How much Korean should you study every day? | Korean FAQ

In this video I’ll share how much Korean I study each day, and talk about how much you should study and why. I recommend different types of useful (as well as less useful) study methods, and talk about how different amounts of study time can be useful.
How long does it take to learn Korean? • How Long Does It Take ...
Should you use subtitles? • Should You Use Subtitl...
Can you learn Korean while asleep? • Can You Learn Korean W...
How to learn Korean with K-pop: • How to Learn Korean wi...
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Music by Kevin MacLeod: “MJS Strings" and “Brightly Fancy.” (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)

[@Betty-jp7sw]

I started studying Korean again after a long time. I only know how to read Hangul. That's it. I'm writing this here so that I can come back after a month, 3 months and 6 months later and share my progress. I'm also learning Spanish. I'm very motivated and optimistic that I will reach fluency in both languages. Then I'll be a quadralingual.

[@abeginning27]

I'm in the same spot. Going on 2 years now and can understand alittle but can't speak.

[@emmu__]

I hope you reach your goal! I want to see how youve progressed in a few months. im exactly same! Started learning, but rn i can only read hangul letters, but i dont understand words.

[@Betty-jp7sw]

@@abeginning27 keep going. We got this.

[@Betty-jp7sw]

@@emmu__ Thank you. I hope you do too. Don't give up. Little by little we can get a lot better. It's just a matter of persistence and patience.

[@kathy-di9no]

I've been studying for 6 months and it does get easier, good luck on your studies guys !!!!!!!

[@MrJeffrey0414]

I started studying Korean language this February 2022 so about 8 months now. I can say I am at Elementary 2 level already. I can read hangul and speak basic korean but I am still having a hard time listening. That's why I focus more on listening. I also finished your beginner course, Billy, and that helped me a lot especially when it comes to grammar. Thank you!!

[@sasha6854]

It's crazy to me that Billy has been learning for so long, is fluent to a native level, and STILL has things to learn and study.

[@strawberryfields3883]

I try to study at least a couple of hours a day (without considering watching dramas or videos in the evening or listening to podcasts) and I think so far it is working for me. Usually, I try to come up with a schedule beforehand, like I dedicate one day more on reading or another to speaking and so on. I then have an actual lesson on Sundays every week and that is the most helpful to me cause not only I can listen to an actual Korean speaking to me directly and I can practice everything I studied throughout the week, but he also corrects me on the usage of specific words, the context and integrates everything with the culture. Learning a language is a never ending process 🙈 I feel like it's been ages since I received my last certificate for English and still I practice everyday and learn new things every time, so I can only imagine how long it's gonna take to master Korean, especially since I'm studying on my own.

[@TheCaitlynStark]

I’m finally settling into my new job after the first couple months of it, and I’m excited for October to get some good habits going. Currently, I’m very much a beginner and I am aiming to sit down study about 30 minutes a day. And on top of that, for one of my TTMIK books, my goal is to record myself speaking the sentences I write to get more speaking practice in too.

[@JamesTermy]

Hi Billy, I like how you said you would have to be pretty good to be able to watch Kdrama without subtitles, which reminds me of another study technique that I'm using. That is to pull favorite lines from Kdrama, study, memorize, and recite them. (I heard about this from another teacher who did this to learn English) . You are right, I was going over some lines with my native speaking friend, and they were advanced, but I told him... that's ok I'll learn them now, and this helped improved naver research skills, and some good goals of particles to learn.

[@user-jt8zh7zb9n]

My goal this year is 1000 study hours. I’m well on track and the improvement I’ve seen with the help of your abridged grammar lessons is amazing!

[@DrWhyborne]

did you reach your goal?

