Can KOREANS Actually Read CHINESE Characters? | HANJA Interview (한자)

[@GoBillyKorean]

Typo! It should say "새옹지마" in the video subtitles (not "세옹지마"). Thanks for watching!

[@thisismycoolnickname]

Their knowledge of Chinese characters is much better than I expected.

[@Smoses_senpai]

Agreed! I thought everyone would do worse

[@babygoo89]

I’m Chinese (from Hong Kong, my mother tongue is Cantonese) and learning Korean, have to say it’s such a huge benefit. I picked up Korean, especially in reading, so quickly. And now sometimes I can even guess Korean vocabularies based on how we say them in Cantonese. I heard that the older generations had to learn hanja in school back in the days, hence most of them can read well.

[@bunstructors8591]

As a native Chinese speaker it's very interesting to see Korean has its own 四字成語 that are not used in Chinese.. I've never heard of 天高馬肥 at all. 塞翁之馬 is a modification of the expression in Chinese 塞翁失馬焉知非福 竹馬故友 means childhood friends in Korean, which is different from the expression 青梅竹馬 in Chinese which specifically refers to childhood friendship between a boy and a girl.

[@GoBillyKorean]

I found an online article talking about the origins of 天高馬肥 as possibly being from 秋馬肥 --> 秋深塞馬肥. Then Japan and Korea changed it from a negative to a positive meaning. (languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3931)

[@bunstructors8591]

@@GoBillyKorean Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing!

[@팀보]

wow this is very interesting, I had no idea!

[@yo2trader539]

I've never heard the first phrase used in Japanese either, but it's in the dictionary as『天高く馬肥ゆ』. Apparently it's from 杜甫. The other two would be commonly written as 『人間万事塞翁が馬』, and 『竹馬の友』. As for 故事成語 famous ones in Japan that most people would learn in school would be 酒池肉林 (from the tales of 殷 紂王)、 臥薪嘗胆 、呉越同舟、 四面楚歌 、温故知新、五里霧中、大器晩成、玉石混交、羊頭狗肉.

[@doggy5]

天高馬肥 comes from 秋高馬肥, and 竹馬故友 has an equivalent in Chinese which is 竹馬之友. They've just been modified slightly into their Korean forms.

[@ErOrNRK]

I quizzed my (Korean) fiancée on these just now. She did slightly better than the young folks in the video but not as well as the older folks, which was about what I was expecting.

[@KoreaWithKids]

The sky is high and the horses are fat. Love that one.

[@bachkhoao]

Absolutely love this kind of videos.

[@CookieKorea]

Interesting video😊 As a native Korean, Hanja is not a major subject, but it is part of the regular curriculum in middle and high school. Although a few decades ago, Chinese characters were commonly seen in newspapers and TV news, they are rarely used now. Nevertheless, many Koreans receive basic education in Chinese characters.

[@Fmppp03]

This is so fun to watch

[@ms_hansel]

So fun! Love the mic too!

[@thienloi01]

As a Vietnamese Canadian who is learning the original Chinese character based script to write Vietnamese (chữ Nôm 𡨸喃), I was able to understand and read with the Vietnamese pronunciation all of them except the second character in Kim Yuna. I wasn't able to understand the figurative meaning of the 天高馬肥 text, in Vietnamese, it would be pronounced "Thiên cao mã phì, tái ông chi mã, trúc mã cố hữu". In Vietnam unfortunately, almost no one can read and understand Chinese characters, even numbers and basic characters.

[@StephenYoung1379]

That's because of too much anti-Chinese propaganda. Anyone who tries to teach, educate or explain Vietnamese names & words with Chinese characters would (sooner or later) be called out as a "traitor" , "Chinese's slave" etc...

[@saphna2095]

wow I'm impressed how good they were, given they probably learned it wayy back in school as a not so important subject and never used it since

[@yesuago123]

This is a very interesting topic!

[@morethan_Korean]

한자는 어렵기는 하지만 한국어를 더 잘하고 싶은 여러분들은 한자를 공부하는 게 좋아요.😊

[@LimeBoy-oo6ph]

Very interesting video. Hanja is so interesting

[@PatHighwayEncounter]

빌리 씨 너무 감사해요~~~~~~~~~전 요즘 한문을 시작했는데 너무 재밌다 all the best 갑돌이

[@letstrytobekind]

I love your Hanja videos! I knew quite a few of these, but the more complicated ones were too hard for me. I didn't know any of the idioms or the names. All I got from the names was Kim, which I mostly know from 금요일. But I recognized all the numbers and days of the week easily. Thanks for this fun video!

