Korean resources?

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Xenops
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby Xenops » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:22 pm

Speakeasy wrote:
Xenops wrote: Could you please provide links for these [Pimsleur Korean] reviews? I couldn't find them with a Google search. I had tried the earlier version and tried speaking to a Korean lady, and she couldn't understand anything I said.


Should I succeed in locating the reviews once again, I will insert them in this post.

As to your experiences with the earlier version of Pimsleur Korean, I seem to recall that the major concerns of some users centered on the formality of the language used in the lessons, the inclusion of some less-than-current vocabulary, and the possible literal translation from English to Korean.


I did dig up leosmith's review here:http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?t=4909, which is the most detailed I've come across.
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby eido » Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:30 pm

I didn´t know about some of these books. Thank you all who have mentioned them.

I´m excited to see the College Korean books are here. I think I picked a good set. The Intermediate College Korean stuff is available in a seemingly shorter or abridged version as a website.
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby eido » Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:58 am

So far this thread has textbooks, which is good since those help a lot of people. But what about sites?

In no particular order:

FREE:
    1. TTMIK: everyone knows about this place. I find it a bit disorganized since it wasn't designed all at once and doesn't appear to have a master plan, and they talk too much for my taste in the podcast-style audio lessons. They did hype an American guy who got up to a decent conversational level and was able to interview with them in Korean after studying with them and a language school in tandem, though. And apparently the new white girl who works with them used their resources to get to a good level too. So maybe they live up to their popularity. This is definitely the site that all the newbies go to, probably because it shows up pretty high in search results, or has been recommended by others. Also, people seem to like their Iyagis which are made for beginner and intermediate level learners. The lower level Iyagis, oddly, are ones you have to pay for. But their recent site re-design makes the site easier to use so that's a plus.

    2. Quick Korean: I'm directing you to the university's main website because for some reason it won't let me go directly to the main CUK site. Currently there's a 'More' button you can click that will take you to the learning site if you scroll to the appropriate 'Quick Korean' link at the bottom of the screen. You also can't login from the traditional 'Login' button. It seems to work if you go to the testing page and try to take a test, since you have to register to take a test. You can sign up, though, it seems. What's impressive about this resource is its thoroughness, though I've only been through the first level, maybe half of it. It covers Hangul, of course, but they go through it so slowly when Hangul can be learnt pretty fast. Also, from what I hear, the lessons switch to entirely Korean after a while. If you can't login or sign up, you can always view the videos on YouTube.

    3. Sejong Hakdang: Select English from the dropdown menu to the upper right if it appears. This site has free textbooks prepared by the Institute. And it has curriculum that starts with basic introductions and goes up to maybe B1 or 2. They even have ways you can learn Korean through drama, albeit very cheesy drama. (Though, typical dramas are cheesy.) They also have free downloadable children's books.

    4. How To Study Korean: I've only used this website a little bit. It's like what TTMIK wants to be, but isn't. It goes at a much faster pace, for sure. However, I've read that it contains a lot of errors, so be cautious when going through it and don't use it as your only source.

    5. Studious Bees: A lady who speaks fluent Korean that does textbook reviews and teaches you how to use advanced grammar.

    6. TOPIKGuide: Past TOPIK tests are here, and practice tests are here. They're not for all levels, though.

    7. Today's Korean Conversation: I've linked to the page where you can choose the date. Click on the calendar icon at the top right and a calendar will pop up for you so you can search through past lessons or go to today's. These 'lessons' are just analyses of short Korean conversations that list appropriate grammar points with examples, and they include vocabulary summaries. This was recommended by Redditor u/JoeyBirdman.

    8. Arirang 1999: A course by Arirang TV that goes through the basics, as far as I can see. This was recommended u/JoeyBirdman.

    9. PopPopping Korean: Beginner conversations that slowly go up in difficulty, it seems. I only watched the first video.

    10. Monash University Textbooks: I found these on the Internet - well, duh. But you can't find them on the university's website anymore, so I've uploaded the two books to my Google Drive so you can view them. I don't think this breaks their policies, and I don't think this breaks board policy. Here's textbook 1 and here's textbook 2. EDIT: @AndyMeg has informed me that there is in fact a site that hosts the textbooks, run by the authors. Feel free to use my links or theirs - their website has the audio portion of the textbook.

    11. SNU LEI: A quick primer to some basic grammar and expressions.

    12. Coursera: There are two current courses for the Korean language, and they also offer Korean culture courses, some for a fee. I used to be an active moderator for the first installment. I wouldn't recommend going to the forums for help unless you find once there that you have a native or advanced speaker to help you. When I first joined and for a long time, Coursera allowed anyone who passed the course to moderate and help the learners. These 'Mentors' set up a system of allowing practice to occur that they would grade, but as people do, the learners wrote sentences too complex for their level and we couldn't correct what they wrote, so the mistakes were either ignored or brushed off with a "I can't help you, sorry". These courses don't teach much, but if you study, you'll be able to have very basic conversations in South Korea if you go there. Ordering food, asking a select few basic questions about others, telling time. There are probably better courses to get you started, ones that will help you impress natives more.

