How do you still teach? Korean on one's own? And is this possible?

If you dig deeper, this question applies not only to the Korean language, but also to any other foreign languages. I do not speak all the languages ​​of the world, since I have not encountered all of them in my life. But I can say for sure about Korean. Maybe. If you try hard, your hard work will pay off. Learning Korean is an exciting journey, because the language reflects the culture of the entire people.

In order to easily master a language, you need to see its “skeleton”, that is, understand how it is built and what parts it consists of.

Simply put, language is a combination of VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR, by and large.

Every time I teach a lesson, I try to systematize knowledge as much as possible to help students see the whole picture. I even wrote a book on this occasion - “7 Doors”.

I recommend going from simple to complex: alphabet - pronunciation - reading - writing - basic vocabulary and grammar. Official style – case endings – informal polite style – tenses – complex sentences. Basic vocabulary – advanced vocabulary.

It will take you much more time to master the language on your own than when studying in a group or individually with a teacher. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to take such lessons, go without hesitation! If you have the opportunity to attend language courses in – don’t delay!

To help the curious - books, manuals, the Internet, films, music... Fortunately, in our technological age, everyone has access to these inexhaustible resources. There are groups in in social networks, where you can replenish your Korean stock online, and completely free. And at the same time ask advice from more advanced Korean lovers.

So, if you still choose to learn the language on your own, on your own, then be patient and preferably use textbooks. All textbooks are different, most use professional linguistic language with very abstruse technical terminology, incomprehensible to the common person.

You'll have to start with the banal - the rules of reading and writing. Then you can read texts and look up (and hopefully find) words in the dictionary. More about dictionaries

I started learning Korean a year before my first trip to South Korea. And here many people often ask this terribly embarrassing question to me: “Daria, how long have you been learning Korean?” People, why are you so cruel?!

I first started learning Korean in the fall of 2010. Yes, yes, I have been studying Korean for 7 years and still don’t speak it. All! Confessed! And like a stone from the soul. As a person who sincerely believes that, if desired, any language at an intermediate level can be learned in 6-12 months, it is painful for me to write about seven years. But in fact, the Korean language and I had Good times. I once even passed TOPIK level 2!

Difficulties in learning Korean

Korean language is very strange! I can be called a polyglot and with other (European languages) I have never experienced such difficulties as with the Korean language. What problems did I have? Difficulties in learning Korean:

1. Pronunciation. I still don’t understand all the sounds and I don’t always remember the 100 and one rules for reading Korean words.
2. Korean words are not remembered. I cannot easily reproduce them (except for memorized phrases), I cannot easily write them (even memorized phrases).
3. Sometimes I feel like there are more exceptions than rules in Korean grammar.
4. I perceive written texts more or less well, I can even write (if I remember how to spell a word), but Korean colloquial often for me it’s just a set of sounds that are pleasant to the ear.
5. Once I stop studying Korean for at least a week, that’s it! I can start learning the alphabet again. It's horrible! I started learning the Korean alphabet about 10 times already. And I still haven’t learned it.

But all this does not stop me in my desire to someday learn the Korean language to some decent conversational level. For this reason, from time to time I and a group of enthusiasts launch the Korean Marathon (read more about what it is here). The next one will start tomorrow, so if you also want to learn Korean, then feel free to join to our VKontakte group.

Applications for learning Korean

1. 세종한국어어휘학습 (or Sejong Korean Vocabulary - Basic) The application is developed by the King Sejong Institute, which promotes the Korean language around the world. It is intended for beginner level and helps to gain vocabulary. What I especially like is the high-quality voice acting of words, phrases and sentences.
2. PopPopping Korean The application will help you get the correct Korean pronunciation. Suitable even for complete beginners, because the whole educational process built on pictures. The continuation also includes Poppopping Korean–Conversation, in which simple dialogues on everyday topics are voiced.
   
3. An unofficial application of the most, in my opinion, interesting project dedicated to learning the Korean language - Talk to me in Korean Everything is in English, but you can collect a huge amount colloquial phrases in Korean from the Koreans themselves for the most different levels language proficiency. What I also like is the cultural references and funny videos.
   
4. Learn Korean 6000 Words from Fun Easy Learn The first of all applications translated into Russian. There are probably really 6000 words, but they are divided into normal semantic blocks and you can easily not learn what you consider unnecessary. The words are accompanied by pictures (as I like), the pronunciation is voiced by real people, and games of varying difficulty are used to memorize. One of the nicest apps I've ever used.
   

Instructions

Understand the logic

Before learning a language, you need to find its place in language family, determine immediate relatives and type of language. Yes, oddly enough, reading books on linguistics makes life much easier for people who study with a form of writing that is significantly different from their own. All beginners should know that the Korean language belongs to the Tungus-Manchu group of languages. Altai family. This is an agglutinative language, which means that the sentence is built according to the “subordination - object” scheme. That is, not “I am going to the store for food,” but “I am food because I am going to the store.” Verbs do not have a gender, but there are special conjugate endings in order to address friends, and father, as well as older people and high rank. It seems strange at first, but experts are confident that Korean is one of the easiest languages ​​to master.

