Starting to learn any language can be a daunting task. You don’t know anything and when you even think about starting to learn it, it looks intimidating.
Of course, looking for the quickest and easiest ways to learn Korean is a natural instinct. However, is it really possible to learn Korean in a week?
Yes, it is…..If we’re talking about an alternate reality where humans have evolved to download languages instantly into their consciousness.
To be frank, it’s impossible to learn Korean fluently in a week. Now, if we’re talking about learning the Korean alphabet and some basic words and phrases, then it’s completely possible. So while you can’t learn Korean completely in a week, I will list some things that will help you start to learn it as fast as possible.
For Starters, You Can’t Rush Learning a Language
Think about how long it took you as a child to become familiar with your native tongue. Even though you were surrounded by it every day, it took 2-3 years before you began speaking and even longer to perfect it and sound like a native speaker.
Keep in mind that children absorb languages easier than adults. So if you were to start learning Korean now, it would take hours a day on a consistent basis for 1-2 years (and even longer for many others) before you even got close to being fluent.
Your best bet is to start off slow. Study for 30 minutes, then one hour, and so on. Again, consistency is key. You can’t study for 4 hours for three days, then take a week off.
You may see programs that claim to be able to give you a quick shortcut to learning Korean, but it’s simply fluff and designed to get your money. If something sounds unrealistic, then it probably is.
The Korean Alphabet is East to Learn
As I said earlier, if you’re talking about learning the Korean alphabet, then yes, it’s completely possible to learn it and be able to read Korean within a week.
The Korean Alphabet (Hangul) is made up of letters just like the English alphabet, and it’s just a matter of putting them together to make sounds.
You can learn it in just a few hours and in just a few days after some practice, you could be able to read simple words and recognize signs in daily life (if you’re living in Korea) within a few days.
Learning Basic Words
After learning the alphabet, it is entirely possible to get your vocabulary up to around 200-300 words in less than a week. Again, this is if you keep up with consistently studying for several hours on a daily basis.
The great thing about this is that although it may seem small, you will start recognizing patterns and words as you expose yourself more and more to the language.
How can you expose yourself to the language? If you’re in Korea, it’s really easy. Just listen to the people around you. One of the most difficult things I had to do was to stop tuning out Koreans around me. When you’re in a foreign country and you don’t know the language, it’s easy to just ignore everything since you don’t understand. However, if you just listen to conversations around you, you’d be surprised at how quickly you can pick up things.
You can also just turn on the TV and pick a show or song to listen to.
If you’re outside of Korea, find meetups for learning Korean, or use apps like Hello Talk to talk with native speakers.
Be Patient and Remember that It’s a Process
It’s so easy to get frustrated when learning a new language, especially if you don’t have that ‘knack’ for it. However, just remember that like anything else in life, success and achieving your goal comes with hard work, consistency, and patience. When you rush things, you don’t do them correctly and you have to go back and do them over. Just do it right the first time, and it makes things much easier.
If you keep these up, then you will suddenly find yourself being able to understand more and more every day. It will almost seem like magic, but it’s simply the result of building up something brick by brick until you have a completed building. Good luck!