매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

Title: Useful Chinese Characters for Learners of Korean
Author: SNU Language Institute
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: Darakwon (Apr 2007)
ISBN-10: 895995764X
ISBN-13: 9788959957644

Easily one of the best weapons to add to any Korean-language learner's arsenal is a good command of Hanja. This book helps to demystify the structure of Hanja and prompts the Korean language learner to recognize authentic examples in modern Korean. Like Latin and Greek roots to English, Hanja comprises of over an estimated 60% of the Korean language in use today and as such, presents itself as a possible speed bump to effectively learning Korean. While not nearly as prominent as it used to be, Hanja is still known to some degree by all native Korean speakers. If you are a student of Korean and you have even a passing interest in learning Hanja-based vocabulary, this is book to start with.

The text couldn't be easier to approach with its easy to follow baby-steps guide on how a single Hanja character is formed, brush stroke formation and how to recognize the sound and meaning of characters. If you've been looking for someone to hold your hand and show you the ropes but were frustrated that all available explanations are in Korean, this book remedies that nicely. Each chapter is arranged around a theme and therefore arranged slightly differently than the beginner books that native speakers learn by. Although increasingly difficult, the ten characters per chapter pace is not impossible to follow with some practice. Towards the end of the book is a step-by-step guide on how to recognize similarly rooted words by their main radical and how to look up words in a dictionary. I found the English explanation of radicals to be especially helpful.

The only true fault is the text's limited amount of space to practice writing. It does have an summary chapter practice cell sheet but the paper in the book doesn't lend itself well to being written on; it's too pretty. As a beginner, though, you have thousands of options out there. Plenty, and I do mean plenty of cheap low level practice books are geared for Korean children and are well-suited for rote memorization and muscle memory writing practice. Think of this book like a springboard and you're much better off. I used the textbook and wrote side-by-side in a blank notebook. For reinforcement, I ran through a few five dollar variously leveled practice books; 8급 being the most basic, 1급 the most difficult. This book is a good one to start with and it should already be in your collection.

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If you have not clue what Hanja is, take a quick detour and start with a background. I've mentioned this book before and I want to emphasize how valuable it is has been for me. Far from a perfect text, it got me started in what I hope is a goal of lifelong learning. Although I'm not finished with it by any means, I had got a lot out of it and wholeheartedly recommend it.

Oh, and it's crazy hard to find outside of Korea. Heads up.

Title: Roadmap to Korean
Author: Richard Harris
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Hollym International Corporation; 2 edition (November 3, 2003)
ISBN-10: 1565911873
ISBN-13: 978-1565911871

There's a lot of resources out there for students of Korean. Some are written by Koreans for he benefit of foreigners. Most of said resources are laughably bad while few and far between are quite good. On the other hand, some are written by foreigners for the benefit of other foreigners. Most of said resources are either for learning slang or are simply MIA. An exceptional resource is Richard Harris's Roadmap to Korean. His previous effort, interestingly enough, is also hard to find and also very valuable (Faces of Korea).

Don't let the textbook-like cover fool you because this is a resourceful heart-to-heart conversational with you and the author. Harris has compiled his personal notes, stories, charts, tips and tricks all into this neatly presented package. Imagine a super-awesome blog written on paper. It's a very light read and written casually; almost spoken-like. The author has lots of advice to give whether you've never studied the language before or have been for years. There's some history and culture as well as some grammar pitfalls and speaking taboos that are enough to learn from as well as laugh at. His perspective is golden and there's a lot to learn from his book, make no mistake.

I don't have much to say about this book that hasn't already been said. It's a great guide. The only thing I want to criticize is the author's plea to learn hanja. Although I also strongly encourage learning hanja because of its usefulness, he does little in terms of pointing one in the right direction of how to actually study hanja. A minor gripe for such a fabulous study guide. Yes, this book is enough to warrant me saying the word "fabulous".