[@lizaminasyan9255]

thank you so much for your amazing videos, i really benefit from watching your videos and lives but i rarely comment. so please keep going you are my favourite korean teacher

[@eunoia763]

it's been 10 months since i actually started learning korean but before i started, I'm already familiar with some words a few grammar points since i graduated from a korean school when i was elementary. but now, even though I'm still on like, level 2, i feel like I've improved so much. i have no idea how much i study per day though. but i want to say thank you because your channel helped me a lot, from making my pronunciation better to learning grammars as well^^ btw, the first reason i decided to learn korean was so i could talk to samonim, moksanim(idk how to spell it, idk their names either), ms. yeon, ms sara, ms eunice, and mr. kim when i see them in korea or here in philippines (they're administrators from the school)

[@meganoms4819]

Can you help create a playlist of Korean phrases for traveling?! I think that would be a big hit! 😃

[@PaulinaKarolina]

Recently I started talking to my dog in Korean. No idea if that helps 😅

[@joeiisweird]

I just started a couple weeks ago. I watched your Hangul video and have some other resources for that and am feeling pretty confident with it. I study about a half hour on my lunch break and about another hour when I get home in the evenings. I have a few apps and KZbin channels and I am waiting on some books, which I am excited to start on.

[@azusaketsueki518]

i started studying a few months a go. I try to learn vocabulary every day and used to learn a new grammar every day but right now i kind of stopped learning new grammar things. I know allot of words for my level i think but i have trouble using it in sentences because im not got at grammar at all (same in other languages i learn/learned). Also its hard alone. I have no one to talk to or to study with and sometimes its a little lonely haha but i keep going and maybe one day i meet someone who i can study with. Everyone who is studying korean. Keep going you are doing great ^^ be proud of yourself that u made it this far and in the future im sure you will reach your goals. Fighting!

[@JodeeSteffensen]

I do actual study for 1/2 to 1 hour a day. Then I have a class to practice conversation skills for 1 hour a week. I do spend a lot of time semi-passively watching K-dramas where I try to find the words I know in the subtitles. I've found a lot of discrepancies, but still not picking up more than 10% of the meaning during the shows. But I keep feeling like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough! So I'll keep trying. Thanks for the video. I was curious. Wondered if I was a slacker! Feel more confident. Definitely understand more than I did six months ago when I started all of this!

[@myownaccount123]

I've been studying every day since June 2022. As I'm coming up on a year, I can say I've tried out many methods and have regretted doing & not doing things along the way, but they have helped me grow in so many ways. Everyone is different. What worked for me might not work for you. My schedule has changed so many times and that makes sense as my level gets higher, I need more of a certain skill than others. On average, I think I do an hour of Korean every day...and on every 3rd day I do and hour an a half. I revise all my notes daily, even though its piling up to 300/400 lol My point is, there are days when I break down, days when I feel so f proud of myself and you can tell how badly I want to be fluent and I'm literally 🤏 close to getting it, I can smell it!!! HWAITING EVERYOOONE

[@kj-uq6hu]

hi billy! i personally do 50 hours a week and my way of avoiding burning out is including deload weeks in my routine. i had burned out in the past, and since then i've learnt from that experience and use it to guide my learning now. at this point, immersing myself in korean is such a strong habit that i can't not do it. i personally think im lucky that i can actually study so much and keep going strong, and i contribute that a lot to my love for reading as well as my tolerance for ambiguity great video as always

[@TheKillerMB1]

So you work/ go to school / learn korean and sleep?

[@wendyscribbles]

I've been really studying Korean since January and my progress has been slow but steady. I'd say I spend 7-8hrs weekly on actual studying. i.e. Learning and reviewing grammar, vocab etc. But I can't really say about passive study because I'm always watching vlogs and tv shows, or absently flipping through Hello-Talk to see what posts I can actually understand during my free time. I need to get better at listening and actually talking in Korean. There are a couple of K-pop artists that vlog but don't include English Subtitles and that gets me to practice my listening skills.

[@hopegate9620]

I've been studying Korean for about 20 hours a week this past month. I've gotten to a point where I can comfortably watch a drama with korean subtitles without it tiring me too much (as long as it isn't law related or medical). And I've been reading lots too, which makes spending a lot of time studying Korean less taxing and more interesting than just straight up looking up grammar and vocab all the time.

