Day 29: Conversation day
Nothing new today. Close the grammar.
Twenty-eight days of input need one day of pure output before the test. Five scenarios and a warm-up, and the only rule is that you say all of it out loud. Reading today silently is the same as skipping it.
⚠️ No English. Not once. When you get stuck, use section 4 — that is what it is for.
1. How today works
| Out loud | every line, even alone in a room |
|---|---|
| No English | if you cannot say it, say it badly, or say 뭐라고 하죠? |
| No looking things up | finish the scenario first, check afterwards |
| Record at least two | you will want them tomorrow |
★ Fluency is not knowing more. It is being willing to continue while you are wrong.
2. Warm-up — twenty questions, fast
Answer each in a full sentence, out loud, without pausing. Under three minutes for all twenty.
- 이름이 뭐예요?
- 어디에서 왔어요?
- 어디에 살아요?
- 몇 살이에요?
- 무슨 일 하세요?
- 가족이 몇 명이에요?
- 형제가 있어요?
- 지금 몇 시예요?
- 오늘 무슨 요일이에요?
- 생일이 언제예요?
- 취미가 뭐예요?
- 무슨 음식 좋아해요?
- 매운 거 먹을 수 있어요?
- 학교에 어떻게 가요?
- 몇 시에 일어나요?
- 어제 뭐 했어요?
- 내일 뭐 할 거예요?
- 왜 한국어를 공부해요?
- 한국에 가 봤어요?
- 주말에 뭐 했어요?
⚠️ If you hesitated on 16 or 20, that is the past tense. Redo them before moving on — they are the two questions you will be asked most in real life.
3. Five scenarios
Use the Role-play mission. Minimum turns in brackets.
① Arriving — a stranger on the street (6 turns)
- 저기요 + ask how to get to the subway station
- Fail to understand — ask for it slowly
- Repeat it back and confirm — …맞아요?
- Ask which exit, how long it takes
- Thank them
★ Required: 저기요 · 다시 말해 주세요 · 천천히 · 맞아요? · 몇 번 출구
② Small talk — a language exchange (8 turns)
- Names, countries, how long you've been here (-부터 / 살아요)
- Job, family — ★ the right sibling words
- What you both like — 좋아요 and 좋아해요
- ★ What you did at the weekend — and answer when asked back
★ Required: 저는 ~예요 · 형/오빠/누나/언니 · 주말에 뭐 했어요?
③ Ordering and paying (8 turns)
- 저기요! · order two things with counters
- Ask if it's spicy · ask for something not spicy
- Ask for more 반찬
- Say it's delicious · 계산해 주세요 · 카드 돼요? · 잘 먹었습니다
★ Required: 주세요 · 두 잔 / 한 개 · 안 매운 거 · 반찬 더 주세요
④ Making plans — and turning something down (8 turns)
- A friend proposes something — -(으)ㄹ까요?
- Say no with a reason — ★ -니까 or -아서
- Say what you have to do (야 돼요) and what you want to do (고 싶어요)
- Propose another day, agree a time, promise something (-(으)ㄹ게요)
★ Required: -ㄹ까요? · 못 / 안 · -니까 · -야 돼요 · -ㄹ게요
⑤ Something went wrong (6 turns)
Pick one: you missed the train · you're ill · you're lost · you lost your phone.
- Explain what happened — ★ past tense
- Say how you feel — 아파요 / 피곤해요 / 걱정돼요
- Ask for help — 도와주세요 / 좀 도와주시겠어요?
- Say what you'll do now — -(으)ㄹ게요
4. ★★ The ten phrases that keep a conversation alive
Say these out loud right now, twice each. They are worth more than any grammar here, because they are what stops the other person switching to English.
| 네? | Sorry, what? |
|---|---|
| 다시 말해 주세요. | Please say that again |
| 천천히 말해 주세요. | Please speak slowly |
| 잘 모르겠어요. | I'm not sure |
| 뭐라고 하죠? | How do you say it? |
| 한국어 조금 해요. | I only speak a little Korean |
| 음… / 글쎄요… | Hmm… |
| 잠깐만요. | Hang on a moment |
| ★ 아, 그렇구나. | Ah, I see |
| ★ …맞아요? | …is that right? (confirming a summary) |
★ And keep saying 네 while listening. Korean expects constant noise back; silence reads as incomprehension.
★ A learner who uses these has conversations. A learner who goes silent has lessons.
5. Three minutes, unprepared
Pick one at random — do not choose the easy one — and talk for three minutes with no notes. Record it.
- 제 하루 — your day, waking to sleeping (times, 에, separable actions)
- 우리 가족 — everyone, where they live, what they do (★ sibling words, 우리)
- 우리 동네 — where things are, how you get around (위/앞/옆, 에 vs 에서, 타다)
- 지난 주말 — what you did (★ the past — the hard one)
- 왜 한국어를 공부해요 — and what you'll do with it (-니까, -고 싶어요, -ㄹ 거예요)
⚠️ If you dry up, do not stop. Use 음… 글쎄요… 잠깐만요… and keep the clock running. Filling three minutes badly beats ninety perfect seconds — tomorrow is five.
6. What broke? — diagnose before tomorrow
Listen back to one recording and tick honestly:
| Fix tonight | |
|---|---|
| ⬜ I switched to English | Section 4. Ten phrases, twenty times |
| ⬜ I stayed in the present when I meant the past | Day 26 §1 |
| ⬜ My verb was not last | Day 11 §2 |
| ⬜ I said 안 where I meant 못 | Day 23 §1 |
| ⬜ I used 에 where 에서 belonged | Day 15 §1 |
| ⬜ I used the wrong sibling word | Day 10 §1 |
| ⬜ I dropped the ending's last syllable | dictation |
| ⬜ I guessed 은/는 vs 이/가 wrong constantly | ★ leave it. Not tomorrow's problem |
| ⬜ I went silent | Section 4 — the only one that really costs you |
★ Particles are the cheapest error in Korean and the one learners waste the most worry on. Nobody has ever been misunderstood because of 저가 instead of 제가. Do not spend tonight on particles. Spend it on section 4 and the past tense.
7. 📲 Upload to LangNote
Upload section 2 (the twenty questions) and section 4 (the ten phrases) → study language Korean.
| Mission | What to do with it today |
|---|---|
| 🎭 Role-play | Today's key mission. All five scenarios, no English |
| 🗣 Shadowing | Your three-minute recording — listen back, then do it again better |
| 🎧 Podcast | The twenty questions, so they arrive by ear tomorrow, not by eye |
| ✍️ Dictation | Only if time is left. Today is a speaking day |
⚠️ Prepare for tomorrow
- Find your Day 1 recording — the ten sentences from Day 1 §7. Tomorrow you read
the exact same ones, and the two files side by side are the point of all thirty days
- Have your Day 7 / 14 / 21 numbers ready
- Block 45 minutes
- Sleep — it is a speaking test, and tiredness costs more than revision gains
★ Twenty-nine days behind you. Tomorrow is not about learning anything new — it is about finding out how far you came.
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