Korean Job Discussion Forums

[charmer]

Hey I was wondering if anyone has taken any Korean classes at the Seoul National University-GN Korean Language Center? How is the quality of it and if it's worth paying for?

I've been studying for about a year now on my own on and off, but I wouldn't mind having more structure and feedback. I took a class before at another university but I found it to be really fast paced and it was hard to keep up. That's my only concern with the SNU one. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks

[World Traveler]

[World Traveler]

[deizio]

Going back a few years ('07) and I only took the level 1B class so this might not be too insightful given your particular situation but here goes.

The classes were taught by regular KFL teachers from SNU and did the job, but I found the class to be very slow and the teachers too easily sidetracked by trivial questions when they should have been sticking to the language / grammar points of the day and giving us conversation practice.

To be fair, i) it was a low level course, ii) I was pretty well ahead of most of the other students in terms of vocab and reading but chose 1B over 2A because my grammar needed work, and iii) this was the fault of some students as well as the teachers, but it's up to the T to direct operations.

At the time I worked at the Gangnam - UC Riverside center where the classes are held, I think full price was 300k for a 40 hour course. With the 50% discount for GN-UCR faculty it was reasonable, but I'm not sure if I would have considered it good value at the top rate, and I didn't sign up for level 2.

My class was all NETs, but the higher level classes seemed to be predominantly Asian businessmen with the odd whitey and one of the girls from that show where the foreign girls speak Korean. Overall I'm guessing timing and location are equally important selling points for these classes as quality and value.

[charmer]

It was actually Deongso University in busan. They were offering free evening classes to public school teachers.

As for the deadline, they told me the deadline to pay for the SNU course is Aug 26, so I have a few more days to decide. The evening course is W300,000, but they are offering me %50 discount for it, which seems quite reasonable. deizio, I think it might be the same course you took before.

I was considering doing the Sogang course as well, but it's a bit out of my price range and seems really intensive considering I'm working full time as well.

Any other evening courses others can recommend? I was hoping to do a course a couple times a week and really hammer down my conversational speaking and grammar skills.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

[World Traveler]

[highstreet]

Yonsei is only good if you plan on entering a Korean Uni. To actually use the language and put it to good use for beginners, Sogang would be a better choice.

If you're intermediate, I've heard the intermediate levels at Yonsei and Sogang are pretty much the same.