Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Ask Teacher series. My name is K-Jin,
안녕하세요, K-Jin입니다. (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo, ke-i-jin-im-ni-da.)
In this series, I will answer your Korean questions, so if you have questions, please feel free to let me know.
Today, I picked questions related to Hangul.
1. So the first questions I have is: Are 한글(hangeul), 한국어(hangugeo) and 한국말(hangungmal) all different?
Yes, this is a common question. A lot of people think 한글(hangeul) and 한국어(hangugeo) are the same.
But actually, that's not true.
So let's look at what is 한글(hangeul), what is 한국어(hangugeo), and what is 한국말(hangungmal).
So first, we have 한글(hangeul)
한글(hangeul)
한글(hangeul)
한(han) is from 한국(hanguk).
한국(hanguk), the Korean, the name of the country.
글(geul) means "text" or "writing."
So it literally means Korean writing, that's right.
That's just the name of the Korean alphabet.
I do not speak Hangul because it's a text.
I can read Hangul but I cannot speak Hangul.
Please remember this is just a writing system.
This is just the name of the alphabet.
And what is 한국어(hangugeo) then?
한국어(hangugeo) is the Korean language in general.
That's right.
한국어(hangugeo), 한국(hanguk) is the next country, right?
South Korea is 한국(hanguk), 한국(hanguk), and 어(eo) means "language."
한국어(hangugeo) literally means the Korean language.
한국어(hangugeo), 한국어(hangugeo).
So it has more broad meaning.
broad meaning.
한글(hangeul) is part of 한국어(hangugeo) too.
When I write something in 한글(hangeul), I'm writing in 한국어(hangugeo).
When I speak Korean with my friends, I'm speaking 한국어(hangugeo) and there are new words, new Korean words.
Oh, that's also part of 한국어(hangugeo), right?
So 한국어(hangugeo) is more broad meaning.
So it's just a language itself, 한국어(hangugeo).
And luckily, it's very easy to use.
So for example, not only for Korean language, you can use this format, this format for other language too.
How about this?
Do you know how to say "Japan"?
Japan is 일본(ilbon).
What language do Japanese people speak?
That's Japanese, right?
"Japanese language."
Just put 어(eo) here.
So first you just put the name of the country, 일본(ilbon) and say 어(eo).
[ 일본어(ilboneo) ]
How about this, "China?"
What is "China?"
Chinese language.
I want to say Chinese language.
So first I need to know the name of the country, "China".
"China" is 중국(junggug).
중국(junggug).
And just put 어(eo), 중국어(junggugeo) means "Chinese language."
How about… French?
What is the name of the country?
프랑스(peurangseu)
And just put 어(eo), 프랑스어(peurangseueo) means "French language."
French language.
And how about Spanish?
It's Spain-language so we'll say 스페인(seupein), plus 어(eo) = 스페인어(seupeineo).
스페인어(seupeineo)
And the most important language?
No, second most versus Korean.
Second most important is English because we are communicating in English right now.
It's English, 영어(yeongeo). So it's like that.
You just put the name of the country plus 어(eo).
But again, it doesn't always work, right?
For example, I know a lot of countries also use 프랑스어(peurangseueo), for example, I know my friends from Tunisia speak French, but we don't say "Tunisia-eo", we just say "French" because it's originated from France.
And Spanish too, a lot of people from other countries like Chile, Argentina, they all speak Spanish, but we don't say "Argentina-eo" or "Chile-eo", we just say 스페인어(seupeineo) because the language is originated from Spain.
Same for English.
영어(yeongeo) is from the UK.
영국 (yeonggug) means UK.
We don't say 영국어 (yeonggugeo), we just say 영어(yeongeo).
It's from, it's originated from the UK, England, so 영어(yeongeo).
So this is how we form the name of the language.
Country name.
Originated country name, plus 어(eo).
한국어(hangugeo).
Then now we have this.
What is 한국말(hangungmal)?
한국말(hangungmal) is basically the language used by the Korean people.
That's right.
So Korean people use Korean.
So 한국말(hangungmal) is basically Korean.
