Learning another language when you are an introvert can be very difficult because so much language learning involves socializing. I’m not shy at all, and I definitely love talking to people, but my mind and body needs to rest after intense socializing. Speaking in Korean makes it so much harder because my brain is doing so much more work, so after my Korean lessons – which involve mostly talking – my brain is totally fried.

I also envy those who are learning Korean in a Korean university and that’s it. The core part of their life is just language learning. For lots of other people, language learning has to be crammed into an already busy life. I speak some Korean with Hugh, but it’s easy for me to slip in English words or explain what I mean because he speaks English. My teacher doesn’t speak any English. She also tells me big stories where I have to concentrate very hard. I do enjoy my lessons, but my brain isn’t as young as it used to be…

We talk about being called ahjussi or hyung and how I got a Korean tutor. We also comment on some comments!

He has so little faith in me… haha.

Actually I’ve had insomnia lately so he knew I was sleep deprived and likely to dissolve into tears at anytime. But the lesson was fine! It’s all in Korean so of course it’s hard for me to understand everything the teacher is saying, but it wasn’t a traumatic experience.

You know the feeling of being a student again and it’s terrifying??? Traumatic school flashbacks haha.

Since I’m married to a Korean man I’m allowed a free Korean tutor through government services. Unfortunately we had to wait a year or so before one was available for me. Being in the countryside it’s a tutor that comes to people’s houses, which is good for me because I don’t have time to travel to a class twice a week.

Yesterday was the first evaluation to see where my Korean level is. My Korean is very basic and although I can follow some conversations, my speaking level is very low. People mistakenly think that by simply being in Korea that it should be very easy to learn Korean, but it’s not at all. Everyone has different skills and experiences. For example, someone who has already learned another language will likely learn faster, whereas I have never learned another language before. Also whether your relationship developed in English or Korean or a bit of both will affect it. When I first met Hugh, I couldn’t even read Korean.

Another aspect is what language who have to work in, and of course our work is mostly in English. Teachers, full-time bloggers and others working in English environments in Korea have this problem, and it’s a very different experience to someone who is learning Korean in a Korean university for example. What type of work or study you are doing in Korea will really influence the opportunities you have for learning Korean. (Not to mention extra things like dialect!)

Due to time limitations and knowing that I’d be getting a tutor later anyway, my Korean study stalled a lot. But now I’ll be learning Korean in Korean, which the tutor said is the hardest but fastest way. It’s kinda terrifying but I’m really glad as well.