Reviews (19)

The Best Korean Textbook Series in English
I won't be the first or last to say this, but the Integrated Korean series is hands-down the best Korean language learning series available in English.
Best Korean Textbook
I've been trying to learn Korean for the past year, and have used, without much success, a number of different text books, including "College Korean" and "Teach Yourself Korean," until a tutor recommended the Klear series.The Klear series, which is presently used at a number of colleges in the United States, is by far the best Korean instructional material that I have seen.The grammar is explained clearly, there is a sufficient quantity of sample sentences and practice exercizes, and the texbooks extend all the way up to the "Advanced Level."While it lacks the glossy pictures and snappy look of French, Spanish, and German textbooks, the Klear series represents an impressive achievement. Indeed, I wish the textbooks available for modern European langauges were this good!
best korean learning book ever
This is an amazing set of korean textbooks. If you don't know about the complimentary listening tools online, you should be aware that this website exists:
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Subjects:  1. English    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Korean    4. Korean language    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Reference    8. Textbooks for foreign speakers    9. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (18)

(Unfortunately) The best Korean language learning book on the market!
This is the best Korean language learning book on the market, and that isn't saying much. As a language instructor, I can identify a multitude of problems with Teach Yourself Korean (Complete Course). This book's biggest failing is that the instruction does not adequately prepare you for the exercises because there is NO instructional reinforcement of concepts. Many concepts that should be grouped together for comparative analysis (such as proper particle usage), are scattered throughout the book. The use of the Korean writing script is inconsistent, so when completing the exercises at the end of each unit, you won't be able to check your spelling against the answers in the back. Also, the exercises sometimes contain overly open-ended questions that can be answered in a variety of ways. A beginner comparing his answers to those in the back may not actually be able to determine if his/her answer is correct.
(Unfortunately) The best Korean language learning book on the market!
This is the best Korean language learning book on the market, and that isn't saying much. As a language instructor, I can identify a multitude of problems with Teach Yourself Korean (Complete Course). This book's biggest failing is that the instruction does not adequately prepare you for the exercises because there is NO instructional reinforcement of concepts. Many concepts that should be grouped together for comparative analysis (such as proper particle usage), are scattered throughout the book. The use of the Korean writing script is inconsistent, so when completing the exercises at the end of each unit, you won't be able to check your spelling against the answers in the back. Also, the exercises sometimes contain overly open-ended questions that can be answered in a variety of ways. A beginner comparing his answers to those in the back may not actually be able to determine if his/her answer is correct.
Excellent book- Very easy to comprehend
I love this book it has made the Korean Language easy to learn.I was kind of worried about learning Hangul (Korean Script) because I thought it would have been hard for me.This book made it very easy to learn how to read it.Also if you want to hear the dialect just play the CD which is spoken ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio Adult: Language    3. Dictionaries - General    4. Foreign Language Study    5. Korean    6. Korean Language    7. Foreign Language Study / Korean   

Reviews (20)

tip on using the accompanying CD
Copy it onto your hard drive, and play it in Windows Media Player, using the Play/Pause button to give yourself a little extra time to repeat what you hear. It's not as clumsy as it sounds.

Good Book
I used Colloquial Korean and Teach Yourself Korean before this. By comparison this is by far the best book of its kind for English readers, if you already have some basics.
One of the best
For those of you who have tried to study Korean using the books available in the marketplace you already understand there is a dearth of good learning materials. I think the reason why so many people give this book 5 stars is it is a relative value compared to other textbooks available.
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Subjects:  1. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Korean    4. Language    5. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (2)

Solid
This series teaches pretty useful grammar.I've been living in Korea for the past seven months so I constantly pay attention to how Koreans really talk.I was kind of disappointed with some of the topics in this book and accompanying vocab.I'm just not real interested in knowing detailed post office or clothing vocabulary.My wife has found the workbooks helpful.The listening comprehension has been pretty helpful--there's a correlated link with the University of Indiana's Korean language program.I wish they'd speak a little more colloquially, but it hasn't been that detached from reality.Overall, I've been pleased with this series.This book was my least favorite so far, but still overall helpful in teaching useful grammar, providing good listening comprehension, and teaching some good vocab.

