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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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 Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:04 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| javis wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
I'd say it's you who are grasping for an argument. More syllables means more time to say something (regardless of the reason behind it). It's annoying to waste one's time that way. For example, I'd rather say "Hey", "Yo", "Hi", Hello", or "Wassup" than "The sun came up today because Allah willed it" as a greeting. Does that make me culturally insensitive and a jerk? Maybe. Do I care? No. |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Does more syllables really equate to more difficult? |
Yes. If the sounds are hard as heck to pronounce and comprehend (and that is the case for most of us), then yes, it definately does equate to greater difficultly.
Another thing it does is make the Korean language faster. (It is spoken at more syllables per minute than English. There was an actual study on this.) |
Are you sure about that? |
Yes.
http://koreanlanguagenotes.blogspot.kr/2009/09/how-fast-do-korean-telecasters-speak.html
I guess in languages with extra superfluous syllables, they must be spoken more quickly in order to adequately communicate information before the listener dies of boredom. And guess what? The faster a language is spoken, the harder it is to comprehend (for a non native speaker). |
What exactly makes a syllable superfluous? 
EDIT: I do transcription as part of my job day in and day out, so maybe my perspective on this is skewed.
Last edited by javis on Wed May 15, 2013 3:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Waygeek wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Chinese is easier than Korean |
LOLOLOLOLOL. I think someone is forgetting the 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Hanji there is to learn. |
Where did I write that?
What I wrote was that there are likely far more fluent lifers in China because Chinese studies and language learning is far more prevalent. |
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nicwr2002
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
Drew, like many, you probably heard before you came that Korean is the world's most logical and scientific language- an extremely easy language to learn. It is a matter of national pride. I was looking at some NEAT test prep questions. One was some writing about how Korean is such an easy language for foreigners to learn. What propagandistic garbage.
I agree with everything you say EXCEPT the assumption that difficulties in Korean mean equal difficulties to the Korean learning English.
What specifically makes Korean an inherently difficult language to learn is the loads of honorifics, the objectively large number of sounds used, and the convoluted (and inefficient) gramatical system.
It takes longer (more syllables) to express a thought in Korean than English. This blows. (That and the honorifics get old after a while.)
Here are some sentences with the English and Korean syllable count:
Thank someone (3)
누군가에게 고마워하다 (10)
The man is thin. (4)
남자는 말랐습니다. (8 )
Let's talk on Skype. (4)
스카이프로 말하자. (8 )
What is today's date? (5)
오늘은 몇 월 며칠이에요? (10)
Who published this book? (5)
누가 이 책을 출판했습니까? (11)
Giraffes have long necks. (5)
기린은 긴 목을 가지고 있습니다. (13)
The man is showering. (6)
남자가 샤워를 하고 있습니다. (12)
Language learning is fun. (6)
언어를 배우는 것이 재미있어요. (13)
At that corner, turn left. (6)
모퉁이에서 왼쪽으로 돌아주세요. (14)
I love watching soccer. (6)
저는 축구 보는 것을 아주 좋아합니다. (15)
The man has a headache. (6)
남자는 두통 증세를 가지고 있습니다. (15)
Jeans are made from denim. (6)
청바지는 데님으로 만들어졌습니다. (15)
The man is returning home. (7)
남자가 집으로 돌아오고 있습니다. (14)
The gloves did not fit his hands. (7)
장갑은 그의 손에 맞지 않았습니다. (14)
The athlete sprained his ankle. (7)
운동선수는 그의 발목을 삐었습니다. (15)
Underline all verbs in this text. (8 )
이 글에서 모든 동사에 밑줄을 그으세요. (16)
The swans are swimming in the lake. (8 )
백조들이 호수에서 수영하고 있습니다. (16)
April showers bring May flowers. (8 )
사월의 소나기는 오월의 꽃을 몰고 옵니다. (17)
The man is rolling up his sleeves. (8 )
남자는 소매를 돌돌 말아 올리고 있습니다. (17)
The young boy wears a small size shirt. (8 )
어린 남자 아이는 소 사이즈의 셔츠를 입는다. (18 )
She never speaks ill of others. (8 )
그녀는 절대 남에 대해 나쁜 말을 하지 않습니다. (19)
To feel love is to feel alive. (8 )
사랑을 느끼는 것은 살아있다는 것은 느끼는 것입니다. (22)
He has two cars and a motorcycle. (10)
그는 차 두 대와 오토바이 한 대를 가지고 있습니다. (20)
The man is baking a cake for his wife. (10)
남자는 그의 아내를 위해 케이크를 굽고 있습니다. (20)
Most people don't look good in mini-skirts. (10)
대부분의 사람들은 미니 스커트가 어울리지 않습니다. (22)
I just bought a 40 inch flat screen TV. (11)
저는 사십 인치 평면 스크린 텔레비전을 방금 샀습니다. (22)
My mother was the woman in the blue dress. (11)
제 어머니는 파란 드레스를 입고 있던 여자분이셨습니다. (23)
You drink red wine with meat, and white wine with fish. (11)
당신은 고기와 적포도주를, 생선과 백포도주를 마시는군요. (24)
Clams, salmon, shrimp, lobsters, and squid are all seafood. (12)
조개, 연어, 새우, 랍스터, 그리고 오징어는 모두 해산물입니다. (24)
Facebook and Myspace are social networking sites. (12)
페이스북과 마이스페이스는 친목 네트워크 사이트이에요. (24)
He wants Chinese food, but she wants Italian. (12)
그는 중국 음식을 원하지만, 그녀는 이탈리아 음식을 원합니다. (25)
My mother makes the best apple pie in the world. (12)
우리 어머니는 세상에서 제일 맛있는 사과 파이를 만드십니다. (25)
The man returns home from work. His family welcomes him. (12)
남자가 직장에서 집으로 돌아옵니다. 가족들이 그를 맞이합니다. (26)
I prefer to grill steaks instead of frying them. (12)
저는 스테아크를 기름에 굽는 것 보다 그릴에 굽는 것을 선호합니다. (27)
A TV station must balance entertainment and news to keep its viewers watching. (21)
텔레비전 방송국은 청취자의 지속적인 관심을 유지하려면 오락 프로그램과 뉴스의 균형을 맞취야 합니다. (43)
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I met a woman who learned English to a high level without leaving the country. I asked her what inspired her to study hard in middle school.
She said what attracted her to the English language is English is more efficient and doesn't have honorifics. |
Hanguel is the most scientific and easiest to learn in the world. The language, that's a different story, many Koreans get that confused. It only took me 30 minutes to learn it.
Korean isn't impossibly difficult,the only really hard part is pronunciation, but that just takes some practice. If you've never had any experience with a SOV language then yes it will be extremely difficult to study it on your own. Lucky for me, my major was Japanese in college, so I find it very easy to understand Korean. Once you understand and get used to SOV then it all becomes easier. I think Korean is easier than Japanese since I don't have to know all the Chinese characters along with hiragana and katakana. |
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Kwon-Oumi
Joined: 17 May 2013
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| Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:49 pm Post subject: re |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| I'm not sure Korean is harder than Arabic. I've studied both and Arabic is difficult. The intonation is difficult, they have different words for feminine and masculine and the language runs together purposely like Japanese. They also use multiple consonants and one consonant at the start of a word sounds like its on the back of a word when spoken in sentences. |
i don't know if it's because i'm arabic or because all my english teachers was awful, but i think that arabic is easyer than both korean and english. and in my opinion, among all languages i've learned before, i think that eng is the harder ever (i still can't speak it fluently >.< ) |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| 20 years ago I would have said bring extra underwear, a bed sheet, condoms that fit, and a load of deodorant. Now? Get a COSTCO membership. This ain't the fringes no more. |
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Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 4:13 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| Kwon-Oumi wrote: |
i don't know if it's because i'm arabic or because all my english teachers was awful, but i think that arabic is easyer than both korean and english. and in my opinion, among all languages i've learned before, i think that eng is the harder ever (i still can't speak it fluently >.< ) |
I also think English is the hardest and, of the languages and language families that I know, it is the least consistent! There is absolutely no reading or grammar rule without exceptions, and never are they specifically documented or explained 
German, Italian, Russian... all have extremely strict rules. They have exceptions, but they are documented and explained.
Korean has some exceptions, and while I cannot say they are documented, they all have explanations.
When it comes to learning alphabets of different languages, I agree Korean has the most natural one. Took me 30 minutes to learn it, as well. |
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Michlerish
Joined: 08 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Learn your korean numbers for purchases (sino korean numbers). While a lot of places have a digital display for you to read the amount owing, MANY places or situations don't! Even if they do, sometimes you can't find it easily and you'll stand there clueless as to how much money to give them. It doesn't take long to learn these numbers and it will help you to feel more comfortable upon arriving when you want to go buy a sandwich, some groceries, a transit card, something at the market, food from a street vendor, etc. Trust me, even though I studied Korean before coming here, I had NOT studied my numbers and felt very nervous or uncomfortable shopping for essentials until I did.
Bring a device that is portable and wifi capable. You'll need it before you get a phone or internet connection. Many places have free wifi here, but it's not everywhere unless you have a phone contract (they supply the wifi in public places). Even then, have a map of your area and a subway map downloaded to your device for access offline.
Bring some cold medicine and vitamins. You'll most likely get sick within the first month here, and you'll be glad you brought those with you. If the cold or sinus infection doesn't go away, go to the doctor. It's cheap and quick, and they prescribe you a million medications to take. BUT, they will prescribe you antibiotics, do not continue to take their antibiotic prescriptions (for a cold / sinus infection) for longer than 7-9 days. They'll just keep on prescribing them on each visit you make, but antibiotics for that long is dangerous. You'll feel better anyway, just finish your pills and don't go back to the doctor after those 7 days are up.
Join meetup.com and find groups in your area. New friends! Things to do!
Bring extra notarized copies of your documents. |
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Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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I don't get the "being sick" part. I have never felt better than when I am in Korea - and I go in a summer jacket during the entire winter, from the gym, pubs during winter (same summer jacket) etc.
They do tend to prescribe a lot of meds though! I got some heavy NSAID for a mild palm numbness.
Where do you find cheap docs that can speak English, BTW? |
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 4:35 am Post subject: |
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| Deja wrote: |
I don't get the "being sick" part. I have never felt better than when I am in Korea - and I go in a summer jacket during the entire winter, from the gym, pubs during winter (same summer jacket) etc.
They do tend to prescribe a lot of meds though! I got some heavy NSAID for a mild palm numbness.
Where do you find cheap docs that can speak English, BTW? |
For a cold, you are better off going to a pharmacy than to a doctor. Accurately describe your symptoms and they'll give you a small dose of over the counter medications to get rid of your symptoms. |
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