LEARN KOREAN: How to study Korean | not really studying with nina!

Oh, I forgot how bitter that is. Oh my god. Hello my friends It's Nina and we are back with a not really studying with Nina video As you can tell by the title of this video This is not any ordinary not really studying with Nina this video actually has a purpose for this video I'm gonna show you how I personally teach myself Korean Oh, pardon me. My hands are very dry This is just a casual video on how I teach myself Korean I'm teaching myself Korean to make things clear. I am Korean I'm a Korean American I just happen to be one of those Korean Americans that can't speak Korean now for people who don't understand how that happens It's a common thing actually to make a long story short Even though both of my parents are Korean and they're from Korea They both came to America at different times in their life and those different times in their life Affected the way they grew up and affected what language they speak naturally and so my dad speaks English naturally and my mom speaks Korean naturally because of different different upbringings and so because of that I grew up in a bilingual house even though my mom spoke primarily Korean she understood English and because I was communicating with my dad in English and my dad was communicating to me in English and because I went to only American schools I only picked up English blah blah blah I can go on and on about that in another video But basically I didn't learn Korean properly or I never was required to speak Korean So that's that's why I am the way that I am Anyway, that's not really the point The point is I am learning Korean now I've been learning Korean for about a year and right now I'm at the point where I can write paragraphs in Korean like I can think a lot in Korean I can write out what I want to write Oh, I can write out my thoughts in Korean if you just give me some time to think and process things but if I'm in a spontaneous conversation Then I would struggle because we could be talking about anything and then I won't be prepared and it takes a second for me to you know Think of what to say and sometimes I might not know the right word for what I want to say I'm getting there. I'm getting there I'm speaking Korean with my parents and with friends And I'm even speaking to people in my community who are Korean I prioritize learning grammar before memorizing vocabulary which is bad because you should be memorizing vocabulary, but Like I know basic words to help me survive But I just don't know a whole lot of adjectives and adverbs that kind of stuff But this was also the same problem for me in Spanish because in college I took Spanish And I was good at writing and taking tests but when it came to orally speaking It's like everything I've learned disappeared so it's all in there somewhere, but it doesn't come out So that's why I'm going to teach you my ways of how to properly and fully be immersed in the Korean language or any language But mostly Korean because the things I'm going to say mostly has to do with the Korean language and so it's been a year and I just thought of Sorry, don't even don't mind me conversation wise I'm at the level of like a Korean preschooler or a kindergartner Kindergartner is kind of like showing off but I just know that when I hear Korean kids speak it makes me cry. I'm like Wow So I think the first thing that I should talk about is how I'm actually studying Korean And that is just through a website I'm learning Korean from two websites at first it was just one website But now it's two because I found the second website and I really like it So the websites are how to study Korean and talk to me in Korean I like both but I do have to say I think talk to me in Korean would be better for beginners and non-koreans if you use talk to me in Korean There's a comment section and you can just leave a comment if you're confused about something if you want to ask a question and other people who are learning they can answer your question and all that You're basically not really learning alone So you have people who can help you as in other users with talk to me in Korean also it has romanization I found that how to study Korean doesn't have romanization at all So if you can't read Hangul, which is Korean alphabet talk to me in Korean. It has romanization It can help but also I do recommend that before anything else you learn Hangul because that is the basis of Korean It's important to recognize that Korean is its own language and that romanization is not Korean Okay Obviously romanization is a start especially if you just never have read or had any experience with Hangul in the first place But if you're going to be learning Korean gotta learn to read and pronounce and write Hangul Also with any Korean resource I think that's the first thing they teach you anyway So it's kind of just like it's the first thing you will learn anyway Just make sure you get it down before you learn anything else because if you don't get it down Lessons in the future are just going to get confusing even though there is romanization It's just not it's not the full experience It's important to remember that Koreans don't write in romanization They write in Hangul because it's Korean So as you're starting out learning these lessons obviously you're going to take notes So I highly recommend writing out your notes You can obviously type out your notes if that's more comfortable for you You can just set up a Korean keyboard and get these little stickers for your keyboard But I just recommend writing out your notes because in general writing out your notes physically it just helps keep information in your head and you're just engaging more with what you're learning But as you're writing out your notes It's just you're naturally practicing writing Hangul and it's just it's going to stick in your brain a little bit better I have many notebooks for Korean But this is just the one I've been keeping for now and I'm just always writing in Korean and my handwriting has definitely improved a lot like the spacing and the sizing and all that but it's also important that you know how to type in Korean as well So typing out your notes would be helpful But if you're writing out your notes, you can also make flashcards online I make flashcards on quizlet because I just don't have enough index card for everything I want to learn and I don't want to use that much paper and I literally just have flashcard sets for anything I have cards on herbs and spices cooking utensils, general cooking verbs, baking, sports, birds, body parts, weather, feelings, vegetables, general food and long alphabetical list of common verbs One day I'm gonna study all these but they're there But with any language, it's important to learn vocabulary So you have words to fill your sentences Now with reading Korean, it's very important And so if you don't have access to Korean books like I do, I have Korean children's books lying around because I had them since I was a child I didn't read them, but I had them I also have a baby brother So that's why we keep the books So I have Korean children's books to read They're a lot of fun and they're very educational because they're very repetitive So the words just stick