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Immersion doesn’t seem to work. Why?

  Tags: Immersion | Korean
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
36 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5  Next >>
korman
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4820 days ago

4 posts - 6 votes

 
 Message 1 of 36
16 January 2011 at 2:03am | IP Logged 
I want to learn Korean, and I'm trying the "immersion" method. I have dramas, music, and have Korean books. I try to have something in Korean in front of me at least 8 hours a day. I've been doing this for 6 months, and I still have no idea what is being said, or what I'm reading.

Why?
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Nguyen
Senior Member
Vietnam
Joined 4852 days ago

109 posts - 195 votes 
Speaks: Vietnamese

 
 Message 2 of 36
16 January 2011 at 2:22am | IP Logged 
Are you studying or just trying to learn by bosmosis. The latter doesn't work, also six months is not a long time for such a difficult language. It would be surprising indeed if you were to be able to understand Dramas, Music etc.. At this stage in the game. Get some good study materials and be patient. One day things will start making sense.
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Levi
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
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2268 posts - 3328 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian

 
 Message 3 of 36
16 January 2011 at 2:49am | IP Logged 
Just having the language in front of you is not enough if you have no way to break down what is being said and understand the meaning of the words. Nguyen is right, you do have to do some study of the language itself (i.e. grammar and vocabulary), especially with a language as dissimilar to English as Korean is. With Korean you will also have to study the different registers of speech, since completely different words are used depending on who the speaker is talking to. And not to discourage you or anything, but Korean is a particularly difficult language and even if you moved to Korea and cut English out of your life it would probably still take you years to feel comfortable in it.

Edited by Levi on 16 January 2011 at 2:49am

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polyglHot
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Senior Member
Norway
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Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish, Indonesian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 4 of 36
16 January 2011 at 2:55am | IP Logged 
Are you serious? 6 months of watching Korean movies without subs?
Of course you need to use subs until you are half fluent. This type of immersion only
works after you have studied all the grammar, OR when you are living in South
Korea, where you'd need to speak it to survive. Preferably both, I mean all three.
1 person has voted this message useful



zerothinking
Senior Member
Australia
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Speaks: English*

 
 Message 5 of 36
16 January 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged 
Because it doesn't work and it never has and never will. You're wasting your time. Semi-
immersion is good as a supplement to actual study. Actual study comes first. At least 30
minutes.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Segata
Triglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 4930 days ago

64 posts - 125 votes 
Speaks: German*, Japanese, English
Studies: Korean, Esperanto

 
 Message 6 of 36
16 January 2011 at 12:33pm | IP Logged 
korman wrote:
I want to learn Korean, and I'm trying the "immersion" method. I have dramas, music, and have Korean books. I try to have something in Korean in front of me at least 8 hours a day. I've been doing this for 6 months, and I still have no idea what is being said, or what I'm reading.

Why?


Try to look up words that you hear/read all the time in a dictionary if you cant yet figure out what they mean just from the context.

You could also supplement your studies with Anki or any other flash card program. (please refer to All Japanese all the time). That's basically how I learned Japanese (Immersion + Anki) and Korean (still on my way to fluency ;))
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portunhol
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Senior Member
United States
thelinguistblogger.w
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: German, Arabic (classical)

 
 Message 7 of 36
16 January 2011 at 5:37pm | IP Logged 
Some people swear by the immersion (or artificial immersion) technique but I tried something similar with Mandarin and it didn't work for me either. I agree with everyone else, get a good grammar/work book to teach you the grammar and basic phrases and vocabulary. After that, put some focus on the aspects of the language that still confuse you or are difficult. A little extra drilling on these concepts will go a long way.Additionally, other than tons of exposure, what helps me is using the language a lot, even at a basic stage. If I can use a word/grammar point/phrase/etc. I rarely ever forget it.

Edited by portunhol on 16 January 2011 at 5:40pm

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bushwick
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 6003 days ago

407 posts - 443 votes 
Speaks: German, Croatian*, English, Dutch
Studies: French, Japanese

 
 Message 8 of 36
16 January 2011 at 6:11pm | IP Logged 
immersion doesn't work magically, and I have trouble comprehending how you didn't realise that after 6 months.

but nevermind, they probable haven't gone to waste, as you can probably at this point distinguish between things being said (like recognizing common words, etc.) intonation and all these subtle intricacies.

but you NEED to supplement it with study, be that grammar, or just comparing translated sentences, but do something that will at least help you UNDERSTAND.

the method you're trying could technically work with a language closer to your L1, but Korean is far too different and cognates are minuscule.


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