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By Lee Hyon-soo
There are absolutely no similarities between Korean and English. Indeed, these two languages are worlds apart. So we, Koreans, have to learn English from scratch. All Korean students work long and hard to learn English, but many fail to become proficient. There are several reasons why English is difficult to master, as outlined below.
1. English spelling is inconsistent and irregular, so it is not easy for learners to memorize words.
2. English has a vast vocabulary, and many words are very versatile with a wide range of meanings and uses. This can be confusing for learners.
3. English grammar has many rules, exceptions and idiomatic expressions that can be difficult to learn.
4. English pronunciation can be challenging for learners because English is not a phonetic language where each letter corresponds to one sound. All vowels and some consonants are pronounced in more ways than one and many words contain silent consonants. As a result, many English words are not pronounced as they are spelled.
5. English is spoken differently in different regions and countries, which can lead to confusion for learners who are not familiar with the variations. For instance, American English is distinctively different from British English.
To understand why English is the way it is, we need to trace its evolution. England was initially inhabited by the Celts speaking Celtic. After Germanic peoples ― the Jutes, Angles and Saxons ― invaded England in the fifth century, the Celts mostly fled to Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, and the invaders established their own language, taking over very little of Celtic. This language is Anglo-Saxon or Old English.
Old English was continuously modified by a succession of invasions. The first of these invasions was the arrival of Christianity in around 600 A.D. As a result, Old English acquired many Latin words of a religious nature for which no native words existed.
Toward the end of the eighth century, the Danish Vikings started invading the east coast of England. Within a hundred years, their settlements grew numerous. The Vikings were absorbed into the life of the Angle-Saxons and so was their language. In exchange, the Danish or Norse languages gave the English language many new words and altered the pronunciation of many more.
The next invasion was more far-reaching. William of Normandy conquered England in 1066 and Norman French became the language of the ruling class and it gradually influenced Old English, which was spoken by the common people (Anglo-Saxons). There were two languages spoken in England from 1066 until the early 14th century. But as the Normans became cut off from France and intermarried with the Anglo-Saxons, the two languages mingled and became Middle English, which owed many hundreds of words to Norman French.
The full tide of the Renaissance, which was based on rediscovered Greek and Latin classics, reached England in about 1500. This invasion brought with it a flood of Greek and Latin words, many of which soon became permanently absorbed into English. As a result, the English language became even more hybrid than Middle English. The language from the middle of the 17th century is essentially Modern English.
As outlined above, English borrowed freely from other languages. And the influx of great numbers of foreign words of diverse origins enriched English vocabulary but made English spellings and pronunciation overly complex.
English continues to evolve with new words and phrases being added regularly to reflect technological, cultural and political developments.
Difficult as it is for Koreans to learn English, we have no choice but to exert effort to master English because it is the lingua franca of the world.
The writer (tomhslee43@gmail.com) is a freelance columnist.
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