How To Become Fluent In Korean : Complete Study Plan 2026 | Natural Korean Listening

Hello everyone this is Teacher Sol Thank you for joining my Korean podcast again today Are you all having a happy week With 2025 coming to an end have you started planning your Korean language study for next year Having a plan and a routine when studying a language makes a huge difference I really enjoy making plans and when you study Korean having specific goals and a clear plan will help you study more productively So today I’ll be sharing with you our Korean study plan for 2026 along with some guidance plus the apps websites and books I use most often You haven't made a plan yet If you're unsure how to best study Korean let's create one together today with your teacher Today I'll cover all four skills—listening speaking writing and reading—in this video If you'd like to learn various useful tips I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd listen to the entire podcast today Shall we get started right away The first step is this: before we create a plan why do you want to learn Korean What's your purpose I just can't consistently keep going for long without a clear reason So it's okay if you don't have a big reason for why you're studying Korean what my purpose is or what I'd like to do if I become proficient in Korean It's just so much fun—I unwind completely and that's a great reason right there Or perhaps when traveling to Korea I want to be able to chat freely with people First we'll clarify our reasons and objectives and then we'll establish extremely specific goals Your goal needs to be very specific I'm going to achieve Korean Level B2 by next year Alright everyone What exactly is B2 level What kind of proficiency is that I'm going to have casual conversations with people like this Rather than just saying it it seems more helpful to set specific concrete goals It could be a test score or I want to obtain the Topic Level 4 certification Or when watching Korean dramas without subtitles I want to understand 70% of it Or when conversing with a native Korean speaker I'd like to chat in Korean for more than 30 minutes straight Setting such specific goals feels like a better approach My language learning goal for next year is news articles I wish there were fewer than five unfamiliar words when reading a news article That's how precisely we've crafted it So now tell me the reason you're studying Korean why am I studying First I'll establish my purpose and goals —specifically what level I want to achieve Create two and when we study language Listening reading writing and speaking—these are typically the four main areas Think about the areas where you feel a bit weaker in these four domains Listening is okay but speaking is a bit weak Writing isn't so bad but speaking is tough Usually speaking is pretty difficult isn't it Now let's think about our weak points like this I'll focus more on that section in my studies If you're already reading well We should aim to speak more diligently so let's plan for next year That way you can focus on improving your weaker areas Think about which areas you'd like to improve and we'll work together to create a plan I'll give you some tips for each section step by step teacher I'll start by discussing grammar first Grammar study is something you should do to a certain extent You need a certain level of foundation Now when I construct sentences if you don't know Korean grammar you won' t understand sentence structure either I don't know where or how to place the words So if you find constructing Korean sentence structure difficult You'll need to study grammar a bit together Well I recommend setting one book and one website like this And as for books there are plenty available online Just visit the Sejong Institute's website here There are so many books and they're all free Personally I prefer textbooks from Sogang University and Ewha Womans University And it's fine if you want to talk to me in Korean even using the "Talk to Me Korean" book Students usually use the "Talk to Me Korean" book a lot Pick one book like this Usually I go up to this 3a level I recommend studying grammar while reading books having a specific book to follow makes it easier for me to stay on track It's easier to study more consistently Having a set textbook makes studying even easier But I'd recommend studying grammar only about twice a week—just one or two books at most Studying from books is really passive because it 's almost entirely just reading and more reading After learning grammar you must practice until you can confidently use it yourself One of the most common mistakes I've seen over and over again—don't just skim through the grammar and move on Study only one or two grammar points per week and practice them until you've fully mastered them If you don't do it this way Korean grammar is just too overwhelming Everything gets mixed up later—you won't be able to use it at all So to recap: pick one book One to two grammar points per week is plenty Learn the grammar You need to keep practicing until you can write the grammar yourself Practice with Chaejubti I mentioned this before in an old video—it seems like Sentence Crafting is collecting data for BTV I studied grammar today I want to practice making sentences Can you give me some sentence examples in my native language Asking like this and then you all Practice changing to Korean frequently—it really really helps If you study this way you'll be able to finish grammar books up to level 2B or even 3A Don't worry too much about grammar from this level onward I think you need to study grammar differently After that you'll naturally need to learn grammar So at first you can study a bit from a book Once you become somewhat familiar with Korean sentence structure and can speak to a certain extent I recommend you move on to a different approach now that you've finished the book From now on we'll be reading listening and speaking together Let me recommend a few more reading books for you This is a simple beginner -level reading book and it's so cute—especially that cat illustration This is the actual textbook I'm using in my class and since the articles are short it seems perfect for reading