OT:Anybody know/study korean?

[Former castleva]

After getting a bit tired in chinese or japanese (great languages,no doubt-having done some minimal study I found out they aren´t for me.Asian languages are what I´m interested in,an idea about reading korean suddenly popped up.
I got some tiny information from www (might be more to come) My present state of understanding is that korean is easier to learn if compared to chinese,as an example.
"Kanji" of korean should be more simple and easy to understand.
But I´m just beginning,I would appreciate any information from anyone studying this form of communication.

[Kumkuat]

if can't stand Japanese, what makes you think Korean would be easier? They both have the same syntax. The alphabet is easier to learn depending on how much you have to remember before you can be able to pronouce everything. Korea doesn't use Kanji that much, but they use all traditional Chinese characters, not the simplified stuff, so if you want to learn the Korean pronoucations of the Chinese characters, you're screwed. Why are you still interested in Asian languages anyway if 2 of them aren't suitable for you? Is there a girl/guy you want to impress? What's gonna happen if Korean isn't for you? Are you gonna try Vietnamese?

[Former castleva]

what makes you think Korean would be easier?"
That´s the picture I got from reading some basic information.
but they use all traditional Chinese characters,"
Of course I may be wrong but I also read that korean was originally written by chinese characters but was then turned to it´s own form that "normal" people could better express themselves with korean approach.
Why are you still interested in Asian languages anyway...?"
As far as I know,there are more Asian languages:Korean as an example.
Is there a girl/guy you want to impress? " I want to learn it for myself.Once it becomes a second nature for me I´ll be able to "impress" many people (or at least chat)
What's gonna happen if Korean isn't for you?"
We´ll see about that.First I´m gonna try this out.
Are you gonna try Vietnamese?"
Let´s say it´s possible.

Thank you for your time.


:)

[Asia]

Althought I used to speak korean really well (and read a little bit) I haven't done it much since I left. But I do remember my first couple of korean lessons. First find a really cute, single, korean girl.....

[wu_de36]

koreans do not use chinese characters that much anymore.

most things are written in Hangul, which is a phonetic-based system. I can sound out some Hangul, but I don't know what I'm saying.

Most korean graduate students I know cannot read Chinese Characters. The previous generation didn't pass that on, I guess.

[wu_de36]

Originally posted by Asia
Althought I used to speak korean really well (and read a little bit) I haven't done it much since I left. But I do remember my first couple of korean lessons. First find a really cute, single, korean girl.....

Do not use this method if you want to learn Japanese.
(OK smartass, of course you wouldn't ask a korean girl for help in learning japanese. you know what I mean.)


If you are a man, you should learn to speak from a man, or else you will sound like an effeminate little pansy, speaking "pillow japanese." Women just use words differently from men in Japan.

I don't know if this is applicable to Korean or not.

[Asia]

Do not use this method if you want to learn Japanese.

Nan da kore! I speak like a man kana!!! :D
hehehehehe


This is true many male westerns learn ninhongo from there 'pillow dictionary' and it is hilarious to listen too. I learn japanese form male friends growing up there so I guess I got lucky.

[Kumkuat]

Originally posted by wu_de36


Do not use this method if you want to learn Japanese.
(OK smartass, of course you wouldn't ask a korean girl for help in learning japanese. you know what I mean.)


If you are a man, you should learn to speak from a man, or else you will sound like an effeminate little pansy, speaking "pillow japanese." Women just use words differently from men in Japan.

I don't know if this is applicable to Korean or not.

It's same with Korean, but it's not as obvious as Japanese. I hung around with a lot of Korean chicks, and my other Korean guy friend said I sound like a girl on a few phrases I said. And most Korean grad/undergrad ppl knew Hanja (kanji). It just depends on whether their parents forced them to learn them or not. I wished Korea used more Hanja because it's pretty hard reading Korean without it since I'm so used to reading Japanese with all their Kanji. Chinese, well that's a different story since everything is in Chinese characters. But it's not that bad. I still have to study more Chinese though.

[kungfuyou]

I have been interested in learning Chinese myself. More than just the "Kung Fu Chinese" that you learn in your practices of forms and what not. Is there an easy way of learning? There is no classes taught at the local college for me to learn. How is learning from a book? Audio tapes? Online? Computer software??

[IronFist]

Good topic :)

I can teach you to read 90% of all Korean in 20 minutes, depending on how good your memory is. From a book it might take a few days.

Now listen, because I have to go this will be brief:

The majority of, and by majority of, I mean all but 2 or 3, self-teaching books on Korean SUCK. Like, really, really suck arse. The following are good, however, and you can find them at amazon.com.

Definately Buy these two
Elementary Korean. This one comes with a CD. Very nice.
Integrated Korean. No cd, but if a word is pronounced differently from how it is spelled they make a note of it for you (like na-do being pronounced na-du, etc.). Make sure you get book 1 first.

Don't buy these!!
The rest suck. As I mentioned somewhere in another post I think, the "Colloquial Korean" series sucks so bad it's not even funny. "Teach Yourself Korean" is ok. It sucks less than Colloquial Korean, but would get it's arse kicked by the two I mentioned above. The big expensive one called "Korean: Read it, Write it, Speak it, Understand it" (or something like that) sucks. It's very comprehensive, but is full of 1960-70's Korean which isn't even really used anymore.

If you understand Japanese syntax, you won't have much trouble learning Korean structure except for the following changes:

Where Japanese has particles such as "wa," "ga," "(w)o," etc, Korean has these as well, except they change based on whether the preceding noun ends with a consonant of vowel. Not hard to get used to, but worth noting.

The reason Korean is harder than Japanese
Korean has like 18 different vowels or something, (I'm talking vowels that you write, so "e" "ye" count as two and all the "w" ones count as individual ones, too) and understanding this is hard as hell when you begin. Especially things like "yo" versus "yeo" and stuff.
Oh yeah, some consonants have three different forms, with the differences being how much each on is aspirated. As a beginner, have fun distinguising between "ta" "tta" and "t'a." Hell, I've been studying Korean on and off (mostly off) for like 4 years, and while I've forgotten almost everything I once knew, it still can't tell the difference between the different versions of the same consonants. Can anyone here help???

K I gotta run!

Oh yeah, the cute girl idea is good, too :)

IronFist

[Tae Li]

careful....u might get your thread moved somewhere else....

Tae Li;)

[IronFist]

Bump. Someone here's gotta speak Korean.

IronFist

[Kumkuat]

yeah, I can speak Korean. Don't use romanize korean, I can't read it. Write the actual Korean letter please. Oh yeah, "Making Out in Korean" is a very funny book.

[IronFist]

that book doesn't actually show the hangul, does it? I saw it a loooong time ago and I can't remember what's in it.

kumkuat, were you born there or did you learn it later?

IronFist

[Kumkuat]

Originally posted by IronFist
that book doesn't actually show the hangul, does it? I saw it a loooong time ago and I can't remember what's in it.

kumkuat, were you born there or did you learn it later?

IronFist

I was born there. That book was in not in hangul, but some weird romaizations.