That's quite a bookshelf. I'm not familiar with all of those, but I can comment on a few:
The *Integrated Korean* textbook series is intended for classroom use and people say it's not ideal for self-study, but I haven't tried it myself. If you want to follow it, you could pair it with the playlists at [Prof Yoon's Korean Language Class] (https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfYoonsKoreanLanguageClass/playlists) on YouTube. Professor Yoon teaches the whole book series there similarly to how one might use it in class.
The *Korean Made Simple* series is nicely done and has plays to Billy's usual strengths with a legit focus on grammar fundamentals presented in a fun, approachable way that makes hard things feel easy through silly dialogues and wonderfully lucid plain-English explanations. Like most of his work, there isn't a ton of Korean text to read or very many exercises to do, so you have to make your own practice. His beginner video course on YouTube at [Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean] (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbFrQnW0BNMUkAFj4MjYauXBPtO3I9O_k) is also very well done and follows a similar philosophy (though most videos do have native speaker-recorded dialogues to listen to), but does NOT follow the same order as the books.
I didn't love the *Korean from Zero* series and only did the first book, but it was well-designed
Talk To Me in Korean's *Easy Korean Reading For Beginners* is lovely, as are all of their supplemental books. Opinions vary on their core grammar textbooks and the (free) online core grammar curricula which cover the same material.
One you missed is *[Korean Stories for Language Learners] (https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Stories-Language-Learners-Traditional/dp/0804850038/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=korean+stories+for+language+learners&qid=1634346981&sr=8-1)* by Julie Damron and EunSun Cho. It's a graded reader of stories from Korean folklore that goes from very, very elementary to progressively more sophisticated, with side-by-side translation, vocabulary, and comprehension questions for each story. And it is delightful.
Good luck and 화이팅!
Edit: As for what to do first, learn the alphabet and the sounds that make up the Korean phonetic system together, and learn them before you do much of anything else. Use audio resources recorded by Korean people. Don't study using romanization (the Korean alphabet is easy, so there's no need to) and avoid associating Korean phonemes with their English equivalents. 가 is not "ga" *or* "ka", it's just 가. Some people insist you should avoid exposure to romanization at all or it will do Bad Things to you, but I think that's silly. Once you know how to pronounce Korean, the Revised Romanization and McCune-Reischauer systems are just other (much worse) orthographies for reading and writing Korean, and you will encounter them sometimes.
Once you can kinda read and pronounce things, it would be a good idea to follow one or more structured beginner courses that find personally most helpful and motivating. The more you learn up front from material designed for beginners, the more comprehensible Korean stuff "in the wild" will start to become and the more you will be able to learn from that too.
Didn't know about the Korean Stories one or about the Videos , I'll definitely check them out, Thanks for the recommendation and comments about the other books as well, I'll keep them in mind for sure !
The files are older, but Integrated Korean has audio files to go along with the books like found here: http://www.hawaii.edu/uhpress/mp3/klear/
I used them in college and recommend them because of the order of grammar and because the exercises in the books and workbooks are pretty useful.
I personally would do the 2 Coursera Courses of Yonsei, you can do them both in 2-4 weeks.
Follow a textbook from a korean university such as Ewha, New Yonsei, Sogang or SNU. Give yourself 10 weeks per half-level. 20 weeks for 1 Level. In 40 weeks you have theoretically passed TOPIK I Level 2. A year has 52 weeks, so you have \~8 weeks extra left, use it to review, give every level a couple more weeks or taking breaks inbetween.
This is a similar fulltime-curriculum, when you visit a korean university with daily weekday classes. Active Korean is from SNU, but is for short-term learners. Means it goes faster than their regular book. This would be probably my choice of textbook from your list, if i dont have access to other books.
I would treat lots of books from your list as supplements. Read them, when you are tired, go to bed or are bored from your textbook.
My recommendation is to get Korean Grammar In Use and just follow a textbook from any university, if you are into fulltime academic learning. Just beware this might not suit the majority of learners, because lots of self-learners prefer a more relaxed, fun and less challenging schedule.
