korean language ressourses

[curie]

i got the idea of this thread from a similar one posted by ladyfaile concerning japanese language.
But since i'm more interested about korean, i decided to post this thread.
I know that many of you are trying to learn this language whether with a teacher or alone (like me) so to help each other please give brievely your ressourses: a book, a web site or whatever it can help.
Please explain also how we used: is it free or not, if it needs some registration etc...

[princessofsummer]

Hangeul may appear complicated but it's actually easy to learn. So if you just want to familiarize yourself with alphabets and a few basic words/expressions, you can basically just google it - most of the sites are free. If you're planning to go to Korea, I suggest you buy Berlitz Korean phrase book. It has both print and audio format in it and teaches you useful travel-related phrases. As for me, since I've no time to enroll in a proper course, I just bought a handful of books. I'd say I recommend Mastering Korean by Nam Park. It has a detail grammar course, vocabulary instruction, sample smart phrases for daily uses and if I'm not mistaken some of the editions goes with compact disc as well. If you're not into books, I guess you can always go into livemocha site. I'm not familiar with the site but I believe you have to register first.

[curie]

princess for the advice princessofsummer

[boredandtwitchy]

I would recommend trying to find books that contain an answer key, so that you'll be able to properly self-correct if you're trying to teach yourself. I know some who are attempting to tackle Korean, and these are the books I've seen them use that include the answers in the back of the texts:

http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Kor...7823978&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Kor...ref=pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.com/Continuing-Kor...ref=pd_sim_b_3

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Korean-G...7823978&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-K...ef=pd_sim_b_12

http://www.amazon.com/Korean-Beginne...7823978&sr=8-5

For Christmas, my sister bought me two Korean workbooks, and although they're not serious language learning textbooks, they were a fun way to pick up on the very basics:

http://www.amazon.com/Your-First-100...ref=pd_sim_b_8

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Speak-Kor...ef=pd_sim_b_16

I'm not sure if any of these are available outside of the US, or if they come in other languages apart from English, but I hope you find these links somewhat useful!

[curie]

Thanks b.a.t : i'm sure they'll be very helpful

[strawberryddalgi]

this is really helpful, and it has free korean lessons. http://talktomeinkorean.com
this is more detailed but you have to pay around $4~10 a month, and you get a 7 day free trial http://koreanclass101.com

[LibradaJ]

All of these are FREE:

http://www.anyongkorea.com/
http://talktomeinkorean.com/
http://www.indiana.edu/~koreanrs/hangul.html
http://www.livemocha.com/

[curie]

Thanks libradaj and maykim: actually i just cheked the websites and they are very helpful

[Susu]

Nice and useful thread! I haven't had time to pursue my Korean self-studies that actively lately but here are some sources I've found so far and that I find useful.

*Korean keyboard online: http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/korean.htm
Free. You can type the words in latin alphabet and it converts them into Korean characters. See the instructions at the bottom of the page. Very useful.

*Seemile Video Lessons (Youtube videos): http://seemile.com/renewal/package_list.jsp?pkg_no=21
At least partly free. I really like and appreciate this site. It offers free video lessons with a Korean teacher. Each lesson is about half an hour long.

I have only watched Jenny's four first lessons but I'm going to continue with them. Although things are sometimes explained a bit slowly and simply (I'd like to learn more profoundly of the language faster and sooner) it feels like you are in a class room and for me it is a good way to learn. And Jenny is a nice teacher.

*Flashcards: http://quizlet.com/subject/korean/
Free. On this site you can find many different sets of flascards created by different users. Just type "Korean" in the search box (my link should lead you to that search result. However, if it doesn't work, the link for the home page is: http://quizlet.com/

I think this is a nice way to learn new sets of words (like colours, numbers, weekdays...) and test yourself.

These three I can recommend for now. If I discover new useful resources, I'll let you know!

[curie]

Thanks susu for your collaboration: i hope that you find the other suggested websites helpful for you too.