Korean Language
Koreans consider their language as their most distinctive trait. Koreans write, speak and understand a language which is closer to Hungarian, Finnish or Turkish then it is to other Oriental languages. Although they have their own efficient phonetic alphabet developed in the 15th century, they use Chinese ideographs for some proper names and technical terms. With different grammar rules, sentence structures and sounds, the Korean language of Hangul is challenging to grasp. Different grammar rules than Engsdlish makea it a challenge for most foreigners to learn.
Korea is not that big a country, but each region has a distinct dialect perhaps from being separated by many rivers and mountains. Variations in intonation is bound to result in different musical characteristics. Regional dialects are called “saturi” in Korean and regional musical attributes “tori.”
Modern Korean language is spoken not only in South and North Korea, but in many parts of the world. A significant number of Koreans living in North America, Japan, China, and the former Soviet Union share the common language and culture. Linguistically, the Korean language belongs to the Ural-Altaic language family of Central Asia. Korean, however, is quite unique in its sound and script, unlike Turkish or Japanese.
The Korean language uses Chinese characters called Han'ja in addition to Han'gul. Chinese characters were used by most upper class Korean males before Han'gul was developed. Only rich or educated Korean male scholars used the Chinese characters. In 1446, in the 28th year of his kingship, King Sejong published the “Hunminjeongeum,” the realization of his decree to research and develop a writing system that would be simple and easy for Koreans to master and communicate, as the Chinese characters being used at that time were too complex;
Hangul, the Korean alphabet or script consists of 10 vowels and 14 consonants which are combined to form different syllabic groupings. The script is quite simple and easy to learn and can be taught effectively in a foreign language classroom. King Sejong (r. 1418-1450) of the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910) invented Hangul and allowed commoners to write and communicate in the indigenous language. Chinese characters are still used today and taught in the middle and high schools, but the main medium of instruction is through Hangul.
Korean names, the family name always comes first and the given name follows. The family is very important in Korean society, and Koreans show their respect for the family by using their family name. Korean names usually have three parts: the family or surname placed first, and a name identifying the generation, alternating each generation to second or third place with the given personal name. Example: Suh Byung-su and his brother Suh Byung-min are from the Byung generation while their father Suh In-sok is from the Sok generation.
There are only around 200 family names in Korea and the five most frequent -- Kim, Pa(r)k, Yi (Lee), Choi (Choe) and Oh -- cover about 70 percent of the population. Because of the inconsistencies of translating names from Hangul to Roman characters, spellings of these names vary. For instance, Yi is also spelled in English as Lee and Rhee. Fortunately, Asians exchange business cards upon meeting, so you can refer to them to keep separate in your mind the three Misters Kim you'll meet at one party. Be prepared to hand over your card.
Korean women keep their maiden names after marriage and do not assume their husbands' surname. Children carry their father's surname. Family names are traditional clan names and each has a village from which it comes. Thus, there is a difference between Kim who comes from Kwong-ju and Kim who comes from Kimhae.
If at all possible, Koreans avoid calling a person directly by his name. Instead they use his title, position, trade, profession, scholastic rank or some honorific form such as "teacher." Parents often are addressed as the equivalent of "Jimmy's mommy" or "Susie's daddy," rather than "Mrs. Kim."
Many Japanese words are used in Korean, Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945 so Korea was under colonial rule and a Japanese colony for 35 years.
The pronunciation of Koreans is more or less different according to different regions.
South Korean includes five small branches of Gyeonggi, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, Chungcheong and Jeju. Among them, the Jeju dialect is quite different from other dialects. The main feature of the southern dialect is that the "r" sound of the beginning of the word becomes "n" and "y", and a large number of foreign words from Japanese and English.
North Korean includes the branches of Ping An, Huang Hai, and Ham mirror, the main feature is to retain the "r" sound of the beginning of the word, as well as many old words.
Chinese Korean is similar to the northern dialect, but retains more ancient features and more Chinese loanwords than South and North. In terms of voice, Chinese Koreans are used to reading "wae" as "we".
In the western dialect, today the standard Korean language is built on the Pyongyang dialect of the dialect. The passage area is in Pyongyang City, North Pyongan Province, South Pyongan Province and most of Cijiang Road in North Korea. Also known as the Pingdao dialect.
The eastern dialect is located in the two rivers of North Korea, the North Hamgyong Road, the southern part of the South Hamgyong Province, and a small part of the eastern side of Cijiang Road. Also known as the salty mirror dialect.
In the central dialect, the dialect has the widest area and the most populous dialect. Today, the standard Korean language is built on the dialect of Seoul. In North Korea, the prevailing areas include some areas of Kaicheng, Huanghai North Road, Huanghai South Road, Gangwon Road and South Hamgyong Province; in South Korea, the traffic areas include Seoul City (Seoul), Incheon City, Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheongnam-do, A small part of Chungcheongbuk-do, Gangwon-do and northwestern Jeollabuk-do.
The Western dialects include the Gwangju City of South Korea, Jeollanam-do and the Jeollabuk-do. Also known as the Quandao dialect.
Dongnan dialect, the passage area includes Busan City, Daegu City, Gyeongsangnam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do in South Korea. It is the only dialect in the six dialects of Korean that still has a tone. Also known as the Qingshangdao dialect.
Jeju dialect, the passage area is in Jeju Road, South Korea. The dialect is very different from the other five dialects and cannot talk to people in the five dialect areas.
The six town dialects, which are located in the county of North Korea near the Chinese border, are the common dialects of the descendants of the ancient Korean dynasty. Because of the poor communication with the outside world, a large number of ancient words are preserved in the dialect.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
