Korean

Rating:
Summary: promises pie in the sky but delivers very little
Review: I agree with the reader from New Zealand: these tapes is for beginners. Most of the material on these tapes I learned my first year in Korea.

The product comes with a brochure, telling the consumer all about how wonderful the product is and what a brilliant scholar Dr. Pimsleur is. According to this brochure, "extensive research has shown that we actually need a comparatively limited number of words to be able to communicate effectively in any language." That is not true. According to a word frequency chart compiled at Yonsei University in Seoul, it takes 3000 words to read 85% of written Korean. It takes 6000 to raise that to 90%.

If you want listening practice and adequate grammar instruction in the same package, your best bet might be Elementary Korean by Ross King and Sae-Hoon Yeon, ISBN 0804820791.

Rating:
Summary: learn the formal first
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Check out another title instead..
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Quality is good, coverage is marginal, and Oh! The price!
Review: 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?

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Introductory Course
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Introductory Course
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Pimsleur is the best EVER!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: it's the formal tense
Review: 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...