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 Useless Useless Useless Aug 10, 2008
I knew no Korean, but was going to travel there, so I borrowed this item from the library (fortunately I didn't waste my money to buy it!) to try to learn a bit of Korean. I didn't learn a thing.
The lesson goes way to fast for a beginner. They jump right in with full sentences spoken at near-full speed. There is little effort made to build on previous vocabulary, no grammar, no breaking down sentences into pieces, no review, just one sentence of random (to me) sounds after another.
I can't believe anyone can learn a language with this CD. Maybe, just maybe, if one listens to it 25-50 times, but there has got to be faster ways.
The phrases themselves are OK, not great. They cover the basics, but some are a bit suspect. "I'd like to buy a roll of film" can probably go.
This might be useful to someone with 1-2 semesters of Korean, to learn some good phrases. But everyone else, avoid.
Nearly useless for first-time learning May 31, 2008
Having studied some spoken and written Korean previously, I expected this to be a good tool for review and learning some more phrase structures. However, the format of the lessons, the clarity of the native speakers' pronunciation, and the limited written material are all very insufficient. One simply cannot just listen to this and be able to tell what they're actually saying, even in cases where one may have heard some of the words before. The words and phrases are only given once, so there is no chance to reinforce learning or disambiguate the sounds. I recommend the Living Language Korean "Complete course for Beginners", which comes with a small (but very good) book and a set of CD's. I'm surprised at the choices someone had to consciously make in producing this, and particularly by Living Language, whose "Ultimate" full course products I am very fond of and have used several times.
5 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 quick and easy! Nov 08, 2001
When I walked into the bookstore to buy an audio tape, I was sold over by the Living Language In-flights. They're perfectly painless and great for a quick and easy overview of the most useful expressions and vocabulary. I used it almost everyday for a month or two while driving and now I think that if I ever go to Korea, I'll actually be able to make myself be understood! It's a really good way to get started on learning a new language.
32 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Crash Landing Jun 27, 2001
The blurb on the back of the package claims that if you work on this programme during your flight, you will learn enough of the language to get by. Unless your flight will be equal in length to a flight to Mars, you will certainly not be able to absorb enough of this 60-minute course to even nearly get by. This is a CD "update" to Fast & Easy Korean (also by Living Language). In Flight Korean boasts over 400 essential words & phrases (a 100 word increase from Fast & Easy). Less is sometimes better. Each phrase on In-Flight is only spoken once (rather than twice as on the Fast & Easy series), not enough if you want to gauge your progress. The native speakers sometimes mumble and speak WAY too fast. While there are people in everyday life that mumble, you certainly don't want to learn a language from them do you? It comes with a "boarding pass"(booklet with the entire script, but no Korean script, very bad when you end up needing help from a native speaker). If you are already familiar with the language, the In-Flight series might actually get you up to speed in between the in-flight movie & the meal (soda pop & peanuts). If you are trying to learn Korean, try Pimsleur's Korean Compact (expensive but effective). Pimsleur Korean has 10 lessons, and will get you SPEAKING (the course is audio only) in 10 days. If you are short on time and need a "survival" course, get Language/30 Korean (by Educational Services Corp). Language/30 comes with 2 tapes and a booklet (has Romanised script as well as Hang-gul, in case you need help from a native speaker). There aren't very many good resources for Korean Language learning around, In-Flight Korean proves the point. Great marketing, shoddy product.
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