Yonsei Univerisyt or Sogang Univeristy? or...?

[in23h]

i went with Korean Air. i gave them a call and the lady said a round-trip ticket or 1-way ticket is dependent on the Visa. i only have the 90-day Tourist Visa at the moment and she said that one needs a round-trip ticket, but i could get the returning flight refunded when i'm in Korea. i still want to call the embassy to see what they say, but i figure i'll have to do the refund route.

The embassy guy mentioned to me a while ago, that i should get the D-4 General Training Visa when i'm in Seoul. I just recently received my letter of acceptance from Yonsei. Is it easy to get the D-4 Visa in Korea? And is it easy to renew it there? I heard it takes anywhere between a few days to a month to process...

[javiskefka]

If you're going to stay for several terms, it's worthwhile to change your status to a D-4 visa. You do this by taking the subway out to the Seoul Immigration office in 오목교, and leaving your passport with them for a couple days. When you come back out to pick it up, you will have a change of sojourn status slip next to your visa. You can even combine this visit with the trip you need to make to Immigration anyway to file for your Alien Registration Card.

[mariefrenette]

I'm planning on attending Seoul National University's program this September. My reason for wanting to go there is 1) Cause I've been studying their text book series and 2) I want to take my masters degree there.

Does anyone have any information about their program? I'm really confused about exactly how the programs are different...

Marie

[javiskefka]

I wouldn't worry too much about the differences. You're better off enjoying the prospect of getting to know the place where you'll be spending quite a lot of time in the future and making friends there. Since you've been studying independently for so long, you'll likely have a leg up over your classmates no matter where you go.

[gillesvdp]

As the name of the program says, Intensive classes are going to be intensive.
From what I have seen from my friends attending the Ewha and Yonsei language centers (while I was an exchange student in Ewha) is that it depends on a couple of things:

Number one is very important: if you are Japanese (or fluent in Japanese), learning Korean will be extremely easy for you and you will have lots of free time to play around.

But I guess there are not many Japanese speaking people around this forum.
Anyway, number 2 is that when you enter the program with pre-existing knowledge, it might be harder for you rather than someone who does not know anything.
Concretely, if you have 0 knowledge, you will follow the program from the beginning and you will always meet the requirements (since there are none ).
But if you have pre-existing knowledge, it is very likely that the different levels will not fit with you perfectly.
If you have high knowledge of grammar but low on vocab (which, in my opinion, is what is going to happen if you follow KoreanClass101.com exclusively), you will either be put in a high level where you will have to study much vocabulary every day (could be as high as 60 or 100). Or you might take it easy and learn the vocabulary progressively with a lower level class.

But when it comes to teaching methods, I can only speak for Yonsei and Ewha.
Ewha seemed to have much emphasis put on talking and personal work. Whereas Yonsei put more emphasis on grammar and structure.

My opinion is that if you are looking for a short-term learning experience: go for Ewha.
If you want to be more proficient but ready to stay longer (1 year, 1 year and a half), go for Yonsei.

These 2 campuses are near Sinchon, with an advantage for Ewha which has numerous restaurants, girl shops and a subway station near its main gate.

[matthew254]

Here's the schedule of classes for Yonsei, Sogang, and Ewha for 2009 (연세, 서강, 이화)

http://www.box.net/shared/taa1d2ld24

[attraversiamo]

I am currently teaching English in Korea as well as taking the evening Korean language course at Yonsei University. I personally love the experience I am having at Yonsei. I am learning a lot and it's a more serious course. The people who signed up for the course who didn't take it seriously (dumb, since it's a bit pricey) didn't do so well, because you have to really study to keep up with the pace of the class.

It wasn't 200 words a day by any means. In Level 1 we completed 5 chapters in 10 weeks, each chapter being broken down into five units. For each chapter (which took about a week and a half to two weeks to complete) we had about 100-150 vocabulary words.

Each class consisted of a short review of the previous class, an introduction into the grammar and sentence structures, which was then immediately practiced with speaking. We then usually did some reading and workbook activities with partners and groups.

We had three books; the textbook, the reading book and the workbook. I believe we use these for the first two levels. The next few levels use a textbook and a workbook, I believe.

As far as the complaints towards the lack of speaking... I think the Yonsei program is definitely for those who intend to complete the eight levels and go on to do more with their Korean. The emphasis is on correct grammar, reading and writing, but it doesn't mean that speaking in completely neglected. In my opinion there is never enough time in a class period to practice speaking. I suggest setting up a language exchange or getting a tutor for the express purpose of speaking Korean. Lucky for me I work with all Koreans, my mother's Korean (so her family is here) and I have many Korean friends, so I have many opportunities to speak Korean.

I think Sogang would be great for someone who wants to learn Korean but mostly for the survival Korean aspect. Life in Korea is definitely made easier by knowing the language!

I have a friend currently at Seoul National University and from what she says about her experience it sounds very similar to Yonsei's program.

I think Korea University currently does not offer an evening course, which I looked into a few months ago because I live much closer to Korea University than I do to Yonsei.

If you have any questions, please let me know, I'd be happy to help.

[matthew254]

this is a really helpful post, attraversiamo!

[gillesvdp]

소식
-----

가을 학기 부터 서강대학교 언어교육원 등록금 백오십만원 될거예요.

[nkoroi]

Hi people. I 'm planning on doing a semester in Korean to get a BA in Nursing. I'm only going to take gen classes though. So my que is how can i find more info about clinicals, classes. UIC also chose Yeonsei college as the school I can go to.
Would love more info about the other schools so that I can find more info.


Thanks in advance

[lilith2014]

I am currently studying at the Regular A program of Yonsei and I can describe what "The Real Deal" is here..

I counted how many words we learned at level 1 which is a set of vocabulary provided by the school and the so many words you have to learn that are in the book. There were around 1700 words for a 10 weeks program. Pretty good I think, because you can learn 30 every day and repeat them at the weekends. The problem here is not to keep up with the vocabulary but with the grammar. I am currently in level 2, struggling to pass to level 3. This is my last week prior finals and I have to learn 6 conversation to recite infront of class prior finals, also I had to learn an entire song with the dance to sing it last week infront of 300 people. I have 2 finals this week (grammar and listening) and 2 more next week (conversation and reading). On top of that, the school does not give you vocabulary anymore, you have to gather your own, they doesnt even tell you to do it.

We learn 2 grammar patterns everyday, and around 15 words per day, regarding a certain situation in you daily life (post office, bank, sick, etc), next day is another 2 patterns, another 15 words, and another situation. Too much stuff, level 1 and 2 we have learned 130 grammar patterns (im not lying, I have my copies here with me).

I still can't talk at all, even tho I can say stuff, I can't make a compound sentence without having the need to think it for 5 to 10 seconds. If I dont pass this, Im going to Sogang. I guess with the 200 something patterns I have learned, is gonna be easy to have 3 hours of speaking at sogang. At yonsei they say is "one hour" daily but basically is not even 15 minutes, because the teacher ask one question to all 14 of us, and we have time only to answer one sentence using the pattern we are studying.

I thought Yonsei would be better (for me) to study, but I guess I have to try a different method. Yonsei method is more for people who have the same grammar or sentence structure (like japanese), not to Spanish speakers like myself. Ironically enough, my English has improve since I came to Korea, because the Sinchon Area is packed with foreigners. Want to speak Korea, get out of sinchon and move to places which foreginers are scarse... I might go to Daegu after I finish my Korean courses, to practice.