Korean Made Simple: A beginner's guide to learning the Korean language: 1

Having recently decided to learn Korean myself and checking out a number of online resources, none of which seemed to give me what I was looking for, I came across the Go Billy Korean YouTube series and began watching them - obviously taking Billy's advice and first concentrating on learning Hangul. I have to say, the way it was explained and taught made the experience a pleasure rather than a challenge. I decided to buy this book since it does accompany the video series and I have always preferred to learn from a text book - which is extremely difficult when it comes to languages. Having the short videos online and the book made it so much easier - and Billy's own website contains free audio files for each of his books that can be downloaded so that readers of the book will always be able to hear the correct pronunciation. At first, Hangul (the Korean writing system) looks really complicated, almost like trying to transcribe some script from the side of an alien space ship! But following the early part of this book slowly, practicing every character many times, ensuring each character is written with the correct stroke order, it all actually makes a lot of sense. I have to admit that I was amazed. Okay, learning any language takes time, patience and a huge amount of effort, and having to first learn a totally new writing system adds to that, but Billy really does take his readers by the hand and guides them one small step at a time. Although I had expected to try and learn Korean, having to learn Hangul first did come as a big surprise but I am thoroughly enjoying it and, thanks to Billy's guidance, I know that without learning Hangul any later progress on actually learning the language and vocabulary would be greatly hindered. Although I have only been working for a few weeks (both book and online video content), and although Hangul can seem confusing, I am persevering because each day I realise I have remembered more from earlier study sessions - all a bit like building a house, it has to be done one brick at a time. This is a large format book, beautifully printed, plenty of white space on each page so there is no mass of text to plough through. Okay, the Hangul is often printed quite small on a line when it has to be matched up with English but, on the whole, there is no problem. Korean Made Simple is a funny title because nothing new is ever simple to learn, but this book is so interesting, so well-written, that it is a pleasure to pick up and work through, even if often I can only manage 2 pages (a lot of time at the moment I spend writing out the characters and syllables, but that is essential no matter what language you try to learn). This is the first in a series of three, designed for the complete beginner - hence the large portion on learning Hangul right from the start. Don't let that put you off, it is explained perfectly and only takes practice and repetition to get the different writing style into your head. I shall certainly (hopefully) continue with this book and the online videos. The author has made the whole experience highly enjoyable, not like learning at all provided you are happy to keep practicing and writing out the characters and syllables (which is actually quite easy once you get going). There is a Workbook associated with this volume which I will likely get as a good revision aid once I proceed further. There are also 2 other books (along with their workbooks) in the series which should, if a learner has given good study time, should be sufficient to bring someone up to intermediate level Korean. Perhaps not the cheapest of language books to buy but it is definitely worth every penny and I can fully recommend this series to anyone with an interest in Korea, the language, Korean culture and history.

I’m usually too lazy to write reviews but I felt compelled to for this one. I love this book. Korean is not an easy language to learn but Billy has a rare gift as a teacher to be able to make it reasonably straightforward and easy to follow. I’ve been leaning Korean for about 9 months with TTMIK and I’m about halfway through level 3, using both the grammar books and the workbooks. These also are very good, but I find it a bit dry sometimes and just don’t feel motivated to work through a chapter. It also has weird difficulty spikes where the exercises for one lesson are way too hard. With this book I’ve gone back to the beginning) though I already knew how to write) and it’s so well explained and the practice exercises are so appropriate for my level that my motivation has come back. I love how much vocabulary is introduced and then summarised and there is a lot of subsidiary information in the appendices that is very useful. Just brilliant. 10/10 would recommend.

I’ve been learning Korean for about four months now, using various free and paid apps, online resources, K-Dramas, BTS songs, you name it! But what interested me more was knowing the grammar and WHY things are done a certain way as a lot of these free apps don’t go into explanation as to why you would use 는 instead of 은 and how important honorifics are. I needed to know more and having some sort of textbook like the ones you used to learn languages in school was something I really wanted for my study. I did a bit of research and came across this book which I like for various reasons. 1. It explains why you are doing something. 2. It explains formality levels and when to use them. 3. Has information about Korea itself and its culture. 4. It has an answer key! You wouldn’t believe how many reviews for other books complained about it with other textbooks. What is the point in learning if you have no idea if you’re doing it correctly! 5. Lastly, it gets me away from using romanisation as a crutch. Native Koreans don’t use it so we probably shouldn't either and it can be a bit confusing as the words don’t sound out phonetically in english. All in all, I’m very happy with this book so far. I feel it’s good for all difficulty levels, even if you have an intermediate knowledge of korean, it’s good to brush up and there’s some good tips in there too.

