Teach Yourself Korean: Complete Audio Cd Program

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect (perhaps 4.5 stars)
Review: "Teach Yourself Korean" is, as the last reader said, very good for those who want to learn Basics of Korean... it isn't aimed at Business, and it's definately NOT a Phrasebook (those are terrible anyway). However, I find 2 major flaws with this course. First, aside from the dialouge for each chapter, Korean script is not used. Anyone who wants to learn Korean MUST master its writing system (it's not hard). New Vocabulary for each lesson is done in Romanization. Once you learn Korean script, you will find that reading korean script is much easier than any system of romanization. Well, that can still be remedied with a dictionary, so no harm done really. The second flaw is that one the accompanying tapes, the dialogue is read very slowly. For people who have no prior experience with Korean, this is good, as vowels and whatnot tend to be blended together often which an make distinguishing words rather difficult. But learners with more experience might not like this. It's soo slow sometimes, like this, "An-nyeong ha----se---yo." Anyway, this is overall a good course. "Teach Yourself Korean" combined with "College Korean" should make an execellent selfstudy program for anybody. Sorry this was so long:)

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect (perhaps 4.5 stars)
Review: "Teach Yourself Korean" is, as the last reader said, very good for those who want to learn Basics of Korean... it isn't aimed at Business, and it's definately NOT a Phrasebook (those are terrible anyway). However, I find 2 major flaws with this course. First, aside from the dialouge for each chapter, Korean script is not used. Anyone who wants to learn Korean MUST master its writing system (it's not hard). New Vocabulary for each lesson is done in Romanization. Once you learn Korean script, you will find that reading korean script is much easier than any system of romanization. Well, that can still be remedied with a dictionary, so no harm done really. The second flaw is that one the accompanying tapes, the dialogue is read very slowly. For people who have no prior experience with Korean, this is good, as vowels and whatnot tend to be blended together often which an make distinguishing words rather difficult. But learners with more experience might not like this. It's soo slow sometimes, like this, "An-nyeong ha----se---yo." Anyway, this is overall a good course. "Teach Yourself Korean" combined with "College Korean" should make an execellent selfstudy program for anybody. Sorry this was so long:)

Rating:
Summary: Great for Individual Study
Review: I bought this book after moving to Korea to help learn the language. I found it a great resource and easy to use. I also thought that it helped me as a English teacher in Korea by teaching a lot of useful classroom dialogue, as well as work related things, like how to great spouses etc. I worked through this book on my own and found it was extremely possible to learn from and the excercises at the end of each chapter really emphasize you learning the Korean. I would say that if you are like me and finding yourself suddenly surrounded by Korean this book is a great way of demystifying it.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Beginning Course with a few flaws
Review: I highly recommend "Teach Yourself Korean" to any beginners at the language. It has entertaining dialogues (not dry like most other textbooks) and teaches things in a systematic format focusing on the practical application of grammar principles supplemented by useful vocabulary. After learning a principle from this book, you always seem to be able to find a way to use it in a real conversation, and my Korean friends have complimented me when I use the expressions on how natural they sound. I have also purchased the more traditional "College Korean" paperback by Rogers, You, and Richards, and would say if one had to go with one or the other, most would be better off with "Teach Yourself Korean." The books weaknesses include using only romanized Korean in the vocabulary sections and grammar explanations (though dialogues are printed in Hangul), and its lack of any kind of index. Using romanized Korean as opposed to Korean script makes verb forms and pronounciation rules needlessly confusing; a good text should include both. This book is an excellent beginners course that won't bore you, but you should get another book to accompany it, such as "Active Korean" by Song-Chol Kim.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Beginning Course with a few flaws
Review: I highly recommend "Teach Yourself Korean" to any beginners at the language. It has entertaining dialogues (not dry like most other textbooks) and teaches things in a systematic format focusing on the practical application of grammar principles supplemented by useful vocabulary. After learning a principle from this book, you always seem to be able to find a way to use it in a real conversation, and my Korean friends have complimented me when I use the expressions on how natural they sound. I have also purchased the more traditional "College Korean" paperback by Rogers, You, and Richards, and would say if one had to go with one or the other, most would be better off with "Teach Yourself Korean." The books weaknesses include using only romanized Korean in the vocabulary sections and grammar explanations (though dialogues are printed in Hangul), and its lack of any kind of index. Using romanized Korean as opposed to Korean script makes verb forms and pronounciation rules needlessly confusing; a good text should include both. This book is an excellent beginners course that won't bore you, but you should get another book to accompany it, such as "Active Korean" by Song-Chol Kim.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Beginning Course with a few flaws
Review: I highly recommend "Teach Yourself Korean" to any beginners at the language. It has entertaining dialogues (not dry like most other textbooks) and teaches things in a systematic format focusing on the practical application of grammar principles supplemented by useful vocabulary. After learning a principle from this book, you always seem to be able to find a way to use it in a real conversation, and my Korean friends have complimented me when I use the expressions on how natural they sound. I have also purchased the more traditional "College Korean" paperback by Rogers, You, and Richards, and would say if one had to go with one or the other, most would be better off with "Teach Yourself Korean." The books weaknesses include using only romanized Korean in the vocabulary sections and grammar explanations (though dialogues are printed in Hangul), and its lack of any kind of index. Using romanized Korean as opposed to Korean script makes verb forms and pronounciation rules needlessly confusing; a good text should include both. This book is an excellent beginners course that won't bore you, but you should get another book to accompany it, such as "Active Korean" by Song-Chol Kim.

Rating:
Summary: The romanization was helpful.
Review: I would recommend this book to most beginners. It helps you learn how to speak Korean, but this book alone is not enough. It would still be difficult to understand native Korean speakers. There are not enough excercises to really master the language. I am able to order at a restaurant, and tell Koreans that I can speak a little, but I can't understand everything. In most cases, the Korean conversation ends right there, and we go back to speaking English.

Rating:
Summary: The romanization was helpful.
Review: I would recommend this book to most beginners. It helps you learn how to speak Korean, but this book alone is not enough. It would still be difficult to understand native Korean speakers. There are not enough excercises to really master the language. I am able to order at a restaurant, and tell Koreans that I can speak a little, but I can't understand everything. In most cases, the Korean conversation ends right there, and we go back to speaking English.

Rating:
Summary: Meets the purpose 100%
Review: In contrast with other Korean textbooks this one is written not only for business visitors or tourists to Seoul, but also for those who really want to learn basics of Korean and be able to talk with friends about everyday topics. Another advantage is the simplified transliteration, or as they call it, romanization. The way it is done, for instance, in "Korean at a glance" just scares the reader away. In "Teach yourself Korean" romanization is quite readable. The audiocassete is extremely helpful, too. This book makes studying Korean easy and quick!

Rating:
Summary: Recommended and useful
Review: Of the 4 or 5 books I have on the Korean language, this is the best. This book goes beyond simple travel phrases, etc. and teaches you to build some basic sentences quickly. I did find the romanization is poor (in my view). And the cassettes could be improved upon. Also, I wish the Korean script was included in the dictionay in the back. Once you get familiar with the script, you begin to rely on it to understand correct pronunciation, since this doesn't take too long and most romanizations are erroneous. I don't have College Korean or Active Korean, two books I've seen often recommended, so I can't compare against them. But this book will give you a good introduction to the Korean language. A worthwhile and useful book.