Where Dragons Roam

Many, many years ago, during one of my more diligent efforts to learn how to speak and read Korean, I was able to pick up the How to Study Korean lesson pack. 

I recall that the lessons were quite helpful and feeling like the format was laid out in a reasonable manner so I have decided to pick up the lessons once more. Unfortunately, I have forgotten much of what I once knew (other than the odd words here and there) so we are going back to the basics with Unit 1, Lesson 1. 

If you are interested in following along together, feel free to check out the link using the button above. The entire content for Unit 1 includes Unit 1 PDF, Unit 1 Workbooks, Unit 1 Vocabulary Lists, Unit 1 Audio Packages, Unit 1 Word Search, Unit 1 Conjugation Table and Unit 1 Simple List.  It is currently $40 on sale; I’m not an affiliate or anything so no bias — it’s just the program I’ve decided to use for now.

---

For Day One, I am working with the vocabulary he has laid out at the start of the first lesson. 

If sorted by type:

• Country Names
  • Korea
  • Japan
  • China
• Household Items
  • Bed
  • House
  • Car
  • Book
  • Computer
  • Sofa
  • Door
  • Chair
  • Table
• People:
  • Teacher
  • Student
  • Doctor
• Other Nouns
  • Tree
  • Thing
• Pronouns
  • I, Me (Informal)
  • I, Me (Formal)
  • This
  • That
  • That (one far away)
• Verb
  • To Be
• Miscellaneous
  • Not
  • Yes
  • No
  • City

If you are interested in practicing the vocabulary, I created a Quizlet lesson where you can play games, run practice tests, etc. It includes pictures with each word which I think is a little easier. 

---

Patterns I have observed:

(*) Some of the more frequently used country names (e.g., Korea, America, United Kingdom) end in ‘극’ (keug), but this is not a consistent pattern. I’m not sure why it appears and why it doesn’t appear where it does. The etymology of the term online only references the possible meanings of “pole (e.g., North Pole), extremity, or theater).  You can find many of the names here,

Korean is like Spanish (which I studied as my second language in school) — it uses different words for this (este – 이), that one ‘nearby’ (ese – 그), that one ‘far away’ (aquel – 저).

Two of the words are really similar – Doctor (의사 — Uisa) or Chair (의자 – Uija). I’m still trying to think of how to tell them apart. 

The word for ‘City’ (도시) also feels a little random so I decided to look up the etymology. It appears to be a descendant of the traditional Chinese term “都市” (Dūshì) which meant ‘urban’. Looking at the two characters “都 and 市” separately, it kind of seems like it original meant ‘entirely marketplace’ or ‘metropolis’, which makes sense.

What are Your Thoughts?