Korean language vs. English language There are many differences between Korean and English.

The most significant difference is in the sentence structure and word structure. The Korean alphabet (hangul) consists of 14 simple consonants and 6 simple vowels. Hangul can be written horizontally or vertically. Most Koreans do write horizontally like the way English is written since most Koreans today are exposed to Latin script and have no trouble with the English writing system.

Korean is what is known as an agglutinative language. This means that verb formation like the tense, mood, and social relation between speaker and listener is added to the end of the verb. In contrast, English makes an extensive use of auxiliaries to convey verb meaning. Some Korean ELLs may have difficulty initially producing English verb phrases.

The Korean language does not conjugate verbs using agree with the subject. This may be a reason why some ELLs take a longer time learning to remember the s ending in English in the third person singular present simple tense. For example: He like. Instead of he likes.

Korean has a Subject-Object-Verb order. It is very common also in the Korean language to avoid personal reference so sentences usually contain the verb only. Korean ESL students can easily adjust to the strict SVO word order that is like English. However, ELLs will need assistance in working within the allowable exemptions so monotonous

written text whose sentences all start with the subject can be prevented.

The Korean language does not have grammatical categories that match the English language. Korean ELLs can have difficulty using a noun or adjective where English would have an adjective or a noun. For example: My dog doesnt like to eat his food because he is illness.

Articles like a, an, and the do not exist in the Korean language which causes substantial and permanent problems for ELLs with the complexities of the English article system.

Korean language is a syllable-timed language in which individual word stress is insignificant. This makes the Korean language very different from English and accounts for the flat quality of much of the English that is articulated by Korean students, especially during long speeches.

One main struggle in the pronunciation of English words lies in the reproduction of consonants. There are several English consonant sounds that do not exist in the Korean language.

The Korean vocabulary has also been influenced because of the long-term American presence in South Korea. Many Koreans have adjusted to seeing and hearing English on a daily basis.

Grammar in the Korean language consists of a great amount of honorifics

(Professor, Your Majesty, etc.). The endings of verbs and choice of nouns, adjectives, or pronouns depend upon the status of the speaker or writer to the listener or reader. English does not rely on honorifics and this can make English much easier for a Korean to learn English. Unfortunately, this may be a battle for the Korean learner to communicate the correct amount of respect in the dealings with others in the English language.

Here is a poem I found about English as a crazy language:

Crazy English by Richard Lederer

English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that: quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that: Writers write, but fingers don't fing? Grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy: That you can make amends but not one amend? That you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what

do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people: Recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horsefull carriage or a strapfull gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who are spring chickens or who would actually hurt a fly? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That's why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it!