Yonsei verse Sogang verse others (best place in Seoul) ?????

[stevy]

Hiya,

I really would like to hear about other people's opinions of studying Korean at institutions in Seoul. I put Yonsei and Sogang in the title because i heard they were the best. For the last seven weeks i've been studying at Yongsei (absolute beginner level 1).

I can say that it is excellent. They have there own books which are professional, colorful and well structured. The teachers know there stuff. There is no joking around just intensive Korean. I can say i'm impressed and i learnt more there, than six months trying to teach myself. It's also great just having a class to go to - you're battling with your classmates because you don't want to be the worst and also you force yourself to go even when you're too tired to study.

Where did you study in Seoul ??? Please tell us about it !!


best

steve

[kyuree]

I would like to know, too!

There's a possibility for me to apply for a scholarship to study Korean in Korea (7-12 months), the application deadline is in a month, they prefer engineers and scientists.

In my class we study by the Sogang series (currently we're at book 3B) but because I never started at 1A (but in Korean school years ago) I often skipped books (or because I wasn't in town for a year) so I'm not sure what my real level is.
I can follow book 3B w/o problems but there are some older topics that I'm not too familiar w/ (though most of my classmates might not be either since they simply forgot them?).
There's a new student in our class. He went to one of the uni's programs to learn Korean, I must admit he's one of the best. He had Korean friends, too, and lived in Seoul for 2x 3months.

What I'm curious about the most is how they teach at these unis? I have most problems talking freely unless I use simply sentences eventhough my listening/writing understanding is waaaay more advanced.
Also when I write I can form more complicated sentenced than when speaking.
So practicing speaking would be important for me.
Normally Asian school systems aren't known for practicing speaking so much..........

My problem is that I'm currently looking for a job (I graduated) and that the scholarship would probably only start in summer but until then I probably found a job that I can't quit so soon...

In the embassay I saw flyers for a summer school at Sogang University (same problem about the time) but you have to pay it yourself (> 2000 $).

Anyone ever did a summer school?

[shanshanchua]

Kyuree: this may be a little off topic, but what do you think of the Sogang text/work books? What's the level like in 3B - intermediate lesson level in KC101?

[kyuree]

Kyuree: this may be a little off topic, but what do you think of the Sogang text/work books? What's the level like in 3B - intermediate lesson level in KC101?

I like the Sogang books but I don't have so many books to compare them to. There's only one book in Germany and it's not so good. I looked at some books in the bookshops in Seoul.
I think Sogang is good cos they have small dialogues, a lot of exercises to the dialogues and independent of the dialogues, too. LIstening comprehension, grammar, cultural tips, reading texts etc.

Grammar-wise I must say I don't get the order they teach you things in. I had a lot to catch up w/ grammarwise and did so w/ KoreanClass101. Now in Sogang 3B most of the new grammatical structures we learn I already learnt in Beginner Season 3/4 or Intermediate KoreanClass101.

My teacher said 3B is the last book (though I saw more books online).

The work books are good. They stress the irregular verbs a lot, there are also exercises for speaking (but we never do them in class) or writing texts.

So I'd say book 3B is intermediate level KoreanClass101 but if you listened to the Lower Intermediate series on here I thought most of those expressions were actually quite advanced for "lower" intermediate (some of them are covered in Sogang 3B).

BTW I wish there was a level between intermediate and advanvced on KoreanClass101. I feel that the new intermediate series is easier than lower intermediate from back then, and advanced... I can understand some of it (60%?, 70%?) but it's actually too difficult for me.

[matthew254]

here's some prior topics that contain some useful information on:

Sogang vs Yonsei:
http://www.koreanclass101.com/forum/vie ... ght=sogang

Short term stay in Korea (summer):
http://www.koreanclass101.com/forum/vie ... ght=sogang

Ewha:
http://www.koreanclass101.com/forum/vie ... light=ewha

Ewha's summer program (personal experience/summary):
http://bug254.livejournal.com/3455.html

Ewha, Yonsei, Sogang schedule of classes 2009:
(jpeg) http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m166 ... /class.jpg
(docx) http://www.box.net/shared/taa1d2ld24

Dave's thread on Sogang vs. Yonsei:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtop ... b5f7f32cc6

hope this helps!

[kyuree]

thanks, matthew!


I really regret forgetting about the last deadline for the scholarship application (which was at the same time like the deadline for my thesis paper...) because it would fit my schedule much better to possibly do such a program now rather than during the summer (jobwise...).

Anyways, reading those threads ppl have constantly praised Sogang, as I said speaking is my main problem and I also like their text/workbooks.

But now the question is: are the Sogang programs based only on their books?
I have their 3A books, currently studying by book 3B, studied by second half of book 2B one year ago. I'm not saying I know everything in the books and repeating would of course do me good...
Does someone know which level books 2B, 3A, 3B would be?

[kyuree]

http://klec.sogang.ac.kr/2000/1000.php

about the levels I'm guessing since there are 6 levels + level 7 culture class that:
book 1A = level 1
book 1B = level 2
book 2A = level 3
book 2B = level 4
book 3A = level 5
book 3B = level 6



That means I'm currently studying at level 6 (which doesn't mean that I'm actually that good... )

[jintana23]

I studied book 2A and 2B about two years ago and ended there. I would like to continue with book 3A and 3B but the school didn't open the class. Anyway, the grammar and reading for 2B are good. But 2A is too easy. I really like their work books, a lot of exercises to practice. I think (like kyuree) when comparing with KC101, 2A and 2B may be equal to beginner session 3 or 4.

