Hey, Talk-Talk's! Thank you for watching this video 💖 In our next video, we're going to compare and analyze the Korean of two foreign K-pop idols! Who would you like us to look into? Leave their names in the comments 🤗
I have been in a Javanese speaking city for 5 years because of studying, but I can't speak Javanese cause I don't learn it, of course i am familiar with certain words and expressions, but that's it. So I think the main thing that made people fluent in a foreign language is the learning, the environment that speaks the target language is just a supporting part of it.
Not only that. Tons of foreigners live in Korea but never really learn the language well at all. I think the difference is that they are also *pushed* to learn it. Like when we are children, we are also pushed to say words and make sentences by our parents. It can be a similar method for training KPOP idols. Idols have to be pushed because it's part of their job and time is of the essence to get them to a competent level for public speaking and PR. To a lot of us, it's a hobby, and as a result we don't nearly have the same amount of immersion, environment, and routine for things to stick as quickly.
I think immersion learning makes the difference. A foreign idol who lives in Korea, surrounded by native Koreans, will learn faster than the (many) foreign learners who are living in another country, with no 24h contact with Korean speakers. Even if you study 2 hours a day, which is already a tremendous amount of time, it is not as much as immersion learning.
Exactly. At the end of the day the best way to predict how good someone will be at their target language is how many hours they spend practicing it. All but the most dedicated learners will spend no more than an hour a day on average learning their target language. And we know that 3 years is sufficient to acquire a good language ability with that level of dedication. That means 365 hours per year, which in turn is a bit more than 1000 hours over the course of 3 years. However if you are living in Korea, constantly being spoken to in Korean. Even if you talk/listen very little you will have 5+ hours of practice each day. That means it will take 6-7 months to learn the same basics most people take 3+ years to learn.
As a "foreigner" who's been fluent in Korean for several years now, I partially agree with most of these points. The evidence suggests that when you start learning a language, especially one as complex as Korean, it's absolutely fine, if not recommended, that you begin with lots of comprehensible input with little to no output. The concept of "start speaking from day one" is partly a myth and partly language-dependent. If you were learning French as a native English speaker, this might be possible, but for Korean, you are far better off learning and listening to as much Korean as you possibly can because if you can't understand what other people are saying, it's pretty pointless to be able produce a few random phrases or sentences. Only once you start understanding the language can you truly participate in conversation and it's waaaay easier to learn how to speak once you have a decent grasp of basic grammar and can understand 1000+ words. I basically got fluent through the TTMIK's 이야기 series and 수다 타임. I literally memorised and mimicked everything from those series and produced it as often as I could with my Korean friends and 1.5 years later, I was essentially high B2, closing in on C1. Don't get it misconstrued though, speaking was ultimately the thing that led me to become fluent of course BUT it was because I developed my listening and vocab first and then got into speaking later on. Good luck guys.
But remember the testing effect can help you to learn by priming your brain too. So output is good early IF you can deal with being bad at it and struggling and not give up. If it’s more likely to make someone quit, then I’d definitely agree with you. Babies are exposed to many words before they understand them. I guess we should mimic how languages are naturally learned.
Native Korean speaker here! We can often understand each other even if our grammar isn't spot-on. Why? Korean has a very flexible word order, allowing us to rearrange sentences without changing the meaning. Sounds strange, right? But I've been doing it all along, and other native Korean speakers have understood me perfectly! It's true!
I would say that Japanese people, like Momo, Sana, Mina, and many more, have a little advantage because Japanese grammar is very similar to Korean. Obviously what Lisa said it's key, but they already have the grammar structure, and sometimes similar words. What I have heard from Sana in an interview is that for them pronunciation was the hardest part.
I am hungarian and i have been told by a person who knows both korean and japanese that i should start with korean (the only problem is we don't say the H letter when its combined with another consonant, ex: TH, we just say T. Also it might be a me thing but i don't really hear the difference between hard and soft letters)
@bubliiekqiio The Korean "h" sound isn't that hard. Normally you a light puff of air from the back of your throat. It's a soft H. The only other h is pounced with a ch that is like saying a thick J sound.
@@tsuyuasui7297 for me personally I’m having a slightly easier time with Korean than I did with Japanese. I love anime so that’s why I wanted to learn it, I just couldn’t figure out the alphabet as easily as Korean.
@@misspriss2482 I was amazed when I started learning Korean. The grammar, sentence structure, and even a lot of words are almost the exact same. Was just so much easier than when I first learned Japanese.
I'm doing the opposite right now haha! Having already studied Korean is making learning Japanese a million times easier. All you really have to focus on are the Kanji since everything else is so similar!
@@Adam-vx6to I started learning Korean before learning Japanese, and I was also amazed at the similarities. Whenever I try to understand Japanese grammar, the best way for me to learn was to compare it with Korean grammar. I also started making a list of all the words that (almost) sound and mean exactly the same lol. Though I feel like polite/formal language is a lot harder in Japanese.
Its so fascinating that minnie and yuqi improved their korean so much by talking to each other even tho theyre both foreigners but they probably made each other very comfortable so they improved really fast
I would second your point about reading out loud. It is incredibly helpful. When I moved to France 20+ years ago and really started learning the language I was given a very helpful tip (much like what you said) "French is learned with the mouth" I think we concentrate so much on the internal cognitive aspects of learning that we forget that language is expressed through the body, mouth and gesture/body language. Muscles used in each language are different. My mouth used to actually ache a bit after speaking French all day because I was using new muscles. The connections between what you want to say and actually saying it (connecting language centre to motor skills) need to be practiced over and over again to build them. It really helped me to read out loud and ever since I try to do that when I study another language.
OMG i had never realised my mouth muscles ache too when I practice speaking any language I'm learning... I think I had kinda thought about it but never trust myself and just ignore the thought hahah thanks for your advice and motivation 8) So interesting you moved to France!🇫🇷
1. Output (talking to speakers): 0.1 - watch/listen Korean speech 0.2 - read out loud, so it's good for your speaking also 2. Motivation 1.1 - internal, when you learn it for your own goals. 1.2 - instrumental, when you need Korean in practice, job. 3. Systematic & consistent learning opportunities. Mostly needed in professionals' help to continue "consistence".
It's important to remember that idols are also doing very intensive learning compared to the average person. Their companies hire teachers for them, and some of them spend hours a day every day doing their Korean lessons on top of their own study and practice outside of class. That's not reasonable for most people, unless you're a full time language student. So people shouldn't compare themselves to idols and get down on themselves about not getting the language as fast, because these idols should be learning much faster than you just based on how much time they're spending studying the language every day with a teacher at their disposal on top of being in a fully immersive environment. Their circumstances are completely different from most people's.
There's also one more aspect that no one mentioned and that is that idols appearing in variety shows and doing interviews have quite limited set of topics they know they will be required to talk about. There are things that they can with 100% certainty know they won't be asked about. That narrow scope helps them appear more fluent in the beginning.
Yeah idols have to learn the language and since they live in Korea or Japan, it makes it easier, even though I can type a bit of Japanese and speak a bit of Japanese, it's all thanks to watching anime and listening to Japanese songs and they have to learn to it because they will need to be able to sing it to their fans etc, but there are other ways to learn Korean such as language exchange apps
I think the US Government calls quick language learning tactics "immersion methods." I worked a truck driver for 30 years and worked my way inside and was transportation managing behind a desk too. At one place I worked, one of my peers was offered a transportation management position at a trucking firm in a small city in France. He took the job despite not knowing ANY French. I saw him three years later when he returned for some family event and he spoke French like a native, at least to my untrained ear. I saw him at a store, and he said the best way he learned is the motivation method described here. He HAD to learn as very few people around him spoke English. Great video and well presented TTMIK people.
Felix is such an angel and always gives his honest advice which I greatly appreciate. Thank you for this video! I'm hoping to really take my Korean language learning more seriously this year! Fighting everyone!
Aw, Felix is one of the reasons why I’m learning Korean! ♥️ This clip of him always reminds me of that and helps me a lot to motivate myself! Thank you for this interesting video!
