Note: This article was revised on September 2020.
Happy 2019!
Do you want to get better at Korean this year? Even though I was born in America, Korean is my first language, and it has been very hard to maintain. I can still hold a basic conversation in Korean, but I can’t understand lyrics to a song, talk about what I do for a living with my grandpa, or watch a Korean movie without reading the subtitles. I decided to make learning Korean my primary New Year’s Resolution.
When I googled Korean language learning resources, though, almost everything I found on the internet was too easy and slow-paced. These resources were mostly catered for absolute beginners who didn’t know any Korean at all.
So, in my search to find the perfect combination of resources, I decided they had to meet the following criteria:
- Affordable: I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a short-term class where I’d forget everything I learned after it was over. I also hate sitting in a classroom and waiting for everyone to take turns sharing or reading (I’m sorry, I just don’t have the patience anymore!).
- High-quality: Despite affordability, I was looking for high-quality materials that would challenge me and expose me to advanced content.
- Personalized and engaging: I wanted materials that were relevant, provided context, and met me exactly at the level I was at. I didn’t want to learn random vocabulary words I’d never use or remember.
- Flexible: I wanted resources I could use during my commute, after work at home, or right before bed.
After hours of research and asking people for their recommendations, I experimented to see what would work, and I’m really happy to say the following resources I use have been extremely effective so far.
- Anki App (free): The hardest part of language acquisition is the fact that you might not be able to remember what you learned a week or a month from now. How do you remember all those new words and phrases? Enter spaced repetition. I use the Anki App to passively enter any new Korean words I’ve learned throughout the day. I then review these words every day during my downtime. In just two weeks, I’ve committed to memory almost 60 new words without having to try that hard. I highly recommend using this app throughout your learning process for maintaining your language learning goals, or learning about any topic, for that matter.
- Talk To Me in Korean (freemium, but generous free content): This website is absolutely perfect for intermediate/advanced learners. They have a massive amount of free content where you can learn grammar, dictation, vocabulary and improve your reading skills. I recommend taking their free Skills Test to see where you place, and they will recommend which resources in their Learning Center are right for you. You can also go to their online store and purchase books recommended for your level. I purchased Korean Slang Expressions and News in Korean (they translate pretty much every word of real news articles for you, so you don’t have to do it yourself), and I’m loving them both so far. Quick tip: I ended up buying these books on amazon for faster shipping.
- Talk To Me in Korean app (free): I downloaded their app so I can listen to their “Iyagi” segment on the go. Iyagi is a podcast where two people have short conversations about a specific topic solely in Korean. They speak at a moderate pace so you can really hear what they’re saying, and I add any words I don’t know into Anki. Each segment averages to about ten minutes or less, so it’s super easy and convenient to squeeze in during the day!
- The Little Prince (Korean-English edition): I received this book as a gift years ago, but never decided to make use of it until now. I found this is the perfect reading level for me! The left page is written in Korean, and the right page is in English. I understand about 70% of the text, and for words I don’t know I look them up using google translate and enter them into Anki. I had difficulty finding the version I have online, but it looks like you can get your own copy on amazon or ebay.
- Italki ($10-$30/hour): I met with a tutor for a couple months to practice my speaking skills and had a lot of fun. Italki is a platform where community tutors and certified language teachers all over the world provide language learning lessons remotely for extremely affordable prices. For Korean, you can find a tutor from anywhere between around $10-$30 per hour. Many of the instructors have great reviews and have done thousands of lessons.
- Korean Word of the Day app ($1.99): I downloaded this app and review the words every few days. Because of all the annoying ads, I ended up paying $1.99 for it. This is because I don’t use the app every single day. The ads pop up if you need to scroll between multiple days, so if you feel you’d be diligent with checking it, no need to pay for it. This app has a good mix of words that are easy and hard, yet all relevant for everyday life. Totally worth the $1.99! I enter any words I want to remember into Anki.
That’s my list of six key resources if you’re an intermediate or advanced Korean language learner. I’ve tried Duolingo, Pimsleur, and looked into Rosetta Stone, but determined these resources are better for absolute beginners.
