K-Website Review: How to Study Korean

Nikita Punia, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Enter the discovery of howtostudykorean.com. For an absolutely free open resource, this website is beyond incredible because the creator writes each lesson with such friendliness and such care that you forget that you are reading stuff. It feels like the teacher is directly speaking to you, even though you don’t know what his voice sounds like.

_{Picture Credits: How To Study Korean}

What the website offers

The website has Grammar specifically tailored according to the learner’s levels which applies to the specific vocabulary used in different learning levels. They also have twenty to thirty new words to increase your Korean vocabulary at every level. And what is even more exciting is that they also have audio recordings of each, and every Korean word and sentences used! Now isn’t that great! There are 25 lessons in every Unit along with some quizzes and tests. Starting unit is ‘Unit 0 Learning How to Read’ and the last unit being ‘Unit 7 – Upper Advanced Korean Grammar.’ In addition to the lessons, they also have additional material that you can use to supplement your learning.

• Workbooks for each lesson where you can apply what you learn to interesting and useful exercises.
• Audio files for every word and sentence in Korean.
• Hanja Lessons to help you understand the root-meanings of words.
• Simple Lists of vocabulary in case you want to organize things your way.
• Short Stories to increase your reading skills.
• Vocabulary Lists to help you understand how each word can be used (completed to Lesson 100).
• Mobile App with various ways to quiz yourself on the vocabulary and sentences introduced.
• Conjugate buttons that you can press to see how every verb and adjective is conjugated (completed to Lesson 75).
• Paperback and Kindle versions of the lessons prescribed on the website.
• Theme Lessons specific subject related.
• Anki Packages so you can make digital practice cards at home for the Anki application.

How I came across the Website

It’s been over three years since I first started my ambitious journey towards learning Korean because I wanted to understand what my favorite idols and actors said in interviews where there were only Korean subtitles. Even though we do have English subtitles for most of the videos, I had a strong desire to be able to understand exactly what they say without the loss of meaning in translation. So, like any other language enthusiast, I began learning Hangul (Korean alphabets) from various sources ranging from websites to YouTube videos. Since I had no one to guide me or provide me the right resources I did stumble upon many unreliable or incomplete ones before I could find that one perfect video that explained Hangul to me in its entirety. But that happiness didn’t last long because I had just learned the Korean A, B and Cs, which doesn’t even allow you to read Korean. The most one can do is point out if a letter in a word is a consonant, like H or L, or a vowel, like ‘Aa’ or ‘Yaa’. Therefore, I had to begin a second round of authentic-source-hunting because that video (and the channel) only supported my basic Korean education.

_{Picture Credits: How to Study Korean}

How learning Korean from the Website Works

You don’t even have to worry about following the lessons thoroughly because the layout is so good that the most you might have to do is to read a paragraph again and that’s it, you’ll have learned so much more than what most YouTube video can teach you. After every unit there is a workbook to go along with it and after certain lessons there are stories tailored to that level, but these aren’t free and at the same time available at the lowest cost imaginable. There are, many a times, YouTube videos that go along with the content taught in the unit and those explanations are just as thorough as the website. So, one can refer those if they do not want to buy these. Oh, did we mention they also have a YouTube channel with the same name. You can also follow them on Patreon, Facebook, and Twitter (now application X). And apart from everything the website also provides a compiled pdf of all the lessons in the unit for just $10 each and unit wise audio packages!

Every unit, apart from unit 0, has 25 lessons and the most interesting part is the fact that there is a small test after about every 8 lessons which really allows you to reflect on how much you’ve actually understood. The gap of just 8 chapters between tests is very well planned so that one doesn’t have to take the painstaking trouble of finding out where to look at for improvement. The second most bubbly aspect and something to love is engaging yourself in is the Memorize tool that helps in learning the vocabulary in each chapter. Another free resource that allows you to learn very quickly, while simultaneously testing both your progress and your spellings! 

About the Creator

The creator of the website (who doesn’t reveal his name) isn’t a native Korean, however as he explains in the ‘About’ section of the website, he really is meticulous because throughout his own journey to learning how to speak Korean he maintained logbooks of every word and grammatical principle that he learned. They were so well organized that he came up with a plan to start a website based on these notes. Now, one might question the reliability of the source, for any foreign language that you’ll want to learn in your home country from an official institute, you’ll most likely be taught by someone who isn’t a native. Also, everything that makes its way to the website is checked by a native Korean beforehand. That should be a reliability that settles it.

_{Picture Credits: How to Study Korean}

He is also aided by his Korean wife, whose voice you’ll hear if you click on to any of the ‘Play’ buttons right before a sentence in every lesson. The only other thing on this website not done by him are the translations to other languages. Each lesson is translated into numerous languages by fans of the website who want to help speakers of their own country learn through the website and its method. Oh, and if you are ever done with all the units and want to add to your understanding of Korean words, you can start learning Hanja (Chinese alphabets) here as well! 

Do let us know in the comments section about your journey learning the Korean language or how you plan to learn the language. You can also mention the websites which are helpful in learning the language.