So, I’ve got a clear mission: Learn Korean without taking classes and ideally without paying money. How to do it though?
Following Khatzumoto and Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Workweek), I’m going to start by concentrating on building my Korean vocabulary.
Ferriss says that once you learn the first 300 most frequently used words in a foreign language, you can read over half of any writing. So, within 2 weeks, I want to memorize the top 200 most frequent Korean words . I’m not really sure if this Wiki frequency list is correct or not, but I couldn’t find any others. I also plan on helping update this wiki page since it’s missing a lot of English translations and context.
To memorize these 300 words, I’ll be using Anki , a spaced repetition system (SRS), which basically is a computer flash card program that intelligently knows which words to review. It’s by far the best way to memorize anything, especially foreign language vocabulary. I’m suggested it to dozens of ELI students with great success. Wired Magazine run a fascinating article on spaced repetition for memorization.
On the side, I will be completing the rest of the teaching pages I posted about from langintro.com, but it’s not a big priority. Also, I’m going to immerse myself into the Korean language through Korean music, videos, and radio. Luckily, I was raised in a Korean speaking household so I "get" Korean, but this is still an important method to really start thinking and breathing Korean.
June 24th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Oh man oh man oh man. I’ve failed my korean class twice already. I”m so sick of that book. It is time I try this. 50-60% of all Korean language in that list? I already know grammer, this will make life so much easier..
I hope you update this soon!
-Jeb