[KS] Korean edge: Japanese learning Korean and Korean becoming Japanese?

[Lee JooBai]

Dear List,

The following articles relating to Korean language study by Japanese 
appeared
on 10/10/2004 in the English editions of two Korean dailies.

The articles were striking as “Korean becoming Japanese” article suggests 
that
Korean language is losing popularity in Japan, while the second article
titled “Korean getting most-favored language status” suggests that Korean
language is becoming a very popular language in Japan.


“Korean becoming Japanese”
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200410/kt2004101018405954130.htm

“Korean getting most-favored language status”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200410/10/200410102223193109900090409041.html


Given the grammatical similarity between Korean and Japanese and given that
the ethnic Koreans in Japan have a certain edge over the Koreans in 
peninsula
in having been drilled in Chinese characters, I would have thought that 
Korean
language maintenance would’ve been a breeze.  I was struck by the 
possibility
that it is the peninsula educated Koreans who may actually have the edge.

The only thing I found on the web that tackled this issue was a series of 
posts
in Usenet from December of 2002 by Bart Mathias.  Below is the link to the
full thread.  You can click on “Complete Thread (10 Articles)” to see the 
full
exchange.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=bart+mathias+acquisition+of+Sino-J&hl=en&lr=&scoring=d&selm=l2.D1.5N2n7T9GC9a5aDb.NR%40hawaii.edu&rnum=1

While tones introduce some complication when taking up the same issue with 
Mandarin
Chinese, I wonder if the Sino-Korean pronunciations do not give a similar 
edge in learning
Chinese and if it does not similarly explain the loss of Korean by ethnic 
Koreans
in China?  And I wonder how much gratitude should be given once again to 
King Sejong.

I wonder if list members could comment on this conundrum?


Regards,

JooBai Lee

www.KoreanYes.com


P.S.  Below is a segment from that Usenet thread.  I hope my posting is not
seen as an unprincipled attempt at student-grab from the Japanese and 
Chinese
departments.
(I can’t resist putting in a link to DaeJangGeum mania in Taiwan

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/10/15/2003206923
)


    From: Bart Mathias (mathias at hawaii.edu)
    Subject: Re: From Japanese to Korean (self-study question)

    Newsgroups: sci.lang.japan
    Date: 2002-12-20 14:50:17 PST


    "Gavin M Walker" writes:

     [After I, Bart, wen' say:]

    > > [..]  Japanese
    > > on a Korean basis is a snap for a number of reasons (one obvious
    > > one is that the Sino-X vocabulary is easier--you can go from
    > > saenghwal and eunhaeng to seikatsu and ginkoo a lot easier than
    > > the other way around).
    > Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you consider the
    > transition from
    > K->J to be easier than the other way around? Do you think this is
    > K->due to the
    > relatively small number of sounds in Japanese as opposed to Korean
    > and lesser pronunciation difficulties?

    Those are the primary things.  The acquisition of Sino-J vocabulary
    on the basis of Sino-K--these being major segments of the vocabulary
    of both languages--is a lot easier than the other way around, as I
    sort of demonstrated.  But to ram it into the ground with another
    example, if you know a character is "haeng" in Korean, it's going to
    be "koo" or "goo" in Japanese.  If it's "kap" in K, it'll be "koo" or
    maybe "goo" in J.  If it's "hap" in K, "koo/goo" in J.  K "hang" = J
    "koo/goo."  K "ko," J "ko/koo."  K "kong," J "koo/kuu."  K "kwang," J
    "koo."  Etc., etc.  (Did I mention, what if it's "kang" in Korean?)
    S-K gives you a pretty good shot at S-J.  But the other way around,
    like what would be the S-K equivalent of S-J "koo"?--that's a wee bit
    tougher.