The summarizing is so effective. My friend and I watch a Kdrama and we summarize each episode in Korean and explain it to each other. Also talking about interesting stories about your life or your concerns to yourself helps a lot with finding words that you don't know and learning them.
A lot of comments here are about immersion, and while that definitely helps just being immersed doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll learn the language. I’ve met so many people who live in countries with very low English levels but who never get proficient in the local language even after years because they’ve found the few people who speak English and get by without it, or don’t challenge themselves etc. Even if you are immersed you still need to put in effort to improve, and at the same time you don’t need to be living in Korea to create an immersive environment!
Its also selfish, native speakers are NOT your language teacher and will let you make all those bad grammer mistakes without correcting you, letting your mind form bad habits that you have to unlearn later down the road. A sinking man cannot swim, and found that the people who say you have to go to the country to learn it are just to lazy in there own country and blame there lack of progress on the fact there not in the country.
i dont live in america and i’m not surrounded around english native speaking people that much just by consuming the language to my everyday life, like online friends, music, media, series, singing, for years just made me more fluent than my actual native language 😭
I don't know how anyone can think immersion is enough when so many immigrants who have lived in a country 20-30 years have only rudimentary language skills. Whether it's English in America or Korean in Korea immersion without focused studying does very little.
I live in NY and started dating a korean girl 2 months ago who is studying here. I have been using duolingo and deerlingo to learn, but having her teach me the casual informal way to speak to her and her friends has really been the break through for me
Than you probably have a lot of motivation to learn the language! I’ve met my korean boyfriend through tandem learning. And over 5 years later still don’t speak korean and his german improved a bit but we never practiced again together 😅
My streak on Duolingo is like 2000 something and I just don't think it's helpful for fluency. You can learn bits and bobs and some phrases but I don't think it's a good tool for actually conversing and speaking a foreign language well
@@badiahe yeah about as much as anyone could with a few hours of google translate lol. You all honestly overestimate most idols’ language abilities. Other than Korean and their own native language(s), most foreign idols can’t really speak more languages that well.
@scholarssolutions6735 well her English is pretty fantastic so you're wrong there. I speak Japanese and she's fluent. Yoohyeon from Dreamcatcher speaks English glish very very well and Cantonese quite profeciantly and a bit of German. So sorry you're just wrong.
I really like the idea of learning languages. Lately, i started with Korean. And while improving with the basics, im worrying constantly about my motivation. For now, i think i have the motivation i need. But im not a person who can think on the future and being in peace with me. Depression, anxiety... This type of video helps a lot. Thanks. Now, apart of that. What video or playlist u can recommend from ur channel to start with basic sentenses? Or... How to start, basicly? I got hangul already... some general vocabulary... But not that much other than that.
Thank you for your comment! We'd recommend the following playlist. This series is one of the most popular series of our channel and is targeted to Korean beginners. As you already learned Hangeul, these videos will come in handy! 파이팅! ruclips.net/video/Jzep8XeOvwY/видео.html
It's simple: 1) They have excellent teachers. 2) They have a full immersion environment. 3) They have enormous financial incentive to learn. A foreign English teacher in Korea has none of these things, so it should be no surprise that most of them never achieve fluency in Korean.
i almost cried with the message of yeji, im starting korean lessons next week and im so excited but nervous at the same time! thanks for the motivation
Thank you for including Felix, he really studied korean hard and with help from members, books etc... I am a proud stay having him as inspiration to keep going
I’m learning French which is easier for me since I also speak Portuguese and Spanish but I definitely could relate to Felix’s words when I first started learning Portuguese. Once you accept where you are you can then make the changes necessary to learn well. So don’t stress yourself out comparing yourself to others’ progress. ❤
It's worth keeping in mind that many K-pop idols undergo years of training prior to their debut, so it's not uncommon for some of them to take a while to become fluent in Korean. However, this might not be apparent to fans since they are usually only exposed to the idols after their debut. For instance, Shuhua from (G)-Idle had only trained for 2 years before her debut, and her Korean proficiency wasn't very good at first. Even now, her Korean skills are not very strong. In contrast, some idols have trained for 5, 6, or even 10 years while simultaneously learning Korean.
I also recently heard a great metaphor about learning a language. Learning a language can be like climbing a mountain while climbing it will be a long and hard journey but reaching the top and seeing the breathtaking view is totally worth it.
i often watch language learning videos and most of the time they recommend the same tips and tricks to improve. this video though is totally mind blowing!! practical tips mixed with psychological facts is just my cup of tea. i will try to implement every recommendation into my daily life, 선생님! ~ big thank you from italy 💕
Thank you for this video. It has given me some more motivation to keep studying Korean and not be so upset that I am not learning quickly. I’m a slow language learner but I know when it clicks i will be so happy I didn’t give up!! Btw. I live in Korea. Have a tutor. I have opportunities to speak Korean but often don’t listen to Korean much. I’m trying to increase my intake.
I've realized hat immersion is really the only way to learn a language successfully, just like how we learn our mother tongue. Without immersion, for me, only about half the information gets retained. I learned how to read and write Spanish in class but to speak it, fluently or not, I had to learn with a native Spanish speaker and only then was I able to pick up on conversation and engage in conversation. I'm learning Korean now which is much more challenging since it uses a Non-Roman alphabet and has many sounds English. doesn't have, like the r/l sound sounds closer in both Spanish and Korean than it does in English. Thanks for the learning tips and I appreciate your channel. 🤍
So many immigrants in America live there 20-30 years without becoming fluent in English, while so many Europeans learn English really well without ever meeting a native speaker. Immersion is just one of many things that lead to successful language learning.
@@ProteaAurea Those immigrants live decades avoiding native speakers, surrounding themselves with other immigrants and using their children as translators, while the Europeans spend decades consuming countless English movies, shows, songs, video games and social media content. Living in the country doesn't mean you immerse yourself in the language, and immersion doesn't require you to live in the country.
I think what a lot of people tend to miss is, aside from factors such as motivation and exposure, languages that have been heavily influenced by Middle Chinese will share a working vocabulary that will often be as similar between each other as European languages'. It's a big reason why East Asian students tend to progress much faster in Korean. With Japanese in particular, both the vocab and the grammar are very similar, so naturally they are likely to learn Korean the fastest.
This was so helpful. For some reason, so many people on youtube say stuff like, "I just took a week and learned all the grammar, then picked up all the vocab in the next month. After that, I was just fluent." It's just pointless and depressing. But this helped a ton. Thank you!
😭😭😭😭 I’ve been trying to learn for 7 years OMG I hadn’t even noticed it was that long!!! But I always feel like I’m still basic and beginner that I can never advance, but Yeji is right when I was reading out loud it was advancing faster and I need to continue that. As someone who doesn’t have friends here to talk to all the time I need to find ways for output. I need to talk more to my friends in Korea in Korean more often as well. One day I will visit Korea again and actually be fluent understanding everything! Goals! 여러분 할 수 있어요! 화이팅! 성생님들 감사합니다! P.S. it was also 7 yrs ago after wanting and trying to learn Korean on my own that I found TTMIK! Watching its progress is amazing!
I'll be 40 this year and I've just started learning Korean like a month ago. As a German, who has lived abroad, I'm already fluent in english and a bit of Dutch, but korean is a whole different level. The structure of a sentence is so different and as I get older it's a bit harder to remember everything😅. But I put in a couple hours every day and talk out loud, I'm also trying to make Korean friends here in Germany so I can practice what I've learned. One thing you should never do is give up. You can only improve, no matter how slow of a learner you are.
The difference your mother tongue has with your target language effects everything so much. As a Turk, i learned English by myself and it was hard to understand some parts of structure but since i was like 13 while learning, i just keep on going cuz i didnt have another thing to do. Now im learning Korean which is really similar to Turkish in many ways, i can feel the fun of learning a language. But when its harder, you will feel even more proud after learning it and i bet it will become easier&funnier as you keep going. Never give up!
