나의 우주: Chapter 36 Reason: I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, it moves at a very relaxed pace and I couldn’t endure reading it on the daily pass. At the same time, I didn’t like it enough to pay for it. Level: Very easy.
Paused
우아한 욕망: Chapter 5 Reason: It is hard, but it’s interesting enough that I don’t mind. I’m just pausing to read Heesoo.
저녁 같이 드실래요?: Page 100 something Reason: I didn’t enjoy this one at all. I’ll start reading it again once my skill improves so then at least my suffering will be short.
내가 사랑한 물고기: Chapter 1 Reason: The chaebol mermaid killed my interest, but I’ll try it again when it’s not such a big effort investment.
This is great! I’d been looking at webtoons to read, so I’ll look into some of those!
If you’re looking to add another one to your list, I strongly recommend 호랑이 들어와요 | L20. It’s very cute and wholesome. 나나이랑 그루’s one fine day | L21 is another nice one, with similar vibes.
Which one are you planning on reading next? I’ve recently started 저녁 같이 드실래요? | L24??.
Also, more of a personal question, do you read one thing at a time or everything at once?I’m very much from the second group, but I’m curious. Am I the only one with 20 books on my “reading” list?
I actually bought 호랑이 들어와요 today! It does look really cute.
I meant to buy just that one, but ended up buying four books which include 연의 편지 and 허니블러드. So there is a chance I’ll start one of those first instead. Whatever it is, I should be starting next week.
나나이랑 그루’s I haven’t heard of before, I’ll check it out.
Generally one at a time. I only look at other books if I’m losing interest in the first. But I’m not a series finisher. I usually drop after volume one and move on. Heesoo will be an exception because I got the set, I’ll just space it out.
I don’t think I could juggle 20 stories! You manage to keep up with them all?
Yeah! What’s nice is that both grammar and vocab are fairly simple. It’s really mostly daily life, romance and lots of food. I repeat, a lot of food, so this is not a webtoon one should read while hungry. The story is quite nice, not something that I would rave about but still. It makes for a pretty chill read, at least at my level I can pretty much understand what’s happening without any lookups, so that’s nice.
The thing is, I get bored in the middle of reading most books, so I switch it up, read something else, and the same thing happens again, and again. And then at some point I’m interested in reading that first book again, so it’s sort of a cycle. So we’re similar on that point, you just tend to finish more volumes before switching to something else and don’t go back, while I stop in the middle and come back to it later.
So far, I’ve been holding on pretty well with Korean, I just need to go finish some graded readers I’d started a while ago which are not the best, but I also bought them so I don’t want to waste them.
When reading in a foreign language where I’m still not advanced, I also like to vary the level of what I read, with easier stuff that I can just breeze through, things that I can read without lookups but where I need to think a lot more to guess some word/gramar to understand what’s happening and things where I need to do lookups for vocab or even grammar a lot.
But then that’s sort of a dumb justification, because I have over 80 tabs of ao3 open on my phone bowser anyways, so… I guess I’m just like that.
Nice! It’s great to have a cozy book that you can just casually enjoy. I checked my copy and I stopped just a little bit ahead of where you are on page 133. You’re sure to pass me before I pick it up again though. Come back and tell me how the romance pans out if it crosses your mind when you get there! I am curious how those two characters will be as a couple.
Ohhh I see. I’m exactly that way with TV shows. If I don’t binge watch the whole thing immediately, I’ll lose interest. It’s just books that are different for me somehow.
Honestly that makes a lot of sense. I’ve done that by mistake with Japanese and it was very nice to read an easy book and see my progress. Then it was also nice to read a hard one and see the road ahead. Maybe I should double up in Korean. You’re unintentionally convincing me.
Ooh I didn’t realize it would be that soon. That’s exciting news! I think the 19+ gate will still catch most of the things on my to-read list, but I’m happy for any expansion.
I feel like I should post weekly progress updates. I mostly read on weekends, so Monday seems right.
Last week I read 165 pages. All from 2반 이희수 1. My opinion of it improves the more I read.
Opinion So Far
From the start, I found the characters pretty frustrating. But in a lovable kind of way? Their behavior is very realistic for their ages. The leads are starting to get closer now and I’m loving it. It has also led to more adorable Heesoo panels. He is so very cute and the reason I bought the series at all.
Difficulty
In terms of difficulty, it’s not bad at all. Even though my vocabulary is small, I don’t feel like I’m struggling since the grammar is simple. Piecing together all the words to make some sense out of things is fun. Words get repeated a lot too so I’m picking up a lot without making flashcards.
I do write down every word that I don’t know or don’t consider “learned” though. The blue means I’ve seen that word before. This is a good density of blue.
Other Stuff
I also did some speaking practice with a language partner friend. I made a list of words I had to look up while we were talking…and then lost it somewhere in the sheets of my binder lol. I’m sure I’ll come across it eventually. It was good to speak again but I do miss talking to my italki teacher.
Next Week’s Goals
Start journaling in Korean again.
Do at least 30 minutes of listening. (This is hard to do because I can’t stop reading).
I love the idea of a webtoon log! I’m somewhere between upper beginner and lower intermediate in Korean, so I haven’t read too many in Korean yet, but I adore reading webtoons. I just started this webtoon yesterday: 하렘에서 살아남기. It’s hilarious and isn’t as difficult as I thought that it would be.
I’m basically in the same spot as you when it comes to skill and webtoon reading.
I checked out your link and that one really isn’t too hard! I always avoid historical settings despite them being my favorite because I expect a lot of dated vocabulary. I only read a bit. Do old-timey words pop up much?
I had to cram last month to meet my monthly manga quota in the last week and immediately fell off posting here.
Anyway, I did start 호랑이 들어와요 weeks ago. I loaned it out to a friend before I had the chance to get in deep though. I can say it’s harder than Heesoo but not by too much.
In the mean time, I’ve started Your Smile is a Trap. It’s completely on par with Heesoo in terms of difficulty. It’s also pretty cute so far. The character dynamic is incredibly up my alley. I’m still quite early in this webtoon, but I would recommend it at this point.
Personally finished webtoons are a good choice. I always read about the newly well-developed platform ntoki. it is the best one for all types of ages in south korean and the USA.
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= I don’t know anything about this book but a friend recommended it.
