Comparison essay
English 101
5 February 2005
Hankuk and English
The Republic of Korea is a country located in East Asia. It occupies the southern portion of the Korean peninsula, and is only bordered by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north; the rest is surrounded by the Japan Sea to the east, the Yellow Sea to the west and the East China Sea to the south.
Because of the Chinese influence the people of Korea were using Chinese characters and they did not have an official language. It was not until the fourteenth century during king Sejong's time that a group of scholars created the Korean characters or Hankuk as is pronounced in Korean, giving birth to an official language for the Korean people.
The Korean language was created in Korea, and is only spoken in the peninsula, no other country has adopted this language nor has Korea tried to impose their language to any other nation.
English: Chicago and North Western Railway locomot...
Map of Korea 대한민국전도 大韓民國全圖
National Museum of Korea 국립중앙박물관Despite the fact that Korea was part of the Chinese Empire and was dominated by Japan, the nation still kept their language. In lieu of these circumstances Korean people still speak Hankuk.
It is very interesting how the respect for elders is a common characteristic in many of the Asian languages; in Hankuk this is very noticeable. There are many ways to speak a language, but in Korea, people definitely take very serious the way they talk to younger or elder people. There are certain ways they call people by, for example, a man not so older than you is called heong nim if you are a man, and oppa if you are a woman both meaning older brother. By calling somebody you do not know older brother, is obviously a big sing of respect, and this is just one...