Spin Attack

In order to learn any language, you should not only study theory, immerse yourself in grammar and build up your vocabulary, but also read, listen, write coherent texts and, of course, communicate. There are many on the Internet free resources to help lovers of the Korean language. So, for example, a resource http://www.lingq.com/ offers texts and podcasts for students of all levels - from beginner to advanced. The network user reads the text, listens to it at the same time, remembers the pronunciation of a native speaker and “links” new words. You can make cards from words, download them to your mobile phone or receive them by mail. Another educational network where you can learn Korean is livemocha.com. The free course includes more than fifty lessons: theory, test exercises, quizzes and two tasks that test native speakers - oral and written. Politeness and respect are the two pillars on which language learning is based. educational internet networks.

Serious preparation

If a Korean language student needs a certificate or confidence in being taught best teachers, then it’s worth signing up for free Korean language courses when Cultural Center Embassies of the Republic of Korea: http://russia.korean-culture.org/welcome.do You can also learn Korean at Won Gwan Language School http://www.wonkwang.ru/. There you can download free audio courses and purchase educational literature. In addition, Korean is studied in courses at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at departments at RGSU, RGGU, MGIMO, ISAA and others. These educational establishments prepare professional students of Korean studies.

My first acquaintance with the Korean language took place almost 8 years ago, when my son Grisha entered the BSU oriental studies department of the faculty. international relations and he got the Korean language. I remember well how I tried to help him remember words. He wrote in Korean, I dictated in Russian. All the words were like hedgehogs, prickly and alien...

Only over time we learned that in ancient times the Koreans did not have a written language and were forced to use Chinese characters to record the sounds of their native speech, which was inaccessible to the majority ordinary people. That is why in 1446, King Sejong, who ruled the state of Joseon, invented the Korean alphabet, which was originally called “Hunmin Jeongum” (Instruction to the People on Correct Pronunciation).

In October 1997, the book "Hongmin Jeongum Haerebong" (Interpretation of Hongmin Jeongum), which explained the purpose of creating the Hangul script, the meaning of words and the rules for writing them, was included in the register " World memory" UNESCO. In honor of this invention in the educational system, UNESCO annually awards two prizes named after King Sejong. The prizes are funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea and awarded educational programs and projects.

More than five centuries have passed since the creation of Hangul, but only relatively recently have modern artists and designers of various styles begun to consider the possibility of using its potential as a leitmotif for their works.

Steel sculpture created by Kang Byung-in

in the shape of Korean word"flower"

“Blossoming Dream” - that’s what Zhong Kuam called his work

As for me, I can say that my interest in Korea, its people and language appeared only after Grisha brought home the Korean drama “The First Cafe Prince” in his second year. I looked in by chance while passing by the computer and... stayed until the end of the viewing. Sixteen days and sixteen episodes. I begged Grisha to translate at least something, but he said that he himself knew a little. So I looked at how they looked at painting and... fell in love with the sincerity coming at me from the screen. The story left a mark on my soul. Time passed and two years later Grisha obtained subtitles for this drama especially for me. It was a holiday!!! Day after day, my passion for Korean cinema led to a state of falling in love with the Korean language. I discovered the beauty of this language, but the desire to start learning it did not arise.

About a year ago, when I was visiting my son in Seoul, Grisha once told me: “Mom, it’s time for you to start learning Korean! There are museums where you can only go by bus. But I can’t let you go alone, but I'm working. If you just learn to read, I can let you go on the bus." Setting a mini-task at the beginning is his way of encouraging me to start something new. And it works! But, to be honest, the moment has already come when I wanted to go beyond the limits of 감사합니다 ( “Thank you”) I easily agreed and we agreed to go buy a textbook for me the next day.

We immediately headed to this display to find exactly the textbook that is considered one of the best for foreigners. And when we found what we were looking for, the receipt that we printed had all the necessary information: the sector in which the textbook was located and the route to it.

The author of the textbook (or maybe not the author, but that’s what I thought then) smiled at me enticingly, pointing her finger at the title, saying that learning Korean is easy! I brought him home happy. I opened it and found information about the author:

And then I finally realized: this textbook explains everything in English language. But I’ve been learning English on my own from scratch for only two years; before that I studied German for many years, first at school and university, and then at the Goete-Institute. Grisha reassured me and suggested that I start studying right away, even though it was past midnight. And it was good! The first lesson with a teacher like Grisha freed me from fear. He was right! The textbook encourages learning by playing. The exercises are varied. EVERYONE has an audio recording. I did the exercises, but it didn’t feel like I was learning. Not overloaded with grammar. The rules are shown in examples, highlighted in font and color. And, of course, it is especially worth noting the design of the publication, which helps to immerse yourself in the element of language and learn with pleasure, as this probably only happens in early childhood.

A few days later I returned to Minsk and put off learning the Korean language, it just so happened. I learned a little of the alphabet and my enthusiasm faded.

