Footprints Recruiting

Korean is an unusual language in that no one is exactly sure of its origins. The most widely accepted theory is that Korean is a member of the Ural-Altaic family of languages, which also includes Turkish, Finnish, Mongolian and Hungarian. In reality Korean has far more in common with Japanese and Chinese than it does with Mongolian or European languages, and many Korean words have Chinese origins. Korea also uses two numeric systems, one of which is Chinese based. The structure of a Korean sentence is always ‘subject object verb’, and the verb is always the last word in a sentence, thus in Korean the sentence “I go to the store” is “I store go.” Levels of formality in Korean are also indicated by verb conjugation- there are three basic levels of formality in Korean, and speakers indicate respect and familiarity by the verbs they use, thus the way someone says “good morning” to a child is different than the way one says “good morning” to an elderly person. Offense can be taken if levels of formality are not used correctly, particularly when “panmal” or the lowest form is used to address older people or people with greater social standing than one’s self, (your boss, for instance.) Don’t worry about inadvertently insulting someone- as you learn Korean you will find that Koreans are thrilled that you are studying their language and will give you a lot of leeway both in your grammar and your use of the correct form.

Hangul originally consisted of 28 characters but has subsequently been reduced to 24. The symbols used in Korean are extremely simple- basic lines, circles and squares, and Korean is not pictographic like Chinese. These letters- 14 consonants and 10 vowels, are combined in groups of two three or four characters and are read in clockwise circles from left to right. Although this may sound initially intimidating, Korean is in fact one of the easiest languages in the world to learn to read and write. Two and three year olds in Korea can usually write basic characters, and school age children usually have complete mastery of the written form of the language. Over 98% of Koreans are literate.

As daunting as it may seem initially, most foreigners can learn to read basic Korean characters in a couple of weeks. Even if you never progress beyond this stage, learning to read Korean will make your stay in Korea infinitely easier- you will at least be able to read street signs and be able to tell where busses and subways are headed. Korean language classes are offered through several private language academies and several universities in Seoul, including Sogang University and Ewha Women’s University. The most cost effective way to learn is to purchase the university Korean language textbooks at a bookstore, and then find a Korean who speaks some English to participate in a language exchange- there are many Koreans who are more than happy to trade English for Korean lessons. As easy as Korean is to read and write, it’s transliteration into English can often be baffling. For many years the Korean government used the McCune-Reischauer system of Romanizing Korean, however many Koreans used their own Romanized spellings, thus Mr. Choi and Mr. Chae might be brothers. Recently the South Korean government embarked on a multi-million dollar project to change how Korean words are spelled in English. The brilliance of the powers that be devised a system that makes Korean words spelled in English nearly unpronounceable for non-Korean speakers. Under the old system the word “Koryo” which is pronounced “Kor-yo” is now spelled, “Goryeo” and “Chosun”, pronounced “Cho-son” is now spelled “Joseon.” Go figure. Welcome to Gorea.

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