Lockdown has given many of us lots of free time and some people have suggested it’s the perfect time to learn a new skill – so why not get started with learning Korean?
As kpop has become increasingly popular across the world, there are plenty of ways to learn the Korean language easily including books and private tuition. However, as there have been complications with delivering physical items during this crisis, online tuition is the easiest way to learn Korean at the moment (and it’s mostly free!). Here are our recommendations for six ways to learn Korean online:
1. Learn Korean with BTS
At the end of March BigHit Entertainment released a series of videos called ‘Learn Korean with BTS’ which you can access via the WeVerse app. There are currently five episodes available but the entire series will have 30 videos and a new video gets released every Monday.
Each episode last around three minutes and focuses on specific phrases that are used regularly in BTS’s Bangtan Bomb and Run BTS!. The episodes break down the phrases and repeat them so viewers can learn the phrase, what it means and how to put it together themselves.
2. KoreanClass101
KoreanClass101 has over 1840 video and audio lessons filled with culturally relevant and interesting topics to teach you useful Korean. They also have hundreds of videos available to watch on their YouTube channel as well as a 24/7 live channel of Korean lessons.
KoreanClass101 is free to sign up to and covers everything from the basics of the Korean writing system to vocabulary and grammar. The amount of content on their site means that they have lessons suitable for a variety of abilities.
3. Talk To Me in Korean
Talk To Me in Korean recommend you practice Korean for at least 10 minutes every day to learn it and they have a range of lessons online to help. You can also purchase Talk To Me in Korean textbooks in both physical and e-book format!
You can access their essential Korean lessons and downloadable PDF lesson notes for free, but they also offer a premium membership with two different price options that allow access to more lessons and resources. Premium membership includes comprehension quizzes to track your progress, certificates for each completed course, and a bunch of additional premium lessons.
4. Seemile
Seemile is perfect for beginners as it primarily teaches you Korean sentences and words by breaking it down into words and postpositional articles in animated videos. The course has been designed and developed by language experts so it is guaranteed to be exactly what you need to learn Korean easily.
The website also has a blog where they post fun additional videos such as how to learn Korean through kpop lyrics and sections of Korean novels that are dictated and written down for you when you become more advanced in the language.
5. Margarita Korean
YouTuber Margarita started a ‘Weekly Korean’ series on her channel back in 2015 and the series playlist now has 84 videos for learners to work through. The videos include a mixture of lessons on specific subjects such as numbers or tongue twisters, and tips and tricks videos.
Margarita offers a unique perspective on learning Korean as she is not a native speaker so she explains Korean in a way that is easy to understand for fellow language learners.
6. Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean
Another YouTuber that has created a series which teaches Korean is Billy who has been studying the language since 2005. Billy’s YouTube channel offers live Korean classes and subbed interviews with native speakers on the streets of Korea.
On his website you can also access interactive language games, videos where he teaches his younger brother Korean and a comprehensive Hangul course which is essential to learning the language.