[@GeorgiaMyname]

Hi all.I’m the newest student here ..English is not my mother language cause I’m Greek ! It’s been around 20 days since I started watching Billy’s lessons. I study every day around an hour and sometimes I do one lesson in two halves just to be sure that I understood everything quite well and every 5 lessons (till now) I do a revision ! Tomorrow is lesson 13 and keep moving on.Thank u teacher for helping us so much 🙏🙏🥰

[@maryamdebek5289]

I have been studying korean for 1 year by now. At the beginning I was studying for 1 h or less a day but now at least two hours. I'm focusing on Grammer after learning 한글 and now I'm about to complete your book (korean made simple part 2). Arabic is my native language so I found memorizing vocabularies is the most difficult part of my studying .

[@monicah.2917]

It's been about two years now, but very slow studying with balancing everything else in my life. I do daily apps and have almost a two year streak maintained - but that's lessons sometimes and a lot more vocab review. I also am in BA (since April 2021) and submit two homework assignments per month, but I need to be more consistent about my studying and also using what I learn to journal again. I find it funny because I do more engaged reading for social media for kpop groups that aren't BTS (even though i started to learn so i could understand BTS), mainly because there aren't so many consistent translation accounts for other groups that I like. There are other things I do sometimes, but again, not so consistently! Hopefully I can shift my habits a bit to learn more effectively!

[@nikxlc8416]

I started learning Korean last May 8, and I can understand about 20% when watching K Drama, it was totally zero before. I am trying to learn to speak the language comfortably, if not fluently. I can speak 9 languages and dialects, so Korean would be my 10th. My native language is Cantonese, I also speak Mandarin, Fukkien, Malay, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, English, and Tagalog. I love learning languages, maybe that was the reason why I was able to learn those languages fast, I hope I can do the same with Korean. I study 2 hours every day, usually at night after a long day at work. Thanks, Billy, for the wonderful video.

[@RhyanTV]

Great videos as always :)

[@ladyfair42]

When life gets very busy, I find that I need to take minor breaks- at the least a few days and at the most almost a week. However, when things calm down- I like to spend hours on my Korean. I notice I max out at around 3 hours of active studying a day- at that point, I will listen by way of Drama and try to just listen for pronunciation, melody and tone while reading subtitles. I also now have a tutor on top of self study so that has added an extra two hours with her a week and then and extra 2 hours of homework

[@Learninglotsoflanguages]

I had been doing a couple hours a day since I started relearning Korean 15 months ago. Started a new job last month so I've been so tired and busy I've just tried for 15-30min. Building up to 45-1hr I hope now and I meet with my Korean friend once a week to talk because I was surprised offered a job in Korea for next year. Like I had just given up trying to move abroad and started a fun new thing in America and then a company got my name from someone and is interested in me leading the restart of their English program (at a school I use to be just a teacher at back in 2014). So I'm still deciding in that but bumping up my study in case I take the job. I dance around the upper intermediate/advanced level so these days it can be hard to not see that fast progress like the first 6 months of study but I know I have to keep going and the gains will come slowly but surely.

[@rashewelryraneses5368]

Thank you sir Billy

[@riaconradt2554]

What I sometimes do is make KZbin comments in Korean on some Korean KZbinrs‘ videos. It gives me some good practice. Everyday I make a point to do a few Duolingo exercises. I know it‘s not the best learning method but the repetition in the app exercises at least helps me with my vocabulary building. I do take formal lessons so I do part of my homework most days. What I‘m missing really is speaking practice. I only have it during my lessons…

[@natalytikholaz4475]

I started studying Korean long time ago, but I had huge breaks and gaps in studying, so there's some things that I remember well, such as reading and making easy sentences etc. This summer I started being more serious with my studies, so usually I take one or two grammar lessons (from your beginner course), some new vocabulary from books (maybe 10-20 words) and practice writing and saying all of that together, so if on Monday I had an hour of grammar, the rest week I spend up tp 40 mins a day to practice all that info and get used to it so it would be easy for me to make up sentences immediately, and I take new grammar only if I feel comfortable enought with the previous one. Also I revise material during the day so that would be plus 1 hour more (for example while driving I read all car plates numbers out loud in Korean as fluent as I can hehe (being an English tutor helps a lot with tackling all this routine)