Hi! Great content!! All of these pieces of advice are very useful! I tried most of them except the first one about speaking with people in Korean. Although I do have Korean acquaintances I'm never sure how to approach them. Especially regarding using social media, one downside is that it's easier for me to write my message in Korean rather than speaking it directly because I have time to think. I would love to know how to approach Koreans in the future. That would be a great tip for me if you would like to teach it. Also, I have to say that speaking Korean out loud or any other language is a tip that saved me so much! I tend to think that it's a pretty underrated method that should get more attention from learners. It doesn't only help you improve your pronunciation and speaking abilities but also helps you get over the anxieties of speaking Korean or any other language you learn. I know it's a bit cringe at first to hear yourself but you'll come to like it when you get results from this kind of practice. Have a good day and keep up the great work!
I completely agree with everything that was mentioned. What helped me the two times I lived in Korea was going downtown and surrounding myself with Koreans interacting so I could study body language, tone, etc which helped me with my confidence and accent. I would then purposely put myself into situations where I needed to use my Korean in order to buy something, ask a question, etc. Don't worry about making mistakes...it's going to happen..just be sure to learn from those mistakes. Even now my Korean is not what it once was since I have been away 7 years, but I am starting courses next week in order to be fluent by the time I move back in 2025 and I can't wait!
Very well said! I enjoyed this video and it inspired me to continue pushing to learn Korean. I have a Korean partner but we default to English so much. I want to make a more conscious effort and properly make the best of the fact that I have someone who I can comfortably learn from
I think immersion helps a lot, I feel my Korean has increased a lot than before after I started working as an Kor-Eng interpreter/translator, even tho I still have a lotttttt to learn but yea I am better than before~
definitely immersion and the inability of choice/no slacking off really. you're in the country surrounded by the language. people are speaking it, it is on the signs, you need to take the bus, order food. you HAVE to speak it to get by truly. plus for many of them it really is part of their job and they have dedicated time to study on top of all that. it would be awesome to be there taking it all in from every angle!
Don’t underestimate the power of speaking with friends in Korean! It’s so right that being able to speak in a stress free environment helps soooo much. In my second semester of Korean language school (I was legit only in level 2!) one of my classmates and friends spoke no English at all. So even though we couldn’t speak Korean well, we only used Korean with each other. By the end of the semester we were speaking super easily with each other. Sure, it wasn’t amazing and we were still surely making grammar mistakes, but we figured out the flow and the ability to speak in a way to make others understand.
In terms of language acquisition living in an environment where people only speak your target language is crucial to improving quickly, also the urge to improve to survive and live a more social live plays a role too I think. Personally I think listening to comprehensible listening content is very useful to fake the first thing I mentioned, in some way :)
native speakers are not your parents or teachers. native speakers will not correct your mistakes, letting you form bad habits which you will have to unlearn later down the road making your job twice as hard. focus on input, both reading and audio get to above intermid and then immersion will be a benefit
These explanations are all part of how they tend to learn Korean so fast, but there is a lot of biology behind it too. And the biology of language learning is what will keep older language learners frustrated even if they are able to apply most or all of the things you highlight in this video There are two primary scientific/biologic factors at play here: Age and their native language's proximity to Korean Studies have shown that children and teens/young adults learn foreign languages significantly faster than adults even after other factors are accounted for. For one, most of these idols start training in middle-school or younger, and their young brains are still developing new neural pathways at a staggering rate. The more a person ages, the harder it is to do that. Plain and simple. An additional age-based factor is related to the fact that as our brains age, we actually lose the ability to hear and process many of the phonemes used in spoken foreign language IF we haven't been using them ourselves or frequently exposed to them (in general - there's always going to be exceptions). So a native English-only speaker will generally lose most of their ability to hear many of the subtle differences in certain pronunciations that are absolutely vital to learning to understand and speak another language. Of course, the more different a language is from the native speakers', the more profound the effect Which brings us to how similar your native language is to the language you're trying to learn. If you are born in China, Japan, or even Southeast Asia as many K-Pop Idols are, chances are pretty good that you can distinguish the different subtleties in sounds/pronunciations/phonemes used in the Korean language more easily than a native English speaker. Hell, many Korean words are derived from Chinese. If you couple that with the fact that these idols are literally moving to Korea (immersion) at a young age (brain still forming, tons of new neural pathways available), then it's no wonder some of them pick up on it "so easily". Combine that with some of the grammatical similarities between many Asian languages and they have a *massively* significant advantage over your typical, average, adult Korean learner (especially those of us used to Latin-based/Germanic language sentence structures) Basically, even without the huge investment by their entertainment agencies for round-the-clock tutors and such, they would STILL have an easier time than the vast majority of us. It's certainly not impossible, just saying that if you are an adult language learner, you just simply cannot compare yourself to a child/teen language learner. If all other factors are equal, you'll still have a harder time, sadly 😭😭😭 Thank you for coming to my TED talk
well said, i learned chinese in university in my country but i went to China to study and i saw the difference, learn much more in China, my teacher spoke just chinese, i have to speak chinese to make people understand myself, i made chinese friends, some speak english but i have some who don't speak english and i have to speak chinese with her. I spend 6 month in China, i didn't become fully fluent but after 6 month i could make a conversation just in chinese
it's easy to learn a foreign language if you're living in a country or surrounded by people that is using that language. reading and learning the grammar is just the first step, you needed someone to communicate and practice with them
HORI7ON (호라이즌)'s Marcus can now carry basic conversations with their Korean fans. So impressive! Korean is now his third language after Filipino and English. It really helps if you practice with native speakers especially in the day-to-day setting like at the grocery
my friend and i speak random korean at work and it’s sooo helpful. he’s a bit better with grammar and i’m better at conversational. man, finding a language partner is so useful
This is my first time ever seeing you, but I'm subscribing. Your way of presenting information is very smooth and appealing. Also, the quality of information itself is very valuable, because it's authentic, practical, and relatable. As an English teacher to ESL/EFL learners, but also a student of korean, I commend you for this.
From experience working as a sound engineer, I feel like the best practice they have is the intense recording sessions they do where they have to get the perfect take over and over with meticulous attention to every syllable. They often end up with a conscious understanding of the subtle details of the language that even native speakers only understand subconsciously. Meaning, their approach to language is closer to how most people would approach learning a new musical style/instrument than learning a language.
1 - Their native language share similar roots 2 - They need to speak the language for their own survival 3 - They're surrounded by native speaker Bonus: If they're speaking a tonal language, like Minnie or Jackson, they have a higher chance of having perfect pitch and be good at recognizing intonation patterns regardless. Edit ( after watching the video ): Yup close enough guesses. Money is indeed a thing too, these entertainment companies invest a lot in their artists.
When I learn as well, my 쌤 only speak in Korean and I have no way to interact with her other than trying to speak in Korean. Within 2 months I can speak basic expression, within 9 months I can already order food for myself in the restaurant. This is 5hrs daily 5 days a week for 2 years straight and I finished learning from Level 1 all the way to Level 6. My TOPIK score was Level 5 at that time. So I do agree being forced to speak and live in and around the language helps a lot.
I started to learn korean three years ago, I realized that Korean Idols also would need to learn, but no one just ever told me how they learned until I saw this video. GOOD, NEO MU JO A HE YO.
It's an important distinction to make, as well, that the example idols listed are all still Asian in origin; Which means their own native languages are not grammatically Latin, like English and other Western learners are used to, so there is a relatively smaller learning curve experienced. It would be comparable to one of us learning another Latin-based language, like Spanish, or French.
Good video! These days I don't really know where i stand in korean learning,its like I'm not making any progress. I feel like my mind has been put on halt.
Immersian learning is so difficult for me here....I've lived in S. Korea for 2 years, and still cant even have a conversation...now mind you, i live in what would be considered the "countryside." So whenever i have the chance to talk to Native Koreans, it's only at the supermarket or at my job. And it's only basic conversation, like "do you need a bag? Would you like your receipt?" I once tried small talk with the cashier and she didnt even acknowledge it. 😂 And whenever i go to Seoul and try to speak Korean, they either speak English back to me, or the Korean is so advanced that im completely lost and all conversation just stops. 😂 I've joined language exchange apps but very quickly learned that that is NOT what they are for here. I wish Koreans (in my towm) loved small talk!!! That would be so helpful!!!
