Ever since I moved to the United States, I’ve been trying to be a part of groups to find others who appreciate Korean culture
I’ve been a part of this Korean culture meetup since I moved to Austin in 2018
https://www.meetup.com/austin-korean-language-and-culture-group
I know it has a lengthier name, but I just call it Korean culture meetup. And it says it has over 1200 members now, but at any given moment it seems to have about 5-20 active members.
As an organizer, I try to host various events to keep the organization going. Not everyone joins for the same reason, and not everyone would stay for the same reason.
One of the things I try to host regularly is Korean language exchange.
I am a native speaker in Korean. While I stopped speaking Korean on a regular basis since the middle of high school, that’s more than enough to help others study the basic and intermediate levels of the Korean language.
I also like to think of it as a small way to say thanks for spending time to learn more about Korea. By giving them the best tool I can give. Myself!
I’ve had a few occasions where an intermediate-level speaker brought their beginner-level partner, and the beginner ended up asking a bunch of questions in English; that ruined a moment for everyone who were pushing themselves out of their comfort zone to speak in Korean.
So now I have a rule that everyone must speak Korean two-thirds of the time. Beginners are welcome to attend and listen in, but must ask questions and accept answers in Korean if they dare to do so (at least 2/3 of it).
On the other hand, I also make sure to host events for beginners too. I don’t teach anything in those events because everyone tends to be at different stages of learning; however, I allow anyone to ask any questions including the alphabets, grammar, pronunciation, conjugation, etc.