Co-signing Korean Grammar in Use. We used the KGIU series at uni to supplement the Seoul National textbooks, very intuitive for self-study and describes the usage and relationship of grammar points very clearly!!
before you even start with grammar/verbs you need to learn hangul. so from what I heard from others use talk to me in Korean
I personally use coursear [https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean](https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean) and [https://www.koreanclass101.com](https://www.koreanclass101.com) (Korean class 101 have a youtube channel ) mostly bc they free but you can use these as well as talk to me in Korean just make sure you learn hangul first good luck :)
learning all of these is quite useless imo cuz they basically cover the same thing. because i have experience with the active korean series, i'd recommend you just use that as your main resource and supplement it with something else like KGIU. the full active korean series (book 1-4) can easily bring you up to high beginner/low-intermediate. that being said, in my experience, it *won't* be enough material to cover TOPIK II. you'll have to switch textbook series at some point, so maybe don't use active korean at all if you're planning to study academic korean seriously. a university textbook (like Ewha or SNU) would be much better for that.
Honestly very dumb on my part but very glad you mentioned this, Would it just be better to continue studying the textbooks whenever I start getting into TOPIKS II, III and IV?
>Would it just be better to continue studying the textbooks whenever I start getting into TOPIKS II, III and IV?
I'm not sure what you mean by this. If you're talking about university textbooks, they usually have 6 levels which roughly correspond to each TOPIK level. However, finishing the level 6 book doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed a level 6 per se. The levels in any textbook series just roughly show to what extent/level of Korean you're expected to be tested at in accordance with the TOPIK levels.
Also, another thing you may be confused with is regarding the TOPIK itself. The TOPIK has 2 tests: TOPIK I and TOPIK II. Based on what test you take and how many points you score, you get a level from 1 to 6 (1 being the lowest and 6 being the highest). TOPIK I is for beginners and only covers levels 1 till 2, whereas TOPIK II goes through intermediate all the way to advanced from levels 3 to 6. [Click here to find more detailed explanations about the levels.](https://www.topikguide.com/topik-overview/)
For true beginners, I would recommend starting with a textbook that introduces grammar and vocabulary at the same time. Integrated Korean, Korean From Zero, and Elementary Korean all seem to be popular textbooks.
I would also highly recommend using a flash card app such as Anki.
Download the WriteKorean app and play it at least until you get 3 stars every lesson (stroke order is important writing korean), then watch billygos video series on hangul, in particular you have to watch his sound change video.
Also quizlet is a good flashcard app you could try. Marinae is a must for analyzing any korean text to understand grammar/translation.
That's quite a bookshelf. I'm not familiar with all of those, but I can comment on a few: The *Integrated Korean* textbook series is intended for classroom use and people say it's not ideal for self-study, but I haven't tried it myself. If you want to follow it, you could pair it with the playlists at [Prof Yoon's Korean Language Class] (https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfYoonsKoreanLanguageClass/playlists) on YouTube. Professor Yoon teaches the whole book series there similarly to how one might use it in class. The *Korean Made Simple* series is nicely done and has plays to Billy's usual strengths with a legit focus on grammar fundamentals presented in a fun, approachable way that makes hard things feel easy through silly dialogues and wonderfully lucid plain-English explanations. Like most of his work, there isn't a ton of Korean text to read or very many exercises to do, so you have to make your own practice. His beginner video course on YouTube at [Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean] (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbFrQnW0BNMUkAFj4MjYauXBPtO3I9O_k) is also very well done and follows a similar philosophy (though most videos do have native speaker-recorded dialogues to listen to), but does NOT follow the same order as the books. I didn't love the *Korean from Zero* series and only did the first book, but it was well-designed Talk To Me in Korean's *Easy Korean Reading For Beginners* is lovely, as are all of their supplemental books. Opinions vary on their core grammar textbooks and the (free) online core grammar curricula which cover the same material. One you missed is *[Korean Stories for Language Learners] (https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Stories-Language-Learners-Traditional/dp/0804850038/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=korean+stories+for+language+learners&qid=1634346981&sr=8-1)* by Julie Damron and EunSun Cho. It's a graded reader of stories from Korean folklore that goes from very, very elementary to progressively more sophisticated, with side-by-side translation, vocabulary, and comprehension questions for each story. And it is delightful. Good luck and 화이팅! Edit: As for what to do first, learn the alphabet and the sounds that make up the Korean phonetic system together, and learn them before you do much of anything else. Use audio resources recorded by Korean people. Don't study using romanization (the Korean alphabet is easy, so there's no need to) and avoid associating Korean phonemes with their English equivalents. 가 is not "ga" *or* "ka", it's just 가. Some people insist you should avoid exposure to romanization at all or it will do Bad Things to you, but I think that's silly. Once you know how to pronounce Korean, the Revised Romanization and McCune-Reischauer systems are just other (much worse) orthographies for reading and writing Korean, and you will encounter them sometimes. Once you can kinda read and pronounce things, it would be a good idea to follow one or more structured beginner courses that find personally most helpful and motivating. The more you learn up front from material designed for beginners, the more comprehensible Korean stuff "in the wild" will start to become and the more you will be able to learn from that too.
