Studying Korean in Korea for FREE

I'm now attending FREE classes every:

1-Tuesday and Friday at Seoul Global Center, City Hall - 7.00pm to 8.30pm - upper beginner

 

SGC is using Kyunghee University's text book and I bought 

this for 22,000 won

2-Wednesday at Korean Foundation, Jonggak - 7.00pm to 9.00pm - lower intermediate

 

Korean Foundation published their own book for 17,000 won.

3- Saturday near Sookmyung University -4.30pm to 5.00pm - intermediate (Kongbubang). Just pay 1,000 won after each class for the material fee.

My semester with Sogang University will be ending on 17th February and I have about a week to spend with my friends before everyone going to their respective home country. Some of them will continue with Sogang University, some like me will continue with FREE classes and some will take the night class due to job commitment during the day.

So far I love the energetic teachers at Seoul Global Center (SGC) and Korea Foundation. While SGC is only a review class for me but Korea Foundation's is pretty much intensive and I hope I could keep up with the speed. I love both teachers because surprisingly both of them have so much drive!

That is the only the FREE part.

The scarier part is...

Cost of living:

1. Dormitory/Hasukjip/Goshiwon - a decent one starts from 3 squared metres with no private bathroom starts from 400,000won per month - includes breakfast and dinner
2. Daily expenses - if you're really frugal, you can get by with 300,000 won per month. (lunch + transportation fee)
3. Sightseeing, shopping and entertainment would need more $$$.

For your information;

Current price of:

1. regular kimbap starts from 1,500won at Kimbap Nara or Chonguk.
2. mineral water of 500ml starts from 500won
3. decent cappucino can starts from 3,500won onwards
4. fruits are expensive but the banana starts from 2,500won (the cheapest I've ever bought)

So if you want to stay in Korea with a tourist visa for a year to get the FREE Korean lesson, how much money should you save?

400,000 won x 12 months = 4,800,000 won
300,000 won x 12 months = 3,600,000 won
Total = 8,400,000 won ~MYR23,000

So expensive? Yes.... You need to save a lot and find some extra cash to support your life expenses too. I would say cash flow is better. Get creative! ^^

What about getting a scholarship? I'm thinking about it..but I'm too lazy though to study all over again. I just want to study things that I'm interested in ie. Korean language and study the culture by travelling and interacting with Korean.

How to be fluent in Korean Language faster?

• Find a few Korean penpals 3-4 months ahead and build the trusted relationship there, meet them once you're in Korea and practise
• Try to do homestay
• Mingle only with Koreans
• Offer free language exchange
• Don't stop talking in Korean although you will tend to create blunders..don't worry
• Read in Korean loudly while you are alone
• Memorize a lot of new vocabularies (once you enter Intermediate, new words help sentence construction a LOT)
• Study only with fun material which relates to your interest - like KPOP lyrics, Korean drama, Naver web cartoon, Naver junior