105 Learning Journal #6

[Stephen Huffnagle]

Knowing a language’s history can help you immensely in learning a language. It teaches you not only how the language relates to other languages (which can give you cognates), but also teaches you how to apply the given language. For instance, if you know how important class and social distinctions were in ancient Korea, you can have a better appreciation for social distinctions in modern Korean culture. You also develop an understanding for why so many endings exist in Korean words, because you know how Confucianism affected the language. Knowing the history of a language can also help you learn which words and phrases have gone in and out of vernacular. In every language, there are certain phrases that would have been said a couple hundred years ago, but which would sound very strange now.