I wish I knew these before learning Korean

Here are 8 things I wish I knew before I started learning Korean. These aren’t just tips for learning Korean – they’re tips for brand new learners.

Intro: 00:00

Learn Hangul: 0:52

Sound Change Rules: 3:41

Avoid (Some) Pronouns: 4:46

Politeness Levels: 5:59

Don’t Translate Literally: 7:48

Practicing is Really Important: 9:26

Make More Korean Friends: 11:16

Everyone Speaks Differently: 12:45

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[meilinman]

I am a retired senior who wishes to learn Korean. Why? The reason is that my granddaughter, who has just graduated from university, is a die-hard Kpop fan who got me interested in both Kpop and Kdrama. So now I’m hooked: I must be BTS’s oldest fan! HA HA. I told her that I would treat her to a trip to Korea (once it is safe to travel and COVID 19 restrictions are reduced or eliminated). It would be cool (to use younger ppl’s parlance) to learn to read and write Korean. Also, I understand learning a new language is possibly a good anti-aging defence for the brain. 🤔 This is a long-winded way of telling you that I am very thankful to have discovered your channel—and especially this episode—before I begin my Korean-language journey. I am now a new subscriber. Please wish me luck!

[Max-qqmy]

I can’t even make friends irl how am i supposed to make korean friends at that 😭

[madameperdue]

As a Korean studying English through Youtube, I accidentally landed on this video. As you haven't talked much in Korean in this video, I don't know how good you are at Korean. Still, from the way you teach Korean to other people, you must be really good at Korean. I've subscribed to your channel not to study Korean as it is my mother tongue but to study English by listening to you speaking English explaining the way of learning Korean. A little bit funny. Right? Just wanted to remind you that some people can learn English by watching your video. Thanks.

[saraehernandez]

The only thing I regret is not finding Billy sooner😔

[abcdefghihateugodie_]

1. LEARN HANGUL (0:52)
2. SOUND CHANGE RULES (3:41)
3. AVOID (SOME) PRONOUNS (4:46)
4. POLITENESS (5:59)
5. DON'T TRANSLATE LITERALLY (7:48)
6. PRACTISE IS IMPORTANT (9:26)
7. MAKE MORE KOREAN FRIENDS (11:16)
8. EVERYBODY SPEAKS DIFFERENTLY (12:45)

Hope this helps....if the numbers confuse you its for the the time he speaks about each topic...

[jjuune]

A whole video on the differences between how girls and guys speak would be very interesting!

[Kimeowra]

I'd just like to put an emphasis on "practicing" for any first time learners out there. If you do not have something consistent to watch in korean, someone to talk to or someone to write to, please take a break from your studies and find one. I have personnally studied spanish academically for 4 years as a third language and I don't think that I surpass the equivalent of beginner level in this course. On the other hand, I learned English by living in the US and studying in an english environment, and I can now follow University courses from England and the US with ease. Practice will make or break your studying so please new learners, value practicing over studying.

[elodie]

One tip I have for beginners is to pay attention to the verb stem when you hear Korean. There are hundreds of different verb endings and nuances in Korean, and many do not exist in English and are often not even translated. As a beginner, if you catch the verb stem, you'll understand the gist of the sentence without needing to know exactly what the nuance that the verb ending brings is.

[LadyMystic]

I fell in love with Korean during quarantine when I started watching Korean dramas. Not just their language but also their way of life interested me. I started picking up words. But then I thought it would be so cool to be able to understand Korean without needing subtitles. So that’s my goal. Everyone learns speaking/reading/writing a language the same way. Weather it’s our 1st or 2nd language we always start with our ABC’s. So my 1st step was watching Korean shows for small children. 😂

[dinojk]

i just started watching this video and thought "wow that korean book i have sure is good, i already know all of this!" and then
i realized its your book and ive been learning from you all along XD

[morbidleaf]

This was really helpful! Especially the one about not translating Korean literally. I am a beginner but slowly reaching towards intermediate and what I struggle with the most is feeling like I can't really understand a sentence if I can't get the exact English translation of it. Instead of doing this, what helps me is to keep saying the sentence out loud and if it makes sense in my head and I get the feeling of what the sentence is trying to say, then I feel like I actually understand it.

Also what I've started recently is watching kdramas. This helps me understand more natural conversations and I find myself picking up a lot of the words I learned and the tones they say the words in.

[marinelaismaili]

For those who started learning Korean, I recommend you to watch a lot of kdramas because, that way you'll learn a lot of phrases and vocab and so on..

[alekhyagattupalli]

As a beginner, I used to panic a lot that I am unable to make a single sentence even after 2-3 months of studying. I wish I could go back and tell to myself 'take it easy, just continue what you are doing and you will get there one day' :-)

[delialiranzo]

I feel bad because I can understand a lot in korean if I'm listening a podcast, kdrama or whatever, but If I want to speak korean my mind is just empty :(

[alphakoreanclass]

이 영상을 보자마자 제 학생들에게 너무 보여주고 싶어졌어요. 제 페이스북 그룹에 공유할게요. ^^ 항상 열정적으로 한국어를 가르치시는 모습이 감동적이에요. 응원합니다. !!

[heatherschnau]

I'm 7 months into learning Korean (only 1 month with using Billy's books and videos) and I've learned more in this month than I can even explain. He's such a ridiculously good teacher, it's crazy! Maybe it's just because I'm American but his explanations hit at 💯
I have tutors but his 시/씨 explanation finally got me doing the sounds correctly.

[TalisaHwang]

Oddly enough I don't regret the way I studied Korean. For the first two years I didn't really speak Korean, I just mimicked what I heard by myself for a while. But one regret I do have is getting obsessed with making the perfect Korean sentence. Just practice and don't focus too much on that. Because it'll click eventually :)

[sksigil]

I learnt hangul 한글 in less than a week with the write korean app. It's quite simple to learn, so don't be scared. It's easy to mispronounced things like 아 and 어 and 우 and 오 at first but you just have to keep going. I'm still learning, I still consider myself an absolute beginner. My goal is to watch kdrama and films without subtitles.

[blitzy_girl]

I'm conversational in Korean around intermediate. I learned with resources for a brief time until I started to chat with Koreans everyday on Discord. I've picked up almost all of my Korean from just chatting and guessing words from context... It's awesome. I recommend it to everyone, effortless language learning.

[samuel_]

The whole video i think: "How lucky i am for finding you at my very beginning". I even learned Hanguel with you and Sound Change Rules. You are awesome. Really.