Might be something that you can show to your class for fun - see if they can do better than the stars.
Formerly 'Kiwigirl in Suwon, South Korea'
Showing posts with label Learning Korean Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning Korean Language. Show all posts
Friday, May 10, 2013
Funny Video - K-Idols speaking English
This is a clip from a Korean variety show where some Korean celebrities had to translate a Korean phrase into English.
Might be something that you can show to your class for fun - see if they can do better than the stars.
Might be something that you can show to your class for fun - see if they can do better than the stars.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Learning Korean #3 - The Alphabet (Hangeul Part 2 of 4)
The Korean Alphabet was invented in around 1443 during the Joseon Dynasty and the reign of King Sejeon. Before that they used the Chinese system for writing and as it is difficult language it meant that the rate of literacy in Korea was very low - only the rich and most often men could learn to read. The alphabet was invented with ease of learning in mind and as was intended so commoners could learn to read and write.
The basic alphabet consists of 24 consonants and vowels, there are 14 consonants and 10 vowels. there are also some double consonants and compound vowels that round out the script. The letters are then arranged into syllable blocks to form words.
In this post I am going to talk about the vowels in the Korean alphabet.
There are six basic vowels
ᅡ ᅥ ᅩ ᅮ ᅳ ᅵ
and four [y] vowels (these take the sounds from the vowels above and add a y sound to the start)
ᅣ ᅧ ᅭ ᅲ
This makes up the 10 vowels in the alphabet.
To make the sounds of these vowels:
ᅡ [a] - ah ᅣ [ya] - yah
ᅥ [eo] - eo ᅧ [yeo] - yoh
ᅩ [o] - o ᅭ [yo] - yo
ᅮ [u] - uu ᅲ [yu] - yuu
ᅳ [eu] - eu
ᅵ [i] - ee
You can see how the vowels with the double strokes are similar to the ones with the single, basically if it has the second stroke you just add a 'y' sound to the beginning. So a good way to learn them is by rhyming them ah - yah and so on.
To give you more of an idea of the correct sounds, here are some English words that have the sound we are tying to make for the six basic vowels:
ᅡ [a] - as in the a in father
ᅥ [eo] - as in the u in jug
ᅩ [o] - as in the o of oh!
ᅮ [oo or u] - as in the oo of moon
ᅳ [eu] - mix between oo and ee, similar to the u in mure (no equivalent in English)
ᅵ [i] - as in the ee in meet
(you can use some of the links below to find websites that have the sounds of these letters, the best way to learn is by hearing them)
That is all for this lesson, if you are trying to learn the Korean script then I think this is the best place to start - you can try and memorize the 10 vowels. Once you have done that you will be ready to move onto the consonants.
The way I learned these was by writing them out many many times and saying the sound as I wrote it. You could also make some flash cards if you want to test yourself, really it is just about sitting down and going over them until they stick in your head. When you are out and about don't forget to use the signs to test yourself - see if you can identify some of the new letters your have learned.
Some references for leaning Hangeul:
Books:
Yes! You Can Learn KOREAN Language Structure in 40 Min. by Tong-Ku Lee
Korean made easy (Starter) - by Seung-eun Oh
Online:
http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/
http://www.learnlangs.com/RWP/Korean/index.htm
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/CU/CU_EN_8_6_1_1_1.jsp
http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Learn_hangeul
The basic alphabet consists of 24 consonants and vowels, there are 14 consonants and 10 vowels. there are also some double consonants and compound vowels that round out the script. The letters are then arranged into syllable blocks to form words.
In this post I am going to talk about the vowels in the Korean alphabet.
There are six basic vowels
ᅡ ᅥ ᅩ ᅮ ᅳ ᅵ
and four [y] vowels (these take the sounds from the vowels above and add a y sound to the start)
ᅣ ᅧ ᅭ ᅲ
This makes up the 10 vowels in the alphabet.
To make the sounds of these vowels:
ᅡ [a] - ah ᅣ [ya] - yah
ᅥ [eo] - eo ᅧ [yeo] - yoh
ᅩ [o] - o ᅭ [yo] - yo
ᅮ [u] - uu ᅲ [yu] - yuu
ᅳ [eu] - eu
ᅵ [i] - ee
You can see how the vowels with the double strokes are similar to the ones with the single, basically if it has the second stroke you just add a 'y' sound to the beginning. So a good way to learn them is by rhyming them ah - yah and so on.
To give you more of an idea of the correct sounds, here are some English words that have the sound we are tying to make for the six basic vowels:
ᅡ [a] - as in the a in father
ᅥ [eo] - as in the u in jug
ᅩ [o] - as in the o of oh!
