안녕하세요!토미입니다.
Today, I would like to introduce you to the method of memorizing 1600 words in a month.
In order to accomplish this within a month, you should study 45 minutes a day intensively.
I will show you 4 steps, using 1,671 words that appear in my listening video of the beginner level of TOPIK.
These four steps are following.
First, from day 1 to day 4, you will memorize the accurate pronunciation of Korean words.
Second, from Day 5 to Day 14, you read aloud the Korean and English words in one second per word.
Third, from Day 15 to Day 26, you hide the English meaning and look at the Korean words and see if you can say the English meaning instantly .
Fourth, from day 27 to day 30, do the final check with my listening videos.
As you can see, within a month, you will master 1600 words with this method.
If you think that you are not good at memorizing words, I highly recommend you should try this method.
However, I recommend this method for students who already know the basic rules of Korean pronunciation and can read Hangul.
So if you can’t read Hangul yet, please start studying Hangul first.
Now, I will explain these four steps in more detail.
그럼 시작할게요！
Things to Prepare
Before I explain the methods, you need to have five things to prepare.
First, a video of 1600 words that I made.
Second, the vocabulary book of beginner’s level words.
You can download it from my website and print it out.
I put the link below, so please check it out.
Third, a timer. You will study intensively for 45 minutes, and you use it for time management.
You can also use a smartphone timer.
But, I like using the kitchen timer like this because if I use my smartphone, I get distracted easily because of the SNS alarm and notifications.
And one sheet of A4 paper to check words.
And last but not least, a pen.
Now, I will introduce the specific method step by step.
Step 1 : Memorizing pronunciation
From day 1 to day 4, you will focus on mastering the accurate pronunciation.
Of course, as I said before, this method is for students who can read Korean words, but some words may change pronunciation irregularly, so it is necessary to check once.
If you remember the wrong pronunciation, you cannot hear the words in the listening part, so it is going to be a waste of time.
And you don’t want that to happen.
Therefore, please be sure to check the correct pronunciation and try to memorize both the pronunciation and the letter of the word.
First, please sit in front of my video, follow the words with your eyes, and read Korean and English, following my voice.
It would be good if you could check liaison, pronunciation of batchim, and so on.
For example, you can pay attention to the differences in pronunciation such as 자 in 한자 is ccha, but 자 in 감자 is ja.
At this point, rather than trying to memorize the meaning of English words, try your best to pronounce them correctly.
My listening video is about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, so you can finish checking your pronunciation in 4 days.
Korean does not have as many irregular pronunciation changes as English, so if you are already familiar with the pronunciation, you can skip this step 1 and start with step 2.
If you are just learning the rules of Korean pronunciation, please make sure to follow this step1.
Step 2 : Read through the wordbook 10 times
During the 10 days from Day 5 to Day 14, you will finally memorize the words.
The method is called the “1 second memorization”.
To put it simply, read aloud the Korean and English words in one second per word.
From this point on, use the vocabulary book that you downloaded from my website.
You do this for all 1600 words, and when you are done, repeat from the first page and continue doing until you have completed 10 rounds.
The point here is not to memorize the words slowly, but to read them rapidly.
Don’t stop and think in the middle of this process, but read through with a good rhythm.
Another point is to read aloud.
It may be difficult to do this on the train or in the library, but if you read aloud as much as possible, it will be easier to retain the information in your memory.
Also, you don’t have to do it sitting down, you can do it while lying down or standing up, just aim to do one lap a day.
There are 2 reasons why you should do this.
The first reason is that the most important thing in memorization is repetition.
10 times is better than 1 time, right? The same goes for memorizing words.
The more you see a word, hear it, and read it aloud, the more you will remember it.
Another reason is that the moment you see a Korean word in reading or listening, if you can’t recall its meaning within a second, you’re out.
This is true in exams as well as in daily conversations with native speakers.
Because if you have to take seconds to remember the meaning of a word, you will not be able to hold a conversation.
Therefore, the one-second memorization method is very effective as a way to practice recalling the meaning in one second.
