Characteristics of the Korean Language-Hangeul
( All of the Information related to the Korean Language was created by Tai Im , Teacher , Gahr High School , ABCUSD / Sung Kim , Teacher , Cahuenga Elementary School , LAUSD ) The creators of the Korean Language chapter are Tae Hyuk Im ( Gahr High School , ABC USD ) and Sung Kim , Director , National Korean Studies Seminar ( Cahuenga Elementary , LAUSD )
First of all , Korean language is an honorific language . That means depending on who you are speaking to , you need to use different forms . For example , when you meet anyone stranger or anyone older than you , you are going to say , “ 안녕하세요 ?” But to your friend or anyone younger than you , you simply say “ 안녕 ?” Another example is when you want to say “ come to my home .” If you say it to anyone older than you , you need to say “ 우리 집에 와요 .” But when you say to your friend , you will say “ 우리 집에 와 .” Sound complicated ? No . You will see that most times the only difference is that you simply drop “ 요 ” at the end when you say to your friend or younger than you . So remember that Korean language is an honorific language and what it means .
CHAPTER 2 LANGUAGE
Another characteristic of the Korean language is the fact that the verb always comes last . This feature combined with the fact that the word order in front of the verb in a sentence really does not matter makes the Korean language really makes easy to learn . For example , when you want to say “ My father is buying a new car tomorrow /”, you can say “ 우리 아빠가 새 차를 내일 살 거예요 ” or “ 우리 아빠가 내일 새 차를 살 거예요 ” or “ 내일 우리 아빠가 새 차를 살 거예요 ”. As you heard , just make sure that the verb “ 살 거예요 ” at the end of the sentence and you can arrange the words any way you want .
Finally another characteristic of the Korean language is the fact that Korean writing system is only writing system in the world yet to have its historical records that who created it and when and how it was created . Do you know who made English alphabets ? Do you know when they were made ? Nobody knows them although there are several assumptions . But it is clear that the Korean writing system is clearly known . The name of the Korean writing system is called Hangeul 한글 and it was made about 600 years ago by a sage king called King Sejong the Great ( 세종대왕 ). Korea boosts the 5000 years of history and you may wonder what happened before the Korean writing system was made . Before the Korean writing system , Hangeul 한글 , was made , the Koreans used the Chinese characters . But the Chinese characters should be memorized every single letter and it was not easy to most Korean people . Therefore those were many illiterates . Knowing the fact that the Chinese writing system was not easy to most Korean commoners and symphasizing it , 세종대왕 decided to create Korean ’ s own writing system . After years of research and studies , King Sejong the Great and scholars at the royal palace came up with a new writing system in 1446 . In the beginning , the writing system was named Hun Min Jung Eum 훈민정음 meaning that the correct sound to teach the people . Because of its easiness to learn the writing system , it was listed on the
114 119
57