How well are you learning 한국말?
Everyone has different ways of learning. It takes some people years to learn a language but they might learn to speak it more properly than someone who learns it very quickly. I think it's important to remember that when you are struggling with a new language.
I also think it is important to simply have a stage where everything is input. Struggling through text-books in the first few months here is not the best way for everybody to learn. I have realised that for me the best way to learn is just to listen and to read signs and absorb as much as possible, then go to the books. You soak up so much from being in the country, you're always learning, even if you don't realise it.
There is no pressure to learn Korean immediately upon arrival. Not understanding that learning language takes a lot of time and exposure is the downfall I am sure of many people who have been here for years and have not learned Korean (who even still use diphthongs when pronouncing simple Korean vowels). Everybody knows that learning Korean requires a lot of study, but it also requires appreciation of being surrounded by the language. When you start to really hear people you are starting to learn the language. I think too many people think they can learn it from a book, and have higher expectations of themselves than what is realistic.
