[Review] Talk To Me In Korean Workbook Level 1

TTMIK’s workbook level 1 is to be used along side the level 1 lessons on the TTMIK website. You can work on it when you’re working through the lessons, or do like I did and use it as a review after you learned all of the level 1 content. I don’t believe this book can be used on it’s own without the lessons.

I’ve personally finished TTMIK’s level 1 lessons a loooong time ago. >< I went through the lessons on the website site and I also purchased the book version of it a year or so ago. I bought this workbook as a review of those lessons and for extra practice.

The workbook has six categories(such as vocabulary, reading, writing, etc) and thirteen exercises(such as multiple choice, short answer, dictation, etc). These are to help you get a better understanding of the level 1 lessons and put it into practice. The answer key is in the back so you can check your work and make corrections if necessary.

My personal favorite exercise is the dictation section because I’ve always wanted to work on my listening. When it comes to Korean, listening is my worst. ><

My only con is the repeated vocabulary. But I understand that level 1 is for people who are just starting out on Korean and TTMIK tend to use the same vocabulary for a while. It’s okay! But sometimes, I want to learn how to use other words. ^^

This book will be good for people who are starting out on TTMIK’s curriculum and those who want to review what they have learned. The variety of exercises are a good way to work on your Korean.

To buy this book, you can get it from TTMIK’s shop here. You can download the MP3’s for the dictation section for free here. You can view all of the level 1 lessons on their site for free here, or you could buy the book version from twochois here(TTMIK does not sell the book versions in their shop at this time, as they’re all listed as ‘sold out’).

If you’re thinking about learning Korean, I encourage you to start! Go to links I provided above and get a feel for it. It may look very complicated at first, but TTMIK is a wonderful site with A LOT of lessons and explanations of the Korean language! I know I was worried about learning Korean at first and now I’m more motivated than ever to keep studying(for various reasons). I believe in you! The time to start learning is now! \(^-^)/

P.S.: I also have the level 2 version of this workbook for the same reason I’ve written this review. Unless there is anything different about it, I don’t plan on reviewing it. Thank you for your understanding. ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #4

I’ve found an online store that was based in California, called hanbooks, that sells Korean books!

I’ve decided to try them out and ordered the Ewha University Korean books and it got here so fast! I’ve ordered this on Tuesday, it was shipped on Thursday and arrived at my door on Saturday. O__O I know I live in the US and all, but I still didn’t expect this package until next week honestly! I’m very impressed with the shipping. ^^

These two books are Ewha’s version of the Korean textbooks and workbooks. They’re the first books in the series, hence the ‘1-1’. I’ll eventually compare this with the Seoul University Korean textbook and workbook I got a while ago.

I’m really excited to work on these books!

[Review] Hangeul Master

My first review on this blog! I hope everyone was looking forward to this. ^^

I’m not a master of writing reviews, but I’ll try to get the main points down and how I feel about the book over all. 😀

Hanegul Master is a book by Talk To Me In Korean that teaches you the Korean alphabet called hangeul(한글). The main point of this book is to teach you how to write hangeul, develop your own writing style and how to read other people’s Korean handwriting.

The book has three main sections. The first section is going over the Korean alphabet. You will got over consonants, vowels, double consonants, compound vowels, bat-chin(final consonants), and compound consonants as bat-chin. After learning a couple of ‘letters’, there is a quiz(answers are at the back of the book). After the first section, there is a ‘final test’ over what you have learned(answers are at the back of the book).

Before the second section, there is a page for linking sounds. This is personally my favorite part of the book besides learning how to read other people’s handwriting. This just explains how certain Korean words are pronounced when spoken(such as 설날 being pronounced as 설랄 when spoken).

The second section gets into the handwriting portion. It starts off by explaining how some Koreans write hangeul. After that, it will give you tons of samples that you can trace over and practice. There is also a section at the bottom of the page for you to write the word in your own handwriting style.

The final section is a quiz over reading other people’s written hangeul. This is to help you read written Korean. You have four options and you have to pick one on what you think the written Korean says(answers are at the back of the book).

I already know how to read and write hangeul. I mainly bought this book to develop my own handwriting style and to train myself to read written Korean. Though, I did go through the first section of the book just in case I could learn something I’ve never learned before. Again, I’m very thankful that the ‘linking sounds’ section exists in this book!

When I was working through the handwriting portion of the book, I’ve already noticed that I write hangeul in certain ways. I’m happy to notice that my own written Korean is coming along. ^^

I recommend this book for beginners of the Korean language and for those who want to practice reading and writing Korean. This book has plenty of quizzes and exercises to help you become a 한글 마스터!

If you would like to purchase this book, you can by the book here or the Spanish version here. You can get the MP3 files for this book for free on their site here(for both English and Spanish).

Now go and become a 한글 마스터 yourself! ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #3

As expected, my other Talk To Me In Korean books came on Friday! I didn’t have a chance to update sooner because I was busy over the weekend. ><

As pictured from left to right:

Survival Korean

Everyday Korean Idiomatic Expressions

My Weekly Korean Vocabulary Vol.1

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted a single review of any of the books I’ve got yet(and I’m expecting more in the mail honestly OTL). I will get my first review up as soon as possible. I’m currently working on a few books and I will post about them once I get used to the material.

