Reflect on how knowing a language's history can help you learn the language. To what family does your language belong? What sounds, words, or structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures?
By knowing Korea's history, it helps me learn the language because it allows me to understand why certain phrases or words are used. Some expressions and words are shaped by Korea's history. It also helps me because when I am reading a book or a newspaper, some of them refer back to past history. If I have knowledge of their history, it helps me understand the meaning of the newspaper based on context. Additionally, Korea also uses an older form of language called 'hanja' which has its influence from china. Therefore, knowing some of Korea's history may be helpful in learning hanja.
Korea belongs in the Koreanic language family. Korea has some vocabulary overlap and grammatical similarities with Japan. This led to a hypothesis that Japanese and Koreans are related. Korea also borrows a lot of their words from China and again uses an older language called hanja which is heavily influenced by the Chinese. This exemplify periods of contacts since there is evidence that Ancient China administered Korea around 100 BC.
Comments
I find it very interesting how history really does expose the ways in which language may be influenced by other cultures to become what they are presently. In the case of Korean (like you mentioned), hanja is a great example demonstrating how history and intercultural exchange have shaped language and tradition. When I was researching Korean wedding traditions, I found that many of the “steps” involved in traditional Korean weddings were named in hanja and were then transcribed into hangul. This was because Korean incorporated various aspects of culture from China, including rites of passages and Confucianism. Therefore, like you said, knowing the history of a language enables people to put words and phrases into context for a more wholesome understanding of a topic, and with respect to traditional Korean weddings, it becomes evident how Chinese influence have impacted Korean customs and language.