HANGUKDRAMA E-BOOKS

Self Study Korean

its not impossible

Now self studying Japanese in Korean

BY SHANNA / HANGUKDRAMA

Dedication

To all my blog readers-friends. You guys are the best. Some of you Ive met, others I have corresponded with online and to the anonymous reader out there, please say hi! To everyone Ive met in Korea, each and everyone of you shaped my experiences here and made me love the country and the culture. Special mention goes to the LC peeps! And not forgetting the 3 awesome girls who have been with me through the 4 years of my university life. All our laughing sessions were the best. Cheers to many more years of Hangukdrama which doesnt write about dramas! p.s. E-books are such an awesome invention. Who knew that the day will come when I can actually write something like this!

Foreword

Learning a foreign language is a very rewarding journey, but often expensive. A lack of financial resources, a general dislike for stifling classes and the determination to prove that I can do as well (or even better) on my own has led me to choose the self-studying route. There is no one way for language learning, and this is simply a collection of my experiences and my own personal methods and thoughts. Language learning is all about trial and error and exploring a brand new world on your own. Wheres the fun if theres only one fixed way of doing it? In writing this, I hope to inspire more people to take up a foreign language. Simply for the reason that it opens up a whole new worldview and is a lot of fun. This book is mainly written for the self-learner in mind, but I hope that every Korean learner will find something useful in here. And finally. Self-studying is not impossible.

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 | About Me

Shanna. Singaporean. Just a girl who does not believe in giving up her passions and dreams just to pursue the more pragmatic things in life. She started learning Korean in Jan 2008, taking beginner lessons at a local institution for 2 levels. Decided to stop classes and self study. Most of her friends believed that that was going to be the end of her Korean learning journey and she will somehow give up along the way. Oct 2008: Passed KLPT Level 2 Oct 2009: Passed KLPT Level 5 (advanced) and TOPIK Level 4 (higher intermediate) Apr 2012: Passed TOPIK Level 5 (advanced) 5 years down the road, she is still on this journey and loving Korean more than ever. She is now able to watch almost everything in Korean unsubbed, loves reading Korean historical novels in her free time and is currently learning about Koreas history in Korean. She blogs at www.hangukdrama.com and loves receiving emails/comments. ^^

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B EFORE WE START

Why Self Study?

I can list down 10 convincing reasons to self study a language. But another person can probably give you another 10 good reasons to take language classes. It boils down to choice. Still, let me tell you about my choice.

B EFORE WE START

The 10 best reasons

Im very much inspired by his thinking, as it also echoes with mine. Instead of empty words, I want to show it through my actions. And Im happy I did it. If you still want to be convinced, maybe you should think again. Everyone is different and there is nothing in the world that is suitable for everybody. Self studying works for me, but it may not for you. Instead of asking to be convinced, convince yourself. What I can offer, is my own experience. There is no answer until you find it for yourself. I cant give you the 10 best reasons to self study, but I can share with you my experiences and what I gained from making this choice. ----------------Like many others, I did think that language classes is the best way to learn a language. Self study wasnt in my consideration right from the start. But as I went through the lessons, I knew that it wasnt for me. I want to learn more. I want more freedom in my studies. I want to go at a faster pace. And so, I made the decision. The decision that everyone was skeptical about. Like I mentioned earlier on, everyone fully expected me to give up soon, but that didnt deter me from making that choice. One of the best things about self studying (for me) was the freedom it offers. I can use any textbook I want. I can study from any materials. I do things at my own pace.
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10 best reasons? Nah. Ill give you one. I did it, so can you. Ive received many emails over the years, and one of the recurring questions is: Is self studying possible? I dont know why Im still receiving that question, even up till now. Havent I shown (through my entire blog) that it IS possible? Instead of doubting your own abilities, why not give it a try and find out the answer for yourself? My favorite Taiwanese author once said that many authors like to encourage their readers to be true to themselves, go for their dreams and give them so many convincing reasons to do so. But he took a different path and just did it, achieved his dreams and that in itself is probably the best he can give to his readers.

