#ewha

안녕하세요 여로분~ Question for my fellow Korean language students and learners: Is anyone else planning to study abroad this summer?

I'm considering a few programs, namely Sogang University's and Ewha Womans University's month-long international summer study programs. I've gotten a professor's recommendation for Sogang, so I get discounted admission if I go, though I also just applied to Ewha as well.

When I first started learning Korean seriously about a year ago, I already knew hangeul very well and knew some basic phrases. So I thought it was going to be easy. And to be honest, at first, it was. I went through my first beginning level textbook (Vitamin Korean 1) with ease and supplemented with TTMIK and watched tons of Korean dramas. And then I moved on to Vitamin Korean 2. I was making progress fast. Or so it seemed.

Because then I hit The Wall™.

I stopped making progress and suddenly found myself unable to make use of anything I had learned. Making sentences by myself? Impossible. Getting new grammar into my head? Nope. I was not making progress whatsoever and on top of that found myself forgetting everything I was once so sure of. I was back to square one: I could read hangeul just fine but that was about it.

I got frustrated and upset but nothing was making sense anymore. I asked people on the learning Korean subreddit about what I was experiencing and what they said wasn't helpful at all.

"That's the intermediate plateau. Everyone experiences that."

But I was nowhere near intermediate. I was still a beginner.

"Just use immersion to study, don't rely on books."

After listening to kpop for nearly a decade and watching an endless amount of Korean dramas and taking in as much Korean content daily as I can, I can tell you that immersion isn't working for me either. Not now at least, where I still struggle with the basics.

So I took some time "off" and ironically started learning Japanese during that time. (Now I'm kind of learning both) After a while, I started looking for different resources for learning Korean because I figured I needed a fresh start. After much consideration I decided on the Ewha Korean textbook series and am now slowly making my way through their 1-1 level. Which is mostly (or maybe all of it) basically just review but I want to start with the very basics and slowly work myself up again. And maybe this time it'll work for me, as I got very frustrated with my Vitamin Korean series.

Right now I'm finally actively studying Korean again, not as harshly as I used to though. I take more and longer breaks when needed. There's no rush and no need to become fluent (or even intermediate) anytime soon. I'm going to take it slow.

Moral of the story: Take a break when you feel like givng up.

This is a little late, but I really want to share the amazing experience I had this summer in Seoul, South Korea thanks to Smith.

꽃 - flower

꽃다발 - flower bouquet