Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ashshea]

I have Pimsleur Korean I and II (at no cost to me). Is it worth going through it before I get to Korea? I can already read hangul, understand very basic Korean grammar, and can say some basic things like my name, where is..., and I want. I really have no idea how to study Korean before I get there in a month and a half, and I'm wondering if Pimsleur would be worth the effort. What do you think?

[climber159]

You already have the basic down. Good on you. Unless you really can't think of anything else to do with your time, I'd just wait until you're in Korea and are immersed in the real deal.

[Drew345]

I thought the Pimsleur series was great. They repeat the Korean words slowly, clearly, and many times. My only comment would be to try to get a written transcript too if it is available (in Korean Hangul). I didn't have anything written with the tapes and it made it a bit tough. No matter how clearly I hear something, I really can't catch it unless I can see it.
I found Pimsleur much better than koreanclass101. There it was 80 % teenage chit-chat, in English. Then the Korean went by so fast and only once or twice so I had to repeat it over and over on my mp3, and still had no way to slow it down.

[Darkeru]

Personally I didn't like it. I didn't remember anything even after listening to the same track about 3 times - while other methods have worked better for me. One of my Korean friends also listened to it and told me the pronunciation sounds weird.

That said, it's better than doing nothing.

[chrisinkorea2011]

Actually i have heard negative things about pimsleur as far as the learning etc. i tried to use it for chinese, BUT didnt like and went a different route with something else. I will tell u DONT waste your money on rosetta stone lol. RIP OFF. i think the best thing for you to do is keep what you know and build up on your vocab and particles (they will get you! lol) and when you come to korea there are plenty of decent places to learn korean. people will tell you that self study will help you learn everything or that they learned so much, but in korean, the higher up the hierachy you the longer things are to say...

(example: im fine/its fine - 괜찮아, 괜찮아요,괜찮습니다)

BUT take my advice and invest some time and effort into it, unless you will be here for only one year then bail out. then just learn "please, thank you, where is the bathroom, and hello" lol

[samd]

Pimsleur Korean is an absolute waste of time. Don't use it.

Why?

- Too short. The format is so slow and repetitive, it's not an effective use of your time. Then it ends, and leaves you needing to find a decent study resource again, so why not skip Pimsleur and study something you can follow long term.

- Too old. Find something current, which will teach you how Koreans your age talk.

- Too formal. It's made for diplomats and captains of industry, so the level of speech is way too formal, noone talks like that.

- As someone else pointed out, the pronunciation could be better.

- Way too limited. You don't learn enough vocab, you don't learn enough grammar, you don't do any reading or writing.

If you really want to learn Korean via self study, use this website http://korean.sogang.ac.kr in combination with a good beginner book (check Kyobo, there are loads, choose the one that interests you most) and an online dictionary (eg. http://endic.naver.com) and take advantage of being in Korea by reading everything, doing lots of speaking to random people, and practicing writing. Later on you can also invest in solid vocab and grammar books if you feel like you need them. Use an SRS (I use Anki, but any will do) for memorization/retention.

There are so many Korean learning resources out there, search Youtube, torrents, etc. and so many Koreans out there to talk to.

[young_clinton]

My only bitch about Pimsleur is they need more than I and II. The same with Rosetta Stone. Other than that there isn't a program that you can own and that is a permanent resource that is better than Pimsleur. I would take the time to go throught it.

[jjgirl]

I'm doing it now, and it's helped me a lot. I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks, but so far so good. They only have a part one and part two, so that kinda sucks but other than that its good

[oldtactics]

Obviously everyone learns differently - I'm using Pimsleur and it's made a big difference in terms of my comprehension & pronunciation. Definitely hasn't been a waste of time for me.

If you're just beginning, I'd recommend Talk To Me In Korean or Korean Class 101 - Pimsleur is good but it starts in a bit of a weird place, whereas those two sites start with the basics.

[samd]

It's true that everyone learns differently, and of course people will have different opinions on which are better methods and study resources.

Having said that, Pimsleur is simply horrible, one of the worst I've come across, and recommending it is terrible advice. The worst of course is Rosetta Stone, but don't even get me started on that.

Also, how do you know it hasn't been a waste of time for you if you haven't tried anything else? Who knows how much faster you may have progressed if you'd tried another method.

In case it has changed since I last listened I looked it up a second ago and nothing has changed. It's way too formal, they don't speak naturally, and they teach you things that are plain wrong. eg. "How do you say English in Korean? 영어를." Their method is fatally flawed!

Don't use Pimsleur Korean, don't learn wrong things, and don't learn archaic ways of expressing yourself!

In my opinion any audio-only Korean program is a bad choice, because one of the best things about Korean is that it is so easy to read and write, and that the writing corresponds so well to the pronunciation.

[ashshea]

Thanks for all the replies. I've decided I'm going to skip Pimsleur and start working my way through the College Korean textbook I have. Although I understand that Pimsleur works for some people, I don't think it's a good choice for me.

[Hokie21]

I just found it for free on a website, doesn't include the booklet but ebooks have those available free for download so I might give it a shot.

[Aquaricorndos]