being honest about my fluency 🇰🇷 7 years of study

Hi, friends! January of this year marked the end of my 7th year learning Korean, is let's talk about my fluency!
m e a n t i o n e d p l a y l i s t s
• 5급// life as a languag...
• 6급// life as a languag...
• Research Class// life ...
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안녕하세,유~! 안녕하세요~! Hey, you! It's Natalia and I'm here to encourage you to believe in your ability to learn Korean~!
📸 Instagram: @Nataliaa_Garza
↳ / nataliaa_garza
📮 Business Inquiries: [e-mail]
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Integrated Korean Beginning 1 & 2
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📚 i n t e r m e d i a t e t e x t b o o k s
Correct Your Korean - 150 Common Grammar Errors:
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Editor: iMovie
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☀️ f a q
Where do you live?
↳ Seoul, South Korea
How old are you?
↳ 27 years old
When did you start learning Korean?
↳ January 2016
When did you study abroad in Korea?
↳ Spring and fall semesters of 2016 (exchange student)
↳ Fall 2021 - Summer 2022 (korean language student)
Where did you study in Korea?
↳ Soonchunhyang University ( 2016 exchange/internship program)
↳ Korea University (2021-2022 korean language school)
What level are you in at KLC?
↳ Fall Semester 2021 - Level 5
↳ Winter Semester 2021/2022 - Level 6
↳ Spring/Summer Semesters 2022 - Research Class
Can you teach me Korean?
↳ No, I don't teach or tutor Korean.
//
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[@drafeirha]

I would be interested to hear you speak Korean in a longer conversation or monologue. Why didn't you make this very video in Korean? Not only would you explain how much you improved but showcase your progress at the same time

[@mandsikka1125]

yes

[@_esikAcquah]

She would have to add subtitles in English which trust me is quite difficult when it comes to the editing... However if you've been following her for a while you would have seen the videos she made speaking in fully Korean or bits of it.. and the progress is massive... trust me.. Congratulations girl🎉

[@lisar2135]

I agree @Steve Peffer Does she have aby videos of her speaking full Korean? It would be nice to hear especially for those who desire to learn Korean.

[@TheGretaoto]

I agree :) Waiting forward to see it. I searched her videos to see if there was any like this, but I failed. As a language learner I always like to see other learners speaking the target language because I feel motivated. :)

[@SomedayKorean]

Literary vocab is a beast, honestly. Every time I read a novel, it's like "where the heck did all these words come from?!?!" It's funny how clear it is that I learned most of my Korean from a combo of listening to my friends talk + watching a crap-ton of Korean dramas -- If there's a page full of dialogue in a novel I fly through it and understand everything. If there's a page full of descriptions I'm like 5 times slower and have to look a bunch of words up haha. Also, the enunciation struggle is real. I had two good guy friends -- one from Seoul and one from Daegu. My friend from Seoul would joke that I understood the Daegu accent better than the standard accent because I could understand my Daegu friend so much more easily than him. Yeah, because Daegu bro speaks loudly and enunciates, while you mumble. What do you expect?! It had nothing to do with the accent lol. That's top listening fluency goals for real, though -- understanding my mumbly friends as they tell a story through a mouthful of food 😂

[@calmontes651]

Congratulations on 7 years, it’s refreshing to see on KZbin a real life example of how long it takes to get to an advance level in Korean. Your commitment to your learning is very inspiring. I always enjoy your videos 😊

[@deutschmitpurple2918]

I totally agree with you. She is perfect

[@MakotoOPT]

"I LEARNED KOREAN IN 6 MONTHS AND IF YOU BUY MY COURSE YOU CAN TOOO "

[@mrsstyles1324]

I feel so sad 😔 because I started to learn Korean almost the same time around but I have been so Inconsistent in learning. I don't have money to even pay for a course but the main issue is motivation and discipline.. The only thing I have been doing is to watch and listen wave things like kpop and kpop idol related content.... I don't know exactly if I should continue but I did something risky... I sign up for the TOPIK I.... I will take it hopefully in October.. I will put the best effort.. I will be meticulous for the next two months.. Thanks Natalia,find you today just made my day. Thanks for sharing this story.

