r/BeginnerKorean

Other woman here, hi.

Five years ago I set out to make the world's best language learning video game - something more fun than mobile apps,and with no subscriptions and no ads. Enter: Noun Town.

Noun Town, helps you learn basic vocab while playing! It's on Steam for PC & Mac and it's just made it out of Early Access and into Full Release.

In Noun Town you explore an open world, interact with objects to learn vocabulary in context, and the game uses spaced repetition to surface words for review at the right moment. Progress shows up visually - the town starts in black and white and fills with color as you learn. It's got 1,000+ words and phrases and has 12 languages (including Korean!)

It's been a hell of a slog, but I'm super proud to have made it this far, and hopefully made language learning a little more enjoyable along the way.

>>> Click here to watch the trailer for the game <<<
[and there's a free demo there, too]

Happy to answer any questions :)

I’ve been learning Korean for a few months now, but I live somewhere with basically no Korean speakers around me, so speaking practice has been the hardest part for me.

I can study grammar and vocab on my own, but actually getting myself to speak out loud is a different story. I’ve been trying a mix of things, and one of the apps I’ve been using Issen for speaking practice. It’s been helpful just because it gives me a way actually to say things out loud instead of only studying silently.

I’m still figuring out what’s worth sticking with long term, though. The main thing I’m looking for is something that helps with speaking consistency when you don’t have a real conversation partner nearby. At this point I’m mostly trying to build the habit of talking every day without feeling totally stuck.

What’s working for everyone else here? If you’ve been learning Korean solo, I’d love to hear what you actually use for speaking practice and what felt useful versus what got old fast.

Hello everyone, I have an assignment I'm not quite sure about. It's about returns, but I'm not sure I wrote enough or correctly. Can anyone help?

Is the caution box saying that 나의 and 저의 can't be abbreviated to just 나 and 저 to mean "my"? For example, I can't say "나 우산" if i'm trying to say "my umbrella." If so, what about 너의? Is it acceptable to say "너 우산“ for "your umbrella"?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building a structured Korean learning platform focused on:

• sentence structure
• reading practice
• grammar understanding
• active sentence building

I’m currently looking for around 10–15 learners who are genuinely interested in long-term Korean learning and would be willing to share honest feedback after trying the beginner lessons.

This is mainly for learners who:

• feel stuck with random study methods
• want more structure and clarity
• want to understand how Korean sentences actually work

Selected learners will receive free access to parts of the beginner course and community.

If you're interested, you can fill out the short form below and I’ll reach out by email:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkNAvVN-GTrpl_HNgmm4HlNruiDRnDDUmfbQrWAwFYP1_IuA/viewform?usp=dialog

I’ll keep the form open until the end of this weekend.
After that, I’ll start organizing the first small study groups based on level and schedule.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I genuinely wish you the best with your Korean learning journey : )

Thanks 😄

Can you type Thai without looking at the keyboard yet?

When learning Thai, I realized that typing quickly is actually a huge help for daily practice: chatting, taking notes, searching for words, and writing sentences all become much easier.

For Latin keyboards, there are many great tools to learn typing with all ten fingers. But for Thai, the options are quite limited, and most of them don’t show key positions clearly enough for absolute beginners to follow.

So I made this web app to make learning and practicing Thai typing easier and more beginner-friendly:

https://vocatype.app/en/?kbd=th

It guides you step by step so you can gradually learn to type Thai without looking at the keyboard, just like when typing in English.

Please give it a try and feel free to share your feedback or feature requests.

Thank you!

Hi all! I made a free dictionary app called Amgi Sajeon that helps you retain what you look up. It's on the iOS App Store, and is soon to be on the Google Play store*.

How is this different from other dictionary apps?

