You’ve always wanted to learn Korean but don’t know where to start? Don’t have the money, the time, or even the patience to sign up for classes but you still want to learn? Well, you are on the right place then. I’ll share with you a few resources that I’ve used myself. Just keep on reading!

First and foremost, you have to learn the alphabet (Hangeul)! Don’t even think about continuing without having learned it. The romanization will only deceive you and I can tell you from experience, it is a hundred times easier to read something in Korean, using their own alphabet.

You may not believe it, but you can find everything you need, regarding the alphabet, on YouTube. Here are a couple of reliable YouTube channels about learning Korean as a whole):

• sweetandtastyTV – I would advise you to start with these videos and then move on to the second one;
• Learn Korean with Go!Billy Korean – Go!Billy has a whole playlist about the Korean alphabet, explaining each and everyone of the syllables and consonants, as well as syllable blocks and pronunciation changes.

Now, having learned Hangeul, you can continue with learning grammar and vocabulary. There are two main websites that I personally use for grammar.

The first website, which you’ve probably heard of already if you’ve been interested in Korean for a while, is Talk To Me in Korean. I would recommend you start your journey of studying the language here. The lessons are taught in a simple and easy to understand way. There are podcasts as well as PDF files where everything is written down. You can basically study on the go. The only disadvantage of TTMIK is, I would say, the lack of vocabulary.

I would advise you to go through at least levels 1 and 2, and possibly 3, before moving on to the other website, and then study from both simultaneously. The reason is that whereas TTMIK is explained in a very simple way, How to Study Korean has more thorough explanations from the beginning. As a beginner you’ll be overwhelmed by all this information, which could often be discouraging.

Therefore, having already studied with TTMIK, you would have some basic knowledge of the language and the first few lessons from HTSK will be mostly a revision with some additional information.

The scope of the lessons in HTSK is a lot larger and if TTMIK’s weakness is vocabulary, then I can assure you that with HTSK you won’t have the same problem. There you can also find plenty of sample sentences for each word given. You could probably go through three lessons from TTMIK in the time you complete one from HTSK.

For me, the best way to learn the language is a combination of the two websites!

Most importantly, take your time and do not rush things. Go back and repeat so that everything sticks and there is no way of forgetting the information.

TTMIK also offer a lot of things you could buy. Feel free, if you want to, but it is totally not necessary. You can learn everything you need with the free materials that are offered!