Living Language Korean
Two weeks ago:
Vegetarian Mouth to Language
It’s hard to imagine that food and learning a foreign language can feel so intimately connected, but right now it does. To learn a word is to chew into it and digest it; and when you’re a vegetarian moving abroad to a foreign country like Korea, to eat you’ll eventually need to learn to read a restaurant menu, food ingredients or be able to ask the waitress about vegetarian options. If eating is important to you…
Which brings me to- learning survival phrases. Mastering survival phrases are great for a short-term travel band-aid and may even get you through the course of a year of living abroad. But I think- being able to read bus schedules, store/street signs and to communicate in a more modes, than mute, giggle, or grunt all help to create an easier road into expat life. Right now, my dangling carrot for focusing on Korean literally starts at food. Unfortunately, the Korean word for “vegetarian” (채식주의 ) is not sticking in my brain (and of course, one must learn to decode it first!)
On a positive note, many people have told me that mastering Korean is easy, as if it’s the Spanish of Asian languages! Some find it similar to Japanese (which I have experience with) and others claim it closer to Chinese. Meanwhile, my eyes glass over and my mind goes lazy just looking at the words. I feel like I’m learning the German of Asian languages! Es ist nicht easy.
… Yeonghawagwane… Eourolryeyo… Doseoguanhago….
Where to begin?… Let me remind myself how starvation is not a good option.
Decoding Cultural Differences through Language:
Foreign languages aren’t surrounded by barbed wire fences; but they can seem that way until you decode a country’s mystery and the understand their cultural “differences” . Here are examples of the disparity in my learning and understanding Korean…
1) Korea is a culture whose language observes social hierarchy and is age-defined.
Yeah, I’m gonna have to reveal my digits… this means I’ll have to accurately remember how old I am and not live in my Peter Pan complex. Recognizing and paying respect to seniority through speech (even if the person you’re speaking to is 1 year older than you) is highly regarded. There are formal and informal ways to speak and mistakes may warrant offense.
2) One sentiment can have various forms of expressions depending upon “specific” situations .
So apparently, Bye is not Bye. “Goodbye” has 3 expressions as far as I know right now-
- Anyong-hi Ke-sayo (*when you are the person that is leaving)
- Anyong-hi Ka-sayo (*when the other person is leaving)
- Anyong! (*casual)
3) There are TWO sets of number systems!
Mostly everyone else has one, but Koreans have two. Talk about one-upmanship! The Native Korean number system counts time (*in hours), people and age; the Sino-Korean number system (Chinese based) counts time (*in minutes), addresses, dates, etc..
One can learn a language like a robot- even if it doesn’t make much sense to you- but if you can understand it and digest it, you’ll easily find the heart and stomach of the country.
The Living the Language and alternate research sources
Now if your goal is to research Korean and the its language- there doesn’t seem to be a large choice of resources to choose from as say- French, German, Spanish, Japanese or even…Hindi! Finding a good book to teach me “simplified” rules of Korean has been a chore and downright frustrating.
The Living Language books & cds used to be my best language aid. Ordinarily, they’re fantastic! Initially it can feel like a hefty cost at $40+ but it’s nothing in comparison to footing for a night class. The studies are organized for ease of learning; and the books are like mini language workshops, built around providing a solid foundation of vocabulary, sentence formation, grammar and cultural tips. Their Korean version fails royally though- the lessons aren’t broken down in a very “beginner” friendly fashion and you must quickly learn to read Hangul (the Korean alphabet) before you can access over half of them!
Alternately, I’ve been enjoying KoreanClass101.com podcasts. The podcasts do a great job in breaking word phonetics down, as a lot of korean words have subtle sounds which sound similar ( i.e. g/k, t/d, p/b… ). Their lessons are built around conversational dialogue, vocabulary and kicking in cool cultural scoops about the Korean lifestyle. It even comes with pdfs about the lessons and occasional picture-word videos. Triple snaps to them! The podcasts are free and I love to listen to them when I’m jogging. I’m all for killing two birds with one stone and getting my dose of pain all in one shot. This also ensures regularity in my workouts- if I miss a workout, then I miss my language lesson!
Learn Korean Alphabet by BusyAtom is another cool find. His videos teach Hangul in a digestible format. His teaching method shows you how to learn to write the characters and engages an active learning. Maybe its his monotone voice and the fact he repeats the alphabets over and over while scribbling it real time…it sticks for me. You should check it out if you have time.
Articles for Vegetarians going abroad to Korea:
“How to be a Vegetarian in Korea” (Matador Network)
Until,
Christine
Christine is a Camera Operator & Producer for reality TV in North America. She is currently cutting loose on a hiatus to live & work abroad in Korea & hopes to survive off of Kimchi and tofu, while teaching herself to speak Korean.
