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!

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 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. 

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!

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.