to your brain But if you don't have access to that, there's social media guys I feel like if you're studying Korean you're probably interested somehow in Korean entertainment Just like when I was taking Spanish We watched a lot of Spanish music videos watched Spanish movies, that kind of stuff So if you have like favorite Korean music artists or like Korean actors or actresses, that kind of stuff Just follow them on social media and then just read all their captions like their Instagram posts Don't press translate You can press it later, but read it first Read their tweets, just read everything It doesn't really matter if you don't understand what is being said, just read As you're learning Korean, you'll recognize words anyway So just keep reading and then you'll probably see a word that you recognize and be like I remember that and I read it so quickly So now that you've been studying Korean now it's time to use what you learned and put them into real life Now obviously I would suggest that you speak to a person who also speaks Korean so that you can communicate but not everyone has a person they can speak Korean with Like for me, I have my family, I have friends and in my world, there are just Korean people and Korean speakers, but not everyone has that So I would suggest learning to talk to yourself As a person who's on YouTube, I talk to myself a lot I'm not weird about it anymore I'm just, I recognize that I do it and I'm fine with it and I'm comfortable with it So as you're learning, just be comfortable because it's different thinking of the word but once it comes out of your mouth, it's just different If you don't have someone to speak to or you don't want to speak to someone which I understand, maybe you don't want to feel embarrassed or you don't want them judging you, that kind of stuff I understand That's what kept me from speaking Korean for a long time too If any of that applies, just speak to yourself Just say things out loud I also recommend recording yourself when you speak so that you can hear yourself speak and you can work on your pronunciation and you can be your own critic Try to make up conversations and have conversations with yourself out loud Ask yourself questions out loud Say answers out loud, that kind of thing But hopefully you can also find someone to speak Korean with because that is definitely helpful because then you'll be put in a situation where you have to think spontaneously But otherwise for now, just speak to yourself Now a very important topic is Korean entertainment and culture This applies for any language that you study You know in high school you would watch TV shows and movies and listen to songs in whatever language you were studying to help you engage with the language more Same thing for Korean It's not weird to like Korean entertainment, okay You're not a Koreaboo if you watch a Korean variety show or a Korean drama or listen to kpop It's okay as long as you don't cross the line of totally romanticizing Korea and thinking Korea is the best and you just want to be Korean that kind of stuff If you just don't cross that line, you're fine Korean entertainment is made to be enjoyed It's okay to like things as long as you're not crossing an extreme line For me, I listen to Korean music I watch Korean variety shows I watch Korean dramas, all of that With variety shows for example you hear people speaking in Korean spontaneously and casually and it's kind of different from dramas because obviously dramas sometimes can be realistic but obviously they can also be very dramatic and you wouldn't say what they're saying in real life because that would be kind of like extra Also a great thing with Korean variety shows is the editing There's a lot of just words that pop up everywhere So you can just like pause whatever you're watching write out what that word is put it on google translate or something and then translate it and be like oh so that's what it means and then you can write that down for your reference That's what I do So on a post-it, I will just write whatever words I read or hear and then I'll just write it down and then I'll put it on this post-it and then put it in my notebook as you can see right here But when I'm watching videos on youtube I pause a lot because they're just a lot of words that I catch I just appreciate the editing of Korean shows and videos and all that It's just very helpful But also with Korean music you can look at the lyrics and understand the lyrics Another thing is that when you're actually learning Korean you start to recognize a lot of what is being said like if you're learning a certain lesson or topic you'll actually hear what you learned in a song or during a drama or during a variety show you'll hear what you learned in a different context and you'll understand when you can use whatever you learned in what context So it's just very helpful to be engaged with Korean entertainment as well So definitely another thing is just having a reason to learn Korean or just with anything just having the desire to learn it because that will keep you motivated to keep learning Just remember that learning another language is fun and it just makes you a more worldly person Also remember that it's completely okay to make mistakes That's part of the learning process Don't be ashamed Don't drop everything just because you think it's hard or you're not pronouncing things right When I was younger I was definitely more insecure and ashamed that I couldn't speak Korean well So I would get embarrassed, shy and all that and I would just refuse to learn Korean and speak it But over time I just kind of got over it and then just realized I need to make mistakes if I want to be better So just keep going and realize that within a year you'll be at a different place than where you started So just keep going and believe in yourself and you know, maybe get some apps here and there That's another thing I forgot to mention Get some apps I have Memrise, I have Duolingo I have the app version of talk to me in Korean So it's with me everywhere I go Just make studying fun, you know Get some colored pens Make your writing look pretty Listen to some kpop while you're learning Korean When you're learning anything you just need the dedication and you just need to realize that it's going to be difficult but eventually you'll be a different person So overall if you're studying alone, just know it's possible Know that you can learn something Just find an online source that can guide you how to study Korean or talk to me in Korean They're both very good websites Just find what is best for you Just check them both out See what you're more comfortable with Read, write, and speak Korean as much as possible Engage with Korean entertainment Make flashcards Use apps Have fun And that is all I have to say about that But I hope you found this video helpful This is just how I've been learning Korean I may not be able to speak perfectly But I definitely know a lot more than I did last year But I'm gonna go now And I would study but it's also a Saturday So maybe I might just watch some kpop videos on YouTube So this is where we say goodbye I wish you the best of luck on your journey to learn Korean And I will see you next time Come in for a hug Goodbye