Want to Study Korean With K-Dramas? Try These! | Natural Korean Listening

Hello everyone this is Teacher Soul How have you all been As for me today I'm diving into this K-drama this Korean drama I'd like to share some tips on how to study effectively Do you enjoy watching Korean dramas Korean dramas are fun aren't they I actually studied a lot by watching American dramas or 'mids' I thought it would be helpful to share some ways you can study while watching this Korean drama The teacher has brought real study tips Whenever you encounter an unknown word write it down You've memorized the script but that's not the point—what matters is that you've prepared things you can actually do Shall we learn together how to study while watching this fun K-drama with our teacher The first one is shading Everyone knows shading right It' s exactly what you do while watching this drama or YouTube That's what you do—just follow along Actually this shading technique works really well The more you practice it the better you'll get Not only does pronunciation improve but you also learn intonation especially mastering this rhythm and you get familiar with Korean words Some words are pronounced differently when they appear alone versus within a sentence That's why when those words appear in sentences we don't hear them clearly or understand them well That's why while watching many Korean dramas It's beneficial to do shadowing you'll better sense how word pronunciations differ But doing shadowing continuously from start to finish might not be necessary It's too hard isn't it Even teachers can't do it—they give up halfway My throat hurts so much So how did I handle it That's why I chose just one character— only one—and followed that one exclusively Since I'm a woman I usually followed female characters and female protagonists quite a lot Following just this female protagonist made things feel a bit easier and I ended up focusing more on shading I'll show you how I can handle this shading depending on the level First for those who have mastered Korean As senior members when watching Korean dramas you might just turn on the Korean subtitles and watch without the audio Or you might prefer watching without subtitles— either way is fine And as you're doing this shading There might be an unfamiliar word but even that unknown word makes sense There's a sentence a flow and context Even if you don't know certain words you can still understand them in context So just keep watching the drama and move on But I truly don't know this word I can't understand this sentence at all Then switch it to native language subtitles at that time Ah I see what this word means now Check it and take a look at the sentence too That’s how you should do the shading Intermediate learners intermediate learners I'd recommend turning on the double subtitles We have so many apps after all Languagere app Once you download this you can set up dual subtitles or double subtitles So turn on subtitles in both Korean and your native language and do Korean shadowing Intermediate learners may come across some unfamiliar words so it's best to turn on the subtitles and practice shadowing along And the last beginners and elementary learners they actually don't know too many words and following along with sentences is really difficult So I just turn on the subtitles in my native language and listen as much as I can Just try your hardest to keep up as best you can It's okay if you don't get it perfectly We're simply trying to learn the rhythm and flow of this sentence so beginners just focus on listening Newcomers who turn on the dual subtitles just keep reading them over and over This doesn’t seem to help me much Just focusing on reading For beginners turn on native-language subtitles and listen as much as possible—just keep shadowing as diligently and intensely as you can I recommend casually micking it—this is how you'll naturally get comfortable with Korean Ah so that's the kind of word that exists Oh I learned that word in my Korean class just listening to it at this level is enough to pick up the rhythm Of course I'll now teach you the real way to study Sketching is good to practice a bit Studying is studying Let me show you two versions—my lazy version and my hardworking version First the lazy approach is to watch a Korean drama find one pattern and simply try copying it once Keep repeating each sentence then suddenly realize "Ah how can I change this line " and figure out how to use this same pattern We'll think it over and decide how to proceed Here's an example to show you Watching a drama like this I ended up hearing this sentence We should probably book our trip to Jeju Island for Christmas now shouldn't we I want to study that pattern If so I'll be leaving We should book now if we want to go to Jeju during Christmas right First we’ll go through this one a few times together We should probably book our trip to Jeju Island for Christmas now shouldn't we Keep repeating this sentence until it feels natural Now follow along with this one: When we go to Jeju Island for Christmas Shouldn't we book now Won't it be too late I thought this was a bit difficult So now by practicing a little we get comfortable with it and start thinking about how I can write this sentence For example don't we need to book now if we want to go to our restaurant next week Don’t we need to book now if we want to go to our restaurant next week Or don’t we need to book now if we want to watch the movie Don't we need to book now if we want to watch a movie Or don't we need to buy popcorn if we're going to watch a movie You need to buy popcorn to