Editor’s Note: The following is our honest KoreanClass101 Review. Please note that there are affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend products that we’ve have tested and actually use! The information in this review was last updated October 4, 2024.
Korean is now the 16th most widely spoken language, with about 81 million speakers worldwide. It’s a fascinating language with a unique alphabet and is generally considered a language isolate, meaning that it has no direct connections to any existing languages on Earth.
However, actually choosing a Korean language course can feel a little overwhelming as a quick internet search yields hundreds of results. You may ask yourself which programs are worth your time and money, and will they actually teach you Korean in the most efficient way? That’s why we’ve brought you this in-depth review of one of the most popular language courses out there: KoreanClass101.
We’ve spent hours testing out the program and rigorously putting it through its paces. Read on to discover what we liked and disliked about it, the features we found most useful, and (most importantly) whether we think it’s worth your time and money.
What Is KoreanClass101?
Like the other programs offered by Innovative Language, KoreanClass101 is a language immersion program that features thousands of audio and video lessons, accompanied by detailed written explanations. The program is divided into 5 skill levels—Absolute Beginner to Advanced—and includes a bonus level that delves even deeper into Korean language. For the most part, the content is fun, interesting, and effective.
The program offers a vast encyclopedia of Korean language lessons that can be customized to any pace and skill level. If used daily, we think KoreanClass101 can make you an adept Korean speaker in as little as 6 months!
KoreanClass101 Review Summary
Quality of Materials:
Quantity of Lessons:
Effective and Efficient:
Teaches Useful Korean:
Price:
Overall Score: 4.4
Pros
- Very detailed instruction for every skill level
- Thousands of new lessons have been added over the past 2 years
Cons
- Shares the same problems as the Chinese & Japanese programs: lacks in the instruction of the written language*
- No dedicated speaking practice
*Note: The latest update to the course now includes a dedicated pathway for learning the Hangul Alphabet
Why Learn Korean?
So why learn Korean? It’s the language of the world’s 14th largest economy and one of the most vibrant, diverse, and beautiful peninsulas on the planet. Additionally, knowing Korean will help you better enjoy everyday activities such as listening to K-pop, watching Korean dramas, and savoring some of the most delicious Korean food.
What we liked about KoreanClass101
Thousands of audio and video lessons are neatly organized into your own personal dashboard where you can also track your progress. Each lesson teaches useful, conversational language and the difficulty increases gradually as you progress.
Pro #1: Thousands of Learning Hours
KoreanClass101 provides one of the most complete curriculums for learning Korean that we’ve found—with thousands of hours of content.
The breakdown of the lessons is as follows:
- Absolute Beginner: 1,743 video & audio lessons spread over 25 hours
- Beginner: 1,423 video & audio lessons spread over 35 hours
- Intermediate: 474 video & audio lessons spread over 21 hours
- Upper Intermediate: 247 lessons spread over 15 hours
- Advanced: 311 video & audio lessons spread over 10 hours
- Bonus: 1,594 video & audio lessons
Compared to some of the other language programs we reviewed by Innovative Language that were a bit sparse, we were really happy to see such a wealth of content offered in KoreanClass101.
Pro #2: Build A Solid Foundation In Korean
The Innovative Language team does a great job at helping students really understand the basics of a language, especially with KoreanClass101. The course starts off with the basics: how to count, how to introduce yourself, and how to order at a restaurant. Once the fundamentals are covered, the material starts to expand your vocabulary and understanding of the Korean sentence structure.
Pro #3: The Most Complete Korean Language Learning Program We Know Of
With thousands of lesson plans, a user should have no problem finding new and exciting content to expand their understanding of the Korean language. The lessons also mimic real life scenarios such as ordering at a restaurant or buying a train ticket in Seoul. You won’t find any useless content in this program, as everything has been tailored to address every aspect of social life on the Korean Peninsula.
