|
 |
Korean - basic questions | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| czech Senior Member United States Joined 7195 days ago 395 posts - 378 votes  Studies: English* | Message 17 of 49 14 August 2005 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | ||
|
It wasn't that it stopped me randy, I simply thought my Spanish actually sucked after I kind of forgot about it for a few weeks. I've used a few FSI courses including FSI Spanish, FSI Thai, and now some FSI Portuguese.
Actually, I think FSI is the easiest way to learn a language. If you get a Teach Yourself or an Assimil, sure you'll find progressing through it easily and will finish delightfully. But then you'll drudge through conversations going slowly and with errors because you've never been drilled on anything and it will take you a year to "get fluent". Anyways I just wonder how Ardaschir's program compares to the styles of others in the way it's set up. I read somewhere in it's description about being "drilled on grammar". But I do think that an FSI program would suck for Korean, unless they are willing to give you a million drills over those 600 conjugations. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7239 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 18 of 49 14 August 2005 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | ||
Not for me really. I would want to have all of those down at the end of a course. But I shy away from these “twosies” FSI courses. It's as if you were taking a course on juggling and they never bother to get around to that third ball. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| czech Senior Member United States Joined 7195 days ago 395 posts - 378 votes Studies: English* | Message 19 of 49 14 August 2005 at 9:17pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Well, I hope they drill you a million times on every single conjugation, but I know they don't, It's too small of a course.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JamieAnderson Newbie Canada uregina.ca Joined 5507 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* | Message 20 of 49 30 October 2009 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Prof. My girlfriend is Korean and claims that for the most part a learner needs not concern themself with Hanja. However, she says it is used extensively in academic texts and some newspapers. She told me that her father wrote his masters thesis almost entirely in Hanja. I am certainly interested in learning Hanja. I was hoping if you could shed some light on the nature of Hanja, are the 1800 Hanja that are in use mostly technical terms or terms for abstract concepts coming out of academic contexts. I am guessing that everyday words, or words used in common speech are not usually written using Hanja. However I would assume Hanja would be used when writing a paper on Economics, Philosophy, or Confucian Ethics or something of the like.
Q. What is the best book, material to study these common 1800 Hanja? - Is there a book that lists all 1800 with examples that can be used to study? - At what pace would you suggest someone learns Hanja and how often would you need to review this material? Edited by JamieAnderson on 31 October 2009 at 1:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| skeeterses Senior Member United States angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6619 days ago 302 posts - 356 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Spanish | Message 21 of 49 31 October 2009 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||
|
There's only 2 books that I can really recommend that will use the hanjas extensively. If you live in Korea, you can go to a Bible bookstore and find a mixed script Bible and in some bookstores, you can find a Quran that puts the hanjas next to a lot of the words.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Relative Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5744 days ago 21 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean | Message 22 of 49 01 November 2009 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
|
1. What are the most difficult parts of learning Korean?
Vocabulary acquisition 2. What is the easy part of learning Korean? Alphabet, honorifics 3. Is Korean more difficult than Japanese? Don't know 4. Is Korean more difficult than Chinese? Don't know 5. How hard is it to pronunciate Korean correctly? Almost impossible to accurately mimic a native speaker 6. How far can you get with the Korean alphabet? Without Hanja, lower/upper intermediate is the ceiling 7. Will a knowledge of Chinese characters help you with Korean? To reach advanced proficiency within 2-3 years (or even at all), it is a neccessity 8. Are Koreans forgiving of the mistakes you can make in their language? They appreciate anyone who makes an effort 9. Are there any quality Korean language self-study program with many tapes? Yes, I recommend Seoul National University's 4 part series for beginner-intermediate. EBS produce hanja books which include English meanings as well as Korean. 10. Is Korean a tonal language? No 11. Are there common words between Korean and Japanese or Chinese? If you look at the hanja reading then yes (as the Prof. said previously). If you don't look at the hanja reading then similarities in pronunciation will most likely be missed 12. How difficult is Korean Grammar? Again, if you learn the Hanja it becomes much easier. 13. How quick can you begin to read a Korean newspaper? Once more, only after a thorough knowledge of Hanja is gained 14. How difficult is it to follow a Korean movie? Very difficult. 15. If you can buy only 3 books to learn Korean, what should they be? (books that supplement a program with tapes) The best on offer is from the major Seoul Universities- Seoul, Yonsei, Sogang 16. How useful is it to speak Korean when travelling or doing business in Korea? Can you get along with English? Very 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| str0be Senior Member Korea, South Joined 5605 days ago 103 posts - 148 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Korean | Message 23 of 49 01 November 2009 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | ||