ᅮ [oo or u] - as in the oo of moon
ᅳ [eu] - mix between oo and ee, similar to the u in mure (no equivalent in English)
ᅵ [i] - as in the ee in meet
(you can use some of the links below to find websites that have the sounds of these letters, the best way to learn is by hearing them)
That is all for this lesson, if you are trying to learn the Korean script then I think this is the best place to start - you can try and memorize the 10 vowels. Once you have done that you will be ready to move onto the consonants.
The way I learned these was by writing them out many many times and saying the sound as I wrote it. You could also make some flash cards if you want to test yourself, really it is just about sitting down and going over them until they stick in your head. When you are out and about don't forget to use the signs to test yourself - see if you can identify some of the new letters your have learned.
Some references for leaning Hangeul:
Books:
Yes! You Can Learn KOREAN Language Structure in 40 Min. by Tong-Ku Lee
Korean made easy (Starter) - by Seung-eun Oh
Online:
http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/
http://www.learnlangs.com/RWP/Korean/index.htm
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/CU/CU_EN_8_6_1_1_1.jsp
http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Learn_hangeul
Monday, July 16, 2012
Learning Korean #2 - The Alphabet (Hangeul Part 1 of 4)
In my last 'Learning Korean' post I talked about numbers as I think that it was one of the best things I've learned so far. I don't really want to go too far into Learning Korean as I am in no way an expert but I am happy to share some things that I have learned so far. There are also many other resources out there if you are serious about learning - I would recommend 'Talk to Me in Korean'.
TTMIK is an online resources made up of podcasts, videos and other stuff to help you on your journey to becoming a Korean Language expert. They are produced by Native Korean Speakers who have impeccable English. This is a free resources and is really helpful, they do also have a sister site that is one where you can pay for more support, it's called Haru Korean. The free site has more than enough to get you started.
Today I wanted to talk about the Korean Alphabet, the most common thing you will hear its that it's easy to learn. The Korean alphabet is a created writing system that is the result of careful study and planning, prior to its invention the Koreans had been using the Chinese writing system. There are still some Chinese charters in Korean writing but they are slowing being phased out - for our purposes you don't have to learn them but its good to be aware that they are there and that Korean children are expected to learn and memorize them at school.
As I have mentioned before I'm not the best learner so I was a bit dubious of people when they said they learned the alphabet in an afternoon or a weekend. I did a bit of study when I first got here and figured out the most common letters but I soon let it lapse and did not continue. I finally booked myself in for a Korean Language Course at a Training Institute so that I could force myself to go and try and get on track. I only ended up going to one months worth of courses as it was cancelled due to low numbers and it was coming into winter, the course was in Seoul so I had to travel a couple of hours to attend. I decided to wait until it got warmer and see if I still wanted to continue, I have not booked into anything so far but might do something next month.
The course was pretty hard for me and I found the teacher went a bit fast, it was more about grammar than speaking and pretty soon it was over my head. However the one good thing to come out of it was that I learned the alphabet - it was our first homework assignment and we had to learn it or we would have held the class up. I was already the slowest in the class so I did not want to be the one who did not do their homework and held the class back; I made a concerned effort to spend the week memorizing. Many people can do it quicker but I spread it out over the week, I copied all the letters out I recited them and even had an iPod app that recited them to me so I could listen on the bus. I'm still a bit unsure of some of the double vowels as I did not spend as much time on them but the main consonants and vowels I can read OK now - I do still have to think about it a bit usually.
Once you know the alphabet you can practice almost anywhere you are, there are always signs on the buses or in shops you go to. I find myself practicing on the bus the most, not really trying to read the words but trying to recognize the letters - every now and then you surprise yourself and find you actually know the word which is a great feeling.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to do a few Hangul Posts where I go over the alphabet and give tips to how I learned it and links to the resources that I used. Feel free to leave comments to let me know how you learned and share any tips you might have.
Visit the Tourism Korea site for the complete story of the Korean alphabet - Hangul.
TTMIK is an online resources made up of podcasts, videos and other stuff to help you on your journey to becoming a Korean Language expert. They are produced by Native Korean Speakers who have impeccable English. This is a free resources and is really helpful, they do also have a sister site that is one where you can pay for more support, it's called Haru Korean. The free site has more than enough to get you started.
Today I wanted to talk about the Korean Alphabet, the most common thing you will hear its that it's easy to learn. The Korean alphabet is a created writing system that is the result of careful study and planning, prior to its invention the Koreans had been using the Chinese writing system. There are still some Chinese charters in Korean writing but they are slowing being phased out - for our purposes you don't have to learn them but its good to be aware that they are there and that Korean children are expected to learn and memorize them at school.