    13. EPS-TOPIK: Recommended by LLORG user @AndyMeg. Textbooks for foreigners.

    14. Viki's Learn Mode: Link is to a tutorial by Soompi. Apparently a site called Viki that hosts Asian dramas offers a pop-up dictionary with the dramas you're watching while you watch them. Recommended by @AndyMeg.

    15. Pathway to Korean: Ohio State University's basic Korean course. Covers pleasantries and basic grammar, not in detail though.

    16. MIT OpenCourseWare, similar sites: For the more advanced students, you might be interested in taking a college course in Korean. You can do this here or here. Search any similar site and you might find translated courses. (Like here on Blackboard Open Education. [Go to the left lists and pick the institution(s) you want to learn from, or the languages you want to be taught in.])

    17. K-MOOC: For advanced learners, too. Learn about academic subjects, in Korean! Separate from the above since it's run by Koreans.

    18. Langintro: Teaches Hangul and some basic parts of the language like directions. Recommended by LLORG user @Expugnator.

PAID:
    1. Oregon State eCampus: I wouldn't recommend these since for second year classes, they don't seem to go so hard. They seem to still be covering what you should learn as a first year student. But if you're hard-pressed to take a class, this might be an (expensive) option for you.

    2. 90DayKorean: Really only aimed at beginners. The site tries to sell you with its ability to "teach you Korean" in 90 days. Obviously it can't. See my review here. It really tries hard to get you to compare it to English. I'm all for using your native (or second, or third, etc.) language as a base from which to learn and from which to compare, but from using romanization just a little bit I've developed a bad pronunciation habit. So I imagine ingraining anglicisms to learn the basics will do you harm as well. I don't know, though. I guess it's similar to Heizig's model of teaching kanji? The level of lessons also doesn't go up very high. But if you're willing to pay and are receptive to this style of teaching, then go for it.

    3. KDA: Run by a foreigner who learned Korean. Lessons don't go up very high, but the selling point is that the owner and lesson creator is a white guy who managed to learn everything hard about Korean, and he can teach it to you now. A bit pricey if you're on a budget.

TO BE EDITED. If you have any resources I haven't covered - and there are a lot - I'll add them if you post them below. Feel free to comment on how to use them and your impressions. I'll add to them with my own if I can. Also inform me of any mistakes and additional information that would make this post better for visitors. Let me know if you can find TOPIK guides, any free textbooks, or intermediate level resources. Message me if any of the links are broken at any point in my explanations so I can update this.
Last edited by eido on Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:21 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby AndyMeg » Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:52 pm

eido wrote:3. Sejong Hakdang: Select English from the dropdown menu to the upper right if it appears. This site has free textbooks prepared by the Institute, I believe. And it has curriculum that starts with basic introductions and goes up to maybe B1 or 2. They even have ways you can learn Korean through drama, albeit very cheesy drama. (Though, typical dramas are cheesy.)

Yes, this website have free textbooks and additional material. Some are downloable and some are just to view:

KOSNET resources
Sejong's resources

eido wrote:10. Monash University Textbooks: I found these on the Internet - well, duh. But you can't find them on the university's website anymore, so I've uploaded the two books to my Google Drive so you can view them. I don't think this breaks their policies, and I don't think this breaks board policy. Here's textbook 1 and here's textbook 2.

If I'm not mistaken, the authors of the books have an official website from where you can download the books and additional material for free: Talkingtokoreans

And here are two additional resources:

Viki's Learn Mode for some korean, chinese and taiwanese shows
Textbook for EPS (Employment Permit System) TOPIK (Korean)
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby AndyMeg » Wed Jun 27, 2018 1:35 pm

eido wrote:14. Viki's Learn Mode: Link is to a tutorial by Soompi. Apparently a site called Viki that hosts Asian dramas offers quizzes about the dramas you're watching after you watch them. Recommended by @AndyMeg.

Viki does offer quizzes on vocab from dramas. Here: Drama Vocab Quiz. But Viki's Learn Mode is something different. Learn Mode lets you watch dramas with dual subs and gives you access to a pop-up dictionary you can use if you hover your mouse cursor over any word from the korean part of the dual subtitles. There are other features included, but these are the main ones to give you an idea about Viki's Learn Mode. ;)
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby eido » Wed Jun 27, 2018 2:11 pm

AndyMeg wrote:Viki does offer quizzes on vocab from dramas. Here: Drama Vocab Quiz. But Viki's Learn Mode is something different. Learn Mode lets you watch dramas with dual subs and gives you access to a pop-up dictionary you can use if you hover your mouse cursor over any word from the korean part of the dual subtitles. There are other features included, but these are the main ones to give you an idea about Viki's Learn Mode. ;)

I only read the first paragraph of the tutorial, and I remembered you writing about quizzes, so... Whoops.
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby ClaireB » Fri Jul 20, 2018 12:37 pm

I can’t speak highly enough of the « Practical Korean » series from Darakwon. There are four books at the moment, two for beginner level, two for intermediate level, another two are planned for the advanced level but there is no release date at the moment. Each « book » is actually a package with a textbook, a workbook, and cd’s (I don’t have them on hand, so I couldn’t tell you if it’s a regular cd or an mp3 cd). You will also find the answer key to all the exercises. The books are intended for both classroom study and self-learners. The grammar explanations are clear, and the books are fun.

