Korean Online Lessons Anywhere And Anytime With SAY Korean

Language learning has always been a passion of mine. After studying Mandarin in university and improving my language skills in China, I tackled my next Asian language: Korean. Since moving to Korea in 2015, I’ve been wrapping my head around this complex language. I attended the local YMCA as well as government-funded KIIP language classes. While these programs are great for building a good base of grammar and vocabulary, the communicative part has always been lacking a little. That’s why I was so happy when I heard about SAY, a language platform providing conversational online Korean lessons with professional tutors.

What is SAY?

SAY is an educational platform connecting Korean learners all over the world with high-quality native tutors. It all started out as a volunteer language exchange project between a group of eight college students learning Korean at Princeton University and Korean native speakers in Seoul. The project quickly caught on and the SAY Korean learning tool was born in early 2017. Today, thousands of students learn Korean through SAY on all levels; from the Hangul alphabet to complex discussions about politics and history with professional Korean teachers.

The great thing about the SAY program is that they mostly hire retired Korean professionals with over 30 years of career experience. 75% of the tutors on SAY are over 50 years old and, due to their age, would have a very hard time to find a job in the current job market. This way, SAY is giving back to the community by hiring otherwise unemployable professionals.

The SAY Curriculum: Conversational Online Korean Lessons

The curriculum at SAY was designed with the help of Yonsei Korean professors primarily aiming at Korean speaking skills. Students schedule their lessons after purchasing individual lesson packages. You can purchase 1 lesson, 3 lessons, 5 lessons, 10 lessons, 15 lessons or 20 lessons at a time. The bigger a package you choose, the more money you’ll save. For example, one lesson is priced at $32.99 but the 10-lesson package will only cost you $289.90, saving you $40. 

If you sign up through my SAY partnership link, you can save even more and will only pay $199.99 for 10 lessons, saving you nearly $90.

You can choose among 6 levels, from beginner all the way to advanced. Even if you don’t know any Korean yet, you can start learning with SAY. There are also specialized courses, such as the Pronunciation Booster and Business Korean. If you’re not sure which course is right for you, you can simply take a free sample lesson and assess your level with a tutor.

My Personal Experience Learning With SAY

Since I’ve already studied Korean for a couple of years, I decided to start at Level 3 Intermediate. When scheduling your online Korean lessons, you have to make sure to schedule it at least 3 days before the day of the lesson so that your tutor can prepare the class. You are also free to choose between a variety of topics.

For Level 3, you can choose between conversation topics like “Going to a Hair Salon”, “Let’s Go On Vacation”, or “Should You Always Go To The Hospital If You Are Sick?’. You then pick a day and time that fits your schedule. Lessons are available from as early as 7 AM all the way to 11:50 PM. This allows even the busiest of us to learn Korean. Next, you will print out your 2-page worksheet and get ready for the lesson.

I have worked with the same tutor throughout my journey with SAY and was very happy with the lessons. What I really appreciated were the convenient reminder emails before the start of my lesson. You receive a notification via email 24 hours before your lesson and again 1 hour before and the last notification is sent to you 10 minutes before the lesson. There is no way you could forget about your Korean lesson.

When it’s time for your lesson, you can “enter your classroom” via your SAY dashboard. You will then be a part of your virtual classroom where you can learn and communicate with your tutor via video chat.

Are You Ready To Try Learning Korean With SAY?

Since I never took online language classes, I was curious to see if studying a language via video chat would be beneficial. I was positively surprised by SAY and its amazing tutors.

Sign up through my SAY partnership link and pay only $199.99 for 10 lessons, saving you nearly $90.