[@matildaj4254]

Haha, 4 hours a day for Cantonese. You're really a maniac in language. 👍🏻😬 Without examination, I barely study. I studied a lot when I prepared for Topik I some years ago, then stopped over there. Now, I read articles in relation to things I like every day, such as actor's interview with the help of e-dictionery. I think I need to put up a better plan to master Korean. However, the more I learnt, the more I know that my initial goal of watching drama without subtitles is impossible.☺️ Consider that English as my second language, start learning when I was 5, as for now, daily conversation is fine but drama without subtitles is still hard for me. 😑☺️ Korean is .......

[@abudhabi9850]

Awesome Billy

[@catombomb3003]

I love reading comics and naver webtoon has so many comics that haven't been translated to english. So now that i can read Hangul and know a few basic words, i practice and learn while enjoying the comics!

[@WanderwithJon]

I am planning to study it and want to encorporate it with my slow progress with the other languages that I'm studying. I study French almost every day for about an hour or more. And I try to study (emphasis on try) Arabic at least 30mins every day. Although since Arabic has dialects, it's actually quite complicated to find contents that has my target dialect.

[@misuzu288]

English is not my native language, I've been learning English for about 1 year now. And my level is b1. in addition to that I started learning Korean a few days ago, and I already know hangul and some basic vocabulary. to be honest, it's kinda hard to learn 2 languages at the same time but I wanna keep doing it.

[@ihnamere]

Omg i'm listening to kpop like 8 hours a day, you telling me thats not enough 😅

[@CosmicGardener]

Talking about goals always gets me thinking. My native language is English and I have dyslexia and a.d.d. I grew up with Spanish around me alot and some stuck but not much sadly. And in highschool I took ASL to avoid struggling with written/spoken language again, if I had taken soemthing it would've been Spanish and I'd be keanring it for the 3rd time. I have always wanted to speak another language and my favorite languages mostly bc of the sounds they're made up of are Swedish and Korean. Korean has always felt more accessible and useful idk

[@keithng5249]

Billy your hangul language was what kicked off my Korean learning journey in mid 2018. If I'm not travelling I would put in about 30 minutes on average a day on the lesson (including a 2 hour lesson with a part timer once a week) Even till date I am still struggling to understand

[@keithng5249]

Korean dramas without subtitles, and your opening speech actually put to rest that it's very difficult to do so

[@happytrails1963]

Have study for over a year now and maybe average 1 hr a day. Took the break at times I study too hard. Have just start to get into it again and study maybe 6 hrs today but thats rarely able to do that. No wanting to be fluent but just would like good conversation understandings. Hoping to study japanese in the future. Had given some ideas about study the mandarin or cantonese some day but one step at time. Would enjoy trips to japan and south korea, maybe even china.

[@Beast_Bits]

Hey Billy um can u tell me how much time it'll took me to pass TOPIK 3 if I study 2 hours daily?? Am at low intermediate

[@paulwalther5237]

I did 8 hours a day of Japanese when I was living there too. There’s definitely diminishing returns and it’s past the sweet spot whatever the sweet spot is but the more the better I thought.

[@LearnKoreanABC]

오~ 캔토니즈도 배우셨어요? 대단하시네요! 👍 저는 홍콩에 사는데도 만다린만 할 줄 알거든요. 광둥어 공부를 다시 해야겠다는 생각이 드네요.

