My Self Study Methods
As promised in my previous post, I will share with you today about how and what I use for self study. I apologize for taking a little while to write it. Basically, I am a full time employee with fixed office hours, the only time I could start studying is when I return home, or on the weekends.
I spent more than 2 hours per day just for Korean language. Rotating the modules everyday, I planned one day for reading and speaking, while another day for listening and writing, concentrating on 2 sections each day, I don’t rush myself to finish everything within those few hours.
Finding a descent language book (particularly language books) in Malaysia is tough, especially those which is used by Korean universities. Luckily, I got to know about G-Market and has been buying most of my books through them ever since!
G-Market is something like Ebay, with tons of items for sale online, therefore looking for a book isn’t that difficult if you have the name of the book. I have a few different books from few universities, which comprises of Seoul National University (SNU), Yonsei University, Konkuk University and Ehwa University.
Usually, textbooks for level 1 and 2 are published in various languages such as English, Mandarin and Japanese. While from level 3 onwards, it is ALL in Korean (don’t bother looking for any English/Mandarin/Japanese wordings in it).
When I first lay my hands on level 3 books, thinking that I could grab a few home with me, but upon flipping through the pages, I noticed it’s totally in Korean. I asked the bookstore staff and he told me that there are no other versions from level 3 onwards .
I decided to take a look at others, passing by columns of bookshelves, and something caught my attention, it was SNU textbook, without those fancy and vivid colour front page design. Flipping through the first few pages, I told myself that I need to get this, so I ended up home with level 2, 3 and 4 books without the audio CD, you could get the CD from G-Market though.
Fully Korean reference book
A great book which helps me a lot in my self study, book 2 comes complete with English explanation alongside with new grammars (and dialog), it comes accompanied by few sample sentences. For every new chapter, there will be a dialog, new vocabularies, grammars, a listening practice at the end as well as some exercises that you may solve. Definitely recommended to everyone.
After completing level 2, you can comprehend book 3 more easily and continue on to book 4 if you are feeling gutsy. But since it is totally in Korean, you will need to search for the meaning of the grammars online and learn how to put it into sentences on your own.
Currently I own 2 grammar books where 1 is with English explanation and 1 without. I am quite satisfied with them so far.
With English explanation
There is also another one which has very good reviews about it, Korean Grammar In Use. You may take a look at the review form this blog.
NAVER DICTIONARY
Naver dictionary basically caters to the locals for learning English, but it is my favorite online dictionary for learning Korean as it has a simple interface and a lot of sample sentences which I could refer to. Take a note book and jot down the examples for your future reference!
TALK TO ME IN KOREAN (TTMIK)
If you prefer to learn Korean online, I could recommend you to have a look at Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK). Most of you should have heard about it right? This site is a great platform to learn Korean, it provides a PDF file for every lesson interpreting the meaning and how you should pluck a grammar in a sentence. So, just click away with the lessons!
If you would like a listening practice, you could click into Iyagi (for Intermediate level onwards) and enjoy their chats about different topics!
Anyone self study the language too? How do you study for it? You are welcome to share some useful information to the readers as well!