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 enlarge | Author: Bruce K. Grant
Publisher: Hollym International Corp.
Category: Book
List Price: $29.50
Buy New: $23.60
You Save: $5.90 (20%)
New (5) Used (14) Collectible (1) from $19.54
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 320692
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 367
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0930878132
Dewey Decimal Number: 495
EAN: 9780930878139
ASIN: 0930878132
Publication Date: February 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-9 of 9 | | « PREV | | |
 A Guide to Korean Characters May 28, 2000
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Excellent reference for an ongoing student of the Korean language. The ease of use and extensive practical information make this a must for anyone studying Korean. I also have Pictoral Sino-Korean Characters by Jacob Chang-Kim. Together, my hanja reference collection is 100% complete!
 Excellent Hanja reference guide April 18, 2000
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Given a choice between this book by Bruce K. Grant and other (sparsely) available works on this subject, I would unhesitatingly stick with this one. Even after entering its third decade in print it is still the definitive hanja reference guide. The 1,800 characters are presented in stroke order, although a phonetic listing can also be referred to. A stroke- order chart along with corresponding Hangul phonetic equivalent and English translation is presented with each character. I feel there are a few minor shortcomings - DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE PRIMARILY INTERESTED IN LEARNING THE KOREAN PHONETIC WRITING SYSTEM (HANGUL). I think that the inclusion of Hangul in this book was a waste of time, as any basic textbook and even some phrase books I've come across do a better job of presenting Hangul to a beginner. Remember, 99% of the text is HANJA reference. I also feel that some of the example vocabulary (listed beside each character to show how it can be combined with other characters to form [mostly] bisyllabic words) is useless in terms of practical usage. In spite of these minor flaws it is a fantastic book. I initially attempted to memorize all 1,800 characters in stroke order, but got distracted at the half-way point. It believe there are better books out there to learn Hanja as it is used with written Korean (for example, A First Reader in Korean Writing in Mixed Script by Fred Lukoff, and MANY excellent materials produced by the Defense Language Institute Korean Language Department). As stated earlier, this book is best used as a REFERENCE source. In the many years I have used this for reference I can only recall one character that was not listed. The 1,800 characters listed are those that are taught to Korean students throughout middle school and high school. Hats off to Bruce K. Grant for this most helpful book.
 A systematic and easy way to learn the Korean Alphabet. May 20, 1999
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased the above book about six years ago during my pursuit and interest into Asian Languages. Personally, I thought that it helped in presenting the written fonts of hangul and hancha in very basic steps. It aided in my development of being able to grasp and associate various characters with ease. Compared to other self study books used I would have to definitely give this book a 4.5 star rating for the development in grammatical context. For the speaking ease I would have to give a 3.5, yet with consistent pronounciation drills and the marvels of todays internet being able to pronounce the characters being presented will make more sense now than ever before.
A handy guide to help you impress your Korean friends! February 23, 1999
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
THIS IS NOT A BOOK TO LEARN HOW TO SPEAK KOREAN!!! It is specifically to learn the sino-korean characters, otherwise known as han-mun. It helps if you already have some kind of working knowledge of Korean, and if you actually know what you want to learn. This book is super for learning things like the days of the week, addresses, and names. This book is really a (beginner's) vocabulary booster and to help you impress your friends. The indices are super, as is the whole book: very well organized and easy to use. I've seen sino-japanese (kanji) books that cannot compare as far as clarity and ease of use. There's even a chart in the back with all of the family names used (and many no longer used) in Korea. The way the book works is 1)know the sound of the character you're looking for; or 1a)know what it looks like; 2)look in one of the indices; 3)the character you are or may be looking for will have a number assigned to it; 4)look up the number and -boom- there's your character, complete with a stroke order diagram and related words defined in English while written in korean and han-mun. Simple. I should probably give it five stars--because I can find no real flaws. However, I think that a person with better Korean skills than I have could find problems. So, for people who are beginners at Korean--five stars. People for whom Korean is old hat--three stars. Therefore: four.
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