Korean is one of the world’s oldest living languages and the 17th most spoken one with nearly 80 million native speakers worldwide. That said, Korean script is one of the youngest! Before the Korean language acquired all those circles and sticks of its current script, people in Korea used Chinese characters, called hanja, in their writing. No wonder that up until now around 60% of Korean words are of Chinese origin, and only 35% are actually "pure" Korean.
The other 5% are those adopted from other languages, like English, Japanese, etc. I bet you are curious about the English ones —this can really speed up your learning progress! Just wait until the next Episode! ;)
This "Chinese-like" approach to the language, interestingly, turns out to be more help than troubles. See, each new word you learn provides you with a connection to other words. Take "mountain" —산 (san). Now, when I see 화산 (hwa san) with that very symbol for "mountain" at the end, I instantly understand it has something to do with a mountain, particularly with a 화 (hwa, "fire") "fire mountain", i.e. a "volcano". Same logic takes me from 빙산 (bing san) to an "ice mountain", or an "iceberg". And just like that: new words are learned!
It might not work all the time for all the words, but it definitely helps with some! So keep an eye out for patterns like that!
Several different theories exist on the "origin story" of the Korean language, linking it with Japanese, Chinese and even Tibetan, though most linguistics classify Korean as the largest language isolate in the world. The earliest historical records of the language implicate that there were two different languages spoken in Korea, and it was only in the 7th century that one particular dialect —the Silla dialect— became the dominant language in all of Korea.
The good news about the language is that, even though it is an Asian language, it does not have those typical tones that, say, Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai have. By the way it sounds, Korean is actually closer to Japanese.
Although Koreans may raise or lower the tone of their voices, the best rhythm of Korean speech is a steady one, almost like a march. Remember, if you feel the need to vary the rhythm of a Korean sentence, like you would do it in English, resist. If you ever feel tempted to put stress on a syllable within a word in Korean, resist that too. Just like in Japanese, all Korean syllables are stressed equally and have same lengths, same duration. Total equality! :)
Grammar-wise, Korean is relatively easy, but don't particularly expect Swedish level of simplicity —it is an Asian, and not European, language. And the biggest difference between the two is actually cultural. Korean levels of respect built into the language: it uses special nouns and verb endings to indicate formality.
In Korean culture, formality, politeness and status are all important. Like Japanese, Korean has a complex system of honorifics, which involves different verb endings and vocabulary depending on the relationship you have with the person you are addressing and the person your talking about. It’s important to get these nuances right if you want to have the desired impact on your audience.
Keep in mind, Korea's honorific system is quite complicated although Koreans acquire it without much difficulty. To be exact, the Korean speech level system is not just an honorific system. See, honorifics usually describe language that honors the other party, often by using honorific address terms. Korean, however, not only has different terms of address to honor the listener, but also multi-tiered speech levels, which include expressions of lowering of self, honoring of the subject, object, and complement of the sentence, as well as honoring of the listener.
In total, there are 7 (!) levels of respect, but, fortunately, for you as a learner three are enough:
- formal — used by TV broadcasters and in business settings;
- informal — used to show politeness as well as social distance;
- polite — used between close friends and relatives, and to younger people.
See it in the example below (the video) how one phrase can be said in three different ways depending on the level of respect you wish to convey (0:47):
The bad news is that since Korean verbs conjugate —i.e. to be precise, they change by tense (but not by person or number)—, having levels of formality adds to one's struggles of learning the language. The good news, on the other hand, is that Korean has less tenses than English, so the conjugation part is not that tedious or overwhelming.
Another big chunk of Korean grammar is particles! All the prepositions, possession indicators, plural endings and what not we use in English, in Korean come in a shape of postpositions, or particles (suffixes and short words) that immediately follow a noun or a pronoun. There are about 20 of them, and this time all are a must-know.
Particles are a very unique grammatical tool, and often adds the subtlest nuances to the speech. The good news? The only two very tough things in Korean language are particles and verb conjugation. So once you master those, you are pretty much golden.
If you are curious to learn more about particles, you can try this article or this article (more hardcore).
One more thing you should definitely know about Korean grammar: all verbs come last! The position of a verb is at the end of a sentence. There is a saying in Korean that goes like this: "You need to listen until the end of the sentence." In other words, you never know if the speaker is talking about the past, future, positive or negative expressions unless you listen to the whole sentence. So expect this sequence: who does the action, then to what, and only then the action itself.
To sum up, those are the most important points about the Korean grammar:
- All verbs change by tense (just 3 tenses).
- All verbs change by the level of respect (7 levels, but 3 is enough to get by).
- All verbs come last!
- Particles are must-know (20)!
By the way, another thing about Korean verbs is that most of them in their basic form, a.k.a. infinitive, end in 다 (da). For example 사다 (sa-da) "to buy", 자다 (ja-da) "to sleep", 말하다 (mal-ha-da) "to speak", 읽다 (ik-da) "to read", 좋아하다 (joh-ahada) "to like", etc. This part 다 "da" is going to be the one to be dropped and replaced with another ending when conjugated.
What else can come at the end of a Korean sentence if not a verb? The answer is: an adjective! Remember, it is always either a verb there at the end or an adjective! And here we see one more peculiarity about that special language. Adjectives in Korean are treated differently than they are, say, in English. If you open a dictionary and search for some adjectives in Korean, what you will notice is this symbol at the end: 다 (da). Looks familiar, doesn't it? Didn't you just say it is a verb ending?
But adjectives in Korean can be used in two ways: like verbs and also like adjectives you know, the ones that describe a noun. Now, I won't get into the details on how exactly this works —it is quite a big subject that will only confuse you at this point—, but when you'll go on your own journey into the Korean, just be prepared to learn a new way adjectives can work in a language.
And the last thing about Korean, I should probably mention, is that it has 2 sets of numbers, 2 counting systems: the native Korean system and the Sino-Korean system. The first one is used for items up to 99 and age, while the Sino-Korean system, based on Chinese numbers, is used for dates, money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100. Curious? Learn more with Omniglot here.
Ok, I guess my mission is over here. Sure, the Korean grammar has more things to surprise us with, but I think it is time to have some fun with the language and enjoy the sound of it as well as learn some words! Follow me to the next Episode!
잘 지내! Jal Ji-nae! Stay well!
"I joh-aha-da Korean! Like! Like! :)"
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