[@Mikesaidit]

I appreciate seeing your journey and showing that it’s just about consistency. I just turned 32 this year and for the last four or five years I had my Talk To Me in Korean grammar and workbooks just sitting pretty. I had a conversation with a childhood friend and when I tell you how inspired I was after he told me all he does when learning Japanese, he’s at the equivalency of a 10th grader, my jaw dropped. I picked up my books and for the last month I’ve been practicing and learning Hangeul and I’ve felt so proud of myself. To anyone trying to learn it doesn’t matter how old you get. Just keep practicing little by little, look for different resources/videos and keep pushing 💪🏽 we can do it!

[@mo.mwasongwe]

I'm so proud of you 🥺🥺 You've honestly come so far and you should be extremely proud of yourself!

[@deutschmitpurple2918]

👍👍❤❤

[@nendoakuma7451]

Many people seem to expect instant results, but seven years is actually not that long. You're still learning tons of your native language after seven years.

[@abigailfriedman]

I would be lying if I said I wasn't super jealous of you 😄, you are fluent in Korean, live in Korea and now have a great job based off of what I got out of your recent videos. I think you are a great person. Since learning languages was not on my mind till very recently I have spent a lot of my time focusing on other things to put towards my future so I often compare myself to others, like you who started learning at an earlier age than me, feeling that I'm late to the game and won't be as successful. But honestly you are one of my biggest inspirations to not give up on learning Korean and Mandarin even though I feel many times that I am not capable of succeeding. Thank you Natalia ❤

[@julia3983able]

Congrats on making it this far! I'm always happy to see people learning Korean. I hope you have lots of fun & meet great people in the rest of your time in Korea 🥰

[@shallowsleep15]

I love this and how honest you are. I seriously hate videos that are like “How I got fluent in 6 months.” It’s literally impossible. It happens little by little over YEARS. Which I guess isn’t what most people want to hear, but it’s the truth. Better to know that than have unrealistic expectations in the beginning.

[@marygoesglobal3044]

LOVE THE AUTHENCITY❤ I'm getting closer to the 7 year mark and still have a long way to go. Thank you so much for keeping it real and hope we can see a video in Korean soon!

[@ylieeee]

you’ve made amazing progress due to your hard work and studying! congratulations, I hope I can get there one day 💖

[@sulsulkorean]

Wow! 😃 Congratulations on 7 years!!! ❤🎉 I'm SO proud of you!! I know it needs so much patience and dedication! You're such an INSPIRATION and comfort to me in my journey of learning English. I could TOTALLY relate with you...even while I'm considering myself pretty fluent in Eng now, when people slur a lot, I get completely lost! 🫠 Haha. Maybe that's the natural part of language learning tho. Thanks for sharing your experiences and honesty in learning Korean! Whenever I listen to you, I get comforted so much! 😊💕

[@loesdevries8358]

youre my inspiration and motivation to become better at korean. I keep telling myself “i want to become as good as Natalia” (eventho i dont know your exact proficiency and skills). Its just a way to push myself into reminding myself of my goals. So thank you for existing here on youtube and sharing your tips and experiences! ❤

[@iiTzMarco2211]

Huge inspiration for all of us :) keep working hard. And thanks for giving a realistic view on how difficult learning a language actually is

[@lizaminasyan9255]

i am always grateful for you for sharing your experience and growth very honestly with us! i cant find this in other KZbinrs! we learn a lot from you even when u share the difficult parts in your experience.

[@lu_artistic_whale_7854]

holy shit the guys slurring their words is so true. i thought it was just a me problem/the fact that my coworker apparently speaks in dialect a lot but damn, turns out it's actually universal

[@NataliaGarza]

Yeahhhh my friends slur their words like crazy~~

[@imaginary-yl2cw]

와 많이 공부하네요. 저는 2년 전에 한국어를 시작했는데 쉽지 않았어요. 제 생각에는 언어에 가장 중요한것은 바로 말하기인데 저랑 한국어로 이야기를 하고 싶은 사람을 첫기 꽤 힘들어요ㅠㅠ. 그래도 한국어를 많이 늘었고 한국에 이사할때 한국어 실력 더 빠르게 늘면 너무 좋겠는데요.