It took me around 2 years alone to get adjusted to the language. I'm not much of an active learner, I just practice by making new friends, but after living in Korea for 6 years, I'm pretty confident with my abilities. Give yourself some more time and it will come to you naturally! Also, I know those apps like HelloTalk can be difficult. I tried many times too. Your better chance is to become a "regular" at a local bar or Cafe and make friends there. That's what I did!
Immersion is key. It helps to accelerate the “input” for sure. I hope to visit Korea in the next couple of years, but in the meantime, I would like to do a language exchange with a native speaker. I try to expose myself by listening to and reading Korean out loud every day; even if I don’t know every word, I sound it out words and look them up to see how accurate my pronunciation was after all.
this is so true, I only knew a few phrases because of kdramas, but when I went to study abroad for a semster, I took a korean class, i learned the alphabet in ONE NIGHT because I signed up late for the class. I would jokingly try speaking korean to friends when we went out in korea. And being in korea not being able speak korean really made me so frustrated with myself so that was a great motivator. While I havent practiced since, I learned sm in 5 months.
A good friend of mine majored in Spanish in college in the early 2000’s and spoke it fluently for years. She said staying for just a summer in Spain helped her a ton. I guess when you’re surrounded by the language and native speakers, there really isn’t much choice but to learn if you want to communicate effectively.
Watching this type of video gives me hope in future that I can understand Korean in future & speak fluently on it. I can write Korean but I have a hard time when reading it (I can understand some words tho) but when creating a sentences, I quickly lose it...
The truth is that some people are just not skilled in learning languages, and others get a lot of help(like the idols), not to mention that they don't really deal with that many things as a normal human because they have people to do things for them. It's not the same for everyone. Talking in the video for only 3 people is not enough proof to make it like "the same" for all. I teach kids Korean English, and every kid learns in a different way. So my advice is to find the best way for you, it's not a guarantee that you will learn like those people did. :)
Making my Korean friends talk to me even though I don’t fully comprehend helps a lot. Learning through TTMIK is helpful, but when you immerse yourself in the language, you finally connect missing pieces together
I totally agree with Lisa, that is also how I learned how to speak Afrikaans. That woman was merciless, and always spoke to me in Afrikaans. But now that I think about it she actually helped me and I'm grateful.
That's probably the benefits of what we called in Linguistics: "language contact," wherein, there should be a conversation between a language learner and a native speaker (e.g. Korean). This is somehow useful if a person wants to learn foreign languages quickly. If someone is being exposed to a foreign language, with no chance of speaking his/her native tongue, that's when a motivation comes, wherein, a person will force himself/herself to use that foreign language for a better communication, so that there will be no language barrier. It is also a some kind of survival in another country, honestly speaking.
I was just thinking about this lately... I have been learning korean by myself at home since 2020 already and I am intermediate (I think) I already know lots of words I can use, enough grammar to comunicate, but still find it difficult to understand everything I hear in korean and I can't express myself that fluently either, I really felt stuck in my learning progress; but yesterday thanks to another video and now this one as well I got a bit motivated again, it's true that even if I consume a lot of korean content it's still not the same as being always sorrounded by korean and having to speak it, so in the other video the girl said she just listened to a podcast in the language she's learning and just understand what she did and just "ignore" what she didn't, kinda learning as natural as babies do when they start speaking! So I thought "if I already know enough things, why stressing that much?" I'll just keep speaking the best I can and listening when I consume korean content and don't stress or get anxious with the things I don't understand, it is OK!! Thanks to this video now, I can see that it is true, I have NO korean people to talk with, I am as far from Korea as many of us and I am not HAVING to speak it to comunicate in daily life, so guys, let's not give up!! 화이팅!! 그리고 TTMIK의 선생님들 이 영상을 주셔서 너무 감사합니다💞
Can you make those kind of videos in Korean dear TTMIK, please? It's really effective for us for practicing listening Korean while learning something about "learning Korean". 💫💜
Prop to the foreigner idol. Not only they had to compete on the standard level of dancing and singing, but they also have to study a new language and be good at it just to survive in idol world. Those who has strong internal motivation tend to strive and success.
Korean would be my 4th language I’m learning. Hmong is my first, English is second and Spanish is my third. My current and main output is speaking back to my screen in Korean when I watch my kdramas. Whether it’s a personal response or predicting what the other character will say, it’s a natural thing that I do now. ☺️🤓
My 선생님 is amazing and so kind and she speaks in almost 100% Korean so much so my listening is pretty good, but sometimes she's too nice and doesn't push us to speak in Korean as much as we should. I get very nervous talking with her in Korean, so I will try to use some of these methods to improve my speaking.
I'm learning Korean for 3 years now and I'm not close to where I want to be which is my English level (2nd language to me). I comfort myself by remembering it took literally decade to achieve level that suits me, so I take my time and keep working. 한국어 배우는 형제자매들에게 힘을 내세요! 우리는 할 수 있어요
I think a big factor for them that most people can’t imitate is time. It’s their job basically to learn so they can dedicate hours a day and are surrounded by the language. Meanwhile, the average person has to learn around their life. So we can never be as fast and and it’s good to remember that.
I really love Korean language, I'm a beginner and I hope I can speak fluently very soon. I'm Mexican and live in Canada since 1998. For me, Korean is easier to learn than Japanese, I work in a hotel and there are few co workers from Korea, so far I haven't practice talking to them but when I feel more confident for sure I will. I'm subscribed to TTMK and I ordered some books too. Excellent tips, I'm sure I will improve my Korean in no time. Greetings from Toronto.
![[ Bilingual ] My Name is Choi Jadoo / Learn Korean with Jadoo](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/szI7AvSlr4E/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey, Talk-Talk's! Thank you for watching this video 💖
In our next video, we're going to compare and analyze the Korean of two foreign K-pop idols! Who would you like us to look into? Leave their names in the comments 🤗
Yuqi from Idle
Mark and Ten from NCT
Lisa from Blackpink, Felix from Stray Kids and Ningning from AESPA!!🫶🏽🇰🇷
U from ONF!
Hi my loves. Hope y’all are doing well dear friends ^^ well, you can analyse anyone’s talking skills, team. I will look forward to it.
I always wondered how did they learn but they are surrounded by the language, so that's also helpful...
This i think really is the biggest reason. Like when we were a baby and learned our mother language by hearing from them
I have been in a Javanese speaking city for 5 years because of studying, but I can't speak Javanese cause I don't learn it, of course i am familiar with certain words and expressions, but that's it. So I think the main thing that made people fluent in a foreign language is the learning, the environment that speaks the target language is just a supporting part of it.
Not only that. Tons of foreigners live in Korea but never really learn the language well at all. I think the difference is that they are also *pushed* to learn it. Like when we are children, we are also pushed to say words and make sentences by our parents. It can be a similar method for training KPOP idols. Idols have to be pushed because it's part of their job and time is of the essence to get them to a competent level for public speaking and PR. To a lot of us, it's a hobby, and as a result we don't nearly have the same amount of immersion, environment, and routine for things to stick as quickly.
I spent a year in korea with all my classes in korean and friend groups speaking in korean. I wish that was enough to learn
They take a lot of classes too and that is the foundation of it all.
I think immersion learning makes the difference. A foreign idol who lives in Korea, surrounded by native Koreans, will learn faster than the (many) foreign learners who are living in another country, with no 24h contact with Korean speakers. Even if you study 2 hours a day, which is already a tremendous amount of time, it is not as much as immersion learning.
Exactly. At the end of the day the best way to predict how good someone will be at their target language is how many hours they spend practicing it. All but the most dedicated learners will spend no more than an hour a day on average learning their target language. And we know that 3 years is sufficient to acquire a good language ability with that level of dedication. That means 365 hours per year, which in turn is a bit more than 1000 hours over the course of 3 years.
However if you are living in Korea, constantly being spoken to in Korean. Even if you talk/listen very little you will have 5+ hours of practice each day. That means it will take 6-7 months to learn the same basics most people take 3+ years to learn.