[@rebeccabeebe1]

So my delulu fantasy of marrying Namjoon is more tangible than watching Kdramas without subtitles 🤣🤣 thank you for feeding the dream.. but for real I really just want to be able to have basic conversations with Korean people when I get the chance to visit

[@delalima]

i've been studying for a long time now , never been to korea and have no one to practice with , i feel dissapointed and loosing motivation , i still want to go to korea though and practice the little i have learned

[@ImElliePaige]

Hi Billy! First I want to say, I love and appreciate your videos as they are one of my main sources for studying at the moment. I'd also like to ask, you mentioned that 1 or 2 months is too quick to become conversational. I know you were referring to Cantonese, but I'm wondering how long you think it would take to become conversational in Korean if I were to study for an hour a day? Google says it will take around 3 months to become conversational in Korean at that pace. However, that seems like a bit of a stretch. Thank you :)

[@GoBillyKorean]

I don't think anyone in history has ever become conversational in Korean in just 3 months before, but for other languages it could be possible with enough immersion/practice. I think it all will depend on how you're studying and how much time you're spending: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH7IgYZuhbSMp6M

[@ImElliePaige]

@@GoBillyKorean Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Yeah, Im not surprised google was way off with its answer, but I’m still motivated to learn no matter how long it takes! Thank you for all your hard work Billy :D

[@sarahpitwell]

Hi Billy, Thanks for calling us out on marrying BTS, but we can always dream can't we! I have been doing a minimum of 30 mins a day on vocab and grammar for about a year and a half. I am loving using the daily conversations in the Naver dictionary as a tool (that you recommended on another video) and just generally love studying Korean (with no plans to ever really speak to someone in Korean)

[@laurenbayarea7537]

I am in a weekly private tutoring class with one other student. We have listening, reading, and writing homework every week so I have to spend around 2 -3 hours avereage per day to keep up and be prepared for class. I usually take the day off after class just to give my brain a break but maybe I shouldn't do that? It takes me usually 4-6 hours to write a half page essay :( so sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the amount of time but I do enjoy it.

[@GoBillyKorean]

If you're enjoying it then it's fine, but it's important to avoid burnout. If you're able to manage that, I think it should be fine :)

[@laurenbayarea7537]

@@GoBillyKorean Its been 4 1/2 years since I first started taking classes and I have taken breaks when I have felt burnt out and always ended up coming back to it. I am not self disciplined enough to really self-study productively. A small private tutoring class keeps me accountable without feeling as stressful as a class with more students who were stronger at speaking/listening was starting to feel.

[@Logan-yi3dn]

@@laurenbayarea7537 I am going to start my journey of learning in the next few days and I’m worried because I’m not really self-disciplined as well. Would you recommend a class of some sort? I feel like that’d help me tremendously.

[@elizabethb7550]

What are some realistic expectations I should have for myself if I studied for one hour a day? Like how many days would it take to become conversational, etc?

[@misspriss2482]

Days? Oh hon. Months. Get used to the idea of months.

[@charW2013]

I just started a month ago and still working on rules and trying to get basic words. I study about 1hour a day using multiple methods. Is it helping, yes but it still seems slow since I don't really have someone to speak to. I can at least sound out words😊

[@Maidaseu]

Anyone know where is the best place to watch Korean variety shows?

[@blu9371]

I learn korean an hour or two hours per day in the weekdays and over 5 hours in the weekend

[@MJ-mh4uf]

Can you recommend any good korean youtubers to watch? Thank you!

[@eundongpark1672]

i study anything from 15 mins to 3 hours a day. I try to do at least 3 grammar lessons a week (but often up to 7 per week, but that often involves reviewing old lessons) an active listening session, and daily flashcard-style vocab (using words AND sentence flashcards). I also do various other activities as suits my mood, including reading (short stories), writing (texting my korean friend in korean, and in the past journalling) and up until a couple of months ago, conversation (until my korean friend returned to Korea). I switch up my focus about 3-4 times a year and when I finish my current grammar book, I plan to go back to daily reading and journaling until next year. I'll order the next grammar level book for christmas 😊 and get back to it next year

[@smyle4690]

Hi Billy, in your book Korean made easy, do you suggest to study one chapter a day? thank you in advance 🤗😊

[@GoBillyKorean]

I wouldn't recommend moving through it that quickly, unless you're able to properly practice/absorb the info. In the early few chapters it might be fine if you're really studying hard, but later on you'll definitely want to give yourself plenty of time to practice before moving to the next chapter.

