Korean language profile adjustments (Collaborative writing) Language Learning Forum

Korean language profile adjustments
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Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing

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Jiwon
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Message 17 of 26

05 March 2008 at 10:57am | IP Logged

Well you are not late as I haven't sent the copy to the administrator yet... :)
Given the small number of contributors I thought it might be better to wait until a few more people add their inputs..

Do you have any other contributions?
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JasonChoi
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Message 18 of 26

10 March 2008 at 6:03am | IP Logged

Elementary Korean looks to be a great resource. I stumbled upon it several weeks ago at a local bookstore. The only drawback I see is the cost. Continuing Korean by the same authors also looks to be quite good.

The Ganada books are also pretty decent as I've learned from them.

Handbook of Korean Vocabulary by Miho Choo & William O'Grady is an excellent source for systematically learning Korean vocabulary.

Professor Arguelles's book titled A Handbook of Korean Verb Conjugation is also good for serious intermediate learners and up. As the title suggests, it explains how every Korean verb is conjugated, including the exceptions.

Korean Grammar for International Learners is a decent reference book for Korean grammar. It has all sorts of grammatical features of Korean, English explanations of each grammar point, multiple examples of each grammar point (with English translations), and an index of all the grammar in the back. I consider it like a dictionary for Korean grammar.
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ChrisWebb
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Message 19 of 26

25 April 2008 at 7:43am | IP Logged

I'd like to recommend Assimil Korean if it's not too late, I dont speak French but am currently working through the Assimil course translating as I go and am finding the recordings and the exercise of translating the texts very useful.

I feel not speaking French cost me the full use of what seems to me the single best resource I have seen, still even with my lack of French I have been able to extract value so far. If you spoke French you'd be advied to learn Hangul prior to using Assimil though.
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andee
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Message 20 of 26

25 April 2008 at 9:38am | IP Logged

Since the book list is looking a little bare...

JasonChoi wrote:

I managed to listen to some of the audio from Elementary Korean. It is near natural speed, good and clear. However, one of the speakers doesn't sound native to me. Very close, but not spot-on. You are exposed to a range of voices and some of the dialogues and readings appear quite long. But yes, the price is a downside.

Quote:

The Ganada books are also pretty decent as I've learned from them.

I second that. I'm currently using Ganada as my main source. Good price, good detail, good audio (once the gaps are edited a little). However, with the CD's, I am yet to be able to rip 100% of the files. Per book (average of 4 CD's), about 4 or 5 tracks can't be ripped. An annoyance, but still. The Elementary books introduce things easily from what I have seen, and the Advanced books are at quite a decent level. There is also an Intermediate level. 6 books in total, with workbooks for the first 4 books (?). Also available for Chinese and Japanese speakers.

Quote:

Handbook of Korean Vocabulary by Miho Choo & William O'Grady is an excellent source for systematically learning Korean vocabulary.

The only real vocabulary book for Korean in an English base. Outside of this you are looking at Japanese or Korean books, or vocabulary books for Korean's learning English that you can use in 'reverse'.

Quote:

Korean Grammar for International Learners is a decent reference book for Korean grammar. It has all sorts of grammatical features of Korean, English explanations of each grammar point, multiple examples of each grammar point (with English translations), and an index of all the grammar in the back. I consider it like a dictionary for Korean grammar.

My only reference grammar for Korean. I rarely look at it, but it usually has the answer when I do pick it up. There is also a workbook to go with. There are other books in this style at similar prices, but this Yonsei publication is the most user-friendly in my opinion.

Other books:
한국어 (Yonsei University): Much like the Ganada series in structure, quality, and price. Although there was no audio when I was at Yonsei (these days there is audio I believe). Available in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian. 6 levels with workbooks available for the first 3 levels.

Integrated Korean (University of Hawaii): Reasonable price, good structure and quality. And the audio is freely available online as Real Audio or MP3. There are 8 books in this series, and also workbooks available.

Assimil Le Coreen sans Peine: Unfortunately it's only available in the French base, as ChrisWebb mentioned, but it does cover a lot of ground and the audio is a good quality once the gaps have been reduced.

There are also the Sogang University, Seoul National University, Ehwa University, Korea University, and other university course books. None of which I have looked at in great detail. Of the above, Sogang seems to have the best reputation and they also have a free online course at http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/. Excellent or giving you a taste of Korean.

FSI Korean: Free online. The romanisation is poor and annoying. The hangeul is difficult to read. I personally disliked this beyond belief and threw it away very quickly. The drills will obviously be more than useful to help improve your weaknesses.

Readers: There are plenty of readers for Koreans studying English that can be used for English speakers studying Korean. There is a 100 book series from YBM Sisa that includes many classic works. Very good price at only 3500-4500 Won per book.

Yonsei University has graded readers available that I used when studying there. They were a little bland from memory, but being graded they do allow to learn vocabulary via context.

University of Hawaii also have a few readers available that you find on their website.

