I've been studying Korean for about a year and a half but that doesn't mean I know it. My study habits are random at best and I think of myself as a slow language learner anyway so that doesn't help.

While there are many good books and resources you van find that will help you learn Korean, I think the best is one on one tutoring. If you can find a good friend who doesn't mind teaching you, that would be ideal. Also, if they will do it for free, that would be cool too.

I just so happen to have a very kind and thoughtful girlfriend who has been helping me when she is able to. This has been the best experience because she is very patient and understanding. This attitude has caused me to look at how I teach English as well. I have to be on guard not to be too critical or impatient with my students. After all, they are learning a new language as well- just like me.

So, I plan on posting some entries in the future about what small bits and pieces of Korean I am learning on a weekly basis with the help of my Korean girlfriend. I hope it will be helpful to you!

I recently attended the Korean language learning school at Sogang University in Seoul. It lasts for about two months and is 4 hours of intense study Monday thru Friday.

I think it was really helpful. Let me give you some pros and cons.

Pros-
• excellent teachers and a "Korean only" classroom atmosphere
• If you study, you can learn a lot of Korean in two months
• excellent text books for real world conversation
• extra help classes for free covering vocab and pronunciation

Cons-
• expensive (for me it was) about 1 mil ₩
• difficult to fit in your schedule if you were teaching full time like me
• very intensive. I fell behind after the first week and never fully recovered

Overall, I would recommend it because I really learned a lot of new Korean from these classes. And I even made some good friends there in the process!

Before You Know It (BYKI) is a program I came across a while back and I really like it. It uses a flashcard system to display Korean words and their English equivalent. The cool thing is that each card also has a picture of the word. It reminds me a little bit of Rosetta Stone except this program is free. You can opt for the pay version in which you will get more words and resources.
There is an iPhone app but unfortunately it doesn't have Korean yet. Maybe they'll get it sometime soon because the app is free and it looks very user friendly.

Here is a list of words I came across from teamenglish.com.  They will even let you create quizzes so you can master all these words. Check it out!

