Korean

[Hitokiri]

K, I decided recently that in addition with maintaining my Japanese language studies, I am going to learn the basics of writing and speaking Korean.

My question is, for those who know a bit about it, is thier writing system similar in construction of words to Japanese? Such as you have the character "su" in Japanese so for Sumimasen, you would have the character "su" in there. For Korean, without touching the Hanja, is it smiliar in construction? I did some research on Hangul and it seems comperable to Hirigana and Katakana. So when constructing the word Shik-sah (meal), would you write the indivdual character for Shik-sah using Hangul? I am just a tad bit perplexed about thier writing system so any advice, hints, or suggestions is welcomed. As well, if you have any good sites that provide Hangul lessons and vocab with sound bytes in how to say is much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Aka-chan]

I'm trying to learn a little, too, so I'm certainly not the best source, but I can always check with my friends (a good number of whom are fluent in Korean). As far as I can tell, their phonetics run similar to ours where the symbols mean sounds rather than full on syllables (as in Japanese). You put the sounds together like radicals in a kanji in order to make a larger character that represents a syllable.

Like this: 한 <--read "Han" The upper left part (a few lines and a circle) are "h", the part on the upper right that looks like a katakana "to" is "a", and the bent line underneath is "n". Together, you get a syllable.

[ClosetOtaku]

I spent two years in Korea, and was able to pick up the alphabet very quickly on my own (moreso than Japanese -- I know hiragana, but that took a couple months, and as part of a class).

Unlike Japanese hiragana/katakana, which (like English) is written linearly, Korean is written in syllable "boxes", each box a complete and self-contained syllable. As in the example given by Aka-chan, "Han", the syllable is read left to right, top to bottom.

김치 - this is "kimchi", a family of pickled vegetables - and here's how it breaks down:

김 - "kim", upper left "g/k", upper right "i", bottom "m"
치 - "chi", left "ch", right "i"

Like certain letters in Japanese, Korean also has "intensifiers" where letters with similar sounds are modified with the addition of (usually) horizontal bars, although in Korean they are considered completely different letters -- for example --

ㅅ - "s", sometimes "sh"
ㅈ - "j" (as in "just")
ㅊ - "ch"

You should also note that syllables that do not begin with a consonant are given a placeholder -

음 - "eum", the top the placeholder (a circle), the horizonal bar "eu", the bottom "m".

And, of course, there are dipthongs, repeated consonants, and so forth, and always exceptions to various rules. Like Japanese, though, Korean words are almost always pronounced as they are spelled. As far as I know, the vowel sounds in Japanese and Korean are virtually identical.

As for sites, I started with one of the first sites that popped up on a google search, An Introduction to Korean, which takes you through the alphabet one step at a time. Between this site and a couple books, I was able to get some basic conversational phrases, and could "read" building signs and the like (although I might not understand what they mean).

Good luck!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

oooo korean ^__^ my department...

*gets sacked by Little T-Chan and Lorentzforce*

They are some korean genious! It's crazy! I admit i'm not too fluent in Korean to be honest.

Basically you got the "consonents" and "vowels"


Now, there are more vowels (that actually combine 2 to one, but thats for later). And they combine much like closetotaku mentioned.

I can't really "teach" it but I can offer some tips. It's kind of a "yoda" language as Linksquest puts it"

If you wanted to ask somebody "Where did Mr. Jones go", the way korean is structured would be that you ask them like "Mr. Jones where did he go." If you've ever taken french, it is much similar to that. In "romanji" that would be "Mister Jones OO-dii kah-suh yoh?" or "Mister Jones OO-dii kah-suh?" The phrase "Yoh" at the end signifies formality/informality respectively.

"I want to buy a laptop" in korean, then translated back to english literally, word for word. Would be "I laptop want to buy". Which in the best romaji I can do, would be "Nah laptop/laptopu sahl-leh" (Sahl-leh means purchase or buy)

Well uhhh.. ^^;; actually hard for me to explain. But if you got any more questions, you're korean buddy is here!

[Little T-chan]

YAY--KOREA, REPRESENT! +0+ haha

HAHA Rychu, good job! You're wayy better at Korean than you let on!

Korean is very simple to learn and it looks like the others have it handled. I'm not very good at summarizing so if you have anymore questions, you can ask me on AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, or PM me~

I can read and write, but I'm better at speaking. And I know some slang too. haha
I fool people into thinking I'm a native Korean, which I consider good because lots Korean-American kids [and adults] don't know Korean. But thankfully, my parents raised me and my siblings in the Korean way...which I don't know how to express in English...^^;

`Kay I'm done! Good luck! Feel free to contact me too~ Dae han min gook! *claps*

[KiraYamato]

I wish I knew Korean...I'm only half, though. I used to be able to speak it a long time ago, but now, I can only read and write it. And by read and write, I don't mean that I actually know what the words mean But at hangul hakyo, they're teaching everyone to read and write it and such, so I'm out of luck there