So What's Your Story?

[xflibble]

I'm another of those with a Korean wife. Have been far-too-casually studying on and off for the last 6 years or so. Am trying to study a bit harder this year to get out of the low-intermediate rut I'm in and get to a more conversational level My mother-in-law is very disappointed I'm not fluent yet, but getting vocab to stick is hard as my wife doesn't mix with Koreans a great deal, and at home, the topics I can listen to are not that broad.

Have only been to Korea once, late 2006 for five weeks where we had our second wedding in traditional Korean style. Had a great time and can't wait to go again, and am planning a walk/cycle tour in 2010. I noticed Junsoo talking about a Korean cycling trip in one of the podcasts, so maybe she can be pressed for more details at some time?

[hyunwoo]

I'll be sure to press Junsoo to talk more about the trip!

[xflibble]

Awesome, thanks!

There is a good resource for general cycling information (http://user.chollian.net/~boonstra/korea/cycle.htm), and I've found Google Earth's flight simulator useful as well for flyovers of the terrain. The only real information I found on walking is for a north-south mountain walk (http://www.baekdudaegan.blogspot.com/), and Simon Winchester's (now fairly old) book.

I'll pick up road maps on my trip next year in preparation, but recent reports from on the ground are helpful.

I do get an impression from my last trip, that a lot of non-main roads are pretty quiet during the week. I might also try and do a few days of walking next year to get a feel for things myself.

[dona146]

annyeong!
i'm dona, 28yrs old from philippines.
well, i got into learning korean language since i'm into kdramas and stuff 2 yrs ago..i'm way behind hallyu when it first became the "it" thing here in the phils... back then i couldn't understand why kdrama has been so popular until my chinese friend insisted that i watch kdrama in dvd...and so i did...well, from then on started my interest in kdrama to korean music (well, mostly ost's)... later on i became fascinated with korean culture and have been meaning to learn korean language..and since i can't find any korean language institutes here i just settled for books and try to make korean friends online that can help me learn a thing or two..until a korean friend recommended this site~so far, everything's been really great here...i get to listen to podcasts anywhere i go and is so convenient for me...since i'm just a newbie here i had to start from the very beginning with it's pilot episodes last year~i still have a long long way to go but with kclass101 i know i will make it...FIGHTING!!!

[hyunwoo]

Hi Dona

어서오세요(Welcome) to the site, and welcome to the community!!
Nice to meet you ^^ !!

[dona146]

Hi Dona

어서오세요(Welcome) to the site, and welcome to the community!!
Nice to meet you ^^ !!

kamsahamnida hyunwoo-ssi!
i look forward to all the lessons...though i couldn't very well understand your audio blog but i still listen to it anyway and just read the english translations
thanks to you guys!!! you're doing a great job!

[waterbugg]

I have taken tae kwon do for over a year now and my master always speaks koren to his son and wife and I always reallllly want to know what they are saying! (especially if they start laughing or talking right after a test!) I am still very newbie. I just finished beginner lesson 5.

[Keith]

waterbug,

Welcome to the site! I'm sure learning Korean will help you enjoy taekwondo much more, and maybe be a great help if you ever decide to go to Korea as well

[nilfisq]

Hello all,
I subscribed to KC101 as a premium member this weekend after having given it a loooong thought. The thing is that I learned some Japanese in the recent past, and I must say: it is a fun language! However, I somehow have a preference for less widely spoken languages and besides, my new job gives me the opportunity to visit Seoul almost as often as I want (I am an airline steward). I will go there in a couple of weeks (first time), so finally I made a decision and signed up for the trial. At first I was discouraged by the phonetic difficulty of the language (Japanese seems easier to pronounce) but now I consider it as a big challenge: learning this exciting language that relatively few western people are able to speak. Hangeul is fun too, although I wonder how long it takes before you reach some reading fluency. I practice with this site, because if you move your mouse over the words you hear their pronunciation. (okay: I have to admit I adore Asian kid stuff too!). Still very slow though *sigh* (but then: I had the same experience with the Japanese kana and when I see them now, I can read them fairly fluently).
Well, this was my story. Hope to have a lot of fun here!

Cheers,
Bart

[John]

That is a fun site, thanks for the link.

[jkorean]

I got interested in Korean because you hear about other people learning french or spanish wich they teach mostly everybody in high school so and I wanted to be different. I got to this website through Korean survival phrases. Maybe this should be on another section but I really love the chemistry between keith and Seol...fun shows!

[matthew254]

hey jkorean and welcome!

Oh man, the "chemistry" is legendary here, let me tell you...it's the joke that never gets old. The beauty part is that Keith's "charm" has leaked onto the other cohosts/teachers. It's getting to the point where no one is nice to him anymore...well, other than 현우 of course. Also makes me smile and provides a good break in the study. All at Keith's expense

[nkoroi]

Hello people!! Looks like we kinda have the same story. For me, my first korean movie was shadowless sword, which i love. Then I graduated to the 16 episodes. My first one was my girl. It was hilarious!! I decided to learn the language coz it was so different from what i was raised speaking. Swahili does not have high or low tones, so it is kinda boring. Also i love languages and culture, i find it interesting how we are all connected in some way. And that is my story

[Alexis]

Err... can't remember whether I've replied to this topic or not.

Well, aside from being adopted and being biologically Korean (I'm not going into all those details here), I've come to find that I just really like Korea. I'm just interested in it, and I find it amazing that I was born in such a beautiful country that's still quite unknown to much of the western world. Learning Korean also gives me Korean pride.

[Forevergreen07]

A lot of people ask why I'm interested in Korea, mainly because my whole family and friends are complete, italian and irish backgrounded Americans =P But about a year or two ago I met someone who became my best friend, and she came from korea! =) She didn't know how to speak english at first, but after a while she learned more and more, because she's really smart =) and we became quick friends =) Since I've met her I've learned so much, and I'm facinated by the culture and country, I listen to Big Bang, everyday, and I loved the show Boys Over Flowers , I even sing in korean, haha. My family thinks I'm weird because I'm interested in something so far from american culture, but i don't care what they think anymore, because there's nothing weird about wanting to learn another language. So don't let anybody discourage you if you had this same problem.=) It's a beautiful language, and it would be a shame not to try and learn something new =) I also want to learn because I want to go there someday, and I love her family and friends, and I would like to be able to communicate with them because I'm sure we'd become even better acquainted and closer like me and my friend did. Also I feel bad that she had to learn english and has to speak it to communicate, which I'm sure can be difficult, so I want to be able to make an effort to make it easier for her to communicate with me also. =)