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Good programs for Korean | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| StorM Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4640 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English | Message 1 of 12 10 July 2012 at 1:58am | IP Logged | ||
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I want to begin studying Korean. I am thinking of using FSI, but I would like to know
if there is a better method out there that I haven't thought of. I enjoyed the ASSIMIL method for French, but unfortunately they don't have Korean for English speakers, and I do not know French well enough to use Le Coreen Sans Peine. Also, it seems like FSI has two volumes for the basic course, but only Volume I appears to be available on this website. If anyone has experience, how far do you think the drills in the 18 lessons would take me? To an intermediate-advanced range, or below that? And if the latter, is there another method to use after that? Thanks in advance.Le Coréen Sans Peineder 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dr sam gyup sal Groupie Korea, South Joined 4622 days ago 80 posts - 92 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Korean | Message 2 of 12 14 July 2012 at 3:45am | IP Logged | ||
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I have no experience with that but I really recommend all the material at TTMIK.com. After trying various different
methods, I have always had something from them by my side. Probably the best resource all round 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LangWanderer Diglot Pro Member Australia digintoenglish.com Joined 4540 days ago 74 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, French, Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 12 14 July 2012 at 4:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Definitely don't begin with FSI. The voices on the dialogues are terrible and the speakers use extremely formal language. It might be useful later in your studies to drill some grammar that you can't produce automatically - while not without their faults, the drills are extremely effective at helping you in this regard - but it's not a good starting point for Korean.
I second Dr Sam Gyup Sal's recommendation for TTMIK (the address is actually talktomeinkorean.com), but if you'd like something more structured, I've found the Integrated Korean series and Elementary Korean/Continuing Korean books by Ross King to be quite helpful. The latter is more of a grammar-translation book, so if you like FSI's style you might find it useful. At the end of each chapter there are extensive exercises, which are designed to be written out, but I prefer to say them aloud until I can produce the answers fluently. In any case, you'll need quite a few resources. Unfortunately Korean isn't a language that can be covered adequately with just one method. EDIT: As a more specific answer to your question, the first volume of FSI won't get you to the intermediate-advanced level. After both levels you might be closer in terms of grammar, but your comprehension of colloquial speech will be almost non-existent, since FSI doesn't cover that at all. Edited by LangWanderer on 14 July 2012 at 4:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pfn123 Senior Member Australia Joined 5085 days ago 171 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 12 21 July 2012 at 2:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't started learning Korean yet, as I want to get my Japanese to a higher level first. But I'm getting ready, and have bought a few books for Korean.
I have Living Language Spoken World Korean. This is a really good course. LOTS of recordings (six CDs). It's straightforward and to the point. There is little English on the recordings, which is good, too. Also, Teach Yourself is not bad. But there's lots of English on the recordings, so you need to edit them a bit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 5 of 12 21 July 2012 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I started studying with Integrated Korean and think those books are great - especially the grammar explanations.
If you're looking for free materials I'd go for this DLI course: textbook, workbook, textbook audio, workbook audio. It's a much newer course than FSI and it looks very, very good. If I had been aware of it at the time, I'd have studied with this. My estimate is that it should take you to upper intermediate. TTMIK is also a great resource overall, but I'm personally not into the language-lesson-as-podcast format and I'm not sure their beginner lessons follow a logical order. But their intermediate Iyagi podcasts (where they only speak Korean and you get a transcript) are great, as well as their word builder and sentence-building drill lessons. Once you get to the intermediate stage it's okay to ditch your textbook and work with easy native materials like TTMIKs Iyagi lessons, a grammar reference and a dictionary. Edited by druckfehler on 23 July 2012 at 3:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jtdotto Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5231 days ago 73 posts - 172 votes Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German | Message 6 of 12 24 July 2012 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just took a look at the DLI course for the first time, and though it actually looks pretty decent and
comprehensive as far as Korean textbook series go, the grammar explanations seem non-existant. I'd imagine this to be true for any foreign language, but *especially* for Korean, you need very good grammatical explanations in the beginning or you will be lost for a very long time. Korean grammar is not hard in the sense that it has 3 noun genders, declines verbs by the dozen, etc. No, those are the type of difficulties we face with Western languages (typically). Korean is an entirely different monster. An agglutinative language with subject-object-verb word order written in a very foreign alphabet, Korean's initial learning curve is steep. The beginning stages can be passed through with hard work and a smart method, but that is where you enter the difficult high-beginner/low-intermediate stage where conversationally fluency will seem to elude you for a good long while. No language is impossible, and there are many very capable non-native Korean speakers (some of them with near native ability), and the one thing that they all have in common is that they stuck to it and had a fascination with Korean culture and the language that never waned long enough to bring them to a full stop. As far as a smart method, I would recommend the following: 1. You Speak Korean! (한국말을 하시네요!) by Soohee Kim - for all your grammatical needs, seriously. This book is far and away the best grammatical teacher/resource you can probably find. The Integrated Korean Series might be able to rival the YSK series in the early stages, but not later on in the high- beginner stage and on, and even then, I think the comprehensive foundation the YSK series gives you in the beginning serves to help you later on when you really get involved in the maze of Korean grammar. 2. Sogang University's Textbook or Yonsei University's Textbook / Integrated Korean - for your listening needs. The publications out of Sogang, Yonsei, and Hawaii Press do get one thing very right all the time: their listening materials are of high quality. Especially in the beginning, the last thing you need is long-winded explanations, jokes, and other sources of distraction on your mp3s. With Korean (just like any other language), you'll need repeated listens, and then a few more at that, to simply get your ear in tune with the individual words you're hearing, not to mention quite a few more listens to understand how the words connect together. YSK's listening files are of good quality, especially for a small press publication, but I can't speak for the first book's audio because I never used them. Later on though, I would incorporate they're audio as well. (If you say you enjoyed Assimil, using the transcripts of any of the above mentioned textbooks with the accompanying audio would be great to shadow in an Assimil like fashion. Paired with YSK's crystal clear grammar explanations, you'd be on a very good track right from the start). 3. talktomeinkorean.com - for supplementary listening and context for the language and culture. You'll be able to follow the stories of 5-7 young, well-educated Koreans who are passionate about what they do and who bring they're personalities to the recordings. In the intermediate stages, you'll find the Iyagi Series your absolute best friend for listening practice. This series is what brought my listening from less-than-mediocre to very functional, in a relatively short period of time. 4. Native speakers (friends, language partners, tutor, etc.) - to truly bring the language to life. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dr sam gyup sal Groupie Korea, South Joined 4622 days ago 80 posts - 92 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean | Message 7 of 12 24 July 2012 at 5:34pm | IP Logged | ||
jtdotto I read this post with some interest. I would appreciate any crit on my log as I have been using the TTMIK lessons. As a more experienced Korean learner would you suggest that I change my tactics? Kind regards 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 8 of 12 26 July 2012 at 1:13am | IP Logged | ||
I can see that it's a challenging textbook, especially for someone who isn't familiar with language study. But I'm wondering if you overlooked the "Grammar Note" section that is included in each lesson. If you did see them, I'd like to know in which way you think these explanations are lacking. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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