Learning Journal # 2: “Reading” in Korean language- What have I learned?
In regards to reading, I have started to learn the Korean alphabet. At our first group language meeting, my language partner Sun gave my peers and me a paper with all of the main characters of the Korean alphabet. It was fascinating to learn about the sound(s) that each character makes as well as the specific placement of certain characters. This is relevant because certain characters are always placed first and then other characters are always placed to the right or below that primary character. The characters themselves are very fun to write as some characters look like right angles and horizontal lines with vertical lines on top of them. Basically the Korean alphabet includes a great deal of lines and circles which is visually intriguing to me.
Knowing the alphabet and the structure and placement of words and sentences has helped me a great deal in this journey to read and understand more Korean. I had quite a few “eureka” moments during the first language partner session when I realized how these characters fit together and how it all sounded in the end. Sun taught us how to enunciate each character and the tonation for each one. She told us to “not use our tongue” when saying certain characters and to project more “outwardly” or “inwardly” with others. This lesson was very energetic and uplifting for me, and I enjoyed learning with Azmain and Allan as well. This lesson set the tone for the rest of the semester for me, and I am certain that there will be more class sessions full of energy and laughter to come.
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