Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hamlet]

I'm finishing up a free Korean language course on my blog. Please check it out and tell me what you think.

Please leave comments here...not on my blog. I haven't set up a spam filter yet, and I get hundreds of comments a day--all spam.

http://www.liveinasiablog.com/korean-alphabet/

I paid a fair bit of cash for all the Korean dialogue translations. If they suck, please tell me, so I can talk to the translator (some seem odd, but I'm not that good at Korean yet).

[andrewchon]

Don't really get what you want, but anyway...
Besides disagreeing with the vowel sounds of ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅗ, and ㅣ, the rest look OK.

[Binch Lover]

[Hamlet]

Thanks for the comments...

[andrewchon]

I'd use fAthER for ㅏ and ㅓ. Oil for ㅗ, bIn for ㅣ, YA as in Yasmine for ㅑ.
Korean has short vowels only. For F/P and L/R differentiation, it is OK to write Fㅏ아, Pㅏ아, for far and par, Lㅏ이트, Rㅏ이트, for Light and Right.

[nukeday]

bin? i'd use bEAn. must be my regional accent though.

[hsaeoa]

ㅏ ah as in father
ㅑ yah as in yacht
ㅓ u as in umbrella
ㅕ yu as in yum
ㅗ o as in home
ㅛ yo as in yoke
ㅜ oo as in food
ㅠ yoo as in you

[jinks]

I'd use the IPA (international phonetic alphabet) to represent the vowel sounds. OK, most non-linguist types don't know how to read the IPA, but neither do most English speakers have the same accent. So saying something sounds like the A in father or the OI in oil is not a lot of help to people who have a different accent from the writer.

[Chet Wautlands]

My two cents...

Don't use any English transliterations. "아" might sound like fAther, bAll, Apple... but it might not. It really depends on where you are from and none of them is perfect. Instead, use an audio recording by a couple of native Korean speakers. Infinitely better.

Also, if you are a fluent speaker of Korean, you'd be much better off making materials for intermediate learners. There are dozens of sites that teach you hangeul. You can learn hanguel on your iPhone, through Youtube rap songs, every guide to Korea, etc. What is very hard to come by is material that is designed for people who can speak basic Korean but are trying to approach fluency.

I think it's great that you are helping others learn Korean, though! I think hangeul classes should be mandatory for new teachers in Korea. It makes life much easier.

[Hamlet]

Andrewchon,
Thanks for the suggestions. ...I like your hybrid spelling! (Lㅏ이트, Rㅏ이트, for Light and Right.)

Nukeday,
I think bEAn is perfect....maybe we have the same accent. Where you from. I'm from Los Angeles.

Hsaeoa,
That is a GREAT list. The only problem is that I think you found that on another Korean language website...is that right? I think I saw it when I was researching, and liked it, but I didn't want to copy another site...not exactly anyway. Anyway, it's a great list, and thanks for sharing it.

Jinks,
That's a great suggestion. I looked into the IPA, but, as you say, it's quite unfamiliar to most who are not in the field of linguistics, including me.

Chet,
I agree with you 100%. Videos (and other multimedia) are the way forward. That's why I recently added that YouTube video (it was just the charts in the beginning). That girl does a silly dance in the beginning, but I think she does a pretty good job of demonstrating proper pronunciation (when she's done playing around).

Also, if you get a chance, check out the "learn Korean" drop down menu. Click on the "video lessons" button. I'm in the process of adding 150 pronunciation videos. What do you think of short video lessons. I quite like them, especially for people who are just trying to get by, not master the language.

It's slow going, but I do hope to get into intermediate and advanced levels--at some point!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful feedback. If you have more, please, I'd love to hear it!

Ryan