[.ca] Speaking Korean (ISBN 1565911016)

not bad; not good:
I'm using this textbook to learn Korean now. I suspect there must be better ones around. I find the drills completely useless. There are a few structural problems as well. The explanations of grammar are usually pretty good. Here in Korea I found a book called "Basic Sentence Patterns in Korean." I can't find it on Amazon. If you know the basics about Korean verbs and have a vocabulary of a couple hundred words, that book is the best one I know about. -----Update about a year later: Another book I found that I recommend even more than "Basic Sentence Patterns" is "Korean Grammar for International Learners" by Ihm Ho Bin and others, published by Yonsei University Press. It's not a traditional textbook, but it has the most helpful systematic (contrasted to presentations for professional linguistics) presentation of Korean grammar I've seen. Compared to the two books I've recommended, the book under review has a better introduction to conversation, although it's a bit formal and archaic. The perfect Korean textbook... still hasn't graced my desk.

The best Korean text available:
I used this book in my class for college level. This is simply the best Korean text I ever used. When you go through 4 volumes you really will master Korean. It has a lot of drills.

Good book for learning Korean, some things are lacking thoug:
I have studied Korean for two years, and this(book 1) is one of the best books around. However, it is lacking in some aspects. Some of the explanations are poorly written. Also, some of the drills are a bit lacking, most practice drills in Korean textbooks are poorly written and speaking Korean is no exception. Also Korean is a very fluid and rapidly changing language the book is ten years old and some sections are already outdated. This book is no substitute for practicing the language with native speakers(I was a missionary in Korea for two years and I speak from experience on this). If you live in Korea I would reccomend Korea university's Korean Conversation along with Yonsei University's Korean textbooks. Korea University's books for spoken grammer and some vocabulary, Yonsei's books for vocabulary(the grammer is lacking). One of the advantages of the book though is that everything is taught in polite(yo) style, which effectively limits the number of social blunders you will make while speaking. Another advantage is that romanization is unused. This forces you to learn correct pronuncation early on(get a Korean to help you with this). The Romanization in Korean textbooks will always lead to incorrect pronunciation! A good book for beginners, filled with useful information. However because of the availability of more recent textbooks that better handle intricacies of spoken Korean I can only give this book 3 stars.

Good book for learning Korean, some things are lacking thoug:
I have studied Korean for two years, and this(book 1) is one of the best books around. However, it is lacking in some aspects. Some of the explanations are poorly written. Also, some of the drills are a bit lacking, most practice drills in Korean textbooks are poorly written and speaking Korean is no exception. Also Korean is a very fluid and rapidly changing language the book is ten years old and some sections are already outdated. This book is no substitute for practicing the language with native speakers(I was a missionary in Korea for two years and I speak from experience on this). If you live in Korea I would reccomend Korea university's Korean Conversation along with Yonsei University's Korean textbooks. Korea University's books for spoken grammer and some vocabulary, Yonsei's books for vocabulary(the grammer is lacking). One of the advantages of the book though is that everything is taught in polite(yo) style, which effectively limits the number of social blunders you will make while speaking. Another advantage is that romanization is unused. This forces you to learn correct pronuncation early on(get a Korean to help you with this). The Romanization in Korean textbooks will always lead to incorrect pronunciation! A good book for beginners, filled with useful information. However because of the availability of more recent textbooks that better handle intricacies of spoken Korean I can only give this book 3 stars.

Complete text:
This title consists of 4 volumes which will help you master the Korean language. The author applies the latest teaching methods with many drills. The examples are very practical and real situation. Strongly recommended for serious students and grown up learners.