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[Korean Resources/Review] L-Lingo App + GIVEAWAY ^^

This is going to be a long post, be warned ^^

Karen from L-Lingo contacted me a few weeks back and kindly offered a free premium license for one of their languages and also 5 more for a giveaway! I’ve chosen Japanese instead since my review will probably be more accurate and useful from the point of a beginner. However, I have also included a review for the Korean app from the  free lessons available.

As this is meant to be a review/feedback, I’m going to be candid and honest. Good points are duly given credit and flaws are pointed out too.

lingo

What is L-Lingo?

L-Lingo is a language-learning application that specializes in Asian languages. Aside from the popular Asian languages like Japanese, Korean and Mandarin Chinese, they also offer it in Tagalog, Vietnamese, Burmese etc! Learning resources in these languages are hard to come by and I’m glad that there is a site that focuses on them!

On to the Japanese and Korean App review! ^^ A summary is included right at the bottom! Giveaway details follow~~

Japanese App Review!

I’m a total beginner at Japanese and I’ve been using L-lingo as a supplementary material in addition to a few textbooks. I like it best for learning how Japanese sounds like and also to pick up basic vocabulary fast.

An MP3 file is available for download for each chapter. It contains all the words that are in the chapter and also sample sentences. It’s a good way to listen to it and get accustomed to how Japanese sounds like.

The part below is probably my most fav part of the application. It follows after the guided training (which introduces the vocabulary one by one). This shows all the new vocabulary side by side and it automatically pronounces each word as you hover above the picture!

l5

I like how they included kanji right from the start! It’s fine for me, since I know Mandarin Chinese and hence have no problems with the characters. However, I would like it much more if they included the furigana (is that how the called the hiragana written on top of the kanji?) instead. I can figure out the pronunciation looking at the romanization, but I’d rather see it in hiragana instead.

As for the textbook, the sample sentences can be difficult to follow as I do not know enough Japanese grammar yet. A basic section on the grammar will help alot here! As of now, I have no idea how Japanese verbs work and hence seeing verbs on the 3rd lesson can be daunting.

l6

Korean App Review!

The content is the equivalent of the Japanese application. It’s useful if you are still not familiar with the sounds of Korean. The review after each guided training allows you hear each word repeatedly and this helps you to remember.

l1

They still used the McCune-Reischauer Romanization system instead of the new Revised Romanisation promoted by the Korean government. This may make it daunting for beginners, who needs time to adjust to the not-so-transparent system.

They have different types of quizzes, ranging from guided, picture, translation and writing quiz. It’s useful for people who likes drills and loads of reinforcement.

Textbook

l2

In the fifth sentence, they switched to the 아/어요 form with 반가워요 instead of 반갑습니다 which will confuse beginners.

l3

This was taken from another of their chapter’s textbook. I find the example sentences weird. I think you can say 기차역의 남자 still sound reasonable, but 소녀와 버스 정규장 DOESN’T translate to a girl at a bus-stop. >,< unless I’m very much mistaken.

And what’s with 자동차 위에 비행기? It’s an absurd sentence and to me, the translation should be THE plane ABOVE THE car instead.

Flashcards

For those who like the flashcard system, they have a well developed one that allows you to print them out.

l4

L-lingo focuses more on vocabulary instead of grammar. I would be happier if they have a dialogue for each chapter as this will allow us to see the words in each chapter used in context and also get a better feel of how Korean sounds like.

All in all, L-lingo is a good supplementary site in addition to textbooks etc. It helps to reinforce what you have learnt from other places and also pick up new vocabulary etc. As mentioned above, people who cannot devote alot of time to textbooks will find the interactive nature of the site interesting and easy to learn from. Given that L-lingo is still developing, I feel that it’s a promising site ^^ Hopefully more content will be added in the future!

What I liked!

  • the app is sleek and runs smoothly, and fast!
  • interactive application, good for people who learn through visual and hearing
  • ‘slow down speech’ button available
  • focuses on reinforcement with quizzes
  • excellent audio quality (I hate it when language learning sites have lousy audio quality!)

Things to improve on!

  • No grammar notes (as of now)!
  • example sentences can get a little weird at times
  • inaccurate translations sometimes (at least for the Korean one!)

What I would like to see:

  • more on cultural insights of each language (I am a strong believer that language and culture are inseparable)
  • sample dialogues

Giveaway!

Yay! Karen has kindly offered five 3-months L-Lingo Korean premium licenses for you guys! To win, simply:

retweet the post (if you have a twitter account) AND leave a comment on this post on how you started learning Korean! Or else I won’t know you RTed it (unless you tagged me).  Don’t forget to fill in the field for email address when you post the comment!!

The giveaway will end on 8th September 2010 and winners will be notified by email! 😀

Update! *

The giveaway has ended and the winners are as follows:

1. Choonit

2. Rieanah

3. Jasmine

4. Charlotte

5. Carl28

hope you enjoy the subscription~! ^^

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20 Comments

  • Reply
    k
    27 August, 2010 at 4:42 PM

    actually 나 does go with ㅂ니다/습니다..

    e.g. 나는 괜찮습니다

    나 is not really informal, just that it’s not considered 존댓말 ^^

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      27 August, 2010 at 7:33 PM

      oops i didn’t know that ^^ Thanks for correcting me, I’ve editted the post! 😀

  • Reply
    Choonit (추니트)
    27 August, 2010 at 6:22 PM

    For the giveaway, where or to whom should I leave the comment? Here? Or at Twitter?

