Memorizing Korean Characters
Is it easy? Yes, a BIT. I mean, it is easier than memorizing Chinese and Japanese characters. If I exert effort, I'll surely learn like any other people who learned Chinese and Japanese by heart. But it's like flying to Antarctica the next day with only three pairs of winter clothes. In short, it's not a piece of cake. Can you imagine yourself memorizing all those prettily slanted strokes and complicated slash and dashes of Chinesesese and Japanesesese characters? Dashes??? What's that? But memorizing Korean characters compared to Chinese and Japanese characters? You'll get by. You only need to see the circles to recognize it's Korean.
When I was fresh out of college, I went to a bookstore and stumbled upon this English-Chinese dictionary(Traveller's Phrase Book) where you can learn not just Chinese words but some phrases and expressions as well. To make the story short. I bought it. And to make another story shorter, I only learned Ni hao ma and Wo ai ni from that dictionary.
That's because those were the common words that I used to hear from Meteor Garden's official sound tracks way, way back then. F4?! Taiwanese F4? Yes... I'll be honest. Part of the reason why I bought the dic was because I got inspired to learn Mandarin. I like watching Jackie Chan movies and Chinese Ghost Story movies, Yeah, the nine-tailed fox and all. Back then, I really wanted to learn how to speak Chinese. I thought it's easy but when I tried to concentrate and listen to a Chinese conversation, I could only fish out few phrases/sounds which I can't even distinguish.
To me it sounded like this, "Shushinshishi? Shinshi shushuh."
Those are words that contain an "X" letter that we should pronounce as "sh". Words and phrases sound the same to me.
Clearly, there's something wrong with my sense of hearing. I am really amazed by other Pinoys' ability to read and speak the language. How can they distinguish a certain phrase from another when one is speaking too fast? Sad to say, I gave up. I put the dic in a box along with the other dics and whatnot that I bought. But one thing is for sure, if one speaks too fast and say Ni Hao Ma or Wo Ai Ni, I'll surely recognize it.
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| Tattered heart... |
That's because those were the common words that I used to hear from Meteor Garden's official sound tracks way, way back then. F4?! Taiwanese F4? Yes... I'll be honest. Part of the reason why I bought the dic was because I got inspired to learn Mandarin. I like watching Jackie Chan movies and Chinese Ghost Story movies, Yeah, the nine-tailed fox and all. Back then, I really wanted to learn how to speak Chinese. I thought it's easy but when I tried to concentrate and listen to a Chinese conversation, I could only fish out few phrases/sounds which I can't even distinguish.
To me it sounded like this, "Shushinshishi? Shinshi shushuh."
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| πππ |
Clearly, there's something wrong with my sense of hearing. I am really amazed by other Pinoys' ability to read and speak the language. How can they distinguish a certain phrase from another when one is speaking too fast? Sad to say, I gave up. I put the dic in a box along with the other dics and whatnot that I bought. But one thing is for sure, if one speaks too fast and say Ni Hao Ma or Wo Ai Ni, I'll surely recognize it.
Uh. Nevermind the characters.
The truth is, I lack determination.
Learning Japanese
The reason why I wanted to learn Japanese/Nihongo/Kanji/Katakana/Hiragana/Whatwhatwhat, is I fantasized myself working in Japan particularly in a farm. Forget about working as an ESL teacher because I never took up BSED and I'm getting tired of this already. I really feel that my passion for teaching is slowly slipping away. Halaaa! So far, I only learned Ohayou or Ohayou Gozaimasu (formal), Konnichiwa gozaimasu, Konbanwa gozaimasu and count from 1-100. Thanks Youtube.
Nevermind the characters.
So much for a fruitful imagination.
Again, I lack determination.
Learning Korean
Is it easy? No, it is not. However, memorizing characters is kind of easy.