On the whole, I have always found Darakwon publications to be excellent. They have other titles, both the Korean Made Easy which has already been mentioned, and the Korean Grammar in Use series which is also excellent. Finally, they also have bilingual books, such as « Korean Culture in 100 Keywords », for reading practice.

The problem is getting hold of the books. I got some of mine through hanbooks.com, twochois.com or koreanbook.de (the others I was lucky enough to find in Paris). They have an online shop on their Facebook page, but I’ve never tried it.

And for the brave souls who would use japanese as an learn-L3-through-L2 scheme, the できる韓国語 series available on Amazon Japan is pretty good !
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby AndyMeg » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:27 pm

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Re: Korean resources?

Postby eido » Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:20 am

http://www.paradigmbusters.com/index.php

I found this in an old log on this forum. The reviews seem positive and the person that recommended it seemed excited, so why not give it a shot? I think it's designed mostly for classroom use since the author is a teacher, but you might try to use it yourself. The listening exercises are provided on the site.
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Re: Korean resources?

Postby eido » Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:50 am

For the current Black Friday sale on Benny Lewis' website, there's a steep discount on 90 Day Korean. So I thought I'd try it. Yes, if you've read previous versions of my resource post you'll know I already thought it looked useless, but I thought I'd give it a shot because I have money burning a hole in my pocket for some reason.

To be blunt, from my experience so far, it sucks.

On another website, when I was looking for reviews, the creators said they felt a need to create a course that provided "hand-holding". Well, from the taster I've gotten from this course, the program does just that - to the point there's little thinking needed by the learner at all.

The famous first "90 Day" module has content that in my view can be learned in 30 days or less, if you're dedicated. I went through Coursera's course which was somehow more thorough, and learned more from that than I did here. There was a few odd things I learned in these "90 Day" modules, stuff I'd never seen before in my perusing of beginner material available for free and legally on the Internet, but for the most part, it was Korean 101, or even more basic than that. I think they leverage the fact that "the average Westerner" is scared of Korean and other Asian languages, so they try to make it "digestible" but ultimately it talks down to you with a lot of English didactic text that is too friendly, sickeningly sweet even.

They claim to use the "80/20" principle, teaching you all the words you need to know without the fluff. To be honest, from the modules I actually completed as of the date of this initial posting, the words were all stuff I already knew from other sources, or stuff I couldn't remember even with the help of their mnemonics.

Speaking of those, those are kind of stupid. I get why they might be helpful for some since Korean is a more "syllabic" language that can have many similar-sounding words, ones which are often short. But can we not trust the learner to learn the sound system properly, even if they're not experienced in language learning? They don't have to systematically learn it and go through a grammar with IPA, but they can remember the sound if they hear it enough, and repeat it aloud especially. I know I do. Yes, "eel" sounds like one of the Korean words for the number one. But you'll probably remember the association before the word, right? I don't know. This is coming from someone who never used such a technique to remember most words in her first L2, though you might take that with two pinches of salt since that language has many cognates with English and the learner herself dislikes the method out of wanting to prove her brain is better. Though does using one technique over the other make you better? Ah, that probably invalidates this review.

I didn't study about 7 of 12 of what can be considered modules. I passed all the final tests by looking up vocabulary as needed, since my knowledge from other resources covered what was on the four tests.

The first module covers conjugating in the present the formal form (-습니다) and what they call the "social" form (casual polite [-요]). I'd say it teaches about 150 vocabulary words, maybe 175 - that's an estimate since I didn't study vocabulary after the first two modules. Among the things they go through are irregular verbs, how to count, and before that they challenge you to learn Hangul in 90 minutes (something which you can do without signing up, since they offer the handout in a pdf through email. Or you could just watch one of the million videos on this topic on YouTube, or any other place really). Lots of 90s here, you'll see.

My impression is that this is intended for k-pop and k-drama fans who only know how to say '오빠' and just want to write basic sentences in tweets to their idols. Or it's meant for business people or others living in Korea who don't really want to learn the language, think it's difficult, and need something excessively "fun" and "accessible" to make them want to communicate outside their English bubble.

Was that harsh? Maybe. Have you used 90 Day Korean? What did you think of it? You probably liked it more than me, judging by all the positive reviews I see on the Internet.

Coming out of this experience, I can say I like searching for ways to learn by myself and figuring out the puzzle even if it fries my brain, as opposed to being told I can have a three-minute conversation in Korean when all I'm learning is how to politely command someone to do something, say my name and occupation, and where I'm from. I want the meat. I want to discuss politics. Give me that ammunition, and I'll be happy.

I might continue on to the second level to see what I learn, or I might try to get my money back, since it was quite a sum. But I must say there is a dearth of semi-guided online courses like this for this language.
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