[INTERVIEW] Learning Korean? 3 people share what works for them

Adrian Adams, Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop and Hugo Adam describe how they began learning Korean and the methods that have helped them progress. Adams emphasizes constant exposure, repetition and practice, while Diop watches Korean children's cartoons without subtitles. Adam immerses himself in Korean by using it for daily tasks and declining offers to switch to English.

Adrian Adams began learning Korean in 2022 through social media teachers and YouTube videos before hiring a tutor for a trip to Korea.

Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop holds TOPIK level 3 and studies in level 5 at Sungkyunkwan University's Korean language program in Suwon.

Diop says vocabulary dominated the early levels, grammar patterns created difficulty in levels 3 and 4, and specialized vocabulary became challenging at level 5.

Hugo Adam studies international relations at Seoul National University and says debating in Korean requires specialized vocabulary and immediate responses.

Adam watches Korean news and YouTube daily and spends 20 minutes using a flashcard app on the subway.

Published Oct 9, 2026 7:00 am KST

From flashcards to children's cartoons, 3 Korean learners find different paths to improvement

The statue of King Sejong is being cleaned at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, April 13. Korea Times file

As Korea celebrates Hangeul Day's 100th anniversary this month, The Korea Times asked three people learning Korean what drew them to the language, where they struggle now and which study habits have worked best for them.

They range from a beginner in the United States to advanced speakers pursuing graduate degrees in Seoul.

Adrian Adams started learning Korean in 2022 after discovering K-pop act BTS and K-dramas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtesy of @isabel_leigh_photography

Study tip: Constant exposure, repetition and practice

For Adrian Adams, a 22-year-old church secretary in Springfield, Missouri, Korean began as a way to fill the long days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, when a friend recommended a few BTS songs and K-dramas. Adam's interest quickly became something more than a pastime.

"Korean culture is so beautiful and intricate," Adams said. "I was amazed by the respect and beauty found in the spoken language."

Wanting to understand what the singers and actors were actually saying, Adams started learning in 2022 by following Korean teachers on social media and picking up Hangeul through YouTube videos, then hired a tutor to prepare for a trip to Korea that Adams' parents gave as a surprise high school graduation gift.

Four years in, the biggest obstacle is not grammar or vocabulary but confidence. Adams said this has been the hardest part since the very beginning.

"I often choose not to speak, even when I can, for fear of being incorrect," she said.

The tip Adams offers other beginners is to "learn the way a child does," starting with simple sentences and concepts and building understanding through constant exposure, repetition and practice.

"Babies learn everything for the first time with natural curiosity," she said. "This is the same way we should approach language learning."

What she hopes Korean will eventually make possible is less about tests than about people, namely the ability to speak naturally with Koreans and to build and grow relationships with those from a culture Adams deeply admires.

Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop, a student at Sungkyunkwan University's Korean language program, came to Korea on a scholarship to learn the language after hearing a Korean song back home in Senegal. Courtesy of Isabelle

Name: Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop

Study tip: Watching children's cartoons without subtitles

For Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop from Senegal, interest in Korean has always been there, but what ultimately pushed her to learn the language was Korean singer Yoon Bok-hee's 1979 song "Everyone," which was later sung by singer Ailee in 2016.

With no opportunities to study Korean back home, she made up her mind that "if Korea couldn't get to me, I should get to Korea." She applied for a scholarship and began learning as soon as she arrived a year ago.

Now a student at Sungkyunkwan University's Korean language program in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Diop holds a TOPIK level 3 and is in the program's level 5 class, and she says the difficulty has shifted at every step.

In the first two levels, it was mostly vocabulary, which simply had to be learned by heart, while levels 3 and 4 are "where the real struggle began," as she encountered many grammar patterns that looked almost identical but changed meaning depending on context.

At level 5, the challenge returned to beinb about vocabulary, which became so specialized that it covers subjects "we are not necessarily familiar with even in our own language," she said.

Her study secret is watching Korean children's animation without subtitles, as the slower pace and intuitive expressions help her grasp how certain phrases are used.

Diop will begin a master's program in media and communications next year. Most of her classes will be taught in Korean, and she plans to stay and work in Korea after graduating. A big fan of Korean ballads, she also hopes to one day understand a song the moment she hears it.

Hugo Adam, a master's student at Seoul National University, says his best friend set him on the path to learning Korean. Courtesy of Lee Jung-woo

Study tip: Declining when someone offers to switch to English

Hugo Adam's path to Korean began in his school bus in France. On his first day of high school, he sat next to a French Korean boy named Eliott, who became his best friend.

"The empty seat (next to Eliott) moved my whole life to the other side of the world," the 24-year-old said.

Adam taught himself Hangeul online and gave up a place at an engineering school to study Korean and Asian politics instead. In 2022, he arrived as an exchange student at Sungshin Women's University just as Korea reopened its borders after the pandemic. He took four hours of Korean class every morning during the program.

Now a master's student working on a degree in international relations at Seoul National University, he says his hardest task is debating, holding a 20-minute argument on one subject where specialized vocabulary and the need to answer instantly leaves no room to breathe.

"Today, I am not fighting to be understood anymore," he said. "But I am fighting to be as accurate as possible."

His main tip is to live in Korean rather than merely study it. This means handling his paperwork, friendships, work and even arguments with his phone company in the language — and declining when someone offers to switch to English.

"I think that moment is exactly where the progress starts," he said.

He also watches Korean news and YouTube daily, and spends 20 minutes on a flashcard app on the subway every day — a habit he built from when he was a beginner.

Adam, who hopes to become a journalist, said he wants to close the gap between the version of himself that jokes and plays with words in French and a Korean self that still feels "slower, simpler and far less natural."

阿德里安·亚当斯、杨申·伊莎贝尔·玛丽·迪奥普和雨果·亚当斯讲述了他们学习韩语的历程以及帮助他们进步的方法。亚当斯强调持续接触、重复和练习的重要性，而迪奥普则喜欢观看没有字幕的韩国儿童动画片。亚当斯则通过在日常生活中使用韩语来让自己沉浸在韩语环境中，并且拒绝切换到英语的提议。

2022年，Adrian Adams开始通过社交媒体老师和YouTube视频学习韩语，之后为了去韩国旅行而聘请了一位家教。

Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop 持有 TOPIK 3 级证书，目前在水原成均馆大学韩语系学习 5 级课程。

Diop 表示，词汇量在早期级别占主导地位，语法模式在 3 级和 4 级造成了困难，而专业词汇在 5 级变得具有挑战性。

雨果·亚当在首尔国立大学学习国际关系，他说用韩语辩论需要专门的词汇和快速的反应。

Adam 每天都会观看韩国新闻和 YouTube 视频，还会在地铁上花 20 分钟使用单词卡应用程序。

发布于2026年10月9日 上午7:00（韩国标准时间）

从单词卡片到儿童动画片，三位韩国学习者找到了不同的提升途径。

4月13日，首尔光化门广场，世宗大王雕像正在进行清洁。（韩国时报资料图）

值此韩国庆祝韩文日100周年之际，《韩国时报》采访了三位正在学习韩语的人，询问他们是什么吸引他们学习这门语言，他们现在遇到的困难是什么，以及哪些学习习惯对他们最有效。

他们的水平从美国的初学者到在首尔攻读研究生学位的高级演讲者不等。

2022年，在新冠疫情期间，Adrian Adams接触到了韩国流行音乐组合BTS和韩剧，之后开始学习韩语。图片由@isabel_leigh_photography提供。

学习技巧：不断接触、重复和练习

对于22岁的密苏里州斯普林菲尔德市教堂秘书艾德里安·亚当斯来说，韩语最初只是为了打发新冠疫情封锁期间漫长的日子，当时一位朋友向他推荐了几首防弹少年团的歌曲和几部韩剧。亚当斯的兴趣很快就超越了消遣。

“韩国文化如此美丽而复杂，”亚当斯说。“韩国口语中展现出的尊重和美感令我惊叹不已。”

为了弄懂歌手和演员们到底在说什么，亚当斯从 2022 年开始学习，他通过社交媒体关注韩国老师，并通过 YouTube 视频学习韩文，然后聘请了一位家教，为父母送给他的惊喜高中毕业礼物——韩国之旅做准备。

