Hello, I’ve recently been getting into kpop, krap, and I decided that it would be a good idea to start to learn Korean. After learning the alphabet I did a lot of searching, a lot of studying for about a week I came across Lingq. I’ve logged about 7 hours on lingq and I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. I’m trying to follow Steve’s advice by listening and reading, listening and reading, but I don’t feel the effects what so ever. When I’m listening to the dialogue I don’t understand a word that they say, even once I’ve gone over it 30 times, I’ve memorized what each word means, I’ll move onto another piece with a good amount of vocabulary that I heard in the previous, but when they’re saying it, I just can’t latch onto it. I’m able to read and pronounce the dialogue out, and I’m able to remember all the words that way, but I want to be able to listen to krap, and Korean television. What I’d like to know if this is normal, I’m not an auditory learn or maybe I’m just doing something freakishly wrong.
- One week is nothing
- You are slowly conditioning your brain to pick things out in the language, give it time.
- You don’t have to stay with one lesson till you know or understand it. When you are tired of listening to a lesson, move on. You can come back later to pick up the pieces.
- You should also get a small Korean stater book like “Teach Yourself” to see in writing some explanations about the structure of the language.
Mostly, don’t be so impatient. I repeat, one week is nothing. It takes months to get used to the language. keep listening to your kpop, krap, watching television, and bit by bit, things will start to fall into place.
Any advice from others?
As a fellow Korean learner, I’ve been at it for four and a half years now and still struggle sometimes when watching TV, etc. Learning a language is a long-term project that will require a lot of time.
However, the time I’ve spent has been absolutely worth it, and if I had to do it all over again I absolutely would. Knowing Korean has allowed me to meet lots of amazing people (including some of my best friends) and has taken me on a journey into another culture that is still absolutely fascinating.
I encourage you to keep going strong – the hard work will pay off 
Sorry to be harsh but if after doing 7 hours (which I doubt) and you’re already complaining that you can’t learn it, then I don’t know how you will ever persist. You will never learn a language with that attitude.
I had to laugh at ‘krap’. 
7 hours on Korean is nothing. It’s going to take you a long time to get used to it. If you get a book like “Teach Yourself” or “Colloquial” there will be lots of slow-paced, short pieces of audio. Might be a little easier to follow. Others may disagree, but I think it’s best to go through a beginner book like that before doing LingQ (or at the same time).