As I have mentioned before I'm not the best learner so I was a bit dubious of people when they said they learned the alphabet in an afternoon or a weekend. I did a bit of study when I first got here and figured out the most common letters but I soon let it lapse and did not continue. I finally booked myself in for a Korean Language Course at a Training Institute so that I could force myself to go and try and get on track. I only ended up going to one months worth of courses as it was cancelled due to low numbers and it was coming into winter, the course was in Seoul so I had to travel a couple of hours to attend. I decided to wait until it got warmer and see if I still wanted to continue, I have not booked into anything so far but might do something next month.
The course was pretty hard for me and I found the teacher went a bit fast, it was more about grammar than speaking and pretty soon it was over my head. However the one good thing to come out of it was that I learned the alphabet - it was our first homework assignment and we had to learn it or we would have held the class up. I was already the slowest in the class so I did not want to be the one who did not do their homework and held the class back; I made a concerned effort to spend the week memorizing. Many people can do it quicker but I spread it out over the week, I copied all the letters out I recited them and even had an iPod app that recited them to me so I could listen on the bus. I'm still a bit unsure of some of the double vowels as I did not spend as much time on them but the main consonants and vowels I can read OK now - I do still have to think about it a bit usually.
Once you know the alphabet you can practice almost anywhere you are, there are always signs on the buses or in shops you go to. I find myself practicing on the bus the most, not really trying to read the words but trying to recognize the letters - every now and then you surprise yourself and find you actually know the word which is a great feeling.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to do a few Hangul Posts where I go over the alphabet and give tips to how I learned it and links to the resources that I used. Feel free to leave comments to let me know how you learned and share any tips you might have.
Visit the Tourism Korea site for the complete story of the Korean alphabet - Hangul.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Learning Korean #1 - Counting (Sino-Korean)
One of the first things that I did when I got here was to learn how to count to 10, there are two ways of counting in Korea. Sino-Korean (because it came from Chinese) and Native (sometimes called Pure) Korean which are the traditional numbers. Korean uses both so if you are learning Korean you will at some stage need to learn both however the reason that I wanted to learn was for money and money uses the Sino-Korean counting system.
It's pretty easy to learn and I memorised it in an afternoon with the help of this video so I have shared it here for you to take advantage of too. It's from Mahalo.com and they do lots of Korean Language Videos on You Tube so check them out.
The Korean system uses the same Arabic Numbers that English does but they have their own words for the numbers and so also have the Hangul (Korean Language) written word for each number.
Sino-Korean Numbers 1-10
1 = il/일
2 = ee/이
3 = sam/삼
4 = sa/사
5 = oh/오
6 = yuk/육 (륙 sometimes ryuk)
7 = chil/칠
8 = pal/팔
9 = gu/구
10 = ship/십
To make the higher numbers it's pretty easy, 11-19 you just say (10 + number) so for example to say 15 is ship-oh.
When you get to 20-99 you just switch it around (number + ship) so for example 20 is ee-ship and 60 is yuk-ship. The in-between numbers you just add another number on the end for example 23 is ee-ship-sam and 79 is chil-ship-gu and so on.
When you get even higher each place marker has its own new word:
100 = baek/백
1000 = cheon/천
10,000 = man/만
The rules for forming the numbers remain the same so to say 312 you say Three + Hundred + Ten + Two sam-baek-ship-ee and to say 1475 you say cheon-sa-baek-chil-ship-oh.
It's pretty easy to learn and I memorised it in an afternoon with the help of this video so I have shared it here for you to take advantage of too. It's from Mahalo.com and they do lots of Korean Language Videos on You Tube so check them out.
The Korean system uses the same Arabic Numbers that English does but they have their own words for the numbers and so also have the Hangul (Korean Language) written word for each number.
Sino-Korean Numbers 1-10
To make the higher numbers it's pretty easy, 11-19 you just say (10 + number) so for example to say 15 is ship-oh.
When you get to 20-99 you just switch it around (number + ship) so for example 20 is ee-ship and 60 is yuk-ship. The in-between numbers you just add another number on the end for example 23 is ee-ship-sam and 79 is chil-ship-gu and so on.
When you get even higher each place marker has its own new word:
The rules for forming the numbers remain the same so to say 312 you say Three + Hundred + Ten + Two sam-baek-ship-ee and to say 1475 you say cheon-sa-baek-chil-ship-oh.
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