Thank you for waiting patiently! I hope everyone is having a good day. ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #2

More Korean books came in the mail! This is the order from Talk To Me In Korean’s online store. ^^

This isn’t actually all of the books I’ve ordered. I’m missing three of them, but since they were shipped in separate envelopes, that’s probably why the other three aren’t here yet. ><

Anyway, from left to right, top to bottom:

Korean Verbs Guide Vol. 1 & 2

Hangeul Master

TTMIK Workbook Level 1

TTMIK Workbook Level 2

I will review these eventually!

TTMIK is a wonderful site for learning Korean and I’m still happy to this day that they’re putting their content in the form of books. Even though the content on their site is free, it’s just nice to have something to hold onto and work through when you’re not near a computer. Plus, it could be extra practice. 😀

I hope everyone reading this is having a nice day. ^^

[Languages] Korean Numbers Course Now Available!

I have finished entering everything into my ‘Korean Numbers’ course on Memrise and I’m happy to say that this course is now public!

Feel free to check it out here!

If you would like to know more about the course or if you find any errors, please go to the course forum here(you must have a Memrise account to comment).

I hope any fellow Memrise users will find this course useful and expand their knowledge of Korean numbers. Have fun and good luck! ^^

[Languages] Lingvist Beta

I just want to make a post saying I’ve been finally added to the group of beta testers for a new language site called Lingvist! Lingvist is a site that is supposed to help you learn a language in 200 hours. It seems right now they only offer Spanish and French(I chose French), but they do have an ‘Other’ option. I’m not sure if the Other option is useful or not when it comes to beta testing.

I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about the process of the site, but after using it for a few minutes today, I really like how it is so far. ^^

If you would like to be added to waiting list for beta, go here and sign up! The wait is long though. It took a few months before I was accepted into beta myself. I have no idea when Lingvist is going to become public. Though, with what I’m seeing so far, I think it’s worth the wait if you sign up to be a beta tester. ^^

[Preview] Korean Language Books #1

The first set of Korean books I’ve ordered from twochois came today!

As pictured above from left to right:

Seoul National University Korean Workbook 1A

Seoul National University Korean Student Book 1A

Korean Grammar in Use Beginning

Test Guide to the New TOPIK Basic

They also sent me a little notebook and post-it notes as freebies. ^^

I will be reviewing these eventually, but I would have to work through them first. It won’t make sense if I review them without trying them, right? So these reviews may take a while for me to do, especially the TOPIK one(I don’t plan on taking TOPIK for a really, really long time).

I do have another set of Korean books coming to me from Talk To Me In Korean. Hopefully those will be coming soon! Until then, I hope you can look forward to my future previews, reviews or any other post. ^^

[Languages] Korean Numbers Course on Memrise

One of the sites I use to learn languages is called Memrise. It’s a site that has courses(all for free) to learn words and/or sentences in basically any language you can think of. Most of the courses are user-created, but don’t let that stop you from using them! There are some really good courses out there from both Memrise staff and users alike. But languages aren’t the only thing you can learn on there. There are a variety of topics such as art, math and science as well.

I’m talking about Memrise today because I’ve decided to create my first course on the site. Never once did I think I would be creating my own course. I was always a user learning various languages from other users courses. Now the time has come that I make my own!

I’m creating a course on Korean numbers. This course is being made mainly for my own study but I will make it public for other Memrise users to use it as well. I am still adding words to the list, therefore it’s not live yet. I don’t want to give too much detail yet, but it’s going to over more than just simply the two (Sino and Native) Korean number systems.

I plan on making a post with a link to my course after it’s done and public. If you’re a fellow Memrise user and Korean leaner, please look forward to this course. ^^

 

P.S.: Even though there is an ‘Upgrade’ button at the top of the site, it currently does not work. Everything on Memrise is still free. No one knows when the premium features will be released, but it is safe to say that it won’t be for a long while still.

Update: I happen to have stumbled upon a post on the ‘premium’ topic on the Memrise forums. Apparently, according to a staff member, they’re planning on releasing the premium features by the end of the month. Currently, there are a group of random users testing these features. I still want to believe Memrise will be usable without the premium features(and I honestly hope so). As for courses being free and/or paid, I have no idea yet. I guess we’ll wait about that!

[Intro] The Life of Bunnie

Hello everyone!

I wanted to start a blog mainly for my language learning adventures, but as well as keeping my memories in one place and maybe post a few reviews of things I want to share.

I used to be a language only blog, but I haven’t updated it in months. I want to start fresh, but I also want to add more than just language posts. So I decided that starting over completely from scratch with a new name will be the best idea. ^^

A little about me. My name is Melody, I’m from the USA. I’m currently attending college to pursue a B.A. in Linguistics and a minor in Korean, and maybe hopefully to receive a certificate to teach English as a Second Language. I have some thoughts to double major in Psychology, but I don’t know if I will go through with it. I love languages and I love helping people, I find great joy in both of them.

I hope that, if you’re reading this, you will like the things I post. I will tag them accordingly in the title [as such] and in the tags so you can find a specific topic or post easier. Thank you for coming upon my blog and I hope you will have an amazing day. ^^