Hi! I joined r/BeginnerKorean while looking for a language exchange partner, and I was really happy to see so many people sincerely interested in learning Korean. Seeing everyone study so hard has been really motivating, and I'd also be happy to help Korean learners here whenever I can.

I'm a Korean woman in my late 30s, and I'd love to meet someone who is learning Korean and wants more chances to use it in casual conversation.

It's been a long time since I've used English regularly, so my English is a little rusty, but I think it would be nice if we could help each other naturally while chatting in both Korean and English.

I have experience working in the cosmetics industry, so I'd be happy to chat about Korean cosmetics, as well as Korean culture, travel, food, or everyday life.

I'd prefer to start with chatting here first, and if we get along well, maybe we can try a Zoom call later.

Feel free to message me if you're interested! :)

Looking for a native korean speaker to practice my korean. Still kind of a beginner but eager to study and practice.

F30
Into reading (currently reading 82년생 김지영), dramas, movies, cooking…

Feel free to send me a message

✌🏻

The twist is I'm ADHD and I forget any new word I try to file away almost immediately

it's very frustrating

I'm hoping to get some help from my ADHD subs and from this sub too, any tips/tricks you've found that help you retain the words?

I often misread words in Korean, and not in my native lang or english (that's all ik).

Here are examples-
1. it was 사진, but i read and wrote it as 시간.
2. it was 알맞은, but i read and wrote it as 말맞은.

Is it okay to misread some words when it's been only 3 or 4 weeks learning korean..or..am I doing smth wrong?

Would love to hear your thoughts or tips on it :)
Thank you~

One thing I'm trying to improve in Korean is understanding sentences without translating every word into English in my head.

I can understand simple sentences when I take my time, but when I see Korean in a video or conversation, I still automatically translate it in my head. 😭

For people who got better at understanding Korean naturally, what helped you make that transition?

Did you watch Korean content with Korean subtitles, listen to the same material repeatedly, read more, or just practice until it became automatic?

I'd really love to hear what actually worked for you. I'm trying to stop translating everything and start thinking more naturally in Korean.

​I teach Korean, and this is a whiteboard from a lesson this week. Posting it in case it's useful to anyone.

​Instead of taking words one at a time, I have students build a small map around a shared Hanja root. We started from 파손 (breakage/damage) and just followed the pieces:

• ​破 → 파괴 (destroy), 파멸 (ruin)
• ​損 → 손해 (loss), 손실 (loss)
• ​害 → 피해 (damage), 상해 (injury), 해롭다 (to be harmful)

​Two things I've noticed doing this:

​Once someone recognizes 破 or 損 or 害, they can usually make a reasonable guess at a word they've never seen. The guess isn't always right, but making it seems to help the word stick better than looking it up does.

​It's also a good place to hang native words. 파멸 sits right next to 점멸 (flickering), which is how 깜빡깜빡 ended up on the board — 불이 들어왔다 꺼졌다가. Jumping from a stiff Sino-Korean word to a mimetic one is usually where the study gets fun.

​For beginners, a reverse approach actually works quite well. It’s easier to start with visual, easy-to-grasp native words or onomatopoeia/mimetic words first, and then eventually expand out to these Sino-Korean roots as they level up.

​I'm just leaving this here hoping it might be a useful tool for your study routine. Feel free to check out my profile if you're curious!

어때요?

Hello! I'm a 07 female and I'm a student in Canada so I don't give much time to actively study korean but whatever time I do put in, I always want it to be worth it.

I've heard the best way someone can actually learn a language is to have conversations in it yeah?

So is there anyone who's fluent in both korean and English that is willing to just spend maybe some minutes a day to teach me korean? Just, random conversations?

We can obviously be friends and play online together as well!

If you are interested, do leave me a message! Or let me know in the comments then I'll text you!

I’ve seen it before and always thought it was some kind of Korean internet slang or abbreviation lol.
I’m guessing there are probably a lot of similar expressions like this in Korean?

