Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Katie26]

Hey all,

I just wondered what your opinions were about learning Korean before I leave. I'm doing okay with basic spoken Korean (I think) after the guidance of my Learn Korean CD but I'm still struggling with the alphabet. This in turn is making reading Hangul impossible.

Obviously I will keep trying but how essential is it for me to read the language before I go. I'm worried that I won't be able to do basic things like read menus or signs?

Thanks

[coralreefer_1]

You will have a much easier time if you learn to read the alphabet. Many words you will see in Korea are actually English words written with Korean characters. Of course the Korean pronunciation of those English words is slightly different, but if you can read the characters you will be able to recognize those words.

Reading the actual Korean characters will keep you from making mistakes that are incredible. For example, when I first came to Korea I lived in the dormitory at some college in a small hick town written in English as "Jain". Now I and many other native speakers would pronounce this like a woman's name "Jane" similar to "chain", or "pain": but the Korean spelling is 자인 which sounds like "Jah een" which is a very different sound certainly that reading the Romanized characters.

Also, the Romanization of Korean characters is quite strange in many cases. Here is another example:

Before Korean here, I bought some small pocket dictionary. In the intro of the book gave a short explanation about how to read the Romanization of Korean characters. According to that book, when a Romanized translation of a Korean word is written with 2 connecting vowels, we should pronounce only the second vowel.

So here I go, a newbie back in 2004 trying to pronounce the word for chopstick. According to that book, the spelling was JJeotgarak and keeping in mind what the book said about the double vowel rule, I was pronouncing the "o" sound. But when done that way, the word I was saying is a very bad curse in Korea.

Sorry for the overly long post. Korean is a very easy language to learn to read. You will not hurt yourself to learn to read the Korean characters.

[oldtactics]

You'll pick up things that you use a lot pretty quickly i.e. numbers, menu choices.

My advice before you leave is to memorize the alphabet. I made flash cards and memorized it with very little effort in about 2 days. Doesn't help with translation but being able to sound out the words on signs and menus makes life much easier for you and the Koreans that you're talking to.

Best of luck, you'll do fine

[samd]

I think the more you learn before you leave the better, as the chances are you'll be overwhelmed with work as soon as you arrive, dampening your motivation to study. I know too many people who have arrived with lofty ambitions language-wise and left without being able to read a menu.

Give yourself a headstart and learn at least the alphabet before you arrive. It will impress your Korean co-workers too

[crossmr]

the alphabet is pretty easy. You should be able to master it in about 2-3 weeks. That doesn't include things like special letter combinations, Korean really has this thing where if they feel a certain consonant combination is hard to pronounce, they just change it to something different to suit them. They just don't tell anyone..

[TpaK]

Hangeul comes easy with a small amount of practice. Of course then you start learning about all the advanced pronouncing rules

[Ross_Plus]

Hi,

I am off to South Korea in Sept and have been studying the language. I started with rosetta stone but it wasn't helping me learn hangul, so I have put it on hold while I go back and learn the alphabet.

At the moment I am using a software programme called Declan Readwrite Korean which seems quite good and cost about �12 to download, that may be worth a go.

I also bought a book called your first 100 words in korean, it is really simplistic and has loads of kiddy type games to help you learn the characters so its not really to stressful.

[crossmr]

[Whistleblower]

www.koreanclass101.com is the best.

[agbonlahor i love you]

http://lei.snu.ac.kr/english/pages/SD00023_00.jsp

this one is seoul unviersity's website - It's free and a good tool. I think the hangul section is great - check it out and let me know what you think. I'd be interested to know peoples opinions. cheers

[ChinaBoy]

Since no one else mentioned it, Korean is not necessary. Spend your time some other way.

[samd]

[WoBW]

Why do they let these babies come here?

I hope you already have a visa, because if you don't, you may fail on the "Do you have a brain?" section of the form.

"Should I bring a bar of soap and a spare pair of underpants?"

SHEESH!!

[hugekebab]

[maingman]

Easy Korean for Visitors
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