[cheri]

I studied at Yonsei and have to say that it's hit or miss, depending on your instructor and classmates. It's very grammar intensive, which I personally think is a good thing, but I don't think we had enough in-class time to speak freely and practice it. The textbooks were ok... while I was there, they seemed to be rushing to come out with new versions so there were mistakes and awkward examples at times. The English explanation isn't always the greatest, either. I highly recommend that you supplement it with "한국어 문법 Korean Grammar for International Learners" (another Yonsei publishing which serves as a great reference tool). However, overall, I thought the program was a great experience.

I had a friend who went to Sogang, and just like everyone else says, the focus is on conversation, so it really depends on what you're looking for. He really enjoyed it and found that his conversation level improved dramatically (compared to his time at Yonsei).

Wherever you go, as a native English speaker, it'll be pretty easy to find one, two, or a few language partners, especially since Yonsei & Sogang are in the heart of Sinchon. ^^

[stevy]

Thanks everyone for writing your thoughts,

If you study at Yongsei make sure you know the alphabet and as much basic vocab as you start.

When I started at Youngsei I just knew the alphabet. I worded hard but some people in the class seemed to know a lot so the pace of the class was too fast for me. I also found that speaking time at Yongsei was limited. Although I found all the grammar structures they went over very helpful.

Anyway I had to quit - i felt i was a little behind and also my work is getting too busy. In the summer i'm going to try Songnai. I think speaking and listening is my weakness so I'll see if that place helps.

Has anyone every gone through the Songnai course ??? How good are you after going through it ???



steve

[HyeonIn]

I'm a current Level 3 Sogang student.

Contrary to what one poster above guessed the levels go like this:

Level 1 Books 1a and 1B
Level 2 Books 2a and 2B
Level 3 Books 3a and 3b
Level 4 Books 4a and 4b
Level 5 Books 5a and 5b
Level 6 Teacher handouts
Level 7 news articles and stuff.

The teaching is excellent. I really enjoy my classes there and we do a lot of conversation. I probably should have gone in to Level 2 (at the level test time the interviewer gave me a choice of Level 2 or 3) so I'm finding level 3 quite tough. I'm not finding learning the grammar points tough, but keeping up with the vocabulary and speaking is difficult.

In my class I am the lowest level student in terms of speaking. Some of the other students would probably sound fluent if you just listened to them talk whereas I stumble a lot and have immense problems making sentences of more than 2 clauses on the fly..

I work as well but luckily I have a decent job at a University so I don't have to work too many hours. I think someone working a hagwan job in the afternoons/evenings would find it very very hard to keep on top of the vocab and homework unless they're perhaps in a level which is somewhat easy for them.

I've previously studied at Sookmyung University (level 2) and Sogang is much much better. There is much more speaking practice and the classes are much more balanced in terms of nationality. At Sookmyung there were 10 young chinese girls then me and a Nepalese guy in my class. At Sogang we have 3 Westerners, a Hong Kongian a couple of chinese and a bunch of Japanese students.

During class time we spend a lot of time making sentences and having conversations using each units vocab and grammar.. we don't spend much time doing 'book work'. Even in the writing class we probably spend 40-50% of the time speaking, then write about the topics we've been speaking about.

I would highly recommend Sogang's program, especially if you're not going to get that much time to practice speaking outside of class due to work commitments or whatever. If one is ONLY studying Korean and can spend the rest of time doing activities with Koreans, or living with them then I guess the speaking focus of the course wouldn't be so important to you, but in my situation I really don't get much of a chance to speak outside of class so the fact we spend so much time speaking in class is really helpful to me.

I listen to Koreanclass101.com in my car between home, Sogang, and work ^^

[HyeonIn]

Oh and one other piece of information that might be of interest:

People who have graduated from Yonsei's Level 6 quite often transfer to Sogang to work on their speaking skills. They generally test into Level 4 of Sogang due to the fact that their speaking skills aren't good enough for a higher level, despite knowing more Korean grammar than their Sogang teachers haha.

[kyuree]

I'm a current Level 3 Sogang student.

Contrary to what one poster above guessed the levels go like this:

Level 1 Books 1a and 1B
Level 2 Books 2a and 2B
Level 3 Books 3a and 3b
Level 4 Books 4a and 4b
Level 5 Books 5a and 5b
Level 6 Teacher handouts
Level 7 news articles and stuff.

Yeah I figured that out in another thread.

You must be rushing through the books.

[HyeonIn]

I'm a current Level 3 Sogang student.

Contrary to what one poster above guessed the levels go like this:

Level 1 Books 1a and 1B
Level 2 Books 2a and 2B
Level 3 Books 3a and 3b
Level 4 Books 4a and 4b
Level 5 Books 5a and 5b
Level 6 Teacher handouts
Level 7 news articles and stuff.

Yeah I figured that out in another thread.

You must be rushing through the books.

Perhaps.

I think in terms of vocab, there is a lot to learn but I don't know how that compares to other Universities. I get the impression that Yonsei for example learns a lot more vocab.

In terms of grammar what we study is 2 units of each book per week. We spend 2 days per unit and have a review day once a week. Each unit has 2 or 3 grammar points. So we learn 4-5 grammar points per week. I don't think this is a lot.. the grammar points aren't the hard bit for me. The vocab is probably the hardest thing for me to keep on top of.

I don't feel we rush through the books at all, I think Sogang has a more steady pace which allows you to practice and learn to use what you learn than other universities do.