Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally

June 10, 2021 note: Korea's modern system of romanizing their own language from Hangeul to English is NOT "dumbed down" but a universally-embraced easier-to-assimilate sytem. Even more importantly, if you travel in Korea you will see almost all signs in three distinct writing systems: (1) Hanguel -- this new modern romanization invented in 2000 (not the archaic Yale or other system), (2) English, and (3) Hanja. It's time all authors embrace Korea's own system of romanizing Hanguel to English, since that's what one sees everywhere in Korea (not Yale, etc.). Also, clinging to an old romanization method Korean learners do not like to use is...stubborn...and unenlightened. Let's follow how Koreans romanize their own language for English speakers.What I love about Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally is the book's organization and wonderfully-precise grammar explanations. However, It is such a shame that the authors refused to use the modern method of English romanization that is universally accepted in and outside of Korea that was developed in 2000. Although this is the main weakness in an otherwise wonderful book, it is a major weakness.The authors use of the Yale system really sabotages their own book, since it makes the book hard to read and study from. Ironically, these same authors ended up writing a recently-published book, Basic Korean, where they indeed use the modern system of romanizing. They should immediately revise Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally and replace the Yale romanization with the 2000 romanization method, as they modified it in their book, Basic Korean.I would also recommend creating free MP3 audio files for Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally so that users of this book can learn useful Korean vocabulary (Talk to Me in Korean, Tuttle, Darakwon, Hollym, and other publishers of Korean books do this). Darakwon actually provides a physical MP3 CD at the end of each book of their three-volume "Grammar in Use" book series and provides those same free audio files on their website in case one damages or loses one's CD, or one bought a used copy that lacked the MP3 audio files CD.The authors should also include a list of key vocabulary words relevant to the chapter lesson examples/sentences in Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally at the end of each chapter (Routledge's Korean grammar books by Byun do this, and it is very helpful).I loved the many grammar charts in Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally, and their explanations were stellar. But again, it was hard to continue reading this book. I have a Ph.D. in English, am a native speaker of English and Spanish, and am fluent in German, but I just stopped reading Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally due to the horrible Yale romanization method which made learning pronunciation and reading the sample sentences impossible. Instead, I began using Talk to Me in Korean's 8-volume Korean grammar series, that comes with free downloadable MP3 audio files to master Korean pronunciation as one learns Korean in every chapter of their grammar books.I would love to buy a third edition of Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally using the modern Korean English romanization method.

Granted the very well qualified and experienced authors chose the Yale Romanization system in the book, its written in smaller type and easy to ignore (yes, I prefer, like most students, the dumbed-down approximate-pronunciation romanization). This book, very logically, and clearly, explains how the Korean language works. All the pieces, add-ons, etc.--and all of that is just in the Introduction section; just imagine how detailed the individual chapters are. After 1 year of daily study, I know many phrases, a good number of verbs in the present tense, so now I am ready for this book. Looking forward to continue reading it daily!

This book is very systematic in approach, starting with the book itself, kind of like a syllabus. As an English as a Second Language teacher this is exactly the approach I would use. The second chapter deals with correct pronunciation. This is very important if you want to be understood. I use this book a lot and refer to it often.

this book is great aside from the fact that the romanization is basically useless and gets really annoying sometimes. i dont see the point of it being in the book in the first place considering someone learning korean grammar would obviously need to already know the hangeul but whatever

Don’t buy get from the library

Nice to learn a language!

Best book to learn Korean grammar

excellent book to explain basics , good general resource

Hola este libro tiene lo suyo pero he visto otra serie de libros de coreano que son como 5 libros de gramática y otros 5 libros para tareas y esa serie es mucho mejor que este libro que trata de juntar lo de 10 libros en 1