[@fpzs0427]

what a nice surprise to meet you here, my dear kickito friend ㅋㅋㅋ

[@letstrytobekind]

@@fpzs0427 안녕하세요!!! Based on the zs in your username, I think I know who you are. :jinpoint:

[@veiking]

Thank you for promoting Hanja. I believe hanja is what really connects East Asian countries.

[@bobjones1999]

I'm really surprised by their ability to read Chinese! I'm curious how well would the older generation do reading Traditional Chinese sentences.

[@jamesdowdle7587]

재미있게 봤습니다! 고맙습니다, 빌리 선생님!

[@slaine3166]

I grew up learning hanja with calligraphy when I was young. At the current state of hanja, it's rather a peculiar hobby than anything else. If anything, learning English is way more beneficial in practical level. That's why there is no demand to learn about it at all. I heard recently that some are getting interested in hanja because they started to question the root of vocabulary or history etc, or getting interested in humanities in general. It is super beneficial to learn the meanings behind of words they use, but if that's not their priority, nobody can really force them to learn. Even compared to China or Japan, most people are not even handwrite anything and just type everything on electronical devices. At this current state, learning Chinese characters is just a good side hobby than anything.

[@nao-rk5io]

こういう動画を見ていると同じ漢字圏なんだな、と感じます。最後の問題の真ん中の人はよく分かんなかったし、キムヨナさんのお名前の表記も初めて知りました。

[@nepu47]

真ん中の人は実際人物ではないですね。朝鮮時代で有名な活劇小説の主人公です。日本で「太郎」みたいに公文書でよく使います。

[@SQ8MXT]

knew 80-90%ish of the characters. As always 매울 신 (辛) and 다행 행 (幸) killed me :) Looking at the other ones expected it to be the 행 not the 신 one :D

[@alexandrustefanmiron7723]

Impressive!

[@burheadft8372]

By my experience, my Korean girlfriend can't read hanja at all, when I ask her to read some characters in the street, but especially her dad can read hanja very well. 😁 Older generation studied it at school. 😅

[@lionegberts]

Interesting! I studied Ilbon-eo and now I am about to learning jungguk-eo. Maybe one day I will learn hanguk-eo to listen to Raon.

[@Smoses_senpai]

From different pieces of media i know that wol is moon and hwa is fire right?

[@byusaranicole]

I knee the numbers (from learning extreeeeeemly basic Kanji)....

[@jakankim2183]

다들 감으로 때려맞추네요. 힌트를 많이 주니깐... 컨텍스트 하나도 없이 개별 한자로 주면 난이도가 꽤 올라가죠...같은 한자라도

[@ashwalker1]

I only knew about some of the numbers lol

[@naj3330]

I knew numbers and King, because those are easy.

[@yorshigol85]

한국어가 중국어와 계통학적으로 다른 언어임에도 중국의 어휘를 많이 쓰게 된 건 역사적으로 오랜 기간 자기들만의 문자가 없었기 때문입니다 15세기에 한글이 발명되었지만 유의미하게 쓰이게 된 건 이제 겨우 100년 밖에 되지 않았죠 한국이 한국만의 문자를 이제는 본격적으로 쓰게 되었기 때문에 시간이 흐르면서 가속도가 붙게 될 것이고 한자를 필요로 하는 일은 갈수록 줄어들게 될 겁니다 정밀함을 요하는 개념어 같은 것도 지금은 시간적 편의성 때문에 한자어를 쓰는 것이지, 순한글로 학술 개념어휘를 만즐겠다고 작정을 하면 안 될 것은 전혀 없는 상황입니다 실제로 한국의 지명이 서서히 순한글로 바뀌는 분위기가 지금 있고, 더 나아가면 사람들의 이름조차 세 음절 일색인 현재의 패턴에서 더 길고 다양한 고유어 형태의 이름으로 바뀔 가능성이 큽니다 세종대왕님이 만든 한글의 포텐셜은 아직 10퍼센트도 달성되지 않았습니다

[@kirokuan1525]

hanja is not exactly Chinese characters. Nowadays Chinese use simplified ones rather than traditional ones, except the regions like Hong Kong and Taiwan. Like "愛", simplified one is "爱". We don't use planets' name to represent weekdays either. if you show "金木水火土日月", the people who speak Chinese just tell you they are the name of planets. Until now Chinese area still use character to translate the Korean name rather using pronouncement. Like "金妍兒", it reads as the same in Chinese, and pronounce like "King Yen-er".

[@GoBillyKorean]

Originally Chinese did also use the planets' names, just like Japanese and Korean. They changed it recently.

[@ShellyNooby]

Hello Billy! I wonder if you’ll ever consider teaching Japanese and Chinese!

