I wouldn't say it means "nothing", but if you want to be understood you are better off learning fewer words, grammar, and common expressions. I guess you could understand a lot of Korean if you knew 6000 words though.
Exactly. "Knowing" a word comprises more than just having memorized it once. The much trickier part is picking it up in a conversation and understanding it instinctively. And knowing 3000 words in that manner takes a loooong time.
Billy says he could speak Korean fluently after 1 year of living in Korea. But if I am not mistaken Billy's major is the Korean language. So he didn't need to live in Korea a single day to speak Korean. That's weird if you graduated from university and you are not a specialist in your profession, right?
@@terra5491 learning a language in school and actually being able to use it in everyday life in its native country like a native speaker are two very different things...
Well, if you watch tv and read books and stuff, or just even talk to locals, I feel like you would start to grasp the words better and better. So if you can’t produce the word easily do not worry about it too much. If it’s important and you immerse yourself a bit it’ll come naturally.
Learn 10 words a day 😂 You make it sound so easy. I have been learning for a year, and I have found that remembering these 10 new words each day is a challenge. Retention, retention, retention. If only I could easily retain.
This video makes me feel less frustrated and overwhelmed about learning Korean. Nice to know that it's not going to be 5 years or something before I'm fluent!
I'm a language teacher and speak 5 other languages, so I have to concur with the points you've made! It's a fascinating topic, really. As for me, I'd guess that I probably have between 250 and 400 words of Korean. Not enough to hold a conversation; I usually get stopped in my tracks in the middle of a thought because I don't have the word, or I don't know the grammar for what I want to say. But as for surviving in Korea, getting by, ordering in a restaurant, making an embarrassingly simple phone call... it works. 노력하겠습니다!
Thanks, i just bought your book online "Korean made simple" ,i can read and write hangul but i don't understand most of the words. Hope i get better now
adele Tchoffo is his book really helpful, because I have one book that is not his but I know how to read Hangul and write it but I can’t understand some words, and I’m thinking of getting a book to help, is it good and has it helped you??
@@golden_honey8988 hello, well so far I think I understand what "base consonants " are and why some hangeul letters get replaced or are silent in a word. The book has a lot of examples which makes it easy to understand. I'm still studying the book. Hope i will be able to watch dramas without subtitles in a few months lol
adele Tchoffo ok thank you I think I might buy it then, I’ve kinda wanted to just learn Korean so that I can visit there and watch kdramas without subs, the same goes with Kpop videos, Tehehe, but thank you 😊
I think I know around 4,500 - 5,000 words and my speaking is still really not good. And I really feel like vocabulary is a big part of the problem. Those common words make up the bulk of any conversation, but the meat of the conversation is in the outliers. Add to that the fact that lots of my vocab is passive (I know it when I see it but don't use it conversationally yet) and it means my reading skills are far better than my ability to have a conversation. I'm trying to work on it though.
Are you sure that you're probable lack of fluency isn't just due to a slight lack of confidence? Or perfectionism? I hope I don't offend you by asking this. I'm just trying to help. Part of speaking fluently in a foreign language is being confident in your ability. 4,500-5,000 words is impressive! Also, although you may feel silly doing this, practicing on family and friends helps even if they have to ask you, "What does that mean?" or "What did you just say?" This will have to do if you don't have Korean friends, who actually speak Korean, to practice with. I state this because, of course, not all Koreans are fluent in Korean - especially in America and the UK. Lastly, in my line of work, I'm around people from all ethnic backgrounds that are in America. Not all of them are fluent in English but they are employed in America, they drive, shop, make transactions, etc. You may never be perfectly fluent.
@@4mydearlady Yep, you hit the nail on the head! When I'm going to bed at night and I'm relaxed, I have long fluent conversations in my head. But put me in a front of a real person and I get instant stage fright. I have had some successful long conversations, but it is hit and miss.
@@4mydearlady for me, my problem is being able to understand others, but then I can't make complex sentences for myself (I can make simple ones, but the longer they are the harder of a time I have)
Same here. I'm at about 3,500 - 4,000 words, but my conversation and levels of comprehension feel way below that unless I slow everything waaaaaay down. :(
Hi Billy. I very recently (as in a few days ago) officially subscribed to your channel and started watching more of your videos. I've been passively studying Korean for over two years now. I'm actually going through the process of compiling all my notes, and PDF's I've collected to figure out how many words I know, and hand-writing Everything to work on my writing and spelling at the same time. My guess is that I can recognize and read around 700 words. I can probably understand in a conversation, 500 of those and speak confidently, roughly 350 words. I've only scratched the surface and I'm almost ready to beg to learn more and go deeper. Perhaps your videos can help me break through the 'beginner plateue' I seem to be stuck at.
Korean's really tricky because sentences contain so many particles, connecting words, etc., that sometimes you might know all of them & easily figure out the relationship between all parts of the sentence, and then get to the end to see a verb you don't recognize, and suddenly it's like you know nothing :D After going through your first book (and it took me a while because I didn't study very regularly, which is my bad) I felt like I understood a lot of grammar but did not retain much of the vocabulary. I started organizing the vocab into word lists to study separately, looked at TOPIK word lists and what not, and recently decided to get serious about studying and do it at least twice a week. I think now I know about 700 words but I got a native speaker as a tutor and she actually forces me to speak, which has been super helpful. I think that's it - most people, especially if they study on their own, don't get enough practice. I'm not one to talk but my tip for anyone who doesn't have access to a tutor would be to try to keep a diary or something and just write/talk to yourself in Korean for a 20-30 mins a day, even if you have to look up words in a dictionary. Force yourself to form sentences instead of just reading/listening, I think that way word retention would be better, or at least you'd learn to make the most of whatever vocab you already have, even if it's limited.
one of the lesson i learned through this is you need to become confident too in order to speak fluently even though you are not yet learned that much vocabulary. thank you for this again.
On the realm of 1650 words in 5 months, finish your first book. Now i notice speed of learning has dramatically increase plus pronunciation is way better cause my ears got used to the sounds and i can read at a higher level of proficiency also. Looking forward to keep on learning! But I agree, choosing the right words to learn, 3000 is a good number.
Im using your Korean Made Simple book along with your beginner course series, and i would say that according to my anki deck i know around 250 words. I have 297 in my deck, but I'm not confident on about 40 of them.
