As someone who took 5+ years of college-level Japanese and majored in (applied) Linguistics, recently learning Korean in my free time has made me appreciate the simplicity of the writing system.
In Japanese, a (non-native) reader can go from understanding one sentence to not even being able to read the next. Sure, there are instances where one may be able to _understand_ a sentence you can't read through inferring meaning from the kanji -- if one couldn't read [水力], but knew both characters (water and power), one could infer that it's "water power" or something hydroelectric. It's a slight advantage to have meaning inside of the characters, however, it's a wonder if the Japanese writing system is too information dense.
Now Korean (and my limited knowledge of it) seems, to me, that it might be the sweet spot. It's relatively information dense (takes less room than just writing things in Japanese kana[1], or hell, even just regular Latin alphabet), but it's quicker to read (and write).
What resources are you using to learn Korean? I spent a few years there as a kid, but on a military base, so my exposure was limited. Outside a handful of expressions I've almost completely forgotten it at this point (certainly the script). I've spent the last couple years around a lot of native Spanish speakers so I've been relearning that, and it rekindled my interest in languages so now seems like a good time to start on something new.
I'm using Pimsleur to bootstrap some phrases and simple grammar. IMHO this is a great way to get started on speaking the language and practicing pronunciation, at least if you are self-studying.
I bought this because it was cheap and it covers a variety of levels: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307972232/ref=oh_details_o.... I am not sure how useful it is for me right now, but I expect that over time it will be helpful for small collections of vocab. (It's also pretty cheap!)
Quizlet is an invaluable resource for this: quizlet.com. They have text to speech so you can hear pronunciation for arbitrary words, and lots of people have made sets for different collections of vocab. It's not just flashcards, as it offers you a few ways to test your knowledge. And there are apps for Android and iOS.
If anyone else has found useful mobile apps, I'd love to hear it. For the most part I haven't found anything that I thought was truly great, so for the most part I just listen & practice the Pimsleur lessons when I'm in transit.
Thanks for the reply and suggestions. It also occurred to me that "there's a reddit for that", and sure enough there is one so I'll check out the resources you've listed and what I can find over there. One of my hobbies has come to a screeching halt (scheduling conflicts, people moving) so I actually have time over the next few months to spend on this.
I actually use mostly the Wikipedia article and the overarching Korean language article[1] mentioned for most of the basics, though I may not be such a good source for gathering materials as I'm just gingerly walking through the material.
If you're _really_ intent on learning more than just Korean, getting familiar with the IPA[1] would also prove useful if you also want to speak the language.
Alright, thanks. There was a time in college lo these many years ago, when I thought about becoming a linguistics minor. I just took a couple of dead languages instead (Latin and Old English - because why not?). Later on I wish I realized how much time I wasted not taking more courses and additional languages, free time is harder to come by for these things when you're "grown up".
With some work and a combination of sources, you can actually get to a fairly conversational level of speaking/writing within a year. I and many others I know have done it. Just hang in there because it gets a little tough after the beginner phase. Be sure to drop by /r/korean's irc channel(http://webchat.snoonet.org/korean) if you have any questions.
I am not a subscriber or even a speaker of Korean, but I did learn the alphabet in College and if I ever had time, I feel like I could learn Korean at this site.
In Japanese, a (non-native) reader can go from understanding one sentence to not even being able to read the next. Sure, there are instances where one may be able to _understand_ a sentence you can't read through inferring meaning from the kanji -- if one couldn't read [水力], but knew both characters (water and power), one could infer that it's "water power" or something hydroelectric. It's a slight advantage to have meaning inside of the characters, however, it's a wonder if the Japanese writing system is too information dense.
Now Korean (and my limited knowledge of it) seems, to me, that it might be the sweet spot. It's relatively information dense (takes less room than just writing things in Japanese kana[1], or hell, even just regular Latin alphabet), but it's quicker to read (and write).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana