[Let’s learn Korean culture] What are some good points of learning Chinese characters in order to learn Korean?

 Many Korean words are Chinese-based words, and the rest are genuine native words. Because of that, if one knows Chinese characters, it helps with the learning of Korean words. For example, if one learns the Chinese word 남(男), one knows that words containing this character mean something related to the word of “man.” In words like ‘남녀’ (man and woman), ‘남자’ (man), ‘남성’ (scientific word for “male”), ‘남동생’ (younger male brother), the element 남 has the meaning of “man.” However, in Korean words of Chinese origin, there are also characters that sound the same, but whose meanings are different. The Chinese character 남(南) has the meaning of “South”, instead of the meaning of “man.” Therefore, words with this “남(南)” element contain the meaning of “South,” as in ‘남극’ (South Pole), ‘남대문’ (South Gate), and ‘남동풍’ (South wind). Although one may not experience difficulty in learning Korean without knowing Chinese characters, if one knows Chinese characters, it is fun to infer the meaning of words that one sees for the first time by means of each Chinese character.