So in this case, 한국어(hangugeo) and 한국말(hangungmal) are same.
That's right.
한국어(hangugeo), 한국말(hangungmal), they are same.
Because Korean people speak Korean language.
How about this?
Can I also say 일본말(ilbonmal)?
You can! So it's also very simple, so you just put the name of the country, name of the country such as Japan and just put 말(mal).
By the way, 말(mal) means "words" or "speech," speaking.
So, 말(mal) is a very general word for speak.
So, 일본말(ilbonmal) is the same as 일본어(ilboneo).
How about this?
중국(junggug) plus 말(mal).
Yes, 중국어(junggugeo) is Chinese language.
중국말(junggungmal) is Chinese speech.
So, it's the same.
And 프랑스말(peurangseumal), you can also say 프랑스말(peurangseumal).
프랑스어(peurangseueo), "French"
프랑스말(peurangseumal), "French," again.
And again, put the name of the country.
스페인어(seupeineo) becomes 스페인말(seupeinmal)
영어(yeongeo), too.
Please remember you don't say 영말 (yeongmal); the name of the country is 영국 (yeonggug), so 영국말 (yeonggungmal).
You can say this way, but there's interesting thing.
Then what language Americans speak?
Hmm, they speak 영어(yeongeo), right?
But they do not speak 영국말 (yeonggungmal).
Americans do not speak 영국말 (yeonggungmal), because 영국말 (yeonggungmal) is a language used by the British people.
So Americans speak American language, American English, so we say 미국말 (migungmal), so the difference is this.
한국어(hangugeo), in this case, is more general.
So you have to put the name of the country where the language is originated.
This one is a language that is used by the specific people.
So American people speak 미국말 (migungmal), they never say 영국말 (yeonggungmal). They say they speak 미국말 (migungmal), American speech.
So how about this, Indo? In India, there are many different languages, right? Like Tamil or Hindi.
So Tamil, Hindi, we all have different names.
타밀어(tamileo) or 힌디어(hindieo), but they are all 인도말(indomal).
That's right, they are all 인도말(indomal).
인도(indo), name of the country; 말(mal), "speech"
So this one has more…it has slightly different meaning.
So for example, in Chile, they use Spanish, 스페인어(seupeineo), but they don't really speak 스페인말(seupeinmal), they speak 칠레말(chillemal) So name of the country, plus 말(mal). Does it make sense?
So 어(eo) is just a name of the language that is originated from, and then 말(mal) is the language used by some people from that country.
So these are the differences.
So please remember, 한글(hangeul), 한국어(hangugeo) and 한국말(hangungmal) are very similar but they are all different words. So do not mix those words, okay?
2. So next question we have is: Why do I have to learn Hangul?
This is a common question.
"Can I just use romanization because I don't want to learn Hangul?"
It's too new, I'm not familiar with it.
But unfortunately, you have to learn Hangul.
Why? It's because Korean people do not understand romanization.
So for example, There are two different words.
저(jeo), meaning "I," or "me," or 제오(jeo).
제오(jeo) is just the name of someone.
Do you know how to romanize 저(jeo)?
Do you know how to romanize this person's name? 제오(jeo), it's exactly the same.
So if you use romanization only, We don't know if it's 저(jeo) or 제오(jeo), we don't know, we don't know.
And Korean people don't really care about the romanization too.
So we haven't really learned the romanization rule in school.
So if you write long romanization, it's very highly possible Korean people wouldn't understand.
So if you want to communicate with Korean people, well, you need to know their language, their alphabet, which is Hangul.
Hangul.
And here's a tip too.
I've taught many Korean students and in my experience, some students try to read Hangul.
Hangul.
Like this. 제오(jeo), 저(jeo)
Some of my students try to read the romanization directly.
And after some time, I noticed that people who try to read Hangul improve their pronunciation better.
And improve their reading better than the people who just read Romanization.
It's because if something is written in Romanization, you are so used to the English pronunciation.
So you tend to read it in English pronunciation way, English way.
But unfortunately, Korean pronunciation is very different from the English, so if you just read English pronunciation, it doesn't sound native like.