四年过去了，最大的障碍不是语法或词汇，而是自信。亚当斯说，从一开始，这便是最难的部分。

“我常常选择保持沉默，即使我能说话，因为害怕说错话，”她说。

亚当斯给其他初学者的建议是“像孩子一样学习”，从简单的句子和概念开始，通过不断接触、重复和练习来建立理解。

“婴儿第一次学习任何事物时都出于天生的好奇心，”她说。“我们学习语言也应该秉持同样的态度。”

她希望韩语最终能够实现的，与其说是关于考试，不如说是关于人，即能够与韩国人自然地交谈，并与来自亚当斯深深敬仰的文化的人们建立和发展关系。

英申伊莎贝尔·玛丽·迪奥普 (Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop) 是成均馆大学韩语专业的学生，​​她在家乡塞内加尔听到一首韩国歌曲后，获得了奖学金来到韩国学习韩语。图片由伊莎贝尔提供。

姓名：Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop

学习小贴士：看儿童动画片时不要看字幕

来自塞内加尔的 Young Shin Isabelle Marie Diop 一直对韩语很感兴趣，但最终促使她学习这门语言的是韩国歌手尹福熙 1979 年的歌曲《Everyone》，这首歌后来在 2016 年被歌手 Ailee 翻唱。

由于在家乡没有学习韩语的机会，她下定决心“如果韩国不能来到我身边，那我就去韩国”。一年前，她申请了奖学金，一到韩国就开始学习韩语。

迪奥普目前是京畿道水原市成均馆大学韩语专业的学生，​​她持有TOPIK 3级证书，正在该专业的5级班学习。她说，每一步的难度都在变化。

前两个级别主要是词汇，只需要死记硬背即可；而到了第 3 和第 4 级别，“真正的挑战就开始了”，因为她遇到了许多语法模式，这些模式看起来几乎相同，但根据上下文会改变含义。

她说，到了 5 级，挑战又回到了词汇方面，词汇变得非常专业，涵盖了“即使在我们自己的语言中，我们也不一定熟悉”的主题。

她的学习秘诀是观看不带字幕的韩国儿童动画片，因为较慢的节奏和直观的表达方式有助于她理解某些短语的用法。

迪奥普明年将攻读媒体与传播学硕士学位。她的大部分课程将以韩语授课，毕业后她计划留在韩国工作。作为韩国抒情歌曲的忠实粉丝，她也希望有一天能够一听就懂歌词。

首尔大学硕士研究生雨果·亚当表示，是他最好的朋友引领他走上了学习韩语的道路。图片由李正宇提供。

学习小贴士：拒绝别人提出的改用英语的提议

雨果·亚当与韩国的缘分始于他在法国的校车上。高中开学第一天，他旁边坐着一位名叫艾略特的法籍韩裔男孩，后来艾略特成了他最好的朋友。

“埃利奥特旁边的那个空座位，让我的整个人生都搬到了世界的另一端，”这位24岁的年轻人说道。

亚当自学了韩语，放弃了工程学院的入学机会，转而学习韩国和亚洲政治。2022年，正值韩国疫情后重新开放边境之际，他作为交换生来到诚信女子大学。在交换期间，他每天早上都要上四个小时的韩语课。

他现在是首尔国立大学国际关系专业的硕士研究生，他说他最难的任务是辩论，要就一个主题进行 20 分钟的辩论，专业词汇和立即回答的要求让他没有喘息的空间。

“如今，我不再努力争取被人理解，”他说，“但我努力做到尽可能准确。”

他的主要建议是，与其仅仅学习韩语，不如用韩语生活。这意味着要用韩语处理文件、维系友谊、工作，甚至与电话公司争论——如果有人提出用英语交谈，也要拒绝。

“我认为进步正是从那一刻开始的，”他说。

他还每天观看韩国新闻和 YouTube，并且每天在地铁上花 20 分钟使用单词卡应用程序——这是他从初学者时期就养成的习惯。

希望成为记者的亚当表示，他想缩小自己用法语开玩笑、玩文字游戏的版本与仍然感觉“更慢、更简单、更不自然”的韩国版本之间的差距。