| |
| |
|
Language Information |
|
|
|
Learn Korean: Part 1 - Asian Languages and Language Families
So, you have always been fascinated by Asian culture have you? Maybe you are someone who loves the martial arts; kung fu, tae-kwon-do, or karate. Perhaps you are interested in the cool oriental stores and like to buy many things from them to decorate your house. Maybe you like the peaceful society you see depicted in some Asian films. Or maybe you are just incredibly in love with the Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Whatever your interest is in Asia and its society, it could never hurt to know a little bit about the culture. In fact, learning about something more than is shown in action movies and your Korean dramas can be quite beneficial. My experience is with Korean culture and Korean language, but the culture is similar in most Asian countries. Language Families One of the main things you may have noticed is how incredibly different the Asian languages are from English. You come across languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French, and you can at least find some similarities in those languages and English. Yet there seem to be none between English and Asian languages! The fact is they just come from different language families. Most European languages will fall in the same language family as English. Many of these are in the Indo-European language families. Words will be similar between all of the languages that come from the same family. Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean are in the same language family, the Altaic family. You will find many similarites in these two languages. Mandarin Chinese comes from the Sino-Tibetan family. Altaic Family The Altaic family is named after the Alti Mountains. They are located in Central Asia. The Altaic Family consists of Turkish, Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. Out of these, Turkish is the most western of the languages, while Korean and Japanese are more eastern. Sino-Tibetan Family The Sino-Tibetan Family consists of Mandarin Chinese. Languages in this language family are made up of one syllable words, but there are MANY. There is no simple alphabet to form these words, which causes the vast number of Chinese characters, making it one of the hardest languages to learn. You also must learn to speak, read, and write all separately. There is no reading a word and being able to speak it, nor can you hear one and guess on how it is spelled. Writing is still completely on it's own even if you can read, because you have to use proper stroke orders! Very time consuming to learn. There are also several tones in these languages. A change in pitch while saying a word could change the meaning of the word completely. It makes the language sound very pretty when spoken, but is incredibly difficult to learn! Sentence Structure As with many Asian languages, a common fact you will notice is many of the languages follow an SOV sentence structure. That is, Subject, Object, Verb. English tends to place the verb after the subject of the sentence. Asian languages place the verb at the very end of the sentence. The most important part of the sentence is saved for last :) Don't we all save the best for last? Although much of the culture evolves around the language, there is plenty more to culture. Korean culture is amazing in every way. Look forward to future articles covering Korean culture! http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com is a site based on teaching the Korean language. It also provides details on Korean culture, Korean foods, Korean recipes, Korean music, everything Korean!
MORE RESOURCES:
Language - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Can You Understand English? There is a lot of talk about making English the official language of the USA. That would stop the need to spend so much money printing out things like drivers license, tax, voter registration and other official forms in so many languages. Learn Korean: Part 2 - Social Status in Culture Part 1 of this series covered the language and language families in general for the Asian languages. Part 2 will cover the social conduct that is seen throughout Asian countries. Bridging the Language Gap Using Bilingual Picture Books There are more than 39 million Hispanics live in the United States making it the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world. It is estimated that within five years, only Mexico will have more Spanish-speakers than the U. English Language Sputtering Online Like an Old Ford! Sad, but true. Just about everywhere you look online, the English language is suffering a fate worse than death. Mexican Living: Todays Obsession I would like to talk about one of my many obsessions: learning Spanish. I have been thinking about this lately mostly because I am under the impression that, though I've lived in Mexico for two years, my Spanish sucks in a major way. English Slang For Perplexed Tourists I watched the British version of 'Big Brother' recently. That's the television show which is a human hamster cage. Teaching English in Greece - What Do You Need to Know? The employment situation can be quite uncertain for newcomers to Greece and therefore many people choose to try teaching English as a foreign language, on a full or part-time basis. It can bring in a good income whether it is your preferred career choice, or you wish to do it short-term until another career choice pans out. Learn Italian in Your Hometown Are you interested in learning the Italian language right in your own hometown? There are several options that you can explore to find the Italian classes that are just perfect for you! First, you should consider whether you would you enjoy the interaction that takes place among students in group classes, or if you would prefer the one-on-one attention of a private instructor.1. English Has Come A Long, Long Way... I often wonder what would happen if Shakespeare were to be transported in a time machine to our world today. What would he think? How would he react?Yes, Willie would probably tell me "thou hast too much time on thy hands if thou spendeth it wondering about such flights of fancy. Show Me the Bunny: Language Acquisition Some children are really funny about experimenting with speech. Nonetheless, the first intelligible words bring such a feeling of elation to a parent. Aphasia: The Cruelest Language Barrier Imagine the following scenario: You wake up one morning and instead of speaking English, everyone around you--including your family and friends--is speaking Hungarian. This is a problem because you don't speak Hungarian and you don't have a clue what they're saying. Learning a Foreign Language: Why Should you Learn Words You Never Use in Your Mother Tongue? Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his head in his hands, and mumbling various lists of words over and over. Does this child remind you of your own experience? If yes, I bet that "list of words" does not sound appealing to you. Learn Italian in Italy You can combine your love of the Italian language with an unforgettable experience in the country where the language is spoken by studying Italian in Italy! Hands-down, the best way to learn a foreign language is to live, work, or study in a native speaking environment. Studying Italian in Italy is the best possible experience you can have to learn the language. Learn to Speak Basic Chinese (Mandarin) Words and Phrases The Chinese Language and dialectsEach province, each city and even each village speaks their own dialect. There are hundreds of Chinese dialects in China so much so that each dialect speaker is not likely to understand another dialect speaker from another village or city. Learning French in Paris Nothing can be more frustrating than to be in France and not been able to speak their language. For, I remember the days when I was among people chanting around in a language totally alien to me, and me, trying to bring a smile in my face while shaking my head from north to south doing as if I am getting everything what they are speaking about, and waiting impatiently for my French wife to do the translation - and I can't deny, that that was not the most comfortable period of my life. Teaching English in Mexico: A Decent Living? What's more disappointing than a person who makes a promise he can't keep? A person who makes a promise that is a lie. Many promises to make a "decent living" teaching English in Mexico are just that-a lie. Chinese Pinyin or Hanyu Pinyin Overview Chinese Pinyin is the romanization of the Chinese "written sound". Romanization approximates Mandarin pronunciation with Western spellings and includes a tone mark to signify the pitch of a word. Online IELTS Preparation - Why Does It Make Sense? Because IELTS is a difficult test. While most agree that IELTS is a reasonable test, it is generally regarded as one of the most challenging tests of its type. Second Language Competence Beneficial but often Misunderstood Second language learning has associated with it many types of benefits. Among them include: social, economic, intellectual and linguistic. 7 Words Americans Should Stop Using Until Further Investigation Relationship: Here is a word that is used to qualify, justify and honey coat just about every nefarious, sleazy or reprehensible union between almost anybody and anything. Recently on an edition of the Jerry Springer show a guest was about to be interviewed who was getting it on with a very close relative.
|
| home | site map |
| Web Site Development - Search Engine Marketing: Dream Team Media |
