Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

I figure that if 70% of the Korean vocabulary stems from Chinese characters then why not study Hangeul through Hanja... that way I will have a pretty decent beginners vocabulary here and survival reading ability in most of Asia.

Anyone else have this idea and have further suggestions on study. I have begun studying the basic 900 for middle schoolers... so far i have been using flash cards flash cards and more flash cards... my coworker suggested post-it notes for every day things like computer, frying pan, etc... where can I can the language packs for my PC to display Hanja and Hangeul and what are some good sites to look at for the characters of everyday items?

[billybrobby]

The normal Windows East Asian Language pack that you use to type Korean will also allow you to type Hanja. Just type in the pronunciation of the word in Korean and then hit the ���� key (by the left ALT key) and in the bottom right corner of your screen, a numbered list of all Hanja which share that pronunciation will appear. Type in a number of the Hanja that you want, and the Hanja will be written.

For example:

�� + the Hanja key + 1 = ��
�� + the Hanja key + 6 = ��

Now you can tell people you ate �� ���! yay!

[ajgeddes]

Sounds like a good idea, or at least an interesting one. Be warned though, that the Hanja used in Korea is not the same as in other countries.

By my estimate, if you learned 900 characters, only 450 or so of those would be the same in China. Maybe 600-700 would be the same in Taiwan, and roughly the same in Hong Kong.

I still think it is a novel and good idea, and yes you will still understand some things, but it might not help you as much as you think.

On the other hand though, you can buy Chinese flash cards that show the traditional and simplified characters on them, and give you a Chinese pronunciation, and then you could just give them to a friend to give you the Korean pronunciation. Just a thought.

Anyways, good luck.

[mithridates]

[ajgeddes]

What I am saying though is the use of Taiwanese characters that have changed. (Is that what you are saying?) They are moving towards simplifying, as the mainland did. They are not there yet, not by a long shot, but they ARE starting to open up to it. Also, in my understanding, the Taiwanese do also have some different characters that are all their own. (Not clear on that though)

As far as seing the changes from traditional to simplified, nobody is going to spot the differences unless somebody has shown it to them. The normal person would not see a simlarity between these two characters unless it was previously shown to them. �� - 学 Like I said, it is a good idea, but you need to see the simplified characters as well, if you really want to understand the changes, and then you WILL start to recognize the changes and still understand.

[mithridates]

That's right. I just didn't want the op to think that Korean hanja themselves are different from the ones used in Taiwan and Chinese texts before simplification, which would make learning them a waste of time if true.

[excitinghead]

I personally wouldn't recommend it, and based on my own experience I'd say it's best to learn Korean first and then concentrate on learning to how to write Hanja when you are studying Chinese.

My Korean is pretty good now, and I have the long-term aim of speaking Chinese and Japanese in 10 years time, so naturally I had exactly the same idea when I was originally learning Korean. Or, to be more precise, after I bought Choo and O'Grady's godsend of a vocab book. So there I was, religiously learning the meanings of at least 5 different Hanja characters per day and the trying to remember their associated Korean words. I would also practice writing them, because I'd have to learn them eventually because of the Chinese and Japanese plans and all, but also because I thought it would give me a nice visual way of remembering the characters as well.

Through doing that, I learned 4 things:

1) Hangul rocks! One of the most amazing inventions in the world.

2) I am not a visual language learner, it didn't help me at all. If I don't use learnt things in conversation, I forget them, simple as that. It may have helped if I say the Hanja around me everywhere, but of course I didn't. But it may still work for others.

3) Hanja characters can't be learned in isolation. Unless you're learning them through some systematic course, i.e. teaching you stroke order and then this basic character and this one and this one and then showing you that difficult ones are in fact these simple ones put together...etc. etc. then it's difficult to figure them out so that you're actually writing them and not just drawing them like I was.

4) Most importantly, practicality. To remember Hanja characters you have to write them out repeatedly. One day I realised that out of 2 hours I had available for Korean study, I'd spent 1 just on writing Hanja, which didn't help my spoken, listening, grammar, or, hell, even written Korean skills, what was I doing? Not only that but I wouldn't use them for years (if ever, like people said, different characters are used in different countries), and it wasn't necessary for me to remember characters' meanings and use them when speaking Korean anyway.

So these days I still learn 5 a day, today one of them was '��', meaning weighty or layer, but I don't need to know what the Chinese character looks like to help me remember '�߰���' or '�߳뵿', and honestly don't want to know. I hate Hanja now because it makes me think of all the time I wasted on it.

So in a nutshell, you probably won't have the time. I'd rather be able to speak Korean then not be able to say anything but be able to vaguely read things in the rest of East Asia, unless of course you're not planning to stay here. Besides which, I suspect that once my Korean is fluent and I take a Chinese course then all of the Hanja will be very easy. I would already know their meanings anyway.

Sorry, if I sound a bit pessimistic! Good luck with whatever study method you choose, just not practical or useful for me personally...