Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jonephant]

Ive always been a bad student and find it very difficult/boring to study from books. Has anyone here tried using the Rosetta Stone program? How did it work out for you?

[fezmond]

i tried when i first came to korea, more than 3 years ago.

my co-teachers said it was far too formal and that nobody speaks like that. it also doesn't tell you anything about hangeul or really teach you any grammar.

thought it was pretty crappy but i'd try it again to see, now that i know some korean.

[Weigookin74]

I sympathize with that. But, you must still have some self discipline. What I did was to know already how to read Hanguel (Rosetta won't teach that) and a handful of words and a few basic phrases. Once you know these things, then you can use Rosetta. Also, as you go through each unit, you can write down words you don't know (most of them) and then take the extra step of looking them up and then memorizing them. I like to use Naver sajeon 사전. It means dictionary. Select 영어 english to find out what the word means.

Rosetta Stone can help with other tools. But memorizing vocabulary is key. If you either have a talent for languages or are younger than 10 years old, you can pick it up simply by listening. Otherwise, you'll still have to study. That was my experience with the program.

[young_clinton]

Before you use Rosetta Stone, purchase the Pimsleur Comprehensive Korean I & II. It helps with some core grammer issues. Also included in the downloads is a brief but effective introduction to Korean writing and how to pronounce words reading Hangul. Rosetta Stone Korean will be difficult without doing Pimsleur first.

[furtakk]

Rosetta Stone may be good for other languages but the Korean version is awful. Stay far away. I feel like they just used direct translations from other versions. There is a ton of pronoun use (당신, 그를, 그는, etc), which is almost never used in spoken Korean (especially 당신).

Best way to start is with a textbook. This is a great book for absolute beginners:
http://www.hanbooks.com/komaeaforbeb.html

After you get the alphabet, basic vocab, and basic sentence structure down, enroll in a class.