[@GoBillyKorean]

I have lots of lessons teaching Hanja in my "Korean FAQ" playlist, and you'll also find some videos comparing Japanese Korean. But my Japanese level isn't high enough for "teaching."

[@anyanyanyone]

recently started learning chinese and only now connected that kim has jin hanja and hong is indeed hong hanja

[@Annali-m6l]

OMG 😲 😱 I'm from china and can understand all the Chinese word you showed on the video

[@lyhthegreat]

would have been real shocking if you don't

[@Annali-m6l]

@@lyhthegreat yeah hahaha 😆 🤣

[@zevil89]

Chinese, Korean and Japanese generals all used to communicate with each other in Hanzi in writing. Thats why they could negotiate treaties without speaking the languages.

[@sara.cbc92]

This is untrue.

[@MeowCockadoodledoo]

@@sara.cbc92 guessed someone here don't read history books. and I am talking about you sara.

[@黑色牡丹]

​@@sara.cbc92 blame on your history teacher

[@thienloi01]

Vietnam also

[@zevil89]

​@@sara.cbc92 Treaties literally contained a provision that all official communication be in "Hanmun" lol. Admiral Yi also visited the Ming Dynasty and requested for reinforcements through writing in Hanmun.

[@nurkamiliailyana]

How do you type hanja character? Do you use chinese keyboard? (I'm still a beginner, so i haven't learn any hanja but it seems interesting for me so i just got curious)

[@GoBillyKorean]

You can use any Korean keyboard, and then after typing the syllable in 한글 press the right Ctrl key.

[@nurkamiliailyana]

@@GoBillyKorean ohhh!! I see! Thank you so much!

[@kevin8250]

이형 꽃미남 모자쓰고 아프BJ이랑 합방한 대구에서 ㅋㅋ 믓진형 여기서도 보넹용 방가워용 입담도 좋고 노래도 잘하는 고빌리업 구독 좋아용

[@flyingzone356]

The hanja characters for the days of the week are actually Japanese kanji characters. The Chinese do not write and call the days of the week as such. With the exception of Sunday, they just call them day 1 (Monday), day 2 (Tuesday) .... day 6 (Saturday), etc.

[@GoBillyKorean]

I made a video specifically about this topic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onLGmZ2fnMSdo5Y

[@KoreaWithKids]

I don't think I've heard 찍다 used that way before. Is it like "I took a stab at it"?

[@GoBillyKorean]

Yep! It's really commonly used that way too.

[@KoreaWithKids]

@@GoBillyKorean Thanks!

[@lyhthegreat]

that elements don't mean the days of the week in chinese, it's only the case in japanese, maybe korea got that from the japanese colonization?

[@GoBillyKorean]

Originally they did in Chinese too. The numbers used for weekdays is a recent change.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@GoBillyKorean ah i see.

[@kencorwin8341]

2:33 ah!/아ㅏㅏ~ doing a lot of work there 😂

[@nieadaaa]

빌리 캐릭터 스타일 때문에 옷을 더워도 못 바꾸고😢 더위 조심하세요 너무 더워

[@zevil89]

I read somewhere that the original Oracle Bone Scripts were discovered in the region of present day Pyongyang, at a time when a single aboriginal tribe occupied the area and there were no Chinese and Korean borders. Eventually due to a tribal dispute, a sector of the aboriginal tribe was exiled into the peninsula which eventually formed Korea. If thats the case then Hanja is probably a shared heritage of Chinese and Koreans.

[@globulidoktor1733]

after the second sheet I was out lol

[@WeiGuanNian]

Kim Jongun makes me laugh😂😂

[@mochiemy]

Very interesting topic and I can kinda tell if something is in Chinese characters or Japanese😃

[@lyhthegreat]

there's traditional chinese that is still being used in places like taiwan, hong kong and macau but yeah, there are still some kanji that are exclusively used in japanese because they created them.

[@StephenYoung1379]

@@lyhthegreat In mainland China, too, many anti-China media propaganda like to lie and say China banned and forbade traditional Chinese. But it's not true. They didn't, and it's still being used, just not commonly in daily life, because they prefer the simplified version for more convenience and It helped increase the literacy rates of the population from below 20% (500+ million) to 97% (1.4 billion)

[@mydogisbailey]

Hangeul-hanja mixed script is the most beautiful script to have ever existed, and it was more logical than the scripts of China and Japan (I’m saying this as a Chinese person). Such a shame that hanja was so violently eradicated😢. Even if Koreans dislike Japanese and Chinese, hanja is an integral part of their language culture and history. So much of it is lost now in the younger generations.

