I learn a lot about the Korean language at church - not just from listening to the sermons in Korean (thankfully I have a high schooler friend who translates for me now) or chatting with the people during lunch. I think one of the most effective ways I've improved my Korean besides actually studying with a textbook has been singing the worship songs.
These days the kind folks who make the slides often have English versions of the lyrics underneath the hangeul, so even though I may know some of the words or pieces of the grammar, being able to read both the Korean and the English helps me learn new vocabulary and grammatical structures. Singing in Korean helps my reading of hangeul a lot because the song won't wait for you - you can either sing the Korean or you can't. It also helps with words that are tricky to pronounce because it's an easy, repetitive way to learn and practice hard pronunciations.
And that's another thing that helps me: repetition. While listening to preaching or conversations in Korean, that important sentence is usually just spoken once, and even if you know most of the words and some of the grammar, if you don't get it in an instant your chance at comprehension disappears as the speaker moves on to their next sentences. But with a song, especially more modern worship songs, the chorus is very frequently repeated and often even the verses are, too. There have been several times when I thought I didn't understand the lyrics of a song only to come back around to them again and realize, "Oh, wait! I know that word! I recognize that sentence structure!"
And, of course, once you memorize at least some of the lyrics of a song, whenever it gets stuck in your head you can do yourself a favor by singing it - and honing your Korean at the same time.
These days the kind folks who make the slides often have English versions of the lyrics underneath the hangeul, so even though I may know some of the words or pieces of the grammar, being able to read both the Korean and the English helps me learn new vocabulary and grammatical structures. Singing in Korean helps my reading of hangeul a lot because the song won't wait for you - you can either sing the Korean or you can't. It also helps with words that are tricky to pronounce because it's an easy, repetitive way to learn and practice hard pronunciations.
And that's another thing that helps me: repetition. While listening to preaching or conversations in Korean, that important sentence is usually just spoken once, and even if you know most of the words and some of the grammar, if you don't get it in an instant your chance at comprehension disappears as the speaker moves on to their next sentences. But with a song, especially more modern worship songs, the chorus is very frequently repeated and often even the verses are, too. There have been several times when I thought I didn't understand the lyrics of a song only to come back around to them again and realize, "Oh, wait! I know that word! I recognize that sentence structure!"
And, of course, once you memorize at least some of the lyrics of a song, whenever it gets stuck in your head you can do yourself a favor by singing it - and honing your Korean at the same time.
