Korean is the official language of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea. Distributed in China, Japan, USA, Russia, Central Asian countries and has six dialects. The total number of native speakers is 78 million people. Recently, the culture of South Korea has become popular among the Russian-speaking population.

Young people learn this language in order to watch Korean TV series (dramas) in the original or read and translate comics (manhwa). K-Pop (Korean pop music) fans dream of meeting their idols and talking to them in their native language. Adults are interested in the literature and culture of the country. In addition, Korea provides quality education and well-paid jobs. The country values ​​such professions as doctor and teacher.

From a tourism point of view, this country is famous for its Jeju Island, where locals often vacation. The capital, Seoul, has historical museums, ancient streets and districts; if you wish, you can stay overnight in one of the traditional houses of Korea. But in order to feel free in a foreign country, you need to know at least the basics of its official language. On the one hand, learning Korean is not difficult, but on the other hand, you need to learn many rules and exceptions. Therefore, before learning, you should familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of the language and evaluate your strengths.

What is important to know about the Korean language

Until the 15th century, Korea used hieroglyphs, but then they created a special alphabet - Hangul, which consists of 40 letters. In a phonetic sense, the language is rich in sounds. This includes ten simple vowels and three types of consonants: simple, aspirated and glottalized.

Due to the historical influence of China and Japan, many borrowings remain in the language. Currently, the South Korean version is replenished with words of English origin, and the North Korean version with words of Russian origin. Korean has a wide variety of speaking styles. Each style is used depending on the age and social status of the interlocutor. It also depends on who exactly we are talking about. In each case, the verbs take their own distinctive suffixes.

One of the features of the language is the rules for naming relatives. Naming changes if relatives speak among themselves or if the conversation is with people who are not part of the family. In general, everything rests on one principle - if an older or higher social status person is present during the conversation, then the naming will be more official than in the presence of a younger or lower status person.

In grammar, it is important to mention numerals. By analogy with Japanese, there are numerals of Korean (all numbers up to 99) and Chinese (100 and above) origin. A developed system of cases facilitates the study and assimilation of declensions. Adjectives have two forms: final and attributive. This is a small description of Korean grammar and vocabulary. The variety of sounds is one of the main difficulties for foreigners when learning correct pronunciation and reading, and the presence of grammatical features that are not found in Russian slows down the process of learning the language. Therefore, in order to avoid mistakes and long pauses in learning, those who want to learn Korean enroll in special language courses.

Native Korean speaker

In the photo, Korean language teacher Byundan

• 1990 Kwangwoon University Eiektronics Telecommunication Enginttring;
• 1995 Private language school;
• She has been working on our courses for 3 years.

During the educational process

6 options for learning Korean for beginners from scratch

The Master Class company provides the following levels of language learning:

• General course;
• Korean language course;
• Intensive study;
• Business style;
• Conversation course;
• Improving Korean language skills.

Any of these courses includes practice with a native speaker, lessons using modern technologies, audio training, and familiarization with the culture and traditions of the country. Every student has the right to choose their own language learning method. Individual lessons are necessary for those who want to study grammar in depth, learn correct pronunciation and features of the Korean language that are difficult to learn in a group. Group courses develop conversational speech - during them, dialogues are conducted both with colleagues and with several representatives of the Korean language. The duration of each level of training is 48 academic hours (3 months). Upon completion of the program, a certificate is issued indicating the course and number of hours.

Other languages ​​in demand for learning

• Vietnamese language.

Price for group and individual training

The price of training is calculated per month (8 lessons - 16 academic hours). The intensity of group classes is 2 times a week, each lesson lasts 90 minutes. The teacher's visit is included in the price.

Price for corporate Korean training

Drawing up an individual training schedule for organizations: you determine the days, time, place and intensity of training according to your preferences.

The price is per group.

Korean alphabet with translation into Russian

There are two basic vowels: ㅣ (i) and ㅡ (s). All other letters are formed from them by adding horizontal and vertical short strokes.

Vowels

Consonants:

Now let's look at the remaining consonants. They are divided into two groups – aspirated and double.

