Learning the Korean language

I agree with what you say about the idea of having the opportunity of hearing some phrases or simple sentences in the Korean language. It would be nice if we could hear how good morning sounds in the different Asian languages and how it look like in print. Other things like thank you, hello, what is your name etc. would be helpful to know so that we can share it with our students.[Edit by="evillanueva on Nov 26, 5:59:00 PM"][/Edit]

I am still amazed by how Asian languages have certain structures and precise grammar when it comes to their written form let alone noticing the specific differences the Korean Language has in comparison to the other Asian languages. I agree with you and the other replies that it would be interesting to hear what commonly used phrases would sound like in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
I had the opportunity to ask Professor Miyake in one of our last class meetings to show me a sample of the grammatical differences/additions that the Japanese made when establishing their writing system from the Chinese writing system. This truly amazed me and made me feel how difficult it would be for me to learn these writing systems.
I wonder what the differences and simularities of the Korean writing system are in comparison to the Chinese and Japanese writing systems.

Miranda (and others),

Could you clarify what you would like to learn? The alphabet can be learned very quickly, but the alphabet and actual phrases are two very different things. What I mean is that I can teach everybody the alphabet, but knowing the alphabet will not allow you to speak Korean to another person.

Kevin,

I've made a handout with the Korean alphabet and a couple of simple, but common phrases. Hopefully it'll be helpful.

Thank you so much for presenting the Korean language lesson. I tried out some phrases with my Korean students and my Korean colleague, a 7th grade math teacher and they laughed but were impressed that I even cared to learn. When we get to the China, Korea, Japan unit I will be using your handout. Thanks again!

Betse Amador

I have been to the websites and let me tell you that it is a lot of fun. I myself know English and Spanish(being my first language), I had to learned English and at nine years old when some words sounded like Spanish it was easier for me to remember. I found it hard since no one at school was speaking Spanish. Learning a third language now that I am older seems a lot harder than it did a few years back. Now with the internet one can hear and see how other languages are supposed to be like and makes it easier to remember and practice.

I appreciated the way Judi presented the Korean language during our language lessons. For the amount of time she had to familiarize everyone with the consonant-vowel blending system, I was pleasantly surprised at the logic of it. I was watching Amanda spell out her name, using the ditto Judi had passed to the class--by utilizing the sounds and the laws of combination, Amanda phonetically spelled her name. It was amazing. Being Korean, it is hard for me to get the true gist of the logic embedded in Hangul but I was feeling pretty proud of our King Saejong and his court for creating such a wonderful writing system.