Synopses & Reviews
A handy introduction to the Korean language that is concise, simple, and useful.Much more than Korean phrasebook, Practical Korean has been written to fill a specific need: that of the hundreds of thousand of people now visiting Korea for business or holidays or even living there for a year or two, who wish to learn something of the spoken Korean language around them. The grammatical structure of Korean is particularly complex, and difficulties plague foreign students learning Korean. Samuel E. Martin, renowned Asian language expert and professor emeritus at Yale University has simplified some of the common problems to acquaint the reader with the most useful way to say a lot of everyday things, without having to memorize long lists of grammatical rules. The compact size makes it ideal for traveling to Korea or reading on a plane, train or bus.
The sentences are almost all given in the polite (yo) style, which is both the simplest and the most widely useful. From this style, another common style—the Intimate style—is easily derived simply by dropping the final particle. From a practical point of view, this is the quickest and simplest way to put a foreigner into direct communication with Koreans, including the use of a Korean phrase book. The student will quickly make progress learning to comprehend and speak Korean. The material is presented using the romanization method of written Korean that is officially authorized by the Korean government as well as the native Korean script (Hangeul). Practical Korean is grouped into 47 lessons that cover all the common topics of conversation, grammar and vocabulary.
Synopsis
Planning a short visit to Korea? Don't forget to include a copy of
Practical Korean! This book by Samuel E. Martin, renowned Asian language expert and professor emeritus at Yale University, provides a "quick" and successful approach to speaking Korean.
Recently updated to reflect current conversational Korean usage and vocabulary, this book is designed to be concise, fun, and useful for beginners without any previous knowledge of the language. Taking a functional approach to Korean language learning, Practical Korean provides all the basics you need, beginning with correct pronunciation and a few key grammar points in the very first page, followed by 47 short lessons which include everyday examples that reinforce key vocabulary and proper sentence patterns. From "Names and Greetings" to "Casual Remarks Using -ji yo", people who are only visiting or staying in Korea for a short time will quickly gain confidence to get around and express themselves in simple conversational Korean. Both Hangul, the native alphabet of the Korean language, and standard romanization system used in South Korea today are also incorporated throughout the book.
About the Author
Samuel E. Martin received his undergraduate degree and master's degree in Oriental languages from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in linguistics from Yale University. He is the author of numerous books and papers on Japanese and Korean, including the definitive A Reference Grammar of Japanese and A Reference Grammar of Korean.