Resources for Learning Korean Through Chinese
I’m not currently learning Korean, but in the future I want to learn it through Mandarin Chinese. This is called laddering (learning a new language through another language you speak at an advanced level). Even thought Korean and Chinese are not related languages, I think the amount of Sino-Korean vocabulary would make laddering these two languages really interesting! This is a (non-exhaustive) list of some resources I’ve found:
Lingodeer I’m sure many of you have heard of this app before. Obviously you can learn Korean through English, but there is also an option to learn in through Chinese (traditional).
Eggbun Korean This is another app. I’m not sure if all the course content is available in Chinese, but at least some is!
How to Study Korean I think everyone knows this site. Unfortunately, it looks like only Unit 1 is available in Chinese. It’s still a good start--hopefully more lessons will be translated soon.
Darakwon Practical Korean This series consists of 6 books total. However, I believe the last book has not been published yet. As the title suggests, these textbooks focus on practical conversational Korean.
Darakwon Master Korean This series has 6 levels, but levels 1-4 are split into 2 books each. Currently, book 6 is not out yet. From what I can tell, the difference between Master Korean and Practical Korean is that Master Korean more closely follows the TOPIK exam and has less emphasis on conversational language.
Darakwon Korean Grammar in Use This is a very well-known textbook series. There are 3 books total focusing entirely on grammar. Each level should roughly correspond to 2 levels of a standard textbook (ie. the beginner book should cover grammar from levels 1-2 of a textbook like Master Korean). Thus, you will need other resources to learn vocabulary.
Darakown 2000 Essential Korean Words So far this series has 2 levels, beginner and intermediate. Unlike the books above, there is not a dedicated Chinese translation of these books. Instead, the book has side-by-side translations in English, Japanese, and Chinese.
Ewha Korean The Ewha books are also split into 6 levels. Levels 1-3 are split up into 2 books each. There are separate workbooks available. I’ve seen this series recommended for self-study because of the separate study guide booklets you can buy.
Ganada Korean for Foreigners Ganada is a Korean language school that also publishes its own textbooks. I am not very familiar with this series, but I have heard good things from people who use it.
Yonsei Korean Yonsei has sooo many textbook series. The classic Yonsei series is available in Chinese. I believe the newer edition textbooks are, too. Not all of the Chinese versions are listed on Yonsei Press’ website, but I believe you can get them on TwoChois. Or you could try searching 延世韩国语, which is the name of the series in Chinese.
Sogang Korean This well-known series is also translated into Chinese. I’ve linked the twoChois listings above because I couldn’t find an official university press page.
**Note that for many of the textbooks listed above, the advanced books actually written in Korean without Chinese translations.
There are also some Korean textbooks available only in Chinese. I would imagine these books are much harder to find outside of China, but I’ll list them below:
标准韩国语 (Biaozhun Hanguoyu) - Peking University
新标准韩国语 (Xin Biaozhun Hanguoyu) - Kyung Hee University
首尔大学韩国语 (Shou’er Daxue Hanguoyu) - Seoul National University I know SNU has a popular Korean textbook series in English, but to my knowledge, this series is separate, not a translation of the English series.