I know probably 100+ words (maybe a few hundred) from my Integrated Korean Beginning 1 book alone (that I just re-read), and a few other words scattered here and there from Korean music, videos and a bilingual Korean folktale book and Korean picture dictionary I'm studying. On May 28th, I'm starting my Beginning Korean 2 class after a 2-year gap due to the availability of the class, and the fact I took Russian as well. I remembered and reviewed everything in the textbook, and I understand all the grammar, and hopefully, the pronunciation rules. I just have trouble remembering how to pronounce the Korean dipthongs. So, I'm pretty excited, and more reassured I'll do well in the class.
I took the "Talk to Me in Korean" level test. It said I was at level 5 (of 9 levels). So I might be around the intermediate level. Not sure how many words Intermediate learners know. More important to me is whether I can understand a native speaker. (((Listening tips and strategies would be a great topic for a video. Hint.. hint))). Thanks for making all of these Excellent Teaching Videos 💕
감사합니다~ I lost count of how many words I know😂But last time I counted I had around 1,500+ words. I think the main thing too is to learn words that you say the most in English (or which ever language you speak), don't learn anything that doesn't serve you at all👌
This is a pretty interesting topic in language learning. I was confused as to how to learn vocabulary as a beginner. This made learning Korean and italian vocabulary so easy and less stressful.
according to Memrise, i know close to 2000 words after 9 months of studying and i can communicate quite well i think, i never counted them at the beginning, i do now just to know how much i have progressed and yes, i see your word cloud and those are the words i use most. Thanks for all Billy
I think Korean is also similar. After knowing basic words, we can understand various words through basic words. The various words have reason for the meaning of the words based on basic words.
it's a big range but i put myself somewhere between 2k and 3k words. i can understand anywhere from 80% to 100% of the dialogue in a given kdrama scene depending on what they're talking about. but a lot of these i can only recognize in context and can't recall so i estimate my active vocabulary at something even lower around 1k words. i can actually have conversations about some topics (especially cooking) very easily because i talk about them so much that it's much easier to recall the related vocabulary. vocabulary is my biggest issue in korean so i'm working on slowly increasing my vocabulary
how long did you study korean? 한국어 얼마나 공부했어요? (Is it right?)(I'm still studying tho) *I know that I have mistakes but can you guys please tell me what the correct sentence is?*
It's natural, and you looks like good at colloquial Korean! The way you omitted unnecessary components from your sentence is exactly how I do when I speak it verbally as a native😮😮 Btw the full sentence is (당신은) 한국어(를) 얼마나 (오래) 공부했어요?
I'm not sure how many words I know but i've learned 3,000 phrases so far. For me it's more effective to learn a word in a sentence than memorize random words. And when you learn a word, especially a verb, they conjugate it in many different ways so just knowing 3,000 words without knowing how to use it in a sentence will not make u fluent.
I know that I know more than I think I do and I've gotten my ear really well trained because I'm starting to see the word written in my mind when I hear one new one that stands out to me, at least ones on the shorter side. I also saw a livestream this morning that was like 95-98% English and 5 or so % Korean and it was not many words that I did not understand and one which I ended up learning and because of the emotional response I know the word will never be forgotten!
I've been listening to Korean music since 2004-2005 but never really put an effort to learn the language. 2016, I found BTS and finally felt motivated, however I've been busy with life so now in 2020 I'll try to learn. Found your channel really interesting and will definitely add it to list that I'll follow closely to learn Korean. Thanks.
a speaker using Basic English (developed by CK Ogden) - can speak fluently on most everyday topics with 850 words plus prefixes & suffixes - (it could be that words with prefixes or suffixes might be considered new items in a vocabulary - so the word count would actually be much higher) Ogden recommended augmenting the list - which brought the vocabulary up to around 2,000 words - closer to your 3,000 words whatever Basic English's merits as an international version of english - its identification of basic concepts needed for communication can be valuable when tackling a new language - find a core set of words that aren't synonyms (don't overlap) - that roughly coincide with Ogden's basic words - this might be the quickest way to fluency - i had a french-canadian coworker who learned Basic English - she was so fluent that i forgot - i wasn't careful talking with her - and used words that she needed to have defined
This was an interesting video. I hope that you do that challenge you mentioned at the end with speaking Korean with less words. I would really be interested in that. I try not to think so much in stats and numbers when I'm learning Korean so I don't know how many words I know. I do know that I've been using TTMIK 500 Vocab book as part of my studies....=D
have you taught about the money counting system here in Korea with how they separate their numbers by 4 and our English system separates by 3s? for example, 1000=천원, one thousand won (3 zeros=천) 10,000=만원, ten thousand won ( 4 zeros= 만) 100,000=십만원 one hundred thousand (10만...10 and 4 zeros) etc. I was taught this way recently and it really helped me understand the number system for prices of 물건 and stuff. Maybe it will be helpful for someone else? ^^
I did a couple videos about Korean numbers, in a live stream and in two "Learn Korean" episodes. But I don't think I've done a separate video yet just on how to separate numbers or paying for things.
I know about 1000 words. I am training now with the app Dialogo Korean to learn to actually use them in active convetsation cuz maaaaan learning to speak is a whole different matter. Uffff tried Duolingo and LingoDeer . Good for vocab and grammar but doesn't help much with using it. At least didn't help me.
I agree .I also trained with dialogo. Made huge progress. But best to start when you have some vocabulary. Not for complete beginners. Duolingo is best for that.
Take at least two semesters of intensive Korean like enough to get you through to an intermediate level and learn the vocabulary like you’re doing or as this guy suggests. I grew up exposed with English and Korean, but I realized despite being at an “intermediate” level, the reason I struggle to get from speaking simple conversations with strangers or making phone calls or orders I’m able to do now to discussing news or more complex topics with friends and family is my lack of vocabulary or lack of effort in that area. You can learn the grammar and make connections once you have the foundation from those initial classes
That’s why it’s more important to pick up sentence’s sens and ont try to learn all the words, believe me, I’m Suisse and I learn 3 ôter language st school, as french speaker I had german & italian & english, however poeple in Switzerland don’t speak really german but many different swiss german depending on area where they live. If you just pick up few words in a sentence you’ll be able to guess the whole meaning by their tone of voice or situation. Be confident to ask if you have well understand by repeating with your own words, they will tell you quickly 😉💪🏼
I just took an online vocabulary quiz and got 82 correct out of 100, and probably 15-20 of my correct answers were educated guesses. I bet I know about 1000 total.