So true. I'm french and i've been sudying kr for 5 months at least 1h a day (sometimes 5). Still not fluent.
That's true!!!
@@LordKeramso true!! Reminds me of the 10 thousand rule
@@growingdying YES! Exactly.
As a "foreigner" who's been fluent in Korean for several years now, I partially agree with most of these points. The evidence suggests that when you start learning a language, especially one as complex as Korean, it's absolutely fine, if not recommended, that you begin with lots of comprehensible input with little to no output. The concept of "start speaking from day one" is partly a myth and partly language-dependent. If you were learning French as a native English speaker, this might be possible, but for Korean, you are far better off learning and listening to as much Korean as you possibly can because if you can't understand what other people are saying, it's pretty pointless to be able produce a few random phrases or sentences. Only once you start understanding the language can you truly participate in conversation and it's waaaay easier to learn how to speak once you have a decent grasp of basic grammar and can understand 1000+ words. I basically got fluent through the TTMIK's 이야기 series and 수다 타임. I literally memorised and mimicked everything from those series and produced it as often as I could with my Korean friends and 1.5 years later, I was essentially high B2, closing in on C1. Don't get it misconstrued though, speaking was ultimately the thing that led me to become fluent of course BUT it was because I developed my listening and vocab first and then got into speaking later on. Good luck guys.
But remember the testing effect can help you to learn by priming your brain too. So output is good early IF you can deal with being bad at it and struggling and not give up. If it’s more likely to make someone quit, then I’d definitely agree with you.
Babies are exposed to many words before they understand them. I guess we should mimic how languages are naturally learned.
Where i can found those series that you mentioned it?
How many years did it take you to get fluent in korean??
@@iamFOvie 1.5 years with about 3 hours of study a day
Native Korean speaker here! We can often understand each other even if our grammar isn't spot-on. Why? Korean has a very flexible word order, allowing us to rearrange sentences without changing the meaning. Sounds strange, right? But I've been doing it all along, and other native Korean speakers have understood me perfectly! It's true!
I would say that Japanese people, like Momo, Sana, Mina, and many more, have a little advantage because Japanese grammar is very similar to Korean. Obviously what Lisa said it's key, but they already have the grammar structure, and sometimes similar words. What I have heard from Sana in an interview is that for them pronunciation was the hardest part.
True. Japanese and Korean have almost similar sentence construction
I am hungarian and i have been told by a person who knows both korean and japanese that i should start with korean (the only problem is we don't say the H letter when its combined with another consonant, ex: TH, we just say T. Also it might be a me thing but i don't really hear the difference between hard and soft letters)
@@bubliiekqiiopeople have told me it's better to start with japanese
@bubliiekqiio The Korean "h" sound isn't that hard. Normally you a light puff of air from the back of your throat. It's a soft H. The only other h is pounced with a ch that is like saying a thick J sound.
@@tsuyuasui7297 for me personally I’m having a slightly easier time with Korean than I did with Japanese. I love anime so that’s why I wanted to learn it, I just couldn’t figure out the alphabet as easily as Korean.
The biggest thing for me learning Korean was that already knowing Japanese makes it SOOOOOOOO easy.
Yep. I have a niece who's been learning Japanese for over 10 years and I told her that learning Korean will be way easier for her than it is for me.
@@misspriss2482 I was amazed when I started learning Korean. The grammar, sentence structure, and even a lot of words are almost the exact same. Was just so much easier than when I first learned Japanese.
I'm doing the opposite right now haha! Having already studied Korean is making learning Japanese a million times easier. All you really have to focus on are the Kanji since everything else is so similar!
Yup!! That’s where I’m at now, highly recommend haha Korean is the easiest language to learn for Japanese speakers.
True of the opposite too!
@@Adam-vx6to I started learning Korean before learning Japanese, and I was also amazed at the similarities. Whenever I try to understand Japanese grammar, the best way for me to learn was to compare it with Korean grammar. I also started making a list of all the words that (almost) sound and mean exactly the same lol. Though I feel like polite/formal language is a lot harder in Japanese.
If you think about it, immersion makes perfect sense. That’s how we all learned our language as babies.
We also read, were read to, wrote, etc... it's never any one thing and they're all very important
Thats literally what they said@@destroyermaker
Its so fascinating that minnie and yuqi improved their korean so much by talking to each other even tho theyre both foreigners but they probably made each other very comfortable so they improved really fast
idk about minnie, but yuqi already learned korean in china
Really? How much did she learn before she came to korea? @@andij605
I would second your point about reading out loud. It is incredibly helpful.
When I moved to France 20+ years ago and really started learning the language I was given a very helpful tip (much like what you said) "French is learned with the mouth"
I think we concentrate so much on the internal cognitive aspects of learning that we forget that language is expressed through the body, mouth and gesture/body language. Muscles used in each language are different. My mouth used to actually ache a bit after speaking French all day because I was using new muscles. The connections between what you want to say and actually saying it (connecting language centre to motor skills) need to be practiced over and over again to build them. It really helped me to read out loud and ever since I try to do that when I study another language.
OMG i had never realised my mouth muscles ache too when I practice speaking any language I'm learning... I think I had kinda thought about it but never trust myself and just ignore the thought hahah thanks for your advice and motivation 8) So interesting you moved to France!🇫🇷
My mouth also hurts after speaking in French 😂 didn’t make the connection about using new muscles !
1. Output (talking to speakers):
0.1 - watch/listen Korean speech
0.2 - read out loud, so it's good for your speaking also
2. Motivation
1.1 - internal, when you learn it for your own goals.
1.2 - instrumental, when you need Korean in practice, job.
3. Systematic & consistent learning opportunities. Mostly needed in professionals' help to continue "consistence".
It's important to remember that idols are also doing very intensive learning compared to the average person. Their companies hire teachers for them, and some of them spend hours a day every day doing their Korean lessons on top of their own study and practice outside of class. That's not reasonable for most people, unless you're a full time language student. So people shouldn't compare themselves to idols and get down on themselves about not getting the language as fast, because these idols should be learning much faster than you just based on how much time they're spending studying the language every day with a teacher at their disposal on top of being in a fully immersive environment. Their circumstances are completely different from most people's.
That's such a nice thing to say! We can very easily compare ourselves to them in ways that are simply not fair. Thank you for point that out!
There's also one more aspect that no one mentioned and that is that idols appearing in variety shows and doing interviews have quite limited set of topics they know they will be required to talk about. There are things that they can with 100% certainty know they won't be asked about. That narrow scope helps them appear more fluent in the beginning.
Yeah idols have to learn the language and since they live in Korea or Japan, it makes it easier, even though I can type a bit of Japanese and speak a bit of Japanese, it's all thanks to watching anime and listening to Japanese songs and they have to learn to it because they will need to be able to sing it to their fans etc, but there are other ways to learn Korean such as language exchange apps
I think the US Government calls quick language learning tactics "immersion methods." I worked a truck driver for 30 years and worked my way inside and was transportation managing behind a desk too. At one place I worked, one of my peers was offered a transportation management position at a trucking firm in a small city in France. He took the job despite not knowing ANY French. I saw him three years later when he returned for some family event and he spoke French like a native, at least to my untrained ear. I saw him at a store, and he said the best way he learned is the motivation method described here. He HAD to learn as very few people around him spoke English.
Great video and well presented TTMIK people.
Felix is such an angel and always gives his honest advice which I greatly appreciate.
Thank you for this video! I'm hoping to really take my Korean language learning more seriously this year! Fighting everyone!
@@NetrunnerOne because I don't know how .. lol wtf
Aw, Felix is one of the reasons why I’m learning Korean! ♥️ This clip of him always reminds me of that and helps me a lot to motivate myself! Thank you for this interesting video!
The summarizing is so effective. My friend and I watch a Kdrama and we summarize each episode in Korean and explain it to each other. Also talking about interesting stories about your life or your concerns to yourself helps a lot with finding words that you don't know and learning them.
I like how Felix's part is the "Most Replayed"
A lot of comments here are about immersion, and while that definitely helps just being immersed doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll learn the language. I’ve met so many people who live in countries with very low English levels but who never get proficient in the local language even after years because they’ve found the few people who speak English and get by without it, or don’t challenge themselves etc. Even if you are immersed you still need to put in effort to improve, and at the same time you don’t need to be living in Korea to create an immersive environment!
