Beginner's Korean (Hippocrene Beginner's Series) (Korean Edition)
by Jeyseon Lee, Kangjin Lee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeyseon Lee, Kangjin LeeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); Korean (Published)
Published: 2007-07-30
ISBN: 0781810922
Number of pages: 510
Publisher: Hippocrene Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780781810920
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Book Reviews of Beginner's Korean (Hippocrene Beginner's Series) (Korean Edition)
Book Review: one of the better packages but...
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall, this is one of the better complete packages ( book + audio) for beginners. To summarize this book: well-explained grammar, modern expressions, sometimes boring, too few exercises.
When I first started using using it I really hated it and gave up after just three chapters and started with another book, but then I actually missed the concentrated format of this book and went back to it. The second time I stuck with it and grew to really like it.
About this book: there are 12 chapters in this book. The book gives you a vocabulary of ~ 1000 words, equal to a one year course at uni.
Each chapter is set-up like this:
1. patterns [i.e. phrases]
2. model conversations [i.e. dialogues]
3. vocabulary
4. grammar
5. further study [i.e. extra vocabulary]
6. cultural note
7. exercises
Note: all the phrases and dialogues are written both in script and in romanization.
The exercises consist of:
> responding to questions
> translating Korean sentences into English
> translating English sentences into Korean
> writing paragraphs about the chapter topic
The positive aspects of this book:
> modern vocabulary and expressions
> has practical cultural information
> the vocabulary suits all type of learners [businessmen, students... ]
> straight-forward to use
> large vocabulary
> romanized script is written below the Korean script throughout the book
The distinguishing feature of this book is that it includes more practical words and phrases than any other Korean books I've used, for example it covers all the words and phrases you'd need when going to the hairdressers and using public transportation.
The book is also straight-forward to use, it is uncomplicated, and the grammar is much better organized than in any other books I've used.
The audio is good: the guys read the dialogues and sentence patterns at normal speed...but there are no audio exercises.
But it's not all good!
This book looses a start because there are too few exercises. This book will show and explain to you all the grammatical rules but you don't get much training on how to use them. The exercises that exist only serve as a check-up so that you understand the absolute essentials, not more.
Unless you are a genius you need many exercises to master the grammar. So you are left with spending much time reading through the grammar explanations and examples until it "sticks" in your head, a tedious process which makes this book boring at times.
The most rewarding exercises in the book are the ones where you write your own paragraphs and I advise you to take them seriously and make an effort to challenge yourself, then they become very effective.
[you might consider getting this grammar book too, it has tons of exercises to do:Basic Korean (Grammar Workbooks). ]
If the authors had been as serious with the exercises as with the rest of the book, it would be a fantastic package, but as it stands I can list two other books that are at least as good as this one: Active Korean: A Functional Approach and An Introductory Course in Korean, Book 1. Although they don't have any audio material and their grammar coverage is not as well organized as in 'Beginner's...' they do have more exercises.
If you decide to buy this book I recommend you memorize the phrases, vocabulary and learn the grammar BEFORE you try to read the dialogues. It starts using natural sounding dialogues from the start, which has the advantage of making you speak more naturally early on, but also the drawback of being very hard to read and understand unless you already know the words and grammar very well.
Final notes:
Although the book introduces all speech levels, the focus is on formal speech which is the "safe" speech level: the risk of causing offense is minimized by using it.
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