One answer: read more and read widely and read whenever you can
If you belong to a particular fandom, why wait for the “latest” news to be translated? Go to news.naver.com or simple type in your favorite star’s name in the Naver homepage and the latest news will be listed in the results.
I think one thing I love about languages is that there is no shortcuts (you can have talent but still..) and your proficiency will really reflect the amount of effort you put in. That suits the 노력파 in me. I’m someone that hates to lose out because of factors that I can’t control (eg. not having the luxury / financial resources to learn Korean in Korea) so I work doubly hard to overcome them.
In any case, READ. It’s tough at first and I went through the same period. I didn’t miraculously learn to read Korean in a day. I spent hours on ONE FREAKING ARTICLE, looking up each and every word that I don’t know, writing them down, reading a sentence over and over again.
I’m still not satisfied with my reading abilities, particularly when it comes to harder stuff. So I’m putting it thrice the effort to improve. I want to be able to read Korean as fast as I can read English. hehehe.
In any case, reading is awesome. You gain new knowledge, and you improve your Korean 😛
Have a good weekend people!
p.s. will reply to the comments soon. ><;; KEEP THEM COMING 😀
p.s.1. sorry to disappoint those who clicked on the article thinking that there will be some special tips/secrets
24 Comments
Mouse
13 January, 2013 at 11:16 AMThere’s nothing to apologize about =P Actually this post actually did help ^^ I’m slowly getting faster at reading in Korean, but I still have a hard time understanding what it says like in articles. I think I should start doing that too, because really the more practice you can get, the more knowledge you’ll have on any language really. P
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:12 PMdefinitely. The start is always the most difficult, but once you get over that period, things will be easier and you will start reading a lot faster! ^^ Have fun learning!
Carl
13 January, 2013 at 11:26 AMYou’re such a beautiful person. Let me clarify. Just saying what you said has reminded me of what is needed to improve my Korean. “Just do it.” Thanks for the constant inspiration to learn Korean.
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:12 PMaww thanks for always reading and commenting! 😀
Neha Ahmed
13 January, 2013 at 11:31 AMYou’re absolutely right! My reading got much faster because I followed many celebrities on Twitter and made an effort to read all of their tweets that appeared on my Timeline, especially the ones in Korean, out loud regardless of how much I actually understood. It really helps and it’s fun! Now that that’s done it’s time to work on building my vocabulary 🙂
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:11 PMsounds like you are having fun learning Korean! 😀 I’m sure by reading all the tweets, your vocabulary has already improved!
xing
13 January, 2013 at 11:44 AMyou are right, I find reading really fun — as in just purely reading but not understand the passage at all HAHA, because to me I think it helps in pronunciation skills as well. As for comprehension, sometimes I spend the whole day looking up dictionaries, jotting the meaning on top of the vocab and later on trying to join sentences together so that they make sense (but it’s just me alone so I won’t know if I comprehend it correctly ㅠㅠ)
I also bought a novel to motivate myself that ONE DAY…. I will finish reading and understand it 100%!!! Well, til that day comes……… 휴~
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:11 PMNice!! What did you buy? 😀
Regan
13 January, 2013 at 1:06 PMThanks for the blog post! You just reminded me that the only thing that’s going to improve my Korean reading skills is more effort on my part. I wish I could be as diligent as you. 🙂
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:10 PMThanks for reading! Actually I’m not as diligent as you think 😀
Karla
13 January, 2013 at 3:31 PM“I think one thing I love about languages is that there is no shortcuts (you can have talent but still..) and your proficiency will really reflect the amount of effort you put in”. <— So true. Now I just need to avoid falling asleep while I'm reading Korean novel.(Saturdays and Sundays no more siestas)
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:10 PMhahaha keep reading!
alodia
13 January, 2013 at 9:39 PMI love my tablet because I can now read free Korean 소설 apps!!! *cough* 신사의 품격 *cough* before sleeping. 🙂
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:09 PMhehehe i haven’t watch the drama before
Dusky
14 January, 2013 at 4:11 AMThis is something I keep telling myself that I will do but haven’t actually done. I’m going to figure out how to type in Korean so I can actually search for some articles. It’s only a Google search away so I really don’t have an excuse to put it off. I really needed to read this. It really motivated me so much and was a great reminder that if I want to reach my goals that I have to work for it. Your blog always reminds that it really is all up to me if I want to improve. It’s so inspirational. 🙂
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:09 PMTyping in Korean is actually easy to learn! I didn’t even use keyboard stickers when I started learning!
grace
14 January, 2013 at 10:07 PMUgh yeah I know what you mean about getting frustrated at first, it feels like it takes ages to read anything! Now I like going to karaoke to help speed up my reading skills hahahaha! Works better than I first realized
hangukdrama
14 January, 2013 at 10:08 PMHAHAHAHA that’s a fantastic idea actually 😛
alodia
14 January, 2013 at 10:14 PMyeah! karaoke and turning korean subs on korean dramas helps a lot! 🙂
skrwitch
15 January, 2013 at 4:39 AMTruth. Except people still try and find a “magic” way of reading fast without actually reading regularly
Autonomous Korean
16 January, 2013 at 6:20 PMFor fluency, it’s important to sometimes read something that’s *easy* for you – one level below normal reading level. Read as quickly as possible, and that way your brain gets faster at processing the easy stuff, so that when you’re reading harder stuff, the easier parts of it are like second nature, and you can focus on the hard parts.
alodia
16 January, 2013 at 7:55 PMI haven’t tried that one! I always go for more difficult materials and challenge myself. But it seems like it’s a good idea to try reading stuff that are either within or even below one’s level for “fluency practice”. I’m gonna include easier reading materials to my learning materials from now on. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Willay
14 January, 2014 at 12:12 AMI’m dyslexic so reading is probably the hardest thing for me in Korean. If i read slowly I can comprehend pretty well but it always feels like the letters are flying off the page. My speaking, vocab and grammar are all quite good but reading is becoming more and more frustrating the more my other skills improve. Thanks to everyone who offered some advice here. I liked autonomous Korean’s advice about practicing the easy stuff first. I might go and read over some intermediate Topik tests I practiced a while ago just to practice getting my speed up.
Hangukdrama
16 January, 2014 at 12:31 PMIt will be great to look through new articles/materials too. (: Then you will be able to practice reading as well as learn something new / interesting!