So you have decided to learn the Korean language and wanted to know about its features?
Korean is the official language of Korea spoken by the people of South Korea and North Korea. Despite North Korea, South Korea grew at its fastest rate in seven years in the third quarter of 2017. Korean is one of the top languages in the United Kingdom that are used by immigrants from Korean communities in London and New Malden. South Korea is the largest country in the world at its 109th place, it’s made quite an impact internationally. World-famous automobiles such as Hyundai and Kia are found all over the world which is originated from South Korea.
Korean is a language isolate
Korean belongs to the “Altaic” language group and is related to languages like Turkish and Finnish. Even though it is related, Korean is more commonly classified as a language isolate. This means that it shows no link with other existing languages on Earth.
Its vocabulary is heavily influenced by Chinese
Korean is a language that has a completely different grammar from Chinese. But the connections between the Chinese and Koreans make up to 60% of Korean words are of Chinese origin. Nearly 35% are purely Korean, and 5% are loanwords that are originated from various other languages.
Verbs always present last in Korean sentences
The English language has the word order is Subject, Verb, and then Object., on the other hand, the Korean language has the word order is Subject, Object, and Verb. Here it means that the verb is always the final element, and comes after the object, so learning Korean is different for English speakers
There are two different counting systems
In the Korean language, small and large numbers make use of different vocabulary. One counting system uses native Korean vocabulary expressing the hour when telling time. The other system is of Chinese origin that is used for expressing the minutes as well as other measurements.
North and South Korean language is different
Because of the extensive time that the two countries have been separated, the North and South Korean languages have distinct vocabularies, pronunciations, and grammatical rules.
The seven levels of the language
Like Japanese, Korean has a complex system, which involves verb endings that are different and vocabulary depending on the relationship you are addressing. In North Korea, the system is used as the own verb ending “op”.
The Korean language has no alphabet
Even though the Korean language has existed a thousand years before, its alphabet was not formed till the 15th century. Before that, written Korean used Chinese characters were used.
As Korea’s presence continues to grow internationally, it is a better time to learn the language worldwide. Korean, is especially challenging for English speakers, so you should think about taking tailor-made courses from a professionally trained native speaker. To learn more about Korean as quickly and efficiently as possible join your classes with Multibhashi, which has efficient teachers to teach you Korean. All the best!!
