Korean language - practical reasons why you should learn it (2023)

With over 7,000 living languages ​​spoken today, many language students choose only one of a few. But now, it might be worth learning the Korean language. But why learn Korean?

Romance languages ​​like German, Spanish, or French are the usual choices when people think they need to learn at least one foreign language. For many English speakers, this is commonplace. For people who want to learn an Asian language, Japanese or Chinese are at the top of the list.

Find out why you should learn Korean!

K-Pop, Hallyu, Dramas Coreanos y Samsung, LG, Hyundai

The Korean language is not a language that many language learners are interested in learning. But that was before Korean appeal caught the attention of people all over the world, and we're talking about K-pop, Hallyu stars, Korean dramas, etc.Gangnam StyleNot to mention smartphones, cars, and gadgets made by South Korean companies like LG, Samsung, and Hyundai. By the way, Hallyu is a romanized version ofHanryuKorean life.THATis a root word indicating Korean during the root wordRyumeans wave or current.

Linguistic reasons to learn the Korean language

Since the time ofKing Sejong the GreatIt was said that it is possible for each personlearn hangulin just one hour and that you can read Korean during the day. But even if you could read the alphabet, what would be your reasons for learning Korean?

1. Wider knowledge

Learning Korean can broaden your perspective of other cultures. Korea's rich history includes periods under various rulers before the arrival of the Chinese and Japanese.

Knowing how to speak Korean can be beneficial as it can open doors to many opportunities since few are currently learning the language. This means there is less competition for you. Along with your academic degrees and experience, your ability to speak Korean increases your chances of getting hired. Advanced Korean skills can be the deciding factor even if you have no work experience.

2. Konglisch

Many English loan words are accepted and understood by many Koreans today, so it's okay to use them if you can't remember the correct Korean word.

3. Global opportunities

In the global society, preparing for the future has become more important. Not only do you need to excel academically, you also need to develop more skills to be more competitive, because the people who want the same job as you are not just from your own country.

According to 2010 data from the 21st edition of Ethnologue, the number of people who speak Korean as their first language is 48.4 million. Across all countries (including China, Japan, North Korea, Uzbekistan, and the Russian Federation), the number of users is 72.2 million. South Korea's economy is the 13th largest in the world. The country offers many opportunities for work, business or study. However, as South Korea is generally monolingual, it is best to learn Korean before traveling there.

4. pronunciation

Hangul (or Hangeul) is easy to learn. Korean is quite scientific on the relationship between pronunciation and spelling. The pronunciation rules are very scientific and logical. They can be hard to learn at first, but once you get the hang of them, you're unlikely to mispronounce words.

5. Grammar

if you are aEnglishspeakers, you may have trouble learning the grammar as it defaults to SOV (subject-object-verb). You just have to remember that in Korean the verb always comes at the end. Other parts of speech have definite articles, so even if you change their order, the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. In English you say "Bess eat(a) pear". In Korean it would be "Bess a pear eats". Also, the form of the verb does not change whether the objects are singular or plural.

6. Gender

In Korean, the concept of gender for nouns does not exist nor does it affect the other elements of the sentence.

7. Tons

Unlike other Asian languages, Korean is non-tonal, which means it's an aspect of the language you don't need to worry about.

8. Honors

One of the most intimidating aspects of learning the Korean language is the honorific system, but it can help students better understand the country's society and culture. There are different honorifics in the language depending on status, age, context, or affiliation, but it's okay to use the formal honorific for everyone.

Daehan Minguk

The Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, is written in hanja as Daehan Minguk, which translates as "The Great Land of the Han People." Located in East Asia, it is the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The northern part of the peninsula belongs to North Korea.

Korea is an ancient name inherited from the Goryeo dynasty. The current population of South Korea is estimated to be around 51.4 million, with around 10 million people living in Seoul, the country's capital and largest city, while the rest are spread across nine provinces and 125 cities. . With a total area of ​​38,690 square miles or 100,210 square kilometers, South Korea is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

South Korea has been cut off from the rest of the world for many years, and only in recent years have foreigners been allowed to stay in the country. The majority ethnicity of the population is predominantly Korean. Its official language is Korean. The country has its own sign language.

