyone has studied towards TOPIK Beginner or Intermediate exams in the past I'd really appreciate your advice! Thanks, SSK 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes  Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 23 11 August 2012 at 10:09am | IP Logged | ||
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I've prepared the TOPIK in around 3 months: I had collected some basics of grammar and vocabulary during a few very light (2h/week) months before that, but the bulk of my work took place from January to the exam (perhaps 3.5 months).
I've used a list available on the TOPIK website which gives you the full vocabulary list + grammar point list for the Beginner level. I've studied the grammar items I didn't know in that list + got some more from Routledge grammars (basic+intermediate), so as to be able to "write" better than the bare minimum, and I've learnt the full vocabulary list which is around 2000-2500 words if I remember correctly. It took me around 200h (including perhaps 30-40h of movies...) to get all that done, the bulk of it being learning the vocabulary and reviewing it with Anki. I also practiced past exams to gauge my level and understand better what was expected of me. To sum it up, I'd say it's very doable to get the beginner level. That's a reasonable amount of work if you have the time (and if next session is April 2013 then you have more than the time...). As for intermediate, it seems to be a big step from beginner, and I'm not sure if it's doable just by learning a lot of vocabulary and grammar... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| stevesayskanpai Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4491 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Italian | Message 3 of 23 11 August 2012 at 11:44am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi vermillon, thanks for your reply.
That's encouraging about the beginner level, and also very helpful to know that intermediate is a pretty big step up too. Also, I think my knowledge of Japanese will help me quickly assimilate Korean grammar points, which as supposed to be fairly similar (hopefully!) I'll let you know how I get on! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6438 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 4 of 23 11 August 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Read this thread when you get frustrated. You won't appreciate it until you've dealt with Korean:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=28128&PN=1&TPN=1 Also check out www.koreaninkuwait.com. That guy got to fluency in a couple years (granted with pretty intense studying) which is basically unheard of considering Prof. Arguelles said he has studied it for 9 years, moved to Korea, married a native, and still doesn't feel comfortable with it. However, on occasion people seem to just "get it" and don't have any of the problems that everyone else has. I see you speak Japanese. As someone who began studying both Korean and Japanese at 15 years of age (I'm 31 now) I can tell you that, for me, Korean was much, much slower. Japanese is easy to pronounce, understand, and the word boundaries are clear. Every time you watch a Japanese TV show you pick up a few new words and you can easily identify words you already know (which is a reward and makes you feel good). Korean's phonemes are unlike any other language's, there are multiple versions of the same sound that native English speakers cannot tell apart, and Koreans will not understand you when you speak (the thread I linked to above has examples of this). Japanese has 5 vowels, and Korean has like 17 and some of them can be pronounced different ways depending on the word and if the speaker feels like saying it a different way (examples in the thread I posted above). Words are pronounced differently by different people (not talking dialects here), there are tons of one and two syllable homophones, and there are even more words that are spelled similarly and may or may not be pronounced the same (the thread I linked to above has examples of this, too). Word boundaries are unclear. I can listen to a sentence where I know all the words and still not know what the person just said. You can watch Korean TV shows for years and not pick up any new words, and also not be able to identify words you already know. And if you do learn a new word, you probably won't be able to find it in a dictionary without some patience because chances are the way you think it's spelled is wrong. Japanese, on the other hand, almost never has this issue. But the writing is easy to learn. Since you are already familiar with Japanese grammar, Korean's will come more easily to you than it would otherwise. Korean grammar is like a more complex version of Japanese's. For example, they both use particles, but Korean has two for every one Japanese has (usually depending on if the previous word ends in a noun or a vowel, whereas Japanese doesn't make that distinction). Good luck and post your progress/thoughts here. I find Korean to be bordering on impossible but I love it anyway. Finally, some people in this forum get their jimmies rustled when you talk about how hard Korean is. They're like "don't be so negative, languages aren't hard, just make flash cards." lol. The best advice I can give is don't pay much attention to anyone who hasn't actually tried to learn the language. edit - let me try to explain it in a different way. In Japanese, spelling and pronunciation reinforce each other. You can remember words because you can clearly remember what they are. Look at the word "watashi." Wa-ta-shi. When you hear that, it's clear. There is nothing else that it could possibly be. You are