expat_life
Learning Korean for 2 years, a journey of 2000 hours: How have I progressed?
刘
刘强🇯🇵
May 8, 2026
Hello! I am a foreigner whose native language is English, and I have been learning Korean for 2 years, investing a total of 2000 hours. Today, I would like to share my Korean learning experience. I will talk about the methods I primarily used, the challenges I faced, and the abilities I currently possess.
I mainly practiced listening through podcasts. I could naturally listen during my commute or while doing household chores, and I preferred content that I could understand at over 90%. Thanks to this method, I can now understand most everyday conversations without any difficulty.
For reading, I read subtitles with Kimchi Reader and occasionally read Naver blogs or articles. I have progressed to the point where I rarely encounter unfamiliar words when reading articles on interesting topics. I feel that my reading skills are ahead of my listening skills, but I am still consistently practicing listening.
I mainly learn vocabulary through sentences and review for about 10-15 minutes daily using Anki. I practiced speaking primarily through one-on-one language exchanges and italki tutoring. I still occasionally struggle to find words, but I have become much more natural compared to before.
I hope my experience can be of some help to those who are starting to learn Korean. What methods are you using to learn Korean?
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