The Similarities between Hindi and Korean
As a Hindi language speaker, Korean is similar to Hindi and easier to learn. Read on to find out why...
After losing count of the number of Korean dramas that I had seen, I sat down one day to note down the Korean words and phrases that I had picked up. Before I knew it, I had filled one whole page, and that is when I knew, it was time to step up…
..and it was time to start learning Korean.
Importantly though, learning Korean has forced me to also think about how language learning tends to be focused on English language speakers. This is also obvious given that English is the language that is the common denominator amongst many nationalities. As a researcher in the field of cultural industries, my pet peeve has been the default Anglophone framework and assumption of how things ‘are’, and little did I imagine that while learning Korean, I would stumble onto another minefield of how intercultural language learning takes place. This revelation came about as I was quite stunned to discover the grammatical similarities between Hindi (one of the Indian languages I have native fluency in) and Korean.
Wouldn’t it be radical to rethink how language is taught keeping in mind the cultural context and different language speakers? So if I were to teach a fellow Hindi speaker Korean, I would use Hindi as a framework and not English. For me it is easier to think in Hindi and then proceed with improving my Korean. The idea might not seem that novel, but having learnt multiple languages, the default language reference is always English.
As a trilingual (Hindi, Bengali and English) growing up, juggling and switching between languages comes second nature to me. Previously, I have learnt French and dabbled in Italian and Dutch as well. Which is why I have taken up the daunting task of not only learning Korean, but Mandarin as well. I find learning languages a welcome challenge, as my brain tries to figure out a new syntax, grammar rules and vocabulary. I relish the opportunity and whoop with joy when I start understanding small phrases. Often during the process of learning, I find it easy if I can find some associations with other languages or some form of signposting that allows me to memorise.
When I started learning Korean, beginning with understanding and identifying Hangul alphabets and then a small number of vocabulary, I would use Hindi to write down the pronunciation of words. It was easier for me to find corresponding sounds in the Hindi language than in English. For example, the Hangul consonant ‘O’, which is a ‘ng’ sound or silent depending on its placement, it’s difficult to explain or write in English. However, in Hindi, there is an EXACT sound or phonetic for ‘O’, which is अंग (the bindu or dot in Hindi has multiple uses!). But as I moved onto grammar and sentence construction in Korean, I slowly discovered that the two languages are quite similar to each other than I had realised. The one major difference between the two languages is that Hindi is a gendered language like French for example, other than that, both Korean and Hindi follow the Subject+Object+Verb structure.
So to provide a simple sentence ‘I drink water’ as an example:
Hindi-
मैं पानी पीता हूं |
मैं- Subject
पानी- Object
पीता- Verb
Korean-
저는 물을 마신다.
저는- Subject
물을- Object
마신다- Verb
Another aspect that is repeatedly stressed in Korean is the importance of honorifics and the use of formal and informal language when speaking with people of different ages. Hierarchy matters and if one is interacting with someone older, one needs to be careful about the choice of words. In this regard, I personally feel that since in Asian cultures (inclusive of South Asia as well) hierarchy and respect for elders is so entrenched, it is but natural that the languages have imbibed the same characteristics. So even in Hindi and my mother tongue Bengali, when I am speaking to someone older, I use formal language to demonstrate my respect and regard. In Korean, usually the word you begin and end with indicates the formal tone, which is the same in Hindi and Bengali as well.
Anyone learning Korean will be also quick to point out how particles are essential in the language. Similarly in Hindi, there is काराक or Kaarak (ने, को, से etc.) and particles are important because they help to illustrate the overall relation of the words to the subject. For example, the sentence - Anubha is in the room, is written as 아누바가 방에 있어요 and अनुभा कमरे में है in Korean and Hindi respectively. In both Korean and Hindi the word for ‘in’ (highlighted) is coming after ‘room’, whereas in English prepositions come before nouns. And while learning Hangul is the easiest bit in Korean, and the manner in which the consonants and vowels are put together to form words is the same as Hindi words, it did not take me long to realise that just like in Hindi there are complicated word formulations, Korean is no different.
Often Korean words are pronounced or written because they are easier to ‘speak’, and can be slightly different from their original form, or two words conjoined to form a new one and a consonant or vowel gets dropped in the process. And yes, by now you would have guessed the same occurs in Hindi as well, and also happened to be my most dreaded topics in Hindi grammar during childhood. It is called संधि or Sandhi, which essentially means the meeting of two words, and संधि विच्छेद or Sandhi Viched would be an exercise where we had to identify the original forms of two words.
To give some examples in Hindi (for brevity’s sake I will not go into the details of each word combination, except that it is just an example of how vowels/consonants get dropped)
पुस्तक +आलय = पुस्तकालय (Library)
विद्या+अर्थी = विद्यार्थी (Student)
And now I will provide an example in Korean with present tense informal polite ending (I have picked simpler words in Korean since well, I am still a beginner!)
있다 + 어요 = 있어요
사다 + 아요 = 사요
I shall stop now before this piece of writing becomes grammar heavy, but because of the similarities I enumerated earlier, it is rather easy for me to learn Korean, since I have a reference system. Now I am aware that Korean is a language isolate and the modern form was invented by King Sejong to make language and education accessible to everyone. And try as I might, I have not been able to find how and why Hindi and Korean are similar in their grammar and sentence construction. A quick search also reveals that Korean shares similarity with another languages from India, i.e. Tamil. Since I do not speak or understand Tamil at all, I cannot write on this, but I do remember my previous housemate who is a Tamil, would recall how she found many words familiar when she would hear my Korean teacher talking.
I also want to state that I am no linguist, but I do enjoy learning languages, and in the process of trying to find relations or associations to make language learning easy, I stumbled onto how for me it is easier to approach Korean as a Hindi speaker, rather than as an English speaker. Anybody reading this, if you have more insights into the history of how the Korean language was formulated and whether it borrowed elements from other languages or not, I would be looking forward to gaining more insights. Meanwhile, I shall try and ensure I do not make mistakes in my Korean homework making my 선생님 (teacher) happy!
읽어주셔서 감사합니다.
Thank you for reading.
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