So, if you can, it’s better to do 20 rounds or even 100 rounds, not just 10, but please try to do at least 10 rounds.
By the way, one word per second actually takes about 1.5 seconds on average.
So, 1600 words can be completed in about 45 minutes, which means you can complete 10 rounds in 10 days.
Step 3 : Go around the word book 3 times (12 days)
During the 12 days from Day 15 to Day 26, you will use a vocabulary book to check if you are remembering the words.
It’s easy to do, just hide the English meaning on an A4 paper, look at the Korean and see if you can say the English meaning right away.
I think that A4 paper is easier to use if it is folded in half.
Again, don’t try too hard to recall the words you don’t say immediately.
If you cannot answer a word within a second, look at the answer right away.
On the other hand, if you know the meaning of a word, mark ○ with a pen.
Once you have circled all the words on the first page, continue with the second and third pages.
When you have finished the last 21 pages, start the memorization check again from page 1.
You can put ○ in different places, or you can print out the wordbook again.
Repeat this process a total of 3 times.
At 1.5 seconds per word, it will take you about 2 minutes to go through each page.
If you think that you will be able to check all 80 words in 4 or 5 times, you will be able to finish checking 80 words in 10 minutes.
This means that you can check 320 to 400 words in 45 minutes, so you can complete the first lap in 5 days.
Naturally, the second and third rounds will be even faster, so if we assume that the second round takes 4 days and the third round 3 days, we can complete 3 rounds of memorizing 1600 words in 12 days.
Step 4 : Final check in listening
During the last 4 days, from day 27 to day 30, you will do your final check.
If you’ve made it this far, you should have memorized quite a few words by now.
However, since you have been reading the words aloud with your own voice and memorizing them with your own pronunciation.
It often happens that when someone else pronounces the same word, you can’t get the meaning of the word even though you know it.
So the last step is to check your memorization by listening to my listening videos.
The way to do this is to listen to the video without looking at the screen.
In my listening videos, the words are read in the order of Korean and English.
But there is a slight pause between the Korean and English.
So after the Korean is read and before the English meaning is read, say the English meaning out loud.
In fact, you should be able to answer the meaning of most of the words at this point.
So please think of this step as the final confirmation.
If there was a word that you could not say the English meaning, check it in your vocabulary book and try to memorize them.
This video is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, so 4 days is enough time to finish it, including the memorization check.
This is how to memorize the words.
This method is not limited to Korean, but can be applied to Japanese and other languages as well, so please try it out.
If you have more time to study, you can do 20 rounds or 5 rounds of memorization check.
45 minutes is the time to concentrate on studying, but if you can listen to my videos during other times, such as commuting, cooking, or driving, you will be able to memorize more.
By the way, I do not recommend writing so many times like 100 times because it takes a lot of time and is not very effective.
So please try to memorize with your eyes and ears first.
Once you memorize words with your eyes and ears, you can write them down to check the right spelling.
Summary
Memorizing words is sometimes the first and most difficult step in learning a language.
In my experience, many people fail at memorizing words because it is a very tedious task.
So, please refer to this memorization method and set a clear goal, such as 1,600 words per month, and then move on to conversation and grammar.
To summarize, from day 1 to day 4, you will focus on listening to the accurate pronunciation of Korean words.
From Day 5 to Day 14, you will read through Korean and English words within one second per word, which I called “1 second memorization method.”
Day 15 to Day 26, you will test yourself by covering the English part of the vocabulary book.
You will mark the words you can answer well.
From day 27 to day 30, you will do your final checkup.
You listen to my listening videos.
When my audio says Korean, you will immediately read out the English meaning.
Do you get these four steps?
For additional note, I also recommend that you write down your schedule and goals for each step on a calendar and announce them to your family.
Like “Mom, my goal is to conquer 1600 words! I want to be able to listen to Korean dramas!” Believe it or not, this kind of proclamation will help you stay motivated.
Have fun learning Korean!
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요！ 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅！！
