Read & Speak Korean for Beginners (Read & Speak for Beginners)

by Sunjeong Shin

Korean Basics Made Easy--and Fun

Studying Korean is intimidating. Not only do you face the usual challenges of learning a new language--vocabulary, grammar, verb tenses--but you also have to learn a non-Roman alphabet. To help you master the language, "Read & Speak Korean for Beginners" entertains you while you learn, lessening the anxiety of a new script and increasing your confidence in your language skills.

This program teaches you basic vocabulary and explains sentence structures for eight key areas of everyday life--introducing yourself, saying where you're from, asking what things are, asking where things are located, describing objects and people, asking how to get around, talking about your family, and describing what you do. The accompanying CD features all the key words and phrases so you can hear how they are pronounced and repeat them after the speaker.

Inside you will find: Clear explanations of how to use basic phrases in everyday conversations Entertaining activities, games, and puzzles with which to check your progress Illustrated flash cards to help you memorize key phrases Listening exercises and audio games on the CD to further reinforce your comprehension

Genres: Language, Reference, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 29, 2008

Reviews

[Silverana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and the CD (CD provides only sound no images) are good for a VERY BASIC introduction to learning Korean. I’m glad I bought it for I have learned a lot from it. It could have been a 5 but there were a couple of things that I found a little strange. I had thought that there would be some mention of the alphabet in the beginning and then a continuous introduction to a new letter throughout the book. Instead, from the beginning we learn many new words and how to write them in Korean. So I just focused on the pronunciations and definitions of the words and phrases and I will go through the book again focusing on the alphabet and the writing portion. There were many pages where you could cut out flash cards with vocab for simple matching and defining activities. I didn’t do that, I didn’t really see the point, they were too basic. The book is not long and I think that’s good for a beginner book but the pages could have been filled with more vocab instead the activities. There were a lot of words that I feel should have been included. Some of these pages focused on conversations that you can follow on the CD. Those were pretty good. However, the book presents many words for which there is no verbal definition provided in the CD. Same with the conversation, I don’t think there was a complete connection between the book and the CD. I got excited about learning a few of the words only to find out that there was no pronunciation provided in the CD. Even for the alphabet, there was no section in the CD to practice saying the alphabet.

Overall, I’m not disappointed with the book. I have learned enough to speak about simple, everyday things in Korean.

[Nedam]

I just leafed through the 3rd edition of this book, I didn't buy it because in the brief time I had it in my hands I found several mistakes so I wasn't sure if I could trust the rest.

For example, in TOPIC 2 WHERE ARE YOU FROM? 사람 is written together with the country word, 한국사람, 중국사람, etc. 사람 is a standalone native Korean word and even though Koreans sometimes don't bother to put the space between them, textbooks should teach Standard Korean and the correct thing is to put the space between those two words: 한국 사람, 중국 사람,....

And in TOPIC 5 WHAT’S IT LIKE? The sentence "That's expensive," is given as 그건 비싼요 and it should be 그건 비싸요. They had an ㄴ remaining because they explained adjective 비싼 right before that.

Anyway, if things I know have mistakes, there's no way for me to check if things I don't yet know have them too, so I'm going to pass.

[Jun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and simple book.
I found the listening exercises a little tedious especially as there seemed to be no answer section for the speaking exercises, so you never really find out if you did it right.
The pace was also a little too fast in some sections so it was hard to retain everything.
Otherwise this was a very approachable book for beginners.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

With absolutely zero experience with the Korean language, this book and CD has taught me a lot. However, I would highly recommend learning how to write hangul (Korean characters) before beginning this book. It makes it so much easier later. The book teaches a little bit of grammar points, but because I'm anal about grammar, I prefer to know why that character is there and what function it has in the sentence. For that, I was able to supplement this book with a YouTube series.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...

The two worked together really well.

I did find a few obvious errors in the book (translating "의자 - chair" as "table") which then made me doubt every little thing that I didn't understand. But regardless, I'm really happy with this book.

[Melanie Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it has some flaws (teaching the least commonly used expression for "thank you" as well as the impolite way of asking for someone's name, dramatically simplifying things, etc.), this was the best book I bought/used for learning Korean. It has a nice mix of written instructions, audio tracks, games, written practice, and spoken practice. Highly recommended!

[gabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pace started off too slow then suddenly shifted into too fast for understanding and retention. I did find some of the audio exercises useful, though.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that the book had flash card and practice and activities. While it is a beginner book I think the beginning could do a better job introducing the language.

[Sárffy Kata · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totally useless, do not buy it.

[ATry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very helpful. I enjoyed learning more Korean! :)

[Trang Mai]

I really like this book and I wanted to read it.