If you learn how to read and write first, you'll be bound by the Korean alphabet, and will speak Korean with Chinese accent. For this reason I don't think you should learn the Korean alphabet from the beginning. If you haven't pick up all the Korean alphabet yet, it would be no problem. Don't worry. If you're going to learn Korean by some books for Korean leaners, it could be a bad idea. Some books misinform. As an example of it, we hardly say 'Chun-ma-ne-yo' as an answer in return for 'Go-map-seum-ni-da or Gam-sa-ham-ni-da'. I think it's broken Korean at least in spoken Korean. It's not strange to see it in a foreign movie or TV series with Korean subtitle though, we do not say it in daily life. If you can read Han-geul right now, improving Korean vocabulary is what you do next. http://www.wordshowers.com/index.html, this website wil help you. It's also efficient to watch Korean dramas or movies with Korean script, you can improve Korean vocabulary, pronunciation, listening all in all. And italki has some Korean members including me ;) If you want something more, feel free to contact me. Good luck.

If you grew up speaking English as a native language, then there is probably no more difficult language you could tackle than Korean. If you're willing to expand your mind, learn of a culture with a five thousand year history, understand the most internally violent people that ever complained of frequent invasions and repression, discover that every major invention from the printing press to the ironclad ship was invented first in a small, East Asian kingdom, and figure out why leaving an electric fan turned on in a closed room overnight can kill a person

Thanks Hailey I have downloaded some of the mp3's from www.wordshowers.com and put them on my mp3 player which I can listen to on my free time. I have printed out some of the word lists. I find that site so useful. Thanks a lot!! I like the tips which the site mentions and I totally agree with them. A little every day. That's how I learned Thai and I will apply it to learning Korean.