| > 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. |