watch a movie don't you You can use this one sentence this one pattern in many different situations So as you watch this drama Wait I like that pattern don't I I don't know that pattern—just pick one thing you want to study and let's go with it Practice a little and think about how I might use it— thinking this way this pattern will stick in your mind Sometimes just thinking and thinking about how to write it ends up leaving it clearly in my mind so I can use it later I'm actually doing this a lot right now while watching YouTube since I watch YouTube more than dramas Pause the video whenever you encounter a pattern you don't recognize I keep thinking about how I can use this so I tweak it a bit and practice regularly That way you'll be able to You can start right away and use it—just like this if you manage to say one sentence while watching a drama you've actually succeeded As I mentioned in a previous video memorizing just one sentence a day is already remarkable You're doing great One sentence a day means 30 sentences in a month and 365 in a year So even just studying one sentence or one pattern while watching dramas will help and if you have more time it's great to study even more extensively This is a bit of a lazy approach but if you really truly want to study hard through Korean dramas Then first watch one drama all the way through finish watching it and then think of a scene that left a slight impression on you Choose one scene and we'll study that scene I usually pick a scene that lasts about two minutes Let's revisit that scene without subtitles once more—see how unclear it feels Then I'll turn on dual subtitles look up unknown words study unfamiliar grammar and practice sentences And shading—shading done perfectly— perfecting all these lines of dialogue This one scene you have to perfectly mic every line within the next two minutes You guys this is really tough This is really tough It takes quite a bit of time to perfectly mic even a single line But two minutes—that usually takes me anywhere from one to two hours sometimes even up to two hours Korean viewers actually study English by watching dramas memorizing every single line of the entire series You all didn't you say BTS's Jimin studied by watching Friends Truth is my English professor was Friends Ah I see That's why I watched the Korean English subtitles first and then the English subtitles next time And I just pulled it out He kept watching Friends memorizing every line by watching it over and over If you do that you'll truly master the Korean language Back then I read a book about a translator a professional translator I memorized all ten films every line perfectly and executed the shadowing flawlessly He memorized all ten films and became a translator they say he’s now able to do translation I memorized the entire film by watching it repeatedly for three months I tried to do the same but gave up I just couldn't do it anymore So what are we We focus on perfect shading for just two minutes one scene at a time Since you're studying Spanish I'll show you how I practice shadowing in Spanish This is a very famous drama—La Casa de Papel you've probably heard of it Spanish is really really fast you know I'm seriously struggling Let me show you what I'm doing It's important to maintain the same rhythm while doing this I think I've done this about 30 times Rhythm expression—everything exactly the same perfectly mirroring them completely becoming this person I am this person Actually this is really long even for two minutes I tend to shorten my lines a bit when there are many of them But seriously this one works really well Just like I did keep imitating the Korean exactly as I did repeating it until you can do it perfectly Every expression tone and rhythm— this is who I am I think like this Just by watching one drama and practicing five or ten lines of dialogue you'll improve your Korean significantly This is the method I've prepared for studying Korean dramas I'll recommend one drama and one movie that are great for studying This movie is truly excellent First of all it's about everyday life couples and couple talk— the woman doesn't speak so quickly either It's a very common expression used in daily life and easy to follow along with this movie is highly recommended— especially if you're truly eager to learn I highly recommend studying the screenplay for this movie—it’ll be easy to practice shadowing as well And next is this drama My Liberation Notes This one's a bit challenging The vocabulary is somewhat difficult and it might feel a little gloomy at times This drama follows three protagonists on a journey toward happiness a little bittersweet yet hopeful the vocabulary might be a bit challenging at first but the story unfolds naturally The sentences are so beautiful I can't help but wonder how someone could say things like that They're just too lovely The sentences are so exquisite and Other characters are a bit hard to imitate or shade in but this female protagonist speaks just a little slower The pronunciation is really good—speaking clearly and distinctly makes it easy to follow along so it's especially helpful for those at an intermediate to advanced level I highly recommend this drama You'd do well to memorize a few lines Especially because there are so many lines that make you reflect on me So I'd like to recommend these two: watching this movie and this drama and studying these sentences We'll conclude today's podcast here You're now approaching the end of 2024 Enjoy your holidays I'll bring that up again at another time with a different topic See you next time my lovely ones Goodbye