Korean American Center - Irvine, California

Fernando Alvarez

All teachers here seem to enjoy what they do. If you are absolutely new to Korean I recommend Mrs. Sunny Paek! I really enjoyed learning korean with her and she made it easy to learn the fundamentals. I just finished the beginner level courses and moving on to the intermediate courses and some opinions that I have is that some teachers have different teaching style and the speed of the class can vary on the overall class's understanding. If you find yourself wanting to repeat a course I would do it! Highly recommend this academy.

Rinoa

The Korean classes are so much fun! The teachers are great as are my fellow students. Plus free cultural events, which is so nice. Looking forward to progress more and study on my own time in preparation for the next class!

Michele Karl

I had a really bad experience trying to learn Korean here. English is my second language and the accent of the lead teacher was strong and hard for me to understand, I messaged her a couple of times asking for guidance, and telling her that I needed clarification about somethings but I never got an answer.
The younger teacher spoke very clear and she gave us many tips and ways to learn and understand the sounds. She corrected me when needed and helped me with the right pronunciation, she was amazing, unfortunately she was not in charge.
The methodology is all over the place, I learned more from the book they asked to get that what I learn with the classes.
I emailed the teacher about not wanted to continue because of these things but she never answered anything.

Brian Lee

Overall: 5 Stars
This group is great. The leaders and core members of this group make you feel welcome and you learn a lot here. This started as a Meetup group but now it is so different than any Meetup group you find. They offer three tracks you can go on depending on your level. They have a formal Korean Lesson track where they do Korean language classes from an actual teacher. This track is great for beginners and lets people have somewhere to start other than an expensive language school or at home in Orange County. They have an advanced-beginner Korean Learning track where they focus on more basic Korean conversational skills and more advanced grammar for people who want to improve their Korean beyond the basics. Then they have an advanced track called Korean Language Exchange, in which you will spend the entire time practicing speaking in Korean and sometimes helping Korean nationals to speak English.

The people: 5 Stars
The leadership and the core members are very friendly and the rest of the group are friendly as well. They help you with whatever you need, but you are expected to participate as well. This group can get quite large so you may not be able to meet everyone, but they also hold after group hangouts directly afterwards in where you can meet more people.

The Korean Language Exchange: 4-5 Stars
The reason why its not a straight 5 stars is because this group is all about what you put into it. What I mean is if you participate and get involved with the learning process, you will get a lot out of it. If you just attend and do nothing and just listen, you won't be getting the best experience.

Korean Class: 5 Stars
These are great. Formal instruction in the beginner track and semi-formal instruction in the advanced beginner track. You get a lot out of it.

Organization: 5 Stars
This group seems to really care about promoting Korean language in a non invasive way. You get to understand the language more, learn some interesting factoids on the way, and improve your Korean!

*All tracks are for adults only and focus on language exchange, Korean Lessons, and Korean Classes for adults.

jiang Michelle

KAC is committed to promoting Korean culture, offering Korean courses, and building good relationships with students. As an intern, KAC has provided many opportunities for me to learn and experience new things. At the same time, I am also a student of fundamental class. The teachers are very passionate, and the whole class is full of joy. I highly recommend this school if you’re about learning korean right ways.

Debbie

I have learned so much Korean from OCKACE. There are native Korean speakers there that are willing to help you get to know not only their language, but their culture as well. Thursday nights consist of language learning and exchanges. There are Sunday movie meetups whenever a good Korean movie is showing in Irvine. I've also attended Korean festivals, origami class, study sessions and their annual BBQs with REAL HOMEMADE KOREAN FOOD! Everyone is friendly and I love the "yi cha" or "second round" when we hang out after the meetups, oftentimes creating good, meaningful friendships. OCKACE also offers classes teaching basic Korean 🙂

Ha Rang Seo

I had my Korean Language class here. Teachers are very friendly and knowledgeable. Awesome staffs, clean rooms and welcoming environment. I recommend taking classes here.

Raymond Serna

I love the community this organization has provided me. I came here to learn and practice language, but it has become so much more as I've built friendships here