[@sherriemoore3574]

Great job

[@sulsulkorean]

I'm impressed by your Korean writing and the expressions! 😊 Hope your Korean will improve even more after you move to Korea while talking with Korean people & friends.

[@taratravels6235]

the thing you said about native speaker guy friends speaking less clearly than girls is so relatable! I have the same experience with Greek!

[@sm00re2]

I only speak korean to complete strangers in Korea but ive experienced the same "girls enunciate more than men" thing lol haha we are total opposites (which is why I enjoy your videos. different perspectives) i bought 30 books while in korea cause I LOVE reading and seeing words repeated helps me remember them^^ I also have 불편한 편의점 but im only on page 36😱

[@birdeynamnam]

so is the book good?

[@sm00re2]

@@birdeynamnam hmmm so far it kinda just makes me feel sad cause its painting the picture of the homeless guy that returned her wallet (so you feel sad for him) and her son calling trying to pressure her to sell her store and help fund his business (so you feel bad for her). its not the usual style i read. im more into scify books/shows. its not a book i would read if it were translated in English, unless it got a lot of hype, but im not NOT enjoying it either. im def curious and want to keep reading. but its too early for me to say its good or not. i dont have a lot of free time to focus on reading ㅠㅠ

[@deckcadetmiles]

You're not alone in thinking women speak clearer then men lol. I went to 2 different stores in a row once and was asked the same question. The woman sounded nice and clear while the man sound like mumble rapper. I got an additional iTalki tutor who's a guy this year and he's helped tremendously. I can now 50-75% of the time make out what men say lol.

[@xojaci]

this video is so inspiring !! it's so exciting to get a glimpse of what's to come on a language learning journey, although of course all of our paths will look a little different. anyway, congrats on seeing all of your effort pay off throughout the years and thanks for sharing it with us !! 🥰

[@RubyDuran]

You’re amazing !!!! You should be so happy and proud of yourself and how far you have come!!!!! Congratulations 🎊

[@tkdltls3227]

헉 7년..대단하네요!! 전 1전에 시작했는데 아직도 잘 못 하네여..ㅜㅜ 아니 전 한국인 친구들 있는뎅.. 가끔에 번역이 사용해용.. (그냥 실수하고 싶지 않으면)..사실 어떻게 말해야 되는지 알아는뎅 실수하고 싶지 않아서 그거 사용해요) 근뎅 지금 번역이 안 해요! 매일 공부하지 않아서 제 실력을 좋지 않아요 (자신에 만족 하지 않아요 지금ㅜㅜ) 다음에 많이 시간이 있다면, 열심히 해야 겠어용! 언니 처럼 되고 싶으니까요 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 화이팅 7년 공부해서 ㅊㅋ해요!! 😋🙌🏻🎉🎉

[@lovelyalicekim]

your Korean seems very natural like other Korean comments. Be proud of your self! 되게 잘하는데용?

[@paulwalther5237]

I had (maybe still do) issues understanding Japanese guys as opposed to Japanese women. Male speech is definitely different both in how it sounds and some of the expressions. Mostly the sounds though. I assume it’s because all my teachers and most of my language partners were women.

[@danielalopes9027]

Hi Natalia!! Firstly well done on all the progress you've made, it takes a lot of time, work and dedication to learn a new languange to a high level 🎉 Secondly, I just started learning Korean (only 2 months in) and I just found your chanel. I know everyone's journey is different, but it's been really helpful to know what I can expect from mine. So thank you so much!! And lastly, I see where you're coming from when you talk about sometimes not understanding your male friends when they speak. My native language is Portuguese, and I also speak English and Spanish, and without a doubt the same happens to me!! I'm not to sure if it has something to do with the fact that girls have a higher pitch voice so it makes it easier to understand them...? My partner also struggled with that when he was learning Portuguese, so you're not alone in this 😊

[@katherinearthur]

I understand the male/female thing. Because I have noticed that I pick up lyrics sung by females much easier than males, Idek why. 😂

[@vardonian]

Way to go! Cheers! Skål!

