Lifehacker did a short review of ProVoc, a free application for Mac that helps you learn a new language.
ProVoc is by far the most feature-rich, free language learning tool I’ve seen. With free vocabulary downloads, audio and video integration, several ways to practice and learn your vocabulary, and even iPod integration, this app looks like a must-have for anyone trying to improve their vocabulary or learn another language. To really get an idea of how it works, check out the videos on the ProVoc features page. I’m thoroughly impressed. ProVoc is freeware (donations accepted), Mac OS X only.
I just downloaded it and opened the Korean vocabulary exercises. So far, it looks pretty cool. I like the test features because you have to be able to read Korean (Hangul) to take them. This isn’t a super beginner program.
This is the vocabulary section for “Time.” A bigger screen shot of the above can be seen HERE.
1) The Korean is displayed and you have to type in the answer. 2) The English is display and you choose the best answer out of three.
What I really want to do is study Spanish, but I guess I should study Korean first, since I live in the country. 
July 10th, 2007 at July 10, 2007 - 11:06 am
Once you decide to finally learn Spanish you’ll realize just how easy it is to learn for an English speaker.
Studying Japanese made me realize how simple French was. There are so many similar words and you can often work out the root of word by comparing to English. No such luck with Korean or Japanese
July 11th, 2007 at July 11, 2007 - 8:16 am
but Korean is easy to learn from a vocab point of view if you already know Chinese. I guess there must be some linkage with Vietnamese too. I don’t know anything about Laotian, do you have Chinese loan-words in Laotian?
July 13th, 2007 at July 13, 2007 - 11:52 pm
If I think about it, there are some Lao words that are borrowed from Chinese, but not much. There are probably more, but I know hardly any Chinese.
July 14th, 2007 at July 14, 2007 - 9:09 am
Now there’s a topic for a dissertation. Something along the lines of relative ease of learning other asian language based on number of and pronounciation of chinese loan words in mother tongue language.
In my experience, I found it quite easy to guess Korean words having previously studied mandarin. I know how the various pinyin sounds are going to be pronounced in Korean, although my wife says I end up talking like an academic paper sometimes. I would imagine it is fairly easy for Koreans to learn Cantonese. My Cantonese is very limited but my observation is that Korean chinese words are close in pronounciation to Cantonese pronounciation…
August 7th, 2007 at August 7, 2007 - 4:24 am
thank you
kamsahhaminda