one per week So I recommend this book to beginners and for those who are a bit more intermediate I always read comments carefully when watching YouTube From now on I prefer reading Korean a bit more naturally I also read many comments and changed my phone settings to Korean And from this point on they can start reading youth books too Reading youth books and slightly more advanced readers well they can This Talk to Me story app is really great It does contain some somewhat challenging content I guess I'm trying to read one short thing each day like this I also consider studying through other apps besides this one to be reading And then there's listening or listening practice I actually made a video on listening before For those who find listening difficult You usually don't know the words That's why you hear them when watching YouTube or dramas but you don't understand them Turn on the subtitles and watch again Look up any unfamiliar words Turn off the subtitles and listen again Usually it's just a matter of vocabulary Even if you know the words you might not hear them because they're unfamiliar So just get used to them How You can listen as much as you'd like For beginners listening in Korean can be quite difficult That's why you should start with something really easy I've heard a lot about this appearing in the Korean app like beginner-friendly vlogs or beginner-friendly YouTube content I've made some things too You've probably heard a lot of this already For intermediate learners you can basically just listen to what you enjoy most I’ve watched a lot of vlogs and listened to Q& A sessions so Netflix might be a bit tough now For senior staff members it's perfectly fine to watch Netflix or dramas with subtitles on Listening is input The more input you have the more your skills will improve Words are important It's also important to understand how this word sounds within a sentence especially as you hear it more often—typically it will rise The most important thing is to talk —yes talking Honestly it would be great to have a friend and someone to talk to but I don’t have any friends That would be a bit tough That's why I'm taking the class myself I attend a speaking class about once a week I'll show you a way to practice speaking and writing together the method I'm currently using Before attending class I decide on a topic like this Today I'd like to talk about my university and my time as a student there So then I'll go first I type it like this: I write down what I want to say while typing then I say it during class Without looking without seeing what I've written I just want to talk to you about this topic once Having this conversation like this And I'll send what I wrote including what I wrote earlier to the teacher to receive all the feedback correcting any grammar mistakes After refining the awkward wording I'm now studying how to speak and write in this way simultaneously This approach has its advantages I can practice and discuss the topic I want and when speaking I honestly don't realize when I'm wrong But since I wrote and sent it I can now see exactly where I made mistakes and receive all the teacher's feedback like this I've been practicing speaking and writing together using this method lately And generally speaking if you can write it you can say it But when using it there's plenty of time unlike when speaking where there's never enough Writing speed typically aligns with the pace of spoken language So the more you write the more it improves The faster you do it the more your speaking improves similarly I've greatly improved my speaking because of how I've been studying this way I recommend this approach Another speaking practice I’m doing is choosing a single topic and recording myself speaking I just turn on my phone and start talking to myself Oh I went to the supermarket yesterday and couldn 't buy any vegetables because there were none left I just speak aloud like this recording it on my phone then I listen back When I hear it again it feels really strange You know it's like I can hear all my mistakes clearly I just can' t figure out where my pronunciation goes wrong Ah something feels off here I'm not sure what's wrong grammatically but it just doesn't sound right My rhythm always feels off here and my pronunciation seems strange too That's why I practice that section again You can also practice with Chaejipiti Everyone practice with Chaejipiti Oh I'm going to talk about this from now on If you hear anything wrong please correct me If anything sounds awkward to pronounce let me know It's also fun doing it this way so if attending classes feels a bit overwhelming You can practice anything you like with AI And finally the most important thing for you Now the most important thing in your Korean learning plan is consistency You'll create a routine Take a moment to seriously reflect on where you're falling short I'm simply not expressing myself well enough Practice speaking twice a week once a week for listening practice and once a week for reading practice You need to create a plan based on what’s lacking Then make a plan for how to study those areas set specific times and stick to them You need to establish a routine without one my studies always end up scattered and unfocused Drifting aimlessly I kept thinking I should study today should really study but ended up doing nothing so I’ve decided I must absolutely get up in the morning For the past ten minutes I've been following a routine of speaking and recording and I'm sticking to a schedule that assigns specific study topics to each day of the week The most important thing is to keep going I believe you can do it I hope what I shared today was of some help After all your own study routine is something only you can create I hope you've found my video helpful in creating your new 2026 routine Keep at it consistently and your Korean will definitely improve—never give up Until the day I can master Korean next year Let's study hard together until the day we can finally graduate from your channel and no longer need to watch it Thank you so much for tuning into my podcast again today Wishing you all good health and a prosperous new year See you next time everyone Thank you