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| This is the little foyer when you enter our one room. The left wall of this room is a closet with shelves for shoes, hats, etc. |
Sean and I have
begun a 14 week Korean Class with one of the local universities, Chon Bok Dae.
We are in a class of about 15 people and we meet everyday for an hour, 1:00pm
to 2:00pm. Although we show up just before class starts and are usually leaving
in a rush in order to make it to work on time, we are getting to know some of
our classmates. It’s refreshing to interact with people who can understand us,
and are our age. We don’t get to hang out with enough of them.
We are the only
Americans in the class! For some reason this surprises me greatly. In fact, we
are the only people in
the class that would be classified as English. There are
a number of people from China and the Philippines, as well as a Guatemalan, a
Nepali (Nepalian, Nepaler, Napoleon… I dunno), and two women from Mongolia.
It’s quite the mixture and the only thing we all have in common is that we
don’t know Korean but we can communicate in English. That is except for the
teacher -____-
Peck Un-Ah.
She’s Korean and she speaks Korean. English is not something she is even mildly
versed in. This came as a shock to me. It didn’t take me long to feel
pretentious and ashamedly elitist. Why should she know English? This was a
Korean language class, not an English class. I don’t speak Korean but I teach
Koreans English. I would also like to point out that she speaks more English
than I do Korean, not like that’s particularly difficult but she should be
given some credit.
For those of you
reading who were not aware, Koreans use an entirely different written alphabet
than we do in the English language. They have 40 letters in their alphabet
versus the English alphabet, which has 26. There was a dire error made in my
previous blog that lead my readers to believe that there were only 19 vowels…
This is not true, there are in fact 21 (two of which I am beyond any hope of
ever being able to pronounce correctly). Not to mention that some of their letters
look somewhat similar to English letters causing me great confusion. Also it
would seem that many of their letters are reflections of a different letter, which
leaves very little variation between some of the letters.
I wanted to give
you a little insight as to what we learned within the first couple days of
class:
Consonants:
ㄱ – This
little mark makes a “C” or “G” sound. I haven’t learned when to use which
pronunciation of the letter but I stick with “c” because it seems to be the
most frequent.
ㄲ – Although
this looks like the letter above written twice (which it is) it is a completely
different letter. This one sounds like “G”. A very clipped, fast “G”.
ㄴ – I know what you’re thinking, “It’s an
L!”. It isn’t. It’s actually an “N”.
ㄷ – It is a bit blocky but it looks like a
“C”. Well it’s not. It’s a “T”.
ㄸ – Again we have a double letter that’s
really one letter and doesn’t sound like the letter it’s made from. This one is
a “D”.
ㄹ – This
is definitely a strange one. It resembles a 2 or a backwards “S” but it is
actually a letter that sounds like “R” and “L”… I have no better explanation
than that.
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| This is the very fashionable couch, a sweet cow piñata, and my wall shrine to my family. |
ㅁ – This
box is a box that you pronounce as an “M”.
ㅂ – This kind of box is pronounced as a “P”
ㅃ – Yet
another double symbol, except this one is somewhat similar to the “P” sound. You pronounce this as a quick “B” sound.
ㅅ – This is lambda. Or apparently an “S” if
you are Korean.
ㅆ – Double Lambda is the short, clipped “Z”
sound.
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| This is the bed with some bamboo next to it because Feng Shui says it brings stability to a room. Please ignore the puppy full disclosure cannot yet be made about her. |
ㅇ – I am
sure you are dying to know what this one sounds like. I hate to let you down
but it doesn’t have a sound. It’s a placeholder… At least that what they tell
you at first! You quickly find out if this is at the beginning of the clump of
letters it is a placeholder but at the end of a clump of letters it is “ng”.
ㅈ – Here’s a nice symbol that doesn’t
correlate to a particular letter but rather to a sound, “ch”.
ㅉ – Double “ch” is a whole new letter that
is pronounced as a “J” sound. Again this double letter is very short and abrupt
in its pronunciation
ㅊ – I
know you were under the impression that we already covered “ch” but this letter
is “ch” too… I have yet to fully understand the difference but it kind of makes
the vowel following it a bit more higher pitched.
ㅋ – Again it is a letter we already
covered, the “C” sound but the vowel next to it is higher pitched.
ㅌ – This is another “T” sound with the higher pitched vowel to follow.
ㅍ – A second “P” sound.
ㅎ – Lastly we have the “H” sound.
Vowels:
ㅏ – ah
ㅐ – a
(like the way the letter sounds)
ㅑ – yah
(like what you tell your horse)
ㅒ – yeah
(like yeah, sure I was listening to you when you were explaining all of the
Korean letters’ sounds)
ㅓ – awe
(like awe what a cute little doggie)
ㅔ – eh
(like eh why not?)
ㅕ – yaw
(like my boat is about to fall over it’s yaw-ing so much)
ㅖ – yay
(like what you say when you find out you don’t have Korean class)
ㅗ – oh
(like oh my this Korean class is a lot harder than I thought it would be)
ㅘ – wah
(like you were going to say walk but then changed to ah I understand you now)
ㅙ – wah
(like the sound you make as you cry because there are 21 vowels in the Korean
language)
ㅚ – …
Still trying to figure this one out, it is more of an ewwhhhh
ㅛ – yo
(like yo how you doin’?)
ㅜ – oooo
(like ooooo I saw teacher holding hands with boyfriend!!!!)
ㅝ – wawe
(like awe that American is so cute trying to speak Korean but with a “w” sound
in front of it)
ㅞ – whey
(like the stuff left over once milk has been curdled)
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| The Plant Bookshelf which holds plants that refuse to live |
ㅟ – This
is another one of the vowels that I am hopelessly lost with… perhaps it is the
sound you make when you try and say “we” with your mouth in the shape of an o
and you don’t move your tongue.
ㅠ – you (like
you are so lucky you aren’t learning Korean)
ㅡ – This is the sound you make when you
clench your teeth and try and say “uh”
ㅢ –
ewww-eeeeeee (like a small child telling you broccoli is gross, ewww-eee!)
ㅣ- eeeeee (like the letter E drawn out)
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| Some Korean words my youngest student is helping me learn |
We are now a few weeks into the class and I am just barely keeping
my head above water. I feel as if we are moving at a break neck speed and I am
not intelligent enough to absorb all the information being thrown at me. I do
well when it comes to writing and understanding things
when they are written
down but not when they are said aloud. When the teacher talks to me the only
thing I can hear is the whoosh of air as whatever she’s saying flies right over
my head. I also sound like a bumbling moron with a stutter/ lisp when I talk.
The teacher wears the same wide smile and nods over encouragingly at me the
same way I do when I am dealing with one of my particularly slow students…
Humph.
We get H.W. and have tests, there’s a speaking, writing, and
comprehensive part to each of our classes. I am going everyday and I vow
repeatedly every time I leave the class that I will get better, I will
understand. We go through a chapter a day, always working with new words and
grammar rules. At least she keeps our class on its toes.
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| My awesome origami love flower =D |
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| Vlad and his girlfriend |
