With the Korean wave reaching the entire planet, you can see its influences everywhere.
K-Drama… K-Food… K-Pop… K-Movies…
I got my fair share of Korean culture too – I watched dramas and TV shows, listened to K-pop, bought food from Korean groceries, ate spicy food, and went to Korean coffee shops.
But the best part is – I learned the Korean language.
With the Korean language unlocked, there’s just plenty of opportunities to use it no matter your personality. And no, you don’t need to be fluent to start enjoying its benefits. Everything will unfold just like the way it did for me.
It is understandable however – Korean is such a tough language to learn. You may be wondering whether it’s actually worth your time and effort.
Because I won’t sugarcoat it – it took me years and thousands of hours of (not so consistent) exposure to the language, which is a mix of struggle and discovery along the way.
What would make Korean a worthwhile journey? These five reasons might convince you to keep going.
Reason #1: You Unlock the World of Korean Culture
When you pick up the Korean language, you immediately access the world of Korean culture.
It’s almost impossible not to encounter culture once you learn Korean. You’ll discover Korean food such as bulgogi and kimbap, you’ll learn to say saranghae to your lover, you’ll notice Korean signs such as in the mall or airport.
After learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet system designed by King Sejong, almost everything Hangul will be primed in your environment.
You’ll never look back – the same way it happened to me. After memorizing Hangul I began to notice any text that’s written in Korean. From food labels to public reminders, I was happily taking my time to decode what was read back in the day when I was slow at reading.
The deeper you get into your study of Korean, the more exposure you’ll get with their culture. It’s like a ripple that started with a single drop but spreading over a wide range as time goes by.
In my case, it began with a single K-drama, which nudged me to take on Hangul. Soon I was eating bibimbap and bopping to Gangnam Style, then later hanging out in Korean groceries and coffee shops.
We’re not even talking about traditional culture, such as the hanbok, poetry, literature, traditional dance, and historical texts – all these you can understand in depth once you get to a high level of Korean.
The cultural possibilities are endless!
You know the best part? The ripple of Korean culture never stops. You will only keep growing in awareness as you continue with your language journey.
Imagine in the future, you will begin to think in Korean. And when that happens, your cultural knowledge will deepen as you discover cultural nuances along the way. Later on you might even discover humor and start to laugh to their comedy.
You become so familiar with day-to-day conversations that you start to understand Koreans in your area. If you get a chance, you might start a conversation with them and make new friends. Or you might travel to Korea and talk to natives there.
Or if you dare, you can specialize in a domain (say, technology or health) and learn Korean jargon. This is perfect in case you want to obtain a college degree in Korea.
Doesn’t this all make Korean a journey worth trekking?
Reason #2: Learning Korean Rewards Your Brain
Learning a foreign language such as Korean is highly beneficial to YOU.
It makes you smarter, but not in the Einstein sense where you get a boost of IQ. Rather, it provides you with a fantastic mental workout.
Bilingualism has been linked to improved memory, enhanced problem-solving and multitasking skills, and even a delay in the onset of dementia. It could even prolong life!
If you willingly accept the difficulties of learning Korean and persevere despite its challenging parts – such as a new alphabet, complicated grammar, memorizing thousands of words, and proper use of honorifics – you’ll be surprised to emerge with a much sharper brain.
It’s a given that you won’t learn a language overnight, for it takes a long time to acquire your target language.
This time delay is a hidden blessing. It gives you ample time to decide whether to go all in on Korean or pick another language. Because once everything starts to click, it will be a fun ride.
Even if you end up quitting or switching languages, chances are good you’ll be able to take away the experience and use it somewhere else.
In short, you won’t go wrong trying out Korean.
If you do succeed, imagine how confident you will be in facing similar challenges. You can take on a 3rd or 4th foreign language using the same principles you’ve learned in acquiring Korean to a high level. After all, languages are all within the scope of linguistics.
Reason #3: You Attract New Career Opportunities
A person working as an engineer is great.
But a person working as an engineer with a fluent level of Korean is awesome!
