While those ambitious enough can learn the writing system in about a day, learning the language itself is quite a chore. It most definitely requires some degree if diligence, motivation and skill. According to the first volume of the Integrated Korean textbook series, English speakers require three times as much time to learn these "difficult" languages than to learn "easy" languages, such as French or Spanish, to attain a comparable level of proficiency. (p. 15) The National Virtual Translation Center (NTVC) claims that students pursuing languages that are exceptionally difficult for for native English speakers, such as Korean, Japanese, or Arabic require up to four times as many class hours as languages similar to English for comparable levels of proficiency. Despite the difficulty, hopefully these resources will help you learn Korean.
Printed Resources
If you do things by the book, you might invest $25 in the first volume of Integrated Korean, Beginning 1, published by University of Hawai'i Press, which is one of the best Korean textbooks stateside. There are a total of ten volumes, from beginning grammar and simple expressions to advanced readings in Korean literature. Four workbooks accompany the first four volumes. ($15 each)
Beginners might find the grammar a bit difficult in the beginning, but overall this is an excellent resource for those interested in extensively learning the language.
From either of the above links, download free MP3 audio to accompany the textbook and workbook exercises. There are also books on composition and for learning Chinese characters (Hanja).
Korean Grammar for International Learners will please linguistics majors as a good resource, but not as a stand alone textbook. It's a good handbook for finding a lot of the different endings. It's not very well organized, but it's one of the best Korean grammar books out there.
The English/Korean section of the Langenscheidt Pocket Korean Dictionary is great for finding that word you need in Korean. The Korean/English section is categorized by transliteration (the outdated McCune-Reischauer system), which is a pain for those who know the Korean writing system.
Audio Resources
Pimsleur Korean gets learners started speaking in 30 minutes. A carefully calculated system of repetition and choice of common vocabulary helps learners accurately pronounce and retain new words and sentences. $20 will get you the basic set of ten 30-minute lessons, while the comprehensive set of thirty costs around $150. While this method is extremely successful, even 30 lessons will only give you basic proficiency in Korean. It's an excellent start nonetheless.
Free Online Resources
An Introduction to Korean is an excellent resource to get learners started with the writing system, Hanguel (한글). Lessons also include some basic vocabulary and expressions with audio, as well as a few grammar exercises.
The Sogang Korean Program, from Sogang University, will also get you started with the writing system, but the lessons also include dialogues, audio and readings go all the way to the intermediate level.
Yahoo Mini is helpful for those who know a bit of Korean. It includes Korean/English, English/Korean, Korean/Korean and English/English dictionaries. For each word, there are example sentences in both languages and audio for the pronunciation of English words. You can also look up Hanja (한자). Naver offers a similar resource.
If you're just starting out and only have ten minutes a day, you can learn basic expressions from Let's Speak Korean. On YouTube, these 160 ten-minute lessons include a variety of common expressions in the language and culture, though it's a good idea to learn Hangeul before you get started. Navigate to YouTube and in the search field type "Let's Speak Korean 01" for the first lesson, "Let's Speak Korean 02" for the second etc., all the way to "Let's Speak Korean 160."
Those interested in learning Hanja (한자;漢字) may find this page in Daum useful for learning the proper stroke order. The Hanja are broken down into the different levels (급;級) of the proficiency tests.
Post any questions about the language in the Korean language forum.
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