Among all the languages I learn, Korean is special because it is has one of the best quality free resources of any languages. Korean resources are cheap, high-quality, and easy to access. Here are some of my favorite Korean resources that I have used and still do use in my daily studies.
In addition to these Japanese resources, you can check out articles on my website.
Grammar & Fundamentals
Talk To Me In Korean
By far, the best website for learning Korean. They have audio lessons, videos, high-quality explanations in English. TTMIK is how I learned Korean from 0 in 2014, and I learned 95% of my grammar from them because the curriculum is so well-planned and the explanations so high quality.
Talk To Me In Korean Bookstore
Any book from their bookstore is high quality and exactly what you need based on your level.
There is an iOS and Android app companion to the bookstore that gives you access to audio versions of the available books. A lot of the content is free.
Essential Korean Grammar
ISBN : 978-0804844314
With the name “essential” it can sound basic, but this book goes into a lot of advanced grammar that are not used daily. I use this as a supplement to the good base of TTMIK.
Go! Korean Billy
A website with lots of good free grammar lessons that are organized on this website, but mostly link to YouTube video lessons.
howtostudykorean.com
Another fantastic free grammar source with text grammar lessons that is organized in a very good curriculum that introduces useful vocab in each lesson. Don’t think of this as a simple “grammar supplement” website; this is equal in quality to a serious Korean textbook you would get at a university.
Teuida
An iOS and Android app that gets you to speak Korean when prompted. There will be some scenario usually shown from the 1st person camera perspective, and the app teaches you the proper expressions for the situations and asks you to repeat. Very unique, very polished. This is fantastic for beginners to get useful basic expressions and build confidence speaking. A must-have for self-teaching beginners of Korean. (Pro tip: In my experience, VPNs break this app, so turn yours off when using this)
Infinite Korean
An iOS and Android app that teaches basic vocabulary like fruit, colors, animals, etc. in a game. Good for beginners that do not have basic vocabulary yet.
uTalk
(Disclosure: You can get this deal because of my affiliate status)
Get 30% off any purchase from uTalk. This is a good source of basic vocab. If you don’t want to find the critical vocab on your own through trial and error, uTalk can just give you all the vocab for a certain topic with memorization exercises, games, etc.
Glossika
(Disclosure: You can get this deal because of my affiliate status)
Get a 7-day free trial with my link. This is a AI generated language learning platform that can introduce you to sentences that expose you to grammar and vocab.
Sources of Input
Naver
The Korean competitor to Google. It has mail, news, shopping, etc. Explore and find something that would be interesting input for you. There is also an iOS and Android app.
Naver News
Just one part of the Naver website, but it deserves special attention because this is native-level reading practice.
Naver TV/ Naver Now
Just one part of the Naver website, but it deserves special attention because this is native-level listening practice. There is also an iOS and Android app.
KBS
The Korean public broadcaster. The website has articles, videos, and a livestream for native speakers. The videos and streams are geoblocked outside of Korea, so you will need a VPN for this website.
SBS
One of the major Korean broadcasters. The website has articles, videos, and a livestream for native speakers. The videos and streams are geoblocked outside of Korea, so you will need a VPN for this website.
MBC
One of the major Korean broadcasters. The website has articles, videos, and a livestream for native speakers. The videos and streams are geoblocked outside of Korea, so you will need a VPN for this website.
Surfshark VPN
(Disclosure: You can get this deal because of my affiliate status)
Get 82% off a Surfshark plan plus 2 months free with my link. Very useful for accessing Korean resources and content on streaming platforms or some geoblocked content like KBS, SBS, or MBC.
Viki
A streaming service for Asian dramas from several countries. Has a lot of Korean dramas. They offer a free account with ads. Otherwise, you will have to pay. You can watch with subtitles in many languages, but most importantly Korean subtitles. You can also find it on iOS or Android.
YouTube: SpongeMindTV
Slow, natural Korean conversations. Good input for upper beginners or intermediate learners.
Korean Learning Tools
Naver Dictionary
My favorite Korean dictionary that has example sentences, pictures when necessary, hanja when relevant. This website also has Korean to other language dictionaries like Korean-French, Korean-Japanese, or Korean-Spanish, etc. There is also an iOS and Android app available. I personally like the Hanja dictionary for Korean natives.
Papago
Papago is Naver’s AI translator / Google Translate competitor. It works very well with Korean. There is also an iOS and Android app.
italki
(Disclosure: You can get this deal because of my affiliate status)
Get $10 in italki credits after spending $20. italki is a fantastic platform to find Korean tutors based on your needs. You can find a professional teacher with a strict curriculum, a casual teacher with whom you can have comfortable conversations, or a non-native teacher that can explain the fundamentals in your native language.