5 In Korean learning journey (:/ korean textbook reviews

[REVIEW] EWHA KOREAN 1-2 TEXTBOOK / WORKBOOK

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I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reviewed/talked about Ewha books to learn Korean.

[KOREAN TEXTBOOK REVIEW] EWHA KOREAN LEVEL 1 & 2 이화 한국어 (short review)

[REVIEW] EWHA KOREAN 1-1 TEXTBOOK / WORKBOOK

[REVIEW] EWHA STUDY GUIDE 1-1

[KOREAN TEXTBOOK REVIEW] EWHA KOREAN 4 이화 한국어 4

[KOREAN TEXTBOOK REVIEWS] EWHA WORKBOOK 4 이화 한국어

Here you go.

The Level 1-2 books are quite similar to the 1-1 books (so please refer to this post for full review), with the main difference being longer passages / dialogues.

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The Ewha books are really structured and well organised, with a sense of continuity from each level to the next, so I’ll be repeating what I’ve said in previous reviews again.

Which I’m sure you are already bored of it.

Each chapter here introduces around 5-6 grammar points and covers structures such as:

  • -ㄹ 거예요
  • -고 있다
  • -(으)ㄴ 후에
  • (으)ㄹ 까요
  • -(으)면
  • -겠-
  • 에게서, 한테서
  • -(으)ㄹ 수 있다
  • -기 전에
  • -아/어 되다

(not an exhaustive list, just meant as a rough guide)

Overall it’s a really good set of books, highly recommended! ^^

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Tips on using the books:

  1. Read the instructions in Korean

The English version has instructions in English but don’t get too reliant on them. Practice reading the instructions in Korean (out loud) and sooner or later you get very used to the vocab and grammar used. Without memorising anything, you would have learnt quite a number of new words and see how certain grammar structures are used!

2. Create your own glossary

While they do have a glossary included, it’s great that you have a notebook on hand to write out the words you learn! Highlight each new word, and search them up via a dictionary.

Write down the word + meaning + an example sentence in your notebook. Better method than looking at the glossary! Learning is context is the way to go (:

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3. Listen to the dialogue before looking at the transcript

Having transcripts of the dialogues at the back of the book isn’t a way to inconvenient the learner. The rationale is for you to listen first and then check your understanding. It’s easy to listen while looking at the transcript and you would be lured into this false sense that you can understand well. But this creates a reliance on transcripts and a lack of practice for listening!

4. Revision is good, but so is continual progress

Everyone has their own learning style, but for me, I never ever revise the same materials I’ve learnt. My idea of revision is to learn the same grammar structure via another book or to read from a wider variety of sources. It’s not my style to review and review the same chapter over and over again.

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Nobody is expecting you to understand 100%. If you find that you don’t understand a certain grammar structure, look for explanations online or from other books. Re-reading the same thing might not help you understand. There’s no point obsessing over something. Don’t know? Skip first!

5. Don’t try to make sense of a new language using your native tongue!

The idea of learning a new language is to open your eyes to new perspectives and understand a different way of communication. My personal opinion is that if you keep hanging on to “the old ways” and trying to see everything from a fixed perspective, you are going to find it super hard to progress. The frustration that Korean is vastly different from English would probably make you feel that it’s super difficult. Whereas if you approach it from a ‘blank slate’ and see it as what it is, you probably have an easier time learning it.

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Avoid using English to learn Korean and obsessing over ‘translating’ everything.


 

Thank you twochois.com for sending over the books! 😀

If your 2016 resolutions include learning Korean, why not get this set of books! It’ll also be a good gift for a friend (:

[이화 한국어] EWHA KOREAN 1-2 (WITH AUDIO CD) – ENGLISH VERSION

[이화 한국어] EWHA KOREAN 1-2 WORKBOOK

[이화 한국어] EWHA KOREAN 1-2 STUDY GUIDE

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5 Comments

  • Reply
    Hadi
    2 June, 2017 at 10:37 AM

    “Everyone has their own learning style, but for me, I never ever revise the same materials I’ve learnt.” – Girl… you actually said the exact same plan I have! Thanks for the reviews! Just started learning today.

  • Reply
    Bhavesh Bhatia
    11 June, 2017 at 10:10 PM

    Hello Shanna,

    Reading all your reviews, I have decided to buy myself the entire Ewha Korean set. First I need to save the money though. Haha.

    Anyway, I have a question for you. We know that most of the universities (such as Sogang, Yonsei, Ewha and SNU) follow almost the same format: 3 major levels (beginners, intermediate and advance), 2 sublevels (6 in all), and furthermore 2 student’s books in each sublevel (except for Ewha with just one book in levels 4, 5 and 6), all matching the respective TOPIK levels.

    I am curious to know if you have also heard about the Sejong Hakdang and it’s textbooks. Sejong Hangugo has 8 textbooks. Could you please review those textbooks as well and tell us which books are kind of equivalent to which TOPIK levels.

    Thank you,
    Love from India.

    • Reply
      Hangukdrama
      12 June, 2017 at 12:57 AM

      Hello! I haven’t heard of that series though. Hopefully I’ll get to review them next time (: but happy to hear that you have made the decision after reading the reviews ^^ hope you found them useful!

  • Reply
    Rosie
    28 December, 2017 at 8:13 AM

    Hi Shanna,

    I am interested in learning Korean and would like to try using the EWHA Textbooks and Workbooks to learn the language.

    When I look online to buy the books there are different ones like 1 – 2, 2 – 1 and 2 – 2 etc.

    I am a little bit confused as to what these different numbers indicate.

    What do these numbers mean and as a begginer what textbook should I purchase first?

    Thanks,

    Rosie

    • Reply
      Hangukdrama
      28 December, 2017 at 8:43 AM

      Level 1 and 2 are split into two books each, so that’s why you get 1-1, 1-2, 2-1 and 2-2. I’m not sure what your level is, so if you are a total beginner, can go with 1-1 first?

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