Korean has a very scientific notational system. It can describe most sounds in the world. Also it is very simple and it represents it's own pronunciation. In other words, Korean alphabet is exactly the symbol of it's sound. So Korean does not have to use any pronunciation symbols. Therefore, even foreigners who learned Korean alphabet a few hours can read and write Korean words although they do not understand the meanings.
Many Koreans are confused when they begin to learn English. As English words have irregular spelling rules with their sounds, and there are many unsystematic sounds methods, Koreans are usually shocked at the fact that they have to memorize the spelling of the words and the pronunciation separately.
I was wondering why English has only five vowel characters(A, E, I, O, U) even though it has more than 10 vowel sounds until my LINC instructor told us the reason yesterday.
In the past, Roman Emperor ruled England. Their language was Latin and they used Latin alphabet as the notational system. After ruling of the Rome, England was invaded from Anglo, Saxon and so on originally from the German area. Their language was similar with old German, but they did not have any alphabet.
As the ruling class of the England, they became to need some notational system to rule their new territory and they finally found the Latin alphabet. However, very sadly, their sounds did not perfectly match with the Latin characters. So many complex spelling rules were derived with the loose pronunciation methods.
In the end, the poor English learners, especially from the East Asia, are struggling to memorize the spellings and the pronunciations separately.
It was very interesting story to me.
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