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All About #1
Introduction Lesson: Korean

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 1
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GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top Five Reasons to Learn Korean.

Linguistics

There are many different theories as to what language family Korean comes from. The most
widely believed theory is that Korean came from the Altaic language group, which means
Korean is related to Mongolian, Turkish, and Japanese. Although Korean shares its origin in
language family with these languages, it has a unique, independent writing system called
Hangeul.
The history of spoken Korean goes back a long time. The Korean peninsula has seen the
rise and fall of many dynasties over the course of time, but people believe the oldest version
of the Korean language that is similar to its current form is approximately two thousand years
old.
The writing system of the Korean language is called 한글 (Hangeul). King 세종 (Sejong), who
was the fourth king of the 조선 (Joseon) dynasty, invented this writing system and announced
it to the public in 1446. Before King Sejong invented the writing system, Korean speakers
used the letters from Chinese to express the sounds of Korean by adapting letters that
sounded similar in Korean. Now, people consider 한글 (Hangeul) to be one of the most
scientific writing systems in the world because it can express the widest range of sounds.
Korean has approximately seventy-eight million speakers, mostly located in Korea, but the
population of Korean speakers outside Korea is also continuing to grow.
About Korea

Korea is a country of rich culture and long history. The first kingdom in the Korean peninsula,
고조선 (Gojoseon), was established over four thousand years ago.

The Korean peninsula is situated between China, Russia, and Japan, and due to its location,
Korea has interacted with different cultures throughout many millennia. While interacting with
many different countries, however, Korea has developed its unique culture in many aspects.
The unique characteristics of the Korean culture are reflected in many Korean TV dramas and
movies, which are also very popular outside Korea, setting the trend called "The Korean
Wave" (Hallyu).
Korea is also well known for having one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Since the 1960s, the Korean economy has grown more than four-hundred-fold. The
population of South Korea now is about forty-eight million, and there are one million non-
Korean people living in Korea.

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Why is it Important?

So why should you learn Korean? Here are some of the top reasons...

1. Korea is a great place to live, travel, and work. You can enjoy the rich culture, the beautiful
nature, the convenient facilities of the cities, and all the great Korean dishes in Korea even
without speaking any Korean, but your experiences in Korea will get so much richer if you
know the Korean language.
2. A lot of Korean companies are expanding and operating overseas, so you can find career
opportunities using your Korean language skills. Knowledge of Korean will be a great asset
throughout your entire career.
3. Do you enjoy watching Korean movies and TV dramas? You can enjoy your favorite
Korean movies and TV shows by reading the subtitles, but after learning Korean, you will be
able to understand the movies and dramas on a different level and in greater depth.
4. Korean is easy to read and write. You can master how to read and write in Korean within
days. While traveling or living in Korea, you will be able to understand a lot of written words
just by knowing how to read Korean.
5. If you know Korean, it becomes much easier to learn Japanese because Japanese
grammar is almost identical to Korean grammar. The same is true of Chinese because
Chinese and Korean share so many similar words.

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