5 Huge Mistakes People Make while learning Korean  

 November 19, 2022

By  Akshita Agarkar

4th is the most shocking one, don’t skip it! 

Learning a language is sure exciting but not an easy task. And if you do it wrong, it’s even difficult to move forward. Now it’s fine to make mistakes, but how about taking it from the people who have done it themselves? This is why we have compiled a list of the most repetitive 5 mistakes people make while learning Korean. 

 

  • Not Learning Hangeul 

The first mistake is the one we all are guilty of, thinking we can pass through without learning Hangeul, the Korean script. If you are somebody who still feels like you’d not take an effort to learn the Korean alphabet and master the language, please get over that fade and start learning Hangeul already. 

Personally speaking, it’s easier to master the alphabet. Korean script is considered to be a simpler one as compared to other languages. 

To go ahead with any lingo, one must learn its alphabet. Start today, right from here: Learn Hangeul in English & Hindi.  

Now there’s one more mistake in the same category. A lot of students who start learning the characters tend to be highly dependent on romanization. Please get over romanization as soon as possible. Try to read words aloud and later check on Papago (Korean translator app & website) if what you are reading is correct or not. 

 

  • Learning Wrong Sentence Order 

If you are learning Korean from English as a second or native language, the sentence order will confuse you a bit. English speakers get stuck here the most. 

The English word order differs a lot from the Korean word order. Let’s see how. 

English: Subject + Verb + Object (SVO)

Korean: Subject + Object + Verb (SOV)

Examples: 

English: I like Korean.  

Korean: I Korean like. (저는 한국어 좋아해요). 

As for Indian languages, it will be a piece of cake for you in terms of sentence order. 

 

  • Not Being Consistent 

Not studying for straight 6 days and studying everything on ONE Sunday is as harmful as not studying at all. Language learning is a continuous process, if you don’t study every day, it’s not going to come to you. 

When we say study every day, we don’t mean to ask you to study for hours. All a learner needs to do is study for at least 10 to 15 minutes a day. Yes, you read that write! 

Studying for even a few minutes will bring a drastic change in your language-learning journey. 

Maybe listen to a podcast, learn a grammar pattern that particular day, read a text, etc. Learning resources are everywhere, one just needs to open their horizon. 

In our classes, we make students do weekly assignments. And apart from that, we also make them sometimes read a paragraph or listen to a podcast, or watch videos on weekly basis. This not only helps them to stay connected to Korean, but they indirectly are studying the whole week. And yes, the entertainment or fun they get is just another prospect. 

 

  • Not Consuming Korean Content 

As briefly mentioned above about the entertainment prospect, we feel one should really enjoy the content in their target language. 

Without consuming content, you might end up feeling drained out or not motivated enough to continue the language. 

Of course, everybody has different reasons to learn a language. But watching or even listening to content that is fun to you matters the most. You can get hang of how the lingo sounds. 

Some recommendations will be dramas and movies on Netflix or Viki app. 

 

  • Not Speaking Enough Korean 

As a teacher myself, I see students shying away from speaking Korean. It’s understandable how difficult it can be to speak a foreign language all of a sudden, but who says you have to say everything in it? 

Language learning and especially speaking is all about inculcating small habits in your life. It’s like one has to bring really tiny changes in their routine to see that one big change. 

If you are learning alone, pick up things every day and name them in Korean. If you do not know what are they called in your target language, just use a dictionary, be it online or offline, it doesn’t matter, what matters is using one. 

One more habit you can bring yourself to do is recording yourself speaking at least 2 to 5 sentences of your daily life each day. And please don’t delete those. Why? Because when you will come back after 6 months or even a year, you will be extremely content to see how you have grown in the language. Please do not steal that happiness from yourself by not doing this activity. 

If you are learning with a group of people, that will be the time to socialize. Talk to them, listen to them. Speak Korean, be in bits, doesn’t matter. 

In the same scenario, make the classes feel active by bringing your presence into it. If you need to ask a doubt or a question, feel free to say “I have a question.” but this time, in Korean, “선생님, 질문 있어요.” This small habit will make you feel more confident about Korean.

Lastly, inculcating small language learning habits in your lives will certainly bring a big change. 

LKI (Learn Korean in India) offers the best Korean language courses for Indian learners. Check out our 3 Months Intensive Korean Language Courses & Youtube channel, Learn Korean In India, for unlimited FREE resources.

 

Akshita Agarkar


Akshita Agarkar graduated from Journalism and Mass Communication while working as a Freelance Content Writer. Currently, she is working with Learn Korean In India as a Content Manager and a Teaching assistant. She is a Korean linguist and culture enthusiast who loves to read linguistics, listen to old-school music, and jam on it.

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