My thoughts: 1. Yes, I have found vocabulary acquisition (and retention) incredibly difficult. So many similar-sounding words, which don't really sound like any English words. 2. I wouldn't say honorifics are particularly easy. (*)=> Most foreign Korean learners just stick to three or four common ones, and go for the one which matches best. As for the alphabet, it may be easy to explain, but: a) there are many similar-sounding groups of letters in it b) syllables affect the preceding and following syllables in ways that beginner learners can find it difficult to remember and understand c) it is a new alphabet to foreigners, and so it is more difficult to 'scan' text in Korean than in a language which uses a more familiar alphabet 8. For the most part this is true, but because of (*) and 5, they might not be able to understand you, even if you repeat and rephrase. Another factor is that they are unused to talking to foreign Korean speakers, and don't really know how to simplify their language, often just repeating the same thing in a louder voice. This is especially true - a) outside the big cities b) for older Koreans Edited by str0be on 01 November 2009 at 6:53pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nhk9 Senior Member Canada Joined 6805 days ago 290 posts - 319 votes Speaks: English* | Message 24 of 49 12 December 2009 at 6:24am | IP Logged | ||
|
After a few years of studying this language, I hope I am now in a position to answer some of the questions:
1. What are the most difficult parts of learning Korean? -The lack of good learning material. I had to look for Japanese and Chinese books in order to look for the information that I had wanted. 2. What is the easy part of learning Korean? -The fact that each hanja only has one sound. 3. Is Korean more difficult than Japanese? -Not necessarily. There are indeed more variations with grammatical endings in modern Korean, but many of which are used only in literary works. 4. Is Korean more difficult than Chinese? -No comment. 5. How hard is it to pronunciate Korean correctly? -Instead of learning to enunciate properly, one should worry about pronounce Korean sentences quickly. One should also pay attention to the intonation of the language. This can be solved by listening to an mp3 file and pronouncing the sentences at the same time. The sentences uttered should then be recorded and compared to the original. 6. How far can you get with the Korean alphabet? -It's best to have some knowledge of Chinese characters. For example, the word 핵무기 can be best analyzed as: nucleus + violence + device ie. nuclear weapon. 7. Will a knowledge of Chinese characters help you with Korean? -Yes. 8. Are Koreans forgiving of the mistakes you can make in their language? -They are. However, most of the time they can't tell you what you are doing wrong. You will need a very good teacher in order to achieve this. That or getting a good book that explains the difficulties of learning Korean. Language exchanges are useless unless your level is quite advanced already. 9. Are there any quality Korean language self-study program with many tapes? -Yes. I actually recommend podcasts over files that are made for "Korean learners". Podcasts are made for Koreans and thus they will speak at a natural pace. You might encounter some slang expressions but these podcasts also allow you to train to extrapolate the meaning of sentences that include unfamiliar words. 10. Is Korean a tonal language? -Not in the same sense as Chinese. One should worry about its INTONATION, though. 11. Are there common words between Korean and Japanese or Chinese? -Quite a lot 12. How difficult is Korean Grammar? -No chart memorizing; no declension. There are about 400-600 sentence endings. Getting a book such as a "Korean Grammar bible" (http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%9F%93%E5%9B%BD%E8%AA%9E%E6%96%8 7%E6%B3%95%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8-%E7%99%BD-%E5%B3%B0%E5%AD%90/dp /4384002246) will help you conquer this. Overall, Korean grammar is slightly more complicated than Japanese, but not so much more. 13. How quick can you begin to read a Korean newspaper? -Reading newspapers is actually the easy part. Listening to news broadcasts is much tougher. 14. How difficult is it to follow a Korean movie? -This would probably be the hardest task to be accomplished. 15. If you can buy only 3 books to learn Korean, what should they be? (books that supplement a program with tapes) Beginner: 2 books by Dr. Ross King: Beginning Korean and Continuing Korean http://books.google.com/books?id=XUxQlAH1OMoC&dq=ross+king+k orean&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=2yUjS92wJoHYsgO PjsTgDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBoQ6AEw Aw#v=onepage&q=&f=false Intermediate: Integrated Korean Series by Hawaii Press http://uhpress.wordpress.com/books-in-series/klear-textbooks -in-korean-language/ Advanced: Yonsei Korean (Books 5& 6). If you are serious about learning Korean, an electronic dictionary is a very good option. I find CASIO dictionaries to be much better than dictionaries that use iPhones or PDAs. CASIO dictionaries can be had for about $200US, including international shipping (I can provide a site to those who are interested). 16. How useful is it to speak Korean when travelling or doing business in Korea? Can you get along with English? Not much actually. If you are a business executive, you might as well get an interpreter. Learn the language if you intend to stay there for quite some time or if you have a cultural connection with the country. 7 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
