Korean Job Discussion Forums

candide · Joined: 03 Oct 2006

I'm surprised that there aren't more threads about learning Korean on this site.

To all of those that can speak the lingo, what tips can you offer us newbies? What are the key words, things we need to know about the grammar (from an English-speakers perspective), etc?

Let's be productive and help one another out!

djsmnc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Dave's ESL Cafe

I would suggest studying it.

candide · Joined: 03 Oct 2006

Can I eat it like I ate my mom's infernal cavern of dark desires?

Turd.

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

get a good set of text books. the sogang and ewha series are among the better ones to begin with. kyobo is a good place for books. sogang comes with useful listening materials as well, im not sure if ewha does. set aside some time every day to study.

if you are in seoul check out the courses at Yonsei, Sogang and EWHA, there may even be hagwons near by.

and dont listen to the negative turds on this board like the guy who first posted.

korean is totally different from english. even after a few solid days of studying you will be able to appreciate how difficult it is for them to learn and use english. you time, effort and patience.

pm for more info if you like. im a beginner with just under 2 years experience so i can relate.

djsmnc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Dave's ESL Cafe

candide · Joined: 03 Oct 2006

Ginormousaurus · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit

If you are anything like me, you won't be able to just "pick it up". During my first two years here I put in a half-assed effort and only got half-assed results. I really reccomend getting into a class. There are a few free classes around Seoul. There is one at Sookmyeon Women's University on Saturdays. Also there is one on Mon - Wed - Fri near City Hall station that is also free. I'm not sure of it's actual location though. I am/was friends with one of the women who teach there, but I never actually went.

Self-study is good, but only to a point. I can't stress enough that you need to use what you learn or else you will quickly forget it. Use it enough and it starts to sound natural in your head.

Good luck!

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

Take any classes you can, as soon as you can. Korean is a difficult language to learn, you'll need all the help you can get. It's especially good to find classes where you have classmates that don't speak English (Japanese, Chinese, etc.). That way you will be using Korean as you make friends with your classmates. Plus, you should see Koreans' reactions to seeing a Westerner hanging out with Japanese people and communicating with each other in Korean!

Sogang probably offers the best Korean classes in the country, but if the time (9am-1pm M-F) and money (W1.3 million per 10 week semester) commitment is too high Yonsei, SNU and Ewha offer night classes, and YBM on Jongno offers conversation classes during the week at a lot of different times. The free Saturday classes near Sookmyoung are also good, but once a week just isn't enough IMHO.

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

There are plenty of books to choose from. I used 'Korean made easy for beginners' by Seung-Eun Oh and 'Survival Korean' by Stephen Revere.

I've been studying (with, to say the least, varying degrees of intensity, for a year) and I still refer to those books even as I enter the lower intermediate stage, but they're also easy enough to get you started from scratch.

Definitely get both these books and not just one of them because - whilst Revere's is a decent book - he omits an awful lot of important things that Seung Eun Oh includes. Mashimiro's suggestion about verbs is very good too, but that's for when you've passed the complete beginner stage.

edit: another great thing to do is research how to say things that interest you. In my case that was - learn how to discuss hobbies (music, space, science), learn how to say funny things and - yes - vulgar expressions. It makes it fun. Fun is the most important thing.

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

If you have the time and money, I recommend the Evening course at Seoul National University. The classes are twice a week (Mon + Thurs) from 6.30-9.30. There are four levels that are 10 weeks long. The course is very intensive, but it has a lot of emphasis on practical Korean and I've really found of use.

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003