Good to have romanisation !
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I think it is a good enough book for beginners and one learns enough Korean for a holiday in the country. I respectfully disagree with some of the other reviewers regarding romanisation. Personally, I found it very useful to have it in such a book. Hangul is NOT as easy as people make it out to be. There are a lot of inconsistencies and the romanisation is a good way of letting the learner know what is written is not what is said. At the beginning one just want to know how to say things and wasting lots of time trying to work out what the Hangul is just makes it frustrating. One you know how a word is pronounced, you can go back and see how it is written. It also worked for me when I was learning Japanese which has a far more intricate, and at times maddening, writing system.
I enjoyed using the book and the CD and I look forward to using it when I visit the country next year.
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Enough for a business trip to Seoul
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I thought this was an excellent book & CD set for learning enough Korean to get by after two or three weeks - saying hello, goodbye, ordering food and buying things in shops.
I learned how to read the Korean script - it was fun deciphering how pronounce business cards and words. I really liked the extra snippets on how to conduct business out there (their customs).
I think it could be improved though. My printing had some Korean script that was harder to read (the print was indistinct). The script introduction had the shapes but the sounds were in the descriptive text rather than alongside the symbols. I would have prefered early lessons to start with hello/goodbye, how to get someplace, etc. rather than splitting those over the early chapters.
Anyway, it did the trick for me in Seoul.
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A Good Introduction with Shortcomings
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This book is a useful introduction into the language. It is well structured and covers many aspects of the language. The areas covered are particularly suitable for travellers and business contacts. There are, however, a number of shortcomings. Although there is an introduction to the Korean alphabet (Hangeul), the course itself is throughout romanized. This may look less daunting to the learner, but the Korean script is essential to know if you want to travel the country. Korean people will fail to understand the romanized versions of their own language and often you cannot find the signs in English (although, since the World cup this improved significantly). The romanization used is outdated and in some places not consistent. It nevertheless helps you learn the language and pronounce the words correctly. The register used is far too formal for most cases (travel and business alike). This is not a problem, because your attempts to speak the language are appreciated anyway. It does make you sound a bit more foreign, though. The book is heavy on the grammar side and some areas are not explained properly. Overall, however, the grammar bits are explained in an accessible manner. The book will introduce you to the language, and after you finish the course, you should be able to have simple conversations in Korean. There is an audiocassette with the dialogues (recommended).
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Good value for the money!
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Teach Yourself Korean is good value for money. It is attractively
printed and presented. It provides a useful aid to learning both
written and spoken Korean, and at the price is probably better value for money than In-Seok Kim's "Colloquial Korean"; its main
contender for self-taught Korean. Unfortunately the material recorded on the accompanying tape occupies less volume than the recorded material provided with "Colloquial Korean".There are 13 Chapters and a Review. The Hangul Korean alphabet system is clearly printed and the 15 pages Introduction gives
excellent instruction on reading and writing Hangul script. It
also provides more help on pronunciation than "Colloquial Korean". Another useful feature is that dialogues and vocabulary
throughout the book appear in both Hangul script as well as in Romanised Korean. This is invaluable for beginners in getting to
grips with pronunciation,but is a double-edged sword. Lazy novices might ignore the Hangul script completely and get by on Romanised Korean, but more than half the fun in learning an Oriental language is the thrill of being able to read it in its
script. In each Chapter there is also a brief cultural reference.
At the end of the book there is a list of useful websites that can be used for learning Korean... All in all this is an attractive and useful little book that does provide good value for money. Go for it!
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Very good
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Great introduction to a relatively unknown language...for the most part very easy to use but same as above very crowded and the romanization system is a little odd for example writing "wu" for "u" confuses a fair few..got me up to a basic standard in Korean that i needed to know when i went to university there....all in all a very good book + tape
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