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Colloquial Korean: A Complete Language Course (PB + CD)
by Andrew Inseok-Kim
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Routledge (2003-01-09)
ISBN: 0415306280
EAN: 9780415306287
Dewy Decimal #: 495.7
Paperback: 288 pages
Edition: Pap/Com/Ca
SKU: B262-2384
Condition: New
Comments: New & Shrinkwrapped. In stock - Immediate despatch from an efficient and professional leading British bookselling firm.
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Customer Reviews
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An attractively printed book,but rather disappointing
Rating  (3)
Date: 2003-02-14
13 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
In-Seok Kim's book is attractively presented and well printed. The clarity of the printed Hangul Korean alphabet system is particularly clear; which is useful for a beginner. It provides
an excellent introduction for learning to read and write in
Hangul script. Grammar, which is presented as "language points", comes in byte size paragraphs throughout the lessons. These are straightforward and helpful, and are unlikely to overwhelm the beginner. There is also a key for correcting the written exercises. From this point of view the book is a useful introductory text for learning to read and write simple Korean.However for someone who wishes to learn to speak as opposed to learning to read, I found the book to be less helpful. In particular I found that help in pronouncing the consonants was very disappointing. This consisted largely in reciting the names of the consonants, then followed by repeating
a limited number of recorded words on the tapes. Coverage of aspirated and doubled consonants was not at all clear,particularly the reasons why consonants become aspirated
or doubled at all. There are no "pronunciation rules" for consonants given, although these can vary in sound according to their position in a word and their location with regard to vowels. This makes it very difficult for a novice listening to the tapes to
understand why certain consonants seem to sound completely different in various words. This contrasts poorly with the "pronunciation rules" covered clearly and succinctly in "College Korean" by Rogers, You and Richards, University of California Press, 1992. Had Kim devoted a few more pages to this confusing issue it would have transformed the value of "Colloquial Korean" as a language learning tool for learning to speak Korean. Perhaps this defect may be remedied in a subsequent edition, but for someone attempting to learn Korean to comprehend or speak Korean without a teacher it is essential.
All in all this is a good book that has been spoiled by parsimony in the early pages.
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