The two guys who wrote this book must be real cool dudes. Or should I say badass?
Everything screams cool in this book – from the cover, the design, the writing, the pictures. (well, I told you it’s everything!)
Even the topic is real cool.
Not one of your run-of-the-mill Korean resources, this one focuses on Korean slang – those that people do use.
Although the basic format is somewhat like a vocab book / phrasebook, it is an addictive read. Yes. Addictive.
Each page focuses on one slang and it’s divided into the following parts:
- romanisation + meaning (English)
- Social acceptability rating / classification
- a more thorough explanation that may touch upon the origins of the slang etc (in Korean & English)
- Korean dialogue
- English dialogue
Sounds simple right?
But there are a lot of things I like about it. First, the social acceptability rating / classification. Not all slangs can be used in all situations or to everyone and thus the first thing to learn is when / how you can use it.
The dialogues are all kinds of awesome too. Witty, fun and yet gets the meaning across perfectly. I had a good time reading them. 😛
As someone who learns Korean via textbooks and other academic materials, I’m actually pretty weak when it comes to slangs. (solution? – watch variety shows. Which I don’t) This is why I’m doubly appreciative of this book!
And they go all out. So expect to see a number of phrases that you won’t ever wanna use in front of anyone 😛
All in all. I love it! A must-have book for any Korean learner.
2 Comments
ethel
22 September, 2015 at 2:31 PMi love books on korean slang! haha spent a lot of time reading them at the bookstores here and wondering if they were really used that often irl lol.
Hangukdrama
22 September, 2015 at 10:06 PMhahaha!! That’s true. Slangs also come and go, so might be hard to know if one is still ‘in’ at that point in time.