Korean Language Learners and Speakers 🇰🇷

To all the people who are trying to Learn Korean, or have any questions about the Korean language,let’s all post our questions here, maybe we can help each other out, and maybe the other learners or the native Korean speakers here can help answer our questions. :smiley:
Let’s begin learning together!

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I’m going to start with a question that has been bothering me for quite some time, what is the difference between the native Korean numbers and the Sino-Korean numbers? And when are each of them used?:thinking:

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I also noticed that when someone says they’re hearing a voice. They say 목소리가 들려.
Why is it 목소리가 and not 목소리를? Isn’t the voice the object here?
Thank you in advance. :grinning:

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https://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/korean.htm

According to the above website:
“The native numbers are used for numbers of items (1-99) and age, while the Sino-Korean system is based on Chinese numbers and are used for dates, money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100.”

We also use the native Korean numbers when counting.

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I honestly never thought of why it’s said that way because that’s just the right way to say it. But now that I think about, it may be because it’s more like “A voice is heard.”

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@ajumma2 Thank you so much for your help! :smiley: I was starting to feel that no one would answer me :sweat_smile::sweat_smile: Thank you :relaxed:

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You are welcome. I don’t check this very often. I think it was over a month ago when I checked it last.

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I was worried too, and was praying someone saw your question and answer you. With the wonderful help of @ajumma2, you are also helping others too shy to ask questions. I’m writing down all this new info. Thank you to both of you!

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thanks!! :blush:

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Something I noticed while watching dramas: Sometimes I found verbs used in their dictionary forms (as I think they’re called), I mean the ones ending in (-다) Instead of it being conjugated.
Does this have any particular reason or rule?
Or is 다 itself a verb?
examples for when I noticed this:
예쁘다.
이상하다…
Said like that by themselves… why is that?
thanks in advance.

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xx다, xx하다 are regular verb forms. So it’s common to end a sentence with xx다.

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@ajumma2

But, shouldn’t they be conjugated? I mean in English for example, the infinitive form of a verb is almost never used, at least not in such a context.
Or it is just said like this when there is no obvious subject? such as “it”. This is the only thing that came to my mind, that this is said when the subject is the English “it” which as far as I know does not exist in Korean.

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Maybe these links will help:
-ㄴ다/-는다/-다 Plain Form
Narrative Present Tense in Korean / -(ㄴ/는)다

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“It” or subject is assumed, even if it’s not spoken. xx다 is the present form of the verb.

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감사합니다 :relaxed:
Actually I did find what I was looking for there.
It turned out I was asking about descriptive verbs and the other thing is that this way is used to express surprise.
So, thank you so much for your help!

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Hey. How did you all learn korean? I’m new and only learning the alphabet right now with duolingo lmao. But I’m so lost.

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I started on Duolingo as well. Watched some YouTube videos, especially Korean Unnie. Later I did these courses:

And eventually I bought books for selfstudy.

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I also started since few weeks and now I can read “slowly” and sometimes I already understand some words because I have watched 8+ years kdramas so I know the basics :smiley:
And right now I also bought two book for beginners, the first for the start and the next one is grammar:

  1. https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1497445825/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  2. https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08F5HV4P4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o09?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I must add that I also learn Arabic and Chinese besides Korean but my focus is Korean and to improve my mother tongue Turkish. :blush:

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I started out with the book ‘Colloquial Korean’ by Danielle Ooyong Pyun and In-Seok Kim. It’s a little bit focused on business but it has given me a really good understanding of the basic grammar and it was really helpful to begin with.
After that I learned many words and phrases from Youtube videos. One that I really like is the 바른한국어 Series. Here is an example:


For the beginners there is 1급 and for more advance learners there is 2급 &3급 in which you will learn together with another foreign student. You will get used to hearing Korean very quickly because the teachers only speak in Korean, but there are also subtitles in Korean and English to follow along.
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I am not learning Korean, though I tried to learn the Korean alphabet a few years ago with a Youtube video. I totally forgot it.
I am learning Chinese (not the same, no alphabet).

I think as a student of a foreign language, at one point, I went through these steps:

  • being frustrated not to be able to progress in a language then:

  • know what my goal is in details (this is what most teachers ask me first when I do trial lessons with them: “Why do you want to learn X language? What do you want to learn exactly?” This is really important to know first to build your tailored lessons. For me, I want to speak.)

  • know what type of personality or learner I am (I work better with deadlines. My level is… I have a fish memory so I have to repeat the sentences a lot or have a conversation/see it with someone, then review it on my side. As a self learner, I am quite bad because I think I am lazy and my motivation fluctuates a lot, especially when I work alone.)

From knowing my profile, I could build how I wanted to be taught and what I wanted to learn.

  1. As a beginner, I think the most important for me was to learn the phonetics and how to pronounce syllabes first.

  2. Then learn basic words, basic grammar (how sentences are built) and have a text + audio to put these words in situation.

For that, having a teacher is the best solution for a beginner because you don’t really know where to begin with or how to learn or what to learn first step by step. They will correct you immediately if you’re wrong and you can ask questions.

Price: institute > college courses / associations > self study
Online 1/1: check websites, professional teacher or tutor, the price could be interesting and sometimes, it is equivalent to the price of some college courses and yet, for private sessions.
Sessions could be for 30 min or 1 hour.
Trial sessions from 4 € / 30 min or free for first trial.

Don’t miss the opportunity to have 1 free trial for 30 min and then ask them what you need to do to improve.

For now, I prefer 1/1 online because they adapt to you and it’s flexible.
If I say I want to learn how to speak, we won’t see how to write during my 30 min and since it’s (only) 30 min, we make the best out of it and we converse while they make a document and I review the document at home.
I can tell I don’t like to follow a textbook to learn, then the person will adapt and we don’t lose time with waiting for other students’ turn. It is focused on you and your needs.

What I also like, is you only pay for 1 lesson, if you don’t like how the lesson was, then you can quit and change teacher. You can also pick the time, weekends, night or morning. They are in China or in…
They give homework if you want to or not.
Whereas in collective class, your money is already spent for the year and you can’t test methods that will go well with you or what you want to learn.

Other advice:

  • Find a textbook with audio and short text or a free website that provides the same table of contents. Just follow it and stick to one until you complete it. Don’t buy many, it’s useless. If no grammar, then buy a grammar book in addition or find a free website about grammar.
  • stay consistent: at least every week review/learn.
  • don’t learn just vocabulary: learn vocabulary (around 10-30 words a day, if you can’t memorize them, review them every day until it sticks) and grammar and make sentences. For now, I listen to vocabulary words and sentences on my phone every day when I commute and I remember better with repetition. So learn sentences patterns like “how are you?” and not just “you” or “are”. (I downloaded 2 phone apps that I tested then bought, the price was cheap and lifetime for what I learnt from them: one is following the official program (vocabulary words for level 1, 2, 3… and sound) and one is just a lot of sentences with their translation, more new words are added for each lesson (sentences).)
  • speak with someone if you can because they will train your understanding and they will ask you to make sentences. I realized that I know vocabulary words but I have to learn to put them together to make sentences which is harder LOL
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