How to Self Study Korean

Luckily it’s easier now more than ever to learn how to self-study Korean and develop into near fluency even by yourself from your own home. As Korea and the languages popularity has increased more and more resources are coming up and places to connect with others along your studying journey!

I want to break it down into bits; depending on how you want to study and avenues to use. I know people have different levels of comfortability and preferences so while you might enjoy a 1-on-1 Zoom teacher session other people might feel uncomfortable. But I’ll keep it to all things you can do on your own in your room!

Connecting with other Korean Language Learners

With the popularity of Korean exploding, there are more people interested in the language than ever before! Connecting with people is a great way to keep the drive to study and learn from others as they share any tips and tricks online. On pretty much any social media you can find groups of people focusing on studying Korean. It’s up to you to pick your favourite platform or where you think might be a good fit for you.

Learning from Online Classes (recorded and live)

YouTube lessons are a great resource to use when getting started. You can watch native Koreans or all kinds of fluent learners as your teachers with years of content to go through. With so many to pick from too you can find people whose style you enjoy too! Here are a couple of really popular Korean language YouTubers to get you started out

• Billy Go
• Talk to me in Korean
• Seemile
• Korea Unnie
• Jolly

Past YouTube there are a lot of websites that specifically host teachers. Some have prerecorded content you can watch on your own time, and others actually have you sign up to join their Zoom class! It could be 1-on-1 or in a group setting. Many of these lessons cost to join the class or get access to the recordings though. So it’s up to how much you might want to spend and your comfortability level.

Study Flash Card Deck Applications

Study flashcard deck sites/apps are already popular with students. I know I’ve used a bunch of user-created decks for tests before and for studying Korean is no different. You can use user-created decks, special decks made by the platform, or make your own to help make memorization.

Key Korean Online Resources

One of the best and most popular ways to learn how to self-study Korean is from websites and apps. Some websites have fantastic resources on them. With vocab lists, podcast listening episodes, grammar breakdowns, and more. There’s a ton to be gained from some of the top Korean language learning sites!

• koreanwikiproject
• talktomeinkorean
• howtostudykorean
• maybe even koreanling

Apps on Your Phone

Apps can help with various things and there are a ton to choose from! From study decks and short-form games to help memorization, building up your vocab, reading easy Korean textbooks, and grammar lessons apps have a lot to offer. Apps let you study whenever and wherever you like as well, I know I like using them on the subway and train to quickly refresh or play a little memorization game. Or in bed to refresh with flashcards before I sleep.

Is Learning Korean Worth It?

This entirely depends on you. I think a language is worth it to you if you can picture it being a benefit to you and something you would enjoy in your life. If you have a Korean partner, are moving to Korea, enjoy Korean media and music, have Korean friends, etc. Those all can be reason enough to drive you to learn and use the language regularly. These can also be avenues to help with your studying Korean.

In my opinion, if your connection to a language is more loose, like trying to learn it to get ahead in business without a clear goal (as a resume booster, not for a specific job or goal but jumping on the trend of Korean) then you might be more likely to quit when it gets to the harder parts of language learning.

As long as you can see it being a part of your life, then a language is worth learning for you! Of course, language learning has all kinds of benefits for your brain but which language and why Korean is a fit for you is the most important factor. Whether or not Korean is an easy language is a different matter entirely haha.