Korean Job Discussion Forums

misher · Joined: 14 Oct 2008

Has anyone tried their intensive program? it is M-F 4 hours per day fpr ten weeks priced at 1 million won.

Misher

misher · Joined: 14 Oct 2008

Trevor · Joined: 16 Nov 2005

I haven't heard of it, but that's a good price. I'd say go for it, schedule permitting.

Gaber · Joined: 23 Apr 2006

My girlfriend tried doing it while working afternoon/evening hakwon, 12 hour days. Ended up getting chronic tonsilitus and quiting both. Worked out okay though. We moved to Thailand. Wooo, Thailand... Wish I was still there sometimes

DeathPony · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:42 pm Post subject:

One of my friends did the Sogang program. He is here getting a degree and did Sogang before going to his university. He says it is the best conversational program in Korea. He worked hard, so it isn't just the program, but he is now able to converse with anyone with ease.

If you have the time and inclination then the Sogang program is a good choice. Keep in mind that if you are doing the intensive and you are teaching afternoon/evenings you will feel pretty overloaded. The intensive programs move really fast and you will have homework and memorization to do every night.

Good luck!

misher · Joined: 14 Oct 2008

I have a girlfriend that is speaking korean to me already in canada as she doesn't want to speak English. I will be studying full-time so I will not be working or speaking a lick of English for at least 18 months. I saved the money to do this. I can always buy the sogang books and supplement the sejong uni books if they arent so good right? Hass anyone just learned fromt he sogang books?

coralreefer_1 · Joined: 19 Jan 2009

I studied the Sogang books for awhile when I was taking a class at the YMCA at the same time I was studying in the Korean program at the university.

I personally found the sogang books (I was studying 2A) to be rather boring. That may be because I had already been studying the Seoul University book for several months already, but I did not like the way the Sogang books were set up, mainly for 2 reasons..

1. The chapters in the Sogang books are quite long. They are good as far as quality, but I became bored quite easily with them. That may have had something to do with the YMCA teacher who happened to be a teacher at the same university I was studying at. I suppose maybe her presentation of the Sogang books could have been different, but I would not say it was bad. I was used to the 5-9 page chapters of the Seoul books, but the Sogang book I was studying has 20-page chapters. Good material but gets old after awhile.

2. I also did not like the way that in the Sogang 2A book, the grammar explanations and translations of the new vocabulary was at the very end of the chapter, meaning there was constant back and forth flipping to view/refresh your memory of the material.

I do like the fact that in the Sogang 2A - which is roughly equal to the same level as the Seoul Book 3 - the grammar explanations are in English as opposed to the Seoul book 3 where there is virtually no explanation at all in either Korean or English for new grammar.

The Sogang books are great books in my opinion, but in my case considering I was used to a different set-up, I did not enjoy my time studying them.

crsandus · Joined: 05 Oct 2004

Hyeon Een · Joined: 24 Jun 2005

The Sogang course is excellent. I don't know anything about Sejong but if it's anything like Yonsei, Seoul or some of the other Universities it may be boring as hell. Sogang classes are fun and interesting with truly excellent teachers. You don't actually spend much book time there at all so don't use the books as a judge of the course, as it is taught at Sogang.

In relation to the grammar points being at the end of each unit of the book, this is no longer the case. The grammar and vocab are now in a separate small book which you can use as a handy reference instead. The Sogang books were updated at the end of last year.

I think studying at Sejong to save 500,000won may be a false economy. The Sogang program is truly excellent. The Sejong one might be quite good but I've never heard rave reviews about it, unlike Sogang.

I can't recommend Sogang strongly enough compared to other programs I've had experience with, and from what I've heard from other Korean learners. I've heard Ehwa is fairly decent too but since it's priced the same as Sogang, go with Sogang.

If you really want to be cheap give Sejong a go. Konkuk University is also about the same price and is located very close to Sejong. Konkuk is about a 20minute walk from Sejong and it is in a busy fun area. Sejong is 20 minutes walk from the busy fun area.

LL Moonmanhead · Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Location: yo momma

coralreefer_1 · Joined: 19 Jan 2009

As I scan through my old Seoul University Level 3 book, I can confirm that there is literally no explanation of new grammar in most places. If there was an explanation even in Korean that would be better than simply showing a new grammar, a few sentence examples, and then on to the next grammar form.

I suppose some folks at level 3- which is a low intermediate level, can learn a new form of grammar and automatically equate that to something in their own language to understand it's usage. Sorry to say I am not so gifted. Congrats to you and anyone else who has such ability.