This file photo shows Kazakhstan applicants taking a Korean language proficiency test at the Korean Language Education Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 21, 2013. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study showed that the most frequently used Korean term among foreign students of the Korean language was ‘saram’, the Korean word for person.
The National Institute of Korean Language analysed data related to the Korean terms being used by foreigners studying the Korean language, which showed that the term ‘saram’ was used most frequently among Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Anglophone, and Russian students.
‘Saram’ was followed by ‘chingu’ (friend), ‘saeng-gak’ (thought), ‘tae’ (when), ‘il’ (work), ‘gongbu’ (study), and ‘jip’ (home) in order of use.
Some Korean terms were frequently used by certain language groups.
Chinese speakers, for instance, frequently used the term ‘sa-hoe’ (society), while Japanese speakers used a lot of ‘iyagi’ (story). Vietnamese speakers frequently used ‘yeo-haeng’ (travel), while English speakers frequently used ‘shigan’ (time). Russian speakers used a lot of ‘gajok’ (family) and ‘nampyeon’ (husband).
Foreigners studying the Korean language struggled mostly with learning prepositional particles.
The institute said that among the top 100 list of frequently made errors using the Korean language, those related to prepositional particles were the most frequent at 45 percent.
“This list of data is mostly comprised of beginner or intermediate-level students, which is probably why the term ‘saram’ topped the list,” the institute said.
Between 2015 and 2020, the institute collected some 4.4 million word segments from 139 countries and 92 language spheres to establish big data related to Korean language students.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