Self studying means that I dont see it as a chore. Immediately it becomes something that I am responsible for, like a hobby. I take charge of my own learning and passion and interest drive me, instead of scores or exams. Im no longer restricted to learning only what is covered in the syllabus. Having classes give you a fixed routine and some kind of guideline, but it can be restrictive. If something is tested, naturally you will pay more attention to it. Lets be honest. Have you ever made the effort to learn a lot more than what was covered in classes in school? The same logic goes for language learning. Once you are in a class, its harder not to put all the focus on the syllabus. On the other hand, its true that there isnt anyone there to guide you. However, that doest mean there are no alternatives. It just depends on your effort. You may not have a teacher, but you can gain many friends who are willing to help you correct your sentences, point out your mistakes. There isnt anyone to mark your writing, but you can make use of sites such as Lang-8 to get your writing checked. There isnt someone who will make sure you do a minimum amount of studying each week, you just have to pace yourself. If you choose self studying, be prepared to put in a great amount of effort, determination and perseverance. In some ways, self studying is harder than taking language classes. Before writing something off as impossible or to admire people who have managed to do it, ask yourself: have you put in the appropriate amount of effort?
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T HE FIRST STEP

The start is the most difficult

Taking on a foreign language is often a spontaneous decision. You are eager to jump straight into it and start learning how to converse. Enthusiasm is great. . A good beginning is half the battle. But how can you begin?

T HE F IRST S TEP

for in my compact dictionary and needless to say, I never got any results. I cant emphasize any further about the importance of a good first resource in language learning and here are some online resources for you to test the waters. Personally, I like resources that do not just teach you the very basics but those that offers some form of structured lessons that you can keep using for a few months at least. 1. talktomeinkorean.com

Where to start?

You have decided to start self-studying Korean and you are eager to jump into it straightaway. But the first question comes: HOW? There are tons of learning resources, both online and offline. The most natural thing to do will be to google learn Korean beginner free or something along the lines. Or search youtube for Korean beginner lesson. But is that really useful? For those who have experience learning languages, you will know that not all online resources/books are equally good and a bad choice will make you confused or even make you give up learning altogether, deeming the language impossibly hard to learn. I made the mistake of choosing a wrong resource at first and I was left wondering why I couldnt simply search for a word in the dictionary and at that that point of time, I thought that a word in Korean is equivalent to characters joined together between spaces in a sentence. So I searched

You will not see TTMIK when you google learn korean beginner free. However, they are the best free online resource for the beginner Korean learner. Scratch that. They actually offer something suitable for every Korean learner (beginner to advanced) but I find that they are one of the best when it comes to beginner resources. There are more alternatives when it comes to the higher levels. So who is TTMIK? Headed by Hyunwoo Sun, the team is made up of Koreans who are avid language learners themselves and they have a lot of experience teaching Korean to foreigners online. Hyunwoo Sun will not be an unfamiliar name to language learners. Hes an amazing polyglot and he has been teaching Korean online for years. His enthusiasm for languages is infectious and he is my role model (: Although TTMIK is founded in 2009, Hyunwoo Sun and Kyeongeun Choi (the two most experienced in the team) have
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been teaching Korean online for a number of years before TTMIK and I learnt Korean through their videos and resources last time too! I was really inspired by them and that was one of the reasons why I was able to keep learning Korean and not give up. When you have such inspiring teachers, how can you give up so easily? The site itself is easily to navigate and I recommend starting on their Learn Hangeul category, before moving on to Level 1 and progressing from there. One main reason their website is so popular is because of the amount of interactive, multimedia materials that they offer and also proximity to the teachers. I love how they have videos and/or mp3 for each of their lessons and this makes learning so much more fun. You can find the team on Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Blogs / Email etc and it feels like they are only a tweet/email away. Even though the site is really popular, I appreciate their efforts to get back to their users. www.talktomeinkorean.com

