Retro Learns Korean: My Routine

The following is all based on my current schedule and although it's hard to state exact times because every day is ultimately different. The current schedule has been in place for the last 4-5 since my work closed due to lockdown and is yet to start up again. At the end I will share a short overview of what my schedule looked like while I was at work.

I'm unsure how much time exactly I am spending with the language but it is not important as long I am maximise the time that I can personally spend on any specific day I am satisfied. If all I manage is 2 hours of reading, it is good enough, generally even when busy unless I have to spend time with conversing with people it is easy to get listening in at a minimum.

Current (In Work) routine

Waking up and Anki - between 6 - 7am

Wake up, have a cup of tea, eat some breakfast and make sure I'm ready for work while clearing Anki.

Reading on the bus to work - between 7am - 8pm

I start reading as soon as I leave the house at 7am, even though it's probably slower to read and walk, I try to maximise the time spent reading otherwise I will have to spend that time after work instead.

Reading on break - 12:30pm - 1pm

Sometimes I can get a good 10 or 15 minutes of reading in during my break, which once again helps reduce the time I need to spend reading after work.

Reading on the bus home 5pm - 8pm

On the way home I will read until I meet the page number I have set. If I finish before I arrive home I'll stick some music on while catching up on discord.

Watching tv shows/reading webtoons - between 8pm - 10pm

After work I have a couple options after cooking and eating. I will usually try to watch a tv show, catch up on whatever webtoon I'm reading or play some videogames. Because there is too much to do it's hard to actually finish anything.

Bed time - between 10pm - 11pm

Time to go sleep and do it all again.

My old (out of work) routine

Waking up and Anki - between 7am - 9am

Generally I wake up around 7 or 8, my alarm is set for 8 but more often than I'd like I just wake up before it even goes. During this time I wake up and put a podcast on while browsing social media stuff that occurred while I was asleep.

Reading on ridibooks on phone - between 9am - 3pm

On average I'll be reading for about 1 hour and 50 minutes per day, it depends on the book and how long it takes me to read the 40-50 pages I set as my goal. Some days I can finish early and some days I finish really late, this time is also mixed with talking to my gf, exercising, eating lunch and occasionally going for a walk.

Reviewing words on ridibooks - between 2pm - 5pm

When I am reading on the phone, I highlight words so that I can look them up on the computer a bit later. If I finish reading early I can do this earlier hence the over lap of the time frames. While I am going through these words I will usually listen to Korean music or a long form video on youtube that I've been needing to catch up on.

Watching tv shows - between 5pm - 8pm

Once I'm finished reviewing, I can then watch tv shows with no distractions except cooking and eating dinner, where I will listen to a podcast. My go to shows at this time are sitcoms of which I have no subtitles for so it's easy for me to do other things on another monitor while watching. Sometimes I will read news articles or blogs during this time or even write articles myself.

Bath or shower time - between 8pm - 9pm

This time I would consider a break, I generally listen to English youtube videos that I need to catch up on. Once everything is sorted I'll get a drink and some snacks to eat over the next few hours.

"Active" watching or gaming - between 9pm -12am

Recently I've been using this time for movies, if you have a VPN and netflix you will find hundreds of movies with Korean subtitles that aren't available elsewhere. Some days this will be replaced with playing games in Korean and likely be mostly time for gaming as I finish all the movies I wanted to get through. On saturdays this time is completely lost to gaming and chatting with the lads, however I still play Korean music or a podcast at low volume in the background.

Bed time or trying to sleep - between 12am - 1am

Some days I end up getting into bed later than expected, usually I spend time at the end of the day reading social media or listening to a podcast rather than winding down early to get my 8 hours.

My more relatable schedule

Work comprised of the majority of my day I would wake up at 6:45 as I like to be awake 1 hour before I have to leave the house so I have time to make sure everything is ready and there is no rush. In this time I would put on a podcast, make and eat breakfast and do my anki reps on ankiweb through my phone.

Once I've left the house at 7:40 I would walk 2 minutes to the bus stop and read while I was waiting and also the whole time that I was on the bus, which could be between 45 minutes and 1 hour.

For the first hour of work I would be alone so could get through 1 podcast then around 1pm we would take a 30 minute break where I would find a quiet spot and read while eating lunch.

Work would finish at 5:30 which then I would read on the bus again for another 45 minutes to an hour. If I hit my target for reading which was 30 pages, I would put a podcast on and listen to it all the way home and even while cooking when I got in.

Once i finished dinner, usually around 7:30, I would review the words i had highlighted while watching the sitcoms, once done, take a shower then watch some more sitcoms. I would be in bed between 11pm and 12am. Even though I has less time than now my main goal was to make sure I had read an adequate amount and anything else on top was a bonus.

My weekends would often look like the my current routine because I could spend my day however I wanted only Sunday I would have to sleep earlier and Friday night i could stay up a little later. So overall with work I could still comfortably get in atleast 4 or 5 hours of immersion.

Retro Learns Korean

My Routine