Korean I, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Korean with Pimsleur Language Programs [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743536134 | ISBN-13: 978-0743536134 | Publication Date: April 4, 2005 | Edition: Unabridged

Korean is the official language of both North and South Korea. ItÕs also spoken in neighboring Yanbian, China. Some 72 million speak Korean. There are two standard dialects, Seoul (South Korea) and P'yongyang (North Korea). Pimsleur's Korean teaches the Seoul dialect of South Korea.

The Pimsleur® Method: the easiest, fastest way to learn a new language. Completely portable, easily downloadable, and lots of fun. You’ll be speaking and understanding in no time flat! Korean I, Comprehensive includes 15 hours of spoken language practice and one hour of reading instruction in thirty, 30-minute lessons.

• In the first 10 lessons, you’ll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You’ll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills.
• In the next 10 lessons, you’ll build on what you’ve learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You’ll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident.
• In the final 10 lessons, you’ll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level. In this phase, more directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. You’ll be able to speak comfortably about things that happened in the past and make plans for the future.

Reading Lessons are included at the end of Unit 30 to provide you with an introduction to reading the Korean alphabet. These lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Unabridged edition (April 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743536134
• ISBN-13: 978-0743536134
• Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 11.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Korean
  • #42 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Korean

More About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur (b. 1926, d. 1976) devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French and a Masters in Psychology from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Linguistics at UCLA. He later became Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center (a state-wide language lab) at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He did research on the psychology of language learning and in 1969 was Section Head of Psychology of Second Language Learning at the International Congress of Applied Linguistics.

Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called "Graduated Interval Recall." This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the "Pimsleur Programs."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Check out another title instead.., May 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Korean (Audio Cassette)

Edit - The review I originally wrote was for the 10 Lesson Version that I purchased in 1999. Somehow amazon lumped it in with this 30 lesson page. The 30 Lesson version is completely different. The 10 lesson version was quite bad: excessively formal speech, weird pronunciation, etc. Fortunately, for the 30 Lesson program, they completely started over with new speakers, new dialogue, and, thankfully, more casual speech. What they teach actually sounds like Korean, and even better, it's actually useful! The 30 lesson program is great. The 10 lesson program is useless. They are not related at all, so don't get them confused. So just so there's no confusion:

30 Lesson program = Buy (casual, useful speech, good speakers, will give you a good basis for the language)

10 Lesson program = Avoid like the plague (weird, super formal Korean. I've never heard anyone talk this way, in real life or on TV)

I don't really need to talk about Pimsleur anymore in this review because the other reviews already do that, so I'm sure you are all familiar with the method already. I just wanted to correct this review since we're talking about the 30 lesson program now.


----------- this is my old review for the 10 lesson one -----------

I used to like this program, when I got it 3 years ago...

Now however, I realize that even tho it is good at teaching you introductory phrases, the speech on this program is far too formal...

Instead check out the book/cd program called "Elementary Korean." I assure you you will not be disappointed. It's cheaper, and provides infinitely more info.

Good luck!

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introductory Course, March 13, 2004

By 

peekaboo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Korean (Audio Cassette)

This course is unique because it doesn't teach you grammar, reading or writing. Instead it focuses on the natural way humans learn language: by speaking.

I found this course to be absolutely perfect for my needs. There are ten, 30 minute lessons consisting of one dialogue, then repetitions of the same. Each lesson is ideal for commuters, and that is exactly how I used it.

Two things to keep in mind, which have been addressed by other reviewers:

(1) This is the ABRIDGED and INTRODUCTORY course in Korean. Speakers with a little more advanced knowledge should not buy this course unless they wish to improve their pronounciation. Pimsleur's full comprehensive courses have 30 lessons, and several books in the series. This is meant only to be a compact version.

(2) This course does not teach grammatical instruction; in fact, this goes against the learning theory of the entire series. However, if you know nothing about Korean before you begin, you will definitely have the beginning command of the language and probably a much better one than with any other language series.

In closing, this is a great series for BEGINNERS. It is a much needed introduction for those of us who have bought other language series and were discouraged by their seemingly impossible front at the very beginning.

Readers who wish to explore the Korean language further should buy the "Elementary Korean" and "Continuing Korean" series and "College Korean" for those who wish to have a master handle of grammar. But I would definitely buy this one as a stepping stone.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quality is good, coverage is marginal, and Oh! The price!, December 17, 1999

By 

Celebrated Dullard - See all my reviews

This review is from: Korean (Audio Cassette)

I've worked with as many Korean language tapes and books as I've been able to get my hands on, and there is no question that this has been the easiest to use. However, Pimsleur looses points with me for their dogmatic adherence to the "tape only" format. It is difficult to get a hand on grammar or sentence structure without some reference to the written form. Most of the utterences on the tapes are long blurbs that form comprehensible phrases, but where does one word stop and the next word end (true for Pimsleur Japanese, too)? Also, reference to the level of complexity of verb forms in Korean, which varies with the level of formality between speakers, does not exist on this tutorial. If you are looking for tourist's phrases that will get you around Seoul, this might be your ticket. If you want to understand or become fluent in the language, this is only a partial remedy. Again, this is the best Korean tutorial I've used. That's a shame, because it could be done better. Finally, there's the price. Pimsleur sells boxes of 4 cassettes (introductory lesson) of the more common languages (French, Spanish, Japanese). at about 3 times cheaper than this box of 5 cassettes. No doubt about it... the unpopular Korean language is a seller's market, but how deep are you going to gouge, Pimsleur?