코피 주세요 - Please give me a- What?!
Hello everyone! I’ve had a lot of time to make lesson posts and work on my Korean pdf’s for you all, so that’s why there’s an influx of posts this week. I hope you all don’t mind as it gives you all something for when I’m not here! But for today, I wanted to talk about the
5 Big Mistakes that Korean Language Learners Make
I want to say before I start that mistakes are only natural. And of course EVERYONE will make them at some point in their Korean language journey – it has to happen in order for you to get better. Of course, you’re embarrassed for a while after and if you’re like me you think about it at night for hours. But if anything, it makes you understand that it takes time to learn a language. So keep your head up and don’t be discouraged. You’re doing amazing :)
This is a really big one. Often times I will see beginners saying ‘한글 배우자’. Which would be fine if it was ‘Let’s learn Hangul; the Korean Alphabet’. However, more often than not, the translation they use is ALWAYS ‘Let’s learn Korean’. I will say it here and NOW:
한글 does NOT mean ‘Korean Language’!
I will also often get people asking me to teach them 한글, and I always direct them to my Hangul Cheat Sheet. But then they come back saying ‘I already know this’. Then after trying to figure out what they meant, they finally tell me they mean Korean. As in the WHOLE language.
This is a big one for me. Often times, I will see language learners only using romanization. If you’ve followed me for a long time, you will know that I absolutely HATE romanization. I said it then and I will say it again: it is EXTREMELY detrimental to your Korean language journey. If you rely on romanization, then you are making yourself illiterate in the Korean Language. They will not have romanization in Korea.
And for those who say ‘it’s too hard’, 세종대왕 (King Sejong, the 4th King and arguably their greatest King, even to this day) made Hangul in the 조선 (Joseon) Dynasty in order for his people to be more literate. It is considered the most efficient writing system in all of Asia. Korean was a language before it’s alphabet; they were using Chinese symbols and characters, which 세종대왕 said couldn’t express Korean thought and words.
Once you learn it, not only will your Korean get 100x better, you will sound more natural when you speak. Here are some sites you can use to learn:
Ryan Nestrada’s ‘Learn Hangul in 15 Minutes’ Comic
Take the time to learn the alphabet. You won’t regret it!
3. Switching Formalities TOOOOOOO Much: 저 VS 나
I understand that grasping the concept of formalities is difficult, especially if your native language doesn’t have them. But a Korean language learner should be, at least, familiar with formalities if they are ready to talk to a native speaker. I’ve even fallen hopeless to switching formalities early on in my blog! Like I said, it’s okay to make mistakes, just as long as we learn from it.
In Korean, you have 반말 (casual speech) and 존댓말 (polite speech). If you switch too often between the two, your Korean can sound unnatural and lazy. Not to mention rude if you use 반말 to the wrong person. A big mistake I see is people using 저 with 반말 and 나 with 존댓말. Here’s an example:
Like I said, it’s really common to make these mistakes. But if you make the quick switch, you will sound more natural.
On that note, I see a lot of people using 당신 and 너 incorrectly. Please check out my post here.
4. Not taking the time to do the boring stuff AND pushing yourself out of your comfort zone
If you are serious about learning Korean, then you will do the stuff that makes you bored and makes you step out of your comfort zone. Speaking to a native used to TERRIFY me, and every time a native speaker would find out I’m learning, I would always feel my heart in my throat. But after speaking to my tutors or my language exchange partners, it became easier and easier.
Here’s what I mean by boring stuff. GRAMMAR. I’ve said it before, but if you find that your Korean isn’t going anywhere and you’re stuck in this plateau, then you probably aren’t focusing enough time on the important stuff. Of course, you learn at your own pace and there’s no rush, but one way to seriously get better is to sit down and learn grammar. On top of that, there’s more to studying Korean than just learning it’s most common phrases. There are good to know! But they won’t carry your Korean to an advanced level.
5. Some Common Spelling Mistakes
Understanding how vowels are pronounced is crucial, because you don’t want to ask for a nose bleed in the wrong situation.
And try to pronounce it more like ‘대요’, it sounds more natural
제발 = please (kind of begging)
These are just a few that I’ve come across in my Korean language journey! I hope it helped and I hope that you all become more fluent in Korean! If you know any more mistakes, please add them below so other learners can know!
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