Well-said! I especially love your last sentence ☺️ Can't agree more
Its also selfish, native speakers are NOT your language teacher and will let you make all those bad grammer mistakes without correcting you, letting your mind form bad habits that you have to unlearn later down the road. A sinking man cannot swim, and found that the people who say you have to go to the country to learn it are just to lazy in there own country and blame there lack of progress on the fact there not in the country.
i dont live in america and i’m not surrounded around english native speaking people that much just by consuming the language to my everyday life, like online friends, music, media, series, singing, for years just made me more fluent than my actual native language 😭
I don't know how anyone can think immersion is enough when so many immigrants who have lived in a country 20-30 years have only rudimentary language skills. Whether it's English in America or Korean in Korea immersion without focused studying does very little.
Exacty! i definetly agree with you, youd have to take a few classes or courses to learn a language while learning from natives
I live in NY and started dating a korean girl 2 months ago who is studying here. I have been using duolingo and deerlingo to learn, but having her teach me the casual informal way to speak to her and her friends has really been the break through for me
Than you probably have a lot of motivation to learn the language! I’ve met my korean boyfriend through tandem learning. And over 5 years later still don’t speak korean and his german improved a bit but we never practiced again together 😅
My streak on Duolingo is like 2000 something and I just don't think it's helpful for fluency. You can learn bits and bobs and some phrases but I don't think it's a good tool for actually conversing and speaking a foreign language well
It worked for mee! 저는 요즘 한국어를 다시 연습해요 ㅎㅎ
fittaddnmä en tiiä mite loin ton sanan
Lisa is just naturally gifted at learning languages. She speaks Thai, english, japanese and Korean.
And she speaks alittle bit of Chinese too😮
Same as Minnie.
She doesn’t speak Japanese anywhere near fluently.
@@badiahe yeah about as much as anyone could with a few hours of google translate lol. You all honestly overestimate most idols’ language abilities. Other than Korean and their own native language(s), most foreign idols can’t really speak more languages that well.
@scholarssolutions6735 well her English is pretty fantastic so you're wrong there. I speak Japanese and she's fluent. Yoohyeon from Dreamcatcher speaks English glish very very well and Cantonese quite profeciantly and a bit of German. So sorry you're just wrong.
I really like the idea of learning languages. Lately, i started with Korean. And while improving with the basics, im worrying constantly about my motivation. For now, i think i have the motivation i need. But im not a person who can think on the future and being in peace with me. Depression, anxiety... This type of video helps a lot. Thanks.
Now, apart of that. What video or playlist u can recommend from ur channel to start with basic sentenses? Or... How to start, basicly? I got hangul already... some general vocabulary... But not that much other than that.
Thank you for your comment! We'd recommend the following playlist. This series is one of the most popular series of our channel and is targeted to Korean beginners. As you already learned Hangeul, these videos will come in handy! 파이팅!
ruclips.net/video/Jzep8XeOvwY/видео.html
@@talktomeinkorean Thanks for ur quick response :) gonna check it for sure. Have a nice day/night! :)
The clip from Felix really helped me motivate myself when I found learning Korean difficult😭thanks for putting it in
It's simple: 1) They have excellent teachers. 2) They have a full immersion environment. 3) They have enormous financial incentive to learn.
A foreign English teacher in Korea has none of these things, so it should be no surprise that most of them never achieve fluency in Korean.
i almost cried with the message of yeji, im starting korean lessons next week and im so excited but nervous at the same time! thanks for the motivation
Thank you for including Felix, he really studied korean hard and with help from members, books etc... I am a proud stay having him as inspiration to keep going
I’m learning French which is easier for me since I also speak Portuguese and Spanish but I definitely could relate to Felix’s words when I first started learning Portuguese.
Once you accept where you are you can then make the changes necessary to learn well. So don’t stress yourself out comparing yourself to others’ progress. ❤
yaaaaa
It's worth keeping in mind that many K-pop idols undergo years of training prior to their debut, so it's not uncommon for some of them to take a while to become fluent in Korean. However, this might not be apparent to fans since they are usually only exposed to the idols after their debut. For instance, Shuhua from (G)-Idle had only trained for 2 years before her debut, and her Korean proficiency wasn't very good at first. Even now, her Korean skills are not very strong. In contrast, some idols have trained for 5, 6, or even 10 years while simultaneously learning Korean.
I also recently heard a great metaphor about learning a language. Learning a language can be like climbing a mountain while climbing it will be a long and hard journey but reaching the top and seeing the breathtaking view is totally worth it.
i often watch language learning videos and most of the time they recommend the same tips and tricks to improve. this video though is totally mind blowing!! practical tips mixed with psychological facts is just my cup of tea. i will try to implement every recommendation into my daily life, 선생님!
~ big thank you from italy 💕
Thank you for this video. It has given me some more motivation to keep studying Korean and not be so upset that I am not learning quickly. I’m a slow language learner but I know when it clicks i will be so happy I didn’t give up!!
Btw. I live in Korea. Have a tutor. I have opportunities to speak Korean but often don’t listen to Korean much. I’m trying to increase my intake.
I've realized hat immersion is really the only way to learn a language successfully, just like how we learn our mother tongue. Without immersion, for me, only about half the information gets retained. I learned how to read and write Spanish in class but to speak it, fluently or not, I had to learn with a native Spanish speaker and only then was I able to pick up on conversation and engage in conversation. I'm learning Korean now which is much more challenging since it uses a Non-Roman alphabet and has many sounds English. doesn't have, like the r/l sound sounds closer in both Spanish and Korean than it does in English. Thanks for the learning tips and I appreciate your channel. 🤍
So many immigrants in America live there 20-30 years without becoming fluent in English, while so many Europeans learn English really well without ever meeting a native speaker. Immersion is just one of many things that lead to successful language learning.
@@ProteaAurea Those immigrants live decades avoiding native speakers, surrounding themselves with other immigrants and using their children as translators, while the Europeans spend decades consuming countless English movies, shows, songs, video games and social media content. Living in the country doesn't mean you immerse yourself in the language, and immersion doesn't require you to live in the country.
I think what a lot of people tend to miss is, aside from factors such as motivation and exposure, languages that have been heavily influenced by Middle Chinese will share a working vocabulary that will often be as similar between each other as European languages'. It's a big reason why East Asian students tend to progress much faster in Korean. With Japanese in particular, both the vocab and the grammar are very similar, so naturally they are likely to learn Korean the fastest.
This was so helpful. For some reason, so many people on youtube say stuff like, "I just took a week and learned all the grammar, then picked up all the vocab in the next month. After that, I was just fluent." It's just pointless and depressing. But this helped a ton. Thank you!
😭😭😭😭 I’ve been trying to learn for 7 years OMG I hadn’t even noticed it was that long!!! But I always feel like I’m still basic and beginner that I can never advance, but Yeji is right when I was reading out loud it was advancing faster and I need to continue that. As someone who doesn’t have friends here to talk to all the time I need to find ways for output. I need to talk more to my friends in Korea in Korean more often as well. One day I will visit Korea again and actually be fluent understanding everything! Goals! 여러분 할 수 있어요! 화이팅! 성생님들 감사합니다!
P.S. it was also 7 yrs ago after wanting and trying to learn Korean on my own that I found TTMIK! Watching its progress is amazing!
focus on input, read, read, read, audio, podcast! you got this!
I'll be 40 this year and I've just started learning Korean like a month ago. As a German, who has lived abroad, I'm already fluent in english and a bit of Dutch, but korean is a whole different level. The structure of a sentence is so different and as I get older it's a bit harder to remember everything😅. But I put in a couple hours every day and talk out loud, I'm also trying to make Korean friends here in Germany so I can practice what I've learned. One thing you should never do is give up. You can only improve, no matter how slow of a learner you are.
