Korean for Beginners: Mastering Conversational Korean (CD-ROM Included) [Paperback] Author: Kyubyong Park | Language: English | ISBN:
0804841004 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Have you ever considered learning Korean, but been put off by the unusual look of the characters? Don't let yourself be scared away! Korean has been called "the most logical language there is," and with this friendly and thorough introduction you will soon see why.Using a lighthearted, humorous approach,
Korean for Beginners starts by showing you just how reasoned and logical the Korean alphabet, hangeul, actually is, and helps you master it faster than you learned the English alphabet. Realistic situations you might encounter in Korea in Korean-speaking environments are described, and new words are explained in terms of how you'll find them useful to communicate. Numerous illustrations enliven the text, and a CD-ROM bound into the jacket lets you listen and repeat phrases in the book. Soon you'll be able to say with pride, "I know Korean!" Features of
Korean for Beginners are:
- Learn to read Korean writing with ease.
- Practical phrases help you converse with confidence.
- A lighthearted "guide" walks you through, bringing the language to life.
- The CD–ROM's native Korean speakers help you to speak Korean like a pro.
As the more than 1 million Americans who speak Korean can attest, Korean is here to stay, and generations of young (and older) adults are determined to learn it. This book is for people who want a grasp of how to speak, write and understand Korean—and who want to enjoy things while they're at it!
Books with free ebook downloads available Download Korean for Beginners: Mastering Conversational Korean
- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; Paperback with disc edition (August 10, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0804841004
- ISBN-13: 978-0804841009
- Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I taught myself beginning and intermediate Korean (my proficiency now is high advanced), and if this book had been available when I started learning Korean, I don't think I would have used it. If you're an absolute beginner who is intimidated by the language, this book might be an interesting introduction, but I'm not convinced that it would help you communicate with confidence about even basic topics. The book teaches a lot about the language and culture, but it's lacking in practical content, and a bit superficial and slow-moving even for a beginning text.
The primary goal of this book appears to be familiarizing beginning learners with the pronunciation and demystifying the language and culture. It's definitely entertaining. The tone of the textbook is uniquely informal and enthusiastic--I've never seen a textbook author write with emoticons before--although it can be a bit chatty at times. There are many great cultural insights and some nice anecdotes, including funny and potentially embarrassing miscommunications.
The problem is in the way that the language is introduced. The back cover says that "new words are explained in terms of how you'll find them useful to communicate with new friends," but I didn't find that to be the case. The way vocabulary is introduced didn't seem at all intuitive to me--basic greetings aren't mentioned until almost halfway through the book. The text explains that the motivation for this design is that you become familiar with the building blocks of the language before you start learning conversational skills, but the problem with this approach is that you learn words and grammar points with no context to put them in, which makes them much harder to remember.
I literally just finished reading (and flagging and highlighting) this book and am blown away by how much I learned in just 160 pages. For reference, I'm 20-years-old and a self studier, and have been studying Korean through books and Internet resources for a month and half. For some reason the title "Korean For Beginners: Mastering Conversational Korean" had me picturing page after page of the same old generic introductions you're basically encouraged to memorize, and that initially turned me off of it. I was really lusting after "Elementary Korean", as I thought I was looking for something really intense, comprehensive, and boring...I was essentially looking for a textbook and misguidedly passed on "Korean For Beginners" assuming it was just fluff. I mean, it really sounds too good to be true in the description (you'll learn a lot AND have fun?!).
Turns out I ended up having to buy "Korean For Beginners" because I couldn't afford "Elementary Korean". And I've never been so happy to be broke. The first chapter is pretty light, as it briefly goes over the basics of Korean history and culture; at this point you'll still have no idea what you're in for. Pretty much immediately after that I realized this was the absolute best book I could've chosen. The chapters are comprehensive in terms of information yet short and lighthearted (HOW did they do that?), and they really do cover everything you need to know if you're serious about learning this language (i.e. sentence structure, particles, conjugation, negations, tenses, nuances of the language, etc.). In the first few chapters alone I received a massive amount of clarification on things I had previously learned elsewhere. Not to mention the organization is fantastic.
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