The meat of the dictionary is from National Institute of Korean Language's krdict which comes with Hanja, related words, part of speech, commonality, word examples, pronunciation, etc (Naver and other dictionaries source this too), but I've added some features that, in my opinion, make it more than a dictionary:

Dictionary add-ons

• Hanja readings across Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese)
• Conjugation tables for verbs and adjectives
• Extra related forms in addition to the krdict related forms (-hada, -hi form of a noun)
• Related words by Hanja character
• Text-to-speech that doesn't sound like a robot
• Pinyin and Jyutping for compound Hanja-based words -- added by request from an app review

Learning support

• Built-in spaced repetition system (SRS) flashcards so you can look up a word -> save it to a deck -> retain it via SRS reviews
• Word/Hanja deck building that doesn't require an account to use
• Verbs and adjective flashcards show customizable conjugations by default
• Hanja explorer by level
• Common word lists
• Searchable TOPIK 1 & 2 grammar reference lists
• Word of the day

I'm probably forgetting some stuff cause I've been chipping away at it on my free time for about a year now. But I should note that everything is offline and local to your device, including dictionary look ups.

This sounds like it would cost a lot, how much is it?

One of my pet peeves is when developers or companies say "check out this free app!" and then everything is behind a paywall and subscriptions. Just about everything I listed is free, and always will be. The only paid option is a premium version of the SRS review flashcards (which includes all conjugations) but you can try this out for free for as long as you want.

Why would you build this out when there's other Korean dictionaries out there?

Starting out, I just wanted to use an app similar to Shirabe Jisho but I couldn't find anything like that for Korean. There's some others out there that are okay but they're all paid apps or they paywall all of the Hanja content.

As for adding SRS features to the app, I remember one time I was studying a Korean verb on a separate Anki-like app that I had spelt and conjugated incorrectly when adding the word to my deck. So, every repetition on that word wasn't really helping. I figured I could eliminate any chance for conjugation or spelling error if the dictionary itself was sourcing the data for the flashcard. Plus I kept running into the free tier review limits and didn't want to pay a ridiculous subscription cost or pay $24.99 for Anki on iOS lol.

What is SRS and why should I care about it?

It essentially boils down to a spacing algorithm to determine the next review date for a flashcard. Ideally, the scheduled review date is when the algorithm thinks you're just about to forget it.

It's not for everyone but I personally can attest to how powerful it is for boosting vocab for any language. Combining SRS flashcards with other immersive input, and you'll probably be surprised how well learned words stick in a short period of time. The key is being honest with your review qualities that you submit which help determine the next review date (e.g. fail to recall vs difficult vs easy).

You can try it out for free in the app, and if it works for you, it's a one-time cost of $3.99 to remove any limits.

What the heck is a Hanja?

Hanja is a single Chinese character. About 60% of the Korean language is Chinese based, where some words come from a single Hanja like 편하다 (便), while many are compound words like 편의점 (便宜店). While not as useful for everyday life in Korea as it is in Japan, recognizing the Hanja roots in a word when being introduced to it can help with learning. After some exposure, you'll probably be able to guess what Hanja a particular word has based off of its usage or meaning, and that word will be even easier to retain.

I hope you find the app as useful as I do, and would love to hear any feedback you all might have!

TLDR go checkout Amgi Sajeon for free on the iOS App Store. Offline dictionary app with Hanja, SRS, and some other goodies.

^(* If you wanna test out the Android version, feel free to DM me an email and I can send a test invite once it's ready to test)

Check it out at: https://jamokorean.com/

Hi everyone,

In the 1.8 update to Jamo Korean, I've added the first full grammar course (with 6 chapters, 90 lessons, 30 written grammar explanations) as you can see in the video.

For those of you who haven't seen my app before, it is a Korean learning app I'm working on that has:

1. A full hangul course for beginners (featuring writing, typing, and speaking exercises)
2. 4300+ vocabulary to be learned with spaced repetition and interactive exercises (using the same algorithm as anki)
3. (New) a full grammar course for beginners.
4. 18 short stories, with more coming in future updates.

Check it out:

Download at: https://jamokorean.com

Price Disclosure:

The Hangul course is free. The vocabulary is free, but limited in how many new words you can learn per day. The first unit of the grammar course is free, and a few of the stories are provided free.

You can access all the current and future content with a one-time purchase for $20 USD. I am planning to switch to a subscription model at some point, but have decided to keep the single purchase option for the time being (until I feel the amount of content justifies the subscription)

Hey, I’m Teo from Seoul 🙂✌️