Beginner through advanced course - Korean reading & writing guide

This was my first purchase after I decided to learn Korean. I studied on my own with these books for 3 months and was perpetually confused. Their explanation of the rules of liaison and the difference between 있다 and 이다 were less than helpful. There were never enough details and I had difficulty finding answers to my many many questions. I never progressed past the first book and almost gave up studying. I found online conversation partners and they led me to TTMIK.com where you can get FREE in-depth, detailed lessons. I'd recommend you start by learning hangul, listen to the TTMIK.com podcasts/read their free pdf's, and then you'll have a better idea of what kind of Korean books you'll need. Also, there are many sites where you can find a conversation partner to Skype with. I used conversationexchange.com. I would NOT start with this series.

love it but if your seriouly want to learn korean , as u use one of the books witch tells u about their alphabet go on youtube and this one lady can teah u better on how to undersyand it if ur self teach ur self

It was exactly what I expected ! The amazing complete edition of Korean.
It arrived earlier than expected which was good.
The book is really amazing and helpful. It would suit anyone who who really wants to learn Korean.
I would highly recommend it for korean lovers.

Very easy to use and convenient to carry around in my book bag. It was delivered extremely fast like always. the store IS AWESOME! I can now say a couple of phrases in Korean after listening to the audio and practicing with friends.

The presentation is excellent - the matching notebook is an awesome idea. I wish I could order more. There are loads of information and indexes which make it easy to look up a grammar point or word. There are a few minor errors/typos but they're nothing.
I wish there was an audio CD for the reading/writing book. Romanization doesn't help that much in explaining how things sound.
when I first started I didn't like that the romanization was bolded - I thought it drew unnecessary attention to it and away from the Hangul. And while I still think that, only a few chapters had romanization.
caveat: I'm currently reading these as supplementary materials not learning Korean only from them. So while I recommend this set, it may be a bit boring.

I am trying to learn Korean and found this language course useful for my purpose. This is suitable for self-learners who prefer to learn at their own pace. It is also designed for an adult learner in that the lessons go straight into useful conversational polite / formal Korean. The Hanguel textbook teaches how to read and write. The CDs assist the text and can be downloaded into the ipod for listening (with or without reference to textbooks). I am currently still in Lesson 1 of the Essential textbook, but even then, I feel like what I already know has been clarified and expanded (with regard to grammer, vocab, etc). The usefulness of the course (or any course) is dependant on how far the learner wants to take it - personally, I keep a separate notebook and practically copy the lessons in Hanguel (practicing reading and writing at the same time). There's online games for each lesson as well. Overall, I am glad I purchased this course.

I don't suggest these materials to first time language learners. The pace is to quick with not enough support. Also, I caught multiple errors in both the text and writing guide. Better to use free online resources.

these books are great help toward learning korean and i dont regret buy the books but the problem but first let me talk about all the good these books are!
im as of now in lesson 5 of the essentials book and i have already learned alot! when i first got the books, i just want to say i was expecting bigger books and thought i would finish the books fast but now i can say these books have alot of information in them(and very easy to carry along)!! its taken me a while to get to page 90 so that says alot. they are very challenging..i recommend doing the guide to reading and writing hangul first IT HELPS :) i was happy i had already knew the hangul so i could go straight into the book. the package includes 5 books (1.essentials 2.intermediate 3.advance 4.guide to reading and writing 5. and extra notebook) and 9 CDs (3 for each book)
some say in other reviews that these books only teach the basics but from what ive experienced so far, i believe its more than basics..
ok so now back to the one problem with the book....:
is they have typos and some errors (im in the first book still in lesson 5... so i cant say about the other books) and they are very easy to find and change (its nothing that will confuse you)
anyway i say if you want to learn korean these books are a good choice to start with! the books are at a great price (original price is almost $50)

I am a homeschooling mom and I purchased this course for my daughter who just started her first year as a high schooler. She has always been fascinated with Asian cultures and asked if she could learn Korean, since learning a language is a requirement for college. I searched all summer and this didnt become available until the end of August. I'm so glad I found this. She is learning Korean and really enjoying this course. Thank you so much for making this available at a great price!

The kit includes three language instruction books with CD's for beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Two additional books are included, one for learning the writing system and one for doing assignments and taking notes. While the kit includes these five books they also allow you to utilize their additional resources online. Overall it is a good set of books and materials to get you into a language. This program is set up for those who are serious about learning the language and its fundamentals. If you are looking for simple "tourist" Korean to get by on a trip this will not be ideal for you. It teaches you grammar from the ground up and as a tourist it would be more beneficial for you to find a phrase book, app, or instructional videos to teach you the survival phrases. A program like this may be too intensive for those who want to speak a little, but not necessarily learn reading and writing.

I used these books when I first started learning Korean and I used other books and these books were teaching me the wrong Korean and it was using wrong information. It didn't teach me sound change rules or any important stuff. I recommend Billy Go. His books teach a lot better and he has a youtube channel to help you with. :)

Not really a recommended item from myself. It's okay to look through, but not really good for learning completely from. There are a lot of mistakes in the books, and it's hard to trust the book after seeing more than one mistake.

This language set was not what I thought it would be. The chapters are unclear and difficult to follow and the text is written in English with Korean characters next to it so it was difficult to follow just the Hangul (Korean characters). The light blue font was difficult to read. The CDs were like a bad version of Pimsleur.

If you're looking to learn Korean I would skip this.