Your First 100 Words in Korean : Beginner's Quick & Easy Guide to Demystifying Korean Script

by Jane Wightwick

Your First 100 Words in Korean removes all the intimidation from learning a language that uses a non-Roman alphabet or script. Learners are shown how to decipher and read the script while they learn 100 primary Korean words. Detachable flash cards illustrate each word and make learning simple. Enjoyable games and puzzles--such as word searches and matching exercises--reinforce recognition and reading skills.

Genres: Asian Literature

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2001

Reviews

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been intimidated by more formal Korean textbooks. This simple primer breaks through those barriers. Some people might object that it is too simple, but simplicity is it's beauty. It doesn't attempt to teach you everything, but just gets you over the first hudle in the learning curve. "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time." This is the first bite of the Korean language "elephant". It serves its purpose beautifully.

[Loreena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audio CD was helpful but the romanizations in the book and flash cards was misleading and clearly not written by a Korean.

[Thomas Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely straightforward book to rapidly assimilate a solid beginner's Korean vocabulary in the style of an early toddler performing fast-mapping. I enjoyed the match to my level (wherein each set of themed vocabulary, such as opposites, household, transportation, nature and the like) contained equal parts of words I'd already confidently acquired, words I'd heard a few times yet forget easily, and brand new words I'd not yet encountered. I really enjoyed the various practice activities and exercises whose repetition really helped. The goal here is memorization and recognition. It doesn't get too deep, and that's what I wanted and needed.

I also appreciated the final review unit, which included words from all the chapters. Language is more readily acquired when it is recalled with both short- and long-term memory, so the final unit was helpful and wise to include. There's also a set of flashcards at the back of the book, so the reader can continue practicing after finishing the book (without having to hold onto it).

I would rate it higher; however, the romanizations were rather an insane mismatch to the actual sounds of the words. NOBODY writes Korean words (neither Koreans nor foreigners) in the roman alphabet in the way they're presented here. No conventional romanization spellings are followed. Including the bad romanizations seemed pointless and a distraction from what should have been a simple one-to-one exercise in learning the hangeul. Besides Korean has extremely shallow orthography -- the hangeul itself is a perfect guide to the pronunciation as long as it's well understood by the reader.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to learn vocabulary! It also gave me ideas about what how to make homework sheets for my students.

but ack! I lost it! and right before I learned body parts, too.... damn