2. Sogang Online Program So much fond memories. Because TTMIK didnt exist in 2008 when I first started learning Korean, I relied a lot on Sogang Korean Program. The program is designed by Sogang University, which also has a very popular Korean Language Program that focuses a lot on conversational and speaking skills. More on that in another chapter, or another book. Although I recommend using a number of learning resource at one time, the Sogang program is actually good enough on its own. Besides a section introducing Korea and the Korean language, the program consists of six levels and by the end of it, you will actually have a decent proficiency level. Just did a quick check on my blog and found that I finished the entire program in Dec 2009, which means I took two years to do it. By then, I had actually gotten my TOPIK Level 4 (high intermediate) certification. I loved the site for its interesting videos, interactive exercises and detailed grammar explanations. You can use it together with TTMIK. http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/

Are you eager to start right now? WAIT.

Before you do anything, remember that there is no shortcut to language learning. Its like Jenga, if your foundation is weak, everything will topple. So, build your foundation well. The way to do it? Learn Hangeul () first. I have met many people who tried to learn Korean by listening to music, dramas or watch youtube videos that introduce simple Korean phrases. Its great that they are learning with their ears, but learning Hangeul right at the beginning is very important for two reasons: 1. (spelling) 2. (spacing) One of the first phrases one will learn is , which means to like. Cho-a-hae-yo. Thats what you will hear. If you learn Hangeul later on, you might be susceptible to mistakes like . Sounds the same, but wrong. Other common mistakes are (x) for (O) and (x) for (O). Or making mistakes with the spacing and writing

instead of (I have lived in Korea). One more incentive to learn Hangeul right at the start? Its super easy to learn because its like alphabets + building blocks. If you are a language enthusiast like me, you can read up about the history of Hangeul and it will help you remember the consonants easier because there is logic behind each character. I learnt the Hangeul in a day and some people have claimed to do it in a few hours or even lesser. Of course, practice makes perfect and no one will expect you to be able to read Hangeul fast at first. After learning the alphabet, I had to slowly read it bit by bit. For example: . Ill be like and then piecing it all together to say it out loud. You get the idea. Tip: Use your ears when you learn to how to pronounce the consonants and (especially) the vowels. Forget about English. Dont insist that just because is s it will sound exactly like the English s.

The difficulty in Hangeul is not learning it, but pronouncing it. One can remember the consonants and vowels in a day and learn to piece them into a word, but pronouncing it takes longer than that. Do not fall into the pitfall of comparing Korean to any languages that you learn. Forget that you know English and other languages and approach Korean like you would for a brand new speaking system.
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Use your ears. Do not be tempted to use romanization. Do not be tempted to use romanization. Do not be tempted to use romanization. I think I have emphasized it enough. Do not attempt to write down the romanization while you practice the alphabet and more importantly, do not attempt to pronounce Korean like you will do for English. Romanization is like a drug. Gives you short-lived relief and makes you reliant on them. Most resources will include romanizations below for beginners, and it will be really tempting for your eyes to slide down to the romanization. Resist the temptation. Trust your ears. While on the topic of romanizations, there are a number of ways to romanize Korean. I will only grudgingly agree to use IPA but even then, its not good to be reliant on them. On the other hand, looking at romanizations like mul-juseyo will just screw up your pronunciation and looking at the McCune Reischauer kach'i / m!g!tta will make you wonder if Korean is impossibly hard to pronounce. If romanization is bad, I dont even want to talk about using Chinese characters to learn Korean. Saw a video on youtube that subbed the lyrics in Chinese. is supposedly . O.M.G. Lets not get there. Best thing? Just avoid them. Its a personal pet peeve, but please do not go around telling people that I can read and pro-

nounce Korean now but just cant understand what Im reading after learning Korean for a week or so. I have heard this so many times and I cant help but roll my eyes at times. There are quite a number of sound change rules etc that even the advanced learners will sometimes forget. So please dont underestimate the time needed to learn the pronunciation! --------------Before we move on further, I would like to emphasize the fact that this is not a book to teach you Korean. So please dont expect me to teach you the Hangeul alphabet etc. Language learning, especially self studying, requires a lot of self discipline and the ability to find out things on your own. One of the most fun parts of learning a language is to explore the world on your own. I can give tips, but I am not a dictionary or a know-it-all. Because of my personal dislike for romanization, further chapters will not include any romanization unless to make a point. There may or not be English translations given after any Korean words used. If there isnt, chances are that its something simple and you can just use the dictionary.

