Blog Post 8

[Benjamin Reilman]

I started writing in Korea during my Korean classes while I was abroad at Yonsei. I enjoy it quite a lot because I think the construction of the syllable blocks is very different from a traditional alphabet script, and having to plan out the spacing of the letters requires more forethought than in English. As far as patterns go, every sentence ends in a verb, and more specifically a verb ending which denotes the verb’s conjugation and the formality level at which you are writing (or speaking). I prefer handwriting because typing in Korean is very difficult because I don’t have a bilingual keyboard. I had used one on occasion in Korea at a PCbang, but still I typed almost entirely in English. I am more comfortable typing on my phone in Korean where I can quickly change my display keyboard to Korean, and I have started to be able to memorize the placement of the various letters on the keyboard as well. I think knowing that Korean is an SOV language makes writing easier because I can think in terms of my nouns first and then the verb fits more neatly at the end of the sentence, rather than in French where the conjugation of verbs is challenging because of the relation to the subject and the words which follow afterwards. However, Korean particles of course present a continuous challenge in writing because I often don’t know which one to use and it slows me down. I attached an old verb worksheet as an example of writing I have done. (ignore the vous "n'êtes pas intelligente" s'il vous plaît)