Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TDKPaquet]

I'm planning on going to Korea when I graduate in April and would like to learn some Korean before I go. I checked out a couple books from the library but they seem to focus more on linguistics and complicated grammar and are not geared for a self-learner. The local bookstores only had dictionaries and pocket phrase books. I'm looking for a textbook workbook combo so I can practice reading and writing. An accompanying CD would be great.

I have tried things like Pimsleur before but I can't handle all audio learning, I need something to reference and study from. I might end up combining Pimsleur with a textbook if nothing good comes up.

[denverdeath]

I liked this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415108047/102-5642885-7961765?v=glance&n=283155

Seems like there's now a new edition. The one I bought came in a plastic book-sized box with two tapes. Looks like you can still get either the tapes or a CD though.

The Korean Phrasebook from Lonely Planet is actually very good these days. I'd recommend picking up a copy of it as well.

Combining those with the Pimsleur will help you a lot.

Also, there are all kinds of books available here that you might not be able to get your hands on back home. Most people will probably tell you that the Seoul National University, Sogang University, or Yeonsei University books are your best bet.

[Son Deureo!]

I think Elementary Korean, and its sequel Continuing Korean, by Ross King are excellent. They are not the most exciting books in terms of layout, and at $70 apiece they are a bit pricey, but their explanations of Korean grammar are excellent and easy to understand, and Elementary Korean's explanation of how to read Korean grammar is far more thorough than most other books. There is no separate workbook per se, but each chapter includes a lot of written exercise, which is probably just as good. IMHO, more than worth the price.



http://www.whatthebook.com/book/0804836140?



As a supplement, I recommend the unexcitingly named [url]Handbook of Korean Vocabulary: A Resource for Word Recognition and Comprehension[/url] by Miho Choo. This book breaks down a lot of vocabulary according to its Chinese character or native Korean roots in a way that makes it much easier to learn and remember new vocabulary. It probably doesn't sound exciting to you now, but trust me on this one:



http://www.whatthebook.com/book/0824818156?

Another great, free resource is Sogang University's free online Korean course. It uses animated cartoons and games to teach you Korean, and it goes from beginner to high intermediate level. http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/

[Smee]

I second the Lonely Planet Korean book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1740591666/sr=1-1/qid=1138452210/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5802190-8448061?%5Fencoding=UTF8

It's got a good amount of phrases and a very nice grammar section---I know it may be boring, but it helps. Once you get some vocabulary and some phrases down, you can start to get a little more creative by using the conjunctions and sentence patterns they show you.

And the internet may be helpful to you, too. Naver.com has a decent Korean-English dictionary, and lots of times it puts the word into a sentence for you so you see how the word order looks. Also, once you're able to navigate Korean sites, try www.yahoo.co.kr They have a section with kids' stuff. Even clicking on "�̹���" (image/s) will let you look at some pictures and read the comments visitors leave. It's a good way to practice your vocab in context.

If you're into the language, you'll learn a ton through osmosis when you get here, but the Lonely Planet and the "Elementary Korean" Son Deureo recommended should help. (Both were at university and public libraries in my hometown, so I could find them easily.)

Edit: Oh, and if you can find some tapes that'll help you pick up the cadence of Korean before you come. When I went to NYC I picked up a few free copies of the religious propoganda tapes they had in Koreatown, and even though I couldn't understand much, just hearing the sentence stresses helped my pronunciation a lot. There's a fairly common 12-tape package out there---forget the name---that you should be able to find at your local library.

[Callipear]

I'm currently taking Seoul Nat'l University's Korean Language course (level one). I think their books are pretty good - and inexpensive. They're geared toward communication rather than straight-up grammar. I'm planning to buy the second level books and study on my own when the course is finished.
If you want to buy them go to the Office at the Language Education building on the SNU Gwanak Gu campus, Seoul. The course book and practice book cost about 30,000 Won. The CDs for the practice book cost 11,000 and I forgot the price of the course book tapes. If you live far from Seoul maybe they'd ship the books to you...Good Luck.