One of my goals this year is to learn how to read and write in Hangeul, the official Korean alphabet writing system, and also to speak and converse using the Korean language.
It has actually been my goal, to learn Hangeul and understand Korean, since I started watching Korean dramas because it would be more fun to watch a drama series without having to read the English subtitle anymore to know what they are saying and just focus on the scenes and watch the actors portraying their roles.
I also want to learn Hangeul because I want to read and understand what my Korean idols, just like the BlackPink members, are saying in their posts on their Instagram accounts since I'm following them on IG.
Having been addicted to watching K-dramas, it has also become one of my goals to visit South Korea, particularly in Seoul, because I want to live and fulfill my Korean dream. But it would be a hassle to travel and tour around the country if I know nothing about their native language. Perhaps, I would only end up being lost in the city because I don't know how to read the road signage, or I might end up having conflicts and misunderstandings with the locals there if I don't understand what they are saying to me.
Being able to read, write, and speak another language, aside from Filipino and English, would also bring me such a good feeling of fulfillment because it means that I have acquired additional knowledge that will be beneficial to me. If I get to learn to communicate using Korean, that will make me multilingual.
It was actually Kristel Fulgar, a Filipina celebrity, who somehow influenced me to learn the Korean language. I just loved watching her vlogs before where she is traveling to South Korea and being able to communicate with the locals as if she is a Korean amazed me. I thought one day, I'll get to learn Korean too. So I also watched her vlog before where she shared some tips to learn the language. Some of the tips she mentioned were by watching Korean dramas and translating what they are saying using Google Translate, and also by talking to some of her Korean friends.
And when the New Year 2022 started, I told myself that I'll be serious in achieving this goal already and not procrastinate so I even got a separate notebook dedicated to learning how to read and write in Hangeul and to speak using the Korean language.
And last January 7, 2022, I started searching for "Official Hangeul Alphabet" on Google, and this article of 90dayKorean titled "Korean Alphabet- Learn the Hangul Letters and Character Sounds" caught my attention.
I browsed through the article and it contained almost everything that I needed to start learning Hangeul. So I began reading the lesson and it took me more than an hour to read everything because as I was reading the article, I was also taking down notes and trying to write what I've read. I started writing down the consonants and vowels in my notebook and also wrote again on a small piece of paper to familiarize myself with the characters or letters of the alphabet.
I even posted it on noise.cash.
After reading the whole lesson, I'm already somehow familiar with all of the characters or letters in the Korean writing system. However, I'm still having a hard time with the vowels because they somehow almost look and sound alike. I just need some more time and practice before I can memorize everything.
When I posted it on noise.cash, one user (cguro) commented that I should try the Duolingo app because it's interactive and fun so I immediately downloaded it and applied for a Korean course.
I also downloaded the Naver SmartBoard Keyboard app so that I can try writing in Hangeul through my phone too.
I tried to write some of the Korean words I know and I'm amazed at myself because I know how to write them already.
Once I'm already polished with reading and writing in Hangeul, I'll be moving forward to learning the basic Korean words and phrases and try to write them into Hangeul so that I can master writing using the Korean writing system. After that, I'll try to learn about constructing Korean sentences too, which is obviously more complicated.
Learning the Korean words and speaking in Korean (constructing sentences) will surely take more time but I'm eager to learn so it's not gonna be an issue.
Cheers to learning Hangeul!
Determination is the key 🤗