Korean Language

I was planning on posting about my Korean class, but figured that beforehand it would be good to put up info on the Korean language.  Not that I can teach you much, but I find it to be quite interesting.

No, Korea is not part of China

Most Americans know nothing about Korean language, let alone the country.  Before leaving the States a few friends, or rather acquaintances, asked me whether I would be teaching in North or South Korea.  And, although it may be hard to believe, my social circle is well informed compared to the average American.  Other teachers I know in Korea got asked questions such as, “Oh, what part of China is Korea in?” “what language do they speak?” and, the best one I’ve heard, “why do you want to teach in Africa?”  I really hope that these responses aren’t common and just the outliers that make for humorous conversation.

Regarding knowledge of the language I wasn’t much better than many of my friends back home.  I didn’t even know that Korean was, unlike Chinese, based on an alphabet (as opposed to characters).  Koreans used to write with Chinese characters until King Sejong promulgated the alphabet in 1446.  Centuries later Chinese characters were still used by the literati and educated class, although the practice has since gone out of style.  The Korean alphabet is quite easy to learn.  Here is a simple example:

ᄒ is the letter which represents an “h” sound such as in hot

ᄂ is similar to “n” such as in name

ᅡ resembles “a” in the word arm

So the word 하나, which means one, is pronounced hanna (or kind of like “hah nah”).  There are actually two different counting systems, but I think that trying to explain it would just make things a bit too complicated!

I will include a list of all the Korean letters in case you are interested.  Each letter is combined with another (or several more) to make a grouping comparable to a syllable in English.  There are loads of borrowed words in Korean that, once you can read the alphabet, suddenly become clear to you.  Things not endemic to Korea, such as coffee, computer, download, almond, etc are borrowed and sound nearly the same in English and Korean.  It is funny to see a movie add and sound out the letters to find out that it is for Borne Legacy or The Avengers.

Of course learning the alphabet has numerous practical uses like recognizing names of subway and bus stops, reading common foods on a menu, and recognizing store signs.  If you don’t know much Korean vocabulary it can still be hard to get around, but it is a good start.

I was surprised to learn that some teachers don’t even take the time to learn the alphabet.  It would take even a slow learner less than a week of practice and seems to be the least one could do to try and fit in.  Knowledge of Korean isn’t necessary to get by in Seoul, but I have certainly been to more English friendly destinations.  If you walk into a café in Amsterdam – and I mean a regular café – the cashier will know Dutch, mostly likely English and German, and possibly another language or two (well that is probably true of a special café as well!).

Hope you know a bit of Korean!

Contrast that with Seoul – before I learned the alphabet I could only point the menu items.  Many servers don’t know simple words such as “water” or “soup.”  In touristy parts of the city it can be different, and English learning is also more widespread amongst my generation.  Oddly enough it is the people that are most likely to interact with tourists (servers at restaurants, bus and taxi drivers, cashiers at a supermarket) who know very little English.

I guess that is enough of the rambling about Korean.  Although I wish I knew more, I can still make my way easily around the city and chat with Koreans about simple topics such as family, occupation, and travel.  I’ll tell you a bit more when I blog about the Korean class I went to (and why I have since stopped).  Here is a list of the Korean alphabet: