The fastest way to learn Korean is to spend most of your study time on Korean you can mostly understand. That kind of Korean is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- First Week
I can't read Hangul yet.
Learn Hangul 40 min. Listen 20 min.
Hangul has 24 basic letters, 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Learn them first, and listen to easy Korean while you do, so the sounds start to feel familiar.
- Level 1
I can sound out words but not much else.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short dialogues with audio and a translation, and listen to each one twice. Review the words you saved, then say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation and look up only the words that stop you. Retell what you read in a few sentences, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Add easy news and short stories about things you like, and listen to each lesson once more without reading along. Talk about what you read for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch variety shows and dramas with Korean subtitles, one episode a week, and read a lesson about the episode afterwards.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch dramas without subtitles and read webtoons and articles, and look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read novels and the news, and talk about them, for their own sake.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Korean?
Korean takes about 2,200 class hours to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Korean in its hardest group for English speakers, with Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Arabic.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish, French | Category I | 30 |
| German, Indonesian | Category II | 36 |
| Russian, Vietnamese | Category III | 44 |
| Korean, Japanese, Mandarin | Category IV | 88 |
Yonsei University's Korean Language Institute teaches 200 class hours per level, so its first two levels take 400 hours and all six take 1,200. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Yonsei Levels 1–2 (400 hours) | All six Yonsei levels (1,200 hours) | FSI professional fluency (2,200 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 2 years | About 6½ years | About 12 years |
| 7 hours | About 13 months | About 3⅓ years | About 6 years |
| 14 hours | About 7 months | About 20 months | About 3 years |
| 28 hours | About 3 months | About 10 months | About 1½ years |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Korean on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- RomanizationIt hides Korean sounds, and you will have to unlearn it later.
- Word Lists AloneWords learned with no sentence around them are easy to forget.
- Content Far Too HardA drama where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Korean app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Korean, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Korean app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Korean in three months?
You can learn Hangul and enough Korean to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than half of Yonsei's first two levels.
How much should I study Korean each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Korean you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Korean hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: it is in the hardest group, with Japanese and Mandarin. The alphabet is the easy part, and most of the time goes into the words and grammar, which you pick up fastest from Korean you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Hangul course and the Korean lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
