Differences Between Chinese and Korean

Each language has its own characteristics, and for a translator, understanding the unique traits of each language is essential to better accomplish translation work. Since my internship project involves translating between Chinese and Korean, it is important to understand the similarities and differences between the two languages. Only by fully grasping the disparities between them can we identify patterns and accumulate experience.

Pronunciation and Writing Differences

Chinese characters are logograms that convey meaning through their use. For example, ideographic characters are evolved from the shapes or developmental states of objects, enabling readers to understand the intended meanings.

Korean, on the other hand, is an alphabetic script where various letters are combined to form words, similar to a phonetic alphabet. While it can spell out pronunciations, it does not directly reflect meanings like Chinese characters. Therefore, when pronouncing Korean words, mainly combine consonants and vowels while avoiding tone marks to prevent sounding strange.

Differences in Sentence Structure/Word Order

The sentence structures in Chinese primarily follow the pattern of "subject + predicate + object," while in Korean, the structure is typically "subject + object + predicate." For instance, the Chinese phrase "I eat" would be expressed in Korean as "I food eat."

In Chinese, prepositions may be used to indicate the grammatical relationships between words and are generally placed before the word. In contrast, Korean utilizes word endings to show the relationships among words, which must be added after the word.

Chinese words do not undergo inflection; instead, they rely on word order to express the relationships between words in a sentence, including the position and grammatical function of each word. On the other hand, Korean employs word endings to indicate the position and grammatical function of each word in a sentence. For example, in Chinese, "I eat" and "he goes" have "I" and "he" as subjects, but in Korean, the subject marker "가(이)" must be added to indicate the subject, and there are specific word ending changes for predicates, objects, adjectives, and adverbs, which significantly differs from Chinese.

Honorific Language

In Korean, the language used varies according to different social groups, leading to distinctions between honorific, humble, and intimate speech. It reflects strict etiquette related to age, hierarchy, and gender relations. While Chinese also includes honorific language, it is not as strictly regulated as in Korean, making it crucial to pay attention to language use in Korean communication.

For example, asking "Are you going today?" to an elder in a respectful manner would be "오늘가십니까?" whereas for someone younger, it would be "오늘가니?".

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