Study Abroad In Korea?

[Guest be_mellow]

What about Graduate School of International Studies

Korea University

[Guest hello_se7en]

it's possible for credits for those study abroad credits to count as credits here right?

for example, i go to a community college and i'm halfway through my 60 credits to transfer. but what if i wanted to spend like half a year in korea with english taught courses, would that credit count for my transfer? like if it was econ or something?

[little mixed girl]

^ i don't think that community colleges offer study abroad.

i think you'd have to go through a university.

and if u want to know what transfers and what doesn't, you should ask your counselor.

each school is different.

[Guest clairdeluned]

Just a question (a little random), but what do you mean to not dress "scandalously"....summer clothes are all a bit "scandalous", aren't they?

[Guest Pao]

wow... this discussion is a lot of help... thanks.

i'm going to Korea this March as an exchange student at some University (not Yonsei or SNU though...) and i am all excited and stuff cos i really really wanna go... but then the U that i'll go to WILL NOT offer Korean language programs because they're new to the exchange thingy... i'm the first international student that they'll have... so, i will take normal subjects and try to learn korean on my own...

i'm not korean and my proficiency in the language is only mid-level... most of my friends are encouraging me to go because it's a good opportunity and a very good learning experience and they said that it'd be good cos i'd be forced to learn korean...

that's also what i think whenever i think positively.. but sometimes, i get all apprehensive about it...

what do you guys think?

[Tamago86]

^Wow that sounds exactly what I'm doing only with Japan instead of Korea ie a school that's never had an international student and does not offer language classes so I have to take normal subjects, etc..

And you must do it! Because you'll be doing something that most people will never get the chance to (and that most people on this forum dream of); going to a real Korean school and being the only foreigner there. It'll also be easier for you to make korean friends because there will be no other foreigners for you to talk to or hang out with, so you'll be forced to speak in Korean most of the time. You'll learn alot but it'll also be alot of hard work

[Guest hello_se7en]

^ i don't think that community colleges offer study abroad.

i think you'd have to go through a university.

and if u want to know what transfers and what doesn't, you should ask your counselor.

each school is different.

community colleges offer study abroad. in fact, my school has programs to spain and austrailia and other countries. they jsut dont have a specific program for korea, that's just something i wanted to do on my own...

and you're right, i should probably ask a counselor.

[Guest dkstariob]

I would love to study abroad. I'm thinking about doing it next year.

[Guest Pao]

whoah.... Tamago thanks for replying! you're actually the person i'm looking for because i remember you talking about your experience being in a jap school with totally no english to get by.... well, you made lotsa points there which i really am thinking about... thanks.

[Guest aaandy]

wow... this discussion is a lot of help... thanks.

i'm going to Korea this March as an exchange student at some University (not Yonsei or SNU though...) and i am all excited and stuff cos i really really wanna go... but then the U that i'll go to WILL NOT offer Korean language programs because they're new to the exchange thingy... i'm the first international student that they'll have... so, i will take normal subjects and try to learn korean on my own...

i'm not korean and my proficiency in the language is only mid-level... most of my friends are encouraging me to go because it's a good opportunity and a very good learning experience and they said that it'd be good cos i'd be forced to learn korean...

that's also what i think whenever i think positively.. but sometimes, i get all apprehensive about it...

what do you guys think?

Go for it! I'm going to Yonsei once I transfer to University Of Washington. I'm currently learning Korean as well. Lucky for me though, the college I'm at now offers Korean (which I'm taking) as well as UW. It's going to be hard but once I decided this it gives me alot of motivation to work hard and study more.

If you want to know of some Korean resources to help you study pm me.

Haha, it was stated by the CIA that if your native language is English, Korean is in the top 4 of the hardest languages to obtain professional profiency in. They said on average it takes 8 years of study/practice. Sucks, because I also plan on learning Japanese as well.

[Guest Pao]

hey andy!

well... my school also offers korean language but i only took about 3 units (which were not credited to my course because i'm a journ major) and some extra korean subjects from a language center... and i'm still unconfident with my korean, so... being in an all-korean-speaking school is really... o.O

*really, that's interesting.. what's the hardest language to learn then if Korean is number 4?

[Guest aaandy]

According to the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Institute, Japanese is one of the most difficult languages to learn. The Institute, which oversees the training of U.S. diplomats, catagorizes languages into four groups, from Category 1 (easiest to learn) to Category 4 (most difficult). Japanese is a Category 4 language—one of four—the others being Arabic, Chinese, and Korean. Here is the complete breakdown for the major languages:

Category 1

To attain "professional" proficiency:24 weeks of full-time study (according to the Institute)

Danish

Dutch

French

Italian

Norwegian

Portuguese

Romanian

Spanish

Swahili

Swedish

Category 2

To attain "professional" proficiency:32 weeks of full-time study

Bulgarian

Dari

German

Greek

Hindi

Hausa

Indonesian

Malay

Urdu

Category 3

To attain "professional" proficiency:44 weeks of full-time study

Amharic

Armenian

Azeri

Bengali

Burmese

Czech

Finnish

Georgian

Hebrew

Hungarian

Kazakh

Kyrgyz

Khmer

Lao

Nepali

Filipino (Tagalog)

Polish

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Sinhala

Thai

Tamil

Turkish

Uzbek

Vietnamese

Category 4

To attain "professional" proficiency:88 weeks of full-time study

Arabic

Chinese

Japanese

Korean

[Guest Pao]

oh... that's interesting.. thanks!!~

Tamago

i was reading your xanga.... were you fluent in japanese even before coming to Japan? cos my korean is very elementary... and i have to take college subjects. so.... my problem.