KLEAR Intermediate Korean Level 1 & 2
Good clear grammar and vocabulary explanations.I've studied three or four different texts at this level, and this one provides the clearest explanations I've seen up to this point.
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Subjects:  1. English    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Korean    5. Korean language    6. Language    7. Textbooks for foreign speakers    8. Language learning: specific skills   

Subjects:  1. Korean    2. SAT & PSAT    3. Study Aids    4. Test Prep   

Features

• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Reviews (11)

1 Star for Content - 0 Stars for Value for Your Money
The main reason why I assume others bought this series of CDs is to hear more Korean as it is spoken to get pronounciation practice and listening comprehension. Unfortunately with this series you will find yourself listening most of the time to -- English! Yes, at least 70% of each CD is filled with someone speaking English. One would expect perhaps to hear the English version of the phrase before hearing the Korean, but this somehow doesn't suffice in the "Pimsleur Method". For their special method you need to get a long-winded introduction and redundant background descriptions of situations and grammatical lessons spoken in English. This is a waste of your time and space on the CDs.
Best Audio Korean Lessons Available
Despite the negative reviews, this is the only audio Korean set you should consider buying.The rest are complete 100% GARBAGE!This applies especially to those who are going to DLI to learn Korean, as I did.This will fill the gaps nicely, as regular everyday speech is generally overlooked there.If you know you are going to DLI and really want to learn Korean, try to learn as much of this as you can before you go.The only other resource you might need outside of what you get at DLI might be a good phrasebook or two, such as Lonely Planet and/or Making Out In Korean.Again, this will help fill the gaps.
5 stars promised;I barely see two
Subject: Customer Request - RE: Korean Compact Disk 2nd Edition
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Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio Adult: Language    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Korean    5. Korean Language    6. Language    7. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    8. Foreign Language Study / Korean   

Reviews (11)

Compact & Useful Everyday Dictionary
I am a student of Korean and this pocket dictionary was the first Korean dictionary I bought to aid me in my studies. The compact size of this dictionary makes it very easy and convenient to carry around, and it’s perfect for people on the go. (That is, no more suffering under the weight of a full dictionary!) ^^
Good for Beginners too
I recently moved to S. Korea knowing little more than hello and goodbye.This dictionary was extremely helpful in that the English section shows word usage and some phrases in both roman characters and Hangul.In the same way the Korean section is written alphabetically based on the English ALphabet and is listed by Romanization.This is really helpful when people are speaking to you.Also the dictionary has a great Proununciation chart for the Hangul letters, which helps when translating signs, and helped me learn to read Hangul.

ONE OF THE BEST
This is one of the best I've seen for beginner-intermediate levels for several reasons:Read more

Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. English    3. English language    4. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    5. Foreign Language Study    6. Korean    7. Korean language    8. Language    9. Multi-Language Dictionaries    10. Bilingual dictionaries    11. Reference   

Reviews (14)

Poorly organized and not very handy
If your looking for an easy-reference, traveler's phrasebook...this certainly isnt for you. Buying this as a quick-reference guide to help me get through Korea for 2 weeks, I was rather dissapointed that all the phrases are kind of scattered throughout the book, while the whole first half is dedicated to grammar. If I wanted to actually learn the language, I'd have bought a text book, not a "phrase" book. At any rate, the organization of the book certainly made it hard to find what I was looking for when I needed it. And, while everything else is over descriptive, theres a very frustratingly small amount of info on numbers. They go into a lot of depth about the etimology of the numbers, but say only a few word on when to use what(i.e. these numbers are used over 100....well, how do I say 11,225...do I use all "Sino-korean" or do I mix in "Pure Korean">) In a country whose currency is set up such that few things cost lower than 1,000 won, a bit more explanation on numbers over 100 would be appreciated...and the "Quick Reference" number guide on the inside-back cover, since it only goes up to 100, is entirely worthless. Oh well, I guess I should've know since it's Lonely Planet.

excellent
This book is huge. LP korean phrasebook has everything you need and then some. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the language, studying it, or just looking for something to brush up on. Thanks amazon for the fast shipping.

Very good pronounciation and grammar tips!
While this title is not mainly a Korean /language/ title, or a book one expects to learn in depth language nicities, nonetheless, the book does an amazing job of condensing these minutiae very quickly, accurately, and somewhat completely (at a begginer level of course), in very clear language, without any weird linguist smarty pants fancy grammar jargon.
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Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Korean    5. Language    6. Multi-Language Phrasebooks    7. Language self-study & phrasebooks    8. Pakistan    9. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

A Good Course at a Good Price
Introductory Unit aside, this course comes with 18 self-study units with accompanying audio on CD.It is broken down into five different parts: Dialogues, Notes on the Dialogue, Grammatical Notes, Drills, and Exercises.
Mastering Korean CD Package, Second Edition is Superb for Learning í*œêµ­ 말
It may be necessary to set the encoding to Unicode UTF-8 to properly display the �*�글 (Hangeul �" Korean writing) and special characters in this review. A font containing the set of Hangeul syllables is also necessary to display the Korean in this review.
Clear, Concise, Intensive and Fun
Although the korean language is difficult. Barron's method of practice until reflex "automacity" works. I have enjoyed this educational journey. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Korean    4. Language    5. Foreign Language Study / Korean    6. Usage guides   

