"Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things."
Flora Lewis
No matter which language you're learning, listening and speaking is an essential part of it. Almost every language in the world has a spoken form and a written form, with an active and a passive way to use it.
For the written form, you need to learn how to read and write in Korean, which includes understanding hangul, the writing system used exclusively by the Korean language.
To work on your listening skills, it can help to consume as much media as possible in Korean, including Korean music, cinema, TV, and the topic of today's article, podcasts.
Here are some of the podcasts that we recommend for anyone wanting to learn how to speak Korean as well as how to get the most out of the podcasts you use as part of your language-learning journey.
Choisusu's Korean Podcast
Choisusu is a Korean teacher who makes YouTube and podcast content for people wanting to learn the Korean language online.
The podcast is available on both ChoiSusu's YouTube channel as well as via Spotify or your podcast app of choice.
The episodes start with beginner's Korean podcast episodes so we'd recommend starting right at the very beginning.
Since these podcasts are fully in Korean, they're not recommended for absolute beginners, but once you've started getting to grips with the Korean language, then this would be a nice way to listen to the language.
Fortunately, the YouTube versions offer subtitles in English that you can follow along with as well as Korean subtitles within the video itself.
You can also download the PDF of each episode so the best way to enjoy this podcast is by watching the YouTube version first, familiarising yourself with the dialogue and vocabulary first, and then listening to the audio-only podcast version.
Korean Champ / English in Korean
The Korean Champ podcast has been idle for over a decade now, but that doesn't mean that you can't go through the podcast archives and learn some useful Korean vocabulary and phrases.
Michael Elliott's podcast is more for intermediate and advanced users of the Korean language and his YouTube channel (also idle) has a few videos that language learners may find interesting.
Michael also runs the EnglishInKorean YouTube channel which includes the EiK podcast. This has been more recently updated and is more active than Korean Champ, but both are YouTube channels and podcasts that are worth subscribing to if you'd like to learn more about the Korean language.
Korean Listening Practice
The Korean Listening Practice podcast from Subin Kim is great for those completely new to the language.
The host purposely speaks slowly and clearly so that beginners have a better chance of understanding the content.
On the StudyKoreanwithSol YouTube channel, you can also find transcripts and translations for the podcast episodes or you can watch them directly on YouTube or you could translate them with these translation apps.
Much like with Choisusu's Korean Podcast, we recommend starting with all the extra resources on the YouTube channel, getting used to the host's voice, intonation, and the vocabulary used in each episode, and finally listening to the audio-only version of the podcast.
KoreanClass101
The KoreanClass101.com podcast, which is known as Learn Korean or Learn Korean Free, covers a range of different topics in Korean including introducing yourself in Korean, why you should study Korean, Korean sentence structure, and a range of other interesting topics on the language.
In addition to the episodes on Korean linguistics, grammar, essential phrases, etc., there are also episodes specifically for both absolute beginners and beginners.
You can also use these podcast episodes in conjunction with the resources on the KoreanClass101 website like other lessons, flashcards, dictionaries, key Korean phrases, and common word lists.
Want to learn with the help of a qualified tutor? Find a Korean language course Melbourne here on Superprof!
Learn Korean the Easy Way
Learn Korean the Easy Way can be found on Spotify, where the episodes have actually been uploaded as songs rather than podcast episodes.
This won't affect your experience much other than you can't "subscribe" to the short course and instead will have to listen to each of the episodes as if they were a song on an album.
There are 9 episodes or chapters of varying lengths. Some of the episodes are over an hour long while there are shorter episodes that are less than 15 minutes in length.
While the course is quite dry, this is closer to your typical language course that older readers (sorry!) will recognise from cassette tapes and CDs.
There are plenty of opportunities during the sessions for you to repeat after the host and if this is a learning approach that has worked for you in the past, then Learn Korean the Easy Way from the Language Superstar might be worth checking out.
Let’s Learn Korean with K-mama
The Let's Learn Korean with K-mama has over 150 episodes and at the time of writing, was most recently updated at the start of the year.
There's a good variety of episodes covering Korean grammar, the history of the language, learning Korean through K-drama, and specific vocabulary including work, law, money, finance, describing people, and almost anything else you could think of in Korean.
Namuori Korean
The Korean Podcast for Beginners by Namuori Korean (or the Namuori Korean Podcast) is available on podcast apps, Spotify, and YouTube.
The YouTube channel also features playlists for Korean vocab, learning Korean with K-pop lyrics, writing a diary in Korean, and useful Korean phrases.
In case you were wondering, Namuori means wooden duck, and the channel clearly positions itself in opposition to Duolingo, which uses a green owl as their mascot.
Sponge Mind
The SpongeMind Podcast is a bilingual show in English and Korean with the goal of inspiring language learners.
You can find transcripts and translations for the episodes, which makes them great for active study, which you should be doing with every podcast episode you listen to, especially when you first start learning Korean.
Talk To Me In Korean
Talk to Me in Korean is more than just the podcast, which has been running since 2009, so there are plenty of podcast episodes for you to listen to.
Since starting over a decade ago, the podcast now has over 100 episodes and is currently being updated weekly so if you want to catch up, you best get started now.
The Talk to Me in Korean website (it's one of our favourite websites for learning Korean) also offers courses, books, and other resources. There are lessons, lesson notes, sample dialogue videos, reviews, and quizzes. You should be aware that a lot of these resources, unlike the podcast, aren't free.
TAYONI
Tayoni is a content creator with a YouTube channel and Tayoni's Korean Podcast. The latter can be found on all good podcasting apps, websites, and Spotify.
Tayoni's podcast episodes can also be found on the YouTube channel complete with an on-screen transcript and subtitles in English.
As always, start with as much support as available and progressively move away from using the transcript and subtitles as your Korean language skills improve.
The same approach should be used with any Korean media. With Korean movies and TV shows, you can start with English subtitles to help you understand, but your goal should be to shift to Korean subtitles and ultimately, no subtitles at all if your hearing is good enough.
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How to Use Podcasts to Learn Korean
To get the most out of listening to podcasts to learn Korean, you should consider actively learning, rather than simply passively listening to each podcast episode.
For podcasts that are in English and Korean, there'll likely be a lesson structure or key information that you should note down and study once you've finished listening to the episode.
During podcasts that are exclusively in Korean, it can help to note down words you don't understand, rewind and relisten to parts you struggle with, and even practise repeating key phrases and sections.
If you need further help with your Korean, it's a good idea to complement these podcasts with other resources like Korean language apps, traditional language classes, or even working with a private Korean tutor.
There are plenty of Korean tutors in Australia and around the world on the Superprof website so feel free to take a look at the profiles of those who may help you to achieve fluency in Korean.
You can learn with a tutor either in person, online, or as part of a group. Each type of tutoring comes with advantages and disadvantages.
Generally, face-to-face tutoring is the most expensive but also the most cost-effective since every minute of every session is spent focusing on you, the student.
Online tutoring tends to be cheaper than face-to-face tutoring since the tutors don't usually have to travel anywhere and they can schedule more sessions each week.
Last but certainly not least, group tutoring provides cheaper tutoring as every student is contributing to paying for the tutor's time and expertise. With languages, having multiple students in a tutorial can be useful as there are opportunities to practise with your fellow learners.
At the end of the day, however, it's up to you to choose which learning approaches work for you, how you like to learn, and your budget.
Discover the perfect Korean class on Superprof.
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