There are only four aspirated consonants

If you are interested in learning the Korean language, then you probably know that it is used in South and North Korea, as well as in the Yanban Autonomous Region of China. Learning Korean is not an easy task because it has almost no common ground with Western languages. And if you have taken up learning this beautiful language, then the following tips will help you a lot in this.

Start with the alphabet

The best place to start learning Korean is the alphabet. The Korean alphabet, at first glance, looks very bizarre and incomprehensible to people who have not previously encountered it. It is absolutely not similar to the Cyrillic or Latin alphabet. But by paying enough attention to the Korean alphabet, you will get an excellent foundation for reading and writing in the future.

Here are some facts about the Korean alphabet:

· Uses 24 letters: 10 vowels and 14 consonants.

· There are 16 diphthongs and double consonants.

· The Korean language borrows approximately 3,000 Chinese characters (hanja) to express words of Chinese origin. Hancha is used primarily in religious texts, dictionaries, classical literature, and academic writing.

Learn to count

Once you have started to navigate the alphabet, the next important task is to learn how to count in Korean. Learning Korean counting is not easy, as the language uses two different cardinal systems: Korean and Chinese, each of which is used in a specific situation.

So, for example, the Korean system is used when you need to count from 1 to 99 or announce a person’s age. The Chinese system of quantitative numbers is used when pronouncing a date, address, telephone number, money or numbers after 100.

Expand your vocabulary

To learn and speak Korean fluently, you need to know as many Korean words as possible. Start with simple everyday words and gradually move on to more complex academic and literary expressions. Here are some tips for learning Korean words:

· Develop the habit of thinking along the lines of “What would this sound like in Korean?” This way you will constantly find new words to study and very quickly expand your vocabulary.

· Surround yourself with the Korean language: translate your smartphone or tablet into Korean. You can also install a program that will give you new Korean words several times a day, not letting you forget about learning the language.

· Use two-way translation: translate not only from Russian into Korean, but also from Korean into Russian; this will help you remember familiar phrases and expressions, thereby consolidating what you have learned in your memory.

· Regular practice: you can learn the Korean language quickly and efficiently only by studying it regularly. Set aside at least an hour a day to study the language.

Learn basic phrases

If you imagine speech as a large construction set, then a phrase is like a ready-made element that is already assembled: it just needs to be put in the right place. Therefore, another good way to quickly learn and speak Korean is to memorize basic phrases and where they are used. Having learned the simplest phrases in Korean like: “Hello, my name is Zhenya” and “How are you?” You will already be able to start a conversation with a person and gain the experience of live communication in Korean.

The main thing before this is to understand the use of the polite form. The fact is that the endings of Korean verbs tend to change depending on the social status and rank of the person with whom you are communicating. You need to learn how to use these endings correctly in order to conduct a conversation at a polite level.

The Korean language uses only three types of formality:

· Informal - addressing peers, close friends and juniors.

· Officially polite - addressing elders, also used in formal and business settings.

· Respectful - addressed in the news and the army. Almost never found in everyday life.

Learn the basics of grammar

To write and speak Korean correctly, you need to learn its grammar. This will give you a general idea of ​​how a sentence is constructed and in what situations to use it. Here are some basics of Korean grammar:

Adjectives, like verbs, take different forms depending on tense

· The verb is always placed at the end of the sentence

· Most often, the subject is omitted and determined by the context or the previous sentence

Practice Korean

In order to develop correct pronunciation, you will need more than one hour of practice. It won't all work out right away, but if you do something as well as you can do it, sooner or later you will achieve the desired result. Mistakes are necessary experience for success and there is no point in being ashamed of them.

Start practicing your Korean by listening to podcasts. Listen and try to repeat what the speaker said. Once you have become comfortable with pronunciation and your tongue is no longer confused by Korean words, you can start looking for a pen pal and oral practice of the Korean language. Ideally, this should be someone you know who you can see quite often.

But if you don’t know any Koreans in your circle, then feel free to go to Facebook or Skype and start looking for such a person. Many Koreans are interested in learning Russian, and you can establish cooperation that is beneficial for both of you. By practicing and learning Korean with a native speaker, you will quickly become immersed in the culture of this country and may even get the opportunity to visit this country.