Reviews (1)

Best Korean Text Series on the Market
If you are reading this you are probably aware that good Korean texts are hard to find. Of the Korean learning materials out there I have sampled including the Korean Through English series, College Korean, FSI Tape set & book, and books published by Korean unversities not available in the US, the Integrated Korean series is by far the best. The Integrated Korean series stays away from using the arcane linguistic terminology of College Korean, avoids the oversimplification of KTE, and presents much more natural Korean usage than the textbooks published by Korean universities(including SNU, Yonsei, and Korea U). The grammatical explanations are great, the vocabulary is useful, and the cultural notes are also interesting and pertinent. Audio files for the dialogues are also available online for free on the U of Hawaii publishing webpage. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Korean    4. Language    5. Language learning: specific skills   

Reviews (3)

continues, but leaves out alot
This book finishes where book one left off with more advanced grammar and vocabulary. However, the included cd only covers the dialogue, leaving the example sentences with no audio examples, which is unfortunate. There are cheaper and better audio courses available. For example, the Kanada course comes with five audio cds and runs only $20. This course also covers more territory and grammar. So for about the same price as continuing Korean with postage, you could get four books and 16 cds from the Kanada course. Try that instead.

Good and Bad Points
This was my second book on the Korean Language and I am almost finished with it. The first book I had was Teach Yourself Korean- avoid that book if possible folks! It concentrates on romanized Korean. Do yourself a favor...LEARN HANGUL! Anyhow, I found Beginning Korean an easy read (for a Korean grammar book that is). I do not like how the book is laid out, however. The first two chapters are strictly about memorizing a huge list of phrases and expressions. This can be extremely boring to a newcomer to the language. Furthermore, at the beginning you have no idea how these phrases are constructed. My advice is to start at chapter 3 and go back to chapters 1 and 2 when you finish chapter 5 and 6. This way, you'll at least be able to intuit some of the grammatical structure. Great Sequel
Very challenging sequel to the Elementary Korean book. This one seems a bit more difficult(as it should be as the material becomes more advanced)......but my Korean friends say the lessons are gramatically accurate and useful. As with the first one, a ton of useful vocabulary and many exercises (with answers in the back of the book).... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. English    3. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    4. Korean    5. Korean language    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Study & Teaching    9. Textbooks for foreign speakers    10. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (1)

Solid but Nothing Extraordinary
This solidly-written survey of the Korean language is part of the Cambridge Language Survey series. Whilst fairly comprehensive and detailed, the book maintains reader interest for most parts, being aimed at theprofessional or amateur linguist. For the general reader, however, themeticulous description of Korean grammar that is the final chapter becomessomewhat tedious, as does the preceding chapter on word formation.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Korean    3. Language    4. Language Arts & Disciplines    5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    6. Linguistics    7. Historical & comparative linguistics    8. Korean language    9. Language Arts & Disciplines / General   

Reviews (2)

Hongul is fun!
Like the first review says, if you learn the Hongul alphabet(and I assure you it is easy), then you can read the language and you can speak in no time. If you want a dictionary that says it all and is concise down to the most difficult words and thoughts, then buy this dictionary. When you have been in Korea and know what the culture is like and try like hell to fit in by using the language, you can't go wrong with this dictionary. Jin-chao!

EVERYTHING I EXPECTED!
THIS IS THE BEST KOREAN DICTIONARY I'VE SEEN.IT'S WELL WORTH WHAT I PAID FOR IT.IT LISTS LOTS OF DEFINITIONS AND IS VERY THOROUGH.I ESPECIALLY LIKE IT BECAUSE OF ITS EXPLANATIONS AND EXAMPLES OF HOW TO USE THE WORD IN A SENTENCE.BY THE WAY, THERE ARE TWO VOLUMES: ENGLISH-KOREAN AND KOREAN-ENGLISH, BOTH AROUND 3,000 PAGES.YOU CAN SEE HOW THOROUGH THEY ARE.I HAVE THE ENGLISH-KOREAN ONE AND PLAN TO BUY THE OTHER ONE SOON.ANOTHER THING I LIKE IS THAT THERE ARE NO ROMANIZATIONS TO MESS WITH.IF YOU LEARN THE HANKUL ALPHABET, LEARNING TO READ IT IS EASY.GREAT DICTIONARY! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Korean    2. Language   

Reviews (17)

Tough for self-study, good for classes
I bought this book when I was taking a college course in Korean and used it was the class textbook. In the context of a class it's a great book to go with along with the guidance of a teacher. However, it would be pretty tough to teach yourself Korean with the book alone as it starts off very quickly and gets advanced too soon.