Hello I am Korean

I can speak Korean ofc and a lil bit of Japanese for trip

And some English...not confident

but I am currently planing to move to Montreal

so I started to learn French and this is really hard!

If there's someone who have interested in exchanging languages each other, just tell me plz

Hello, i recently started to learn Korean seriously and regularly again after learning it during the pandemic. My level is still below A1 and since I’m starting university  soon I won’t be able to do 1h study sessions anymore so I would like some textbooks recommendations for beginner that helped you get in a decent level and can help you know the basic concepts of Korean language like grammar ,pronunciation,vocabulary  

Hello,

I do not know how to speak Korean yet although I am trying to learn, so this song I recorded might sound very different from what was intended.
Could someone tell me if the song in the audio sounds anything like what is written down below, please? And if you have any tips on how to improve it, I would greatly appreciate it!!! Please don't laugh!!! (At least not too hard)

Thanks in advance!!!

BTS Chant's Link

이리 와요

같이 노래해요

친구를 만날 거에요

방탄과 손잡고 갈어가요

밤이 밝아올 거여요

The idea we wanted to convey with these lyrics is something like this:

Come here
Sing with me
That a friend in me you'll find
and together with BTS
The night will shine bright / brighter

Of course it is not going to translate literally, because there have to be some poetic licences due to the fact that the lyrics have to fit the melody. I just want a similar message to be conveyed.

Thanks again!!!

I've been watching Korean learners for over 10 years (language-exchange and more...), and I feel like they roughly fall into 3 groups.

I only talk about learners from countries with alphabet-based languages. (Chinese and Japanese learn Korean faster)

I assume our goal of studying is daily conversation.

1. Outliers ~3%, less than 1 year

I saw one student who studied for only 3 months and was already able to have everyday conversations with me. This was the fastest I've seen.

She studied at a local Korean academy in Canada.
She was forced to do a lot of speaking practice every day, not only in class but also as homework.

Did she have many times to study ? No. She was busy with a pilot exam course too.
Whenever she had a break, she texted me in Korean.

That's probably what made the difference.
She was using Korean every chance she got.

Another outlier I saw learned mostly through YouTube and Twitch.
She said studied for an year. She could speak surprisingly naturally, but her vocabulary was sometimes weak. She knew how to talk, but didn't know basic words like 박물관 because YouTubers rarely used them.

1. Good, ordinary learners ~20%, 3 years

They studying about an hour a day.

They usually use online courses, YouTube, sometimes private tutors, SNS creators, and Korean partners.

1. Laid-back learners ~77%

Most learners seem to fall here.

They enjoy K-dramas, but din't push themselves hard enough.

10 years is long enough but they tent to in and out.

They were actually good student when they study about Hangul and grammar.
But didn't push hard enough after that, end-up still can't speak well.

Obviously, this is not lab study.

This is all from my experience for over 10 years. You may have had a different experience. If you don't agree with me, you're absolutely right.

What i learn here is that the fast learners actually use Korean when they have a chance.

Hi! I’m a native Korean speaker from South Korea, currently majoring in Korean Language Education. I’ve been teaching students for about 5 years, and I’m currently looking for a few more students for 1:1 online Korean lessons.

My lessons are 100% personalized rather than based on a fixed curriculum. I plan each lesson around your current level, goals, interests, and learning style.

Complete beginners are absolutely welcome, including people starting from Hangul! I also have experience teaching students across all TOPIK levels (1–6), so I can help whether you’re just starting out or preparing for an advanced TOPIK level.

You definitely don’t need to be studying for TOPIK, either. If you’re learning Korean as a hobby or simply want to communicate more comfortably, we can focus on conversation, grammar, pronunciation, reading, writing, everyday Korean, or whatever you’d personally like to work on.

Lessons can be taught in English or Korean, depending on your level and preference.

Lesson details

• Format: 1:1 online via Google Meet
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Regular lesson: ₩40,000 / 60 min
• Trial lesson: ₩20,000 / 30 min (one trial per student, paid in advance
• Level: Complete beginner – advanced / TOPIK 1–6
• Teaching language: English or Korean
• Curriculum: 100% personalized to your goals, interests, and level
• Materials: Provided as needed — no required textbook or additional material fees
• Additional fees: None

Payment & cancellation

For regular lessons, a ₩20,000 deposit is paid when the lesson is booked, and the remaining ₩20,000 is paid after the lesson.

