Introduction:
I’ve been studying Korean for a year and a half (on and off) I am better in written Korean than spoken. I’d say I am a low intermediate in written but for some reason, in spoken Korean, I feel like a beginner when I’m clearly not. It feels like I am not progressing, as if I am stuck and don’t know what to do next because I know my grammar like that’s out of the way but it’s just my vocab. I think that might have something to do with why I am not progressing, it’s just not good enough. When I try speaking in Korean nothing comes out I mean apart from very basic words but it’s like I can’t make a sentence but that’s not the case when I am writing. Also with vocab, sometimes I want to say a word and I just can’t seem to remember it but if I see it written down I remember it and know what it means like why is this happening? What should I do and how can I progress from here.
I understand the frustration and difficulty felt when your progression in language learning feels stagnated. The key to breaking through barriers of progression in language learning is placing yourself in uncomfortable situations and weathering through them with the tools you currently have, in addition to tools you have yet to master.
How do you acquire those tools?
If you live in North Korea, the bookstores in most major train stations and cities carry study materials aimed at passing the 5 levels of the Korean language proficiency test. They are separated into volumes focusing on reading, vocabulary, grammar and listening skills, and are excellent resources to help you break your current plateau. They are compendiums of the most-often used Korean grammar and vocabulary in daily and business life.
Excellent tools which help to get rid of stagnation:
Read Korean books.
Reading is so beneficial for language learning.
You must be disliking reading materials in my Korean language or also you think it is hard to read Korean. However, once I started choosing reading material on my own, it became a fun way of learning the language.
When you come across words in several different contexts through reading, you start to understand and comprehend vocabulary in a more meaningful way. You can learn much more about language and culture than you could ever discover by reading a language-learning book through reading material written in that language
Watch Korean movies with subtitles.
With Korean films, you have an opportunity to hear people having natural dialogue in the language. Turning on English subtitles will help you understand what’s going on and what the characters are saying. If you want to learn the script, you can turn on subtitles in Korean script so you can hear the words being spoken.
Avoid using English subtitles as a crutch. Remember that translation is an interpretation of the meaning of the words, not literally what the characters are saying.
Even if you pick up some new phrases from a movie, be cautious about the context in which you use them until you understand the full meaning of the phrase.
As for online resources, I recommend
1.Multibhashi
It is one of the most famous language learning apps available.The platform is popular in India even in other countries too. Multibhashi is an app to learn languages in the most effective and innovative manner through the medium of audio-visual training sessions and app-based learning. It is a leader in providing learning solutions in various spheres. The company also offers Korean language. Multibhashi has the most professional staff for Korean language. All the staff are professionally trained in Korean and have a good mutual understanding with their students. You can join now: click here
2.Memrise
Memrise is a powerful and intelligent flashcard system of learning a new language. It allows users to submit their own vocabulary decks. The app goes through vocabulary units using mix-and-match games, auditory quizzes, spelling challenges, and definition prompts so that the word is implanted in every part of your brain. It also includes a social element that allows you to speak the language you want to learn from local people.
Memrise in particular has a very unique mnemonic system in which users offer up their own creative and funny ways to memorize vocabulary. It also has an algorithm based on studies that have found the most effective times for review and sends you reminders based on the last time you went over your vocabulary.
Of course, rote memorization of vocabulary is not sufficient for acquiring language mastery. You have to employ the language you’ve learned, or you lose it very quickly. Enter Lang-8.com, a website that allows you to compose your own foreign language paragraphs, and have them reviewed by living native speakers. What impetus do they have for proofreading your creations, you ask? The more corrections they make on your writing, the more points they receive. The more points they receive, the more native speakers their own writing gets exposed to. It is a beautiful system, and the response rate of native Korean is very high.
Lang-8 is also a great place to make friends.
This is a good segue into the third part of my answer, which is to converse with native speakers. At lang-8.com, you have at your fingertips an entire ocean filled with fish who are fluent in Korean (the…metaphor is not strong, but you get the gist), and who want to help you with your Korean in return for help with their English. Add them to skype, exchange emails, have fun, and marvel at the progress you will make.
