[dan_quixote]

I'm in a similar situation - my girlfriend is Korean and speaks perfect English but some of her friends and family do not (and are rather self-conscious about it). I'd like to meet them halfway by getting to a basic conversational level in Korean. Any tips? What has worked well for you so far? I've been working with Duolingo for a few months with mixed results. I just started Anki with the Korean Vocab by Evita deck [1] and it has been really great for vocab at least. I'll be checking this post out later as well.

[1] https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/4066961604

[csa]

> I'd like to meet them halfway by getting to a basic conversational level in Korean. Any tips?

Not op, but…

Start with memorized words and phrases — salutations, meal time commentary, celebration terms, etc.

Then move to short, simple sentences — emphasis on short and simple. You might not understand any replies, but that’s ok.

Over time, these might progress into short and simple conversations as you become better able to understand their responses (and they probably learn how to simplify for you), and your vocabulary grows.

Once you get this far, you will have more specific questions to ask regarding gaps you want to address.

Korean is one of the harder languages for native speakers of English to learn, so don’t expect a quick ramp up time like you might have with Spanish or French.

One of the challenges with Korean is the S-O-V order. This is like Japanese, so Korean is quite a bit easier to learn if you already know Japanese.

[godelski]

Ooofff fuck, no I __need__ tips lol. Though I'm short of time right now (PhD + a job) so language learning has been on the back burner. I never found Duolingo helpful except in learning characters but Anki being better. But I have no better tips than that. I tried learning Chinese a few years back and found a language book and getting an iTalki tutor were infinitely better than any apps or any self study. I don't think you can do it without some tutor (even your gf).