There's No Uuuuh Sound in English

I've headed back to school. Sort of. Last week I began taking Korean lessons at a small learning center in Koreatown. It seemed like a good idea at first, a spur of the moment thing. When I called to inquire about lessons, the voice on the other end told me they started the next day. I said, "Okay."

Here's the thing. I thought I was going to learn some conversational Korean. You know, My name is. How are you? Where is the Starbucks? Who are you and what have you done with my pants? But to speak Korean you need to know the alphabet, you need to know how to read Korean. So that's what we're doing. Next week we move on to learning words and phrases. So far all I know how to say is "Hello teacher how are you?" and "Goodbye teacher, go with peace." But I also know the alphabet and how to put sounds together. There are a few sounds that we don't have in English but those are actually my favorites, so I practice those ad nauseum.

There are two other "kids" in my class, except they really are kids. Probably in their early 20s. One is an adult adoptee and the other is an American-born Korean. We are totally going to have a kegger after the next class.

Mr. Fits, H. and I will probably wind up heading back to Korea in the next couple of years, and I'd love to be able to have basic conversations with people. But I also feel like that by learning the language, it brings me closer to the culture. You can't learn Korean without learning about Korea. That part is invaluable.

The bonus is that I've been bringing home Korean food for us after class: bulgogi, gobdol bibimbap, chap jae, kimchi. So whatever I don't gain in knowledge, I'll surely gain in pounds.

Comments

[Jo]

My brother-out-of-law speaks fluent Korean, my S-O-O-L is Korean. They live in Busan. C tried learning from tapes in the car but all he could grasp was that every sentence seems to end in "- hamnidah!". But I love the sound of it and how they call each other 'Chacki' (apologies for crap spelling) all the time. And "bibimbap" is my favourite word. Good luck with the language. I really must look out the Mandarin. All I can remember is "(Mandarin for)WRONG!" which I'm thinking might not be what I need.

[Figlet]

I think I know that Uuuuh sound. I believe it's the sound LSP makes when she wants her food NOW and not in 20 seconds.

Oh, and any time you want to go back to that restaurant, well, we'll go if you insist...

[girlh]

I'm impressed. The whole new alphabet thing overwhelms me. Can't wait to here some Korean with a Brooklyn accent. Ok, I know you don't have a Brooklyn accent. Just thought that would be funny.

yum yum yum.
I'm with Figlet. Let go have some Korean bbq. That place rocked.

Kegger with the kids? roflmao.

[Jen/Chew]

You got me on the kegger. When is it?

[Marla]

Awesome. How interesting their is a Korean adoptee in your class.

[Amyesq]

Wow, good luck. That alphabet looks like a major challenge. We are all about Korean food at our house. In fact, Tim just bought a pallet of Kimchee flavored noodle soup at Costco last week. We will be eating it for the next six months. And he leaves for actual Korea on Tuesday. Anything you ever want from there let me know, since he goes about once a month.

[lesbonstemps]

I have made several half-assed attempts to learn Korean, to better communicate with my mother-in-law. I really should take a class.

The alphabet is not so hard, really. Nothing like learning Chinese characters, for example. The Korean alphabet actually more logical than the English alphabet. What I find tricky is that there are sounds in English that don't exist in Korean and vice versa.

I've picked up a lot of Korean just from watching Korean television with subtitles.

[jen]

Wait, does Korean actually have an alphabet, as opposed to Mandarin which has approx 17.3 million kanji symbols? Cool. Sadly it probably wouldn't do much for my Chinese daughter if I go learn Korean instead. Damn.