The country is blessed with natural beauty - forests, mountains, rock formations, streams, rivers, waterfalls, tidal flats, swamps and more - but it lacks natural resources. But that fact did not stop South Korea from becoming a developed country with a high-income economy, which they achieved with perseverance, hard work, and the will of the people.

Due to a lack of natural resources, South Korea has focused on manufacturing products for export. The country also had to import a variety of products. Its export-oriented industries focused on automobiles, ships, petrochemicals, machinery, and robotics.

Over the past four decades, South Korea's economy has prospered, transforming the once isolated country into a high-tech industrialized economy worth trillions.

korean language

Given South Korea's static economy and position on the world stage, it's fair to say it's time to study the Korean language, if only to better understand the culture of a country that has remained under the radar for centuries.

Despite this, the culture of Korea is very rich, interesting and fascinating. It has many traditions and customs that people outside of the Korean Peninsula and its immediate neighbors such as China and Japan are not familiar with.

Modern and historical linguists believe that Korean is a language isolate, although some linguists suggest that it belongs to a small family of languages, many of which are now extinct. Korean, the official and national language of North and South Korea, has many dialects. However theLanguage spoken on Jeju Islandit differs from the language spoken on the mainland and is therefore considered a distinct language rather than a Korean dialect.

Lack of research on the past.

There are very few records and research about it.ancient languagesused when the peninsula was divided into different kingdoms. Middle Korean was the language spoken between the 10th and 16th centuries, based on the Kaesong dialect. Around 1103, hanja, or the Chinese characters used to write Korean, were recorded.

King Sejong the Great promulgated the use of Hangul in 1446. But the creation of Hangul, or the Korean alphabet, was started in 1443 by King Sejong the Great and his team of scholars. The original name of Hangul wasHunminjeongeumor the proper sounds to instruct people. Hangul is the native script created by the king so that the common people of Korea could easily learn to read and write Korean. At that time, only the rich and privileged could go to school and learn Hanja.

the korean alphabet

Hangul contains 10 vowels and 14 consonants. They group characters into horizontal or vertical blocks of syllables to form words. You can write Korean from left to right, top to bottom, just like the Chinese writing system. You can also write it from right to left. Today it emulates the western style of writing and includes spaces between words and punctuation marks.

According to some linguists, Hangul is the most logical writing system in the world because the shapes of the consonants resemble the way a speaker's mouth pronounces them.

Both South Korea and North Korea use Hangul as their official writing system. It is also used in a co-official status in Changbai Autonomous County of Korea and Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture of Korea. Both are located in the Chinese province of Jilin.

The mayor of the town of Baubau, on Buton Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia, was famous for teaching schoolchildren to read and write his language, Cia-Cia, in Hangul. He asked the Indonesian government if it would be possible to make Hangul their official writing system. But in 2011, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Hunminjeongeum Society, and Baubau city officials turned him down. They stopped the project in 2012. However, some local signs in Hangul survived from 2017. Also, they still use Hangul at school.

They now celebrate Hangul Release Day, October 9, as Hangul Day in South Korea.

To involve

No doubt, the Korean language is difficult for English speakers to learn. However, it is a fascinating language to speak in a country that is rapidly gaining ground as an economic powerhouse. you get oneBonus for learning Korean, since you can understand all thiskorean dramas and movieswhich are widely available online. You will understand the lyrics of your K-Pop idols and what they say in interviews. In addition, you will have the opportunity to read Korean literature. And this one is just as good as the ones that come from other Asian countries.

But while you are still learning Korean, you may need translations to and from Korean. We are here to help. Call Day Translations, Inc. at 1-800-969-6853 or send us an emailContact Usfor a quick quote. OurTranslators are located all over the world., ready to serve you wherever you are. Our native Korean speakers are available 24/7 to work on your translation project. We guarantee that our translation is 100% correct in all languages.

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