Saturday, August 25, 2007

This language is tough

3 days of intensive Korean. That is what we were provided when we arrived. We would have classes two nights a week when work started, but they wanted us to have a little more background first. Three days is enough to make you realize how little you actually know, and how amazingly difficult (and different) Korean is from English. Words and vowels that are not made (at least not voluntarily) seem to exist in most Korean words. I thought Japanese was hard, but Korean definitely provided more challenges than I was expecting. According to what I have heard, Korean is harder than both Japanese and Mandarin. All I know is that after a couple of months, I still have the vocabulary of a 1 year old (ie about 20 words). It probably doesn't help that we don't have to use Korean at all during work, only in cab rides and when ordering food.