Background

Late last year, I ditched the academic Korean syllabus (my $100 worth of textbook) as it’s so dry and it doesn’t get me anywhere (more like I saw myself as failure when I didn’t pass the test). Hence, I change the approach to study Korean with my own syllabus.

The goal of syllabus

My sole goal for learning Korean, which I also put in my OKR this year, is to watch Korean shows without subtitle or minimal subtitle. So far, with my current progress, I manage to catch most of the words if they speak slowly or if there is subtitle in Korean, I can also read but with a snail speed.

What’s inside the syllabus

GRAMMAR

• I follow howtostudykorean.com religiously. I think the website admin successfully dissects the Korean as a language in an easy-to-chew and foreigner-friendly way. I find the list of grammars with tons of examples, together with mini test and tests very helpful. I appreciate it so much that I sent email HTSK to say thanks haha. All the grammar lessons are free while exercise is paid at low price ($5/set of exercise).

READING

• In howtostudykorean.com, there are few long-form readings for intermediate users ($10 for 3 articles). I think they are worth it as they contain words that I’m supposed to know and a recap of how all the grammars I learnt are used.
• Another source of reading is from news articles. I’m a fan of MAMAMOO, so once in a while, I just search articles about them to practice reading.

LISTENING

• Talk to me in Korean provides a great listening resource. They have podcasts that two native speakers talk about simple topics like dessert, attractive men (just listened last week). They also provide transcript for me to check my understanding. I also learn new words from here.

SPEAKING

• I will soon return to italki to practice my speaking skill. Maybe this time round, just a community tutor would do instead of professional teacher.

Put them into schedule

• I pre-set my learning into tasks throughout the week (or at least once a week). For each session, I would put the listening link or the lesson number I have to go through. I used Notion to keep track of this.
• I have a notebook for Korean study to write down answers, new words or questions I have (I would then search for answers online).
• I also use my own Chrome extension FlashClock to learn new words at a random time daily.