Korean Job Discussion Forums

philinkorea · Joined: 27 Jan 2003

Practicing my Korean before coming over. Have a teaching yourself Korean book with a tape which looks cool. Is there anything else I could be doing now or anything recommended once I get over there. Are there some useful internet sites perhaps? my book looks good with regards to day to day getting by ordering stuff etc and travel.

wylde · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

hint - 1 thing i found when learning korean was that the phonetics in my book were america sounds.. when i would reproduce the words they were way off so i kinda had to learn it again... with relation to pronunciation, try to find korean for users of british english (maybe).... I'm aussie btw

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 7:44 am Post subject:

Give me a day...I have to go now but I'm going to write a small piece on the how of studying Korean on my web page as well as here when I come back tomorrow.

Lost Seoul · Joined: 10 Jan 2003

Here are some sites that may assist you in learning the Korean language:

An Introduction to Korean http://catcode.com/kintro/index.htm

Survival Korean http://soback.kornet.nm.kr/~pixeline/heeyun/hangul.html

Talking to Koreans http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/korean/centre/course/index.html

Korea One Web Ring http://catcode.com/kintro/k1ring.htm

Korea Online - Korean Grammar http://www.sigmainstitute.com/koreanonline/grammar_intro.shtml

KBS - Let's Learn Korean http://rki.kbs.co.kr/learn_korean/lessons/e_index.htm

A good selection of university courses/online courses http://www.1stopkorea.com

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

get a korean girlfriend who cant speak English!! Laughing

The evil penguin · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:49 pm Post subject:

ryleeys · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: Columbia, MD

peppermint · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 12:11 am Post subject:

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

osangrl · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Location: osan

To learn to read it i bought "yes, you can learn korean language structure in 40 minutes"

and yes....the next day i was reading.

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

mithridates · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:49 am Post subject:

From my home page:

"This little bit is about the how of learning Korean. I also plan to write a bit about learning languages in general but first I'd like to give some advice to those who are learning Korean in particular.

First of all, for those who are fluent in Japanese, don't try learning Korean through English, it's a lot slower that way. For those who have a knowledge of Japanese to a certain extent, find out where the two languages coincide. The particles are to a certain extent used in the same way, and the words that come from Chinese are often pronounced similar if not the same. (�⸰(��), ��(��), ��ӵ��(��Գ��), ��(��Ρ��), ��(��ν), etc.)

Now for those who are learning it through English: the first two months or so are going to be the hardest. Concentrate most on learning how to conjugate verbs, and which particles to use where. If possible, get a tutor and go over basic grammar over and over again, and make a whole list of example sentences by yourself to show to him/her every lesson. Make ten or so, get them corrected, make ten again, get them corrected, and repeat. Learn some vocabulary, but don't worry a great deal about it yet. Vocabulary will come in a flood later on once you have mastered the grammar.

Buy a dictionary, but be careful of which one you buy. Get one that has the Korean section organized into �� order, the way all dictionaries are here. Don't get one that is organized in Roman alphabetical order - that will only cause problems later, and your teacher will have a hard time looking up words as well during class. When picking out a dictionary, first find the word ��. This word can mean ask, or dig. When it means ask it is conjugated as ��, and when it means dig it is conjugated as ��. That is because one of them is irregular. If the dictionary doesn't tell you that, don't buy it. Also, look up the word cold. There are two ways of saying cold in Korean. One is ��, which is used for cold weather. The other is ��, which is a cold surface. The dictionary should note that one cold is used in one way and the other in another way. If it doesn't say that, don't buy it. The dictionaries that don't tell you that will only cause hardship when you try to look up and use words by yourself. Often they will have a whole list of words with no explanation as to how they differ, which is a nightmare to the beginning student.

Once you have mastered the basics of Korean grammar, it is time to find a more interesting way of studying the language. By 'mastering the basics of Korean grammar', I mean that you should be able to decipher most sentences you come across by yourself with a dictionary.

Once you have reached this point, find something that is in common with your interests. I learned Korean through bands that I like. I would decipher the lyrics, listen to the songs, look at the lyrics again, listen to the songs, and repeat until I had memorized the whole CD. Another good way to have fun while studying is to find something that is easier to learn through Korean than English. An example is North Korea. If you're curious about North Korea, then Korean is the best language to learn about it. Many English papers only look at the scary side of an incomprehensible country, whereas Korean papers generally look at North Korea as an estranged (?) brother.

If possible, try to find childrens books with tapes, expecially one with lots of repetition. They are generally quite quick to master and the repetition and sing-song way of reading them makes them easy to remember.

When meeting Koreans, try to find some that are interested in something other than English. There's no problem with associating with those that know the language, but associating with those who are in the midst of studying it can be taxing. Going to jazz dance, bars with live music, parks, scuba diving, mountain climbing, baduk (AKA go, the game with black & white stones), etc. increases the chance that you'll find an interesting person.

More advice as it comes to mind..."

bjonothan · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Location: All over the place

I just have a small suggestion.....I think that it is better when you are here to only use the one person when it comes to learning Korean. I have been here almost 3 years now and I have been told the most outrageous things in my time here. Find one person who seems intelligent and can teach you everything you need to know. For example, I taught my room mate to say an nyong ha shim ni ka to people who are older or are in a respectable position which is what it is used for. One day he said it to the director's mother and the director said it was wrong. One guy told me that Koreans that use 4 characters such as 닭 don't know enough about Korean and they are stupid. Find one person that is in the know and stick to them for questions........

Shincheon_Blues · Joined: 16 Dec 2003

There are plenty of resources on the net for learning Korean. If you can afford it and have the time, nothing beats a structured classroom environment.

For learning simple vocab, you can try sticking names of commonly used (or needed) items written in Korean on them. Your house/room may look a bit strange, but it works for some.

If you post a message on any university bulletin board, you can find a tutor easily.