There is a bit of envy I feel. I shouldn't really compare myself to those out there who are fluent. I am envious of migrant workers who are fluent in Korean after one year. Also, I am envious of non-migrants who study Korean and are fluent in it.
I really shouldn't compare myself to them. They got fluent after like four years. They didn't do much else. They studied full time and they attended those language institutes.
So I think after four years of full-time study you should be fluent in the language.
I think I am doing all right. Realistically, if I study five hours a day, I will be fluent in Korean in six months, and I will be able to read newspapers and most material online.
So that's great. I will be teaching myself too! And I won't have much contact with Koreans.
So stick to your plan.
Studying Korean grammar from advanced books really has paid off. I mean it doesn't help me to become fluent that much, maybe a little, but it helps me to read Korean and understand it, especially formal stuff, not banmal. Banmal is hard.
So forget about banmal for the time being.
I think I should complete the study of the grammar book. The chunks idea is great but maybe I should do it side by side while I am doing other activities.
And maybe start translating your own material.
So ....
SHADOWING
• Shadow everything. A bit like the US government FSI? program. This is mainly listening and repeating. The key is to edit the mp3 files so that there is a separate track for each sentence. And shadow easy stuff to hard stuff. So start off the KGU and end up shadowing IL. Advanced shadowing is shadowing of movie scripts.
• IL book, KGU book, Using Korean, Essentials Everyday, Tintin, WOW comics, movie script, my own chunks, slang, idioms.
• Spend more time on KGU, Essentials
CHUNKS
• Mine sources for good chunks
• Make your own situations
• Keep a journal - about learning languages
• Concentrate on collecting the material in English, the Korean translations are secondary. Good quality chunks is what's important.
• You should aim for 3000 chunks
• Separate the commercial chunks from the personal chunks
VOCABULARY
• Follow an order. Do the newspaper articles first as a priority. Don't try to translate everything. Just focus on these. Don't do Tintin yet. Do the mnemonics at the same time. Make your own sentences. Look at collocations.
• Do the vocabulary from the IL book. This is a good source of collocations.
• For later, you can do shadowing on the articles and the sentences you've made up.
GRAMMAR
• Finish the list of grammar terms
• Finish the testing of grammar terms
• Finish the grammar workbook
STOP THE GRAMMAR STUDY AT THIS POINT (YOU CAN DO REVISION LATER BUT DON'T SPEND TOO LONG ON GRAMMAR).
It's hard to do everything at once. I think you should just follow a flow-chart or work-flow chart.
If I'm able to do all these things, you will become very fluent in Korean and you'll be able to read newspapers and be able to express yourself in writing.
GOALS
• Be able to read newspapers with ease
• Be able to hold conversations with Koreans with ease, and be able to look after yourself.
• Be able to write and chat online with Koreans.