I’d love to see your list of words you , as well as the girl you mentioned, most commonly used when you analyzed your, and her, conversation. I’m staying with a Korean family right now and many of the words they use I’ve never heard, even after two years of online lessons. 😅
축하드립니다 선생님! 한국어를 마스터 하셨으니 덩달아서 세계에서 가장 어려운 산스크리트어도 습득하셨습니다. 그 이유는 한국 지역 곳곳의 사투리가 산스크리트어에서 변형이 거의 안된 언어입니다. 산스크리트 = 크샤트리아 = 사투리 , 크샤트리아는 왕족이 사용하던 언어였습니다. 강상원 박사의 강의를 더 참고하시구요. 수메르어도 쉬울 겁니다. 수메르어는 은, 는 , 이 , 가 등 조사가 똑같습니다. 어순도 똑같구요. 그리고 아메리카 원주민 언어도 일부 습득하셨습니다. 맨허튼 = 많은 땅, 토론토 = 토론하는 터, 시애틀 = 수염털, 나이아가라 = 네 갈래 , 오시오(체로키부족 방송국 이름) = 오세요 = welcome , 호피족 = 호랑이 가죽 부족, katawaba = 갔다와봐, 미시건(프랑스발음) = 미치가마나 = 물고기가 많아( 미 = 물(예 미나리) , 치 = 물고기(예 꽁치, 쥐치, 갈치) , 가= ()()가(조사), 많아 = 많다)
Right now I know about 2,120 words in Korean (I use Anki) and I understand just very basic things in websites, but I can communicate more effectively. I wonder if 1,000 more words will make a huge difference... My goal is to learn 6,000 by January 2022.
I want to learn as much vocab as I can, but I'll start with the ones that seem the most useful for me (first of course everything that is provided on the website I'm using, then art supplies, kitchen supplies, foods, ...)
people want to learn many words and know everything but fluency doesn't mean that you know every word it means that you can speak without effort and understand effortlessly i am Italian and if i tell you HOW MANY words we have and Italian are still amazed that i know some words that i think everyone should know.
I know about 9k words in English. Most I know passively, thus my writing/speaking is more restricted than my comprehension. Still have problems with some vocab, but can read almost anything freely. I’m not sure though if I could make a good translation: sometimes you really just pick the definition from the context
I think that many words that you learn come from grammatical structures as seen in 4:35, I think that it is not only about how many words you know, but also how many words you know that is used in the context that you are. English is my second language, I can understand a lot of conversations, but I stil don´t know a lot of words, like scientific words or business words or even colors. I am learning Korean and i have come across a lot of "school" words (like 급식) that I think I don´t need right now (because I am not at a school or something). Am I wrong?
I learned roughly 350 words so far, but how much I actually retained in my brain is sth else... I'm learning by myself through an online course and my biggest struggle has been to practice what I learn... Well I guess the easiest way would be moving to South Korea 🤣
Which online course are you learning through? I'm currently using Talk to me in Korean which is good but I wanted another course to supplement it, but haven't found any good ones.
@@KisaTheGamerCat Hi Kisa! Well, I believe the course I'm taking won't be of any help to you since it's meant for Brazilian learners of Korean, so all the classes are in Portuguese 🙁 I'm also using TTMIK! Anyways, I need people to talk to, to practice and make mistakes to learn properly you know?
@@amaral.e Haha fair enough! Your English is great by the way! I live in a part of the US where Spanish is spoken as a majority (other than English) so I am also having a hard time finding people to practice with. I think my family is getting tired of me saying random things to them in Korean. On the plus side they know the Korean word for water by heart now XD
I have a notebook where I write down words and phrases I know, including different conjugations. I number them all to see my progress. I just reached 500, but I still need to get into Quizlet and memorize some of them.
If you can learn 6000 words without learning grammar in the process I think that’s an achievement in itself. Most books have sentences... heck I learned yodas grammar just by listening... I knew the words he used.
I can learn 10 words on the first day, but on the second day, when I learn 10 more, I’ve already forgotten two from the day before and two others sound almost exactly the same (like 가지, 같이, 까지, 가치), so I can’t tell them apart! Oh well…
Maybe about 900 words and only recently trying to learn hangul. Of course had hangul earlier but really making an effort to be much better at it recently. Would say that I'm at kdrama level which maybe means not even at 1st grade level of speaking. At first doubted I could learn another language so main thought was to really retain words I learned after all it would not be a benefit to go over 3000 words but not retain much of them so I am probably going much slower although my enthusiasm is good. Its fun to spell korean words that I know in hangul now. Maybe I fill in gaps in korean going forward. For me not mind if not ever fluent but as long as can communicate ok then would be perfect. Would maybe like to learn japanese next maybe after I get ok at korean conversation
Idk. I'm no expert in Korean, but some languages lend themselves to repetition. In Hebrew I find that I can easily make myself understood with a very limited selection of verbs (maybe 100). Its just that there are fewer options (e.g. only two ways to say "to run"). Meanwhile English and French have a dearth of synonyms that can interchange and cause confusion. I think Korean is similar in that respect
Aline 21o same i hope too. I was fluent in english after 6 years (elementary 6th grade) of immersion to english language (no studying) my brain just flipped and now I can speak fluent english. english is not my native. it just worked like magic. I dont think I know a lot of english vocabs but I can speak and understand every conversation, movies, vlogs, news. I think for korean, it’ll probably take years for me to be fluent like english. If I can go to Korea, it will take lesser years. LOL I really hope it would take that long for korean.....
right now I'm at 1000 and I know how to use all of them in sentences (conjugations, particles etc.) so I'm kinda proud of myself :) I still have long road ahead of me tho
Maybe, Korean names would be more special soon later. It's because the birthrate of South Korea is now reached down below 1.0 that children are not that many compared to the past. When I was in my elementary school from 2000 to early 2006, there were 7-8 classrooms in a grade and each had 35-40 students. However, now, the same school has only 2-3 classrooms in a grade and only 20-22 students per a classroom. It means children became much more precious. I believe this tendency naturally would lead people to name their children more special but not too strange at the same time.