In an increasingly interconnected world, bilingualism is a golden ticket to unlocking diverse career opportunities.
South Korea particularly excels in technology, business, automotive, entertainment, and education, along with other industries. If you happen to be in any of these, you will find Korean a highly beneficial language to add in your resume.
Having a high proficiency in Korean not only gives you excellent job opportunities, it also enables you to engage more effectively with partners and clients in the industry, in case you’re mostly doing business.
There are two main avenues for approaching this:
- You can study in Korea to get a degree, which leads to obtaining a job in Korea (which requires Korean proficiency)
- You learn Korean to a sufficient level, then using your knowledge to land a job in your target industry
Both routes will require you to take the TOPIK test, which is Korea’s recognized standard for assessing your level of Korean.
That said, acquiring Korean while having a full-time job is easier said than done. But because not everyone is willing to do it, you will have a competitive edge if you emerge successful.
Reason #4: You Get to Converse With Korean Speakers
Don’t forget the obvious – when you know Korean you’ll be able to communicate with native speakers and fellow Korean learners.
Whether you talk in-person or simply chat online, having a good level of Korean can take you a long way towards creating meaningful relationships.
Koreans will be pleased the moment they hear you speak their native language, regardless of how terrible you think you may be. They’re aware that Korean is not an easy language to learn, and they’ll respect you more knowing that you’re learning it.
An added benefit of having conversations with natives is that they can give you firsthand information (or insider knowledge) about the Korean culture. Sure, there may be a lot of content online describing the culture (such as videos and articles). But nothing beats learning from the source.
Now, for those of you who are shy or introverted, don’t worry.
It’s entirely possible to focus on learning a ton of Korean first before you ever speak the language. You can learn the Korean language online by immersing in Korean content, which I believe can take you to fluency.
As I said, you won’t learn a language overnight. But this time delay between you starting out and getting to fluent level can be considered a blessing. You work hard on your language then when you’re ready, it will be easier to bring in Korean friends and hold longer conversations.
Personally for me, since I’m an introvert, simply knowing in mind that one day I’ll be talking to someone in Korean is enough justification to continue my language learning journey.
Reason #5: No More Subtitles!
How would you like to enjoy entertainment, whether K-Pop, K-Drama, or K-Movie, without any translations or subtitles? I sure do!
In fact, when you get to a high enough level of Korean, English subtitles (or subtitles in your native language) will only become a hindrance.
Sure, it takes a ton of learning to reach this important milestone. But wouldn’t you want this to become your reality?
Isn’t it annoying enough that you have to constantly move your eyes between the screen and the text at the bottom like non-stop? On top of that, you miss a lot of the cultural nuances since you’re constantly distracted in the translation.
When you know Korean, you get straight to the heart of the content. You’ll deeply appreciate the richness of what you’re consuming without having to pass through English.
Sounds cool, right?
Again, getting to this level won’t happen overnight. Turning off subtitles during immersion takes practice. Even I still struggle at this point, only capturing certain dialogues once in a while.
While I did say that English (or native) subtitles are a hindrance, you can instead replace it with Korean subtitles. In this way, you can read Korean while also watch the accompanying scene, therefore creating rich associations in your brain.
Look, there are many techniques to be able to one day break free from subtitles completely. But that will only happen if you first decide to start (or continue) your Korean learning journey.
Conclusion: Learning Korean Is Worth The Effort
You won’t go wrong with learning Korean.
Even if you start today and end up quitting later on, it would still benefit you a lot. Who says you have to complete the journey anyway?
The road to Korean fluency is a never-ending journey. What happens is there are milestones you’ll meet with along the way.
But of course, the farther you go into your journey, the more milestones you’ll accomplish – taking off subtitles, conversing with Koreans, getting a job in Korea, you name it.
Let’s ignite that flame to get you started, shall we?
I’m with you along the way!
What drives you to learn Korean? Do you think you’ll start taking up the language, or continue from where you’ve left off? Let me know in the comments.