[@yo2trader539]

If you look at Korean newspapers, school textbooks, and official documents during Japanese administration, it was all mixture of KANJI and HANGUL. Japanese Colonial Office forced this writing style in mandatory education in Korea for two reasons: (1) intentional de-sinicization of Korean peninsula; (2) it made the most logical sense due to many KANJI-based words. This writing style was continued until the generation who received education during Japanese administration was still working, or around 1980s. (Until the end of 朝鮮王朝, almost every official document was written in 漢文, and the literary class or upper-class were all trained in classical Chinese.) It's quite tragic because a native-Chinese and Japanese speaker can understand most of 三国史記 all the way to 朝鮮王朝実録. Yet most native Koreans speakers can no longer read what their ancestors wrote about their own history. It's the same issue with modern Vietnamese. The educated class until early 20th century were able to read KANJI. (胡志明's father passed the 科挙 in Vietnam) Sadly, most modern Vietnamese can no longer read their own history book like 大越史記全書, which was written only 500 years ago.

[@hyunjinki1995]

It’s even illegal to learn that in NKor despite of they are bros with China

[@serbaserbi6004]

I though korean cant read all hanja like us in south east asia

[@zevil89]

Its part of their curriculum. In fact you wont see any Hangeul in many ancient Korean texts because it was deemed uncivilized by the upper class.

[@MeowCockadoodledoo]

well, at least they can read some of it.

[@haskar-by5pl]

@@zevil89 In reality, this was not the case. Hangul was widely used in everyday life regardless of social status. However, Chinese characters were used in official records and documents at the national level. In medieval Korea, Chinese characters played the same role as Latin in medieval Europe.

[@zevil89]

@@haskar-by5pl Yes because there were a lot of illiterate people centuries ago. In fact there were also a lot of illiterate people in China even prior to WW2.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@haskar-by5pl hangul was only invented in the 14th century so you mean before that normal koreans don't use any form of writing system?

[@sara.cbc92]

It's not that they are familiar with Chinese characters through China. Their familiarity of Chinese characters comes from being colonized by Japan. And in modern times, it's Koreans' infatuation with Japanese culture. Japanese is the most learnt foreign language in Korea, and it includes Kanji.

[@justinim9389]

Wrong. Hanja in Korea long predates Japanese colonization. Hanja in Korea still uses old traditional Chinese characters that were later simplified and adopted in Japanese kanji. For example, 學 , which is used in Korean and Chinese, but modified to 学 in kanji

[@까까묵자]

한국이 일본한테 한자를 가르쳤는데 뭔소릴 하는거지? 쇼토쿠 태자한테 한자 가르친 우리나라 승려 모르냐??ㅋㅋㅋㅋ그래서 너네한테 한자가 퍼진거지 그리고 일본 문화 요즘 기피대싱이거든?? 지긋지긋해한다?

[@MeowCockadoodledoo]

tetttt! wrong. Koreans have been in contact with the Chinese from long ago, even before the Japanese colonised them. They even recorded their Joseon kings' history in Classical Chinese.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@까까묵자 maybe he meant the average korean people? because back then only aristocrats were taught hanja, most of the peasants were illiterate. But saying that korea learnt hanja from japanese is simply ridiculous lol. i dont know if he's a korean or not but if he is he should know that over 90% of their historical texts were written in hanja.

[@yo2trader539]

@@까까묵자 Japanese and Chinese diplomatic exchanges dates back to the Latter Han dynasty in 1st century AD. The Southern regions of Korean peninsula were mostly Japonic language/culture until 1,500 years ago. Their language is called Peninsular Japonic. Japanese diplomatic contact with Northern Chinese dynasties was mainly through Chinese outposts on the Korean peninsula. The people who spread KANJI in Japan were actually the literary class serving in Chinese outposts such as 楽浪郡 and 帯方郡, who fled to Japan once 高句麗 or Koreanic people began series of invasions into the Korean peninsula from 4th and onward. It's also why Japanese forces and 高句麗 forces fought multiple times. Japan sent countless military expeditions between 4th and 7th century to protect the Japonic people living on the Korean peninsula. Some of them fled to Japan during that time, others have stayed and later were Koreanized. They are the reason why 1/3 of South Koreans have Y-DNA O1b2 ancestry, but that ratio becomes less in North Korea, and almost non-existent in Manchuria. The Chinese literary class who fled to Japan were hired by the Japanese Court to write-down administrative documents and historical and tax records. In Japan, their clan names are recorded as YAMATO-no-AYA (東漢氏), KAWACHI-no-FUMI (西史氏), or IMAKI-no-AYABITO (今来漢人). They were given specific roles, and their names indicate their Chinese origins. And many of their descendants are chosen as diplomats to be sent to Sui and Tang dynasties, due to their familiarity with KANJI.