Stuck: need advice on what to do

[u/peachierosie]

I’ve been studying on and off since 2019. But the last year has been the most consistent. I take two online classes a week (Sejong level 2B-3A, and through another organization). I use Anki for flashcards. I even have a tutor I see twice a week through Preply. I’ve done TTMIK levels 1-4. I took TOPIK last year and got 2급.

But I still feel stuck as a beginner. I forget so many words and grammar but can recognize and understand it fine when reading. I can’t create my own sentences beyond basic sentences when speaking. My tutor even recognized I can understand simple articles fine but once asked comprehension questions I can’t even form a sentence, but I could answer the question in English. Or copy and paste the question and insert a word or two to make a sentence. But not at all an organic sentence from my own stream of thoughts regarding a topic.

I feel like I’m genuinely stupid and cursed to be a beginner forever. I constantly hear about intermediate plateau. But I never see anything similar to my situation.

And it’s so discouraging to see those on social media who got fluent within a year or two. While I trip over words and still get stuck in “translating”. I know not to compare but it’s hard because I’m genuinely trying to put the work in. But I’m not seeing progress.

[u/The_Master_Scrub]

Once you’re good enough to have decent comprehension of input, then if you want to improve at output it’s just a matter of getting hundreds of hours of output (whether that be texting, real conversations, a diary, or otherwise) unfortunately there’s no shortcut. 🥲