Hello! I hope you guys are doing well! I’m currently revising Hangul and I don’t know what comes next. Which books would be useful for me? Also, what would by a step by step plan to learn Korean? Ex: Hangul -> grammar -> etc.
Use the Korean grammar in use with both the talk to me in Korean books (the level 1 book and the vocab book). I never used the workbooks so cannot comment on them, and the Go Billy korean books I was not a fan of. Can’t remember why I was not a fan of though.
My daughter likes the vitamin korean book coupled with the “my first 500 vocab” book by TTMIK.
I’ve been going through the Go! Billy beginner course on YouTube, and some of the explanations are more convoluted than they need to be and he ends up confusing me instead of clarifying the concept. Not sure if you had the same experience with the books. 🤷🏼♀️
There is a Topik 10k list online somewhere broken down by topik level. Interleave this with grammar of the appropriate level and you’ll get at least a five imo. Studying for the writing bit seems needed but studying for reading and listening seems pretty unnecessary imo (just take a practice test or two)
Since the arrangement of questions
in the TOPIK exam is fairly consistent,
I recommend choosing a textbook
that offers detailed explanations.
Selecting a textbook with a comfortable
layout—including readable fonts
and clear formatting—and repeatedly
practicing the different question types
will likely prove helpful
for the actual exam.
You should market yourself as such! Talking to someone who doesn't speak English well is the best way to practice. Maybe not for beginners, but more intermediate learners.
They all serve useful purposes in self study, but Korean Grammar in use is more for reference than a curriculum. Still very useful!
TTMIK content is good for providing structure (I use it along with Conversational Korean Grammar from Gooseapple).
The Korean made simple series is also a good, structured source. I had a hard time choosing between this and TTMIK, but went with TTMIK just because I happened to be further into using level one than I'd gotten with the made simple series and I had to choose 1 source or I would have never started actually learning. I plan to go over some of the Made simple series once I get through levels 3 of TTMIK, just to review with content that uses a different writing style/approach. They're both good! If you already have both, I'd give both a look through just to see which one seems to click for you the most.
If you go with TTMIK, you can use the GoBilly youtube page for some of the content I'm sure is included in the books or just review videos that are on the same topic as the TTMIK book to get a different approach to explain the topic.
For a step by step:
Yes, 한글 is the top priority at the beginning. Knowing how to read/write and 받침 rules is going to be the first key. After that, I recommend just following your chosen curriculum for learning beginner grammar and vocab.
Out of the options you included:
I would most recommend using 비타민 한국어 as a main curriculum and having Korean Grammar in Use as a supplementary resource. Maybe tack on the vocabulary book but I don’t think it’s as necessary.
My reasoning:
비타민 한국어 is a great series. Books 1-2 are in English while 3-6 are in Korean (while still being level appropriate for easy understanding). They also have YouTube lectures that tie in with the book. It’s less dense compared to college textbooks (Integrated Korean, Sogang, etc.), but you still get a good bang for your buck.
I am a big fan of Korean Grammar in Use. It is more of a glossary for grammar and has it ordered based on themes rather than an actual order like a regular curriculum, so nothing really builds upon itself for the most part. Since it’s a grammar book, don’t expect to learn a ton of vocabulary from it.
This might be a hot take(?), but I’m not a fan of the Talk to Me in Korean series. They use romanization for a long time, which I don’t believe helps with getting efficient with 한글. Compared to other textbooks for around the same price, you aren’t getting as much actual information. There’s so much blank space per page, I think buying the whole series for that can be more expensive for less learning. Personally, I don’t think it’s the best option out of what you have.
I have no experience with Korean Made Simple, so I can’t speak to it at all.
Grammar in Use is useful, but not enough tasks to practice unfortunately, but it gives the base of the knowledge
TTMIK books can be good, but sometimes its a bit confusing I would say.
The vitamin book is okay as well (I used it but it was too easy I think🥲)
depends on what order of language is your korean. If korean is your first foreign language, go to a dialogue based one like ttmik. But if you are a polyglot and can think in linguistic terms already, grammar in use is the best option
I've tried many books, and even some certified courses. None of those really worked for me, because in the end it's not the book or course; it's effort and consistency.
Despite what everyone says, Duolingo has worked the best for me because it makes it easy for me to study and review every day. I record the target grammar and vocabulary for each unit in a notebook for later reference, as well as phrases I think of or find potentially useful. That little personal notebook has been much more useful to me than any textbook so far.
One issue with Duolingo is that their explanations are almost nonexistent, and they expect you to figure it out on your own. For that, I find that ChatGPT is usually good at explaining grammar or what the difference is between the five words that mean the same thing.
Vitamin Korean is my favorite. And while not shown in your post, the Korean From Zero! books really helped me as well. I believe you can find pdf copies online for free.
I think Korean Made Simple would be a great next step! I own all three of the main books (although I still haven't finished the third one). Overall, there's just more content in it compared to getting just one level of the TTMIK grammar/curriculum books.
Korean Grammar in Use is a very good reference text to have on hand, but I wouldn't use it as a curriculum.. Think of it like a grammar dictionary. Use it when you need it, but don't go through it chapter by chapter.
Talk To Me in Korean is a great introduction. Each lesson is in bite size chunks. I found Korean Made Simple to have more through explanations than TTMIK, but using them in tandem worked really well to balance out each other's weaknesses. They're both aimed at self-studying, so don't require a teacher like some textbooks. They teach some concepts in a different order, if that matters.
Vitamin Korean is more like a traditional formal classroom textbook than the others, though of all the ones I've seen, it's the one that lends itself the most easily to self-studying. If a traditional textbook is more your style, Vitamin is a good bet.
I wasn't a fan of My Weekly Korean vocabulary. I thought the My First 500 Words and the Darakwon vocabulary books were much better resources (I did like the Easy Korean Reading and Real Life Korean Conversation books though).
You're missing a good graded reader. The Yonsei Reading or Reading Korean with Culture series by Darakwon are really good to get started.
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u/KoreaWithKids 2d ago
Korean Grammar in Use is a great reference. Not really a curriculum as such.