I'm still waiting to meet a western foreigner that speaks korean....

Yeah a lot of westerners here don't care, but I think for a significant minority this attitude is borne out of necessity, the language is extremely difficult.

I did meet one westerner who had been here eight years. I don't have enough Korean to have given him a proper evaluation, but I would say he was conversationally fluent as opposed to knowing sufficient vocabulary and having the pronunciation of a native speaker. Anyway, he said it took him five years off and on study to get to that point. Apparently he was quite skilled at foreign languages, because he claimed to know four others.

I'd skip Korea if you're looking to learn a language for the following reasons: 1. The listening and comprehending aspect is very different. Conjugated words can sound nothing like what you would find in a dictionary. For example, you would be taught that clothes is "oat" (not spelled this way but pronounced) but if you heard someone talking about clothes, they might very well say "o-she" The "o" sound doesn't help you at all because numerous words start with an "o" sound. (Ok, that wasn't an example of a conjugation, but it popped into my mind).

Which leads me to the second issue in learning Korean: To western ears, multitudes of different words sound almost the same, and are difficult to both remember and hear. For example, Ganjung might be a word, then you would have Gunjung, Gunjang, Gunjohng, Gunjoong, etc, and they would all mean completely different things.

This might not be so bad if there wasn't so much vocabulary in the first place. Actually English has far more, but very little of it is used on a regular basis. Korean uses a greater variety of words in everyday speech. There is a formal and informal word for morning, as well as name, age, house and a multitude of other examples. You would use a completely different word for sleep when telling an elder to sleep well as opposed to someone the same age or younger. Not only would you use a different word, but the sentence would be completely different as well. To an equal you would say "Jal jai-yo". To an older person you would say "Anyong-he jumoosay-yo" To a younger person you would say "Eruhm-e moh yay-yo?" What is your name? To an older person you would say "Suhngham-e ohtdokkay dweassayo?"

In part this comes from Korean being a territory of China for hundreds of years, so about 40 percent of the vocabulary is Chinese. Unfortunately, nearly all these words have a Korean equivalent, although some of the more complex ones do not. You would use the Korean word for "left" when talking about your left hand, but use the Chinese word for left when telling a taxi driver to turn left. There are two completely different number systems, and you must use both together when telling the time. The hour uses the Korean number, while the minute uses the Chinese number.

Korean also has multiple levels of politeness for EVERY situation. Every sentence must be clear on what level it is unlike in English where many sentences are virtually the same regardless of who we are talking to. If you wanted to say hi to a child you would say "Anyong". To an equal you would say "Anyong-haseyo" to an elder or superior you would say "Anyong hasheemnikga".

Korean actually has far more complexities than this, and the fact that it has a simple alphabet is both a blessing and a curse. (When you study it for a long time you'll know what I mean, although I guess we are all welcome to learn the original Chinese characters).

The main thing that you should know is that you will not I repeat NOT attain even casual conversational fluency in a year here, assuming you are planning to teach English and here and study at the same time. It might be possible if you enrolled in a university here to study full time, but even in doing this you would not come close to conversational fluency, although that might be possible after a second year of study, assuming you have a facility for learning languages and have a high motivation.

If you're planning on teaching, probably the best you can hope for is to be able to ask answer basic questions about the weather, your job, country of origin, do you like spicy food, how old you are, how to get from point A to point B, does the supermarket have any bananas, how much does a steak cost etc. If the start to get into more details much beyond a yes or no anwer, you'll be lost. If they tell you the steak is sold out and it usually comes in every Wednesday when the meat truck guy delivers, well I'll just say anyone who can understand that in Korean after a year of studying while working, you have my admiration.

Korea is very urban by the way, beautiful would not be my first adjective in describing the place.

Robert 08 Nov 2008, 09:43 - Report