InterviewLearning Korean? 3 people share what works for them

As Korea celebrates Hangeul Day's 100th anniversary this month, The Korea Times asked three people learning Korean what drew them to the language, where they struggle now and which study habits have worked best for them.

They range from a beginner in the United States to advanced speakers pursuing graduate degrees in Seoul.

Name: Adrian Adams

Level: Beginner

Study tip: Constant exposure, repetition and practice

For Adrian Adams, a 22-year-old church secretary in Springfield, Missouri, Korean began as a way to fill the long days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, when a friend recommended a few BTS songs and K-dramas. Adam's interest quickly became something more than a pastime.

"Korean culture is so beautiful and intricate," Adams said. "I was amazed by the respect and beauty found in the spoken language."

Wanting to understand what the singers and actors were actually saying, Adams started learning in 2022 by following Korean teachers on social media and picking up Hangeul through YouTube videos, then hired a tutor to prepare for a trip to Korea that Adams' parents gave as a surprise high school graduation gift.

Four years in, the biggest obstacle is not grammar or vocabulary but confidence. Adams said this has been the hardest part since the very beginning.

"I often choose not to speak, even when I can, for fear of being incorrect," she said.

The tip Adams offers other beginners is to "learn the way a child does," starting with simple sentences and concepts and building understanding through constant exposure, repetition and practice.

"Babies learn everything for the first time with natural curiosity," she said. "This is the same way we should approach language learning."

What she hopes Korean will eventually make possible is less about tests than about people, namely the ability to speak naturally with Koreans and to build and grow relationships with those from a culture Adams deeply admires.

Name: Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop

Level: Intermediate

Study tip: Watching children's cartoons without subtitles

For Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop from Senegal, interest in Korean has always been there, but what ultimately pushed her to learn the language was Korean singer Yoon Bok-hee's 1979 song "Everyone," which was later sung by singer Ailee in 2016.

With no opportunities to study Korean back home, she made up her mind that "if Korea couldn't get to me, I should get to Korea." She applied for a scholarship and began learning as soon as she arrived a year ago.

Now a student at Sungkyunkwan University's Korean language program in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Diop holds a TOPIK level 3 and is in the program's level 5 class, and she says the difficulty has shifted at every step.

In the first two levels, it was mostly vocabulary, which simply had to be learned by heart, while levels 3 and 4 are "where the real struggle began," as she encountered many grammar patterns that looked almost identical but changed meaning depending on context.

At level 5, the challenge returned to beinb about vocabulary, which became so specialized that it covers subjects "we are not necessarily familiar with even in our own language," she said.

Her study secret is watching Korean children's animation without subtitles, as the slower pace and intuitive expressions help her grasp how certain phrases are used.

Diop will begin a master's program in media and communications next year. Most of her classes will be taught in Korean, and she plans to stay and work in Korea after graduating. A big fan of Korean ballads, she also hopes to one day understand a song the moment she hears it.

Name: Hugo Adam

Level: Advanced

Study tip: Declining when someone offers to switch to English

Hugo Adam's path to Korean began in his school bus in France. On his first day of high school, he sat next to a French Korean boy named Eliott, who became his best friend.

"The empty seat (next to Eliott) moved my whole life to the other side of the world," the 24-year-old said.

Adam taught himself Hangeul online and gave up a place at an engineering school to study Korean and Asian politics instead. In 2022, he arrived as an exchange student at Sungshin Women's University just as Korea reopened its borders after the pandemic. He took four hours of Korean class every morning during the program.

Now a master's student working on a degree in international relations at Seoul National University, he says his hardest task is debating, holding a 20-minute argument on one subject where specialized vocabulary and the need to answer instantly leaves no room to breathe.

"Today, I am not fighting to be understood anymore," he said. "But I am fighting to be as accurate as possible."

His main tip is to live in Korean rather than merely study it. This means handling his paperwork, friendships, work and even arguments with his phone company in the language — and declining when someone offers to switch to English.

"I think that moment is exactly where the progress starts," he said.

He also watches Korean news and YouTube daily, and spends 20 minutes on a flashcard app on the subway every day — a habit he built from when he was a beginner.

Adam, who hopes to become a journalist, said he wants to close the gap between the version of himself that jokes and plays with words in French and a Korean self that still feels "slower, simpler and far less natural."