Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rabidcake]

I want to learn Hanjia even though my Korean is not too good because I feel like it will give me a better tool for understanding the language.

I already speak and write Chinese to a fluent (or near-fluent) level. 還有，我會寫繁體字。

Is there a big list somewhere that I can just memorize the first most used 500 Hanjia? Even though Hanjia seem to never be used...

[Hootsmon]

You should be able to find a textbook if you go to the section (shelf) for Korean-learning textbooks of a Kyobo Bookstore. I found one called something like "Learning Hanja for Students of Korean". The textbook is in English and gives you the most common Hanja with examples of how they would fit into a Korean sentence, along with exercises to help you remember them. It was a fairly good textbook, though I never really got far with it.

I've been in Korea about 4 years and my Korean isn't too sloppy but I've never felt like I've missed out by not knowing the Hanja. I'm now studying Chinese myself and it's interesting to see the similar words and where the Korean came from.

[hagwonnewbie]

There's a good website witha downloadable program called neo's hanja or something like that. Google it.

[ThingsComeAround]

Which Chinese do you know?
Mandarin or Cantonese?
Traditional or Simplified?
Hanja is the more traditional form of Chinese. Even knowing a little Japanese will help (numbers, month, year are all the same)

Try this
http://www.learnkorean.com/whanja/hclassindex.asp

[crossmr]

Hanja are used a lot more if you pick up a newspaper. I will occasionally glance at some of the papers people are reading on the subway and regularly see hanja used in it. I've seen hanja copping up in a few ads as well.

The recommended book is decent, but i noticed the full 100% english explanations started disappearing around the third chapter.

[rabidcake]

Thank you Things Come Around, that site is a start. I recognize all of the characters of course, they are extremely rudimentary.

And yes, I speak Mandarin with a strong knowledge of traditional characters. Also, I can read and write simplified as well, but I am much more capable at traditional.

[s4yunkim]

In my experience, learning hanja will help you understand most complex vocabulary and a lot of signs around Korea as well.

For example:

You'll see this in the subways all the time:

우측보행 = 右側通行 (Keep right)

I think the statistic is that about 70% of Korean words are actually just Hanja words (Chinese rooted). Even though I spoke Korean at home in the US, the only reason I could understand most of the signs I saw was because it sounded close to Chinese (I majored in Chinese).

There are a lot of good books at the bookstore, and seeing as how you already know Chinese, I think it'd be pretty easy, just pick up a book where it shows you the characters and what the Korean pronunciation is.

Or just do what I do and try to memorize all the signs you see, because it's a mix and match for other signs. Good luck!


--Chris
http://www.seoulcityblog.com

[Ukon]

I'm now studying intermediate level korean.....do you think learning hanja will make a big and helpful difference now or should I save it for later?

[Fox]

[Yaya]

[tomato]

The best book on the subject is probably Handbook of Korean Vocabulary by Miho Choo & William O' Grady.

The book consists of an alphabetical list of Chinese derivatives.
Each Chinese derivative is written in both Hangul and Hanja, given the meaning of the word, and givent the meaning of each Hanja symbol.

For an example, I'll choose one at random:
수요, or 需要, means "require."
需 means " require" and 要 means "demand."

But don't stop there; this gives you a head start on learning other words.
Under the same heading, 혼수 means "articles essential to a marriage."
필수품 means "necessities."
There are 18 listings under 요, including 필요, which means "necessity," and 요하다, which means "require, need."

[Sherm]

Since you are already competent in non-simplified characters, the English-language learning materials are probably going to be too rudimentary for you. There are plenty of good paperback hanja study books for Koreans at any bookstore, so as long as you read hangul, why not pick up one of those? Generally, they will have the most essential 2000 characters. Although hanja aren't used nearly as much as they once were, using a book like that will be a great vocabulary builder for somebody with your background. Only challenge will be persuading the bookstore staff that that's really what you are looking for. That's a tough one...

[skeeterses]

As you write down Korean words from your readings, you could write down the hanjas for those words in a separate notebook. The naver dictionary has the hanjas for the words.

[denverdeath]

The books mentioned are pretty good, and another nice little one is "A Guide to Korean Characters". Author is Bruce K. Grant. Publisher is Hollym. Includes 1,800 Chinese characters taught in Korean schools.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9780930878139&orderClick=LAH

[Slowmotion]

For starters check out:
http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hanja

Still revamping all the pages and we are the process of editing a lot of pages. Check out the important hanja pages