linlearnskorean:

milkcocoahkorean:

Hi, thanks for messaging me.^^ Of course, the answer to that question is a lot of studying and practice, but there were a few factors that helped me improve quickly.

I think the key to my success in studying Korean was observation. Once I started picking up on small differences between Korean and my native language (English), my Korean improved a lot.

For example, if I look at you with a strange expression a native English speaker normally says “What?” But if I look at a Korean person that way, they will say “Why?” 왜요? Because of this difference, a native English speaker might say “뭐예요?/뭐야/뭐?” and it could be incredibly awkward, confusing, or even aggressive. It’s more natural to say “왜요?”

They’re small differences, but this truly makes the difference between speaking Korean well and speaking Korean fluently. It’s these differences that convinced me to give up using translators almost completely. I just explain what I’m trying to say if I don’t know a word, and grammar translations are even worse.

Which leads me to the next part. I wasted so much time studying grammar. And unless you want to read the news or academic articles, I don’t suggest studying advanced grammar until you want to interact with more advanced Korean materials like the news. If you can use up to intermediate grammar really well, you’ll sound way more fluent than someone who awkwardly uses advanced grammar. And that’s mostly because Koreans don’t use advanced grammar in daily conversation, like most native speakers of any language. 

Media was also important. I don’t suggest learning Korean through Kpop because Kpop lyrics are not exactly natural in conversation per say, but dramas are okay. I think variety shows are the best for natural dialogue. And if you’re a visual learner, like me, I was able to improve my Korean through webtoons. I read webtoons every sing day, and they’re great for modeling natural dialogue and finding useful vocabulary words. I normally don’t look up words either. I just use context clues to understand. At first, the pictures helped me understand the context, plot, and emotions of the characters as well.

Lastly, language exchanges truly helped me get the practice I needed and allowed me to make a few lifelong friends. But, it was pretty hard to get someone willing to speak in Korean, as most people wanted to speak exclusively in English. They often told me my Korean is great and never even tried to use Korean with me, which was frustrating.

But, observing and copying the Korean I saw, focusing on useful grammar, reading webtoons, and language exchanges were truly the four pillars of my journey to Korean fluency. I was having long and sometimes complicated conversations one hundred percent in Korean by year three. 

These four pillars are also why I started this little blog. I wanted to help others speak Korean well faster by sharing what I’ve learned. Most Korean grammar and vocabulary words are taught without enough context in my opinion, which has put me in some rather awkward situations more than a few times. I hope to help my followers avoid those situations.

Sorry, this is so long. I like talking about Korean and studying Korean too much, I think. I wish you luck with your studies~! 

Awesome advice! I’m not fluent yet but I’ve been studying Korean for 2 years and can have long (but not too complex) conversations 1 on 1. My goal is to be fluent in 4 years like you (so 2 years from now), so I’m glad to see it’s possible!

Really though, finding someone to speak Korean with you is probably the biggest challenge. Koreans are always shocked when I say that even though I live in Korea, I have barely any chances to speak Korean (beyond super simple, everyday stuff like “xx 주세요”). I haven’t found any friends yet who’ll have conversations with me in Korean which is why I use iTalki tutors haha

bambamisaboomyinmypants:

I purple you too anon💜💜 thank you so much! As for the mimi thing, i know she’s problematic and I’m not defending her actions but I’m not holding her accountable either because she apologised, im just neutral about her blog because the situation is very ugly with her and content creators atm and i really dont want to get involved. however my reason for unfollowing is actually very genuine. I unfollowed a bunch of blogs recently like ones who whitewash idols, those who got too many asks, are just toxic to be around or just stuff that kind of clogged my dash. I haven’t unfollowed anyone out of negativity or spite and mimi is included in those (i actually dont follow any content creators or popular blogs of any kind because i find that tags are more helpful) i hope this answered your question, have a nice day💖💖

love-to-love-puppies:

mudz-against:

Pedophiles are evil. No discourse, no debate, no further questions. You get off to ruining children’s lives. Die. No excuses.

