Korean at a Glance: Phrase Book and Dictionary for Travelers

Does such a book need a better recommendation than this? My Korean friend by the way is very smart, he speaks very good English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Me, I am an American in South Korea, and found the book very useful. I studied it and five other language/ culture texts before coming, and my Korean friends comment that I am extremely well-informed on Korean culture, and have very good pronounciation. Does such a book get a better recommendation than this? I don't think so. Only one proviso. It should go without saying, but sometimes, ya just gotta state the obvious: this is mainly a phrasebook. Don't expect to learn in depth anything from this title. It's a quick primer for the airplane, and a reference title in the main. It is NOT a textbook, and should not be used in a textbook's stead!

This book is extremely good if your are planning to visit Korea for personal or business reasons, or if you are learning the language and would like to enrich your Korean repetoire. The first part of the book has common expressions, greetings, daily interaction terms, business and travel terms, emergency situation terms, and terms to let you express nearly everything your can think of quickly and easily. The book has the english phrase on the left, its Korean counterpart is then written on the right hand side with the way to pronounce the phrase next to it. In addition to having these phrases, the book takes time out to teach a little about Korean culture, tradition, and etiquette. The second part of the book is a very good dictionary that has a ENGLISH - KOREAN section and a KOREAN - ENGLISH section. The book's small size and the fact that it has a clear, vinyl-like covering makes it the perfect book to take with you.

I found this book to be quite helpful. I just came back from Korea last month and the book helped me a great deal. I taught myself Hangul and I learned quite a few words from this book. The grammar section is also helpful. And even when I didn't know how to say something, my hosts would pick up the book and look for the phrase in Korean and then point to the English equivalent for me. Between that book and there Korean-English Dictionary, we did quite well.

I've lived in Korea for three years now and this book was invaluable to me. The chapters are well layed out by subject and there is a pretty good dictionary at the back. It expresses everything in Romanized characters and Hangul. My Korean friends tell me that some of the expressions are a little strange or dated but they have no problems understanding them. I highly recommend this book for the casual traveller or a person going to live in Korea. Used in conjunction with a language course it can really help you to be on your feet in no time.

This phrasebook not only has the common phrases, it has a large amount of cultural information. The typeface is extremely clean and easy to read! For those who want to learn more about the language, there's a very solid grammar section at the back of the book. The "Korean Proverbs" section is a pure delight; informative and very well-written.