3 ms·

But doesn't Korean also have 40k+ other characters to learn? Since Korean is the K in CJK

by Aardwolf 3y ago

contrarian1234 3y ago
Unfortunately Hanja stopped being taught in the recent decades and it's now rarely used
- wk_end 3y ago
  “Unfortunately”. As someone knee-deep in the process of learning the J in CJK, I have a perverse fondness for the 漢字, but that largely must be Stockholm syndrome.
- noduerme 3y ago
  Interesting. I'm curious why you think it's unfortunate... mind-expansion?
  - decafninja 3y ago
    Some elderly arch-conservatives bemoan the decline of Hanja use in Korean society. I’m sure many academics also feel the same. I see this sort of similar as some conservative Catholics bemoaning not doing Latin Mass. One reason I’ve heard is that many Korean words (same for Japanese) have roots in Chinese and not knowing the Hanja representation means you lose some of that connection. Whether that connection is really worth anything of practical value, is a matter of debate. I lean towards…no.
    - contrarian1234 3y ago
      I don't think that's a great analogy. Maybe if Latin was used in all spheres of life into the early 20th century I'd buy the analogy if they forced people to learn classical chinese
  - contrarian1234 3y ago
    Imagine if you couldn't read things produced by your culture from before the 60s or so. But I get why it's not popular. It's a lot of work
    - decafninja 3y ago
      This is a good point, but my understanding is that a lot of it is translated to full Hangul. So unless you’re searching for some obscure piece of literature, or specifically want to own and read original editions, I don’t think you’re at a total loss.
- lifthrasiir 3y ago
  Rather fortunately, as a native Korean who was taught Hanja in the end of last century.
- jiqiren 3y ago
  I believe most Koreans would argue it’s fortunately. Hanja is no longer needed.
lifthrasiir 3y ago
CJK(V) is just a collective name for countries that use or historically have used Han characters, and the main reason tends to be a lack of alternatives. Korean had an alternative for almost 6 centuries, and while it took a very long time Han characters are now virtually extinct in the Korean language (despite some people arguing otherwise...). And other languages don't need 40K characters to learn anyway, it's around 5--10K characters IIRC.
cowteriyaki 3y ago
You are thinking of Chinese characters. Unlike the Japanese where knowledge of Kanji is pretty much required to read texts above a certain level, they are optional in Korean. It is true that a good portion of vocabulary are derived from Chinese words (hence they /can/ be spelled with Chinese characters), and maybe 30+ years ago it was common practice to have newspapers and textbooks writing complex words in Chinese characters. This is no longer the case, and pretty much all texts these days spell everything with the Korean alphabet. The practice of learning non-simplified Chinese characters of course is still common among Koreans for several reasons.
- yegle 3y ago
  I'm curious about the "obsoletion" of Chinese characters over the last 30 years. How did it happen since the 1990s? Did it all happen organically from everyone or did the government start enforcing certain laws? I knew the Simplified Chinese (commonly used in Mainland China) was pushed by the RPC government to replace Traditional Chinese. Did something similar happen in Korea?

But doesn't Korean also have 40k+ other characters to learn? Since Korean is the K in CJK

contrarian1234 3y ago

Unfortunately Hanja stopped being taught in the recent decades and it's now rarely used

wk_end 3y ago
“Unfortunately”. As someone knee-deep in the process of learning the J in CJK, I have a perverse fondness for the 漢字, but that largely must be Stockholm syndrome.
noduerme 3y ago
Interesting. I'm curious why you think it's unfortunate... mind-expansion?
- decafninja 3y ago
  Some elderly arch-conservatives bemoan the decline of Hanja use in Korean society. I’m sure many academics also feel the same. I see this sort of similar as some conservative Catholics bemoaning not doing Latin Mass. One reason I’ve heard is that many Korean words (same for Japanese) have roots in Chinese and not knowing the Hanja representation means you lose some of that connection. Whether that connection is really worth anything of practical value, is a matter of debate. I lean towards…no.
  - contrarian1234 3y ago
    I don't think that's a great analogy. Maybe if Latin was used in all spheres of life into the early 20th century I'd buy the analogy if they forced people to learn classical chinese
- contrarian1234 3y ago
  Imagine if you couldn't read things produced by your culture from before the 60s or so. But I get why it's not popular. It's a lot of work
  - decafninja 3y ago
    This is a good point, but my understanding is that a lot of it is translated to full Hangul. So unless you’re searching for some obscure piece of literature, or specifically want to own and read original editions, I don’t think you’re at a total loss.
lifthrasiir 3y ago
Rather fortunately, as a native Korean who was taught Hanja in the end of last century.
jiqiren 3y ago
I believe most Koreans would argue it’s fortunately. Hanja is no longer needed.

lifthrasiir 3y ago

CJK(V) is just a collective name for countries that use or historically have used Han characters, and the main reason tends to be a lack of alternatives. Korean had an alternative for almost 6 centuries, and while it took a very long time Han characters are now virtually extinct in the Korean language (despite some people arguing otherwise...). And other languages don't need 40K characters to learn anyway, it's around 5--10K characters IIRC.

cowteriyaki 3y ago

You are thinking of Chinese characters. Unlike the Japanese where knowledge of Kanji is pretty much required to read texts above a certain level, they are optional in Korean. It is true that a good portion of vocabulary are derived from Chinese words (hence they /can/ be spelled with Chinese characters), and maybe 30+ years ago it was common practice to have newspapers and textbooks writing complex words in Chinese characters. This is no longer the case, and pretty much all texts these days spell everything with the Korean alphabet. The practice of learning non-simplified Chinese characters of course is still common among Koreans for several reasons.

yegle 3y ago
I'm curious about the "obsoletion" of Chinese characters over the last 30 years. How did it happen since the 1990s? Did it all happen organically from everyone or did the government start enforcing certain laws? I knew the Simplified Chinese (commonly used in Mainland China) was pushed by the RPC government to replace Traditional Chinese. Did something similar happen in Korea?