In South and North Korea, as well as in the territory of the Chinese Yanban District, which has autonomy, the official language is Korean. Also, this language is alive within various other countries: from Kyrgyzstan to Canada and Japan. Indeed, in their territories there lives a huge Korean diaspora, which has preserved its traditions.
In order to travel to a foreign country, you must familiarize yourself with all the details that will be needed during your stay. Studying Korean from scratch will be useful to those who plan to move permanently to their country (or just visit it as a tourist), get acquainted with culture and life, and it will also be useful for polyglots who are eager to learn a new foreign language . To speak this amazing dialect, you must follow simple rules and learn step by step.
First step
To begin with, as in the study of other languages, you need to learn the alphabet. It is necessary elementary in order to read and write. Learning Korean from scratch on your own can cause some difficulties at the first stage, but if you overcome them, the language itself will attract the student.
It’s worth a little talk about the alphabet. For people who use Cyrillic and Latin letters in their speech , it seems a little strange. However, among the three Asian languages - Japanese, Chinese and described - it is the easiest. Korean was invented in 1443. And since then it has 24 letters, including 10 vowels. In the early stages, this knowledge will be enough to master the basic language.
Korean has diphthongs, double consonants, and hanchu. The first two are 16 pieces. Accordingly, the complete alphabet consists of 40 different letters. What is Hancha? A few centuries ago, when the Korean language was developing, many Chinese words began to come into it, which still have not found analogues in the described structure to this day. Therefore, the average Korean knows about 3 thousand Chinese characters. And if in Japanese the words of foreign pronunciation turned into ordinary conversations, then Korean keeps a distance - they are used only in official letters, texts on religious subjects, dictionaries and classical works. It is worth noting that in the territory of North Korea, Hancha is not used.
Why is the alphabet so light? Knowing the basic information, of course, will help with such a time-consuming process as learning Korean from scratch on your own. Unlike Japanese and Chinese, which use hieroglyphs, the words in it are made up of letters. And the individual characters that make up the alphabet mean only one (sometimes two, if we are talking about a pair of voiced-deaf) letters.
Step two
Having mastered the alphabet, you should begin to study the numerals. The main thing here is to immediately understand the difference when the Korean calculus system is used, and when the Chinese one. The first, as a rule, is necessary for counting from 1 to 99 and when indicating the age of any matter. For example, one is “khan”, two is “tul”, three is “set”. The second is used by the population when the account is after 100, in the names of streets, houses, dates, money and phone numbers. For example, one - "il", two - "and", three - "himself." Moreover, letters are used in their writing, not hieroglyphs. It may also seem difficult, but further it is even more difficult, but without mastering it, it will be very difficult to develop further. After all, such a task as learning Korean from scratch cannot be compared with attempts to master some Slavic system that is native to Russian.
Step three
Step three involves learning small phrases and dozens of basic words. You just have to start and it will immediately be noticeable how the Korean combinations themselves begin to climb into the head.
It is imperative to have a small notebook with you where you can write down how to pronounce certain words. Attaching stickers with phrases to prominent places is a great way to learn Korean from scratch. So the brain will better absorb new information.
The most important process in the third step is to learn not only Korean-Russian translation, but also Russian-Korean. So you can learn to speak the language, and not just understand it.
Step four
When learning Korean from scratch on your own, you should not forget about basic words such as “hello” or “bye”. They are necessary even for the most uneducated polyglot and will always help out when talking with the carrier. Among the standard words, the following can be distinguished: yes (“ne”), no (“ani”), thanks (“kamsamnida”), hello (“annen”).
Step five
In Korean culture there is a clear division into the official and unofficial form of the language. What to use in communicating with a particular person should be clarified from the following factors: the age of the interlocutor, his profession and achievements, social status. Formality in a dialogue has three stages:
- Official. Used to talk with elders, boss and unfamiliar people.
- Unofficial. More suitable if the opponent is a close friend, relative or younger in age.
- Respectful. It is not used in everyday speech, but can often be heard on television in scientific and news programs, as well as in the army.
For those who learn Korean from scratch, this separation is important to understand. Those who do not adhere to formalities are considered impolite, and thereby a person spoils relations with others.
Step six
Now you should master the grammar. It is difficult only in one thing - in a huge number of different forms of the same verb. And all of them must be known.
Among the most common grammar rules are the following:
- The verb in the sentence is put in the last place.
- The subject is used only if it is not possible to understand from the context or from the previous sentence what or who is being discussed.
Step seven
An important step is practice. The more a person speaks and writes, the better his skills become.
Do not be afraid to start learning Korean from scratch. This is morally difficult, although technically uncomplicated. The main thing is desire and perseverance. Good luck