Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge Grammar Workbooks) 1st Edition

I had lived in Korea for a few months a few months before buying this book, and I already knew a (tiny) bit of Korean. But I wanted to learn more, so I was looking for a well-structured and challenging Korean textbook. There are many books for beginners, with cultural stuff, pictures and everything, but these books don't really help if you want to improve a lot on the long term.So I bought this book, and it's great. It's divided into 24 chapters, each chapter explaining an important grammar point. In each chapter, you'll get a few pages that explain the grammar use, its use, and structure. Then you have, for each chapter between 5 and 10 application exercices that cover the material of the chapter. The textbook also has a vocabulary list for each chapter, so that you can practice using new grammar and new words. The book is straight to the point, and you'll see a noticeable improvement in your grammar skills.I'm giving this book a 5* rating, because it's an absolute must-buy. I haven't seen any similar books for learners of intermediate levels. However, it's not exactly perfect :- Every now and then, I noticed what seem to be typos, especially in the Korean texts. It's a bit confusing, because the language can be challenging enough, so these typos just add to the confusion.- The exercices are a bit repetitive. There are two main types of exercices, and they only require you to modify existing sentences, by taking into account the new grammar rule. So it can be a bit annoying after a while, because exercices seem a bit easy sometimes.Finally, and I can't stress this enough: this book alone is not enough. It is a grammar book, and you will need to have other ways to practice your Korean if you want to improve. So this book works best if you talk with Korean friends, use Internet websites to learn Korean, watch Korean dramas/movies, try to read other stuff in Korean, learn vocabulary (through flashcards, dictionaries or whatever works...). But this is not the due to the book being bad or anything, it's just how any language works : if you want to really learn it, you'll have to write, read, speak, listen to it and learn the vocabulary.So, this book is probably hands-down the best book on the market for intermediate speakers. It's both accessible and thorough, and it's worth the money. You'll go through dozens and dozens of expressions, structures and rules, and will be able to expand your ability to understand and communicate in Korean. But, to make best use of this book, complement it with other ways to learn Korean.

I loved the fact that each chapter had a vocabulary section. But Byun should have used the 200 revised romanization system which has been standard in Korean since 2000. It's really old-fashioned to use any other romanization method at this point, since Koreans have already decided how they want their language romanized. We need to follow their wishes, since their street and store signs, etc., all follow this new 20-year old standard created by The National Institute (Academy) of the Korean Language. Also, the author should have created MP3 files for Korean leaners to be able to learn how to pronounce the Korean vocabulary in every chapter, as well as the Korean sentences.

You have to buy this book if you are learning Korean. It explains EVERYTHING you need to know about Korean grammar, and not only that, it does it in a simple way, and even has activities to practice with, including full answers, and plenty of examples, and lots of vocabulary words to improve or refresh your vocabulary skills with. While you should still use an overall language teaching book, like Intermediate College Korean or whatever for overall vocabulary, grammar and even cultural learning, this book has a very different approach which will speed up your Korean learning tenfold. Here is why: instead of gradually and continuously building on prior lessons, constantly adding complexity to what you are learning and requiring that you fully master the previous lessons, this book only treats EXACTLY the point of grammar being taught at the time, so it's extremely easy to understand what is being taught. You also improve or refresh your vocabulary because each chapter uses different vocabulary (including a list each chapter) as the raw stuff to construct the example sentences with. Then you have practice activities at the end of the chapter. In my case I found reading the example sentences enough after a few chapters, since my Korean level was already pretty good after finishing Intermediate College Korean, and I was super-impressed that I was able to read this whole book in just a few days and retain what I had learnt. Andrew Sangpil Byon has simplified Korean down to its simplest parts and separated each one, and done a separate section on each little part, making this the easiest route to intermediate proficiency (i.e. full mastery of grammar, but not necessarily yet of vocabulary) that I have ever seen. This is one book that I think will have to become THE book of Korean grammar. Get it!

Was at a dead end whilst learning Korean due to the complex and often contradictory grammar, but this book helped fix that. It walks you through the basic grammar, takes into account the multiple politeness levels and provides exercises that really help you to remember them. It's not a total beginner's guide, so you should have at least some understanding of the basic concepts of Korean grammar and particles, and this book will help you realize how to use them. I have one complaint though, the hangul text cannot be viewed any larger than default, and by default it is quite small and hard to read at a distance for a novice.

This is indeed a very good grammar textbook on intermediate Korean.This book provides both intermediate vocabulary and grammar lessons their corresponding exercises/solutions.After mastering the contents of this book, you should have a conversational level Korean. But your vocabulary and grammar should be somewhere around a 2nd grade to 3rd grade level. In other words, this book doesn't teach any sophisticated Korean.If you already have a conversational level Korean, you might benefit from a more advanced workbook. If you want to understand basic Korean grammar and vocabulary, I highly recommend this book.

Very well laid out book for an intermediate learner of Korean.The lessons are short and the exercises are well worth doing!I would however add page numbers to the exercise key in the back.That would make if 5 stars.

I had already purchased and read through "Beginner Korean" by the same author. If you're looking for a no-kidding look at the Korean language and grammar and really wish to master the language, you have to read this book, it is absolutely essential. If you're looking just to have some canned phrases or communicate without having a deep understanding of the language, this book is not for you