Korean language has so many similarities with Finnish language it’s scary. Both Finnish and Korean are agglutinative languages – meaning we twist and turn all words insanely, remove something and add some crap instead, use no space bar and happily think it’s natural and totally okay. It makes non-native speakers crazy. I was just tutoring my Chinese flatmate for her Finnish exam and I have to say Finnish grammar drove me crazy too. What the heck is plural partitive or reciprocal pronoun? Pitäkää tunkkinne – as we Finns say. But I’m glad I’m not a native English speaker, it’s a great deal easier to learn Korean with Finnish background.
If you Finns want to learn Korean, you probly should start with Kanjikaveri‘s website. That was a great help when I started to learn Japanese and his Korean grammar pages look good.
Oh, I finally got confirmation from Ajou, that I’ve been granted free housing on campus and that I was actually accepted into the University too. So maybe I’m really going. Next step is to start doing serious paperwork, apply for study grants and watch Korean drama (it’s called language training)!
I asked our university library to buy a couple of good books. I’ve been hogging them ever since, but my time’s up, so I’m gonna buy my own copies. If you are interested in Korean language, suggest your library to buy these as well.
Korean for Beginners: Mastering Conversational Korean
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; Pap/Cdr Bl edition (August 10, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0804841004
ISBN-13: 978-0804841009
Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
(details from Amazon.com)
Tuttle’s conversational language books are really good. Instead of formal language they concentrate on everyday language and situations. I think it’s crucial to know both, but you are in trouble if you don’t understand what normal people say. These books also have great cultural tips and good phrases to learn. And what’s best: the layout is really good and fast to read.
Korean Dictionary (Collins GEM) (Korean and English Edition)
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Collins (June 3, 2010)
Language: Korean, English
ISBN-10: 0007324723
ISBN-13: 978-0007324729
Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 3 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
(details from Amazon.com)
You only know if a dictionary is good after you use it in real situation, so I can’t tell much. With the little experience I have I found this really useful (read: found the vegetarian and vegan words and phrases right away – grouped together!). Also, this one is very small and light, but still readable.
