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What % of Korean vocab comes from Chinese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| William Triglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 6134 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin Studies: Cantonese | Message 1 of 9 09 February 2008 at 10:41am | IP Logged |
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Hi, (my first question):
-What percent of Korean vocab, used otday, comes from Chinese? (I have read 50-60%, more or less. Is that true?) I'm asking because I'm think of learning Korean, and I'd be very interested to hear about the experiences of anyone on this forum who had a fairly in depth base in Chinese and then started learning Korean (ideally, to an advanced level). If there is such a person, may I ask, how helpfull was your knowledge of Chinese in learning Korean? How much faster could you learn it compared to a similarly motivated person who did not have that exposure? If anyone has any answers, I'd love to hear them. I'm in the process of thinking about starting a new language, and this is one of the main questions I'd like answered before I choose. Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nhk9 Senior Member Canada Joined 6804 days ago 290 posts - 319 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 9 13 February 2008 at 11:34am | IP Logged |
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Hi William
I could not tell whether the figure is true or not since I am no academic and I haven't done any research on it. However, most books seem to give the figure at around 60%, so I guess that's the figure currently accepted by most. If you know Chinese (especially Cantonese0, you will have a huge discount when learning Korean. First, you won't have to struggle with the pachim consonants (like the t, k sounds that you have to pronounce with the back of your throat). Also, you will see the parallel between the vocabs. I'd say if you know Chinese, learning Korean should be even easier than say, learning Japanese. Korean is a tremendously fantastic language to learn, and you should try it when you have time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| virgule Senior Member Antarctica Joined 6840 days ago 242 posts - 261 votes Studies: Korean | Message 3 of 9 13 February 2008 at 12:12pm | IP Logged |
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The estimates vary significantly, depending on the source you use. A book on Hanja (the Chinese characters in Korea) invariably gives you an estimate at the higher end of the scale. You can get a rough impression by opening a good Korean dictionary: for words of Chinese origin the Chinese characters are given. I think this gives you a good overall impression, although you'd have to take into account the frequency words are used...
I can't comment on Chinese to Korean, but here's my experience the other direction. When tackling Cantonese I immediately found many words that were familiar. It's probably in the same order as I found German and English words to be similar. Now in terms of grammar there is no such similarity. Please note, these are my feelings on learning, not even an attempt to make a scientific comparison. I find similar words a great boon when starting a new language, giving you at least something familiar when suddenly everything is different. This helps with motivation :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lawrence Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6182 days ago 149 posts - 149 votes Speaks: Cantonese, English* Studies: German, French, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 4 of 9 13 February 2008 at 8:56pm | IP Logged |
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As a Cantonese speaker myself, I do find some of these similarities useful, but often, I don't even realise when they do pop up.
I feel that it helps me to acquire vocabulary, but since Korean hardly uses Hanja anymore, it's less obvious when all you see is a hangeul. Sometimes you can guess though, but sometimes it's more obscure, since some phrases or words aren't used in modern Chinese anymore, or are different. A few examples of Chinese Vocabulary(Korean to Cantonese): Un Dong = Wan Dung (exercise) An Nyeong = On Ning (peace/quiet) Han Guk = Hon Gwok ([South] Korea) Il I Sam Sa O Yuk Chil Pal Ku Ship = Yat Yi Saam Sei Ng Luk Cat Baat Gau Sap (1-10) Mul Gon = Mat Gin (items) Nam Ja = Naam Zi (Man/Boy) Un Myeong = Wan Ming (Fate) Some notes: Words that end with a 't' final in Cantonese often end in 'l' in Korean (eg. Mul/Mat, Il/Yat) Sometimes, sounds have changed in Korean, but used to be pronounced similarly to Chinese (eg. Woman, which is Neoi in Cantonese, used to be Nyeo in Korean, but now is just pronounced Yeo, I believe) The last example I gave is actually not that good. In modern Cantonese, Fate should actually be 'Ming Wan', but I figured it must've been different in the past, since Japanese also switches the two characters around. Unmei = Unmyeong = Wanming 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 5 of 9 13 February 2008 at 9:51pm | IP Logged |
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There's a lot of duplicated vocabulary in Japanese, as Lawrence touches upon.
Adding Japanese to the little table above: Un Dong = Wan Dung (exercise) = un-dou An Nyeong = On Ning (peace/quiet) = an-nei Han Guk = Hon Gwok ([South] Korea) = kan-koku Nam Ja = Naam Zi (Man/Boy) = nan-shi (archaic, now dan-shi) Un Myeong = Wan Ming (Fate) = un-mei 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Triglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 6134 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin Studies: Cantonese | Message 6 of 9 14 February 2008 at 11:57am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the replies!
So, it seems that knowing Cantonese would be more useful. That's good as I am working hard on Cantonese (as I live in HK right now). I think if I were to start on Korean, after taking a beginner’s course (for basic vocab and pronunciation), I'd then start to work on hanja and look things up in the dictionary to try to acquire as much Chinese-derived words as possible. Anyway, I'd still love to hear from other people who are fluent in Chinese and have learned Korean. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| virgule Senior Member Antarctica Joined 6840 days ago 242 posts - 261 votes Studies: Korean | Message 7 of 9 14 February 2008 at 3:45pm | IP Logged |
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Have a look at the Handbook of Korean Vocabulary: A Resource for Word Recognition and Comprehension by Miho Choo and William O'Grady (University of Hawaii Press). ISBN: 0824818156.
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| Qinshi Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5753 days ago 115 posts - 183 votes Speaks: Vietnamese*, English Studies: French, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 8 of 9 27 February 2009 at 9:10am | IP Logged |
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Wow, similar percentage to Vietnamese. I think I'll learn Korean in the future
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