Korean - Start Here

KOREAN! 한국어

Korean is a cool language. Personally I think that the alphabet is great! It is also one of the easiest languages to learn to read. The alphabet (hangul) may be easy, but don't let that lull you into a sense of comfort. Korean can be difficult for English speakers. Now, if you have any experience in Japanese then Korean can be very easy to pick up, therefore I will make some of my Korean grammar posts kind of bilingual so that those with Japanese background can pick things up more easily.

This is just a general entry for links and other useful tips. After reading this and checking out the links, please learn hangul. Since hangul is so easy to learn, there is really no need to put off studying it. Even though you can find romanized Korean resources, you'd really be handicapping yourself by not learning to read asap.

LINKS!

-------------------General Guides--------------------

Wikibooks Korean!! → http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Korean

   - AWESOME resource! Like a free textbook.

Learn Korean Language → http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/index.html

   - A nice resource for learning hangul, grammar, and more about Korean culture

ZKorean → http://www.zkorean.com/

   - NOT FREE

   - Looks like a very nice resource if you are willing to pay the monthly price

-------------------Dictionaries------------------

Naver → http://dic.naver.com/

   - This is the dictionary I love!!

   - WARNING: In Korean! Here's how to use if you can't understand much Korean yet.

NAVER USAGE NOTES

On the screen (if you follow the above link) there will be a space with seven search bars. These bars are all search bars for various dictionaries (Korean<>Korean, Korean<>Japanese, Korean<>English, etc.) You want the top right one. Right above that search bar you will see 영어사전 (Yong-o Sajon) which means "English Dictionary."

The results can be a little hard to figure out at first but once you get used to it you will get the hang of it and it will become a great resource! This is one of the best free online Korean dictionaries I know of.

ZKorean (see above)

------------------Dramas (for listening)------------------

MySoju→ http://www.mysoju.com/

     - Has dramas in Korean as well as some in Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese