Introduction to Hancha: Sinographs and Sino-Korean Vocabulary I & II
Although most publications in North Korea (since the late 1940s) and South Korea (since the late 1980s) rarely use sinographs (한자/‘Chinese characters’) anymore, it would be folly for ambitious learners (and teachers) of Korean to think they need no longer learn them. Even North Korean children still learn 한자 in school, and while 한자 teaching in South Korean schools is continually in flux, your university-educated peers have all had significant levels of exposure to sinographs throughout their education. In this two-semester sequence, students learn to read and write approximately 500~600 sinographs in their Sino-Korean shapes and readings. More importantly, they also learn approximately 2000~3000 한자어/漢字語 vocabulary items, idioms, proverbs and other expressions that feature these sinographs as their constituent elements. Knowledge of sinographs is the key to developing a sophisticated ‘adult’ vocabulary, as well as to accessing print materials prior to the 1980s from South Korea. Students also learn techniques and strategies for continuing to learn sinographs on their own (the learner’s ultimate goal should be to master at least 1800). This course also provides review for patterns learned in KORN 102-202 and reinforcement for structural patterns learned in KORN 301-302.