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T HE F IRST S TEP

example you will hear () instead of when describing deaths from a landslide, for example. But if you ask someone to go die, you will say instead of . Nevertheless, dont be intimidated by what you read. But its a good thing to get a sense of the language structure, a little bit about the history of the language etc before you start to learn the language. For me, I made so many silly mistakes because this was my first experience in language learning. I am a native speaker of English and Mandarin Chinese and both languages do not involve conjugation. So I was really confused when I first started to learn Korean and I had no idea how to go around doing it. It took me some time to get used to the fact that verbs are at the back of the sentences. But now, thats like second nature to me. Reading up helps you to build a general picture of what to expect in the language, but some articles tend to exaggerate. Korean is not that difficult to learn, trust me (: I did it. And so can you.

Before you dive into it..

Korean is technically my first foreign language. I have dabbled in Spanish before for a short while and even though its different from English, theres still some sense of familiarity in terms of the writing system and language structure. I have read an article somewhere that touted Korean as one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. Is it really so? Yes and no. Granted, Korean is totally different from English, especially in terms of grammar and sentence structure. Verbs are at the end of the sentences. There is an elaborate system of conjugation and if you take into account the politeness levels and different sentence endings, thats a lot to handle. Certain words are changed depending on the seniority of the person you are talking to / about. You have both the (Chinese characters borrowed into the Korean language) and the (native Korean words). The hanja equivalent is usually used in news broadcasting or other more formal writings. For

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Now that you have learnt the alphabet, its still not time yet to dive into it.

Goal setting
Ask around and you will find that majority of the people around you have some kind of experience learning a foreign language. But how many of them are conversational? Very few. And how many are really fluent? Very very very few. Why? A lot of people tend to give up learning halfway for a wide variety of reasons, and one of the most common reasons I have seen is disappointment and unfulfilled expectations. Not everyone have the same goals for learning a language. just for fun and to learn something new to be able to watch dramas unsubbed to be able to hold a conversation in Korean to be able to read tweets from your favorite idols to be able to read a novel in Korean to be fluent in all aspects So many different goals. Theres no such thing as a better goal and often, our goals change. Personally, I started off learning just for fun and later on got serious about it and started aiming for full fluency. Whatever your goal is, have realistic expectations and then put in the necessary effort to

achieve it. As I have mentioned in a blog post titled: I want to learn just enough Korean so I can watch unsubbed Korean dramas, people like to assume that watching unsubbed dramas is something that is easy to achieve and that one doesnt need to learn Hangeul to do it. Rubbish. Bullshit. If you are aiming for that, you are essentially aiming to be proficient in most of the grammar structures, have a good knowledge of slangs and expressions used in daily life, have a decent vocabulary bank etc. Sure, you may not be able to speak or write that well, but you will definitely need to have good listening skills and reading skills by then. And lets see... that will take around 2 - 3 years and Im a pretty fast learner!! In any case, goal setting is important because it helps to avoid all the unnecessary disappointments and you will know what you are in for. If you are serious about it, learning a new language is a lifelong commitment that requires constant practice, immersion and passion. The language learning curve is also not a linear graph, but its characterized by periods of fast progress coupled with periods of stagnancy and perhaps even times when you feel like you are doing worse than before. The book is probably written for someone who aims for full fluency in the end, but theres always something for everybody. If you are ready, lets go on the journey together! ^^

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T HE B EGINNER

Beginners: The period of progress

/? Is that useful? Grammar or vocabulary first? How to organize a language notebook? What dictionaries to use? What books to get? ....... Endless questions. But so much fun.

