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| Can you read Hangul? |
| Yes- No problem |
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78% |
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| Yes- but it takes me a while |
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18% |
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| No- I tried, but its too hard |
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3% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 83 |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:02 am Post subject: Reading Korean-Can you do it? |
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| How many foreigners, who have been here over 6 months, do you know who can't read Korean? I have met several recently who have been here too long not to be able to read it. I learned in the first six months, and it is so helpful. I try to convince them to spend a few days on it, but they think I am crazy. My Korean is pretty bad, but I speak a lot more than any of the people at my school. I wanted to see what other people's experiences have been. Maybe I am just meeting the wrong waeguks. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:06 am Post subject: |
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| I have some facility with reading and so do 99% of my non-Korean in Korea acquaintances. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:12 am Post subject: |
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| I've learnt a lot in nearly 5 months but I've been slacking off recently. Biggest achievement recently is learning how to say "I'm the king of the world" (���������ǿ�). Next I wanna learn "and criticism of the King isn't tolerated". |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:13 am Post subject: |
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Can I read a newspaper?- no
Can I read street signs, bus destinations etc? sure
If you've been here six months and you haven't managed to get to the level of sounding out bus stops and take out menus, then you're either extremely lazy or a masochist. |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| There's a difference between being able to see the letters and sound them out, and understanding what the words mean. The sounding out is very easy in Korean. The other, well, they say it's the third hardest language in the world to master... |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:07 am Post subject: |
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I am talking basic phonetic reading, just for the sounds not understanding. I am amazed by the number of people I have met recently who can't even do that! Its so helpful, and takes very little effort to learn.
Last edited by kat2 on Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:08 am Post subject: |
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| Reading Korean is one of the easiest things I ever taught myself. However comprehending what I read is a completely different story. |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| Satori wrote: |
| There's a difference between being able to see the letters and sound them out, and understanding what the words mean. The sounding out is very easy in Korean. The other, well, they say it's the third hardest language in the world to master... |
Considering that most native English speakers haven't mastered English, how about voting that hardest language to master 
I think it must have been a Korean who decided the language was #3 in hardest to master. |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
I think it must have been a Korean who decided the language was #3 in hardest to master. |
How hard would you rate it? If you think it is not particularly difficult I assume you have reached a very high level of proficiency? |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| "I'm the king of the world" (���������ǿ�). |
If you really were the king of the world, you could get by with the banmal form, ����, or, as I'd like to hope, you'd be saying it in English. 
I've heard of people learning the characters on the flight over here, as well as people being here many years who don't bother.
As I said in another thread, I learned by using mnenomic devices.
�� looks like a trampoline, so "j" as in jump.
�� looks like a bowl, so "b", and so on.. |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| Mashimaro wrote: |
| Mr. Pink wrote: |
I think it must have been a Korean who decided the language was #3 in hardest to master. |
How hard would you rate it? If you think it is not particularly difficult I assume you have reached a very high level of proficiency? |
Im calling bullshiit on the 'third most difficult to learn'. i learned to read and write perfectly when i got here, plus get by in basic korean, with little to no motivation or interest in the language.
Just because it's an UNPOPULAR language to learn in the world does not make it hard. It makes it unpopular!
Having a master's in linguistics, i can say there are a LOT of languages much harder to learn due to alphabet, pronunciation, and grammar. I think Koreans and others alike like to tell themselves this to defend why no one cares to speak their language or read their alphabet. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| peppermint wrote: |
Can I read a newspaper?- no
Can I read street signs, bus destinations etc? sure
If you've been here six months and you haven't managed to get to the level of sounding out bus stops and take out menus, then you're either extremely lazy or a masochist. |
I wouldn't go that far, but I've met teachers over here who've been in the country going on almost four years who have not yet even tried to get the hang of the alphabet. This does amaze me.
I might be lucky, in that I made it a project to learn the alphabet in my first couple of weeks in-country, even though back then I never had a clue I'd be hanging about more than a year. Back then, I figured I'd have less inclination to get into it if I was at the 6-month mark, and I'd be able to use it more the sooner I got it crammed into me. I recommend this to newbies, by the way : learn it quickly, hopefully studying the book on the 16-hour flight over.
Easy tip : go to a video store. The names of Hollywood movies are usually transliterated in han-gul directly, so just use what you learned from a little book and stare at the characters, sounding them out until you get some phonemes going on in your head that are something close to what you know the name of the movie really is in English. Hey, it helped me.
Easy tip #2 : Get hungry. Then go to a Kimbap Nara, or really any eating place without English on the menu. Do it a lot, and you will either learn han-gul, or you will lose a lot of weight without exercising (because you got so frustrated you walked out and bought a bag of potato chips at the corner store).
Learning the Korean alphabet, by the way, also gives you a lot of insight into the causes and nature of your student's pronunciation errors. It makes you a better teacher.
Last edited by The Bobster on Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:43 am Post subject: |
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ga, na, da, la, ma, ba, sa, a, ja, cha, ka, ta, pa, ha... (sung to ABC song)
aw, yaw, a, ya, o, yo, oo, yoo, e, uh.
... yup... this is so hard to learn. If you can't handle that then you should most definately not leave ickywan. Hakwon-3a's rest and repeat for one year.
If you have been here for 1 month I have sympathy for you and will offer all the help I can.
6 months down now and you still can't read a bus sign yet? SHAME on you.
Go to Itaewon. Do not pass go and do not collect 2m won. |
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Jaygee
Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 6:06 am Post subject: |
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I've been here 8 months now and I'm ashamed to say that I don't know squat about Korean except the basic "kamsa amnida" and "anyong aseo" and "mul dom juseyo" and "soon dubu tsigae juseyo" (my prefered dish N.B. Please forgive my roman translation).
My GF speaks good English and I found out that I can function quite good without the language.
But, as I said, I'm ashamed of it and would like to improve my knowledge of the language. And I believe that learning Korean would make me a better teacher.
What would be the best way to learn? Take classes? Buy books? Which ones? Any website that could help?
Thanks for any advice, constructive one preferred. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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