Mastering Korean with Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute Language Series) [Audio Cassette]

Mastering (Author), B. Nam Park (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1990 | ISBN-10: 0812074807 | ISBN-13: 978-0812074802 | Edition: Book and Cassette

The textbook for Barron's intensive language immersion course in Korean has been updated for Fall 2005. Originally created by the Foreign Service Institute to train diplomatic and other U.S. Government personnel serving in foreign countries, this book presents a detailed grammar course and vocabulary instruction in Korean. This book is also available as part of Barron's textbook and compact disc audio instruction program.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

[book, back cover]
BARRON’S
MASTERING
KOREAN

LEVEL ONE
SECOND EDITION

THIS BOOK IS PART OF A COMPREHENSIVE LANGUAGE COURSE THAT GIVES YOU MUCH MORE THAN LISTS OF WORDS AND PHRASES FOR TRAVELERS. THE PROGRAM WILL HELP YOU DEVELOP FLUENCY IN KOREAN, AND IN LESS TIME THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE.

YOU’LL MASTER GRAMMAR, PRONUNCIATION, AND VOCABULARY AS YOU GAIN OMMAND OF THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

BARRON’S MASTERING KOREAN, LEVEL ONE, IS THE SAME COURSE USED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO TRAIN DIPLOMATS.

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN DESIGNED FOR USE WITH ACCOMPANYING AUDIO COMPACT DISCS THAT USE NATIVE SPEAKERS TO FAMILIARIZE YOU WITH THE SOUND OF CONVERSATIONAL KOREAN.

TEACH YOURSELF TO SPEAK KOREAN FLUENTLY --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; Book and Cassette edition (February 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812074807
• ISBN-13: 978-0812074802
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 10 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,948,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > Korean

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What's up with the Romanization?, February 6, 2000

By 

Yeschef (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Korean with Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute Language Series) (Audio Cassette)

Okay, I am the first to admit that I should have known better than to think that a book and tapes could help you "master" a language, but this book is almost useless. First, I don't know why, the book is romanized, which means that it uses the English alphabet. It is so hard to learn Korean this way. Secondly, the dialouges on the tapes are extremely fast. It is hard to follow and I speak some Korean. Thirdly, the examples are mindless substitutions. Easy, but useless. Anyway, I know there are not many good texts out there for Korean, and good ones with audio are rarer still, but I don't think that this is worth it.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible, August 14, 2001

By 

Andrew Bruske "Andrew Bruske" (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Korean with Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute Language Series) (Audio Cassette)

It's a shame that the audiolingual method has so fallen out of favor with the language teaching literati. As a former EFL teacher in Korea I can say that communicative language teaching leaves a lot to be desired; as does any "method": a motivated learner creates her own opportunities; lack of motivation, with even the best "method" leads nowhere.
And so for motivated learners, this audiolingual course is a wonder. If you have the patience to put up with the seemingly mindless drills, this one course will give you a strong, unconscious foundation in Korean grammar. Your grammar will be as instinctive as Daniel's front blocks in "The Karate Kid" after he waxes all those cars.

I completely disagree with those who say that one must learn Hangul first. To this day in Korea I read the English street signs because, even after seven years, I'm faster at reading roman letters. Why does this matter? If you follow audiolingual methodology, you're forced to repeat things until you can say them at native speed. You're cautioned not to proceed to the next lesson until you have mastered the current one at native speed. To do so, you must be able to scan the given sentences quickly so as to repeat them quickly. I still can't do this in Hangul; it's easy in the romanization. After hours of drills at native speed, then, when you talk to people, even in your fledgling stage, they're going to understand you and, in Korea at least, give you the praise that will keep you studying.

If you learn Hangul first you won't acquire that ability to repeat so quickly, as you'll be trudging through the--yes, easy and scientific, but more difficult than the roman alphabet for English speakers--Hangul. You'll also be more likely to have one of the boring, occasionally jingoistic books that line the shelves here. This book cuts to the chase: No junk about four seasons and Tangun; all hard, memory-path-building exercises about taking the bus and going out to dinner.

If you put up with negligble faults: the funky roman letters, the guy's bizarre pronunciation (One of my Korean friends thought he was a non-native speaker of Korean), the formality, and the antiquated expressions (this was written a while ago), you'll be fine.

Not everyone can learn through the audiolingual method, but this course is worth a try.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating, but sadly, worth the money., December 15, 2002

By 

Andrew Barbour (Cos Cob, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Korean with Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute Language Series) (Audio Cassette)

If I were a diplomat smoothing out tensions between cold war rivals 50 years ago, with brylcreem in my hair and a cigarette holder, this would be the perfect course. If you care to speak Korean the way George Plimpton speaks English, then this is what you need. Deals almost exclusively in the formal polite tenses, the romanization they use takes as much time to learn as Hangul itself, and the print is so tight that it's impossible to tell what the hangul text is half the time. The vocabulary is outdated (No one calls a post office "upyonguk" anymore- it's "uchaeguk")and the editing is sloppy. Unfortunately, the lack of decent resources in self-taught korean actually make it worth buying for the mere fact that it is in print. Buy it because you need a foundation in Korean, not because you want to dabble in Korean for fun. Unless properly motivated, this will destroy any will you have to learn Korean.