positive that the first syllable is "wa." You are positive that the second syllable is "ta," and you are positive that the last syllable is "shi." If you hear someone else talking and they say "watashi," you will know what they said. If they hear you say "watashi," even if you say it with an American accent, they will still understand you. If you are listening to a staticy broadcast on the radio or talking to someone in a loud room and you hear them say something that sort of sounded like "watashi," like maybe "wa-*a-shi," you can reasonably guess that they said "watashi." None of that is true with Korean. Every word sounds exceptionally close to at least one other word, whether because of consonant similarity, vowel similarity, or because the speaker just felt like saying it a certain way. And you can't fall back on spelling to remember what words are because they're not pronounced the way they're spelled, and often they're not even pronounced the way they're pronounced. And unlike Japanese where you can reasonably be understood with an American accent, Koreans will not understand you. The tendency in this case is to try and slow down and pronounce the word more clearly, which tends to be counterproductive in Korean (example in the thread I linked above). I can tell you 5 new Japanese words right now and you will probably remember them. I can tell you 5 new Korean words right now and you will sort of remember them and have to make guesses when you want to recall them. Even knowing hangeul doesn't really help because like I said above, spelling and pronunciation don't really reinforce each other. If you ever meet an American who is fluent in Korean, they deserve your respect. Edited by IronFist on 11 August 2012 at 10:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6438 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 5 of 23 11 August 2012 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Oh, I missed this before. If that's the same TY book that they sold in the late 90s, it's worthless. It's hard to find good Korean books. The best I've found are: - the "Integrated Korean" series. (Cho, Lee, Schultz, Sohn). This one has .mp3s available online. - the "Elementary Korean" series (King, Yeon). This one comes with a CD. Most Korean programs are pretty bad. The old Pimsleur lessons were terrible. The new ones are better and will start to get you used to the fact that words change pronunciation whenever they want. Was that "ne" or "de?" Is the word for weather "dalsi" or "nalssi"? When you cannot do something, is it "mot-haeyo," "boat-haeyo," "boot-haeyo" or "moot-haeyo"? Answer: all/none of the above, depending on the speaker and what your ears feel like hearing. And just HOW do you pronounce those numbers? Good luck, dude. Bring a sense of humor. Edited by IronFist on 11 August 2012 at 7:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4869 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 6 of 23 12 August 2012 at 2:16am | IP Logged | ||
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I took the beginner TOPIK after a bit over a year of Korean study and after passing course 2 and 3 at my university and endlessly watching Korean TV... Apart from taking old tests, I didn't put in any special study time. You certainly don't need to know all the grammar patterns and words to pass level 2. I think I knew 3/4 of the grammar and 2/3 of the vocabulary when I took the test.
However, if you have the time, it might make sense to work with the official vocabulary and grammar lists for the beginner TOPIK. I think they're on TOPIK guide by now (if not you can find them on the official site or my blog). And I'd make sure to practice with several of the old tests, just to understand the format and get used to the type of texts and questions they throw at you. Apart from that, you have listed some of the best sources that I know of already, so I think you should be fine. You can't go wrong if you start with the Seoul university course (Click Korean) - TOPIK guide will only come in handy later. (I don't know the Teach Yourself book, but have used the other sources. For grammar/lessons I liked Integrated Korean). Try to make sure that you really understand the grammatical concepts (it will take time to get used to them). It also helps to pay attention to how the phonetics work. I'd encourage you to watch some Korean movies, dramas or entertainment programs, because they are great for improving listening comprehension and getting a feel for what sounds natural. In response to what IronFist wrote, I'd like to add that of course, learning Korean isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be frustrating. I suggest that you just accept anything that seems foreign and weird instead of getting too hung up on it. I don't think it's possible to successfully and enjoyably study this language if you don't keep a very open, flexible mind... Edited by druckfehler on 12 August 2012 at 2:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6438 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 7 of 23 12 August 2012 at 6:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Is there any speaking or listening on the TOPIK or is it just reading
and writing? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Minya Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4903 days ago 22 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 8 of 23 12 August 2012 at 6:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I feel like I don't want to study Korean now because everyone says how impossible it is and how the grammar is ridiculous lol
1 person has voted this message useful |
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