Sign up for a Korean language course

Korean learning courses are one of the most effective ways to learn Korean in the shortest possible time. They have their own programs, tested by more than one thousand students and help to approach language learning in a more organized way. In addition, group classes supervised by an experienced teacher will help you quickly master the correct pronunciation and spelling of Korean words.

It is best to choose courses that are reputable and considered the best in the field of learning the Korean language. Often such courses are located at embassies or linguistic universities. Search the Internet for information on the best language courses in your city, and also read reviews about them. The ideal option would be to meet with the teachers who will teach you ahead of time and ask them about the methods and training program.

Add interactivity to your learning

To quickly and efficiently learn the Korean language, it is important to rest. And it’s better to do this in the company of Korean media. By watching your favorite movie or video on You Tube in Korean with subtitles, you will not only have a good time, but also discover many new Korean words. Take breaks and write down new words so as not to lose them, and then even relaxing in the company of a movie will help you learn the Korean language.

Also start listening to Korean music and translating the lyrics of the songs you like. Over time, you will begin to understand what the song is about. This way you will develop the skill of dividing speech into semantic streams and in everyday life you will not have problems with the Korean language.

Trip to Korea

If you have the opportunity to go and live in Korea for a while, then don’t hesitate to take a ticket! This will help you not only learn the Korean language in the shortest possible time, but also get acquainted with the culture and form your own idea of ​​this country. After all, stories and real life in a country are often very different. In addition, you will already be able to clearly understand whether you want to live in Korea or not.

Bottom line: how to learn Korean

Start learning Korean from the simplest ones and move on to the more complex ones. You don’t need to try to cover everything at once, do a little, but every day and over time you will achieve your goal. And don’t be afraid of mistakes and failures - without them, learning the Korean language is impossible.

Learn and have fun with it. All the best!

How can you still learn Korean on your own? And is this possible?

If you dig deeper, this question applies not only to the Korean language, but also to any other foreign languages. I do not speak all the languages ​​of the world, since I have not encountered all of them in my life. But I can say for sure about Korean. Maybe. If you try hard, your hard work will pay off. Learning Korean is an exciting journey, because the language reflects the culture of the entire people.

In order to easily master a language, you need to see its “skeleton”, that is, understand how it is built and what parts it consists of.

Simply put, language is a combination of VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR, by and large.

Every time I teach a lesson, I try to systematize knowledge as much as possible to help students see the whole picture. I even wrote a book on this occasion - “7 Doors”.

I recommend going from simple to complex: alphabet - pronunciation - reading - writing - basic vocabulary and grammar. Official style – case endings – informal polite style – tenses – complex sentences. Basic vocabulary – advanced vocabulary.

It will take you much more time to master the language on your own than when studying in a group or individually with a teacher. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to take such lessons, go without hesitation! If you have the opportunity to attend language courses in – don’t delay!

To help the curious - books, manuals, the Internet, films, music... Fortunately, in our technological age, everyone has access to these inexhaustible resources. There are groups on social networks where you can replenish your Korean stock online, completely free of charge. And at the same time ask advice from more advanced Korean lovers.

So, if you still choose to learn the language on your own, on your own, then be patient and preferably use textbooks. All textbooks are different, most use professional linguistic language with very abstruse technical terminology, incomprehensible to the common person.

You'll have to start with the banal - the rules of reading and writing. Then you can read texts and look up (and hopefully find) words in the dictionary. More about dictionaries

Living in the Far East, we were the first to sense the demand and relevance of knowledge of Eastern languages. Today you are much less likely to meet a student who has chosen to study German than, say, Chinese.

There are actually a lot of languages ​​that are generally called “Eastern” in the world. These are the languages ​​of Central Asia - Tajik, Turkic, Kazakh, Tatar, and the Arabic group - Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Persian, and the languages ​​of South and Southeast Asia - Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino and others. But, of course, most often residents of the Far East choose to study one of the top three - Korean, Japanese or Chinese.

Why Korean?

Today we will talk about a language for which the demand is not the greatest, but stable - this is the Korean language. A trip to Korea today has become easier than to China (we don’t take into account the border) - tickets cost a penny, a visa is not needed, foreigners are treated peacefully, the food is delicious, and there is always something to do. Many Russians cooperate with Koreans in business, medicine, choose Korean educational institutions or emigrate.

