Some months ago, when I told people I would soon be living and working in Korea for a year they often replied with something along the lines of, "A year! You'll be fluent in Korean by the end of it!" I'm here to tell you I don't believe this will be the case.
Here is a list of things I can say in Korean:
Hello
Goodbye
Yes
No
Fuck you (Not a literal translation of it, but the Korean equivalent of it. Basically just a highly offensive phrase.)
Here
Thank you
Excuse me
How much is it?
Shit
What?
Do you want to die?
Korea/Korean
America/American
Hey!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
Really?
Please
I think that's about it, other than random food related vocabulary (beer, tuna, etc) and names of dishes. Also, I can read and write the Korean characters, so even though I don't know what it means, I can walk down the street and read the signs if I want to.
So, it's not quite fluency, but I manage alright.
I was going to ask how you picked up "do you want to die" but being as you work with children you probably use that one the most.
ReplyDeletethey didn't tell you that you become fluent automatically in the last 3 months?
ReplyDelete