Korean learning resources for beginners

[bhchao]

I came across this very useful video for learning Korean. http://www.veoh.com/videoDetails.html?v=e180366bHrbkcWx

That video is in a restaurant setting, and the dialogue is between two diners seated across each other. As the video progresses, the narrator (native speaker) interprets each spoken phrase in English.

The video is part of 39 videos posted on the right side of the screen.

[CheeSaw2006]

I know this thread got a bit off topic but I wanted to mention for anyone interested in Korean, pick up "The Sounds of Korean: A pronounciation guide" by o'grady and choo I think. Published by University of Hawaii Press. Google it. I dont want to post a hyperlink, I think it would be in poor taste since its my first post on these forums. I have no direct affiliation with the sellers of the product. But i own it, i think its great and i wish they had guides like these for other languages. And its very reasonably priced. If anyone picks it up let me kknow what you thought of it.

[rose~]

I had a quick look at the video and it seems good. It's nice to have a UK Korean woman presenting it as well and to hear an English accent for once.

Another useful site to add to the list is this one by LG. Although it is intended for children, there are flash animations with traditional stories ...and it's soooo cute.

Does anyone know of any offline dictionaries apart from the Declan's one?

Also, perhaps people know of Korean-learning resources that are in Chinese?

I had a little book in Shanghai for drilling pronunciation and learning Hangul, which came with a CD and introduced all the funny rules, perhaps similar to the book CheeSaw2006 mentioned. It was really good, -especially when a lot of the books in English do not seem to make a good job of introducing Hangul, or they do not have any CDs- and was only about 16 yuan. I will find the title and post it later.

[roddy]

b . . .b . . . b . . . .bump!

Given that I'm currently virtually surrounded by Koreans and Japanese folk, I'm toying with the idea of picking up a few phrases and perhaps work towards being conversationally not too incompetent - ie being able to break the ice a bit before moving back into Chinese, English, or drinking. I'm looking for something audio-based, as all my sit-down study time is pretty much accounted for.

So . . I can see a Pimsleur Conversational Korean out there, which I'm . . . acquiring . . . as we speak. iTunes also has a couple of learn Korean podcasts - Koreanclass101.com, and something from SurvivalPhrases.com. I also bought In-Flight Korean: Learn before you land on the basis that a) I had iTunes credit and B) it's going to teach me 'just enough Korean to get through anything you'll run into', which is good going for a one hour audiobook.

So, any experience with any of these or other audio resources? Also, any good online guide to pronunciation I can spend a bit of time with before I start opening my mouth?

[Flagg]

I notice this thread is a bit dated and the OP probably won't read this, but I figure I'll put in my two cents. (I live in Korea and can speak Korean)

First of all, I can't stress enough about how important it is to get away from relying on the Romanization. Proper Korean pronunciation cannot be expressed this way. Korean people have a hard enough time as it is understanding foreigners speaking Korean. In all honesty, with a bit of dilligence a person can be able to read Korean within a week. It really is that easy. I don't mean that you could read quickly, but slowly sounding out words within that time period is a reasonable goal.

As was mentioned, a great online resource is http://http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/ It's what I started studying with a few years ago. It goes up to an intermediate level and gives a decent amount of listening practice.

The Declan software also seemed pretty good to me the few times I used it at my old school. The only reason I didn't purchase it was because it is not compatable with my Mac (though that might have changed).

As far as books go, I strongly reccomend "Continuing Korean" by Ross King. I have not read the preceeding book, "Elementary Korean", but if it is anything like the one I am familiar with, I'd whole-heartly reccomend it too. "Continuing Korean" is basically a grammar book with everything written in Hangul (Korean script) and explained in English. The book is pretty dry, but then again, what grammar book isn't.

A much more fun (and explicit) book is "Making Out In Korean". It is full of useful phrases beggining with polite, common situations and extending as far as bedroom dirty talk.

If anyone has any questions about Korean, feel free to ask. I'm not an expert, but if I can help, I will.

Flagg

[rose~]

hello, I posted this thread ages back and I am actually still studying Korean . I second all of Flagg's recommendations.

If you are looking to study not from a book, you could consider the tv series "Let's speak Korean" from Arirang tv on youtube which I mentioned before. I later found it has two different series, one made later than the other.

The later one with Stephen Rivere and Lisa Kelley I find is less structured and explains things less clearly than the original "Let's speak Korean" with Ahn Chakhee.

The older series might seem dated and it has all eighties hairdos and crappy digital jingles but it is much better in terms of a clear structure and a decent pace for beginners. It also begins at lesson 1 from the absolute beginning, so it's possible to follow it as a course, in contrast to the Lisa/Stephen series. They explain the hangeul system in the second half of each lesson so don't be put off that they use it in the first half.

Being much older, the original series is harder to find but it is available on stage6.com where you might have to download a plugin, which I did and it only takes a second.

stage 6 let's speak Korean

There is also a very good explanation of hangeul and pronunciation with audio here:

http://rki.kbs.co.kr/learn_korean/lessons/e_index.htm#

Also, if you know French Assimil has a good course "le coréen sans peine" , although I used it for a different language myself, their courses are very good and have a lot of audio you could put on your iopd.

Actually for a language of its size I love the way there are masses of great books and websites for learning Korean.

Edit:

Just found this course from Seoul National University ("Click Korean") which seems great as well, (although the hair on the "foreigners" is uniformly a wierd yellow colour, but at least they didn't go with the "massive nose" thing):

http://lei.snu.ac.kr/english/pages/SD00023_00.jsp