Will learning Korean affect my English?

Gone are the days when you could manage with just your native language. More and more people are showing interest and pursuing courses to become bilingual or multilingual. Even schools, colleges and universities all over the world are encouraging this through various language courses both short and long term. English and French are the two languages that are taught in almost every country and many students choose Spanish, Italian, German etc. as their second or third language to learn due to their popularity. Korean language learning is slowly on the rise due to an increased interest in K-Pop and K-Drama. However, it is a completely different language when compared to English.

There is always a strong reason and motivation behind learning a new language and sometimes we might even think about how it will affect the languages that we already know.

If you are learning Korean and wondering how it will affect your English, well, to a large extent it will depend on how long you have been learning and speaking Korean for.

For beginners who are well versed with English understanding the differences and adjusting to them might be a challenge. To begin with, the sentence structure which is Subject Verb Object in English becomes Subject Object Verb in Korean. Then there are honorifics that do not or barely exist in English.

Though Korean has borrowed words from English, it is difficult to find many cognates and thus learning the vocabulary can also be a challenging task.

Sometimes it is easy to recollect words from the language that you are speaking the most and this can have an effect on recollecting your English vocabulary.

On the other hand, learning a new language helps you understand and appreciate the beauty of your own language. If you are a native English speaker and have started learning Korean, you might become more appreciative of English.

Learning Korean requires you to move out of your comfort zone, make mistakes and learn from them, teaches you to laugh at yourself when you make mistakes and may even leave you embarrassed at times. However, all these experiences will not only help you learn Korean better but also ensure that you become a more confident person. This trait of yours will become visible even when you speak English and can help you grow as a person.

A new language opens doors to a new culture. Once you start learning Korean you are able to get an insight into the Korean culture. This not only makes you tolerant towards other cultures but also helps you understand your own culture from a new perspective.

To sum it up, learning Korean can have an overall positive impact on your English language skills and help you become better at learning other languages in future.