Unfollow me if you are a pedophile or support pedophiles, I’ll be glad to see you go.

behind-the-screen-of-bangtan:

2/3 I like your drawing because it made me realise there was an inconsistency. The hyung line was in order but not the maknae line. If the pairings were based on their age, then it would have been logical to put JM with RM. Then we would have SG-JK JH-V RM-JM. And by placing them in pairs like you did in your first drawing, we could draw a circle from oldest to youngest (SG -> JH -> RM -> JM -> V -> JK). Which would have been nice and neat, about growing up and passing time and all that.

3/3 Maybe JM and JH shouldn’t have been a pair. Based on their age, it’s not logical, and they were deliberately split in Euphoria when they were all posing (again, why ?). I’m sorry for turning you into a sounding board. I know you don’t do theories but I hope that this inconsistency is deliberate and is used to point a ‘norm’ because I refuse to lose sleep about random choice. Maybe age has nothing to do with it, and they were just looking for unexpected, but then JH-JM wouldn’t fit either !

ADDENDUM : thanks a lot for your thoughts and your willingness to answer random asks… I just really really need an answer and your input helped me take a new direction. And sorry for any mistake I made, english is not my first language. Again, kudos to all your work !

No problem! I’m not the most social being on Earth, but I still like a little discussion every once in a while^^ And little drawings are cool, right?!

I see what you mean by the on-screen chemistry. And the part of the fandom who tend to caricature the boys doesn’t help either. Yet that’s where our view as fans reaches its limit. Suga and Jungkook are actually really close, damn all of them are so they would most likely all be able to play with each other (except Jin with Suga and Suga with J-Hope since they tend to laugh just by seeing the other’s face =P).
Now on a more marketing view, it does sound logical to pair the boys with a good on-screen chemistry since usually there’s already a fandom for them (cue the popular ships) and so already a market to invest in. But we’re talking about Big Hit here and their marketing strategy usually looks like someone played head or tail to decide what to do…

Honestly, I don’t know if there’s really that much to see into the choice of partner. For example, in “Boy in Luv” only Jungkook was supposed to confess but they eventually added Jin and Jimin (and I really need to find back the interview where they explained that). In “Blood, Sweat & Tears”, Suga was supposed to cover Jin’s eyes but it ended up being Taehyung. So there’s a chance the MV director just went “hey pair up! One hyung with a maknae!” and that was it.
(Now if anyone’s tempted to tell me everything Big Hit does has a significance, let me just remind you I’m the owner of this blog and thus I won’t hesitate to ask you an explanation for all the worst details I found^^)

Keep reading

patrooocle:

Intermediate Korean Expressions

딴청을 피우다 to feign indifference, pretend not to know

시비를 걸다 to start an argument

무리에 끼다 to join (a group of ppl/a party)

노가리를 까다 to chatter

향수를 뿌리다 to spray on perfume

눈에 띄다 to stand out (in a crowd), to catch someone’s eyes

입 털다 to snitch/to spit words

말을 걸다 to strike up a conversation

멍 때리다 to space out

튕기다 to play hard to get

~에 휘둘리다 to be swayed by ~

관계를 정지하다 to end a relationship

미움을 사다 to incur someone’s hatred

분란을 일으키다 to stir up trouble

철벽을 치다 to be a wall, cold, impenetrable, not letting people in

농담을 던지다 to make a joke

벌벌 떨다 to shake, shiver

술을 깨다 to sober up

술을 따라주다 to pour someone a drink

인상을 쓰다 to draw a long face, to scowl

민폐를 끼치다 to bother ppl, to be a nuisance, inconvenience

추태를 부리다 to behave indecently

난리를 치다 to make a fuss, throw a tantrum

골 때리다 to have a ridiculous/crazy behavior

virgostellium:

idol is going to be a ddaeng type diss track if bts dont perform it at end of the year award shows. thats fucking foolish i want to see every big 3 idol shaking in their boots while watching their performance because they know that these seven little boys just spoke out and did more in 4 minutes than they have in their whole careers

slavz:

loving yourself in a society that profits off self hate is a power move and one of the biggest acts of resistance