Rating: 
Summary: What's up with the Romanization?
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: What's up with the Romanization?
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Just the 12 Tapes
Review: The 12 tapes were helpful for listening and speaking/fluency practice but the book was NOT. I got so confused with the sound representation and symbols because it was Romanized (except for the dialogues starting on each unit.) It could have been better if the Korean words were printed in Han-gul. If you want to practice your reading and/or writing skill, try writing everything in the book in Han-gul or better yet, buy another book that focuses on these areas.
Rating:
Summary: not worth the money
Review: the typing is too small, the korean characters are typed in a font which makes recognizing some letters difficult, there is also some outdated grammar shown...suggestion for barron's: find an editor familiar with the korean language! too much money (especially in $CDN)
Rating:
Summary: Better Alternatives Finally Exist
Review: There is very little positive to say about this system other than that you will learn some Korean. That said, the program has a number of serious downfalls:-Grammar explanations. As other reviewers have noted, this program mainly consists of mindless repetition and grammar drills. The little grammar explanation given is insufficient for full comprehension of the material you are supposed to be learning. -Romanization. Learning Korean script is dumbfoundingly simple since it is based off of an alphabet and is very logical. Given the widely varying, inconsistent, and often confusing systems of Romanization for Korean (none of which come anywhere near close to accurately describing the sounds in the Korean language), it is inconceivable why anyone would shirk learning Hangul first. Especially as it is necessary if you ever want to read the language at all. If not, get Pimsleur, I'm sure it's much better (although for more expensive). -Formal form. Korean is a language with honorifics. Korean sentence endings all conjugate to reflect some level of politeness (or impoliteness). If you say any verb, you cannot avoid making a decision on the politeness of your language. This program relies almost exclusively on the most formal form which is awkward and out of place in most conversations. There are more problems. Unfortunately, this program used to be the most comprehensive Korean language product out there. Fortunately, however, better alternatives now exist. The Integrated Korean series is far better. Explanations and cultural notes are entertaining and useful, and audio files are provided on the internet for free. Go with the Integrated Korean series instead.
Rating:
Summary: Better Alternatives Finally Exist
Review: There is very little positive to say about this system other than that you will learn some Korean. That said, the program has a number of serious downfalls: -Grammar explanations. As other reviewers have noted, this program mainly consists of mindless repetition and grammar drills. The little grammar explanation given is insufficient for full comprehension of the material you are supposed to be learning. -Romanization. Learning Korean script is dumbfoundingly simple since it is based off of an alphabet and is very logical. Given the widely varying, inconsistent, and often confusing systems of Romanization for Korean (none of which come anywhere near close to accurately describing the sounds in the Korean language), it is inconceivable why anyone would shirk learning Hangul first. Especially as it is necessary if you ever want to read the language at all. If not, get Pimsleur, I'm sure it's much better (although for more expensive). -Formal form. Korean is a language with honorifics. Korean sentence endings all conjugate to reflect some level of politeness (or impoliteness). If you say any verb, you cannot avoid making a decision on the politeness of your language. This program relies almost exclusively on the most formal form which is awkward and out of place in most conversations. There are more problems. Unfortunately, this program used to be the most comprehensive Korean language product out there. Fortunately, however, better alternatives now exist. The Integrated Korean series is far better. Explanations and cultural notes are entertaining and useful, and audio files are provided on the internet for free. Go with the Integrated Korean series instead.
Rating: 
Summary: buy it for the tapes
Review: This is the only really useful book I've found for learning to speak and understand. The tapes are complete and it's harder to make tapes than to make a book. As far as the book, the romanizing is annoying and hard to read but it translates pretty directly into han-gul and you can easily get used to going back and forth between the 2 phonetic representations.
Rating: 
Summary: OKAY
Review: This program is a really great language program if you want to learn Korean fluently. It goes over grammer, vocabullary, and everything else that a language program would ever need. The only problem with it is that it is not fun. You need to Memorize many things, and there are not activities to do. One other thing that this is lacking is tests for knowledge. However, this is the best Korean Program that I have seen.
Rating:
Summary: Outdated...
Review: When I first got this package, it seems like a promising book. But when I finally got down and started it, I have some complaints... The first one was that it was all Romanized. The first thing on the tapes was pronounciations...which means that you HAVE to do that to proceed. (Unless you skip them...but keep in mind that the whole book is basically Romanized.) That's half and hour of mindless "a e u oo ae" repetitions. The romanizations actually makes it harder to pronouce the Korean words IMO. **Note: There are also some Hangul on the left page but in a very small print. It's really hard to read.** The second thing is that it's too formal. I really don't hear people talk this way anymore. I suggest you have some Korean friends help you adapt to the more informal style of speaking. Speaking too formal may seems awkward and weird sometimes. Lastly, the book is outdated. Their grammar is outdated, not to mention that there's no pictures, and no color either. The cassettes is not too bad, but the male speaker is annoying. His voice is terrible and sometimes I don't know what he's saying in English. There's also some inconsistant spots when he's repeating Korean. The female speaker is not too bad though. They speak at a fast rate, but you'll get used to it over time. In summation, this book is very in-depth. However, it's a bit too outdated. After studying this, I suggest that you find some Korean speakers or a newer book to help you adapt to the new speaking style. By the way, the author suggests about 20hrs a week for studying if you're a serious language student.
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