I've recently began studying Korean. On my time, when I have time to spare. I don't have money for classes because I'm in college, & that takes my income.

I did take 1 Japanese class at my college, so I understand the basics of sentence structure.

So what I was wondering is, what is the best approach to learn Korean?
Should I learn to read , or write first, or should I learn the english written korean, or just memorize a bunch of vocab etc...


Also, what are some good ways to find some Korean friends. Not many are around my college (if any), and I am not working at the moment, so no large spare amount of money to go spend on expensive places.
I live in the Rhode Island area, so if you can localize some advice, that would be awesome.
I go to a tech college doing IT, and there are no such clubs :/

watch korean dramas!!
they help a lot.
you should learn to read and write korean.
it would just be a hell lot easier for you when you're learning the vocab. and the grammar.

to find kroaen friends... you might want to join the korean club. i'm sure they have one at your shcool.

Listen to http://www.koreanclass101.com , it's a free podcast for learning Korean. They have new lessons every day, which is just what one needs for learning a language. I subscribe in iTunes, but you can go to the site or use any RSS reader to listen to lessons.

There are a lot of price tags on the site, but the mp3s are always free.

Good luck! ???!

I think since the writing system (Han Geul) is so easy to learn, I'd learn that as quickly as possible.

Some books I recommend are obviously a good dictionary, "Making Out in Korean" by Peter Constantine (Publisher: Tuttle, 2004), "Intergrated Korean: Beginning 1" (University of Hawaii Press, 2000) and a phrase book (like Lonely planet).

Don't know your area, but you could try to find a Korean restaurant or supermarket, and put a note up. Say you'll help someone with their English in return for some Korean. You could also put one up at university.

Learning a bit of Korean history and culture, and trying the food will also show your genuine interest. I find being polite goes a long way with Korean people (but I guess that applies to most people ;) )