If you store in the Anki app each new word you learn (with your professor, in textbooks, etc.), you'll be able to easily count how many words you know. 10 words a day is unrealistic if you're working full time and have a normal social life (rather plan on about 30 a week).
Definitely adjust it to what you're able to do. When I had 8+ hours a day to study Korean, I could realistically do 100 or so words per day (and then retain maybe half of those). But if I were working full time then I'd probably do 10 throughout the day while at work, depending on my job of course. Fewer if I didn't have any time. But the fewer, the slower things move and the longer it takes to improve.
For learning english vocabulary (the most common words) theres an app called wordup (it telly you about how many words you know, its really helpful if English isn't your mothertongue) is there such an app for Korean, too? In Korean I probably only know 1000 or less words, I'm not quite sure as I dont only learn from one Source. Your book is one of my sources and its really helpful!
I tried to learn and memorize common vocabulary words but the problem is I forgot it after few days and no one to practice with those words neither to have some conversation who is interested also with k-culture.
I went and found that 6000 vocabulary list, but there are two columns that I don't know what they are, they translate to "parts of speech" and "classification" 🤷♀ I don't know if it's that important, but I am curious to what it is and how it can help us use the word the right way. If you find it useful, maybe you could do a follow up video about it? 🙂
I think it's a vague "rule" because anyone would define "proficiency" differently. But if you spent 10k hours studying Korean you certainly would learn a lot.
I don't know how to add vocabulary. I am Brazilian and when I was learning English and Spanish I used to get new words with music. But because of particles and the Korean grammar this is not that easy 😢
Personally, I think the particles make it easier. If you get to know the particles, they will help you identify where in the phrase they are saying the subject/topic/place/ etc, so, it will help you identify the word you're looking for easily, even in a sentence where you barely know any word!
Doesn't take as many words as you think. Dr. Seuss's book "Green Eggs and Ham" was written using only 50 unique words. He wrote it to win a bet with his publisher who claimed he couldn't write a book using only 50 words.
I love ur videos but I was wondering if u can make a video on how to speak korean fluently without thinking too much and also 어순 하고 어미 it still puzzles me especially when 글말 and 입말 is used
Maybe 1300 right now (Including the 1000 most used words in that list you mentioned). I can feel I’m still lacking far too many words when I’m listening to drama dialogs.
But what about understanding Korean when you hear it? That's all I'm interested in. My research is telling me that many more words are required for listening.
So what were all the common words used by you and the streamer? Or at least the ones that you both used. Really curious if I've learned them yet or not.
I wanna learn korean so I could read korean novels and webtoons. Honestly I dont really care that much about making a proper sentence or speak properly. I might focuse on listening and reading (I did this too in english thats why my english suck -grammar+writing+speaking. But I can understand most english conversation and reading comprehension).
I can speak and read and write but live in NYC around many Koreans and struggle to even spit out a word still. I need to focus now on Vocabulary.. i have a korean girlfriend, a Korean Acupuncturist, korean markets and neighbors. Lol i should be better
While vocabulary is important, knowing 6000 words doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to make a sentence.
That's right!
That is what Billy said...
I wouldn't say it means "nothing", but if you want to be understood you are better off learning fewer words, grammar, and common expressions. I guess you could understand a lot of Korean if you knew 6000 words though.
I think you’ll know how to make sentence by the time you’ve learned 6,000 words....
@@ChuckFreeburg I agree.
right now, 2000 words maximum. But knowing them and being able to use them off-hand when in a conversation is two different matters. 🤣🤣
Exactly. "Knowing" a word comprises more than just having memorized it once. The much trickier part is picking it up in a conversation and understanding it instinctively. And knowing 3000 words in that manner takes a loooong time.
Billy says he could speak Korean fluently after 1 year of living in Korea. But if I am not mistaken Billy's major is the Korean language. So he didn't need to live in Korea a single day to speak Korean. That's weird if you graduated from university and you are not a specialist in your profession, right?
@@terra5491 learning a language in school and actually being able to use it in everyday life in its native country like a native speaker are two very different things...
Once you have a grasp of the grammar and a smattering of vocabulary you can just deploy "oh what does X mean" and learn on the fly as needed
Well, if you watch tv and read books and stuff, or just even talk to locals, I feel like you would start to grasp the words better and better. So if you can’t produce the word easily do not worry about it too much. If it’s important and you immerse yourself a bit it’ll come naturally.
I agree memorizing 3000 vocabulary is needed to have a conversation! But practicing those in the context is more important!
Learn 10 words a day 😂 You make it sound so easy. I have been learning for a year, and I have found that remembering these 10 new words each day is a challenge. Retention, retention, retention. If only I could easily retain.
Darla bayliss try the Anki app, free on android and PC. Download deck.
Big relate
try quizlet if you dont have an android
I'm learning 20 words a day using Anki. Right now I know a little more than 2,100 words.
Read the book fluent forever for tips on how to ingrain a new languange into your brain... FOREVER :D
This video makes me feel less frustrated and overwhelmed about learning Korean. Nice to know that it's not going to be 5 years or something before I'm fluent!
My goal before the end this year is to learn 3000 korean vocabs. So far I only know about 300 of them. Lol! Kind of ambitious goal. 감사합니다 Billy.
I think I know 30 words 😂
I think I know maximum of 5 words 😂😂😂
I think I know zero still learning the alphabet... very excited to get started
Same 😂
I don't know how many I learned....I can read Korean (not very well tho) so I kinda learn words from like Kpop😅
@@eugene1317 Same for me, where are you now ?
I'm a language teacher and speak 5 other languages, so I have to concur with the points you've made! It's a fascinating topic, really. As for me, I'd guess that I probably have between 250 and 400 words of Korean. Not enough to hold a conversation; I usually get stopped in my tracks in the middle of a thought because I don't have the word, or I don't know the grammar for what I want to say. But as for surviving in Korea, getting by, ordering in a restaurant, making an embarrassingly simple phone call... it works. 노력하겠습니다!
