I found some free courses on Korean language and culture on coursera org, offered by Yonsei University. They are completely online, made of modules and short videos, with assignments and stuff.
Free if you’re okay with not having a certificate.
They also have Korean and Japanese language courses. These are the free ones:
This one if you don’t know yet how to read and write hangul https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean
Actually, even the courses that you officially need to pay for, can (usually) be taken for free if you click on “audit the course”. In that case you will of course not get a certificate and there might be some assignments you won’t have access to, but you will have access to the course material.
To do this click on
This will take you to a page where you can enroll in a free trial (which you don’t want), but somewhere in the middle of the page you see “audit the (single) course” in tiny letters:
As soon as you click on “audit …” you’re in, without paying and without free trial bullshit. You might also get some pop-up window instead of a whole new screen, but in any case look for the word “audit” (it’s usually well-hidden ).
And sorry my example is off-topic, but it was the only paid course that came to mind right now.
Also nice to know: a lot of Coursera courses have flexible deadlines, so when you run out of time, you can just “reset your deadlines” and go on. And then when you run out of time again, you do the same again.
Apart from the free courses, I found on Isuu the magazine “Koreana” and “Korea Focus”, published by the Korea Foundation in several languages, which you can read freely online, and even download.
Browse - and read - the issues in your own language here: https://issuu.com/the_korea_foundation
Korea Foundation also has a Youtube Channel, with very interesting documentaries on architecture, cuisine, art and culture.
Here is my new find. This book is genius! I just read the first 4 chapters on alphabet and pronounciation, and it’s sooo well done, with visual cues and colours etc… Like the best note-taker in your class. Read and/or download the .pdf from here.
It also has free mp3 files you can download from here.
I’ve just started the Coursera course and it’s really good. I’d been learning from many sources. Haphazardly and looking up whatever I was curious about, listening to LOT of YouTube stuff - Talk to Me in Korean - music videos, Run BTS, all kinds of stuff is there, but it is not organized.
I’ve become very good at hearing words even if I don’t know what they all mean. What is funny to me is that my ‘hearing’ is ‘literate’ - I kind of ‘see’ Hangul words float across my mind as I’m listening. I don’t do that when hearing other languages, maybe because I learned them before being literate in those languages. Whereas, Korean I learned Hangul right off the bat so I usually see the words ‘in the air’ lol Like a double exposure. hmmm. Interesting. I am listening to a song in English and I can also make English words float across my mind… How interesting to combine sound and visual letters… hmmm. The mind is such a fascinating thing.
The Coursera is more structured and has a more organized structure on the correct use of particles and batchim.
Currently I am going through their courses to find my level. I’ve picked up some good info but I have not hit my NEW stuff wall yet. It will be nice to find out what level I am at.
than ks for the info. I will check it out. anyone ever go to a Chinese take out, and try and understand what they are sayimg? watching so many K & C dramas, and not a word I can understand,
? I get take out here and there. No one in this part of Idaho has an accent that is difficult. Now, in San Francisco you can get some very thick accents. I am so used to them that accents don’t faze me. …hmm. I’m trying to think of the last time I could not understand an accent…?? I really can’t remember. Somehow I always manage to understand them.
Oh! I just realized that there is one guy who gives my language comprehension skills a run for my money. I’ve been doing subs here for ASC - After School Club. Working on lyrics, the English and whatever Korean I do understand. That one announcer guy speaks so FAST! OMG! In both Korean AND English! He is always in a hurry- his words tumble over themselves and interrupt themselves trying to get out… Yes, but I managed to figure him out anyway. lol But ASC is a rowdy, noisy show and they ALWAYS talk over each other.
It’s an interesting way to practice language skills by working on lyrics - Unless I know the song, I don’t know what the lyrics mean. I have to go listen to the songs and read through the lyrics to find the lines that match what they are singing. It’s really 'fun?" When they play ‘guess the music for this song then sing it’, without telling you which song it is. Yea, that’s a LOT of fun. finding those lyrics.
But I do know enough Korean to ‘hear’ the words and am able to read Hangul and figure out which lines go with whatever they are singing. And also I learn the translation at the same time. So it is excellent language practice for me. But that announcer guy, I really have to listen to him to figure out what he is saying half the time.
It is free resources found on Discord The Language Sloth, they have more + free classes: https://discord.me/languagesloth
(Next class is today. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to participate. You can type your questions. They send a link with the ppt of the class later).
).
How interesting to combine sound and visual letters… hmmm. The mind is such a fascinating thing.
When they play ‘guess the music for this song then sing it’, without telling you which song it is. Yea, that’s a LOT of fun. 
finding those lyrics.
