This year, one of my many resolutions was not only to learn, but also teach myself Korean.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Autumn, why do you need to learn Korean?"

And to answer that... I want to move there for awhile after I graduate to teach English.

And your second question is probably looking a little something like this: "What made you want to do that? Where did you get the idea?"

Okay, technically that's two questions, but they're the same. So, allow me to answer. A few years ago, when I was maybe 10(?), I had a tutor who took a year off to teach English in Korea. I thought she was so cool for doing it that I wanted to do it too. And when my 10-year-old self decided she was going to do this, she didn't know she needed a college degree first -- technicalities and whatnot. So fast forward almost another 10 years, and I'm 2 years away from my degree. So, I have to get serious. And first step would be being fluent in Korean, right? I started teaching myself in January.

I'm one month in, and I've already learned how to read and write in Hangul, or the Korean alphabet. At first, it sucked. It was really hard, and I thought I was going to lose my mind, and never go to Korea... but then I found this really awesome Hangul chart:

And once I got this, It took me maybe an hour to be able to read and write Hangul. And, while I'm far from perfect, being able to read well enough to sound things out and get by is pretty nice. Practice makes perfect, right?

Another awesome resource I found this book, Korean From Zero. You can download the first book of lessons free from the above link, and then you can buy the second from the website or on Amazon. But, seriously, it's worth the money. It gives you lessons and audio files to help you with pronunciation. And the best part is that it was developed by Americans who taught English in Korea! So they know the struggles of learning the language, and made it simple and easy to learn.

If you're not one for reading, you can download a few apps. I have one that teaches basic phrases such as 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), which is Korean for hello. My app has the phrase in Hangul and romanized English, and it also comes with a switch to change pitch and speed to help you comprehend. It's really good to help you get around and ask for directions, or just if you need a travel companion while you're actually abroad. There's even a little section for dating and pick-up lines which I personally find hilarious. Although, if you don't wanna spend $4.99... then you won't get full access to all the phrases. There's also Duolingo, a really great app for learning a lot of languages. They're currently working on developing a Korean program, which I'm excited to test out!

So yeah, there you have it: all the resources I've used to learn Korean so far. And, if you want to learn a language, just remember that it's never too hard or too late. If you just pace yourself, you'll be fluent in no time. Good luck!