Only on my first day of studying with this book. My wife is Korean and I already have background knowledge of Korean. The author does an exceptional job of introducing the alphabet and not overwhelming the learner at the beginning, which many others do. Top job.

Very nicely divided chapters to build on your knowledge and an excellent resource to teach yourself Korean as the explanation of every chapter is in English. Having said that there are 3 areas to improve, as I have seen Billy has created more books and might be helpful for him to take into account. 1. The vocabulary offered in the end of each chapter it is not coherent and by coherent I mean it is not under a main theme i.e. food, shopping, house etc. which would have made it easier for the reader to learn and memorize. Moreover, many words offered are not useful for a beginner's stage; like my Korean friend said there is no need to offer words such as "a problem of trust" among others as I would not be able to anyway hold a conversation or probably understand one that particular words are involved in as it is for a more advanced level. Therefore, my suggestion would be to group the vocabulary provided under themes which are more or less basic and useful for every day conversations (see suggestions above). 2. The exercises at the end of each chapter while very good, they are very limited and are far from sufficient for someone to get a firm grasp of the concepts of each chapter. My suggestion would be to provide more exercises or more appropriately launch a workbook where the student can get enough practise. 3. There is no listening part. This is very crucial, as I have found myself to be quite capable of reading and writing after studying with this book but there is a big gap to my understanding when I come across Korean audio material. Not having a listening part does not give the chance to the students to actually know how words are pronounced and also to listen to the pace and rhythm of Korean speakers. My suggestion is create a listening part in the exercises' section and provide an audio cd with the book or a link for an mp3 download-this part could go great with the suggested workbook (mentioned above). Thanks Billy for your great work and looking forward to more books by you.

Let me tell you something, I suck at Korean. I studied in Korea for six months and dreaded going to class because I didn't know anything. I couldn't understand one concept from the next. Ended up passing, but barely. Anyway, I decided to try learning Korean again this past year as I do enjoy the language. Enter this book. Bruh, if only I had read this book before or even during my time there. So many concepts that I was foggy on make absolute sense now. This book is absolutely great! Easy breakdown of ideas, great conversations, plenty of relevant vocab, and ease of book navigation. Also, I didn't know this until just recently, but the back of the book has a glossary that holds the answer key to all questions that the chapters ask. 10/10 great learning tool! I will purchase the rest of the series asap.

It is a well thought out language study book, in manageable sections. I do about 40 to 50 minutes a day at a steady pace, ( I am 73 after all). My main motivation has been wanting a greater appreciation of Korean dramas and films which I discovered during the pandemic, but I would certainly extend that now to developing a greater understanding of Korea and its incredible culture.

Deciding to learn Korean, I needed something that started from the very beginning. I couldn't have made a better choice. There aren't any classes available to me so I'm learning on my own, and Korean Made Simple is ideal for me. It has a very relaxed, friendly tone, which I think is really important to ease someone into learning a new language. Make no mistake; it doesn't skip on information, but the way it goes about teaching you is what I believe to be the perfect method. I considered purchasing Integrated Korean and, having read a preview of it, I am glad I didn't! I feel as though while Integrated Korean tells you, KMS guides you. I really would recommend this book over any other resource for someone who is learning Korean from the beginning.

Den zahlreichen positiven Rezensionen kann ich mich uneingeschränkt anschließen. Von diesem Lehrbuch bin ich ganz und gar begeistert. Mich überzeugen der klare Aufbau und die wertvollen Lerntipps. Der Lernstoff wird sehr übersichtlich präsentiert, durch Illustrationen aufgelockert und landeskundliche Info ergänzt. Das Buch enthält viele Übungen und - was mir besonders gefällt, da ich selbst Fremdsprachen unterrichte - der Grammatik wird große Bedeutung beigemessen. Der Autor stellt sehr richtig fest 'Grammar is more important than vocabulary'. Zusätzlich zum Lehrbuch unterhält der Autor einen Youtube Channel mit sehenswerten Beiträgen. Fazit: So macht Lernen Spaß!

Really good book! Helped me learn the basics as well as improve and have a simple conversation. Obviously it's not all about the book but how interested YOU are in learning, it's not like the book will teach itself, you need to be interested, if you are this is a wonderful easy going book :)

Not so helpful

Really good product for beginners it has clear explanations and instructions explains particles really well. Would definitely recommend for beginners who are learning Korean.

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