#	English	Korean	Sound
1	teacher	선생	seonsaeng
2	name	이름	irum
3	again	다시	dashi
4	quickly	빨리	bbali
5	these days	요즘	yojum
6	interesting	재미	jaemi
7	well, good	잘	jal
8	what	무엇	mueot
9	well, then	그럼	gureom
10	how	어떻게	eotteoke
11	loudly	크게	keuge
12	to go	가다	gada
13	to exist (hon.)	계시다	kyeshida
14	to exist (have)	있다	itda
15	to not exist (not have)	없다	eopda
16	to be	이다	ida
17	to do	하다	hada
18	to follow	따르다	ddaleuda
19	to be good	좋다	jota
20	to pass time	지내다	jinaeda
21	mom	엄마	eoma
22	dad	아빠	abba
23	car	(자동)차	(jadong)cha
24	dog	개	gae
25	cat	고양이	goyangi
26	house	집	jip
27	pencil	연필	yeonpil
28	ruler	통치자	tongchija
29	pen	펜	pen
30	classroom	교실	gyoshil
31	flower	꽃	ggot
32	butterfly	나비	nabi
33	river	강	gang
34	cow	소	so
35	mountain	산	san
36	horse	말 / 마필	mal / mapil
37	not at all	천만에요	chumanaeyo
38	student	학생	haksaeng
39	this, this thing	이것	igot
40	that, that thing, it	그것	gugeot
41	that over there, that thing	저것	jeogeot
42	chalkboard	칠판	chilpan
43	book	책	chaek
44	window	창문	changmun
45	pencil	연필	yeonpil
46	desk	책상	chaeksang
47	door	문	mun
48	pen	펜	pen
49	classroom	교실	gyoshil
50	eraser	지우개	ji'ugae
51	computer	컴퓨터	keompyuteo
52	not to be	아니다	anida
53	car	차	cha
54	watch	시계	shigyae
55	eyeglasses	안경	angyeong
56	where	어디	eodi
57	bag, briefcase, handbag	가방	gabang
58	notebook	공책	kongchaek
59	top, above	위	wi
60	front	앞	ap
61	side	옆	yeop
62	inside, in	속 / 안	sog / an
63	library	도사관	dosagwan
64	dormitory	기숙사	gisugsa
65	gymnasium	체육관	che'yukgwan
66	restaurant	식당	shikdang
67	back, behind	뒤	dwi
68	house	집	jip
69	bookstore	책방	chaekbang
70	school	학교	hakgyo
71	this place (here)	여기	yeogi
72	that place (there) over there	저기	jeogi
73	that place (there)	거기	geogi
74	and (for nouns)	-와/과	wa / gwa
75	also	-도	do
76	university	대학교	daehakgyo
77	Korean language	한국어	hangugeo
78	but, however	그러나	gureona
79	a little, some, please	좀	jom
80	Korea	한국	hanguk
81	English (language)	영어	yeongeo
82	mathematics	수학	suhak
83	America	미국	miguk
84	middle school	중학교	junghakgyo
85	college student	대학생	daehaksaeng
86	newspaper	신문	shinmun
87	television	텔레비전	telebijeon
88	movie	영화	yeonghwa
89	movie theatre	영화관	yeonghwagwan
90	theatre	극장	gukjang
91	bus	버스 / 뻐스	bus
92	to study	공부하다	kongbuhada
93	to attend	다니다	danida
94	to be interesting	재미있다	jaemi'itda
95	to be difficult	어렵다	eoryeopda
96	to be many	많다	manta
97	to buy	사다	sada
98	to do	하다	hada
99	to see (look at)	보다	boda
100	to read	읽다	ilda
101	South Korea	남한	namhan
102	peninsula	반도	bando
103	teacher; Mr.	선생(님)	seonsaeng(nim)
104	Korea	한국	Hanguk
105	elder brother of a male; Mr.	형	hyeong
106	North Korea	북한	bukhan
107	go (command, low level)	가	ga
108	Please go	가세요	gasaeyo
109	Please stay	계세요	kyesaeyo
110	(I'm / It's) OK.	괜찮아	gwanchana
111	I'm fine. / It's good.	좋아	jo-a
112	safely; in peace	안녕히	annyeonghi
113	well, safely	잘	jal
114	well, then	그럼	gureom
115	also	-도	do
116	It's been a long time.	오래간만입니다	oraeganmanimnida
117	male	남자	namja
118	who	누구	nugu
119	surname	성	seong
120	full name (mid)	성명	seongmyeon
121	full name (high)	성함	seongham
122	female	여자	yeoja
123	name	이름	ilum
124	this person (h)	이분	ibun
125	I (pronoun)	저	jo
126	my (h)	제	je
127	friend	친구	chingu
128	student	학생	haksaeng
129	to exist (h)	계시다	kyeshida
130	to wait	기다리다	gidarida
131	to come in, enter	들어오다	duleo oda
132	to see, meet (someone)	뵙다/뵈워	bwepda / bwewo
133	to ask a favor (of someone)	부탁하다	butakhada
134	to introduction	소개하다	sogaehada
135	to be.. (equivalence)	-이다/-이야	ida / iya
136	to exist / to have	있다	itda
137	quickly (when urging)	어서	eoseo
138	for a moment, for a short while	잠깐	jamggan
139	for the first time	처음	cheoum
140	theatre	극장	gukjang
141	what	무엇	mueot
142	store	상점	sangjeom
143	Seoul	서울	Seoul
144	anything (used only in neg. sent.)	아무것도	amugotdo
145	where	어디	eodi
146	today	오늘	onul
147	evening	저녁	jeonyeok
148	weekend	주말	jumal
149	house	집	jip
150	coffee	커피	kopi
151	one cup	한 잔	han jan
152	fruit	과일	gwa-il
153	church	교회	gyohwe
154	restaurant	식당	shikdang
155	tea	차	cha
156	hotel	호텔	hotel
157	cookies, sweets	과자	gwaja
158	Sprite-like soft drink	사이다	saida
159	ginseng tea	인삼차	insamcha
160	cola	콜라	cola
161	Lipton tea	흥차	hongcha
162	to sit down	앉다/앉아	anta / anja
163	to do; to have (eat/drink)	하다/해	hada/hae
164	to come	오다/와	oda/wa
165	together	같이	gachi
166	yet, still	아직	ajik
167	this way	이리	iri
168	now	지금	jigum

Here is a site that a friend told me about. It's the FSI (Foreign Service Institute) Language courses site. From the site:

"These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain."


"Like the original, this site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. This site is not affiliated in any way with any government entity; it is an independent, non-profit effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages. Courses here are made available through the private efforts of individuals who are donating their time and resources to provide quality materials for language learning."


So this site was developed by the US government and it kinda shows. As you can see by the picture, it's pretty sparse looking. The good thing is it's free. I tried to download the pdf but my internet is acting up so I couldn't check that out. My guess is it's as dry as the site. I did, however, download the first audio segment from the site. It was a bit dated but I'm sure it was cool for those learning the language in the 50's. It reminded me of an old, busted up car- it gets the job done. 

Vocab of the Day will focus on one word and one word only. I have  hard time learning whole sentences of Korean so I will stick with some single words for this section. Who knows, maybe later on in the year I'll have a "Sentence of the Day" post.

