9 Major Benefits of Learning Korean
Korean, known in its own language as Kugo has over 72M speakers in the world. It is a language spoken in the Northeast Asian peninsula of Korea and areas bordering North Korea and China. There are 20M speakers in the Democrat People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and 42M in the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea). Nearly two million people speak Korean in China, mostly around the North Korean provinces. In Japan and Russia there are about half a million speakers and in the US, 600K+ speakers with large communities on the West Coast and in New York significant numbers. Korean communities also exist in Singapore, Thailand, Guam and Paraguay.
Benefits of learning Korean:
1. Popular language: Korean is an extremely popular language spoken by more than 80 million people around the globe as their first language. Therefore Korean ranks as the 22nd most spoken language around the world. As opposed to popular belief, Korean is not only spoken in South Korea or North Korea, instead, the language speakers are situated in countries like China, the US, Japan and a few other countries.
2. Korean job prospects: South Korea’s nominal GDP is worth US$1.65 trillion. From a statistical point of view South Korea’s economy is growing without any limitations or restrictions. This also means that South Korea’s economy has many well-paying jobs to offer in many industries and businesses. With that said, in order to land any of these jobs, the prerequisite would be the knowledge of the Korean language. In fact, Korea is home to many multinational companies like Hyundai, Samsung, Posco and LG.
3. Sounds beautiful: French is one of the most popular languages around the globe especially due to its accent. A lesser-known fact about Korean is that this language is also accompanied by one of the most beautiful sounding accents. Korean is one of the most aesthetically pleasing languages for anyone to speak and for anyone to listen to.
4. Analytical and logical: Apart from beauty, Korean is also an extremely analytical and logical language. It is a phonetic language that uses a system called ‘Hangul’ which is regarded as the most logical and scientific language system around the world.
5. Help learn other Asian languages: As it is with most languages, when you learn one language it automatically opens up doors to learn many others. For example, if you learn French, you could learn languages like Spanish and Italian. Similarly, when you learn Korean you can also learn Japanese and Chinese. This is due to some connections and a few similarities between the languages due to geography and culture. They all share plenty of vocabulary and sentence structure rules, honorifics and grammar.
6. Travel: This is pretty self-explanatory. If you are planning on travelling to South Korea any time soon then I definitely suggest learning at least some basic Korean before you do so. In fact, South Korea was voted as one of the friendliest and welcoming countries in the world. Additionally, similar to Japanese society, South Korean society is also one of the most respectful cultures in the world.
7. The culture is beautiful: Every language is deeply connected with the culture of the home country. Similarly, the Korean language is deeply connected with Korean culture which is considered to be one of the most unique and beautiful cultures around the world. The traditions, customs, lifestyle, folklore and habits followed by those who follow the Korean culture are definitely one of a kind.
8. K-entertainment: whether you like it or not, you cannot deny that K-entertainment has become one of the most popular industries in the world. In fact, K-drama and K-pop have become some of the most mainstream forms of entertainment. Much like the Korean economy, the Korean entertainment industry has also been booming in full business. Therefore, if you are someone who cherishes K-entertainment, then I definitely. Suggest learning the Korean language.
9. South Korea is a successful country: Practically, a country‘s growth and success on the international front greatly affects the popularity of that country‘s official language. While the language might not be extensively spoken around the globe, it is still going to end up becoming an asset for many individuals. It is important to note that South Korea is a booming and steady economy which ranks as the world’s 15th top economy and it is also the sixth-largest exporter in the world. The thriving nature of South Korea’s economy has largely affected the number of people who wish to master the Korean language.
Finally,
Although Korean is classified as an isolated language, many theories explaining the origin of Korean were proposed. Korean is most prominent in these relations with Central Asian Altai languages, a family of Turks, Mongols and Siberians (e.g., Manchu). Others argue that Ural (Hungarian and Finnish) and Japanese are included in this macro family. Although not proven definitely, most Korean linguists do accept this affiliation and are likely to be also accepted by western linguists. The theory of competition involves Korean in the Southern Indian Dravidian languages or in Austronesian. If you wish to master this language, click here.