Pro #4: Deep Dive Into Korean Culture
We all know one of the best ways to learn a new language is to actually surround yourself with native speakers and immerse yourself in the culture by living in the country itself. Unfortunately, this option isn’t practical for many language learners, leaving online courses such as KoreanClass101 as their only choice. For this reason, an integrated cultural focus is something we really take seriously when reviewing language programs, which not only helps you understand the background of the language, but also makes the process much more memorable and enjoyable.
We’re pleased to report that KoreanClass101 gets a huge thumbs up in this category! You can filter all the lessons by ‘Culture’ to focus specifically on cultural topics. Additionally, nearly every lesson includes a dedicated section in the notes that explains cultural insights and how they relate to the language.
The tutors are all native speakers and their passion for Korean culture really shines through during the lessons. Unlike many other language programs, they take every opportunity to share their traditions and societal norms. You’ll dive right into Korea’s energetic k-pop culture, virtually sample the best of Korea’s mouthwatering foods, learn about prominent Korean writers/artists, and feel like a local as you listen to popular radio channels and mainstream YouTubers. It’s about as immersive an online learning program as you can get!
What we didn’t like about KoreanClass101
Con #1: Not Enough Resources For Writing
This program is excellent, but we can’t fully endorse it as a one-stop solution—just as we can’t for the Chinese and Japanese versions—due to its significant lack of explanation and instruction on the Korean writing system.
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, marks a significant departure from the traditional Chinese characters that initially influenced the language. As a result, it is intuitive and easier to learn compared to more complex neighboring languages. That said, learning to read and write Korean may still be difficult for learners coming from a roman language, and we’d like to see a much more detailed breakdown of how to write Hangul.
Important Update: It seems Innovative Language has taken our feedback into consideration and now offers an entirely new lesson pathway that goes through every letter of the Hangul alphabet, it’s pronunciation, and how to write each letter. A much needed update to the program!
What are the lessons like?
Although it may not initially be apparent, there is a definite structure to the program throughout the 5 skill levels and the thousands of audio and video tutorials. Each pathway follows a different overall theme, with each lesson covering a specific set of phrases, vocabulary, or grammar points. Every lesson has an accompanying transcript, learning checklist, and lesson notes which are all fully downloadable.
When you first create your account, you’ll be prompted to take a diagnostic test to determine your level (it’s alright if you don’t get many of the answers correct if you are a complete beginner). You do have to go through all 32 questions before you can unlock the Level 1 course, but it is worth mentioning that you do have complete free reign over which pathway you wish to begin with. You can very easily just go straight to the lesson library and select any lesson pathway that piques your interest. Besides, the official curated pathways are not always the best in our opinion anyway—we recommend first browsing around since the quality and teaching style can vary quite a bit amongst all of the possible lesson pathways.
A typical lesson will follow this structure: First you’ll listen to the podcast or watch the video. This is the fun part as the tutors are really quite energetic and entertaining to listen to. They’ll introduce you to the new language, give you some background about the culture and its meaning, and finally expose you to the language in context—usually through authentic dialogue.
To really drill your pronunciation and reinforce what you’ve learned, it is then recommended to go through the line-by-line transcript for the dialogue. You can listen to each line in isolation at either full or half speed, record your own voice, and compare your pronunciation alongside a native speaker. If any of the grammar or vocabulary is unclear, you can take a look at the lesson notes and the vocabulary section, where you’ll find an audio clip and record yourself feature. Once you’ve completed the lesson you can mark it as complete, take the quiz, and your progress will be updated on your main dashboard.
Extra Features & Vocab Learning Tools
With over 15 years of experience creating language programs just like KoreanClass101, it’s fair to say that Innovative Language has got their learning platform down to a tee. With a whole suite of extra vocabulary tools available, you’ll be pleased to know that there are many different ways of learning available as well as opportunities to add variety to your studies. KoreanClass101 membership comes with full access to:
If you are familiar with Anki or Quizlet then you’ll feel right at home with this learning tool. You can create your own flashcard decks or choose from an existing extensive list of ones that are pre-made.
