While I am obviously exposed to the Korean language while living in Busan, very little of the language is naturally absorbed simply by being here. In fact, most of my day is spent speaking English. I am an English teacher and my classes are taught in English. Teachers and students communicate with me in English as much as they can. My free time is mostly spent interacting with English language media or conversing with English-speaking friends. Even while living in Korea, it takes a focused effort to learn Korean here.
I will say that English seems to be less essential here in Busan than my life in rural Japan. Busan is a large city so it's fairly common to see English menus or signage. Most people I interact with have some basic level of English understanding, at least, and many people can communicate quite well. It's surprising how many people can speak English here.
I've done a fair amount of studying Korean since I've been here but, unfortunately, I haven't really learned that much. At least, I haven't as of yet been able to convert my learning into practical communication skills and I'm still unable to understand most of what is being said around me.
Since May, I've been enrolled in an online Korean language course for beginners offered through the University of Waterloo. During my first few months in Korea I dabbled in self-study online but wasn't making much progress and preferring the structure of a class, I decided to try the online course. Normally, the introductory Korean course is only offered on campus in Waterloo, but because of the corona-virus this year, all courses are offered online, which was great for me because I'm nowhere near the Waterloo campus at the moment.
The course is pretty interesting and the professor noted that this was the first time he had ever taught an online course. He felt, and I agree, that learning a language is best done in-person, but we make do with what we have during these unique times.
Thankfully the course utilizes an asynchronous format, so I didn't need to attend lectures at a specified time. I could just log in at my convenience each week to view the pre-recorded lectures and tutorial sessions. I've been pretty consistent with my studying habits by watching the lectures after work on Thursday evenings, watching the tutorial videos on Saturdays, and completing the weekly homework worksheets on Monday. Each lecture is 60 minutes, and the review tutorials are also 60 minutes. It usually takes me about 1 hour to do the homework and submit it through the online portal.
There have been a few interesting assignments in the course. For the two reading exercises, I was provided with a short passage that I recorded myself reading and sent off to the Teaching Assistant for grading. Also, there is a presentation at the end of the course, which I just completed. I needed to produce a short script about myself and record myself speaking it Korean. Take a look if you'd like to hear some choppy, bad Korean.
The problem with studying online is that tests are set at a specific time. Students need to log in at 1pm on a Wednesday and have one hour to complete the test. However, that is 1pm Eastern Standard time. For me in Korea, that means I have to write the test at 2am. I go to bed early and then wake up around 1:30am in time for the test. I spend about an hour or so writing the test, and then somehow go back to sleep and wake up once again for work the next morning.
I'm getting better at writing and sounding out the letters and syllables but my comprehension and speaking are still very poor. Even though my online course has finished, I'll continue studying and try to improve throughout the year. Becoming fluent in Korean by the time my contract ends is not realistic. It's a struggle but I think the more I learn, the easier life will become. If I learn a few of the basics, I'll be satisfied.
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