I like your learn hangul in 90 minutes vid
it helped me a lot so thanks
It also helps me tho.... Just sharing hehehehehe
It helped me so much too!I learned hangul within 2 hours
@@kpoptrash2674 jinjja?? I also learned it easily but unfortunately sometimes I wrongly spelled some words.
@@squishysquish1481 same..😔 Korean can be confusing something
@@asianworldil292 trueee😢😢
Thanks, i just bought your book online "Korean made simple" ,i can read and write hangul but i don't understand most of the words. Hope i get better now
adele Tchoffo is his book really helpful, because I have one book that is not his but I know how to read Hangul and write it but I can’t understand some words, and I’m thinking of getting a book to help, is it good and has it helped you??
@@golden_honey8988 hello, well so far I think I understand what "base consonants " are and why some hangeul letters get replaced or are silent in a word.
The book has a lot of examples which makes it easy to understand. I'm still studying the book. Hope i will be able to watch dramas without subtitles in a few months lol
adele Tchoffo ok thank you I think I might buy it then, I’ve kinda wanted to just learn Korean so that I can visit there and watch kdramas without subs, the same goes with Kpop videos, Tehehe, but thank you 😊
@@golden_honey8988 your welcome 미니
@@adeletchoffo642 받침을 쉽니다!
I think I know around 4,500 - 5,000 words and my speaking is still really not good. And I really feel like vocabulary is a big part of the problem. Those common words make up the bulk of any conversation, but the meat of the conversation is in the outliers. Add to that the fact that lots of my vocab is passive (I know it when I see it but don't use it conversationally yet) and it means my reading skills are far better than my ability to have a conversation. I'm trying to work on it though.
Are you sure that you're probable lack of fluency isn't just due to a slight lack of confidence? Or perfectionism? I hope I don't offend you by asking this. I'm just trying to help. Part of speaking fluently in a foreign language is being confident in your ability. 4,500-5,000 words is impressive! Also, although you may feel silly doing this, practicing on family and friends helps even if they have to ask you, "What does that mean?" or "What did you just say?" This will have to do if you don't have Korean friends, who actually speak Korean, to practice with. I state this because, of course, not all Koreans are fluent in Korean - especially in America and the UK.
Lastly, in my line of work, I'm around people from all ethnic backgrounds that are in America. Not all of them are fluent in English but they are employed in America, they drive, shop, make transactions, etc. You may never be perfectly fluent.
@@4mydearlady Yep, you hit the nail on the head! When I'm going to bed at night and I'm relaxed, I have long fluent conversations in my head. But put me in a front of a real person and I get instant stage fright. I have had some successful long conversations, but it is hit and miss.
This is a whole mood
@@4mydearlady for me, my problem is being able to understand others, but then I can't make complex sentences for myself (I can make simple ones, but the longer they are the harder of a time I have)
Same here. I'm at about 3,500 - 4,000 words, but my conversation and levels of comprehension feel way below that unless I slow everything waaaaaay down. :(
I am simple man. I see gobilly video. I learn
Hi Billy. I very recently (as in a few days ago) officially subscribed to your channel and started watching more of your videos. I've been passively studying Korean for over two years now. I'm actually going through the process of compiling all my notes, and PDF's I've collected to figure out how many words I know, and hand-writing Everything to work on my writing and spelling at the same time. My guess is that I can recognize and read around 700 words. I can probably understand in a conversation, 500 of those and speak confidently, roughly 350 words. I've only scratched the surface and I'm almost ready to beg to learn more and go deeper. Perhaps your videos can help me break through the 'beginner plateue' I seem to be stuck at.
Korean's really tricky because sentences contain so many particles, connecting words, etc., that sometimes you might know all of them & easily figure out the relationship between all parts of the sentence, and then get to the end to see a verb you don't recognize, and suddenly it's like you know nothing :D After going through your first book (and it took me a while because I didn't study very regularly, which is my bad) I felt like I understood a lot of grammar but did not retain much of the vocabulary. I started organizing the vocab into word lists to study separately, looked at TOPIK word lists and what not, and recently decided to get serious about studying and do it at least twice a week. I think now I know about 700 words but I got a native speaker as a tutor and she actually forces me to speak, which has been super helpful. I think that's it - most people, especially if they study on their own, don't get enough practice. I'm not one to talk but my tip for anyone who doesn't have access to a tutor would be to try to keep a diary or something and just write/talk to yourself in Korean for a 20-30 mins a day, even if you have to look up words in a dictionary. Force yourself to form sentences instead of just reading/listening, I think that way word retention would be better, or at least you'd learn to make the most of whatever vocab you already have, even if it's limited.
one of the lesson i learned through this is you need to become confident too in order to speak fluently even though you are not yet learned that much vocabulary. thank you for this again.
So when I was alerted to this video duolingo at the same time told me I know 1,708 Korean words!! So, half way there!!
Master Black that's more than halfway 😂
Oh lord duolingo....
yOu HaVeNt lEaRnEd YOuR KoReaN tOdaY
It won’t let me quit. It scares me
On the realm of 1650 words in 5 months, finish your first book. Now i notice speed of learning has dramatically increase plus pronunciation is way better cause my ears got used to the sounds and i can read at a higher level of proficiency also. Looking forward to keep on learning! But I agree, choosing the right words to learn, 3000 is a good number.
Im using your Korean Made Simple book along with your beginner course series, and i would say that according to my anki deck i know around 250 words. I have 297 in my deck, but I'm not confident on about 40 of them.
I know probably 100+ words (maybe a few hundred) from my Integrated Korean Beginning 1 book alone (that I just re-read), and a few other words scattered here and there from Korean music, videos and a bilingual Korean folktale book and Korean picture dictionary I'm studying. On May 28th, I'm starting my Beginning Korean 2 class after a 2-year gap due to the availability of the class, and the fact I took Russian as well. I remembered and reviewed everything in the textbook, and I understand all the grammar, and hopefully, the pronunciation rules. I just have trouble remembering how to pronounce the Korean dipthongs. So, I'm pretty excited, and more reassured I'll do well in the class.
I really appreciate all the research you're doing for each video
You helped me a lot in Korean thanks a lot
I took the "Talk to Me in Korean" level test. It said I was at level 5 (of 9 levels). So I might be around the intermediate level. Not sure how many words Intermediate learners know.
More important to me is whether I can understand a native speaker.
