¤ KoreanClass 101 ¤

FaWzY

Well, good news for all those who are looking for a decent podcast to learn Korean, KoreanClass101, a sister to JapanesePod101, has just been launched 10 days ago or so, they've so far released 2 beginner lessons, they are basic introductions, but of course we should expect big things from them as they should be on par with JapanesePod101.

The host is a Korean-American named Keith, he was raised in New York City by his Korean parents, so he has a good command of both English and Korean, he's in Japan right now learning Japanese and was a part of JapanesePod101's work team.

Here's the link, check it out and post your feedback...
http://www.koreanclass101.com/

mteric

Wow, that is awesome.  I'm glad they are starting a Korean 101 podcast.  I've always liked the Japanese site.  It has been very useful.  I'm sure the Korean one will be too.

I just listened to the first lesson.  Keith really gets into it, doesn't he?  hehe

FaWzY

Yeah, I think it's gonna be as good, and at least we're here from the very beginning this time

And Keith seems to have potential, and I like that his Korean pronunciation is like a native, unlike Peter on Jpod, so that's an extra.

My 2 problems with it are,
-Their schedule is still messed up, but they say they'll kick it off by September.
-I can't get Korean into my head, it seems like I've concentrated too much on Japanese, I can't get anything else in my head

mteric

I'm sure they'll get their schedule worked out into a routine soon enough. And I agree about Keith's Korean being better than Peter's Japanese. That is a big help. Of course, it is interesting to hear what a foreigner's speech sounds like too. Besides, Peter is so likeable that you can't help but forgive him.

I know what you mean about having problems getting Korean into your head.  It seems like Korean is the hardest language I have ever tried learning, mainly because of all the subtleties of the pronunciation.  But I think after you hear more of it, it should start to stick.

FaWzY

Hehe! of course I can't say anything negative about Peter, he's great, but my point is, this man has spent the past 9 years of his life learning Japanese in Japan, but still his accent is that way, it doesn't give much hope to the beginners, but of course that's not his fault, and it's not that bad after all.

And seems like Korean IS the hardest language I've tried so far, and I've learned some Mandarin, I dunno why, but it's just SO hard to figure out the different sounds!

mteric

I know what you mean. I'm still trying to figure out all the sounds too. One thing that is strange to me, is that certain letters change sounds in certain situations. For example: 같이 가요, is actually pronounced "가치 가요".

It is hard, but not impossible.  I think the more we hear the language spoken by native speakers, the easier it will get.

montanadaver

Well, not to worry. If we ever have any trouble with anything, my wife is from Korea and I can ask to solve any problem we might encounter.

FaWzY

Well, I thought about this...
I pretty much don't know anything about Korean other than "Annyong haseyo, cheom boepgessseumnida", I don't even know Hangul yet...

So I thought, since we're with KC101 from the beginning, we should try to transcript the lessons ourselves to get the maximum out of the lessons, what do you think?

mteric

That's a great idea!

I get the easy one. hehe This is from the first beginner lesson:

Keith: 안녕하세요?  저는 Keith입니다.  처음 뵙겠습니다.

설: 안녕하세요?  저는 윤설입니다.  처음 뵙겠습니다.

mteric

Beginner Lesson #6 is pretty funny. I laughed when Keith was saying "여자친구가 없습니다" in a depressed voice, meanwhile you can hear thunder and rain in the background. Poor Keith.