As someone who knows English, Chinese, Intermediate Korean and beginner Japanese, Korean is really not all that hard as some people make it out to be. Since you already can read and write Hangul, that's a great start, since you'll be able to read anything, even if you might not understand it at first. Knowing Japanese is a definite plus, as Japanese and Korean grammar are very similar. I think Korean verb conjugations are even easier than those of Japanese (but maybe that's just because I'm still just beginning Japanese :P). Don't be discouraged by what others say. There's horror stories about every language out there. If you devote yourself to it, anything is possible. Good luck! :D

Here is a good resource to explain the form that David was talking about: http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/lessons/level-5-lesson-16/ Although the teachers call it narrative present tense, it is more commonly referred to (or at least in my experience) as plain form, or diary form. It is also commonly used in TV documentaries. Even though the teachers say it should only be used in informal situations, which is true when spoken, it is a kind of neutral form when used in writing (because you don't know who will be reading your paper), which you should use for the TOPIK. To sum up the main points of it: ~저 should be turned into 나. It's not considered rude in this case, just neutral. ~For action verbs without a final consonant, add ㄴ다 at the end. For example, 저는 한국어를 배웁니다. --> 나는 한국어를 배운다. (배우다 being the original verb) ~For action verbs with a final consonant other than ㄹ, add 는다 at the end. For example, 창문을 닫습니다. --> 창문을 닫는다. (original verb being 닫다) ~For action verbs ending with ㄹ, drop it and add 는다. For example, 꽃을 팝니다. --> 꽃을 파는다. (original verb is 팔다) ((I'm having a sudden moment of low confidence in my beginner Korean knowledge, not sure if the 존댓말 form is 팝니다 or 팔습니다 :P)) ~For descriptive verbs, or 있다/없다, just keep them in their dictionary form. For example, 저는 요즘 바쁩니다 --> 나는 요즘 바쁘다. (verb is 바쁘다) Hope this helps!

Wow, when reading your question I was thinking "this is exactly me", haha! I've been learning Chinese since 1st grade, and a few expressions are really popular among me and my friends. When I got to the end of 6th grade, I was introduced to Kpop, and immediately fell in love with it. During the summer between 7th and 8th grade, I began studying Korean. When I got back from vacation, I enrolled in a Korean school, which I attend on Saturdays. After a little more than half a year of studying, I went and took the beginner TOPIK last weekend. Next year (9th grade), I'm taking Japanese 2, and I'm planning to self-study a couple more languages on the side. Sorry for practically telling you my entire life story LOL. Anyway, since I really like Korea and it's culture and history (having K-pop and K-dramas doesn't hurt either :P), I really want to major (or at least minor) in Korean, then move to Korea in the future. Naturally, my parents are completely against it, but I think it would be fun to be able to live there and be surrounded by its people and language. Maybe get a job teaching English there? It might not be the most rational or realistic career choice, but we can all dream :D

~Answered as a non-native Korean learner~ From my experience, the interrogative word should be in the front, as all Korean sentences end with verbs.