I would also like to point out that this book is the book I should have written. If I ever had aspirations to publish a "Guide to Study Korean" book, this would have been it. Everything to the comical voice to the practical breakdown of a simple phrase such as "How are you?" Thanks a lot Harris for beating me to the punch and doing a better job than I probably would have done.

I wish I read this years ago.

I'm surprised it took me so long to buy, read, review, use this book. I really could have used this a lot a year ago, two years ago. Anyway, if you know someone starting out in Korean or who is truly eager to learn more, I can think of no better book to recommend.

Title: Integrated Korean: Beginning 2 (Klear Textbooks in Korean Language)
Author: Hyo Sang Lee, Carol Schulz, Ho-Min Sohn, Sung-Ock Sohn, Young-Mee Cho 
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; illustrated edition (September 2000)
ISBN-13: 978-0824823436 

Out of all the self-paced textbooks available, this series isn't perfect but it does get the job done. This particular textbook (Beginning Level 2) is very useful and contains some of the best explanations of Korean grammar I've ever seen. If you are a native English speaker and want to learn Korean grammar and incidental vocabulary, pick up this book.

Remember this textbook is designed to be used in a classroom; namely the University of Hawaii. It outlines the goals, vocabulary and grammar points quite well and actually fits a self-paced and self-determined student quite well outside of the classroom. The chapters are logically laid out and are never too difficult to follow. This book not only takes it slow, but systemically explains and compares previous grammar points to avoid confusion.

Like the other books in the series, the publication date is dated and needs an update. Almost ten years since the last one. However, unlike the previous book in the series (Beginning Level 1) this book stays pretty natural throughout the text. The situations are mostly quite believable and the appropriate level of speech is used most of the time. I found myself pleasantly surprised at the scripts. It rarely felt like a textbook in that it didn't feel dry.

All in all, it's a relatively cheap and easily obtainable self-study resource for explaining Korean grammar in English. I highly recommend it as an additional if not primary resource for studying Korean.

Title: Integrated Korean: Beginning 1 (Klear Textbooks in Korean Language)
Author: Hyo Sang Lee, Carol Schulz, Ho-Min Sohn, Sung-Ock Sohn, Young-Mee Cho 
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (June 2000)
ISBN-13: 978-0824823429   

Out of all the self-paced textbooks available, this series isn't perfect but it does get the job done. This particular textbook (Beginning Level 1) is actually a bit advanced in terms of being "newbie" friendly. Frankly saying, it's not for absolute beginners. But I wouldn't dismiss it just yet. It's got a lot to offer.

Remember this textbook is designed to be used in a classroom; namely the University of Hawaii. It outlines the goals, vocabulary and grammar points quite well and actually fits a self-paced and self-determined student quite well outside of the classroom. The chapters are logically laid out and are never too difficult to follow. This book takes it slow. Another good thing about this book is the optional workbook that accompanies it which contains one of the best worksheets for learning to read and write 한글.

My only gripe is the publication date: 2001. Ouch. The other problem is that this book, like countless others, tends to be a bit too polite at first to be functional in a real life setting. The presentation is almost robotic in the first few chapters. But fear not, the book does grow out of it later and is much more native sounding by the next textbook (Beginning Level 2).

All in all, it's a relatively cheap and easily obtainable self-study resource for explaining Korean grammar in English. I highly recommend it as an additional if not primary resource for studying Korean. 
UPDATE: new edition as of Nov 2009! ISBN: 978-0824834401

A post long time coming, today will be a four-part post covering four self-study books that I would like to talk about briefly. These resources were mentioned in the entry full of advice: Korean Self-Studying Advice.

The Ewha books (Pathfinder) aren't complete garbage but they get the job done. Use them in class and forget about them later. The real pearls I want to share are the KLEAR books used at the University of Hawaii. Those are self-study gems. What I didn't mention in the review was the free online audio files available for those who want them.

Readers of my other blog will notice a familiar book review layout. Enjoy!

Title: Pathfinder in Korean I - Beginning
Author: Ewha Language Center
Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: Ewha Womans University Press (January 1, 1999)
ISBN-13: 978-8973004560