[@ajrt_2118]

I've been living here for like 7 months and studying Korean for 2 years. I feel like my listening skills are now surpassing my speaking skills becasue most of my coworkers don't speak English and I can now understand most of what my co-teacher says when she talks to our students. I'm also despeartely trying to understand everything Shinee and B.I. says. But it's so hard to find Korean language partners to consistently hangout with. So, I only actually speak it a few hours a week, if that. LOL

[@zzzzzzxxxxxxxxx]

it looks like you’ve lost some weight if that was intentional then i’m so happy for you and you look great ❤

[@katiesparkleskearney]

I’m so proud of you in a non-weird, stranger way!

[@annabelle_620]

Congrats on 7 years of learning Korean! I don't know what else to comment so yeah.... Congrats!! 😂😂

[@JamesTermy]

Congratulations! this is very inspiring to watch!

[@lorisbooks]

It's so inspiring to see your progress!! ✨

[@steven_2005-z4f]

I learned Mandarin Chinese in high school, and that was the best time of my entire high school. I learned a lot from Mandarin Chinese class. After learned a lot of Mandarin Chinese. 🇨🇳. I would like to learn these languages Korean 🇰🇷 Japanese 🇯🇵 German 🇩🇪 Russian 🇷🇺 Italian 🇮🇹 French 🇫🇷 Finnish 🇫🇮.

[@Grace_lenora]

Natalia grarza nice to here from you I'm in south korea right now trying my best to learn korean language. learnt alphabets and I can read korean language right now if u can help me to learn the vocabulary

[@lancecorporal7605]

congrats and fighting~!

[@SetTheCurve]

My god. I don’t know, I guess I had hoped that after 7 years the language would be as though it were my own. I guess it’s good to have a reality check but I was really hoping that I could watch k-dramas without subtitles in under two years 😢

[@shashinichamodya3980]

🌹

[@deutschmitpurple2918]

You are so cute person . Thank you so much for this video

[@katherinearthur]

Happy belated birthday 🎉😂💜

[@ashley_smith]

Slurred words lol my hubby slurs his words sometimes and I say to him CAPTIONS! and he says to me HEARING AIDS! omg lol When people are comfortable around each other they can speak way too quickly and the words try to ride each other instead of standing resolutely side by side.

[@Zolishka]

Hi! Would you tell us a bit about learning hanja? Did you ever formally study them? Do you know a lot or not? I just find hanjas so fascinating ^^

[@zaneatat]

This is so motivating

[@luked.48]

Love the hair!

[@goquokkagoquokkaonyoursupe2902]

Congratulations on 7 years! What's the book you mentioned reading about the girl whose soul is separated from her body, please? It sounds very interesting.

[@mo.mwasongwe]

😊❤

[@caoimhedevaney1830]

I started in 2016 too, took a lot of breaks, have 4급 since last year, tried for 5급 in April 😅

[@NataliaGarza]

It took me forever and the help of a private teacher to finally get out of the intermediate levels 🫠 so I know what you mean

[@김남규-r1r]

와우. 대박입니다

[@JohnMusic7]

@Natalia Garza 안녕하세요! I have a question about a book 📚 you'd talked about. It's a Korean book about profiling. I'm interested in this topic as well and curious about the title of the Book! I hope you can let me know the title. if this book is also available in English please let me also know! 👋 안녕히계서오!

[@livrosesayuri1571]

I've been learning Korean with the fun fun korean series but I stopped at level 5 because my country doesn't hace this books and I can't find them 😢😢

[@paintedbyus.7545]

I think I'll take much long than you ...😅😅...cz I'm learning but I still don't think that I have learnt something .... I mean I have learnt but I'm not sure on appearing...😐😐😐

[@Xia-hu]

what book would you recommend for improving listening skills? say, low-intermediate? My grammar is definietly more advanced but I just recently realized watching variety shows that I don't understand a damned thing, because they speak in natural speed (unlike in kdramas, I understand a fair bit there). Thanks in advance

[@mollyapteros]

Eventually we're going to need a dedicated video on your famous criminal profiling book. 😂

[@Omar_Hassan]

i am so proud of you natalia 💚you give me Hope to never give up & always try Harder Thank you