Sofie to Korea

A while ago I bought the intermediate version of Korean Grammar in Use. I admit that this wonderful book has spent too much time just sitting in my bookshelf looking new and shiny. I therefore recently made a pact with myself to study two new grammar points every day. They’re not all “new” to me in the sense that I already know about half of the grammar points from TTMIK’s podcasts, but I really want to go through this book cover to cover. Having studied with this book over the last couple of weeks, I’m now about a quarter into it and I can safely say that it’s really the best grammar resource I ever came across. Here’s why:

Each chapter is logically divided into overall grammar patterns like “expressing plans or intentions” or “expressing conditions”, and then has a number of subsections with different patterns used for the specific purpose. Each of these subsections is structured in a very reader-friendly manner, starting with a sample dialogue using the grammar pattern followed by an explation of the use of the grammar pattern (in both English and Korean). Then a comparison with similar patterns is presented followed by my favorite part, a dialogue building drill where the learner is provided with building blocks for creating mini-dialogues using the grammar pattern. All exercises can be checked by looking at the answer key in the back of the book, so you get instant feedback on your work. As an added bonus all the exercises are made in the same format as you can expect to see at the TOPIK exam. What’s not to love?

On a different note, I’ve been in contact with a fellow Korean learner, Jeremy, an American guy living and working in Seoul. He makes some really awesome youtube videos about his Korean language journey and I strongly encourage you to go and check them out.

Here’s a link to his youtube channel MotivateKorean ^^