Luckily its easier now more than ever to learn how to self study Korean and develop into near fluency even by yourself from your own home. As Korea and the languages popularity has increased more and more resources are coming up and places to connect with others along your studying journey!
Let’s get into some Sino-Korean with the 인 from 인간! 인간 is derived from the Chinese character 人 which means person. This is one if the simplest characters with minimal strokes and it looks like a stick mans legs so it’s easy to remember!
Sino-Korean basically means that a specific words source is originally Chinese. About 60% of Korean has Chinese origins as a basis. Words like 인간 (person/human) use the Chinese character (or hanja in Korean) 人 make the 인 in 인간.
One thing about Korean many people struggle with is the dynamics between people and speech. For native English speakers; especially if English if your only language, formalities is something that doesn’t exist to a quarter of the extent as in Korean. Korean is a culture based highly around respect and knowing or understanding you position and others.
Now Koreans don’t solely use these terms for people related to them, they are used freely! People call the woman running the restaurant 이모, boys call their older friends 형, etc. These terms are used to show how close and familiar you are with others (and for the ‘aunt’ at your favourite K-BBQ to warm up to her and maybe get extra side dishes haha).
Happy Valentine’s Day! Maybe your partner is Korean, maybe you want to use your partner and subject them to Korean and your study progress or maybe you’re looking to get in the Korean dating scene. These terms, phrases, and words are commonplace and related to romance in Korea, let’s get into it!
Okay, I feel like hangul is something I need to make a post about. Even though I’m past the stage of learning it, it’s necessary to the language (of course) and also for following along on my blog! I know romanization is an option but Korean to English is no where near a 1 to 1 translation for pronunciation.
I remember really having an issue with sino vs native korean numbers and this is a recourse I found that can really help you out if you find yourself in the same position! You can play through 1-100 on both the sino and native korean numbers games for a nice review and test on your skills.
A lot of Korean texting slang has a rooted meaning in the original word, just shortened to make it easier to type. Some originate from Korean itself like 엉 which is the most casual way to say yes or yeah in Korean, being reduced down to just ㅇㅇ. Or ᄋᄃ from 어디 (where), ᄆᄎ from 미쳤어 (crazy), etc.