Author: Bruce McDonough

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-06-22

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9781514717325

This book represents an effort of around five years of part-time research, study, and writing by the author. In addition to assembling and organizing large amounts of accurate - and current - information from nearly countless sources, Mr. McDonough has also striven to describe the Korean Language in clear, engaging prose. Although written with beginning and intermediate learners in mind, even advanced users should find this handy book quite useful. Some of this data is very hard to find in any reference source (in English, anyways) and this book is much more accessible than others written by native Korean authors, professional linguists, academics, and the like. Naturally, explaining a foreign language requires some grammar terminology. However, this has been minimized and all terms are clearly explained in simple language, and also defined in a convenient glossary at the beginning of the book. The Handbook is meant to be a solid introduction to the grammar and structure of the language, as well as a reference guide to be consulted as needed. Everything you should need is very clearly laid out, with over 50 tables and lists, as well as an index. Plenty of examples are provided as well. This is the only book of its kind written in English currently available, and the only book that contains such a well-organized and useful collection of information. Part of its unique value is in the author's careful editing and the exclusion of a lot of older, rarer 'legacy' grammar material that tends to haunt many Korean books. Further aiding the user, notes about frequency and general usefulness are included in many places. In addition to being a self-contained educational resource, the Handbook would nicely complement classroom study as well as the various textbooks on the market. Lastly, this might be a useful tool for Korean natives studying English. The author comes from a computer science background, and initially set out to create a user's guide similar to those in that field (really, just for his own use). That project evolved into much more, and this book is the result. A companion vocabulary-focussed volume is due out later in 2015, and an advanced book in 2016. Other learning tools are planned as well, including an interactive Internet-based application for computers and smartphones.