Talk To Me In Korean Level 1 by TalkToMeInKorean

Talk To Me In Korean Textbook #1

by TalkToMeInKorean

This book is the first volume of a set designed to help the reader learn Korean on his or her own, without a teacher or classroom. CD included.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Textbooks, Reference, Education, Ebooks, Audiobook

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

When I decided to start learning Korean, my co-worker and friend, and now Korean study buddy, N, recommended the Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) books to me. She herself studies Korean with these books and had only high praise for them. I was excited and promptly bought Level 1 for myself.

I finished Level 1 a few months ago and looking back now, I can definitely say that this book helped a lot with my Korean. Each chapter (25 in total for Level 1) covers one certain topic: grammar, expressions, numbers, verbs etc. Thanks to the short chapters, the on-point explanations, sample sentences, and exercises at the end of each chapter, learning Korean is not too overwhelming.
The accompanying audio/recordings to each chapter with two teachers from TTMIK help a lot as well.

Learning Korean is easy as it is difficult since the language does not only have its own alphabet, their grammar rules are often completely different as well and differ from the rules I know from French or English. But learning Korean with TTMIK is also fun and that’s the main goal: having fun.

[Mouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought of adding that one but it's a book! That I finished! Why didn't I think of adding it here too?

I started self-studying Korean during Lockdown 2 and TTMIK was such an important part of my learning! They still are, mind. Their courses (be it on their website, YT or via their books) are really well done, always fun and easy to study on your own and that first book was extremely helpful.

I never fail to recommand them to people who want to start Korean, they're the best resources out there to me and I'm thrilled I found them so early on, they made the early process so much smoother than I expected and I still use their resources now.

[Veronica Morfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of all the online lessons from talktomeinkorean.com. You can find all the lessons online for free and each lesson comes with its own free pdf.
I am still not finished with Level 1 but I thought a review was in order. These lessons are really good. The narrators (because each lesson has an audio recording along with the notes) are great. They are really funny and I really enjoy their teaching way.
Great for anyone who wants to learn korean for free. (Also you might want to pick up the workbook too, but it's not necessary)

[Anne Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

이 책은 정말 좋아. 너무 재미있어요 !

Along with the workbook, I find this very helpful for learning the language. I study 1 lesson every day so I finished the book in a month. The lessons aren't overwhelming and there's access to downloadable audio on their website. There are 9 more levels and I'm happy with my progress.

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seem to have lost the ability to finish novels but at least I finished a textbook (and I'm kind of desperate to reach that reading challenge goal ok). This was fun and surprisingly self-explanatory! I feel like a vocab list could be helpful though?

[Alline Alline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good for me as a beginner to Korean language. TTMIK is very helpful and straight forward. However, this book is really lack of review exercises :( Overall, it's very good! :DD

[♡ Chera ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book for beginners ! Strongly recommend !

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book design-wise. Would definitely recommend, in conjunction with the workbook. Was quite repetitive in some parts, but overall a good introductory self-study course book.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m half Korean and spoke Korean as a child but lost it as I grew older. I’ve been trying to learn it off and on (HS, even took Korean in college), but felt like I wasn’t learning anything OR I was just relearning what I already know.

This book explains a lot of things that I find difficult (topic marking particles/subject marking particles) and other little nuances that can make learning Korean hard - very simple.


Loved this one and have a feeling I’ll love the rest. Highly recommend if you want to begin learning Korean. I bought all Level 1-5 books and their work books.

If you don’t know how to read or write Korean, I would recommend startong with their (TTMIK) “Become a Hangeul Master” first

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

TTMIK already has their lessons for free on their website.
They just collated them into a book with a little bit extra info and a workbook to actively challenge yourself.
Unfortunately I honestly think you can learn Korean for free. You don't need this book, and their free lessons are still on their website.

[Thảo Linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend!
I REALLY love this and other TTMIK books. It has full package, from good method, adequate amount of vocabulary and grammar lessons, to great illustration/design. They even provide audio app for easier audio playback.
Better go with workbook and memrise/quizlet to review learned lessons frequently.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to start learning korean :)

[Janella · Rating 5 out of 5]

TTMIK Never lets me down!

I’ve learned these grammar points years ago on TTMIK website for free as it always is but I wanted to review the materials because I have felt stuck in my Korean learning.
I thought it would be a breeze to go through but to be honest there were some nuggets that I have read time and time again but reading it through this book’s explanation really helped it finally click. I love the digital format so I can go back and read my notes and review the parts I’ve highlighted. Also I love the mini practice sessions they have after each chapter to reinforce what you’ve learned. There is a workbook to go along with it but since I knew a majority of the materials I didn’t feel the need to purchase that however if you are new to Korean or are having a hard time grasping it I’ve seen the workbook in person and it looks really helpful.

Now I’m going to continue with my studying journey their next grammar book! Best of luck to your Korean learning journey.

[Arlian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like so many others have said, I found this book to be rather disappointing. I used this book as a basic review, rather than as my primary study material. The explanations are pretty great, but there is no practice. If you want to practice you need to buy the workbook as well. With 10 books and 10 workbooks, that makes this course something like $260 US dollars. Absolutely NOT worth the money when you can buy other grammar courses (which tend to be 2-3 books long) for something like $50.

