Learning Korean

[komitsuki]

Originally Posted by Miyavifan

@ komi...

ah, ok... well, shouldn't they be able to pronounce it right, if they look up how?

In the dictionary?

Hangul - Dictionary definition and pronunciation - Yahoo! Education

English doesn't have the specific vowel that Korean has. So, no.

[komitsuki]

Well, it's an English-based dictionary... so it's okay to use an alternative pronunciation instead for Korean loanwords.

I keep emphasizing this because I've seen a lot of English-speaking people learning Korean and their immediate difficulty is the pronunciation of some vowels and consonants.

[NanteNa]

Originally Posted by komitsuki

You need to memorize 1000-1200 chinese characters if you want to go to university.

Are you sure about that?
The Uni I'm to join in '11 doesn't require any Hanja for the time in Korea - neither does the one I looked up in Sheffield.

Oh, and about the pronunciation; I'm lucky to be Danish. We share a lot of letter-pronunciations with the Koreans - this also makes eg. Japanese a lot easier.

Miyavifan@ There might not be an 'e' in Hangeul, but as komi says it's pronounced as '한글'

lself@ The pronunciations are VERY different, yes. And you can basically just compare Korean and Japanese by their letter-systems. Japanese has Katakana and Hiragana. Katakana for foreign words, obviously, but it's kind of the same deal with Korean hangeul. Koreans also have the Hanja system, which can resemble the Japanese use of Kanji - except Hanja is not as widely used. If that made any sense....

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by NanteNa

Are you sure about that?
The Uni I'm to join in '11 doesn't require any Hanja for the time in Korea - neither does the one I looked up in Sheffield.

Oh, and about the pronunciation; I'm lucky to be Danish. We share a lot of letter-pronunciations with the Koreans - this also makes eg. Japanese a lot easier.

Miyavifan@ There might not be an 'e' in Hangeul, but as komi says it's pronounced as '한글'

lself@ The pronunciations are VERY different, yes. And you can basically just compare Korean and Japanese by their letter-systems. Japanese has Katakana and Hiragana. Katakana for foreign words, obviously, but it's kind of the same deal with Korean hangeul. Koreans also have the Hanja system, which can resemble the Japanese use of Kanji - except Hanja is not as widely used. If that made any sense....

Are you going to the university as an exchange student, or will you be receiving a degree from the Korean university as a regular student?

I ask because there was no kanji requirement when I attended a university in Japan, but that was because I only spent a year there and got my degree from a university in the USA, not the Japanese uni.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by komitsuki

Well, it's an English-based dictionary... so it's okay to use an alternative pronunciation instead for Korean loanwords.

I keep emphasizing this because I've seen a lot of English-speaking people learning Korean and their immediate difficulty is the pronunciation of some vowels and consonants.

The missing sounds do not seem as difficult for people to learn as those that are only slightly varied. I am often assisting with this for both sides of the dynamic (Koreans perfecting their English and Americans learning Korean). If there is a completely new sound it is usually picked up fairly quickly, given plenty of practice and examples. But the more subtle differences, such as emphasis on doubled consonants in Hangul and voiced/unvoiced/sliding TH in English can be serious obstacles.

[Miyavifan]

Originally Posted by komitsuki

Well, it's an English-based dictionary... so it's okay to use an alternative pronunciation instead for Korean loanwords.

I keep emphasizing this because I've seen a lot of English-speaking people learning Korean and their immediate difficulty is the pronunciation of some vowels and consonants.

Oh, ok....

@ Nan.

I got it all straight now. Thank you for your reply/help, just the same.

[komitsuki]

Originally Posted by NanteNa

Are you sure about that?
The Uni I'm to join in '11 doesn't require any Hanja for the time in Korea - neither does the one I looked up in Sheffield.

But instead, learning Chinese characters (traditional) is recommended. Trust me, you'll use the Korean-English, Korean dictionaries more efficiently if you do understand Chinese characters. Most of the academic terms would be easier anyways.

Originally Posted by TalnSG

The missing sounds do not seem as difficult for people to learn as those that are only slightly varied. I am often assisting with this for both sides of the dynamic (Koreans perfecting their English and Americans learning Korean). If there is a completely new sound it is usually picked up fairly quickly, given plenty of practice and examples. But the more subtle differences, such as emphasis on doubled consonants in Hangul and voiced/unvoiced/sliding TH in English can be serious obstacles.

If we all learn IPA...