Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cornfed]

I want to learn Korean. Ideally I would take classes for a few hours on a day in the weekend. Do such classes exist, and if so how would I go about finding out about them?

[boatofcar]

Where are you located?

[Cornfed]

Uijeongbu.

[Suwon23]

Take Korean classes? Nah. I think a better option would be to move to Korea. Oh wait, you already did that. What's holding you back? If living in Korea isn't giving you enough exposure to learn the language, obviously you don't need to learn Korean. Learn Japanese instead. It's worth more points back home.

[Cornfed]

[Easter Clark]

I've only recently started studying the language semi-seriously. I found the best way to retain what I learn (getting older now so things don't stick the way they used to) is to use what you learn every chance you get. Try talking about the weather with your Korean coworkers. Go to a restaurant and order in Korean. Ask what time the express train leaves in Korean. Transfer your money home by speaking Korean to the teller at the bank.

You get the idea! Whatever Korean you have to know to accomplish a task, learn it before leaving the house (or write it down). There are many good books on survival Korean. After a while, you'll be able to tell the taxi driver to "stop here please," be able to buy fruit from the fruit ajumma on the street, and will know how much 삼천원 is.

[boatofcar]

[bacasper]

Overseed at Sarang Community Church has free Korean classes on Saturdays at 6pm.

Call 019 331-5758

[michael5799042]

There are lots of shows for learning Korean. Did you search Youtube. Also there are CDs that you can download with one of the torrent programs. And there is a free book on Wikibooks.

I found loads of sources.... but I still haven't learned a damn thing!

[Chris_Dixon]

Most ymca's have korean lessons for a couple of hours on a saturday...around 10,000 won a lesson if i recall.

Maybe theres one near you

[samd]

I recommend Stephen Rever's Survival Korean as a starting text. It is wel written and interesting, and will teach you Hangeul, some good phrases to use in common situations, eg. taxis, and a lot of basic grammar.

Also, check out Sogang's online course, it's a godsend. Once you get to the Intermediate levels you can supplement it with more advanced books, and, as pointed out in another thread, English phrasebooks for Koreans used in reverse to learn how people really talk.

http://korean.sogang.ac.kr

[Suwon23]

[jkelly80]

My two cents:
Learn hangeul (not as hard as it seems at first. I bought Declan Read and Write Korean. About 30 dollars US. Not sure if it's really worth 30 dollars, but paying for it motivated me to use it)

Learn some basic verbs, and how to conjugate them into hae yo chae (isseo-yo, i-e-yo, hae-yo) etc. I've found that Koreans insist you learn the "seumnida" form, but you will RARELY use this form. I dont' know why they claim it's common, b/c it's not. Focus on the ___-eo yo first. It's more common, and harder to learn, so focus more on that one.

Learn questions words (eodi--"where", "mu eot", what)

Learn sentence order (subject, question word, object, verb)

Buy a notebook, and write down the name of anything you come across, with the English first. You think in English and have to reach for Korean in your head when you're in day to day life, so I find it best to study that way. Maybe not for you. YBM in Jongno offers classes. 10 classes per session, 2 hours per class, over teh course of a month. It was 115k won for one session. I think it's worth it. Kind of far from you, though.

[Chris Kwon]

[samd]