Customer Reviews

Korean I, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Korean with Pimsleur Language Programs

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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!

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.

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?

Despite the negative reviews, this is the only audio Korean set you should consider buying. The rest are complete 100% GARBAGE! This applies especially to those who are going to DLI to learn Korean, as I did. This will fill the gaps nicely, as regular everyday speech is generally overlooked there. If you know you are going to DLI and really want to learn Korean, try to learn as much of this as you can before you go. The only other resource you might need outside of what you get at DLI might be a good phrasebook or two, such as Lonely Planet and/or Making Out In Korean. Again, this will help fill the gaps.

For most major languages, there are 3 parts to the Pimsleur set. For Korean there is only one, so this should be considered the beginner set--"Korean I". Hopefully, there will be a Korean II and Korean III eventually, but this is certainly a good start for those who are learning Korean for the first year or two.

Pimsleur language lessons are intended to cover speech only, but learning the writing helps you retain the language by putting it into a strange new context and forcing you to recognize it all over again. So when you have learned the writing and spelling of the vocabulary, it will reinforce the language to come back to the lessons and reproduce them by writing or typing. That's what I do anyway. (I can probably help the guy who wants a transcript, btw. No native Korean should have problem understanding any of this.)

As far as buying audio Korean lessons, there aren't many options available: you can buy this set or get ripped off because there's nothing else available that's worth any money at all!

well, I'm a beginner and really enjoyed these tapes - until I ran into my korean friends and tried to actually use my new knowledge. they gave me a startled look: it's the very formal and old-fashioned tense that nobody really seems to use...

I think that the course is only an introduction to the Korean language. It is good for that and no more. After having been in Korea for 2 years myself, it might help you to know that you will get a lot further learning the formal way to speak, that is, the more traditional longer form, than you would by using casual korean. Koreans are highly polite in everyday situations, they will be more welcoming to a foreigner who can use the traditional way of speaking first most. The course focuses on that well. Drawbacks are the price and the expectancy to repeat long phrases at times, overall though you should be able to get some benefit from it.

I'm a native Korean speaker (born/raised/educated in the country) who checked this material out of curiosity. Here are the impressions I got:

First, the Korean spoken in these CDs are neither formal nor stilted; they are antiquated. These are what you might hear from a thirty-year-old flick. The accent and the manner of speech are nothing like what you would encounter in formal situations, TV news, and etc., let alone everyday life. Language has changed over the last few decades- imagine Clark Gable walking around and going about in his Gone-with-the-Wind way.

Also, the grammar presented is unnatural. This, again, is not to say that it's too formal. For instance, the sentences ending in '-e', which indicates the direction of movement or activity, are very Japanese-like and never really used in any register.

To be fair, some people have raised the concern about the '-mnida'. I say you should learn this first, because you will never get in trouble for being too polite (especially if you are a foreigner- people will think you're cute), but can for being too rude, obviously. Once you learn the delicacy of the '-shi' attachment for verbs, and also having to bother with politeness in general, the transition to the more common '-yo' ending isn't too hard.

I don't know the quality of other Korean learning apparatus offered in the Western world. I wouldn't be surprised even if this one was one of the better ones. My recommendation is that you take up a few introductory lessons in your local community college, and then move on to K-Dramas. There are literally TONS of them, and it's quite a nice way to learn naturalistic Korean, provided there are subtitles.

This is the best programme available to learn Korean on the market today. I know because I have audited a dozen of them. It is very simple. Just play a side per day. Korean is somewhat difficult, so you may need to replay some lessons. A friend of mine is quite stubborn. She insisted that a tape series could never help you learn a language. She had 2 years of Korean at university. By HER admission, my pronunciation is better than hers and I have a larger vocabulary. The only 2 drawbacks to this series is that (1) Pimsleur has yet to finish a 30 lesson course(this is only 10 lessons). (2)The cost may seem steep, but if you calculate the cost of a class at university, the books, time and so forth, you will realize this is the best way to learn a language. Good Luck, with Pimsleur you WON'T need it.

This review is of the 30 disc Korean Comprehensive I CD edition.

I have had this product for about two weeks now. I am currently on lesson 9 of 30. I have a bit of an unfair advantage as I am currently living in South Korea so I get to check my progress with friends and co-workers. I have been working on learning Korean for a while now. I started by learning to read Korea, an important first step for anyone interested in learning Korean, and I think it highlights one of the weaknesses of the Pimsleur method. The problem is that it can be difficult to understand, at times, exactly what is being said. But I can ask a Korean friend to write out the phrase in Hangul, which I can read, and then the words and their pronunciation fall into place. Now don't get me wrong, I think the Pimsleur method is the BEST METHOD I HAVE EVER USED. But I would have rated them 5 out of 5 stars if they were able to improve in this one area.

The Pimsluer program can be a bit fast paced if you let it but just take your time and work through the lessons. Don't be afraid to go back a lesson or two, or to move ahead when you don't feel quite ready. They do an excellent job or reintroducing past material. If you moved ahead too quickly then just go back over the most recent lessons.

My one last complaint, and it is really a minor one, is that the disc names and track titles do not import cleanly into iTunes. Some of the discs are titled with the wrong language, or a slightly different wording for the album and artist. This all makes sorting the files in iTunes annoying. But I simpy went into each file and made the required correction.

Overall I would rate this product a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Korean: Learn to Speak and Understand Korean with Pimsleur Language Programs (Comprehensive)Korean: Learn to Speak and Understand Korean with Pimsleur Language Programs (Comprehensive)

I am trying to learn Korean and saw this product was recommended. However, it is only an aural system -- no books or writing is the way one is expected to learn. This didn't work for me because 1) I am a very visual person; and 2) I couldn't always understand the pronunciation to repeat the dialog, as suggested. When I called the company to discuss this, they were incredibly helpful and did their best to make things work for me, but since they didn't have a book to go along with the CDs, I wasn't able to continue, so I sent it back. No question that this is a good company with great customer service, at least in my experience.