(((Listening tips and strategies would be a great topic for a video. Hint.. hint))).
Thanks for making all of these Excellent Teaching Videos 💕
I'm the same as u👍👌😅
감사합니다~ I lost count of how many words I know😂But last time I counted I had around 1,500+ words. I think the main thing too is to learn words that you say the most in English (or which ever language you speak), don't learn anything that doesn't serve you at all👌
This is a pretty interesting topic in language learning. I was confused as to how to learn vocabulary as a beginner. This made learning Korean and italian vocabulary so easy and less stressful.
according to Memrise, i know close to 2000 words after 9 months of studying and i can communicate quite well i think, i never counted them at the beginning, i do now just to know how much i have progressed and yes, i see your word cloud and those are the words i use most. Thanks for all Billy
Very high quality video! I really appreciated your professional attitude and the effort you put into such huge research!!
I think Korean is also similar.
After knowing basic words, we can understand various words through basic words.
The various words have reason for the meaning of the words based on basic words.
Your videos are very helpful! 감사합니다 😊
That Hangeul means. Kamsahamnida right?
Yes :)
@@tovasi okk. Hehehehe. I just saw your comment and try to read and guess it. Hahahhaah
it's a big range but i put myself somewhere between 2k and 3k words. i can understand anywhere from 80% to 100% of the dialogue in a given kdrama scene depending on what they're talking about. but a lot of these i can only recognize in context and can't recall so i estimate my active vocabulary at something even lower around 1k words. i can actually have conversations about some topics (especially cooking) very easily because i talk about them so much that it's much easier to recall the related vocabulary. vocabulary is my biggest issue in korean so i'm working on slowly increasing my vocabulary
You are forgetting about forgetting words. Learn ten words a day and after few days the ten from the first day are gone ...
Relatable
Right
SRS like Anki(I used that for 2 years for learning everything), Quitlez... will solve that problem for you
I love your videos, but as a former math teacher, the way you wrote out you 10 X 365 example bothered me.
As a former student who usually got Cs in math class, I can't see any problem with it :P
@@GoBillyKorean, glad it's me trying to learn from you and not you *trying* to learn from you.
Botherd me too.. I was like 'do some efforts" write it separately
I love these videos because I'm trying so hard to learn korean and this has helped a lot. :)
how long did you study korean?
한국어 얼마나 공부했어요?
(Is it right?)(I'm still studying tho)
*I know that I have mistakes but can you guys please tell me what the correct sentence is?*
Yep, that's correct!
It's natural, and you looks like good at colloquial Korean! The way you omitted unnecessary components from your sentence is exactly how I do when I speak it verbally as a native😮😮
Btw the full sentence is (당신은) 한국어(를) 얼마나 (오래) 공부했어요?
@@user-mq5uj8qs6j Thank you for the correct sentence, I'm still learning the 을, 는, 를, etc.
"i've been studying korean over 13 years" wow... 🥺
Great job Billy. Really appreciate the research and the information you brought us!
I'm not sure how many words I know but i've learned 3,000 phrases so far. For me it's more effective to learn a word in a sentence than memorize random words. And when you learn a word, especially a verb, they conjugate it in many different ways so just knowing 3,000 words without knowing how to use it in a sentence will not make u fluent.
I know that I know more than I think I do and I've gotten my ear really well trained because I'm starting to see the word written in my mind when I hear one new one that stands out to me, at least ones on the shorter side. I also saw a livestream this morning that was like 95-98% English and 5 or so % Korean and it was not many words that I did not understand and one which I ended up learning and because of the emotional response I know the word will never be forgotten!
I've been listening to Korean music since 2004-2005 but never really put an effort to learn the language. 2016, I found BTS and finally felt motivated, however I've been busy with life so now in 2020 I'll try to learn. Found your channel really interesting and will definitely add it to list that I'll follow closely to learn Korean. Thanks.
Very useful video as usual. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I love your videos. I'm trying to learn as much as I can now as I want to go to Korea this summer.
Without your hat I just don't feel like we're getting the full Billy experience.
a speaker using Basic English (developed by CK Ogden) - can speak fluently on most everyday topics with 850 words plus prefixes & suffixes - (it could be that words with prefixes or suffixes might be considered new items in a vocabulary - so the word count would actually be much higher)
Ogden recommended augmenting the list - which brought the vocabulary up to around 2,000 words - closer to your 3,000 words
whatever Basic English's merits as an international version of english - its identification of basic concepts needed for communication can be valuable when tackling a new language - find a core set of words that aren't synonyms (don't overlap) - that roughly coincide with Ogden's basic words - this might be the quickest way to fluency - i had a french-canadian coworker who learned Basic English - she was so fluent that i forgot - i wasn't careful talking with her - and used words that she needed to have defined
This was an interesting video. I hope that you do that challenge you mentioned at the end with speaking Korean with less words. I would really be interested in that.
I try not to think so much in stats and numbers when I'm learning Korean so I don't know how many words I know. I do know that I've been using TTMIK 500 Vocab book as part of my studies....=D
have you taught about the money counting system here in Korea with how they separate their numbers by 4 and our English system separates by 3s? for example, 1000=천원, one thousand won (3 zeros=천) 10,000=만원, ten thousand won ( 4 zeros= 만) 100,000=십만원 one hundred thousand (10만...10 and 4 zeros) etc. I was taught this way recently and it really helped me understand the number system for prices of 물건 and stuff. Maybe it will be helpful for someone else? ^^
I did a couple videos about Korean numbers, in a live stream and in two "Learn Korean" episodes. But I don't think I've done a separate video yet just on how to separate numbers or paying for things.
This video was awesome and transfers to all* languages.
I know about 1000 words. I am training now with the app Dialogo Korean to learn to actually use them in active convetsation cuz maaaaan learning to speak is a whole different matter. Uffff tried Duolingo and LingoDeer . Good for vocab and grammar but doesn't help much with using it. At least didn't help me.
I agree .I also trained with dialogo. Made huge progress. But best to start when you have some vocabulary. Not for complete beginners. Duolingo is best for that.
