Learning vocab before grammar and structure?(korean)

[sezna]

Hello! I've been lurking here for a while, only recently made an account. I've been studying 中文 for a while and am picking it up faster than expected, although I am far from proficient. I am a Chinese major at my university so I'm very immersed in daily practice. I find the thrill of language learning to be absolutely exciting, and I am thinking of trying to study another language(Korean). I'm very rigid in my daily Chinese practice and studying, so I think adding a bit on to that time won't degrade my studies of Chinese terribly much.

 

My university does not have a Korean program, so I would have to self study. I found a few books, but none of them follow a very thorough structure. Korean learning resources are just not very good compared to resources for learning Chinese, as there's a lot less people learning Korean. 

 

Long story short, I know the Hangul character set and pronunciation. Would it be a bad idea to just memorize as much vocab as I can until I am in a place where I can seek formal Korean language training? It would probably be about 17 months from now.

 

Thanks!

[Michaelyus]

환영합니다! 저도 독학으로 한국어를 공부합니다! 

 

I think there's quite a few online resources for Korean: I use Naver's dictionary alongside the courses off Talk to Me in Korean and How to Study Korean, which are both gradated. You need a good grasp of the grammar to get anywhere past "awkward" in the language, although to be honest I've been languishing on upper beginner level for too long now!

 

I think learning bits of vocab, though essential, needs to be accompanied by the words in context (TTMIK do a great set of videos on vocab builder lessons, dramatic Korean phrases, and describing pictures). If it were me, I would have gotten frustrated with vocab alone and would have already started pushing into the necessary grammar.

[Guest realmayo]

A fairly serious textbook to consider is Elementary Korean, published by Tuttle. It's very well done -- at least the first half, which is as far as I've ever got -- but requires effort.

 

I would also recommend considering A Historical, Literary, and Cultural Approach to the Korean Language by Alexander Arguelles to see if that suits you but if you pick up a second-hand copy make sure it comes with the cassettes because the core of the book's methodology is getting you to repeatedly listen to and then read out loud the texts in the book.

 

I should add that my Korean is back to almost non-existent since the last couple of years and I was never much beyond beginner level anyway. But if I restart I'll do so using those books.

[Silent]

 

Long story short, I know the Hangul character set and pronunciation. Would it be a bad idea to just memorize as much vocab as I can until I am in a place where I can seek formal Korean language training? It would probably be about 17 months from now.

I would not recommend to just learn vocabulary. Vocabulary is very helpful to progress, but I think context is very important too for proper understanding the nuances of the vocabulary. I think a more all round approach is better.  So I'ld say learn vocabulary taken from simple texts and/or audio and basically learn those sentences. Even if no formal grammar rules are learned, it will help you get a feel for the natural structure of the language.

[Johnny20270]

I did the same thing with chinese. It did help to some degree but to be honest it was very in-efficient for reasons including

- you really don't know how to use them (nouns are the easy one)

- too easy for forget the words as no context and your brain keeps throwing them out

- demotivating

 

I saw it like, "well I'll buy all the tools so they are easy to use before I construct the house". Didn't work like that. 

 

In my experience, there is some merit to learning a pile of words, its just that the time would be better spent elsewhere

 

PS: I tried the Rolling stone Korean and Pimsleur, was kindof fun but ultimately quit because I wanted to learn Chinese. 

[Guest realmayo]

PS: I tried the Rolling stone Korean and Pimsleur, was kindof fun but ultimately quit because I wanted to learn Chinese. 

 

Hmm Rolling Stone Korean sounds a lot of fun! 

[Johnny20270]

Hmm Rolling Stone Korean sounds a lot of fun!  

 

 

 lol, ... rossetta stone.  

[roddy]

"I saw it like, "well I'll buy all the tools so they are easy to use before I construct the house". Didn't work like that. "

No, you end up with tools getting rusty as you never use them and there's no roof on your house. 

 

I'd plan for some all-round study, just less intensive than your Chinese. Watch a Korean soap, use Pimsleur for vocab and intonation, read some comic books, do a bit of conversation practice if you can. 

 

Where are you studying?

[pancake]

This suggestion is slightly tangential, but I would look into textbooks on Korean aimed at Chinese people. Not only will this kind of "layering" keep your Chinese fresh, it will probably also be easier to learn this way. According to my Korean classmates, lots of Chinese and Korean words are similar (I can only recall 普通 as an example of such a word). So it might make sense to learn the Korean cognates for the Chinese words you already know.