Comments on: The Joys of Korean Vocabulary Study http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/ Korea... in Blog Format Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:46:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: sewing http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106863 sewing Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:18:57 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106863 GBevers: I agree very much with the principle of learning words by their semantic categories rather than alphabetically. I have one such categorically-arranged Korean dictionary at home, in fact. I have written up categorized wordlists of my own in the past. Organizing this list into groups of words with related meanings would be a worthwhile and rewarding endeavour. But working with the list I have, a first step for me (the first step as it's been for the last four years—a long first step!) has been to just get my head around the scope of the list by going through it methodically from ㄱ to ㅎ. The problem with categories—or rather, why I haven't attempted such a project on a list of this size—is their arbitrariness: especially for abstract nouns, trying to decide whether they should go in this or that category. At least dealing with them in han'gŭl order is more cut-'n'-dry. GBevers: I agree very much with the principle of learning words by their semantic categories rather than alphabetically. I have one such categorically-arranged Korean dictionary at home, in fact. I have written up categorized wordlists of my own in the past. Organizing this list into groups of words with related meanings would be a worthwhile and rewarding endeavour. But working with the list I have, a first step for me (the first step as it’s been for the last four years—a long first step!) has been to just get my head around the scope of the list by going through it methodically from ㄱ to ㅎ. The problem with categories—or rather, why I haven’t attempted such a project on a list of this size—is their arbitrariness: especially for abstract nouns, trying to decide whether they should go in this or that category. At least dealing with them in han’gŭl order is more cut-’n'-dry.

]]> By: gbevers http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106856 gbevers Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:00:44 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106856 If you want to build your Korean vocabulary, doing it in alphabetical order is not a very efficient way. Therefore, I would like to suggest the following dictionary, which organizes words and phrases by subject matter. If you are familiar Stephen Glazier's <a href="http://www.wordmenu.com/" rel="nofollow">"Word Menu"</a> dictionary, you will know what I am talking about: <a href="http://www.aladdin.co.kr/shop/book/wletslook.aspx?ISBN=8973005421&curPageNo=3#letsLook" rel="nofollow">이진영의 동시통역기초사전 Korean-English Terminology for Beginners</a> The above link also shows a few sample pages from the dictionary. One suggestion on how to use the dictionary is to study a particular section(for example, the chapter on Law) and then read newspaper and magazine articles or watch TV news segments on the subject to reinforce the vocabulary you learn. The dictionary is a little expensive, but I think it is well worth it. If you want to build your Korean vocabulary, doing it in alphabetical order is not a very efficient way. Therefore, I would like to suggest the following dictionary, which organizes words and phrases by subject matter. If you are familiar Stephen Glazier’s “Word Menu” dictionary, you will know what I am talking about:

이진영의 동시통역기초사전 Korean-English Terminology for Beginners

The above link also shows a few sample pages from the dictionary.

One suggestion on how to use the dictionary is to study a particular section(for example, the chapter on Law) and then read newspaper and magazine articles or watch TV news segments on the subject to reinforce the vocabulary you learn.

The dictionary is a little expensive, but I think it is well worth it.

]]> By: sewing http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106830 sewing Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:09:17 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106830 ●~*: Thank you for your feedback. Fortunately, none of those words is* in the vocabulary list, but your warning will remind me to double-check that the Korean and English definitions match up! 경고를 주의해 드리고 잘못된 정기들을 조심할 겁니다. (* Singular "is" agrees with "none," which is the subject.) ●~*: Thank you for your feedback. Fortunately, none of those words is* in the vocabulary list, but your warning will remind me to double-check that the Korean and English definitions match up!

경고를 주의해 드리고 잘못된 정기들을 조심할 겁니다.

(* Singular “is” agrees with “none,” which is the subject.)