T HE B EGINNER

Useless?
Many Korean learners were disappointed when they eagerly signed up for Korean classes thinking that they will be learning phrases used in dramas but ended up having to start with the formal speech style. This applies to self learners too. Why do we have to learn this? Its not even useful, said a friend. Many people do not realize it, but often language as used in dramas or movies are colloquial and colloquial language is often designated as more advanced in curriculum. It makes sense for textbooks to introduce the formal speech style first, seeing how the conjugation is less complicated compared to the / form. I completely understand the enthusiasm but it will be great to channel the enthusiasm to learning from the basics instead of wanting to skip steps and jump to the colloquial speech. All in all, learning about the formal speech style is important and its a step that all Korean learners will have to go through. Do not skip this.

King Sejong Statue. Go behind the statue and theres an entrance to the King Sejong Museum located underground! :D 15

T HE B EGINNER

Grammar or Vocabulary?

When we approach language learning for the first time, we tend to treat it as another subject in our curriculum and break them up into separate components. Grammar. Vocabulary. Idioms. Proverbs. We will then start to wonder: Should I focus on grammar first? Or build up my vocabulary? Does grammar come before vocabulary? Or the other way round? Thought-provoking questions. I did ask myself the same thing, but luckily, I didnt spend too much time agonizing over the choice. Language is not compartmentalizable (is this a word?). Focusing on grammar without vocabulary gets you nowhere. Same for the other way round. Unless you are thinking of speaking in single words all the time and throwing the task of stringing them up together to the listener. So.. Grammar or vocabulary first? Do both at the same time. One may argue that perhaps for a beginner, vocabulary is more important. Without knowing some vocabulary, knowing the grammar point doesnt help. Yes, I do agree. I did started out learning 20 simple vocabulary and that was about all the words that I ever memorized in 6 years of learning Korean. The idea is not to debate over which should come first at the beginner stage, but to recognize that they go hand in hand and that one should not concentrate on one component at the expense of the other.
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Busan, 2011

I do agree that knowing simple vocabulary may come first before grammar at the very beginning, but take note that language learning is about habit/routine building. For me at least. Its about finding a comfortable routine and whatever method that I start to use will end up sticking to you for a large part of your learning journey. Lets say you started out with flashcards and memorization. Its likely that you will continue to use up to the intermediate stage and maybe beyond. If you started out with romanization, it may take you a long time before you break that habit. I came to realize that separating language into components is something of a man made categorization. Theres no separate components when it comes to language, and every component or skill is in fact, very much linked to one another. Its perhaps for convenience (and commercial?) sake that we get separate books for grammar / vocabulary and even weirder that we sometimes have books for speaking! Seeing such books in the market reinforces our impressions that these components can be separated but I want to stress that its an inaccurate impression. After writing so much, I dont think I have gotten to my main point. My point: Dont fret over this issue and just learn. Whether you like it or not, grammar and vocabulary are not separable. When you are learning a grammar structure, you may come across new words. Just check the dictionary and

note it down in your notebook (or your memory). When you are reading a passage and learning vocabulary, you are essentially revising the grammar points and if you come across a new one, check it out on the internet or refer to your textbooks. Personally, I had periods of time when I focused on one more than the other. I am a grammar geek and I remembered that for a period of time in 2008-9, I was having so much fun learning grammar that I could spent hours on it! My grammar bank expanded really fast then. But it didnt mean that I was totally neglecting vocabulary. On other times I was more invested in learning vocabulary, so I would read Korean entertainment articles voraciously to expand my vocabulary. Its one thing to be more focused and another to be learning vocabulary through vocabulary lists / books. Tips: Never try to separate things that are never meant to be separate - grammar and vocabulary