If you are thinking about connecting your life with South Korea in one way or another, you probably have a logical question: is it difficult to learn the Korean language? Let's look at the difficulties that may await you along this path.

Difficulties of the Korean language

The first is pronunciation. Many people mistakenly think that since a language does not have tones, like Chinese, then it is easy to speak. In fact, less than half of Korean sounds have analogues in Russian. That is, you will actually have to learn to pronounce sounds for which your speech apparatus has not been adapted since childhood.

For example, vowels can have 2 pronunciation options, and the difference between them is minimal to the ear and at the same time very important - the wrong sound turns one word into another. Consonants can generally be pronounced in three different ways - strong, weak and aspirated, and none of them coincides with the sounds familiar to Russian people.

The second is grammar. The order of words in a sentence is so illogical for speakers of Slavic languages ​​that not everyone is able to accept it even after several years of study. Also, in Korean there are no forms of verbs that are familiar to us, but there are various categories of politeness, the need to use which depends on what your status is and what the status of your interlocutor is! It's time to decide that learning German, with its many consonants, is a more attractive prospect.

Third is vocabulary. Three types of vocabulary - native Korean, Chinese and borrowed from other languages ​​- lead to the fact that a word can be pronounced and written differently, but still mean the same thing. Moreover, no course will help you understand this issue - everything is comprehended only by communicating with native speakers and in complete immersion in the language environment.

Why you should take up Korean

Now that you're scared enough, let's give ourselves a spoonful of honey: yes, all these difficulties await beginners of learning the Korean language. But as soon as your consciousness adjusts to the previously unfamiliar logic of the inhabitants of the Land of Morning Freshness, as South Korea is poetically called, the language will go like clockwork.

The most important thing you should do is to forget everything you have been taught in English and even Russian and stop trying to find correspondence between Korean and other languages ​​you know. Then you will be completely open to new knowledge, get acquainted with the structure of the language that is unusual for you, and all you have to do is love it with all your heart and want to speak Korean. Be careful: in this case, you risk complete “coreification”!

If you are still hesitating between Chinese, Korean and Japanese, we suggest you familiarize yourself with

Instructions

Understand the logic

Before learning a language, you need to find its place in the language family, determine its closest relatives and the type of language. Yes, oddly enough, reading books on linguistics makes life much easier for people who study with a form of writing that is significantly different from their own. All beginners should know that the Korean language belongs to the Tungus-Manchu group of languages ​​of the Altai family. This is an agglutinative language, which means that the sentence is built according to the “subordination - object” scheme. That is, not “I am going to the store for food,” but “I am food because I am going to the store.” Verbs do not have a gender, but there are special conjugate endings in order to address friends, and father, as well as older people and high rank. It seems strange at first, but experts are confident that Korean is one of the easiest languages ​​to master.

Spin Attack

In order to learn any language, you should not only study theory, immerse yourself in grammar and build up your vocabulary, but also read, listen, write coherent texts and, of course, communicate. There are many free resources on the Internet to help lovers of the Korean language. So, for example, a resource http://www.lingq.com/ offers texts and podcasts for students of all levels - from beginner to advanced. The network user reads the text, listens to it at the same time, remembers the pronunciation of a native speaker and “links” new words. You can make cards from words, download them to your mobile phone or receive them by mail. Another educational network where you can learn Korean is livemocha.com. The free course includes more than fifty lessons: theory, test exercises, quizzes and two tasks that test native speakers - oral and written. Politeness and respect are the two pillars on which language learning in online educational networks is based.

Serious preparation

If a student studying the Korean language needs a certificate or confidence that the best teachers are teaching him, then it is worth enrolling in free Korean language courses at the Cultural Center of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea: http://russia.korean-culture.org/welcome.do You can also learn Korean at Won Gwan Language School http://www.wonkwang.ru/. There you can download free audio courses and purchase educational literature. In addition, Korean is studied in courses at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at departments at RGSU, RGGU, MGIMO, ISAA and others. These educational institutions prepare professional students of Korean studies.