I know 1090 right now but when I hear Koreans speak, I mostly just pick out the words they're saying, but can't make connections between them :(
Take at least two semesters of intensive Korean like enough to get you through to an intermediate level and learn the vocabulary like you’re doing or as this guy suggests. I grew up exposed with English and Korean, but I realized despite being at an “intermediate” level, the reason I struggle to get from speaking simple conversations with strangers or making phone calls or orders I’m able to do now to discussing news or more complex topics with friends and family is my lack of vocabulary or lack of effort in that area. You can learn the grammar and make connections once you have the foundation from those initial classes
That’s why it’s more important to pick up sentence’s sens and ont try to learn all the words, believe me, I’m Suisse and I learn 3 ôter language st school, as french speaker I had german & italian & english, however poeple in Switzerland don’t speak really german but many different swiss german depending on area where they live. If you just pick up few words in a sentence you’ll be able to guess the whole meaning by their tone of voice or situation. Be confident to ask if you have well understand by repeating with your own words, they will tell you quickly 😉💪🏼
I just took an online vocabulary quiz and got 82 correct out of 100, and probably 15-20 of my correct answers were educated guesses. I bet I know about 1000 total.
I’d love to see your list of words you , as well as the girl you mentioned, most commonly used when you analyzed your, and her, conversation. I’m staying with a Korean family right now and many of the words they use I’ve never heard, even after two years of online lessons. 😅
축하드립니다 선생님! 한국어를 마스터 하셨으니 덩달아서 세계에서 가장 어려운 산스크리트어도 습득하셨습니다. 그 이유는 한국 지역 곳곳의 사투리가 산스크리트어에서 변형이 거의 안된 언어입니다. 산스크리트 = 크샤트리아 = 사투리 , 크샤트리아는 왕족이 사용하던 언어였습니다. 강상원 박사의 강의를 더 참고하시구요. 수메르어도 쉬울 겁니다. 수메르어는 은, 는 , 이 , 가 등 조사가 똑같습니다. 어순도 똑같구요. 그리고 아메리카 원주민 언어도 일부 습득하셨습니다. 맨허튼 = 많은 땅, 토론토 = 토론하는 터, 시애틀 = 수염털, 나이아가라 = 네 갈래 , 오시오(체로키부족 방송국 이름) = 오세요 = welcome , 호피족 = 호랑이 가죽 부족, katawaba = 갔다와봐, 미시건(프랑스발음) = 미치가마나 = 물고기가 많아( 미 = 물(예 미나리) , 치 = 물고기(예 꽁치, 쥐치, 갈치) , 가= ()()가(조사), 많아 = 많다)
1 and that is anneyong.. I am just starting
Maybe 50 or 60 right now but I'm working on it.
I know so many words I use words I don’t know I knew in English. I want to be like that in Korean and I’m getting in Spanish
Right now I know about 2,120 words in Korean (I use Anki) and I understand just very basic things in websites, but I can communicate more effectively. I wonder if 1,000 more words will make a huge difference... My goal is to learn 6,000 by January 2022.
how’s it going?
This gives me hope! :)
I want to learn as much vocab as I can, but I'll start with the ones that seem the most useful for me (first of course everything that is provided on the website I'm using, then art supplies, kitchen supplies, foods, ...)
people want to learn many words and know everything but fluency doesn't mean that you know every word it means that you can speak without effort and understand effortlessly
i am Italian and if i tell you HOW MANY words we have and Italian are still amazed that i know some words that i think everyone should know.
Woooo! I'm learning Italian right now!!! Buonasera!!! :D Ah- just looked at the time for Italy! Buongiorno!!! :DDD
@@thatonellamawhoissoobsesse8138 buongiorno 😂
I know about 9k words in English. Most I know passively, thus my writing/speaking is more restricted than my comprehension. Still have problems with some vocab, but can read almost anything freely. I’m not sure though if I could make a good translation: sometimes you really just pick the definition from the context
Don't forget 김치. Kimchi is a well known Korean performance-enhancer.
I think that many words that you learn come from grammatical structures as seen in 4:35, I think that it is not only about how many words you know, but also how many words you know that is used in the context that you are. English is my second language, I can understand a lot of conversations, but I stil don´t know a lot of words, like scientific words or business words or even colors. I am learning Korean and i have come across a lot of "school" words (like 급식) that I think I don´t need right now (because I am not at a school or something). Am I wrong?
Wow me actually noticing that i learn 20 words a day cause almost the whole day i just practice those super hard😅
I learned roughly 350 words so far, but how much I actually retained in my brain is sth else... I'm learning by myself through an online course and my biggest struggle has been to practice what I learn... Well I guess the easiest way would be moving to South Korea 🤣
Which online course are you learning through? I'm currently using Talk to me in Korean which is good but I wanted another course to supplement it, but haven't found any good ones.
@@KisaTheGamerCat Hi Kisa! Well, I believe the course I'm taking won't be of any help to you since it's meant for Brazilian learners of Korean, so all the classes are in Portuguese 🙁 I'm also using TTMIK! Anyways, I need people to talk to, to practice and make mistakes to learn properly you know?
@@amaral.e Haha fair enough! Your English is great by the way!
I live in a part of the US where Spanish is spoken as a majority (other than English) so I am also having a hard time finding people to practice with. I think my family is getting tired of me saying random things to them in Korean. On the plus side they know the Korean word for water by heart now XD
Currently I have 800 koren words in my vocabulary ( 2 months)
I know about ~550 - 600 words. I learned the majority of them from your books and some more from other sources.
I have a notebook where I write down words and phrases I know, including different conjugations. I number them all to see my progress. I just reached 500, but I still need to get into Quizlet and memorize some of them.
Wow...amazing 😊.👌
i literally know 10 :(
If you can learn 6000 words without learning grammar in the process I think that’s an achievement in itself. Most books have sentences... heck I learned yodas grammar just by listening... I knew the words he used.
I can learn 10 words on the first day, but on the second day, when I learn 10 more, I’ve already forgotten two from the day before and two others sound almost exactly the same (like 가지, 같이, 까지, 가치), so I can’t tell them apart! Oh well…
learn like 3-5 words a day and write them down... if you learn 10 words you'll forget everything fast.