Korean= 맛있는 
English= Delicious


This is one of my favorite words! I use this all the time when eating. That's probably because my vocabulary consists of about 10 words but who's counting. This is used to tell everyone how delicious you think the food is. I also say this to my kindergarten students when they offer me some of their snacks after school. I take one and say, "맛있는!" really loud. They love it.

Here is a cool site that has some free goodies. survivalphrases.com This site offers a ton of languages but, of course, w are concerned with the Korean site. These are the same folks that brought you Korean Class 101 and they are really quite funny in these podcasts. They focus mainly on basic greetings such as "Hello," "Thank you," and "Where is the bathroom?"

Check this place out if you want some introductory phrases to get you going with Korean. As with korean class 101. there is a premium option. I tried this one too. This one was a lot cheaper than the 101 class. You can get a lifetime membership for 25 bucks. What a deal! Well the reason is you don't get as much content as the 101 class but what you do get is really good. Try this option if you enjoy the free podcast and want to expand you knowledge base concerning some introductory phrases.

This is the site that I use the most. It's Korean Class 101. This site has a lot of resources for beginners to the advanced. I wanted to try this site out and it has a free podcast to get you started if you don't want to pay any $$. I listened to the podcast for a few months and I really liked the personalities of the teachers. There is always a native speaker matched with a foreign speaker. The episodes are short and well done. They are good about reviewing each word and adding cultural insight during each lesson.

I decided to try the pay service out so I signed up for 2 year access to all their content. This was a whopping $240.00 but that actually comes out to $10.00 a month which makes it easier to justify. What you get for that is SOOOO much. You get a ton of podcasts that cover a wide range of topics (hundreds of them). You get PDFs of all the lessons which I like to print out to read on the subway or whenever I have time. You get a lot of other extras I can't recall as I write this but it has really been worth it so far. I'll let you know after the two years if it really made any serious impact.

If your not willing to pay for the premium service, I would highly recommend at least visiting the site and going through the free lessons. I think you will enjoy it.

Here is a video from a guy that has learned Korean over the past several years during his stay in Korea. His name is Rob Julien and I have to say, I really like the way he teaches. It's pretty straight forward and he seems to have a lot of knowledge and insight into the language. Check out this video then check out his site here. You can sign up for some free classes. I tried it and it has helped me out quite a bit. Thanks Rob!

Good ol' mom and dad got me a Kindle 2 for Christmas. I wasn't sure if I'd like it but it's really grown on me. I am a big gadget junkie so I like all the new stuff in technology. I'm sure you've read all about this e-reader so I won't recap why people do or do not like it. As far as learning Korean, I didn't see a whole lot of titles in the Kindle store on Amazon. Maybe they'll get some more in eventually but there is only about 3 or 4 titles right now that I could find.

I sent a sample of one of the books wirelessly to my Kindle 2 to check it out. It is "Colloquial Korean" by In-Seok Kim. I'll let you know if it's any good. So the Kindle is a fine e-reader for a lot of books but it appears that the Korean language learning books are few and far between for this device. As far as learning Korean, I'll stick with my podcasts and old fashion paper books for now.

Here's a site I have used sparingly. It's called Livemocha. It's a community of folks helping each other learn different languages. The best part is, it's free! I really haven't tried their Korean lessons yet but I have met a few Korean friends their who have been helpful with teaching me Korean. In turn, of course, I teach them a bit of English. The best way to learn from one another is to use Skype and get a recording program so you can review your conversation later. That is, unless you can meet in person which is a HUGE advantage. Try this site out and let me know what you think.

Resources Corner is the title for any good learning resources I've found concerning Korean. I'd like to start this post off with a FREE resource that I found a few months ago. The site is called "Learn to read, write, and pronounce Korean." You can visit it here. This is a good beginners resource for learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet. I'm not sure about how accurate the pronunciation is on the audio, so I would suggest making some Korean friends which is the best way to practice your new language (More on that in a future post).

This site is broken up into 6 easy to follow lessons. It basically breaks up the Hangul into bite-sized portions to make it easier to remember. I tried to go over each one, a day at a time but I'm sure some people can just read through the whole thing in one sitting. It really depends on the individual. Some learn fast while others (like me) learn slow.

I started this blog as a year long project on learning the Korean language. I have been living in Korea (Seoul) for the past year and I am a slow learner when it comes to foreign languages. I learned just the basics in year one so I am trying to expand my Korean so I can at least carry on a basic conversation and understand some of the words that others are saying to me.

Would you like to join me? Check up on my blog regularly as I will be posting resources I find on the web and any tips that I think might come in handy for those of us just starting out. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any resources or ideas on how to learn Korean that you feel will help us all out. Who knows- in a year we might be able to hold a conversation or understand what the lady at HomeEver is saying to us. For those who are fluent in Korean, feel free to enjoy the posts remembering what it was once like to struggle with a language and then conquer it. Inspiring and helpful comments are always welcome.