What's your motivation to learn Korean?

[steven3170]

I was/am heavily into JPop and Japanese movies and Dramas but I just don't have the will learn kanji (I couldn't seem to get past around 700 kanji) and don't have any friends interested in Japanese so it is really hard to improve past my current level so I had a look at Korean. Thanks to king Sejong it is so much easier to read Korean and I like a fair bit of the Korean music and movies I have seen so far so I have switched over. I still love the Japanese language and culture but now I am heavily into gaining some skills in Korean.

I haven seen any KDrama yet but that is on the cards soon. Being in Australia is rather limiting if I want to view legitimate foreign media. It is rather annoying that they try hard to prevent me paying for it but complain if I then pirate it! Oh well. Dramafever keeps saying they are "coming soon" to my region.

I'm looking forward to visiting South Korea in a year or so

Steven.

[andy_227977]

I've been doing Taekwondo for nearly 30 years. I've been to Korea a few times (and am going back twice in 2016) so I want to be able to understand the gist of what people say to me and be able to make myself understood.

Fluency/natural speech is a goal for later, my current goal is just understanding both ways...

[ShawnzyGuitarist]

Me learning Korean actually started off with me learning Japanese.

I've always been interested in asian languages simply because of how different they were from english. A couple years ago, a friend got me into anime, and as I won't say it was because of anime, it was definitely the catalyst of me learning Japanese. Something sparked and I suddenly had the urge to start learning Japanese, so I did.

As time passed I started getting more and more interested in not just languadges, but the world in general. I had ditched my "American ignorance" and started learning about the world and other cultures. Being part of that process, I learned that Koreans had a huge video game industry (which I love) which in the long run attributed to my decision (though I had not at that point decided to learn it yet). I ended up starting to recognize what Korean writing looked like, and I thought it looked awesome, which again attributed to me learning it (though again I'd not decided). Then one day I decided to watch one of the Korean movies they had on the website I use to watch anime. By the end of the movie I had fallen in love with the sound of the languadge and the spark happened. I pretty much immediately started learning Korean after that.

[community.korean]

Hi ShawnzyGuitarist,

So your desire to learn a foreign language started from learning about the culture behind it.
I think that is the case for many people. And having a good understanding of the culture really helps with language learning.
And your interest in the Korean culture will keep you motivated to study.

감사합니다.
Claire
Team KoreanClass101.com

[stevenhoward305707]

We can only choose one, but I actually have more than one reason. I've been married to a Korean lady for 30 years now, but I also live and work in Korea again ... and I'm not an English teacher or military. I actually love living in Korea, and am quite comfortable here in Busan. If things work out, as I'm approaching retirement age, I think I would like to retire in Busan, rather than returning to my homeland. (귀국 별로 안 하고 싶다. ).

[community.korean]

Hi Steven,

So glad to hear that you love living in Korea! So your lovely wife and the beautiful city of Busan are the reasons that keep you motivated for learning Korean, huh?
Thank you for your answer!

Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com

[enyboulder_232590]

I love Korean because they have such a developed cybersport discipline.
And I watch a lot of korean videos and streams dedicated to gaming and cybersport.
I just wish I could understand more when they are talking, cause my knowledge is quite low yet D:
Also I've found an interesting article about mobile gaming recently and there are some games made by korean developers too, which makes me excited even more
Here is an article:
7 amazing mobile games with great stories you might have missed

P.S. sorry for that bit of off-topic

[contactus_231994]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing with us!
Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,
Lyn
Team KoreanClass101.com