With some work and a combination of sources, you can actually get to a fairly conversational level of speaking/writing within a year. I and many others I know have done it. Just hang in there because it gets a little tough after the beginner phase. Be sure to drop by /r/korean's irc channel(http://webchat.snoonet.org/korean) if you have any questions.
If you're willing to spend some money the Integrated Korean books are a very good source. http://www.amazon.com/Integrated-Korean-Beginning-Textbooks-...
Reddit's /r/korean has a very nice thread full of beginner resources. http://www.reddit.com/r/Korean/comments/rq3th/the_ultimate_b...
With some work and a combination of sources, you can actually get to a fairly conversational level of speaking/writing within a year. I and many others I know have done it. Just hang in there because it gets a little tough after the beginner phase. Be sure to drop by /r/korean's irc channel(http://webchat.snoonet.org/korean) if you have any questions.