If you have been watching Korean drama on Youtube often with English subs, then you probably have recognized some Korean expressions and phrases already. I used to watch Korean dramas back in my hometown but it was always dubbed in Tagalog so I had no idea how they pronounce words or how the actors converse in their language but I got curious. When I got my first job as an EIA which I had no idea this kind of job exists, I got really excited. I was like, oho! I will be talking to Koreans? Like having a nonsensical convo with really cute kids with cute voices??? Oh my! I'm sure they have angelic faces! πΌπΌπΌ
Forgive me for it was my first time to interact with Koreans and that was my first job. BUT that was seven fudging years ago. SEVEN. I'm glad to say, I got over the hype. I enjoyed three years of it. It was enjoyable because I only taught over the phone. Throughout the time, I wished I'd see any of my students' faces. Those cute little sweet voices that I hear over the phone made me long to see them face to face. I loved and still love teaching over the phone. Years later...I get to converse with my students through video class. Wish granted. . . .
So how was it?
So how was it?
Meeh...You see, this is where the idiom, "Be careful what you wish for" applies. I realized that there's a variety of characters hidden underneath those angelic faces. I realized that I am now teaching a new generation of students. So many things have changed. SEVEN years ago, it was unusual for a 10-year old kid to have a smartphone. SEVEN years ago or so, they only thought of being tired, hungry and sleepy. Years ago, those were the only things that could distract them. BUT now it's a different story. I'm not generalizing! Of course, there are still dedicated students who exert effort and really crave to learn the language.
Sa trabahong ito, we are not advised to learn Korean, of course. Pero may iba pa rin sa'min na gustong matuto out of different reasons. Some are inspired by KPOP (this was me 6 years and 10 months ago), some dreamed of having a chance to work in SK (me, when I get fed up with what I do) or some are just geared by simple interest (that's me, when I have nothing to do).
So back to memorizing characters. I gotta say it's not that easy but it's not that complicated either. If I'm not mistaken, there are only 40 characters to memorize. I will not pretend that I'm an expert 'coz I'm not. A character is equivalent to a letter or letters in the English alphabet. I hope I got the statement correctly.
Do you remember playing brick game or tetris? Remember those blocks?! Some of the characters look just like those. You don't have to worry about memorizing fancy strokes. In fact, memorizing some vowels is like playing tetris. Just rotate the " T " and "I".
Individually, it goes like this: γ (a), γ £(i), γ (e), γ (eo), γ (o), γ (u), γ (ae). These are few of the Korean vowels. They got aplenty.
However, if a word starts in a vowel you need to pair it with this "γ ". It's like, "you can never have a day without coffee" thingie.
γ is unvoiced or silent in initial usage but it is pronounced as "ng" in words ending in "γ " as in "μ±-sing".
It should always be like this: (Vowels)
μ - a μΌ- ya μ€- o μ- yo μ΄- eo μ¬- yeo μ - ae
μ- yae μ- e μ-ye μ°- u μ - yu μ΄- i μΌ- eu
μ- ui μΈ-oe μ-wa μ-wae μ- wi μ¨-we μ-wo
They love circles. Heh!
Consonants:
γ±- k/g γ΄-n γ·- d/t γΉ- r/l γ -m γ - p/b γ -s
γ - ng γ - j γ - ch γ -k γ -T γ - P γ -h
γ - pp γ - jj γΈ- tt γ²- kk γ -ss
Now, let's decode:
μλ νμΈμ!
Annyeong Haseyo!
Can you decode the following?
The fist one is a name of a fast food restaurant. The second one is a country name. Third one is a kind of fruit.
1. λ§₯λλ λ.....
2. ν리ν.....
3. λ°λλ.....
Memorize all the characters and you will be able to read the words. If you invest more time, then I guess you will recognize and learn Korean vocabularies as well. To be honest, I don't know a lot. I didn't bother familiarizing Korean vocabularies. I can read but I have no idea what I am reading. Sure, I can understand some. Some Korean words sound like English words and some even have the same meaning just like the words above. When I learned how to read the words like a kindergarten, I stopped. I stopped messing up with my already messed up brain.
Learning languages does not only require time. It also requires dedication, determination and effort. So far, I only have fruitful imagination. I'm actually imagining myself living in Japan, hopefully not in a matchbox apartment, having Korean breakfast while reading Chinese dictionary. LOL! πππ
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