]]> By: sewing http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106757 sewing Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:32:38 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106757 Eunsung (and anyone else who's interested): The source file for the NAKL Vocabulary List is accessible from the NAKL's website. Go to <a href="http://korean.go.kr/06_new/press/korean_list.jsp" rel="nofollow">this page</a> and navigate to post #50 (currently on page 5). Clicking on the post title ["한국어 학습용 어휘 목록 (엑셀 파일)"] will open up an intro page (that is translated <a href="http://21cseonbi.blogspot.com/2005/12/nakl-vocabulary-list-introduction.html" rel="nofollow">on my blog</a>), with a link to the file itself ("contents.xls"). Posts 51 and 52 are for text and Arae-A Hangul 97 versions of the file. (The text file is currently inaccessible.) Once you've downloaded and opened the Excel file, just sort the file on the left-hand column ("순위") to get the words in order of ranking. The original frequency survey itself that the ranking numbers come from is available from post #43 (currently on page 6) at <a href="http://korean.go.kr/06_new/press/korean_list.jsp" rel="nofollow">the same location as above</a>. Click on the post title ["현대 국어 사용 빈도 조사 결과 파일 (엑셀 파일)"], then click on the "freqdata.zip" link to download. The zip file opens up into a number of Excel workbooks...as I recall, there's one for regular words, one for proper nouns, one for noun particles (가, 이, 는, 를, etc.), and one for verb and adjective endings. There's a text version of the files at post #42, but it takes up too much memory—the Excel files are much faster to open, sort, search through, etc. Posts #40 and #41 have some related material on the survey (all in Korean, of course), in Arae-A Hangul 97 format. Looking at the frequency data alone is not <i>totally</i> useful...the survey drew on a number of written and spoken sources for raw material, but not enough sources to get rid of anomalies. For example, there were a number of words of specialized political or economic jargon that came up high in frequency, because a lot of newspapers were used in the survey. On the other hand, oral sources were used for data for the spoken language, but the oral data was not heavily weighted, so words that come up a lot in speech but not in writing didn't necessarily score very high in the frequency survey. Nevertheless, if you, say, selected the first thousand words, you couldn't really go too wrong with treating it as a representative list of the most frequently used words. Alternatively, the basic vocabulary list has another column ("등급") that assigns each word the class of A, B, or C, with A being the most basic and essential to know. There are 982 "A" words, 2111 "B" words, and 2872 "C" words (for a total of 5965). Sorting on that column will give you the words sorted by class. Eunsung (and anyone else who’s interested): The source file for the NAKL Vocabulary List is accessible from the NAKL’s website. Go to this page and navigate to post #50 (currently on page 5). Clicking on the post title ["한국어 학습용 어휘 목록 (엑셀 파일)"] will open up an intro page (that is translated on my blog), with a link to the file itself (”contents.xls”). Posts 51 and 52 are for text and Arae-A Hangul 97 versions of the file. (The text file is currently inaccessible.) Once you’ve downloaded and opened the Excel file, just sort the file on the left-hand column (”순위”) to get the words in order of ranking.

The original frequency survey itself that the ranking numbers come from is available from post #43 (currently on page 6) at the same location as above. Click on the post title ["현대 국어 사용 빈도 조사 결과 파일 (엑셀 파일)"], then click on the “freqdata.zip” link to download. The zip file opens up into a number of Excel workbooks…as I recall, there’s one for regular words, one for proper nouns, one for noun particles (가, 이, 는, 를, etc.), and one for verb and adjective endings. There’s a text version of the files at post #42, but it takes up too much memory—the Excel files are much faster to open, sort, search through, etc. Posts #40 and #41 have some related material on the survey (all in Korean, of course), in Arae-A Hangul 97 format.

Looking at the frequency data alone is not totally useful…the survey drew on a number of written and spoken sources for raw material, but not enough sources to get rid of anomalies. For example, there were a number of words of specialized political or economic jargon that came up high in frequency, because a lot of newspapers were used in the survey. On the other hand, oral sources were used for data for the spoken language, but the oral data was not heavily weighted, so words that come up a lot in speech but not in writing didn’t necessarily score very high in the frequency survey. Nevertheless, if you, say, selected the first thousand words, you couldn’t really go too wrong with treating it as a representative list of the most frequently used words.

Alternatively, the basic vocabulary list has another column (”등급”) that assigns each word the class of A, B, or C, with A being the most basic and essential to know. There are 982 “A” words, 2111 “B” words, and 2872 “C” words (for a total of 5965). Sorting on that column will give you the words sorted by class.

]]> By: soondae http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106755 soondae Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:29:07 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106755 Great! Not actively studying at the moment, but want to prevent further rapid deteriorattion. Thanks. Great! Not actively studying at the moment, but want to prevent further rapid deteriorattion. Thanks.

