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Language
The origins of Korean are not well-known, but the most widely-held view is that the Korean language is a member of the Ural-Altaic family, which includes Turkish, Mongolian and Hungarian. Until the mid 15th century, there was no Korean alphabet and Korea borrowed mainly from Chinese characters. As a way of promoting literacy among the common person, the Korean script was developed among the mid 15th century. With the development of this writing system, literacy rates among the people skyrocketed and nowadays Korea has one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
There are different levels of formality in Korean, which are indicated by the verb ending which you will use depending on whether you are talking to a child or an adult. As a foreigner living in Korea, you will be forgiven if you make a mistake and use the wrong ending. The effort you make in learning the language will be perceived more positively than any mistakes you make. Furthermore, speaking and knowing some Korean does open doors to the culture and enhance the overall experience of living in Korea.
I find it helpful to learn a few key phrases before coming to Korea. Being able to say “Hello” and “Thank you” will help make a positive impression. Also, the writing system in Korea is very easy to learn – most can learn it in a day. Being able to read Korean characters will make your stay easier as not every sign is written in English.
However, you don’t need much Korean at all to live in Korea. You are expected to communicate with the students in English in the classroom and using Korean in the English class would not be appreciated. Furthermore, ‘English-mania’ is everywhere in Korea and as mentioned, most Koreans are able to speak some English due to increasing pressure to learn it. I know teachers that have lived in Korea for as long as I have and cannot speak Korean.
Should you choose to learn some Korean while you are living in Korea, we have included a learn Korean textbook in our New Teacher’s Orientation Pack that we give all new teachers upon arrival to Korea. We have also included several Korean language links on our links page which include free places online to learn Korean, an introduction to the Korean alphabet, basic phrases to get you started and schools where you can learn Korean. If you find any additional useful links, please let us know and we will add them to our list.