Korean Newspaper Reader (Alexander Arguelles): I'm sure this is a great resource and I may well purchase it in the future as it also has audio (something rare to find with Korean as there are virtually no audiobooks!) http://www.dunwoodypress.com/products/-/251.

Hanja: My favourite is "A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja" (Grant) at http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Korean-Characters-Reading-Dictio nary/dp/0930878132/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=12091 33325&sr=8-1.

Also for hanja, you could always one of the numerous workbooks that are used by Korean school children. Cheap and obviously effective.

Podcasts beyond the basics are still few and far between for Korean but I have recently been listening to KoreanClass101.com which is freely available through the podcast search in iTunes. I haven't listened to the 'newbie' or beginner lessons, but the intermediate, advanced, audioblogs, and news feeds offer some nice listenting practice that is presented in a friendly and somewhat humorous manner.

Also through iTunes I have found:
- Have Your Say from SBS Radio (Australia), which is mostly a street interview podcast on current issues and opinions in Korea and Australia.
- 정재윤의 생생 코리아!, which is a talkback radio style podcast that I just found and would be great for when you're driving around and filling in some dead time.

The good thing about Korean is that these days there are more good quality resources being made available.

Anything I have missed, please add. I'm always looking for more :)

[edit: added some podcast details, updated Integrated Korean audio links]

Edited by andee on 30 April 2008 at 12:59am
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Jiwon
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Message 21 of 26

29 August 2009 at 5:10pm | IP Logged

Ok, let's try to revive this thread.

I know there are lots of Korean speakers and learners out there on this forum, so please make contributions.

Read the first page for an idea of what this is about.

Jiwon
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Fasulye
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Message 22 of 26

29 August 2009 at 7:06pm | IP Logged

Hi Jiwon,

For me the Korean Language Profile contains too much quantity of information, it is so detailed that I tend to lose interest of reading the whole thing. It should be more concise like as for example the Greendlandic Language Profile, which I find excellent.
Yes, it's overloaded with details and language examples!

Fasulye

Edited by Fasulye on 30 August 2009 at 6:36am
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qklilx
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Message 23 of 26

30 August 2009 at 12:54am | IP Logged

I agree with Fasulye.

Quote:

Learning Korean may also bring discounts with Japanese, but you shouldn't think of Korean or Japanese as a "bridge" language from English to the other. Also, learning Japanese as a Korean is said to be harder than learning French as an English speaker - a definite indicator that Korean cannot be used to "bridge" the gap between European languages and Japanese.

For many potential learners, the Standard Seoul Dialect is highly recommended, since this dialect is understood by the majority of Koreans globally. If one decides to stay in Jeju Island, the Jeju Dialect could be a possibility, but not in terms of usefulness in the long run.

Koreans also speak fast, with a distinctive rhythm that is hard to get in the beginning. The majority of them are not used to speaking slowly and clearly for non-natives, which may hinder your listening abilities.

The rest of the vocabulary consists of Sino-Korean words, formed out of Chinese characters pronounced in Korean way, and "pure" Korean words. As a result, many common words often have more than one way of saying it.
e.g. Mother/Mum- 엄마(um-ma), 어머니(uh-muh-nee) and 모친 (mo-chin).

This could make improving vocabulary difficult.

As there are at least 3 different Romanisation methods which make Korean more confusing, it is best to learn the Korean script,

However, writing down what your have heard is a bit more difficult as many consonants sound the same when the are final sounds of each syllable.

Korean is full of Sino-Korean words, and therefore, it is definitely advantageous to know Chinese characters/Hanja. However, Korean-Hanja relationship is like French-Latin relationship. You'll only come across them in classical literature, ancient scripts and very rarely in newspapers and popular modern novels. Learning Hanja is not a must even to reach fluency in Korean, although this depends on your definition of fluency. But learning Hanja won't hurt you: they will help you in Sino-Korean vocabulary acquisition.

I think all of this can be removed from the draft safely. A couple of these paragraphs can be rewritten to be shorter, more informative, and placed into a more appropriate section. The last paragraph, for example, should be much more concise and put into the Vocabulary section.

The dialect section should mention how many major dialects there are (don't forget Korean-Americans!) and which ones are most prominent. There is no need to elaborate on any details. Same with vocabulary; give some statistics and facts and leave it at that.

I'll give advice on the No Text Yet sections later on today after I get all my nasty Korean homework done. :D
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Jiwon
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Message 24 of 26

30 August 2009 at 4:27pm | IP Logged

Thanks for your suggestions, but I wanted it to be as detailed as other official language profiles on this website. If you read Spanish or German profiles, you'll see what I mean. This isn't meant to be a temporary profile. It's meant to replace Prof. Arguelles' old Korean profile permanently, and as such, I wanted it to be as comprehensive as possible.

I mean, after all, we all have read the language profiles on the non-forum section of this website, despite their remarkable length. Personally, I felt some of them were too short for my liking. :)

Well, anyway, if that's the general consensus, I shall change it. Let's hear what other people think.

Edited by Jiwon on 30 August 2009 at 8:00pm

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