Reading

I’ve made two additions to the Books page:

Richard Harris’ Roadmap to Korean is a really essential companion to an English-speaker’s study of the language. Harris writes about learning Korean from the perspective of a native English speaker, focusing on elements of the language that are very different. He covers some of the trickier issues that most Korean language courses ignore, like the difference uses of punctuation in English and Korean, the lack of particles, misconceptions about verb conjugation, and the different ways that Korean uses verbs and adjectives.

The book also features details about Korean history and culture that provide essential context. Learn why you might have difficulty gettng your hamburger “your way,” for example. Or, why you should never refer to a woman you like as a “bad girl.”

I love to cook (and eat) so buying a starter Korean cookbook was one of the first things I did when we moved here. Cecelia Hae-Jin Lee’s Eating Korean provides easy-to-follow recipes for a lot of “standard” Korean dishes. So it’s a good introduction to Korean cuisine and culture. The pictures and essays interspersed with the recipes, in which Lee shares detailed memories from her childhood, make this book interesting to read from cover to cover, even when you aren’t cooking. It’s an interesting introduction to the role food and the concept of hospitality plays in Korean households.