]]> By: ●~* http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106754 ●~* Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:21:10 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106754 Good. I'm in a dictionary-lover circle. There're many words incorrectly correlated. Some examples: 선고유에, 집행유예, 모과. 모과: http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=2282430&rd=s It says 모과 is papaya. But, you know papaya is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya Oh, no. Wikipedia has wrong explanation to papaya at its prelude. Refer to this I wrote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Papaya#.E6.9C.A8.E7.93.9C_vs._Papaya 선고유예: http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=2447160&rd=s and go to PROBATION, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probation It is more like 집행유예. And 집행유예 at naver dictionary, http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=2773440&rd=s It says "a suspended sentence". But, according to wikipedia, suspended sentence is 선고유예 in Korean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_sentence If you are interested in correlating Korean-English legal terms, come here, http://law4u.net/wiki . At this time, the site is humble. :( I need a mediawiki expert. :( Good.
I’m in a dictionary-lover circle.

There’re many words incorrectly correlated.
Some examples: 선고유에, 집행유예, 모과.

모과:
http://endic.naver.com/endic.n.....0&rd=s

It says 모과 is papaya.

But, you know papaya is,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya
Oh, no. Wikipedia has wrong explanation to papaya at its prelude.
Refer to this I wrote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....vs._Papaya

선고유예:
http://endic.naver.com/endic.n.....0&rd=s

and go to PROBATION, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probation

It is more like 집행유예.

And 집행유예 at naver dictionary,
http://endic.naver.com/endic.n.....0&rd=s

It says “a suspended sentence”.
But, according to wikipedia, suspended sentence is 선고유예 in Korean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_sentence

If you are interested in correlating Korean-English legal terms, come here, http://law4u.net/wiki .

At this time, the site is humble. :(
I need a mediawiki expert. :(

]]> By: Richardson http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106724 Richardson Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:19:27 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106724 Finally! Thanks. Finally! Thanks.

]]> By: Fred2 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106712 Fred2 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:52:29 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106712 Your first sentence says it all... I now know you look for the deeper meaning. I am a simple man. I've spent my whole life "fitting in". Relax, we all "smile in the same language". The quote is not mine. Your first sentence says it all… I now know you look for the deeper meaning. I am a simple man. I’ve spent my whole life “fitting in”. Relax, we all “smile in the same language”. The quote is not mine.

]]> By: sewing http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106702 sewing Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:11:50 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106702 Eunsung: The short answer is yes. If you go to the linked intro page and go to footnote 1 at the bottom of the page, a link there will take you to the NAKL's Excel file version of the list. There's a column in that file (the lefthand column) that indicates each word's ranking in a frequency survey that was released in 2002 or 2003. E.g., word #1 is the most frequent word, and #10000+ the least frequent. (There are some words in between that are not in the basic vocabulary list, because even though they may be used with some frequency, they might be specialized words that learners do not need to go out of their way to know.) A few words don't have rankings because they are common words, but for whatever reason didn't show up in the source material that was used for the frequency survey. (When I dig up the blog post I did on that frequency survey, I'll add a link to it here.) Sanshinseon, Fred2: Thanks for your feedback! Eunsung: The short answer is yes. If you go to the linked intro page and go to footnote 1 at the bottom of the page, a link there will take you to the NAKL’s Excel file version of the list. There’s a column in that file (the lefthand column) that indicates each word’s ranking in a frequency survey that was released in 2002 or 2003. E.g., word #1 is the most frequent word, and #10000+ the least frequent. (There are some words in between that are not in the basic vocabulary list, because even though they may be used with some frequency, they might be specialized words that learners do not need to go out of their way to know.) A few words don’t have rankings because they are common words, but for whatever reason didn’t show up in the source material that was used for the frequency survey. (When I dig up the blog post I did on that frequency survey, I’ll add a link to it here.)

Sanshinseon, Fred2: Thanks for your feedback!

]]> By: Fred2 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106699 Fred2 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:17:30 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/09/12/the-joys-of-korean-vocabulary-study/#comment-106699 Like a breath of fresh air, your work and effort are just what I needed. Thank you. Like a breath of fresh air, your work and effort are just what I needed. Thank you.

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