The Best Korean Language Book
Let's put this in context, I'm marrying a Korean this year and her family don't speak good English. It's therefore quite important that I understand Korean! So. What does this book give you that the others don't: -
Good book! Buy it!
I bought the Mastering Korean book (publ. 1988!) and found the layout and typography serious roadblocks to learning what good information was in there. The type in the Mastering Korean book is simply horrendous!
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Subjects:  1. English    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. General    4. Korean    5. Korean Language    6. Language    7. Linguistics    8. Textbooks for foreign speakers    9. East & Southeast Asian Languages    10. Language & Linguistics    11. Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics    12. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (9)

Great start
This would have been 5 stars but I don't like the english phonetic translation of the Korean characters.It is better to learn the Korean alphabet and use it to learn words.
Present from my Korean wife
My Korean wife chose this book for me as a beginning. I have yet to find a more advanced book that I like as much. It was fun to use, and very easy. I found the romanization helpful while I was learning the Korean characters (Hangul). Good to get you started, but ignore Romanizations
This book is great to get you started with learning some of the basic words so that you can apply them to sentences later.However, like many books on Korean, the Romanization is aweful.If I did not already know the alphabet and pronouniations, I would have been been saying all the words very wrong (www.langintro.com is a great place to learn along with a native Korean speaker).I was always having to cover up the Romanizations on the flashcards because my native-English eye would go right to them.I also found that I stopped using the little excercies mid-way through the book and just used the flash cards. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alphabet    2. English    3. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    4. Foreign Language Study    5. Korean    6. Korean language    7. Language    8. Polyglot Dictionaries    9. Textbooks for foreign speakers    10. Foreign Language Study / Korean    11. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (10)

definitely a must-buy
If you're learning Korean, the Handbook is definitely the single most important book you can buy.
Fantastic idea, but could have been so much more
Anybody who has spent some time with Korean will probably be pretty pumped up by the idea behind this book: take a ton of Korean compound words and sort them according to their common, mostly Chinese, roots. If you've been at it long enough that you're starting to pick up patterns of shared syllables, or if you read Chinese (it's probably best to have both these down before you start looking at this book) this might sound like a godsend- but the bad news is the magic screeches to a halt right here. After laying down the vocabulary, the authors hightail it and leave the reader to figure out what to do with the words, and even how to do it. Don't get me wrong- it's still a great concept and this isn't meant to be a negative review, just a (really long-winded) warning of what not to expect from this book.
comprehensive and useful resource
This book is comprehensive; it is comprised of both native Korean roots and lists of Sino-Korean words organized by character and alphabetized according to Korean pronunciation.Sino-Korean word lists for each character include both words in which the character appears first and words in which the character appears last.For example, the entry under "dae" meaning "big," includes "daehakyo" (university) and "hwakdae" (enlarge).Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Korean    3. Language    4. Language Arts & Disciplines    5. Southeast Asian    6. Study Guides    7. Vocabulary    8. Grammar & vocabulary   

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Korean    4. Korean Language    5. Language    6. Foreign Language Study / Korean   

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (35)

Cold Hard, Mean and True
You have a choice with this book. You can read it like an adventure story and be stunned by the thrilling story or you can read it like the true account it is of a horrible war. It is a stunning book. It is a must read. Forget the movies read this book. This author deserves a Pulitzer Prize for his account of Korea. He also deserves a medal.

Amazing tale, modest writing
As far as heroism goes Joe Owen and the men he served with are 5 stars plus.What they went through was so amazing that the story was an easy to read page turner and we are forever beholden to the sacrifices they made.I have read other first person narratives that I thought were better for writing craft but this is a book I would recommend for the close up view of this historical moment in Marine history.

RECOMMEND THIS ONE TO YOUR COLLECTION
Excellent read for those interested in this particular conflict.The author is quite discriptive in his narration.He is able, somewhat, to give the "feel" of the circumstances..if that is even vaguely possible through the written word.The author has a tallent for enabling the reader to actually visualize the situation...sometimes rather difficult to accomplishe when addressing military movement on the battlefield.Again, I recommend you add this one to your collection.I makes a very nice reference book along with being a very good read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Fiction/Suspense Thriller    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. Campaigns    4. Changjin Reservoir    5. History    6. Korea (North)    7. Korean War, 1950-1953    8. Military - Korean War    9. Military Science    10. Personal narratives, American    11. Regimental histories    12. Unabridged Audio - History    13. United States    14. Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -    15. Korea    16. Military engineering    17. War & defence operations   

Subjects:  1. Korean    2. Software - Language - CDROM / Universal    3. Language Instruction   

Subjects:  1. English    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. General    5. Korean    6. Korean language    7. Language    8. Problems, exercises, etc    9. Textbooks for foreign speakers