| So, you have always been fascinated by Asian | | | | these, Turkish is the most western of the languages, |
| culture have you? Maybe you are someone who | | | | while Korean and Japanese are more |
| loves the martial arts; kung fu, tae-kwon-do, or | | | | eastern.Sino-Tibetan Family The Sino-Tibetan Family |
| karate. Perhaps you are interested in the cool oriental | | | | consists of Mandarin Chinese. Languages in this |
| stores and like to buy many things from them to | | | | language family are made up of one syllable words, |
| decorate your house. Maybe you like the peaceful | | | | but there are MANY. There is no simple alphabet to |
| society you see depicted in some Asian films. Or | | | | form these words, which causes the vast number of |
| maybe you are just incredibly in love with the Asian | | | | Chinese characters, making it one of the hardest |
| languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and | | | | languages to learn. You also must learn to speak, |
| Korean.Whatever your interest is in Asia and its | | | | read, and write all separately. There is no reading a |
| society, it could never hurt to know a little bit about | | | | word and being able to speak it, nor can you hear |
| the culture. In fact, learning about something more | | | | one and guess on how it is spelled. Writing is still |
| than is shown in action movies and your Korean | | | | completely on it's own even if you can read, because |
| dramas can be quite beneficial.My experience is with | | | | you have to use proper stroke orders! Very time |
| Korean culture and Korean language, but the culture | | | | consuming to learn.There are also several tones in |
| is similar in most Asian countries. Language Families | | | | these languages. A change in pitch while saying a |
| One of the main things you may have noticed is how | | | | word could change the meaning of the word |
| incredibly different the Asian languages are from | | | | completely. It makes the language sound very pretty |
| English. You come across languages such as Italian, | | | | when spoken, but is incredibly difficult to learn! |
| Spanish, and French, and you can at least find some | | | | Sentence Structure As with many Asian languages, a |
| similarities in those languages and English. Yet there | | | | common fact you will notice is many of the |
| seem to be none between English and Asian | | | | languages follow an SOV sentence structure. That is, |
| languages! The fact is they just come from different | | | | Subject, Object, Verb. English tends to place the |
| language families. Most European languages will fall in | | | | verb after the subject of the sentence. Asian |
| the same language family as English. Many of these | | | | languages place the verb at the very end of the |
| are in the Indo-European language families. Words will | | | | sentence. The most important part of the sentence |
| be similar between all of the languages that come | | | | is saved for last :) Don't we all save the best for |
| from the same family.Asian languages such as | | | | last?Although much of the culture evolves around the |
| Japanese and Korean are in the same language | | | | language, there is plenty more to culture. Korean |
| family, the Altaic family. You will find many similarites | | | | culture is amazing in every way. Look forward to |
| in these two languages. Mandarin Chinese comes | | | | future articles covering Korean culture! is a site based |
| from the Sino-Tibetan family.Altaic Family The Altaic | | | | on teaching the Korean language. It also provides |
| family is named after the Alti Mountains. They are | | | | details on Korean culture, Korean foods, Korean |
| located in Central Asia. The Altaic Family consists of | | | | recipes, Korean music, everything Korean! |
| Turkish, Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. Out of | | | | |