It's not easy to understand as a native Korean person, so if you want to communicate better, try to read Hangul, practice Hangul to communicate with Korean people and also to improve your pronunciation.
3. The next questions I have is: How long does it take to learn Hangul?
Well, let me give you the conclusion first.
It depends on the person.
That's right, it just depends on the person.
It depends on your ability.
However, Hangul is very simple.
So there are only few letters.
So once you learn the letters, and once you can just figure out the shape, then you can read Hangul.
I think in my experience, it really depends on person, but in my class, students can understand Hangul, the Korean alphabet, in 20 minutes.
The time, it takes more time than 20 minutes, it's because it takes time to memorize the alphabet, but just to understand and read it just take 20 minutes or so.
It's very simple.
So for example I found this letter.
Okay, so let's break down this letter.
This has this shape, ㄱ andㅏ(a) sound, and ㅁ.
So this sound is like /g/ sound, this sound is like /a/ sound, this sound is like /m/ sound
so this is 감(gam).
감(gam) is "persimmon," one of the most popular fruits in autumn in Korea.
감(gam) "persimmon," 감(gam)
So now if you know this, if you have this Hangul chart, this chart of these letters, you can read all the Korean alphabet.
Of course, there are some exceptions and then rules, but that's what you are going to learn little by little while you're learning Korean.
You don't have to learn everything at once, but just reading itself, It takes just 20 minutes.
It takes time to memorize it.
But Korean alphabet is very easy.
So if you want to learn Korean, start with Hangul first, please!
It's very simple, don't worry.
4. Who made Hangul?
That's a good question, isn't it?
Do you know who made English alphabet? Actually, no, you don't know right because it was evaluated for a long time. But interestingly, we know who made Hangul because one person made it alone.
That's King Sejong, 세종대왕(sejong daewang).
Have you ever seen the Korean money?
If you see 만원(manwon), 만원(manwon) is like, ₩10,000, is about 9, 10 dollars? 8, 9, 10 dollars? Because the currency always changes, but I just say 10 dollars, because easy to calculate.
But anyways, around like 9, 10 dollars, and it's ₩10,000.
And in ₩10,000, you will see the face of Sejongdae.
He's there, like this.
And he created Hangul. He invented Hangul because he wants normal people like me to read.
Long time ago, we didn't have any Korean, any alphabet, so we only have to use Chinese characters, and they are so difficult.
And normal people are so busy.
They don't have time to learn the Chinese alphabet.
They need to work every single day until late at night. So until late at night? Maybe not. But anyway, they work a lot. They don't have time to learn these letters.
So 세종대왕(sejong daewang) or King Sejong, thought, "Hmm, it would be great if normal people can learn the alphabet so they can read books, they can write what they think, that would be amazing.
So how can you create some easy alphabet that doesn't take so much time?
Then he created this Hangul, this alphabet.
Yeah, I appreciate that because Hangul is very easy.
5. And the last question that I have today is: How many letters are in Hangul?
How many letters are there? It's very simple. There are just 24 letters.
That's right.
24 letters is not so much, right?
There are just 14 consonants and 10 vowels, that's it.
But we conjugate these consonants and vowels and we can make like hundreds of letters, hundreds of letters.
So that's why there seems there are a lot, but actually there are not so much.
So for example, This looks like just one letter, right?
One letter.
Actually this is combined of ㅗ(o) +ㅏ(a).
Can you pronounce these two words quickly?
Oa, o-a, o-a, oa, oa. That's right.
So this is 'oa'.
So even though this looks like one word, one letter, they can be combined in different way.
And this is how we make many different sounds.
But the basic consonant and vowels that you need to memorize is just 24 letters.
That's very simple.
That's not so much.
So if you're learning Korean, please start learning Korean.
That's very simple.
Today I answered many questions related to Hangul, the Korean alphabet and Korean language. So thank you very much for watching this video and I'll see you in our next Ask Teacher Series.
감사합니다. 다음에 봐요.
(Gamsahabnida. Da-eum-e bwayo.)

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