Similar to the flashcards, you have hundreds of topical vocabulary lists to choose from. Within each list you can listen to the pronunciation, practice yourself or add a word to your word bank.
Here, you can save any new words you’ve learned during the lessons or ones you want to remember. You can assign labels, sync with your flashcards, and export your entire library.
This is a list of the 2000 most common words in Korean. You can filter by category and add words to your word bank/flashcard decks.
You can search any word in Korean or English and you’ll get the Hangul & Roman script, audio clip, and example sentence(s).
If you choose to opt for this service, you’ll receive a daily email with a new word with its context and meaning.
KoreanClass101 Alternatives
The Korean language is worlds away from English, which makes it a language to be respected by new students. We believe any successful language learning program needs to address these three critical areas:
- Korean grammar principles that are taught clearly and succinctly: Korean has a complex system of verbs, politeness levels, and unique grammar.
- It doesn’t ignore Korean’s level of politeness in verb tense: If a course only teaches you formal Korean, you likely won’t be able to understand 90% of what’s being said in conversation—unless you only speak Korean at fancy galas, that is. Effective Korean language software should address the different levels of honorifics.
- It teaches the Korean writing system: While the Korean writing system isn’t nearly as complicated as Japanese or Chinese, it is still fairly difficult. A good Korean course should effectively teach how to read in addition to speaking and understanding.
Recommended KoreanClass101 Alternatives
With these recommendations in mind, we can also confidently recommend Rocket Korean, FluentU, and Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) as effective paid alternatives to KoreanClass101’s programs.
We also suggest Duolingo Korean as a great option for learning the basics. Since it is free, it is a great no-risk place to start learning the language.
How much does KoreanClass101 cost?
KoreanClass101 has three tiers of membership; Basic, Premium & Premium Plus. Anyone considering paying for one of the paid tiers should consider their level of commitment to learning Korean before signing up.
The Pricing for the different levels (as of October 2024) are as follows:
- Basic Membership: $4 per month
- Premium Membership: $10 per month
- Premium Plus Membership: $23 per month
Casual learners may consider the Basic plan while those who want to learn Korean quickly, and are able to make a serious time commitment in order to take advantage of the 1 on 1 instruction will want to purchase the Premium Plus option, as the included 1 on 1 instruction offers great value.
Each Level of membership unlocks a greater amount of features and available lessons:
Use Our Discount Code for 30% Off
After trying KoreanClass101 and realizing we really liked it, we asked Innovative Learning if we could get a discount code for our readers, and they generously gave us a 30% off coupon!
If you click this link, the 30% off will be automatically added to your order:
Or you can check out the free KoreanClass101 Podcast to get a taste of the lesson quality and style.
$1 Sign-up Offer
Upon signing up, you’ll also be offered a full month of premium membership for only $1!
This is a no-brainer for those who are still on the fence and want to try the program out for a longer period of time.
The Secret Lifetime Promotional Offer
While it’s not really advertised on their site, Innovative Learning offers a special one-time payment option for Premium only. At $599 it is expensive, but if you’re someone who hates monthly payments and knows they want to use it for a long time, it might be a good deal.
You can find all the details here:
Depending on how many languages you buy, the price per language can be as low as $44 per language, and you have it forever.
KoreanClass101 Review Conclusion: Worth It?
After trying out many different Korean courses, I would definitely recommend KoreanClass101, but with a caveat: you should still buy a textbook to learn Hangul.
While Korean is an easier language to learn than Chinese or Japanese, it still requires a significant time investment to become fluent. The creators of KoreanClass101 have spent years structuring their program in the most efficient way possible and the work shows. They are constantly adding new lessons, so you’ll never run out of content, and for the most part the teachers are good at keeping you engaged.
We found KoreanClass101 to be a great product and one we very much enjoyed reviewing. Despite it’s small flaws, we are confident in saying it’s one of the best ways to learn Korean out there. We would also recommend supplementing the program with a book that will teach you Hangul, so check out our guide to the best Korean textbooks.
Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.
