Language
Some languages are harder to learn than others. Which ones do you think are the hardest and why?
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did you think about it?
One of the most popular questions we get asked is if we have learned the language yet in Korea? The short answer is no, and if you stick around long enough you'll understand our excuses!
1) In coming to Korea we've always worked in schools where the students are only allowed to speak english and therefore we can't learn Korean from them. When you spend 10 hours a day at said school, that makes it difficult.
2) In coming to Korea we've always lived far away from Seoul. Okay, not too far, we do go there quite a bit. But the major language schools are [both] in Seoul and take about 2 hours to get to and from each way. Travel time alone is 4 hours, which means that during the school year, language school is not an option for either of us.
3) Korean is really hard to learn. The alphabet is different, the symbol/letters all make at least 2 sounds depending on a number of rules, but that isn't even the hard part! The sentence structure and grammar are all completely backwards from English. There are infinite levels of politeness and even multiple way say the same basic things because of Chinese heritage roots.
So, no, we haven't learned the language yet. It's one of our biggest heartaches about living here and so we are constantly trying to grasp any new phrase that we can...even so, we've only managed to obtain a few.
Today I saw the page below and knew I would share it with you. It's a simple and easy explanation of language levels. Please take a look!
Via: Voxy Blog
...
did you think about it?
One of the most popular questions we get asked is if we have learned the language yet in Korea? The short answer is no, and if you stick around long enough you'll understand our excuses!
1) In coming to Korea we've always worked in schools where the students are only allowed to speak english and therefore we can't learn Korean from them. When you spend 10 hours a day at said school, that makes it difficult.
2) In coming to Korea we've always lived far away from Seoul. Okay, not too far, we do go there quite a bit. But the major language schools are [both] in Seoul and take about 2 hours to get to and from each way. Travel time alone is 4 hours, which means that during the school year, language school is not an option for either of us.
3) Korean is really hard to learn. The alphabet is different, the symbol/letters all make at least 2 sounds depending on a number of rules, but that isn't even the hard part! The sentence structure and grammar are all completely backwards from English. There are infinite levels of politeness and even multiple way say the same basic things because of Chinese heritage roots.
So, no, we haven't learned the language yet. It's one of our biggest heartaches about living here and so we are constantly trying to grasp any new phrase that we can...even so, we've only managed to obtain a few.
Today I saw the page below and knew I would share it with you. It's a simple and easy explanation of language levels. Please take a look!
Via: Voxy Blog
I consider it a miracle that I know as much Japanese as I do. Especially considering that I had so much trouble with "easy" French in high school! :D
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