Maybe about 900 words and only recently trying to learn hangul. Of course had hangul earlier but really making an effort to be much better at it recently. Would say that I'm at kdrama level which maybe means not even at 1st grade level of speaking. At first doubted I could learn another language so main thought was to really retain words I learned after all it would not be a benefit to go over 3000 words but not retain much of them so I am probably going much slower although my enthusiasm is good. Its fun to spell korean words that I know in hangul now. Maybe I fill in gaps in korean going forward. For me not mind if not ever fluent but as long as can communicate ok then would be perfect. Would maybe like to learn japanese next maybe after I get ok at korean conversation
Idk. I'm no expert in Korean, but some languages lend themselves to repetition. In Hebrew I find that I can easily make myself understood with a very limited selection of verbs (maybe 100). Its just that there are fewer options (e.g. only two ways to say "to run"). Meanwhile English and French have a dearth of synonyms that can interchange and cause confusion. I think Korean is similar in that respect
It took me 10_12 year to become fluent in English I hope korean won't take that long 😢😢😢😢😢
Aline 21o same i hope too. I was fluent in english after 6 years (elementary 6th grade) of immersion to english language (no studying) my brain just flipped and now I can speak fluent english. english is not my native. it just worked like magic. I dont think I know a lot of english vocabs but I can speak and understand every conversation, movies, vlogs, news. I think for korean, it’ll probably take years for me to be fluent like english. If I can go to Korea, it will take lesser years. LOL I really hope it would take that long for korean.....
being a Korean, I want to know how many vocabs I know but there is no way to count all of them lol
Does anyone know where to find the official vocabulary list from National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) as mentioned at 1:46 ?
I might have found it, its called 한국어 학습용 어휘 목록(엑셀 파일) : www.korean.go.kr/front/etcData/etcDataView.do?mn_id=46&etc_seq=71
right now I'm at 1000 and I know how to use all of them in sentences (conjugations, particles etc.) so I'm kinda proud of myself :) I still have long road ahead of me tho
I have a loooooooonnnngggg way to go..... English...easy..
Maybe, Korean names would be more special soon later. It's because the birthrate of South Korea is now reached down below 1.0 that children are not that many compared to the past. When I was in my elementary school from 2000 to early 2006, there were 7-8 classrooms in a grade and each had 35-40 students. However, now, the same school has only 2-3 classrooms in a grade and only 20-22 students per a classroom. It means children became much more precious. I believe this tendency naturally would lead people to name their children more special but not too strange at the same time.
If you store in the Anki app each new word you learn (with your professor, in textbooks, etc.), you'll be able to easily count how many words you know. 10 words a day is unrealistic if you're working full time and have a normal social life (rather plan on about 30 a week).
Definitely adjust it to what you're able to do. When I had 8+ hours a day to study Korean, I could realistically do 100 or so words per day (and then retain maybe half of those). But if I were working full time then I'd probably do 10 throughout the day while at work, depending on my job of course. Fewer if I didn't have any time. But the fewer, the slower things move and the longer it takes to improve.
For learning english vocabulary (the most common words) theres an app called wordup (it telly you about how many words you know, its really helpful if English isn't your mothertongue) is there such an app for Korean, too?
In Korean I probably only know 1000 or less words, I'm not quite sure as I dont only learn from one Source.
Your book is one of my sources and its really helpful!
I tried to learn and memorize common vocabulary words but the problem is I forgot it after few days and no one to practice with those words neither to have some conversation who is interested also with k-culture.
Well, I just started couple of weeks ago and I'd say I know 100-200 words.
I went and found that 6000 vocabulary list, but there are two columns that I don't know what they are, they translate to "parts of speech" and "classification" 🤷♀ I don't know if it's that important, but I am curious to what it is and how it can help us use the word the right way. If you find it useful, maybe you could do a follow up video about it? 🙂
Hey Billy! Do you believe in the 10,000 hour rule for proficiency? 😄
I think it's a vague "rule" because anyone would define "proficiency" differently. But if you spent 10k hours studying Korean you certainly would learn a lot.
I know about 1000 words
Anyway thanks for this video. It was really interesting!
So the streamer always talks about the Philippines? 🤔🤔😅 4:40
13 years?
I don't know how to add vocabulary. I am Brazilian and when I was learning English and Spanish I used to get new words with music. But because of particles and the Korean grammar this is not that easy 😢
Personally, I think the particles make it easier. If you get to know the particles, they will help you identify where in the phrase they are saying the subject/topic/place/ etc, so, it will help you identify the word you're looking for easily, even in a sentence where you barely know any word!
Doesn't take as many words as you think. Dr. Seuss's book "Green Eggs and Ham" was written using only 50 unique words. He wrote it to win a bet with his publisher who claimed he couldn't write a book using only 50 words.
I love ur videos but I was wondering if u can make a video on how to speak korean fluently without thinking too much and also 어순 하고 어미 it still puzzles me especially when 글말 and 입말 is used
Maybe 1300 right now (Including the 1000 most used words in that list you mentioned). I can feel I’m still lacking far too many words when I’m listening to drama dialogs.
I can write and speak Korean. I just can't speak. Can you please reply what do I need to do to speak?
Sorry I don't understand your question.
I mean I can write and understand some but I can't just speak I only know few. Sorry for wrong question and thank you for replying.
@@foodiegurl6775 That sounds normal for the beginner level. You can start learning for free here: czcams.com/video/sx0yyQqkpqo/video.html
Wow you amazing
Your math is just amazing😀
Math was probably my weakest subject in school.
@@GoBillyKorean o really i dont think so i mean you solved that quickly 😮
@@GoBillyKorean i have a question i have a korean friend can please suggest me some topics on which i can discuss with him *in korean *
Like 10 words and 200 endings... lol
But what about understanding Korean when you hear it? That's all I'm interested in. My research is telling me that many more words are required for listening.
i only now know 5 words in korean
So what were all the common words used by you and the streamer? Or at least the ones that you both used. Really curious if I've learned them yet or not.
I wanna learn korean so I could read korean novels and webtoons. Honestly I dont really care that much about making a proper sentence or speak properly. I might focuse on listening and reading (I did this too in english thats why my english suck -grammar+writing+speaking. But I can understand most english conversation and reading comprehension).
I can speak and read and write but live in NYC around many Koreans and struggle to even spit out a word still. I need to focus now on Vocabulary.. i have a korean girlfriend, a Korean Acupuncturist, korean markets and neighbors. Lol i should be better
How can find 6000 words in Korea