tea oolong Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4415 days ago 28 posts - 33 votes Studies: Korean*
| Message 1 of 5 22 August 2013 at 3:46am | IP Logged |
How many Chinese Characters must I study before returning to studying Korean Vocabulary?
Currently, I am crossing over the 1000 Character marker in Hanja. Whenever I search for a
Sino Korean word and see its corresponding hanja, the meaning appears all to simple.
However, I wonder whether I will have the patience to master the standard 3500 characters
offered.
thoughts?
Edited by tea oolong on 22 August 2013 at 3:46am
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lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5959 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin
| Message 2 of 5 22 August 2013 at 6:54am | IP Logged |
tea oolong wrote:
How many Chinese Characters must I study before returning to studying
Korean Vocabulary?
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Zero.
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tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5190 days ago 245 posts - 422 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean
| Message 3 of 5 22 August 2013 at 8:24am | IP Logged |
On the other hand, I recall Prof. Arguelles writing that his learning of Korean hit a plateau and didn't take off again until he had incorporated the learning of Chinese characters into his studies.
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Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6701 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese
| Message 4 of 5 22 August 2013 at 10:33am | IP Logged |
tibbles wrote:
On the other hand, I recall Prof. Arguelles writing that his learning of Korean hit a plateau and didn't take off again until he had incorporated the learning of Chinese characters into his studies. |
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With all due respect to the professor, I don't think you really need to learn the characters to advance in Korean. They might help you differentiate between homonyms, but if you know what all meanings can be attached to a certain syllable, that's usually enough. 99% of the time you'd have to look up the characters (or ask someone) if you want to compare them.
Personally, I feel that knowing the Hanja should be a supplement to learning Korean vocab, not a replacement. If you want to learn the Hanja when you learn the vocab, do it. If you're aiming at a passive knowledge of the characters (all you really need), having the Hanja as a second line on your card, or even recognition cards specifically for the Hanja for words you're learning, should be enough. It's a long-term aid, so treat it like one. Don't focus on Hanja exclusively, especially because so much of what is the glue of the language are the native words.
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tea oolong Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4415 days ago 28 posts - 33 votes Studies: Korean*
| Message 5 of 5 22 August 2013 at 3:20pm | IP Logged |
Unless you already have a background cemented in Chinese etymology, it is absolute
necessary to study Chinese Characters to raise your vocabulary acumen. Some told me 1000
is sufficient, another 1700 or so.
But i do know they are necessary to boost learning in the language. Believe me, I did my
best to forego studying Hanja in the past, but the homonyms did me dirty. It's a
strenuous path but extremely straightforward. With the ones I recognize already made
vocabulary seem like a cakewalk. Using a Korean Japanese phrase book helps me "find" the
hanja in Pure Korean words. I don't want to hit the 3000 marker for the sake of Korean.
I'm grateful that it helps me in Japanese, Vietnamese, etc but still...
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