Colloquial Korean: A Complete Language Course (Colloquial)

Let me start by saying... if you are going to buy this course, make sure you buy the TAPES. I noticed they sold the book by itself at the bookstore, without the tapes, but you are going to get nowhere like that. Nothing is spelled out phoenetically in the book, and the relationships they draw between korean sounds and english sounds don't sound even close to the actual pronunciations presented on the tapes. In short: IF YOU DON'T BUY THE TAPES YOU WILL BE WASTING YOUR MONEY IMO.Having said all that, I absolutely LOVE this book. Instead of dumbing down the language and spelling everything in "english" (a book I saw, "korean in plain english", comes to mind), you learn how to write and pronounce korean script right from the start... and it is a lot easier than most people think! To be honest, within the first hour or two of using this course, I could listen to the speaker on the tape and write the word he/she just said before I even looked at my book.Yes, this book requires some thinking and effort, and if you are looking for an easy, learn-Korean-in-15-minutes approach, then you will be happier with another language course. If, however, you are truly looking to learn Korean, beginning as you did with English by learning the "alphabet" and the sounds of the language, this is the right course for you.

I've read many of the other negative, cry-baby comments, andI think these comments stem solely from the posters' learning objectives.It is very true that if you are looking for a quick"phrase book" to just say "hello", "good-bye" and order"one more beer" in Korean, then by all means this book is not for you.However, if you are interested in being able to hold a conversation on a variety of topics and set a foundationto increase that knowledge naturally through interaction withnative Koreans or Korean entertainment programs this book isfor you. I don't know about you, but rather than just ordering"one more beer", I'd like to get a bowl of chips and ask thewaitress out to boot, but it's really up to you.Many of these critics also whine about having to learnthe Korean script Hangul (which, by the way, is a snap).Well, I've studied a number of Asian languages including Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese and have seen some really bad books. The books that use romaji (our roman alphabet script) instead of the Japanese or Korean writing systems are really bad. You know why? Because if you start transliterating these languages with the roman alphabet system instead of using thenative orthography you are hurting yourself. Yeah, it seems easier at first but you'll ruin your pronunciation ability and it's a lot harder down the road to learn the scripts because yourelied on romaji as a crutch. This author does it right by starting with a solid pronunciation lesson and teaching the Korean alphabet (which is easy to learn).Yes, this will "slow" your down for the first week or so,but then you'll rocket past the cry-baby "romaji" learners. In addition, complaints were made about words not being "introduced"in the dialogues.All of those words are listed in the books glossary and the author does it (he even says so in the introduction) to teach you how to deduce words you don't know through the context ofa dialogue. This is what humans do everyday. You know, if a Japanese were to walk outside, look at the sun, throw their hand over their eyes and scream, "mabushii" you could guess it means"blindingly bright". You don't have to be a genious.Lastly, if you get the books and use it to study on your own,be sure to BUY THE TAPES!! A language book (especially entrylevel) without tapes is worthless because you need to hearthe pronunciation, intonations and rythms.Have a fun!