Changing the date or time is free with no rescheduling penalty. If you decide to cancel the lesson entirely, the ₩20,000 deposit is non-refundable.

If I have to cancel the lesson, any amount you have already paid will be fully refunded.

About me

• Native Korean speaker
• Majoring in Korean Language Education
• About 5 years of continuous teaching experience
• Experience teaching students across TOPIK levels 1–6
• Able to teach entirely in English or Korean

Whether your goal is passing TOPIK, having conversations with Korean friends, understanding Korean media, or simply learning Korean because you enjoy it, you’re welcome :)

If you’re interested, feel free to DM me with your current Korean level (even if it’s zero!), your goal, what you’d like to learn, and your time zone.

Please give feedback before I copy this into a greeting card for my friend. Open to critiques on handwriting and the content of the message.

Google helped translate the first sentence, but I wrote the second.

감사합니다!

저는 한국어를 5개월째 배우고 있는데, 제 글씨체는 어떻게 생각하세요

I've been learning Korean vocabulary and grammar, but I'm starting to realize that understanding them is very different from actually being able to make my own sentences.

Sometimes I understand a grammar pattern when I see it in a lesson or example sentence, but when I try to make my own sentence, I suddenly don't know where to start. 😭

For those who have improved at making Korean sentences, how did you practice?

Did you start with simple sentences, use vocabulary you already knew, write a daily journal, translate your thoughts, or follow another method?

I'd really appreciate any advice because I want to become better at actually using the grammar and vocabulary I'm learning instead of only recognizing them when I see them.

I wanted to try writing more natural instead of font-like but I don't know if it's legible or nice

As in the video, pick a tone (formal, casual, and so on) and a context (messaging, email, academic), and it corrects your Korean to fit that situation.

That matters because Korean changes with who you're writing to: the same sentence can be perfect in a text to a friend and wrong in an email to your professor.

Each fix comes with a friendly explanation and a reference link to 국립국어원 (National Institute of Korean Language).

Completely free: no account

It needs iOS 18+ (iPhone only).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fix-my-korean-grammar-check/id6801418952

Happy to answer anything here in the comments.

I've been learning Korean, and one thing I still find challenging is understanding grammar naturally instead of just memorizing grammar rules.

Sometimes I can memorize a grammar pattern and understand the explanation, but when I see it in a different sentence, I get confused again. 😭

For those who feel more comfortable with Korean grammar now, what helped you understand grammar more easily?

Did you focus on learning through example sentences, make your own sentences, watch videos, read Korean content, or use another method?

I'm trying to find a way to actually understand how grammar works and recognize it naturally instead of memorizing rules and then forgetting them.

What method helped you the most? I'd really appreciate any advice!

Realized I've been avoiding this for a while. Enough of that! Could someone explain ( -며) & (하면서) to me?

Both are used to negate action verbs, but here is a quick distinction you might want to keep in mind:

• 안 → Not by choice (Intention: "I choose not to...")
• 못 → Cannot (Inability or Situation: "I can't due to circumstances...")

Examples:

• 저는 커피를 안 마셔요. (I don't drink coffee — I choose not to.)
• 저는 수영을 못 해요. (I can't swim — I lack the ability.)

💡 Why? In Korean, using 못 can often sound softer and more polite when declining plans. It attributes the reason to external conditions or lack of time, rather than a lack of interest!

• Instead of: ❌ 모임에 안 가요. (Could sound a bit cold or intentional: "I'm choosing not to go to the gathering." — unless that's your actual intention!)
• Try: ✔️ 모임에 못 가요. (Sounds much softer: "I can't make it to the gathering.")

I hope this helps 😊

I learnt korean on and off for 4 months and learnt quite a lot but then i stopped learning and i haven't learnt for around 5-6 months. How do I get back?