I’ve recently started to be active here at LingQ, and just realized that Korean library is really really poor.
And so I wonder, how many Korean learners are here at LingQ? I just read from steve’s thread ( Question And Feedback About Lingqs, Especially In The Kor...) that they dicided to open Korean language with some reluctance, in response to requests from learners(!).
And I am willing to provide some contents but I’ve seen very few people learning Korean here. And I would like to hear some opinions from Korean learners, if you have thought something about contents of Korean. Considering some aspect that only Korean language might have, what kind of contents do you want it to be provided?
Well, I know there are a few of us at least! Some Korean learners have come and gone, but I think a major reason is the lack of appropriate content for them. It’s hard to say which content would be the most useful, but I think there’s a need for all levels of content in the Korean library.
We will hopefully be getting a bit more Korean content some time in the next few weeks, but if you would like to start either creating and recording lessons or even simply recording things that were already written, I’m sure that would be greatly appreciated by the learners here.
As far as specific topics go, I think anything is good. Talk about what it’s like to live in Korea, share about your experiences on the subway, etc. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
I’m not planning to study Korean in the near term (maybe just basics for my next visit) but it’s a bit of an “if you build it, they will come” situation. People can’t really use the library, or recommend the site to others, if the library is empty. A bigger library will attract more people, and more people will result in there being more, and better, user hints.
I think a lot of low-level content is necessary as it takes so long to get used to korean.
Thanks for the opinions everyone! I shared my first lesson today, but it’s in an advanced level. I am trying to get the idea about beginner lesson. So any further opinions would be appreciated
@Alex - Thank you very much! It helped me a lot to get some idea.
As you know , written and spoken korean is quite different so to me its important to find Naturally spoken korean. By “naturally spoken korean” I mean people speaking with a natural tone using the Standard polite level.
Which is the main reason why at the moment I don’t study any of the Korean Lingq Library Content. Most of all the lessons you find in there are written grammatically correct however sound unnatural when read/spoken , too formal ect… I’m not interested in drilling really polite forms of verbs with Imnida/sumnida endings , or unnatural BUT grammatically correct sentences. Yes I know theres a time and a place to use these forms of verbs but they just aren’t as common in every day use other than in the News and If for any reason you need to be overly polite with guests or elders…
With that said, I’m currently importing and studying all the Talk to me in Korean Iyagi lessons. They have exactly what I’m looking for in terms level and how natural it is.
Personally If i were to request any content It would be content similar in style to the Talk to me in Korean Iyagi series. I like listening to a natural conversation between 2 people or more with no scripts .
Just natural back and forth intermediate level dialogue. In terms of theme or subject matter, I’m open to absolutely anything and everything as long as its naturally spoken and not read from a pre-written piece. I also like interview style lessons. I like the idea of lessons being spontaneously spoken in a natural tone and then later be transcribed. I like lessons similar to a radio show or to watching someone candidly speaking on a youtube video. The guys at Talk to me in korean do a great job with this and this is why I pretty much exclusively import their Iyagi series…
other than that, I’m open to anything as long as its spoken naturally =p. Definitely not interested in fake acting, forced dialogue , robot tone , way too polite lessons …
I didn’t start korean from scratch on lingq and I’m way passed the beginner stages in korean so my needs are probably completely different than someone starting from scratch.
@keroro- Well, about the polite forms in Korean… You use polite forms in a spoken way when you talk with people no matter what age they are. For korean using polite forms is not really using it. It’s just normal way of treating people. But if one doesn’t use polite form, is just being rude or something. In terms of that, they are common in everyday use.
I tired the link but it didn’t find the page properly. But I found iyagi in TalkToMeInKorea, anyway. Hope the lesson I shared would sound like a natural Korean. I tried not to “read”.
I think you misunderstood what i meant by polite forms. I think People should learn the informal polite form ( 요) which is what I think most lessons should be using ( I’m glad to see this is how you did your lesson). From my observation of living in korea this is the most common form between strangers. You wont get in trouble speaking like this in most situations…
What I was trying to say is that I think using FORMAL polite speech in everyday talk just doesnt make sense to me ( 합니다 , 있습니다 ect… ). Theres a time and place to speak formally but I dont think its helpful for beginners to learn this form first. And this is a BIG problem with ALOT of korean teaching material out there. They teach you the most polite way to speak ! IF i were speak korean the way they teach it in korean workbooks People would look at me funny… People just dont speak that way to each other =p. I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I’ve seen my wife, brother in law , wife’s friends, my friends ect speak Formally! I think its good to be aware of this form but would be unnatural if you went around town speaking formally =p. Good to learn if you plan to give speechs infront of people , if you plan to go on TV , have korean interviews, speak to a korean boss ect…
just my 20 원 worth =p.
Thanks for the lesson. I think it sounds good and will be good material for anyone wanting to learn korean! I hope you upload more!
@keroro - You make a good point, but do note that “-요” is still considered formal (존댓말), so when you say you don’t see people speaking “formally”, the implication is that they are speaking informally (반말), since Koreans call both forms (-요 / -ㅂ니다) “존댓말” or “높임말”.
@monyou - The lesson is great, thanks! I’ve changed the level to Intermediate 2, which I think is appropriate for the speed and difficulty of the content. “Advanced” typically consists of literature, newspaper articles, any sort of academic writing, etc.
@alex Agreed =p. you’re totally right BUT I think im just thinking about it differently… I was referring to english explanation of korean verbs forms kinda like you see here :
MANY other websites/ book that try to explain korean verbs in english tend to split it up between FORMAL polite , INFORMAL polite , informal polite low … and so forth… As 존댓말 refers to both -ㅛ / - ㅂ니다 forms I was trying to be more specific using the way verbs tend to be explained in english. I was trying to separate between FORMAL polite ( -ㅂ니다 )and Informal polite ( -ㅛ) =p… At least thats how I see it regardless of it being the official way to catagorize verbs or not… But its referred to this way in many places =)
Oh I believe you!.. I do live with a family of koreans and Well aware of how differently they can think in all kinds of situations =).
I was just trying to make sense of the korean forms using english terms with the korean equivalent in parentheses hoping it would be clear… Perhaps I’ve failed =p…
Either way. I stand by what I said. I think its important to differentiate -ㅛ forms from ㅂ니다 regardless of them being grouped together and known as “존댓말” or “높임말”. For me anyways its easier not to consider -ㅛ as formal and just think of it as being typically polite =p.
@Keroro - Got your point! I think I was just thinking when I wrote reply to your thread, that polite forms in Korean is not just about what you are refering to. I got little confused cause, you know, using -합니다, -있습니다 etc is not always seen as a formal way of saying. It’s just not used a lot in a “spoken way”. If it is officially formal, people wouldn’t use this kind of way of saying in a children book
Haha and “20원” cracks me up. Anyway, thanks again for giving me a response about lesson. I will try to come up with some topics for it
@Alex - I was actually thinking about changing the level of the lesson! Thanks for changing it instead of me