[Tamago86]

oh... that's interesting.. thanks!!~

Tamago

i was reading your xanga.... were you fluent in japanese even before coming to Japan? cos my korean is very elementary... and i have to take college subjects. so.... my problem.

Haha no I wasn't fluent before coming here, I'm not even fluent now Like aandy said Category 4 languages take quite a long time to master. I was surprised to see French listed as a Category 1 (easy) language, it's certainly harder than something like Danish.

I did have alot of training before I came to Japan though, in the form of an intensive language program. The program was 8-9 hours of Japanese a day (except weekends) and lasted for 1 whole year, and focused mainly on speaking and listening (which should be your number 1 priority). At the end of that course I was able to understand lectures and classes etc. in Japanese with only needing to look up specialized vocabulary words (things like homeostasis and ionization @_@). At the end of that intensive course students are usually considered high-intermediate, which is accurate I think

So anyways, if you're worried about how you're going to do in Korea I suggest you get some tapes or Korean language CDs and study the spoken language and improve your listening as much as you can before going (kpop songs and dramas do NOT count). You can find some pretty good links in the Korean help thread in the General Discussion forum and the people there can help you if you have questions. General stress on language classes is usually reading-writing-listening-speaking in that order, where the true stress should be put in the opposite order...If you took a Korean person who could speak fluent Korean but couldn't read or write it then it would take him a matter of days to learn that, but if you took a Korean person who could only read or write and tried to teach him the spoken language it would take a long time.

As for the school subjects, I asked the teacher sponsporing me to mail me the textbooks a few months before I was going to Japan so I was able to study them in advance and jump right in when I arrived. Maybe you should try that too

[Guest Pao]

oh... is that so? i don't have intensive korean courses and it'd be too late to take intensive classes now cos i'll leave in two weeks or so... but i have my language books and could pretty much understand what's written there so i could study on my own...

much luck to me... thanks!!~

[Guest luvxholic]

i'm plannin to go study abroad durin the summer at yonsei in 07 i cant waiii....and yes you do get 9-13 units that gets transferred

[little mixed girl]

Just a question (a little random), but what do you mean to not dress "scandalously"....summer clothes are all a bit "scandalous", aren't they?

like nothing too low cut.

shorts shouldn't be too short.

stuff showing ur boobies...only wear it at night...if that...

like, last summer i wore some short shorts, and i think i was the ONLY person in korea with a pair...even tho the sell similar kinds at california W.h.oAU...

[Guest luvxholic]

^^ yeah i couldn't even wear a spaghetti strap by itself it felt kinda weird tank tops are okay though

[Guest aznfury]

wow ... i love this post

I am a senior at San Diego State University (SDSU) and majoring in Electrical Engineering. I have always wanted to study-abroad somewhere in East Asia during the summer and The International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) offers two summer sessions to Korea, one for Yonsei University in Seoul and one for Ajou University in Suwon. I'm leaning towards Yonsei since it's such a prestigious university in Korea and from past reviews here it sounds fun. Anyone know if Ajou University is any good during the summer?

I am actually quite scared of being one of those Non-Korean-Americans outcasts as I am Filipino-American. Also, I don't know squat of Korean, just a few phrases and can read most of the hangul script.

I just have a few questions for those who have already gone.

1.) I have never travelled alone, more worse to another foreign country, so when should I schedule my trip to Korea? Should it be the day before school starts or earlier?

2.) Is VISA accepted there in Korea? Hopefully, some sort of International VISA. Or am I better off with Traveller's Cheques? I want some form of emergency credit that's wired to the USA just in case.

3.) What is the voltage in Korea? I know in Japan its 110V, USA is 120V, and Philippines is 220V. I don't want to fry my laptop

4.) How much do male haircuts cost in Korea? Is it hard to find a barber shop? I'm thinkin' of bringin my clipper but I'm doubtful my future roommate would know how to cut hair. (Gotta have nice trim if I'm stayin there for a month heheh )

Here is more info on the two programs ISEP is offering this summer.

Korean and Asian Studies

Ajou University

Six-week summer program in Korean and Asian Studies. Intensive Korean, East Asian/Korean studies, and International Business courses in English. Language options: beginning or intermediate level (advanced offered if sufficient demand exists). Weekly cultural workshops in traditional Korean calligraphy, music, archery, pottery making and martial arts. From summer 2006, the program will be open to local Ajou students as well.

For more information: http://www.ajou.ac.kr/~iss

Special offers: FREE fieldtrip to historical sites in Korea and Korean Buddy Program

Program type: Exchange; open to U.S. and Multilateral students

Dates: June 28 - August 11, 2006

Korean and Asian Studies

Yonsei University

Six-week summer program focusing on Korea and East Asia. Optional pre-session field trip to tour major places of interest outside of Seoul. On Wednesdays, students participate in special activities: Geomdo, Taekwondo, ceramics, bamboo flute, folk music, calligraphy, painting, and pottery.

For more information visit: http://165.132.13.12/~ysid/summer/

Program type: Exchange; open to U.S. and Multilateral students

Dates: June 22 - August 5, 2006

[kilaalaa]

Actually I've just applied to go to Yonsei for Fall 06. So if everything goes well, I'll be in Korea in August! I can't wait!

I'm not Korean or Korean-American. TT___TT

1) You said non-koreans tended to stick together? Do the europeans tend to stick together? And then the Japanese together? Or what? I'm just kinda curious about this..

2) When you were in Korea, how much did you spend per month? Like on food and entertainment and shopping and what not...

3) How did you handle your money? By this I mean, how did you bring the money to Korea? Did you start a bank account in Korea or did you just relied on your credit card?

4) How many days before the start of school do you think I should arrive in Korea?

Thanks in advance! (I hope my exchange application gets approved soon...)