Reflect on the history of your target language. To what language family does it belong? What sounds, words, and structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures? How do these considerations enhance your understanding of the language and its various functions? How do languages change over time?
The Korean language is said to belong to the Altaic language family, putting it under the same family as Japanese, but most modern linguists also agree that Korean belongs to the Koreanic family because it is such a distinct language. While it does have influences from Chinese, and shares similar characteristics with the Japanese language, it is a unique language that wasn't gradually separated from one "mother language", but was purposefully created. The Korean language was created by King SeJong during the Joseon dynasty, and its main purpose was to provide the citizens of Korea with a means of protecting themselves against the injustices that were frequently occurring from being illiterate. At the time, Korea didn't have a written language of their own, and while Korean was spoken, Chinese was the official written language of the country; this meant that all official notices, letters, etc had to all be written in Chinese characters--the mastery of which was an extremely difficult, not to mention expensive, process. In order to combat this distinct inequality that the peasants of Korea faced, and to bring the nation together, King Sejong created the Korean language, intending for it to be both easily written and easily learned. In the beginning of Korean's usage, there were certain combinations of Korean letters that had both Korean meanings and Chinese meanings. Certain Korean letters would represent Chinese characters and that exemplified the periods of contact with China, which was at times an ally and an oppressor throughout Korean history. While the Chinese meanings behind Korean letters is rarely used in colloquial speech nowadays, it is still considered when naming babies, and in certain parables or sayings.
This consideration of Korea's history and its language family enhances my understanding of the language by making it real; by understanding its historical and cultural background, the Korean language ceased to be a simple collection of words or letters and became a way of connecting with my family's home country. Korean not only serves as a language that people use nowadays for communication, it also served as a means for leveling the playing field during the Joseon dynasty. This knowledge that the language I'm learning right now was used to fight back against injustice gives me even more of an incentive to learn it, because it has such noble roots. Also, the fact that the Korean language shows very little Chinese influence nowadays shows how much languages can change throughout the years, but the fact that the letters are written almost exactly the same as they were hundreds of years ago, shows that the written language itself doesn't often change or doesn't change drastically. However, the meanings behind these letters of words can change enormously because the meaning of language is a reflection of culture.
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