South Korea, an East Asian nation on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, sharing one of the world’s most heavily militarized borders with North Korea. It is equally known for its traditional palaces and Buddhist temples, as well as, having the fastest internet on the planet, K-POP, and Seoul’s sky high buildings.
Furthermore, you have been sucked in and all you can think about is visiting that gorgeous country. When you visit you’ll notice that many people speak English as a second language, but to get the full experience and to be able to ask for directions when you get lost, the best thing is to learn Korean.
– PopPopping Korean
The way to start learning any language is to start with the alphabet. Even if you have no idea what anything is, you’ll start to remember words, and learning the alphabet helps you learn correct pronunciation, instead of trying to make it sound like your language. The first app on the list that I still use to help me with my letters in Korean is PopPopping Korean it gives you accurate pronunciation with silly characters.
This app gives you the option to learn the Korean alphabet, the alphabet in words, and gives you some history about the alphabet. In the section called Hangeul Pronunciation you can learn the consonants, vowels, the bottom consonant called a Coda, and syllables. However, I think the best thing about this app is that it gives you visuals where your tongue should be for optimal pronunciation.
-Lingodeer and Duolingo
The next two apps that I would recommend are Duolingo and Lingodeer. These apps are similar in they teach you new words, and then have you practice using them in sentences. I am hooked on Lingodeer because of the cute graphics, and I think it gives you more practical sentences compared to Duolingo. However, Duolingo gives you the option to join a group, and compete with others, and ask questions.
-NAVER Korean Dictionary and Translate
When you start to get the handle on Korean, you want to check your spelling or what a new word means. For the love of God stop using Google Translate, download the Korean Dictionary and Translate app by NAVER. It’s more reliable, and better at translating Korean, and it was specifically made for Korean and English users.
-Quizlet
To combine all of that studying, you will want to keep all of those new words and concepts in one place, use Quizlet. Quizlet is an excellent way to study anything from math concepts, languages, and COMM tests. With Quizlet, there are many other users that are learning the same things as you so you can save their lists or make your own. Also, if you pay a little you can add photos to your vocabulary cards.
-Talk to Me in Korean
The best resource out of all of these, I would say Talk to Me in Korean, also known as TTMIK. The people that made TTMIK made it so you can pare your learning with workbooks, YouTube lessons, Sound Cloud lessons, and all of it happens app. It is not the cheapest way, because to best learn you need to buy the workbooks, but it is one of the best set of textbooks. This is a good way to learn conversational Korean, compared to the textbooks they use in school that does not give you the skills to have a personal conversation in Korean.
Korean is a hard language, but there is some much for you to experience, once you learn the language. With a lot of practice and making connections, you will start to breeze through the learning. Now you have the resources and maybe one day you will be able to watch Korean dramas without subtitles!