Korean

**Korean** (**Korean**: 한국어/조선말, see below) is the official language of South Korea and North Korea as well as one of the two official languages in China's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Approximately 78 million people speak Korean worldwide. For over a millennium, Korean was written with adapted Chinese characters called hanja, complemented by phonetic systems like *hyangchal,gugyeol,* and *idu*. In the 15th century, a national writing system called hangul was commissioned by Sejong the Great, but it only came into widespread use in the 20th century, because of the *yangban* aristocracy's preference for hanja.

Most historical linguists classify Korean as a language isolate while a few consider it to be in the controversial Altaic language family.The Korean language is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax.

## Resources

### **Talk To Me In Korean**

* A huge resource of videos, podcasts, PDF lessons, workbooks
* Covers vocabulary, listening, reading, pronunciation, and Grammar
* The basic version is free but also has paid premium content

### **How To Study Korean**

* Recommended as a learning tool
* A resource that teaches you everything you need to know learning Korean
* Their YouTube channel is designed to supplement the grammar course
* Some complaints that it goes a little too in depth
* Completely Free. If you don't want to use or pay for Talk to me in Korean, this is the best alternative.

### **Pimsleur**

* 3 level available with 90 lessons
* Recommended as a learning tool.
* **Strongly not recommended to be used as the only tool.**
* Covers mainly speaking and being able to hold a conversation.
* Easy to use, just open the audio file and repeat.
* ~~TERRIBLE pronunciation. The speakers have a very strong Korean-American accent.~~
* ~~The language Pimsleur teaches for Korean is very outdated. No Korean speaker will understand you if you use it. Save your money and don't consider this at all.~~
* With the addition of Korean 3, the previous two levels have been updated. The speakers sound a lot more native and the language used is modern.
* Much more expensive than it's worth. If you pirate it you'll most likely run into the older editions.

### **Films**

Courtesy of a /tv/ anon: Parasite, Memories of Murder, Joint Security Area, A Taxi Driver, Man from Nowhere, I Saw the Devil, The Handmaiden, A Bittersweet Life, The Chaser, The Villainess, Oldboy (part of The Vengeance trilogy), A Taxi Driver, 3-Iron, Oasis, Modern Family, Hello Ghost, My Sassy Girl

## **User Tips**

Learn Hangul NOW! It is literally the easiest alphabet in the world, and you can learn it in 30 minutes. There are Youtube videos on it, apps, games, plenty of websites that explain it. You don't need to pay for anything to learn Hangul. Poppopping Korean is a really good app. Switch your keyboard to Hangul and NEVER write Korean in English. You can mark your keyboard with Hangul characters yourself if you want, or use stickers or a silicon keyboard cover.

There's also a shitton of videos on Youtube to learn Korean, way more than Japanese. Just search it on youtube "Learn Korean" and you'll find thousands of videos at your fingertips (Ex. Korean Unnie, Go! Billy Korean, Prof. Yoon, etc). Watch a bunch of videos a day and you'll have a very strong foundation of Korean.

Use Anki to memorize Korean vocabulary. It's free and you can find many decks on the internet.

Watch lots of Kpop and K-dramas with subtitles. They help your listening skills, and you can pick up small phrases, and understand informal and formal situations. Viki.com has a language learning mode with double subtitles.

Try reading Korean using a popup translator like Toktogi for reading Korean online. There are South Korean and Korean American newspapers like Joon Ang Ilbo that cover familiar stories. Also, Hangul pronunciation can be tricky at first, so if you're not sure about how to say a word, look it up on Forvo.

Buy a Korean textbook, or use Assimil. You need to study Korean for at least an hour a day. Go on italki and find a language exchange person or a tutor once you think you can have a decent conversation in Korean. The prices are dirt cheap, and you need to speak to someone for at least an hour a day in Korean to be fluent in it. Join the local Korean church, go to the Korean barbecue restaurant and strike up a conversation with Koreans, find a Korean girlfriend, change your computer and cell phone into Korean, read Korean newspapers, basically this full immersion into Korean will GUARANTEE fluency without having to go to Korea. Depending on how immersed you are in the language and how much you practice, you could be fluent in a year or two.