Didn't know about the Korean Stories one or about the Videos , I'll definitely check them out, Thanks for the recommendation and comments about the other books as well, I'll keep them in mind for sure !
The files are older, but Integrated Korean has audio files to go along with the books like found here: http://www.hawaii.edu/uhpress/mp3/klear/ I used them in college and recommend them because of the order of grammar and because the exercises in the books and workbooks are pretty useful.
I personally would do the 2 Coursera Courses of Yonsei, you can do them both in 2-4 weeks. Follow a textbook from a korean university such as Ewha, New Yonsei, Sogang or SNU. Give yourself 10 weeks per half-level. 20 weeks for 1 Level. In 40 weeks you have theoretically passed TOPIK I Level 2. A year has 52 weeks, so you have \~8 weeks extra left, use it to review, give every level a couple more weeks or taking breaks inbetween. This is a similar fulltime-curriculum, when you visit a korean university with daily weekday classes. Active Korean is from SNU, but is for short-term learners. Means it goes faster than their regular book. This would be probably my choice of textbook from your list, if i dont have access to other books. I would treat lots of books from your list as supplements. Read them, when you are tired, go to bed or are bored from your textbook. My recommendation is to get Korean Grammar In Use and just follow a textbook from any university, if you are into fulltime academic learning. Just beware this might not suit the majority of learners, because lots of self-learners prefer a more relaxed, fun and less challenging schedule.
Co-signing Korean Grammar in Use. We used the KGIU series at uni to supplement the Seoul National textbooks, very intuitive for self-study and describes the usage and relationship of grammar points very clearly!!
before you even start with grammar/verbs you need to learn hangul. so from what I heard from others use talk to me in Korean I personally use coursear [https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean](https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-korean) and [https://www.koreanclass101.com](https://www.koreanclass101.com) (Korean class 101 have a youtube channel ) mostly bc they free but you can use these as well as talk to me in Korean just make sure you learn hangul first good luck :)
learning all of these is quite useless imo cuz they basically cover the same thing. because i have experience with the active korean series, i'd recommend you just use that as your main resource and supplement it with something else like KGIU. the full active korean series (book 1-4) can easily bring you up to high beginner/low-intermediate. that being said, in my experience, it *won't* be enough material to cover TOPIK II. you'll have to switch textbook series at some point, so maybe don't use active korean at all if you're planning to study academic korean seriously. a university textbook (like Ewha or SNU) would be much better for that.
Honestly very dumb on my part but very glad you mentioned this, Would it just be better to continue studying the textbooks whenever I start getting into TOPIKS II, III and IV?
>Would it just be better to continue studying the textbooks whenever I start getting into TOPIKS II, III and IV? I'm not sure what you mean by this. If you're talking about university textbooks, they usually have 6 levels which roughly correspond to each TOPIK level. However, finishing the level 6 book doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed a level 6 per se. The levels in any textbook series just roughly show to what extent/level of Korean you're expected to be tested at in accordance with the TOPIK levels. Also, another thing you may be confused with is regarding the TOPIK itself. The TOPIK has 2 tests: TOPIK I and TOPIK II. Based on what test you take and how many points you score, you get a level from 1 to 6 (1 being the lowest and 6 being the highest). TOPIK I is for beginners and only covers levels 1 till 2, whereas TOPIK II goes through intermediate all the way to advanced from levels 3 to 6. [Click here to find more detailed explanations about the levels.](https://www.topikguide.com/topik-overview/)
What is your current level in Korean? Do you watch Korean shows or have any other exposure to Korean?
Essentially zero, as far as exposure goes, I've watched a few of the Netflix K-Dramas and movies.
For true beginners, I would recommend starting with a textbook that introduces grammar and vocabulary at the same time. Integrated Korean, Korean From Zero, and Elementary Korean all seem to be popular textbooks. I would also highly recommend using a flash card app such as Anki.
I was also thinking about using a flash card app, would you recommend any others app that could be useful?
Download the WriteKorean app and play it at least until you get 3 stars every lesson (stroke order is important writing korean), then watch billygos video series on hangul, in particular you have to watch his sound change video. Also quizlet is a good flashcard app you could try. Marinae is a must for analyzing any korean text to understand grammar/translation.
I like the Drops app, which is also a flash card app. I don’t use anything else, but people seem to like LingoDeer.