However, it did have a few rules about special exceptions that I didn't know before reading this book, so that was appreciated.

Overall, if it's the only book you can get in your country it's not too bad. But for $260 US dollars you could also just hire a tutor for a while and learn more.

[Jeridel Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introduction into learning Korean grammar. There are a few errors here and there in English and sometimes the romanized readings are missing, so I think that if you start with this without starting the Korean alphabet, there will be places to feel lost really fast. Some of the exercises at the end of the chapters are like curve balls. They'll ask to translate something from Korean to English or vice versa, but you haven't either come across the way to say it correctly in that chapter or you won't remember certain words to form the translation. As much work as the exercises need, it's easy to follow.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am writing a review for the book, not the website (which I will definitely check out). It may be unfair to rate this book without having also bought the workbook, but there were a couple of things I felt they could have done better. First, I found the brief section on Hangul in the beginning was not enough to prepare me to understand the following exercises. I'd have liked more space devoted to learning Hangul. Second, the book's print was very small and faint, making it even harder to read. In addition, I felt it was not as clearly written and accessible as my daughter's Korean for Beginners book, which was excellent and cost about the same.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for self-study; I like the focus on basic, functioning fundamentals over intense vocabulary lists. Does a good job of simultaneously teaching you useful things and reinforcing those things while taking the time to explain linguistic concepts native English speakers would find especially challenging. If you've learned another Eastern language like Japanese or Chinese this might be too slow-paced for you, but as a beginner I thought the pace was perfect.

[Janine Safran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanted to learn Korean but it's so hard to know where to start (quite overwhelming I'll say), but this book made it easy for us to study the language. It's very convenient and doesn't include too many words to explain the grammars. The writing is modern which makes it easier for this generation to understand – it will make you want to continue and it inspires you to learn more. You will see the improvement you've made as time goes by.

Overall, this book deserved my 5 stars ❤️❤️

[Jo Lister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started learning korean in August 2016 and this book got me hooked! I have to say that the first book is not the easiest one to start with... Learning the object and subject particles is really tricky at first but when i got to Level 2, WOW! These books are just amazing : they teach you how to speak korean the right way. If you come accross these books, duolingo will quickly feel useless (from personal experience)!

[Effi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can‘t believe I already worked through the whole book and I can only recommend it! It‘s simple to understand, explained really nicely and has a beautiful design. The only thing I found kind of irritating is that this book contains the exact input you can also find on their website. The only difference are the tasks at the end of each lesson. That disappointed me a little bit and I won’t buy the next Lesson books as I can easily study with the online content.

[Alberto Loredo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three years ago I stumbled upon this course. I really wanted to start to learn Korean, but this course wasn't at all what I expected. I didn´t finish reading it.
Now, after three years I've read it. I´ve grasped easily the grammar but after filling the gaps with other sources. I didn´t recommend this course to an absolute beginner.

[nina 仁奈]

The whole series is one of the best Korean grammar books I could find so far. As a person who's more into studying through sample sentences and less about linguistical background of the language per se, the simple explanations were good enough. Good as a self-taught book or just for reviewing your knowledge.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really proud of myself for finishing this first textbook. I will say I am getting the grasp of it but definitely have not retained 100% of everything yet. Each test I either passed or maybe only missed a few review questions but I will continue to review until it all goes into long term memory! 한국어 재미있어요!

[Oum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Les livres de TTMK sont tellement biens, j’ai beaucoup aimé apprendre avec eux, leurs illustrations sont drôles et les exercices au top !
Il y a même des pages avec des tips pour voyager en Corée du sud : comme les places to visit, how to take a taxi in korea etc

Dommage que j’ai arrêté le coréen :(

[Hana Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for self taught person like me. After finishing level 1 I'm able to grasp the idea of Real Life Korean Conversations for Beginner in TTMIK's podcast. I love how short every lessons are, allowed me to explore the topic elsewhere and practice other area other than writing and reading. Time to unwrap Level 2!

[Ivana Putri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been having this e-book on my ipad since a year ago but never managed to get past through the first few chapters. Yesterday I gave a listen to their podcast on spotify, turns out the podcast content is aligned with the materials on the book, and I find it so much easier to learn by listening to the podcast first, then followed by checking the writings/materials on the book later 🥰

[브리기 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this textbook from my Korean teacher to exercise additionally to our weekly lessons, together with the workbook.
It goes through Korean basics in a fun way. I definitely need to go back to some of the lessons.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly the best Korean language textbook I've ever read. I have tried for years to advance my basic knowledge of the language and just with level one I have learned so many tools to keep speaking and learning this beautiful and logical language! 10/10 recommend!

[Kenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

this would be a phenomenal place to start for literally anyone wanting to learn Korean, granted they learn Hangul first.

tragically, I'm apparently far past this level from obsessive attempts at translating sentences the past few months so.. I must move on.

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

(yes i'm adding this to my read books because languages take so much time !)
Four star textbook (though I don't have much experience).
I'd say that it lacks in the amount of vocabulary it has within the book. It is fairly easy to get vocab for Korean; I usually just go to how to speak korean.