Learning Korean

You can skip reading & go immediatly to the learning korean resources below

It all started with my second drama, High Kick 1 aka Unstoppable high kick , which is REALLY long , 167 episodes. But it's supposed to be a light comedy, abt 30 minutes each episode.

I was 1st attracted to it cuz I like family sitcoms, like the American "Full House", it tells you alot about their culture, in a light & fun way.

However,the last 15 episodes or so were kinda of getting down. Personally I felt like they just wanted to end it but didn't know how to so they had to wrap it up in hurry & it turned out real bad.But that's the thing about high kick, I watched it more for learning about the culture rather than the plot itself. And I became so interested in learning the languge.

Like so many ppl, I'm more attracted to the Japanese culture, however when it comes to language learning, korean is way easier, specially in reading /writing since the alphabets are only 24. Japanese however might sound alout easier in pronuncation, yet when it comes to writing , it's kinda of a bit hard, with the chinese characters involved & different ways of writing.

Anyway, so I started learning korean, & I feel really great when I watch the drama & start recognizing some words & sentences...makes me feel more involved & part of it, not just an outsider from a totally different continent.

If you're starting with vocabulary , it's good to start with the homonym list, cuz you get to learn a word wich has 2 meanings at the same time, so it saves u alot of effore. Like the famous "sagua" meaning both an apple or an appology.

I wouldn't recommend diving immidiatly into grammar, start by some 'most used' vocab then some 'common essential phrases'. After that, you can go deeper into the language grammar.
Plus, it depends on WHY you're learning the language, some want to actually be able to speak, some like me, just want to understand... hey maybe if I get the chance to go to korea, I'll change my goal into actually mastering the language & being able to hold a proper conversation.

There is another charm in learning an Asian language, after I learnt reading Hangul (korean) & understood their characters, it felt like deciphering a code, which was really cool

Another way I use to learn languages is to view the lyrics of the song along with it's translation, & obviously listening to the song itself. The words/phrases I learn this way are never forgotton , plus they tend to stick in my head in a certain tune, which again is really cool


Here are some websites that I found useful;
1) Games for learning vocab. : Korean language learning games
2)Vocab quizez by topic: (It's better to learn a new word by guessing its meaning & making mistakes, that way --> faster memorizing =))
English-Korean Vocabulary Quizzes
3) Learn Korean - Grammar and Vocabulary

4) Grammar step by step :
Learn Korean: LP's Korean Grammar Guide: Sentence Order

5) Basic expressions & vocab lists:
Basic Expressions- Korean Language Practice

6)learnkorean.com: Korean for Fun: basics I

7)Learn Korean for Beginners

8)Awesome site, but requires registration & most of it's contents are for a trail period, so I downloaded all the podcasts that I wanted before my trial ended then deleted my account. When I want more podcasts, I re-register & download more
These are great when walking or doing some activity & listening to them at the same time, plus one of the tutors, Keith is a nice guy who makes the lesson fun to listen to:
www.koreanclass101.com/