Title: Useful Chinese Characters for Learners of Korean
Author: SNU Language Institute
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: Darakwon (Apr 2007)
ISBN-10: 895995764X
ISBN-13: 9788959957644
Easily one of the best weapons to add to any Korean-language learner's arsenal is a good command of Hanja. This book helps to demystify the structure of Hanja and prompts the Korean language learner to recognize authentic examples in modern Korean. Like Latin and Greek roots to English, Hanja comprises of over an estimated 60% of the Korean language in use today and as such, presents itself as a possible speed bump to effectively learning Korean. While not nearly as prominent as it used to be, Hanja is still known to some degree by all native Korean speakers. If you are a student of Korean and you have even a passing interest in learning Hanja-based vocabulary, this is book to start with.
The text couldn't be easier to approach with its easy to follow baby-steps guide on how a single Hanja character is formed, brush stroke formation and how to recognize the sound and meaning of characters. If you've been looking for someone to hold your hand and show you the ropes but were frustrated that all available explanations are in Korean, this book remedies that nicely. Each chapter is arranged around a theme and therefore arranged slightly differently than the beginner books that native speakers learn by. Although increasingly difficult, the ten characters per chapter pace is not impossible to follow with some practice. Towards the end of the book is a step-by-step guide on how to recognize similarly rooted words by their main radical and how to look up words in a dictionary. I found the English explanation of radicals to be especially helpful.
The only true fault is the text's limited amount of space to practice writing. It does have an summary chapter practice cell sheet but the paper in the book doesn't lend itself well to being written on; it's too pretty. As a beginner, though, you have thousands of options out there. Plenty, and I do mean plenty of cheap low level practice books are geared for Korean children and are well-suited for rote memorization and muscle memory writing practice. Think of this book like a springboard and you're much better off. I used the textbook and wrote side-by-side in a blank notebook. For reinforcement, I ran through a few five dollar variously leveled practice books; 8급 being the most basic, 1급 the most difficult. This book is a good one to start with and it should already be in your collection.
- - -
If you have not clue what Hanja is, take a quick detour and start with a background. I've mentioned this book before and I want to emphasize how valuable it is has been for me. Far from a perfect text, it got me started in what I hope is a goal of lifelong learning. Although I'm not finished with it by any means, I had got a lot out of it and wholeheartedly recommend it.
Oh, and it's crazy hard to find outside of Korea. Heads up.
어디서 본 적 있지 않아요?
과거
요즘 쓰는 글
범주
- (으)ㄹ까 하다
- (不)
- (中)
- (初)
- (夫)
- (末)
- (水)
- (物)
- (病)
- (痛)
- (癡)
- (聖)
- ~(으)ㄴ/는지 알아?
- ~(으)ㄹ테니까
- ~거든
- ~것 같다
- ~고 나서
- ~기 바라다
- ~냐고
- ~는 길에
- ~는 대로
- ~다가
- ~다고
- ~도 돼요?
- ~ㄹ 줄 알다
- ~면 안 돼요?
- ~아/어야겠다
- ~어/아서
- ~으니까
- ~자마자
- ~잖아요
- ~쟁이
- ~죠?
- ~지오?
- ~지요?
