Before anything else, I'd like to mention that this is overall a great book and everyone learns differently, so my experience will always be different than yours.
I have been studying Korean off and on for almost 10 years. Because of inconsistency I am far from fluent, but I would say that I have a very solid foundation and have completed numerous courses, books, podcasts, etc. I absolutely recommend getting this book as a secondary+ material to work through after forming a foundation of your own. I also >absolutely< recommend you grab the workbook as each lesson tends to throw tons of vocabulary at you along with a lot of just reading in English explaining the lesson's topic. Having the workbook to practice alongside the reading is a great way to exercise your brain and really hold onto what they're teaching. If anything, I'd suggest the workbook alone over this book by itself, ESPECIALLY if you have aforementioned foundation and would like to challenge yourself.
I feel the need to add that you should before *anything* else learn hangul. Don't let yourself rely on transliterations. The key to language learning is avoiding thinking in your native language and learning hangul is a big step to get to that point. If you can already read hangul the whole intro is skippable.
Personally, I've never enjoyed any book's hangul lessons and have found online resources to be much more helpful. Although the workbook has a great beginning section for practicing hangul, you could just as easily print out similar sheets from online via your local library, fedex, etc. All of that to say: Learn hangul and probably don't waste money doing so.
OK. All of that out of the way, a big problem I have with this book is their way of trying to "simplify" things by basically teaching you the wrong way. It might seem helpful to a completely new student, but I promise it will hurt down the line when looking at other materials.
Examples of this would be that they don't teach you verbs in their dictionary form. More often than not they grab what they refer to as the "verb stem" and have you "conjugate" with that. Instead what they are giving you is a partially conjugated stem and strange conjugation rules that feel like someone's cram notes. As someone familiar already with 99% of the vocabulary and grammar points used, I'm able to decipher and still take something away from this strange teaching style. In that sense it sometimes helps hearing the new, sometimes strange, methods. BUT if I had started with this book and moved on to a more standard explanation or even just encountered a new verb in the wild I'm confident that I would be beyond confused.
This is just one example of many versions of their strange explanations. I >highly< recommend this book after going through one or two other beginner level courses. A personal favorite that I think is beyond beginner friendly is Living Language's 3 book set.
All in all, I recommend going through to the advanced level from this series, but making sure to alternate between various sources. Think of this series as a great and thorough review with new explanations that may or may not help sometimes! Don't rely on this book to teach you your foundations, instead let it further and exercise what you already know.
Finally, from one language learner to another:
You don't have to fully understand every grammar point and memorize every new word, before moving on. Don't exhaust yourself repeating the same chapter over and over. Push through! Keep moving forward and exposing yourself to the language. Everything circles back around. Try working through multiple beginner courses! That one particle you didn't understand might make sense the next time it comes up! You don't have to get it all now, just keep showing your brain Korean and it will start to slowly make sense. It won't happen overnight, but I believe in you! You can do it <3
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Customer reviews
Bought this for a Christmas present for a friend, it looks like it’ll be great for teaching herself Korean! But it did come slightly damaged which was disappointing because it’s a gift!
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Top reviews from other countries
M M.
A Formal In depth Korean textbook for grown ups.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 2, 2020
A Formal In depth Korean textbook for grown ups.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 2, 2020
Of the three Korean text books I have, this one is the best as a teaching material for a 20 something year old student. depending on an age of student my choice of text books might change. Haven’t read the whole book yet but especially for the Bottom consonants chapter, the other two books only touch the subjects and leaving a lot of questions unanswered while this one explains it all in full depth(almost daunting for a beginner! But my student wanted to know it all). Terminology and the explanation are quite formal so took a while to grasp the authors meaning; might not be the best choice for younger students for that reason or for the first time Korean learner for more casual conversational Korean. For my purposes though I’m very satisfied.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 2, 2020
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Ella
Worth every penny if you're serious about progressing and want to enjoy learning
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 25, 2014Jonah Kipps
It's okay :) but it is still quite nice
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 4, 2016
