110: Bi-Weekly Journal #8

[Ellie Yoon]

The last ZOOM meetings I had with Tommy and our language partner Jimin were focused on the rules of grammar and spacing in the writing component of Korean. These sessions were extremely helpful in my progression with the Korean language because it was the area I struggled, and continue to struggle, the most with. Something about the grammar behind spacing and spelling is so tricky and based on a gut understanding that even native Koreans have a hard time. For my writing skills, these two areas were my two black holes. Because I had never learned written Korean after the 가나다라 alphabets, I had never seen or heard what the rules of spacing (띄어쓰기) and common spelling (마춤법) were. Spacing has rules, but 마춤법 is just spelling. To complicate things even more, the rules and spelling of words are also constantly updated based on the general consensus of the people. One rule of spacing that has been updated is whether or not there is a space between the main root of the word, 본용언 in Korean, and derivational morphemes, 보조용언 in Korean. A good example is “보고싶다/보고 싶다”, meaning I miss you. Before the revision of the rule, “보고 싶다” was the correct grammar. Now, both are accepted as correct. Apart from this rule, there are a handful of others in which some make sense while others are infinitely confusing. After learning about the rules, I always take a second before sending a text in Korean to see if I followed the rules correctly. 마춤법, spelling, is another story. As Korean has a lot of homonyms (because of the difference in spelling and/or Hanja), spelling is one of my weaknesses. One of the mistakes I made when I was younger was the difference between “안” and “않”. They are both negative morphemes that sound the same. “안” is used in the front hile “않” is integrated into the end of a root word. For example, “I didn’t eat” can be either “안 먹었어요” or “먹지 않았어요”. Even in this example, the issue of spacing emerges as well. To end the semester’s SDLAP 105 class, Jimin went over what is called 한글날, Hangul Day. It is a national commemorative day for the establishment of Hangul, also known as 훈민정음 during its creation, by King Sejong the Great. Annually, on October 9, the Korean language is celebrated. As difficult Korean may seem to a beginner learner, or myself attempting to get down the rules of spacing, Hangul was created for all Koreans to be able to simply learn and use. Prior to Hangul, Chinese characters were used in writing form with Korean pronunciation. This method was complicated and the complexity of Chinese characters also led to different interpretations. Reading and writing was so complex that only those of the upper class had the leisure to learn, leaving all commoners without the ability to write out concerns and read important government announcements. Though difficult at times, being able to allocate time to deepen my appreciation of my language has also given me the opportunity to reflect on my culture and its history. I hope to practice my spacing and spelling and improve my overall competence in the Korean language.