- ~했어야 했다
- about
- ads
- adverbs
- age
- any~
- anyway
- area
- bag
- body
- book review
- catholic
- children's book
- children's song
- choice
- choose
- christmas
- clean
- clothing
- cold
- copy
- dance
- disease
- ewha
- for
- forget
- free
- free resources
- games
- Glory Be
- guess
- habit
- Hail Mary
- hanja
- happy
- hear
- holy
- hope
- hot
- hurt
- intro
- iriver
- Japanese
- joke
- just now
- KGYSAK
- KLEAR
- Konglish
- like
- listen
- loanwords
- location
- lost
- marriage
- Mass
- meaning
- medium
- middle
- misinterpretations
- mistake
- naked
- negation
- neighborhood
- Nobody
- Nothing
- now
- old
- on your way
- order
- Our Father
- pathfinder
- permission
- place
- prayer
- reason
- recently
- refusal
- Richard Harris
- roommate
- scholarship
- seems
- self-study
- should have
- sick
- sing
- slang
- slow
- speaking korean
- speech
- stuff I don't know
- teaching english
- thing
- times of the month
- to wear
- uniform
- vocabulary
- vs
- water
- young
- youtube
- 가방
- 가톨릭
- 게
- 결혼
- 고르다
- 공짜
- 관용 표현
- 광고
- 규칙
- 근처
- 금방
- 금연
- 기도
- 기쁘다
- 깨끗하다
- 께
- 끝말잇기
- 내숭
- 농담
- 누나
- 느리게
- 능력
- 단어
- 대해서
- 덥다
- 동네
- 동생
- 동안
- 동영상
- 돼
- 되
- 들려
- 들어
- 뜨겁다
- 띄어쓰기
- 라고
- 만화
- 매일
- 맨날
- 맨몸
- 맵다
- 먼저
- 명령
- 못
- 무료
- 문법
- 물
- 미사
- 바보
- 발음
- 발표
- 방금
- 버릇
- 번역
- 변지
- 병
- 복
- 복사
- 봉투
- 부
- 부모님
- 부사
- 불
- 사전
- 선택하다
- 성
- 성모송
- 성호경
- 수
- 순서 ~는 대로
- 순정만화
- 습관
- 시키다
- 식
- 신체
- 실수
- 쓰기 연습
- 쓰다
- 씩
- 아무거나
- 아무것도
- 아무나
- 아무데나
- 아무데도
- 아무데서도
- 아무도
- 아무때나
- 아무튼
- 아프다
- 안
- 않
- 알몸
- 애교
- 어디예요?
- 어디있어요?
- 어른
- 어린이
- 어쨌든
- 어치피
- 어학당
- 어학원
- 언니
- 에
- 에서
- 역시
- 영광송
- 영화
- 오빠
- 옷
- 외해서
- 요세
- 요즘
- 위치
- 육체 노동
- 을/를
- 의
- 의미
- 이/가
- 이대
- 이유
- 이제
- 일기 쓰기
- 일단
- 일본어
- 일상적인
- 잃어버리다
- 입다
- 잊어버리다
- 자기 소개
- 잘못
- 장난
- 장소
- 장학금
- 정도
- 조사
- 좋다
- 좋아하다
- 주님의 기도
- 주문하다
- 중
- 즐겁다
- 지금
- 차갑다
- 처럼
- 처음
- 천천히
- 청소하다
- 춥다
- 치
- 통
- 편지
- 하루
- 한자
- 행복하다
- 형
- 호칭
- 服
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 and is filed under book review,hanja,한자. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.
특별한 포스트
비슷한 웹 사이트
- Autospacing Tool
- Bonewso
- Bonewso Links
- Brad's Korean Vocabublog
- Busy Atom's Learn Korean
- CALPER - Advanced Korean
- Daily Dose of Hangul
- Everyday Hanja
- EZCorean
- Galbijim's Language Lab
- Hanguk Drama
- KLEAR
- KLEC
- Korea Times Mini-lessons
- Korean As It Is
- Korean Language Notes
- Korean Study Room
- Korean to English Translation Blog
- Korean Wiki Project
- Korean word of the day
- KoreanClass 101
- LanguageCast
- Learn Korean @ Ning
- Learn Korean Easily
- Let's Learn and Practice Korean
- Luke's Grammar Guide
- Lyrunne's Delight
- Matthew + Korean = Fun
- My Happy Dreams
- National Institute of Korean Language
- NEALRC
- Neo Hanja
- On My Way To Korea
- Online Intermediate College Korean Course
- Online Seoul University Beginner Course
- Pronunciation Guide
- So you want to learn Korean
- Talk To Me In Korean
- TOPIK Exam study blog
- Transparent Korean Blog
- Wikibooks: Korean
- Yeeun2Grace
- 네, 진짜!
- 만두 Mandu's Korean Notes
- 살인미소 Sarin Miso
- 카에르의 한국어 연습 불로그
- 한국어 맞춤법
One Response to “Book Review: Useful Chinese Characters for Learners of Korean”
Thanks for all the great info. I have been on the verge of ordering a book of Hanja and just haven't done it yet. Great Blog by the way. Lots of good Korean language information!
Post a Comment