Read ; Speak Korean for Beginners (Book w/Audio CD): The Easiest Way to Communicate Right Away! [Paperback]

Sunjeong Shin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071544402 | ISBN-13: 978-0071544405 | Publication Date: February 29, 2008 | Edition: 1

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

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jane Wightwick is a highly experienced author and product developer in the field of foreign languages.

Sunjeong Shin is an experienced teacher of Korean to all ages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (February 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071544402
• ISBN-13: 978-0071544405
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Korean
  • #57 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Korean

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and easy but the CD doesn't flow, July 10, 2008

By 

Gwen Kramer "gwenhwyvar" (Sunny and not-so-sunny California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read ; Speak Korean for Beginners (Book w/Audio CD): The Easiest Way to Communicate Right Away! (Paperback)

I absolutely love McGraw Hill's Read and Speak --- for Beginners series. It provides a reassuringly simple introduction to some of the more difficult languages for English speakers to learn.

To anyone not familiar with the series, here is what you get: A book of games, puzzles, light grammar and useful vocabulary with a CD to help with pronunciation. You will not be fluent after finishing but you eill have some excellent knowledge under your belt and confidence to move on.

The Korean entry into the series follows these lines. The book has a very brief section on the Korean alphabet (hangul) in the back but there are dozens of resources available online to quickly learn this easy script. The rest of the book is written in hangul with tranliterations to the side.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone tackling the admittedly challenging Korean language. It gives the bare basics and some of the exercises reminded me of first grade but it will give a solid foundation. I do, however, have one caveat.

The enclosed CD features native Korean speakers (their accents when speaking English are very charming) but they speak very.very.slowly. Each.syllable.sounded.out.

Now, if you have heard Korean, you know that the language flows, almost to the point of slurring sounds together. While the slow pace of the speakers is good for hearing the pure sounds of the language, it will not show you how Korean ACTUALLY sounds. The speakers do speed up slightly later in the CD and I suggest listening ahead if you are not sure how the language sounds. Or better, tune into a K-Drama.

In spite of this problem, I think this set is a good investment. It is affordable and is good for those days when a language learner just can't face the grammar books. It would be pretty useless to anyone who knows the basics already but any beginner can benefit from its easy pace and activities.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best place to start Korean is with this book, February 5, 2009

By 

Charles Wilkes "Heritage Conservator" (South East Asia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Read ; Speak Korean for Beginners (Book w/Audio CD): The Easiest Way to Communicate Right Away! (Paperback)

This book is simple to understand and straightforward in its approach to teaching Korean. The authors' choice of vocabulary and game building exercises are enjoyable and also achieve the aim of being memorable. Unlike the dozens of mindless repetition-based books, this book teaches you how to build thousands of sentences from a handful of key words. I study from five Korean books, and this is the only book where all terms and sentences are fully translated.

Highly recommended++

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Korean book that makes sense, December 1, 2008

By 

Beverly Deich "Beverly De" (Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Read ; Speak Korean for Beginners (Book w/Audio CD): The Easiest Way to Communicate Right Away! (Paperback)

I finally found a Korean language that helped me make sense of learning Korean. The most important thing is the CD, which really makes the big difference in making this the best Korean language book I have found. The only problem is that the book does not do a good job of teaching the Korean alphabet/script. It assumes you did the previous book or already know it. But even if other Korean books I have bought did a better job with the alphabet, but after that they got very confusing.

This book explains the words better, and the flashcards and games are a big help. The CD makes it much better, and the best reason to buy this book,
I would recommend buying this book. There is a previous book YOUR FIRST 100 WORDS IN KOREAN, which introduce the Korean script, or there are many online sites that teach the Alphabet but get very confusing afterward.