I wish I could study Korean full-time. I know that I can achieve my goal of being fluent in speaking and writing Korean if I could study Korean full time. Unfortunately, I can't but I am just going to fantasize about doing that. I would spend all my WAKING HOURS learning Korean. When I am really into something, I go overboard. I can really spend 14 hours studying Korean if I had the chance. It would not be boring. I would mix different activities around. I would memorize vocabulary - at a cafe (I find studying at a cafe fun as there are other people around so you don't feel so bored and lonely). Then I would have the conversation teacher speak to me in Korean for an hour. I don't think learning from a conversation teacher for more than an hour is productive. It stresses the Korean teacher out too much because I can imagine they run out of things to talk about if they have to talk for more than an hour. I think I would persuade the teacher to do fun activities with me like teach me how to make kimchi, watch dramas together and discuss them and so on. These activities would give us a focal point around which we could base our conversation.
Then I would do some easy reading. I would read manwhas and just try to understand them myself looking at the English translations to check my understanding or if the reading is too hard. Perhaps I could read the manwhas with the Korean teacher and the Korean teacher could try and explain the parts I don't understand in Korean simple language.
I would also study from the grammar book. I would listen to the mp3 files. I would watch some dramas and watch them twice, first without English subtitles then with, or the other way around. I would watch a bit of KBS World but only when they had interesting programs on. I like the real life programs where they show the lives of common people. Some of the stories are really touching.
I would just immerse myself in Korean. I would have the TV on all day. I would take out interesting manwha from the manwha borrowing store. I would also take out interesting dvds and watch with the English subtitles and then with the Korean subtitles.
I would also chat online with Korean friends using English but occasionally using Korean words.
I would try and read some websites about my favorite ë°°ìš°s and struggle with that. I would try and read some news in Korean too (but would probably soon give up).
I then would try even triangulation (in French) for fun. I would have forgotten a lot of French of course, not that I ever reached the advanced stage anyway (I took 3 units instead of 4 units of French in school so there was no need to really study to the advanced level).
I think if I did this for 6 months every day, I would have spent 14 hours (8 hours for sleeping and 2 hours for eating, getting dressed, cleaning the house and shopping) every day for 130 days. This equals 1620 hours if the arithmetic I did in my head is correct. I think 1620 hours is enough to be fluent in speaking and writing. I think I could pass the test they have for foreigners learning Korean. I could cope in university where courses are taught in Korean (just). I will have to learn about 10,000 words of vocabulary at least. If I study about 60 words every day, that will be 7800 words in 6 months -- actually that's not enough - I will have to learn ?80 words a day -- that's about 10,000 words in six months. I would have to read A LOT to pick up that volume of vocabulary. I would be reading newspapers and nonfiction books and constantly looking up the dictionary. I would be searching for difficult material all the time. I would read classics because they contain a lot of difficult advanced vocabulary. I would pick up many technical terms and jargon in a wide variety of subjects.
So if I just go full-blast I think the goal can be achieved. It would be a lot of study but I could do different things so that it doesn't become boring. Say after ramming vocabulary into my brain I would do some fun reading or drama-watching. After studying grammar and doing the exercises I would do some listening practice.
So I think this would be my perfect language learning system IF I had the time.