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T HE BEGINNER

Paper vs Online vs Electronic dictionaries

My choice of online dictionary for beginners is the Naver online dictionary (endic.naver.com). Its supposed to be an English dictionary for Koreans, but since you can input both Korean and English in the search bar, its extremely useful for Korean learners. The site is entirely in Korean and at first glance, it may seem too overwhelming for a beginner. But I never believe that something can be too difficult. Obviously its difficult. Everything that you have never tried is difficult. But that isnt the excuse for you not to try it. Especially since it involves just mental capacity. If you take a closer look at the site, you will find that its intuitive and very soon, you will get the hang of navigating the dictionary section. Although I have a personal preference for Naver dictionary, there are quite a number of decent ones out there, and its about finding something that you like. Naver dictionary endic.naver.com Nate dictionary http://engdic.nate.com/ Daum dictionary http://alldic.daum.net/index.do?dic=eng Useful terms: - search - examples - idiomatic expression - advanced search

Dictionary. This is one of the first obvious tool of foreign language learning, besides textbooks. Its tempting to go to the bookstore right away to purchase one, but hold on. When I first started learning Korean, I thought a paperback dictionary was the most obvious choice. So I bought one. ..... And never referred to it. Because of people like me, paperback dictionaries are fast disappearing but I still think that there is no need to invest in one in this era. If you are at home, there is the internet, if you are out, there are always handphone apps - so why will you need a paperback? Language learning is already a time-consuming task, Ill prefer to immediately type in a word and get the meaning instead of flipping through the dictionary.

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Electronic dictionaries. This is worth discussing. When I first started learning Korean, I really envied those who have an electronic dictionary. To me, it looked really cool and useful. At that time (2008) smartphones werent as popular and only the rich and most tech savvy will have them. Needless to say, the concept of 3G and apps werent popular too. Electronic dictionaries seem really useful, and I thought it was great that one can study on the go. The pronunciation function was attractive too and the better ones can even read pdfs / store mp3 files. Those were really expensive, so after much thought, I settled on a cheaper (but still expensive) Korean-ChineseJapanese-English electronic dictionary. I really regretted the purchase. I barely use it and some of the words I wanted to check werent in the database. I rarely do my studying outside (even though I thought I will) and when Im at home, the laptop screen is so much conducive than the small electronic dictionary. Another important point is that an electronic dictionary can serve you well enough in the beginner - intermediate stage, but once you start to learn the harder vocabulary, you may realize that your electronic dictionary may sometimes fail you. As you delve deeper into the language, you will come across slangs and jargon that will not be available on electronic dictionaries. That being said, I do have friends that invested in a good one and really like it. Most of them attend language classes and perhaps its better to be seen using an electronic dictionary in-

stead of a phone in the class even though you may be just using the dictionary function in both :P

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T HE B EGINNER

The beginner textbooks

Now that you have learnt Korean online for a while, you may also be considering getting a few books for some offline study. Choosing a good textbook is a skill in itself.

T HE B EGINNER

How to choose a beginner textbook

I was guilty of it too. So now I have a Spanish dictionary, a phrasebook and a guidebook rotting on the bookshelf and an untouched Korean-English dictionary by the side. With the amount of learning resources online, I think its smarter to start online. I have already introduced two wonderful sites for learning Korean in the previous chapters and they will serve you well for quite a while. You should start thinking of textbooks only after 1-2 months for two reasons: 1. This is when you will probably know whether you want to give up or continue learning

Before launching on some tips and advices of choosing a textbook, I would like to talk about WHEN one should start buying foreign language textbooks. Although foreign language textbooks are cheaper than lesson fees, most of them will be very expensive. In Singapore, such textbooks can range from anything between SGD $15 - $100+. Unless you have the financial resources to splurge on them, you should think twice before buying them. I have seen some friends who were so enthusiastic about learning a new language that they go to bookstores the next day and start purchasing piles of phrasebooks, dictionaries, textbooks, guidebooks, exercise books, CDs etc. Its good to have enthusiasm, but perhaps you shouldnt channel them to purchasing all these stuff and think that they showcase your determination to learn a language.