The difference your mother tongue has with your target language effects everything so much. As a Turk, i learned English by myself and it was hard to understand some parts of structure but since i was like 13 while learning, i just keep on going cuz i didnt have another thing to do. Now im learning Korean which is really similar to Turkish in many ways, i can feel the fun of learning a language. But when its harder, you will feel even more proud after learning it and i bet it will become easier&funnier as you keep going. Never give up!
@syeaahhhh not funnier, more fun**
Yes! This motivated me so much! We got this! 화이팅!!
Hi! Great content!!
All of these pieces of advice are very useful! I tried most of them except the first one about speaking with people in Korean. Although I do have Korean acquaintances I'm never sure how to approach them. Especially regarding using social media, one downside is that it's easier for me to write my message in Korean rather than speaking it directly because I have time to think.
I would love to know how to approach Koreans in the future. That would be a great tip for me if you would like to teach it.
Also, I have to say that speaking Korean out loud or any other language is a tip that saved me so much! I tend to think that it's a pretty underrated method that should get more attention from learners. It doesn't only help you improve your pronunciation and speaking abilities but also helps you get over the anxieties of speaking Korean or any other language you learn. I know it's a bit cringe at first to hear yourself but you'll come to like it when you get results from this kind of practice.
Have a good day and keep up the great work!
This was more helpful than any video I’ve seen thus far for studying
I completely agree with everything that was mentioned. What helped me the two times I lived in Korea was going downtown and surrounding myself with Koreans interacting so I could study body language, tone, etc which helped me with my confidence and accent. I would then purposely put myself into situations where I needed to use my Korean in order to buy something, ask a question, etc. Don't worry about making mistakes...it's going to happen..just be sure to learn from those mistakes. Even now my Korean is not what it once was since I have been away 7 years, but I am starting courses next week in order to be fluent by the time I move back in 2025 and I can't wait!
i am always trying to revise my learned vocabulary with imagining speaking with idols in korean. It helps alot
Very well said! I enjoyed this video and it inspired me to continue pushing to learn Korean. I have a Korean partner but we default to English so much. I want to make a more conscious effort and properly make the best of the fact that I have someone who I can comfortably learn from
OMG the reading aloud tip is gold. It's so obvious but I never actually thought of it.
I think immersion helps a lot, I feel my Korean has increased a lot than before after I started working as an Kor-Eng interpreter/translator, even tho I still have a lotttttt to learn but yea I am better than before~
its helpful when they are surrounded by other people that are speaking korean
Thank you so much, TTMIK ❤
definitely immersion and the inability of choice/no slacking off really. you're in the country surrounded by the language. people are speaking it, it is on the signs, you need to take the bus, order food. you HAVE to speak it to get by truly. plus for many of them it really is part of their job and they have dedicated time to study on top of all that. it would be awesome to be there taking it all in from every angle!
Don’t underestimate the power of speaking with friends in Korean! It’s so right that being able to speak in a stress free environment helps soooo much. In my second semester of Korean language school (I was legit only in level 2!) one of my classmates and friends spoke no English at all. So even though we couldn’t speak Korean well, we only used Korean with each other. By the end of the semester we were speaking super easily with each other. Sure, it wasn’t amazing and we were still surely making grammar mistakes, but we figured out the flow and the ability to speak in a way to make others understand.
Your videos have become an essential part of my study routine. They help me prepare and understand better than any textbook!
when you have a private teacher, who you can ask at any time, and you are forced to study several hours a a day, you learn pretty quick i'd imagine.
Immersion is key to learning foreign languages
In terms of language acquisition living in an environment where people only speak your target language is crucial to improving quickly, also the urge to improve to survive and live a more social live plays a role too I think. Personally I think listening to comprehensible listening content is very useful to fake the first thing I mentioned, in some way :)
native speakers are not your parents or teachers. native speakers will not correct your mistakes, letting you form bad habits which you will have to unlearn later down the road making your job twice as hard. focus on input, both reading and audio get to above intermid and then immersion will be a benefit
These explanations are all part of how they tend to learn Korean so fast, but there is a lot of biology behind it too. And the biology of language learning is what will keep older language learners frustrated even if they are able to apply most or all of the things you highlight in this video
There are two primary scientific/biologic factors at play here: Age and their native language's proximity to Korean
Studies have shown that children and teens/young adults learn foreign languages significantly faster than adults even after other factors are accounted for. For one, most of these idols start training in middle-school or younger, and their young brains are still developing new neural pathways at a staggering rate. The more a person ages, the harder it is to do that. Plain and simple. An additional age-based factor is related to the fact that as our brains age, we actually lose the ability to hear and process many of the phonemes used in spoken foreign language IF we haven't been using them ourselves or frequently exposed to them (in general - there's always going to be exceptions). So a native English-only speaker will generally lose most of their ability to hear many of the subtle differences in certain pronunciations that are absolutely vital to learning to understand and speak another language. Of course, the more different a language is from the native speakers', the more profound the effect
Which brings us to how similar your native language is to the language you're trying to learn. If you are born in China, Japan, or even Southeast Asia as many K-Pop Idols are, chances are pretty good that you can distinguish the different subtleties in sounds/pronunciations/phonemes used in the Korean language more easily than a native English speaker. Hell, many Korean words are derived from Chinese. If you couple that with the fact that these idols are literally moving to Korea (immersion) at a young age (brain still forming, tons of new neural pathways available), then it's no wonder some of them pick up on it "so easily". Combine that with some of the grammatical similarities between many Asian languages and they have a *massively* significant advantage over your typical, average, adult Korean learner (especially those of us used to Latin-based/Germanic language sentence structures)
Basically, even without the huge investment by their entertainment agencies for round-the-clock tutors and such, they would STILL have an easier time than the vast majority of us. It's certainly not impossible, just saying that if you are an adult language learner, you just simply cannot compare yourself to a child/teen language learner. If all other factors are equal, you'll still have a harder time, sadly 😭😭😭
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
well said, i learned chinese in university in my country but i went to China to study and i saw the difference, learn much more in China, my teacher spoke just chinese, i have to speak chinese to make people understand myself, i made chinese friends, some speak english but i have some who don't speak english and i have to speak chinese with her. I spend 6 month in China, i didn't become fully fluent but after 6 month i could make a conversation just in chinese
it's easy to learn a foreign language if you're living in a country or surrounded by people that is using that language. reading and learning the grammar is just the first step, you needed someone to communicate and practice with them
HORI7ON (호라이즌)'s Marcus can now carry basic conversations with their Korean fans. So impressive! Korean is now his third language after Filipino and English.
It really helps if you practice with native speakers especially in the day-to-day setting like at the grocery
my friend and i speak random korean at work and it’s sooo helpful. he’s a bit better with grammar and i’m better at conversational. man, finding a language partner is so useful
This is my first time ever seeing you, but I'm subscribing. Your way of presenting information is very smooth and appealing. Also, the quality of information itself is very valuable, because it's authentic, practical, and relatable. As an English teacher to ESL/EFL learners, but also a student of korean, I commend you for this.
From experience working as a sound engineer, I feel like the best practice they have is the intense recording sessions they do where they have to get the perfect take over and over with meticulous attention to every syllable.
They often end up with a conscious understanding of the subtle details of the language that even native speakers only understand subconsciously.
Meaning, their approach to language is closer to how most people would approach learning a new musical style/instrument than learning a language.
1 - Their native language share similar roots
2 - They need to speak the language for their own survival
3 - They're surrounded by native speaker
Bonus: If they're speaking a tonal language, like Minnie or Jackson, they have a higher chance of having perfect pitch and be good at recognizing intonation patterns regardless.
Edit ( after watching the video ): Yup close enough guesses. Money is indeed a thing too, these entertainment companies invest a lot in their artists.
i always wondered this. impressive how they learn so fast
Thank you sharing this encouraging video @Talktomeinkorean. :)
You are so welcome!
Thank you, this was motivational & very appreciated ❤
When I learn as well, my 쌤 only speak in Korean and I have no way to interact with her other than trying to speak in Korean. Within 2 months I can speak basic expression, within 9 months I can already order food for myself in the restaurant. This is 5hrs daily 5 days a week for 2 years straight and I finished learning from Level 1 all the way to Level 6. My TOPIK score was Level 5 at that time. So I do agree being forced to speak and live in and around the language helps a lot.
