What do successful Korean learners have in common?

Over the past 20 years or so, I have met and interacted with a lot of language learners, both online and in person. The first time I did a language-related online activity was when I was in high school. Before the “world wide web” was a thing, I was a BBS(= bulletin board system) SysOp(= system operator) for a group of about 5,000 English learners in Korea. Since then, new Internet technologies have made it easier and easier for people to learn languages online and communicate with other learners. I have also personally hosted language exchange gatherings for many years where up to 150 people showed up each time. I could probably keep going with my stories of how many people I’ve met, but in summary, I’ve talked with a fairly large number of people about language learning and their experiences with it.

And one of the most common types of questions I have received over the years is about “how” to learn Korean, or any language for that matter. How to memorize vocabulary faster, how to speak more fluently, how to learn to speak Korean quickly, etc.

Every time I get such questions, I do my best to provide an answer that the person is seeking, after considering their goals, current level, and their learning style, but I can never guarantee that what works for one language learner will certainly work for another.

There are, however, a few common traits and habits that are found in literally ALL of the successful language learners that I’ve met so far. And I’d like to tell you about three such traits through three separate newsletters.

So, what is the first common trait of people that I’ve met who successfully learned to speak a new language, including Korean? (I will stick to the Korean language from now on for your easier understanding.)

They are learning Korean and they want to speak it well,
and their friends know about it.

Tell people you are learning Korean, post on social media about it, and share your progress, no matter how slow it feels.

I know that most people wouldn’t necessarily try to hide the fact that they are learning Korean, but unless you actively tell people about it, people around you most likely won’t notice your new hobby. And the more difficult something is, the more it helps when you get encouragement and attention from people around you, either in person or on social media.

At first, like with any new hobby or project, everything about learning Korean as a new learner is exciting. But tricky pronunciation and difficult grammar points hit you hard pretty early on, such as the topic and subject marking particles. And that is exactly when you need to share your progress even more actively. And I am not just talking about Instagram or Twitter. You can tell your friends about your experience in person, join a study group or a Discord server to make study buddies.

The “how” of it may vary from person to person, but every successful language learner I’ve met was very active about sharing their progress and baby steps as they put in hours after hours of work into acquiring the new language. If you study in solitude and don’t interact with other people about it, the chances are high that you will stop studying regularly.

So stop and ask yourself for a second now. Do people around you already know that you are learning Korean and that you really, really, really want to get good at it? If not, with whom would you like to share your passion for Korean and how?

Thank you for reading and I will see you next time!
그럼 다음 시간에 만나요! 감사합니다.