The hour struck only with the appearance in our familyin the month of FebruaryJuho (주호), a student from Busan who came to gain experience at the Korean company "KOTRA".

• Then all the words written here. I became excited and, turning the package over, began to read everything that was written in small print. Having accidentally discovered in this way that I already stammer much less, from there I took into the dictionary, as it later turned out, several new words that were important to me. And it was this experience yesterday that helped me once again become convinced that a great mood is the main key to success! In such an unexpected way, I replenished my vocabulary with 25 new words, but at the same time I was not pierced by the thought “Oh, studying again! When will this end and it will be possible to rest?”
• Errors. They accompany me, nothing can be done. One of the most common is that I always try to make one of the syllables stressed, and the peculiarity of the Korean language is that all syllables are equally stressed. And only when I ask do I highlight the last syllable. When Grisha told me about this, I also began to pay attention to this when listening and learn to pronounce it correctly. But for now it’s not easy for me to do this.
• What else do I do to make my habit of learning Korean sustainable, so that words are remembered more easily and so as not to lose heart? I include Korean expressions in my Facebook friends' birthday greetings and send them voice messages. I use some of them at work when I offer something to colleagues or thank them. But most often I say them to Juho. Thanks to him, some of them became part of me. In other words, I use them wherever possible. But in Belarus, unfortunately, there are not many opportunities to speak in Korean.
• And there's one more thing I want to talk about. Juho once told me that Korean system education is different from ours. When learning a foreign language, the emphasis is on creating a powerful vocabulary. And he added that he learned 30,000 at school English words. I was surprised how it was possible to know the number so accurately, but he said that in the Republic of Korea a dictionary of English words that they must learn was specially created and published for schoolchildren. And he learned them, it's true. From any field, no matter what word I say, he will immediately tell me what it means. I observe the same picture every day regarding the Russian language. He knows an incredible amount of Russian words. I asked him if words really play a key role? He replied that about thirty percent, yes. And these observations also help me, at least for now, not to lose motivation. But the main thing I would like to say is this moment: you should never be afraid to start teaching foreign language On the contrary, we must use this chance. Language is part of the culture of a people. Therefore, it helps us enrich our internal culture and expand our understanding both of the world as a whole and of individual people as part of it.

The modern Korean alphabet consists of 40 letters - 24 main and 16 compound. Of them 19 - consonants and 21 vowels.
In the Korean language, there are 14 simple and 5 compound letters to represent consonants sounds. Among vowels There are 10 simple and 11 compound letters in the Korean language.
Total:
Consonants - 19 (14 main and 5 constituent).
Vowels - 21 (10 main and 11 diphthongs).

자음
The creation of consonants is based on 5 initial letters:
ㄱ (To- at first / G
ㄴ (n )
ㅁ (m )
ㅅ (With )
ㅇ (not at the beginning / eyn- in the middle or at the end of a syllable)
Next, the remaining consonants were formed:
ㄷ (T- at the beginning of a syllable / d- in the middle or at the end of a syllable)
ㄹ (R- at the beginning of a syllable / l- in the middle or at the end of a syllable)
ㅂ (P- at the beginning of a syllable / b- in the middle or at the end of a syllable)
ㅈ (zh )
ㅊ (h )
ㅋ (kh )
ㅌ (tx )
ㅍ (ph )
ㅎ (X )
These were 5 basic consonants and 9 consonants formed from them, but there are also 5 double consonants:
ㄲ (ky )
ㄸ (You )
ㅃ (py )
ㅆ (ss )
ㅉ (tsy )
As we can see, each double consonant is formed from two main consonants. The pronunciation of these consonants is very short but stronger than that of ordinary consonants. In total we got 19 consonants, 14 main and 5 double.
모음

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The creation of vowels is based on 2 letters:
ㅡ (s )
ㅣ (And )
Next, the remaining main vowels were formed:
ㅗ (oo )
ㅛ (e )
ㅜ (at )
ㅠ (Yu )
ㅏ (A )
ㅑ (I )
ㅓ (O )
ㅕ (yo )
These are the basic vowels. There are also so-called diffthongs, these are complex vowels:
ㅐ (uh )
ㅒ (yeah )
ㅔ (e )
ㅖ (yeah )
ㅢ (th )
ㅚ (oh )
ㅘ (oa )
ㅙ (oe )
ㅟ (ui )
ㅝ (woah )
ㅞ (ye )

Everything is simple here, diphthongs are formed in the same way as double consonants. So, in total we have 21 vowels, of which 10 are main and 11 are diphthongs.

ATTENTION: Before moving on to the next lesson, learn Korean alphabet. It can be downloaded and printed in . Practice in writing letters. A simple 5 minute workout will help you master reading in Korean.

P.S. The materials on learning the Korean language posted on the site were written by one of our users who is studying at a Korean school. Because similar lessons created by a non-professional teacher, they may contain errors (typos in Russian) and discrepancies (in the rules of the Korean language, such as “zh” and “j” or “ua” or “va”). We ask you to treat such materials as an additional tool to test your knowledge. These lessons are mainly published on the site for users who cannot attend Korean language courses in their hometown.