I started to learn korean three years ago, I realized that Korean Idols also would need to learn, but no one just ever told me how they learned until I saw this video. GOOD, NEO MU JO A HE YO.
Just saw this at my recommendations. Korean isn't really my target language but I'm sure to use your advice on other languages i do want to learn!
It's an important distinction to make, as well, that the example idols listed are all still Asian in origin; Which means their own native languages are not grammatically Latin, like English and other Western learners are used to, so there is a relatively smaller learning curve experienced.
It would be comparable to one of us learning another Latin-based language, like Spanish, or French.
So true.. thank you very much ❤
Minnie ! ❤The reason I'm learning Korean
Thank you so much🧡
Good video! These days I don't really know where i stand in korean learning,its like I'm not making any progress. I feel like my mind has been put on halt.
Outro music is Henry Young & Ashley Alisha - Play no games. In case anyone was curious.
Immersian learning is so difficult for me here....I've lived in S. Korea for 2 years, and still cant even have a conversation...now mind you, i live in what would be considered the "countryside." So whenever i have the chance to talk to Native Koreans, it's only at the supermarket or at my job. And it's only basic conversation, like "do you need a bag? Would you like your receipt?" I once tried small talk with the cashier and she didnt even acknowledge it. 😂 And whenever i go to Seoul and try to speak Korean, they either speak English back to me, or the Korean is so advanced that im completely lost and all conversation just stops. 😂 I've joined language exchange apps but very quickly learned that that is NOT what they are for here. I wish Koreans (in my towm) loved small talk!!! That would be so helpful!!!
It took me around 2 years alone to get adjusted to the language. I'm not much of an active learner, I just practice by making new friends, but after living in Korea for 6 years, I'm pretty confident with my abilities. Give yourself some more time and it will come to you naturally! Also, I know those apps like HelloTalk can be difficult. I tried many times too. Your better chance is to become a "regular" at a local bar or Cafe and make friends there. That's what I did!
Immersion is key. It helps to accelerate the “input” for sure. I hope to visit Korea in the next couple of years, but in the meantime, I would like to do a language exchange with a native speaker. I try to expose myself by listening to and reading Korean out loud every day; even if I don’t know every word, I sound it out words and look them up to see how accurate my pronunciation was after all.
this is so true, I only knew a few phrases because of kdramas, but when I went to study abroad for a semster, I took a korean class, i learned the alphabet in ONE NIGHT because I signed up late for the class. I would jokingly try speaking korean to friends when we went out in korea. And being in korea not being able speak korean really made me so frustrated with myself so that was a great motivator. While I havent practiced since, I learned sm in 5 months.
thank you, i believe this will be helpful, even for other languages :)
A good friend of mine majored in Spanish in college in the early 2000’s and spoke it fluently for years. She said staying for just a summer in Spain helped her a ton. I guess when you’re surrounded by the language and native speakers, there really isn’t much choice but to learn if you want to communicate effectively.
Thank you this is very useful! 😊
its easy. you study 25 hours a day, 8 days per week, 59 weeks per year. and you will master it in no time.
Yess!!! That’s amazing ❤
2:34 minnie and yuqi just set the bar too high for every foreign idol
I bought 5 books of Talk to me in korean and its very good! I still have my 9th level to finish and the 10th to start 💪
Watching this type of video gives me hope in future that I can understand Korean in future & speak fluently on it. I can write Korean but I have a hard time when reading it (I can understand some words tho) but when creating a sentences, I quickly lose it...
Off topic but Yeji’s hair is so pretty!
The truth is that some people are just not skilled in learning languages, and others get a lot of help(like the idols), not to mention that they don't really deal with that many things as a normal human because they have people to do things for them. It's not the same for everyone. Talking in the video for only 3 people is not enough proof to make it like "the same" for all. I teach kids Korean English, and every kid learns in a different way. So my advice is to find the best way for you, it's not a guarantee that you will learn like those people did. :)
와 오늘도 좋은 동영상 감사합니다! Thanks for another amazing video! Very interesting
Making my Korean friends talk to me even though I don’t fully comprehend helps a lot. Learning through TTMIK is helpful, but when you immerse yourself in the language, you finally connect missing pieces together
Lisa once said she watch a lot of Korean movies. I think that's one of the reason to improve learning language.
Loved the video ❤
thank u!! These tips are great :)
i respect these idols their drive and hardwork is insane
I totally agree with Lisa, that is also how I learned how to speak Afrikaans. That woman was merciless, and always spoke to me in Afrikaans. But now that I think about it she actually helped me and I'm grateful.
That's probably the benefits of what we called in Linguistics: "language contact," wherein, there should be a conversation between a language learner and a native speaker (e.g. Korean). This is somehow useful if a person wants to learn foreign languages quickly. If someone is being exposed to a foreign language, with no chance of speaking his/her native tongue, that's when a motivation comes, wherein, a person will force himself/herself to use that foreign language for a better communication, so that there will be no language barrier. It is also a some kind of survival in another country, honestly speaking.
I was just thinking about this lately... I have been learning korean by myself at home since 2020 already and I am intermediate (I think) I already know lots of words I can use, enough grammar to comunicate, but still find it difficult to understand everything I hear in korean and I can't express myself that fluently either, I really felt stuck in my learning progress; but yesterday thanks to another video and now this one as well I got a bit motivated again, it's true that even if I consume a lot of korean content it's still not the same as being always sorrounded by korean and having to speak it, so in the other video the girl said she just listened to a podcast in the language she's learning and just understand what she did and just "ignore" what she didn't, kinda learning as natural as babies do when they start speaking! So I thought "if I already know enough things, why stressing that much?" I'll just keep speaking the best I can and listening when I consume korean content and don't stress or get anxious with the things I don't understand, it is OK!! Thanks to this video now, I can see that it is true, I have NO korean people to talk with, I am as far from Korea as many of us and I am not HAVING to speak it to comunicate in daily life, so guys, let's not give up!! 화이팅!! 그리고 TTMIK의 선생님들 이 영상을 주셔서 너무 감사합니다💞
저도요! 화이팅 ㅎㅎㅎ
Can you make those kind of videos in Korean dear TTMIK, please? It's really effective for us for practicing listening Korean while learning something about "learning Korean". 💫💜
I love watching all your videos it helps so much.❤
Prop to the foreigner idol. Not only they had to compete on the standard level of dancing and singing, but they also have to study a new language and be good at it just to survive in idol world. Those who has strong internal motivation tend to strive and success.
Korean would be my 4th language I’m learning. Hmong is my first, English is second and Spanish is my third. My current and main output is speaking back to my screen in Korean when I watch my kdramas. Whether it’s a personal response or predicting what the other character will say, it’s a natural thing that I do now. ☺️🤓
Found a great channel. Wishing you endless development of your channel.[hangeul & korean]
My 선생님 is amazing and so kind and she speaks in almost 100% Korean so much so my listening is pretty good, but sometimes she's too nice and doesn't push us to speak in Korean as much as we should. I get very nervous talking with her in Korean, so I will try to use some of these methods to improve my speaking.
I'm learning Korean for 3 years now and I'm not close to where I want to be which is my English level (2nd language to me). I comfort myself by remembering it took literally decade to achieve level that suits me, so I take my time and keep working.
한국어 배우는 형제자매들에게 힘을 내세요! 우리는 할 수 있어요
I think a big factor for them that most people can’t imitate is time. It’s their job basically to learn so they can dedicate hours a day and are surrounded by the language. Meanwhile, the average person has to learn around their life. So we can never be as fast and and it’s good to remember that.
I really love Korean language, I'm a beginner and I hope I can speak fluently very soon. I'm Mexican and live in Canada since 1998. For me, Korean is easier to learn than Japanese, I work in a hotel and there are few co workers from Korea, so far I haven't practice talking to them but when I feel more confident for sure I will. I'm subscribed to TTMK and I ordered some books too. Excellent tips, I'm sure I will improve my Korean in no time. Greetings from Toronto.