Learning Korean Language...?

worndowndahnbonym · 12-27-2002, 04:02

Alright, outside of immersion, what would the best way be for me to learn Korean?

It's my understanding that the higher level Kuk Sool Won BB testing is done in Korean, and I figured I should start learning now.

So, if I have no native speaker, what would the best way for me to learn Korean be? Any particular tapes? Books?

Ray Brandle

**kodanjaclay** · 12-27-2002, 09:53

Barron's (I believe) has a rather pricey set, which consists of several cassette tapes and a book. It is very nice. What you may want to consider first is to find a Korea church and see if they can help you. Frequently they offer classes in Korea, mostly to Korean children, but from my experience, they have been willing to help. They may also know some good tutors.

Good luck.

**tkdcanada** · 01-13-2004, 08:02

I'm going to elaborate in this question since it died out a year ago. I need to do some basic Korean writing (my name, certain terms, etc...) It's a test requirement for higher levels. Can anyone give me the best/easiest way to go about learning this. Besides it being a test requirement, I also find it quite interesting to learn a writing system with a whole different "alphabet." As above, immersion is not an option and living in a small city with relatively few foreigners, finding a Korean church or something like that, as suggested above is not feasible either.

**Kumsul Player** · 01-16-2004, 12:44

Go to you local Borders or Barnes and Nobel and go into the language section. Find a book that best helps you. I would recommend the Barron's however, since they come with tapes and you can hear the correct pronunciation of the words as well as how to read and write them.

**Butch Voss** · 02-07-2004, 10:18

If this is a test, then go to the person giving the test,
they should be able to help you. I help my studentswith
their assignments.
I hope this helps.
Butch Voss

**Kumsul Player** · 02-09-2004, 08:36

Again, Barnes and Nobel have many books with great "non-pornographic" conversation books in Korean. Heck go to you local Korean organized church that sponsors a Korean language group and they will have plenty of material for you. Or do what I did when I was teaching some of students who were interested in Korean, take and ESL book and just make a KSL book. It takes a bit more time to do the translations.

Overall however, he will need someone to listen to him speak. You can listen to tapes or a radio show all you want but the bottom line is that you need to learn how to pronounce correctly. For that you need to have a native speaker or a speaker who is fluent to listen to him speak and correct him. This is a lesson I learned when trying to pronounce the Sino-Korean word for 18 (ship pal). I unfortunately missed stressed the word making it sound like another word in Korean which can not be translated in this forum.

However, my in-laws did get a good laugh about it.

**glad2bhere** · 02-11-2004, 07:55

Dear Jeremy:

I thought I would interject one other item here, and just for guidance. Most, if not all of the "Korean Language" programs tend to focus on the dialect used in the area of Seoul. This makes sense as the capital of a country is usually its commercial and political hub, ne? Howere, just as in China and many other countries, there are significant portions of the populatin who speak not just other dialects of the language--- but other languages as well. It is always important when learning a language to realize that packaged programs are just a starting point and that one will find many interesting(?) variances in the actual population. A good example would be trying to speak Korean with, say, MA instructors here in the States who come from a wide range of locations in SK. And I don't even want to get started about what happens when you go across into NK!! FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

**Kumsul Player** · 02-11-2004, 08:43

Originally Posted by glad2bhere

Dear Jeremy:

I thought I would interject one other item here, and just for guidance. Most, if not all of the "Korean Language" programs tend to focus on the dialect used in the area of Seoul.

Very good point. My wife is a good example. She is from Chunju and a good friend of ours is from Taegu. So when I try to talk to the friend they will sometimes question my Korean because I learned mostly from my wife and so I learned her dialect. (Well that mixed with my crappy pronunciation is usually the problem. ha.ha.ha..) However, for the most part, the tapes teach you "proper" Korean just like we learn "proper" English prior to mixing in slang and dialect. So if you learn from them, most people will be able to understand you when using it. However, you may find it difficult to understand a native due to speed of speach, dialect, and slang.

**ushankido** · 02-13-2004, 13:07

Another good avenue is try finding a Korean church, community center, etc. They tend to offer Korean language classes to those that are interested.

Here in Los Angeles, you can find Korean language classes taught at churches, the Korean Cultural Center, Korean community centers, and even the local city colleges.

Good luck!