[@smyle4690]

@@GoBillyKorean 정말 감사합니다 😊

[@MrPorcShop1]

Only like 15-30 min of voca/grammar with flashcards, gotta implement some new techinques.

[@camilladanaher1678]

Not me being called out early on for falling asleep to Korean ASMR lmao

[@AmbiCahira]

I have ADHD so I can get pretty obsessive in my interests so my most intensive days I can study 13 hours in a day with variation throughout the day of study books, gaming in Korean (not for long since it doesn't feel intense enough those days), watching without subtitles to try to understand with what I know and look up words that I clearly hear stand out to me, webtoon reading and look up words when context isn't enough to understand, and radio or podcast when for example eating etc. When I watch with subtitles I do my best to hear what they say and subtitles are like a parachute aid if I didn't understand. When I have those intense periods I usually take a week or two off to avoid burnout and those weeks are more passive input. Less intense periods I study with books maybe 20-40 minutes and the rest of the day I just do my usual entertainment that just so happens to have Korean in it so it's a natural part of my day without efforts, like netflix or youtube or instagram. I might also check pinterest or google or naver by trying to do my searches in Korean if I can. At my most severe though I do my best to turn my brain into mush, kind of like a gym rat that want to push to failure. I love the feeling of completely exhausting my brain.

[@limnaee1812]

I’m studying 6 hours a day (5 at school, 1 at home)

[@ravenlayug5326]

Is Duolingo App, sir, good for studying Korean?

[@limnaee1812]

I would say, more as an extra tool, not the nr 1 thing u want to use

[@ravenlayug5326]

@@limnaee1812 thank you very much sister😄.

[@user-qh9vj8lw3t]

My goal is to work in korea

[@vncntjms]

Is there an app that lets you practice speaking

[@michellegreenwood3901]

Look up Korean beginners on KZbin they are great

[@2dsimp412]

Yea there is it's called "Teuida" it's honeslty very fun and it has like bite size lessons to help u with vocab and stuff u should try it :>

[@munashemutanga8254]

2Questions 1.how long (roughly) will it take to understand Kdramas? 2.빌리 씨 100% 한국어 드라마를 이해합니다.? 빌리 씨 가능하면 저에게 대답 합니다 감사합니다!

[@MrEasiertolie]

Dream of watching Korean without subs, shattered. 😭

[@marinelaismaili5219]

he forgot some of us are going to school😭

[@otherworldRestaurant]

나도 주한미군 방송들은지 1년이 넘엇는데 그대로인거 같어.....

[@nwoletmein]

At 1:08, you said "Watching Korean dramas without subtitles is a far fetched goal," implying it would be more viable to attempt to marry a BTS member. Should I take this as an admission that you, to this day, have failed to reach this goal despite all the years of learning you have put in?

[@GoBillyKorean]

It depends on the drama. Regular dramas are fine, but I wouldn't be able to follow a medical drama or crime drama 100% without a bit of help. Those use a lot of vocabulary I simply never get exposed to in my regular studies. It would be like trying to watch "House" in English and understand it 100% completely without knowing any of the medical jargon. The same thing applies to historical dramas, because those use older style Korean. But that's fine for me since I don't enjoy watching dramas anyway.

[@nwoletmein]

@@GoBillyKorean I think the goal of most people (such as myself) who want to understand dramas is to be fluent enough to understand most of what people really say. Historical dramas are consequently a bit beyond what most learners are shooting for.

[@GoBillyKorean]

"Most" is going to be a realistic goal for any sort of Korean media. I think if your goal is "mostly" it's realistic if you're someone who's studying and practicing, even if you're not grinding 12 hours a day :)

[@rsidency]

"their goal is to marry a bts member" has me CACKLING

[@myrlarefugia]

Someone’s boss told her that she’s wasting her time learning Korean as a third language. 💔

[@seujk97]

😅lol to marry a BTS member 💜💜

[@adfdcdcxc]

marry a bts member. lolllllll

[@LeenaBusan1980]

Do you own any other shirts