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      27 August, 2010 at 7:33 PM

      you can leave the comment here~! ^^

      • Reply
        Choonit
        9 September, 2010 at 2:31 PM

        O___O I won??? How could I? Well, I did retweet anyway.
        But thanks a lot. Will use the prize well to improve my Korean.

  • Reply
    josh nelson
    27 August, 2010 at 6:48 PM

    i first started by making flashcards of hangeul 3 months after i first arrived in korea (i was a late bloomer). i studied at a local coffee shop and whenever i had trouble with pronouncing something like “의” or “어” (no, it’s not “u” like “umbrella” as almost every major text book would have you believe) i would take the card to the counter and make the patient boy or girl figure out i wanted them to repeat the sound over and over. some of them thought it was funny and some didn’t like me too much, but ultimately it helped me develop my pronunciation skills.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      27 August, 2010 at 7:34 PM

      haha! that’s a unique method! 😀 you have your own ‘audio files’

      • Reply
        josh nelson
        28 August, 2010 at 12:03 AM

        i used this method for a while! it only took me a few hours to learn 한글 but i kept using it with new vocabulary (which is my biggest weakness).

  • Reply
    Tracy
    27 August, 2010 at 7:57 PM

    I started learning Korean through talktomeinkorean ^^ However, I got into learning Korean through Korean dramas ^^

  • Reply
    Rieanah
    27 August, 2010 at 7:58 PM

    I started learning Korean by listening to the music and paying attention to each and every single word. I then went on to watching the dramas and paid attention to how each sentence/word structure was used and according to the situation too.
    As of today,i have 3 filled notebooks with Korean phrases but i am nowhere to being fluent.
    So yeah.
    HELP!
    >__<

  • Reply
    Jasmine
    27 August, 2010 at 7:58 PM

    I basically started by picking up common phrases from watching videos and dramas. Then I decided to learn a bit more by learning the characters and pronunciation (but I’m still iffy on ㅡ and ㅓ). I’m still picking up phrases and I can understand a bit of simple things based on experience from going to Korea last month. But I definitely do not know how to structure sentences. x__x

  • Reply
    smartiesko
    27 August, 2010 at 7:59 PM

    I started learning Korean language from Korean movies and dramas. Then I studied Hangeul from online tutorials (I learned Hangeul in only a few hours!!) because I think it’s easier to learn the language if you know Hangeul. I also enrolled in a basic Korean language course in our university.

    email: smartiesko@yahoo.com ^^

  • Reply
    charlotte
    27 August, 2010 at 8:02 PM

    i started learning korean when i was addicted to kpop..
    I still do not have strong basic korean..but i am still working hard on learning it.
    i started off by learning to recognise hangul..
    doing like that normally kids does,
    i do writings and reading on an exercise book.. haha..
    and after a half year of practice, i manage to recognize hangul and some korean words.
    up till now, i can read most of the words but i do not understand it.. >.<

  • Reply
    carl28
    27 August, 2010 at 8:29 PM

    oh I want this! I only know basic korean like “hello & goodbye” sort of thing..haha silly me..

  • Reply
    Max
    27 August, 2010 at 9:30 PM

    I have used L-Lingo for the past few weeks (already have the Premium subscription) and it is really great to systematically build up vocabulary -but as you mentioned its good to have a grammar book close by.
    Some sentences are indeed a bit funny but interestingly the funny sentences help to remember the words better!
    What I also like a lot is that the application seems to be actively developed and they add new features quite often.

  • Reply
    Tai Eng Wong
    27 August, 2010 at 11:50 PM

    HELLO ALEX!!!! WELL I AM A COMPLETE BEGINNER AT KOREAN. I KNOW HOW TO SAY SOME WORDS THAT I CATCH HERE AND THERE FROM MV’S, MOVIES, OR DRAMAS. I MUST SAY I GOT INTO KOREAN WHEN I FIRST STARTED LISTENING TO KPOP ABOUT 3+ YEARS AGO. I WAS COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER BY SE7EN WHICH MADE ME STUMBLE INTO BIGBANG!!! :D!

  • Reply
    lyrynne
    29 August, 2010 at 8:09 PM

    the example sentences in korean are pretty weird, the translations too or is it just me? i think it’s helpful for beginners but i think they need to improve the lessons. i think i might check out the jap app since i’m learning that as well. thanks for this great post shanna~

  • Reply
    Karen
    31 August, 2010 at 9:19 PM

    Great review Shanna! I love how honest you are with the review. You mentioned really good points for improvement. We will work on that. The grammar notes are in the works so we’ll definitely keep you posted once we have finished them.

    For anyone who wants to get updates, you may head over to our fan page and interact with us – http://www.facebook.com/pages/L-Lingo/121036254598218

    Happy learning everyone!

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