2. Spending a few months learning Korean gives you some knowledge of what to buy and what not to buy. Quick Tips - What To Avoid! Phrasebooks - you are not going on a holiday Generally avoid textbook sets mass published for all different kinds of languages Dictionaries - You get them free online Instead of going straight to recommend good textbooks, I think its important to talk about some tips on choosing a good textbook. This may seem a little obvious to the seasoned learners, but for a beginner, telling the difference between a good and bad textbook may not be so easy. After looking at so

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many different textbooks, I think I have developed a pretty good eye for them. (Its like having an eye for fashion) Having written a blog post on this topic (The importance of a good 1st textbook .. and how to choose them!), Ill simply repeat and talk more about the points in the post. 1. Avoid books with romanization This is a very general rule. Im not saying that all books with romanizations are bad, but generally, I dislike books that keep the romanizations for more than a few beginner chapters. If you are buying Chinese books, please chuck them back onto the shelves if you see Chinese pronunciation like beneath the Korean. Enough said. 2. Master Korean in 30 days? Yeah Right. Read Korean in a week. Speak Korean in a month. Whatever. For some reasons, I see more Taiwanese / Chinese books that have such titles. Beware when you see such titles. They arent usually good resources and nothing will be explained properly. All you get are chunks and chunks of sentences that are used in the everyday life. Foreign language learning is not about memorization of sentences. Well Ive yet to come across people who actually remembered the sentences without knowing the grammar underlying it. Thats not to say that there arent decent books with such ridiculous titles. I have a couple of them which are quite good. With slightly more decent titles like 50 grammar structures in

50 days. I guess they are forced to use such titles as a marketing strategy for the time-strapped language learners 3. Avoid 123084 must-know words for TOPIK Basic Another type of books that I hate. Im convinced that such books are out to cheat your money. First, language learning is not a school subject. Theres no such thing as chapters tested that guarantee only certain words will be tested. Even if your sole goal is to pass TOPIK basic, Im sure that certificate is used for some other purposes that will require the use/ knowledge of Korean, which I think you will fail if you only know that 2500 words. I may sound harsh, but Im really against the idea of must-know words. Its one thing to use that as a guideline and another if you are too fixated with knowing that 2500 words. Also, personally I dont see the point of shelling out money for a vocabulary list. Im sure you didnt learn your first language by reading a dictionary, and I dont see why it will work in the foreign language. 4. Choose a book with mp3 / CD included Most decent beginner books will include mp3 files for the dialogues. The beginner stage is where audio input is the most important and you need to keep listening to be able to grasp the intonation, get used to the speed and pick up listening skills etc.

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5. Get those in a series Personally, I like some kind of structure in my language learning and having a series makes me feel that I can progress steadily. Its just a personal learning style. But most series are pretty good, especially those published by universities in Korea. Readers of the blog will know that I favor the Ewha Korean and Yonsei Korean series. If you are a bilingual or multilingual (lucky you!) already, you have the additional factor to consider: Which language should I study Korean in? Well, Ill say its very much up to you. Based on personal experiences, I like using books both in English and Chinese. English books because most translated Korean textbooks will first be published in English. Chinese books because they are much cheaper and somehow I find the Chinese explanations of Korean grammar easier to digest. Its very much personal preference, just like how I prefer to learn Japanese using Korean textbooks/guidebooks! Because this e-book is meant to be a general guide, textbook reviews / recommendations will not be included (as of now). Check out the blog category Korean textbook reviews or the Korean resource page!

Quality over Quantity

If you have the financial resources, it may be tempting to get a large selection of textbooks. Unless you really have a lot of money to spare, dont do it. Determination to learn a language is reflected in the amount of effort you put in, not the number of textbooks you have on the bookshelf. Personally, I do like to study from a wide range of books. I dont purchase everything, only those that are the most useful. The rest, I borrow from the library. Most beginner textbooks are roughly the same (decent ones at least), content and style wise. There is no need to buy many beginner textbooks. Save your money for the intermediate and advanced materials! You are likely to discard your textbooks and not refer to them anymore after you are done with them, but a good novel stays with you for life.

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