You’re Not In This Alone

Learning Korean has always been an enjoyable, rewarding experience for me. However, I never had any native speakers to converse with. Another big problem I had was always putting my language learning on hold due to either work or school. Recently, I have found a way to battle both of these problems at once: language learning communities. Of course, sites/blogs such as this one that help with language learning techniques/tips are always useful. In addition to blogs, I have found two sites, in particular very beneficial in my Korean studies.

The first website that I would like to introduce is the Forum at fluentin3months.com. This site is filled with people all over the world trying to learn many different languages (including Korean, of course.) One of the main points of this forum is the mission and log. You can input your mission and keep a log of how often you study. Fellow members of the site can comment words of encouragement or help you along with advice. I found this really useful, because I was able to tell people my goal, and update with my progress. It’s a great way to keep me motivated, even when work is keeping me busy.

This next website has really helped me kickstart my Korean learning this year. Italki is an amazing site for learning any language. You can pay a tutor to teach you over skype or a similar program (they can help you with a textbook you own or their own lesson plans), post entries that get corrected by native speakers, ask questions about language learning (or specify just for Korean), or you can find native speakers to exchange language with over skype. I have found a tutor who helps me immensely, and I also have a few language exchange partners. I help them with English, and they help me with my Korean. I am finally able to have conversations with native speakers. It is truly amazing! I haven’t taken full advantage of the groups, notebook entries, and questions simply because I am focusing more on spoken Korean right now. But, I look forward to using these features in the future.

These two websites, along with various blogs, have really helped me find the language learning community and native speakers that I needed to keep me on task. I hope that this can help some of you out there as well. You’re not in the alone! There are others out there willing to help.