Did you know Korean news can also be an excellent tool for furthering your Korean language learning?
As a helpful tool that keeps us up to date on tens of thousands of new information, many read the news at least once daily. Besides being a great way to teach us about current events and offering other helpful information, we can also learn a bunch of vocabulary from the news!
Read on as we learn more about utilizing news for learning Korean.
Contents
What is “news” in Korean?
There are two Korean words for “news,” which are 소식 (sosik) and 뉴스 (nyuseu).
How can Korean news help with Korean practice?
Obviously, reading Korean news serves as excellent practice for reading comprehension. And similarly, listening to Korean news will give your listening comprehension a great exercise.
However, besides these two skills, news in Korean can also help expand your vocabulary.
Besides that, reading local news from any South Korean newspaper serves as a gateway to a better understanding of Korean culture and society – and even other aspects, such as the economy or geography of Korea. It’s also a free tool to use!
Korean news sources
Below we’ve listed a few sources from which you can find news from South Korea.
Korean newspapers
동아일보 (dongailbo) is one of South Korea’s main newspaper outlets, as well as one of its oldest. It is a great source for the news itself, actually; however, its section for children, Kids Donga (어린이동아, eorinidonga), can prove to be especially useful if you are still getting started with reading practices.
Besides 동아일보 (dongailbo), there are a few others you may also want to refer to. One is 중앙일보 (jungangilbo) and another is The Korea Times. There’s also The Korea Herald and 연합뉴스 (yeonhapnyuseu). Many of these big newspapers also have an English-language website, which can work as a supporting tool for understanding what you’re reading in Korean.
Korean news articles
On Naver’s site, you can find news articles sourced from all over the Internet via Naver News (네이버뉴스, neibeonyuseu), perhaps coming across even articles from the above-mentioned newspapers. Its content is perhaps the most diverse of all these resources.
YouTube
The YouTube channels of the major broadcast stations in South Korea are a great tool for watching the news.
You can search for the current hot topics, and thanks to how short and focused many of them are, you can keep watching the video on repeat until you understand what they mean. You can find this content on channels like MBC News, SBS News, and KBS News.
Apart from the news, you can also find popular videos on YouTube, such as mukbang videos, videos of your favorite K-pop groups and K-pop songs, K-dramas, and many more!
Podcasts
If YouTube is not your thing, try finding a podcast to listen to! As there are no visual elements in play, podcasts may be easier to stay focused on listening to. However, the lack of visualization may also make it more troublesome to understand the content.
Why you should learn Korean through Korean news
As we mentioned briefly above, there are benefits to reading news in Korean for those who want to learn Korean. Let’s get to them one by one.
Improves your Korean reading and listening skills
News articles in South Korea rely on using accurate vocabulary, correctly formatted sentences, and straightforwardly describing the content. Therefore, it makes for excellent material to practice reading and listening. It takes fewer liberties with sentence structures and grammar than prose in a novel or dialogues in dramas do.
It also doesn’t, in any manner, dumb down the content like a coursebook for foreign learners may. In addition, all of the information presented is fresh and related to daily life and current affairs.
Know the current events
Learning Korean through the news doesn’t only prove helpful if you’re in Seoul, South Korea, or other parts of Korea, but you’ll undoubtedly be kept updated on the current events in the country. In the same way, you’re learning things not only about South and North Korea but also about the rest of the world.
So, not only are you potentially learning new vocabulary and familiarizing yourself with complex grammar, you are simultaneously staying on board with world events. From the war in Ukraine to the fighter jets deployed from the U.S. to any local events in Korea, you’ll have more information on them through the news!
Simply put, you are educating yourself in multiple ways at the same time whenever you read or listen to the news in a language other than your native one.
Improves your Korean vocabulary
While news alone isn’t enough, it is a great, low-stress way to develop your vocabulary, use your knowledge, and learn new things through real-life situations.
In other words, it’s a practical way to learn and practice rather than something you’ll never actually need or use outside the classroom. And, of course, it will bond you tighter with real Korean society and culture.
How much Korean do I need to learn to understand news from South Korea?
There isn’t one correct answer for this. Of course, the more Korean you know, the more you will understand any material you read. However, you do not need to be an advanced level learner – or even intermediate – to start reading news in Korean.
You can start with easy and short pieces of news and then move on to harder ones as your skills develop. You may even wish to start with cartoons or webtoons, weather forecasts, or gossip about your favorite Korean actors and actresses, and that’s fine! And once you’re a more seasoned news reader, you may get more into reading about politics, economics, and the like.
When it comes to watching the news, you may want to be able to understand more right off the bat. It’s harder to stop and look up vocabulary or grammar patterns, and it can get quite frustrating if you understand nothing.
Before we let you go, here is some basic terminology related to the news. Knowing these terms will also be helpful if you plan to start learning with news in Korea.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Breaking news | 속보 (sokbo) |
| Fake news | 가짜뉴스 (gajjanyuseu) |
| Headlines | 표제 (pyoje) |
| Good news | 좋은 소식 (joeun sosik) |
| International news | 국제 뉴스 (gukje nyuseu) |
| Interview | 인터뷰 (inteobyu) |
| Interviewee | 인터뷰 대상 (inteobyu daesang) |
| Journalist | 기자 (gija) |
| Live news | 생방송 뉴스 (saengbangsong nyuseu) |
| Local news | 지방 기사 (jibang gisa) |
| National news | 국내 뉴스 (guknae nyuseu) |
| News | 소식 (sosik), 뉴스 (nyuseu) |
| News anchor | 뉴스 앵커 (nyuseu aengko) |
| News article | 뉴스 기사 (nyuseu gisa) |
| News channel | 뉴스 채널 (nyuseu chaeneol) |
| News source | 취재원 (chwijaewon) |
| News website | 뉴스 웹사이트 (nyuseu waepsaiteu) |
| Newspaper | 신문 (sinmun) |
| Newsworthy | 뉴스 거리가 되다 (nyuseu georiga dwoeda) |
| Online news | 온라인 뉴스 (onlain nyuseu) |
| Press conference | 기자 회견 (gija hwoegyeon) |
| Reporter | 리포터 (ripoteo) |
| Rumor | 소문 (somun) |
| To report | 보도하다 (bodohada) |
| Trending news | 트렌딩 뉴스 (teurending nyuseu) |
Wrap Up
With enough practice, you’ll be able to easily read a sign in Korean or communicate with locals more naturally.
Do you often read or watch the local news? Do you think South Korean news would be helpful for you to watch and read while learning Korean? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments!
Reading and listening to the news simultaneously is a helpful way to grab a language. As you mentioned above it will make one closer to the locals. It’s just that, sometimes it’s frustrating not to understand what you just read so that’s why speaking practice at the same time will help even more! Thank you for this fantastic article, I will use it for good!
Thanks for your comment and for sharing! I’m glad that our article has been valuable to you, Zeynep! ^^ If you want to learn more Korean lessons, you can also check our blog and visit our YouTube channel for articles and videos with great Korean content.