Korea Now! A Korean Language Reader (9780804858878)

Learn about contemporary Korea while improving your language skills!

KOREA NOW! A Korean Language Reader contains 20 fascinating stories about contemporary Korean society in parallel Korean and English versions on facing pages. The stories are graded from beginner to intermediate level and are by two experts in Korean culture and language learning, Gigi Choi and Alex Runchman.

The range of fascinating topics covered in this book include:

• The Hallyu Wave: A brief history of K-Pop and how it became a worldwide phenomenon
• "Nunchi" and other Cultural Differences: In which the authors share some secrets about their cross-cultural marriage, particularly the importance of the uniquely Korean concept of nunchi (the art of understanding what others are thinking)
• Korean Words in the English Dictionary: Mukbang, Dalgona, Maknae…if you don't know these yet, you need to; the global boom in Korean popular culture has made them English language staples!
• Coming to You: A review of a fascinating Korean documentary film about a support group for parents whose children identify as LGBTQ+
• "Crash Landing on You:" An exploration of how this popular K-Drama challenges outdated stereotypes of North Koreans

Each story is illustrated with B&W photos and accompanied by a vocabulary list, cultural notes, exercises and discussion questions making this perfect for self-study or classroom use as well as for general readers who are interested in learning more about Korea. Free online audio recordings are available for both language versions of the stories!


About the Author:
Husband-and-wife team Gigi Choi and Alex Runchman are language-teaching academics. Choi is a native-Korean speaker, born in Korea, and currently works as a teaching associate in Korean at Sheffield University in the UK. Runchman works as lecturer and assistant professor in English for Academic Purposes at the Centre for English and Global Languages, University College Dublin, Ireland. This is their first book.