Learning Hapkido in Korea - Language

[arsenius]

I'm going to be starting Hapkido next month. It will be my first martial arts since I took TaeKwonDo when I was a little kid, unless you count fencing in high school.

I've lived in South Korea for several years now, and my Korean is okay. I can chat with my friends about general life, or understand the basics of some TV. But I can't understand the news, or anything difficult. Basically, I can't understand much about specific topics.

When I went to talk to the kwanjangnim I was able to speak to him, but I couldn't understand everything he said perfectly. About 80%. But we didn't talk about Hapkido, just schedules and such.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has had experience training in Korea using Korean, not English. If you did it, how would you rate your general skill in the language? Did you have a hard time? Did you pick up the terms easily?

(I'm not worried about specific terms for class, like "Kick" or "Punch" because I expect they will be repeated often enough to learn them quickly. But my descriptive vocabulary is lacking. I couldn't describe specific types of movement, for example.)

Is Hapkido demonstrated visually and physically, or should I expect a lot of talking in class? If anyone would like to share their experiences I would be interested.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Visually or physically? I would assume that it will be a combination of the two, as some techniques simply have to be felt.

As for how much talking in the class, I am inclined to think that there would be very little. From what I have gathered, students in Asia are less chatty during class than their western counterparts, who are more likely to ask questions during the class.

When I teach, I use a lot of Korean in directing the class. Line up, bow, stand, sit, etc. are all done in Korean. The students figured it out quickly enough.

The following was copied from a TKD or TSD website and sent to me by a friend some time ago and may be helpful:

About Face 돌아 do-ra
Again 다시 das-hi

At Ease 쉬어 she-eo
Attention 차렷 cha ryut

Begin 시작 shi-jak
Bow 경례 kyung-ryet

Face the Instructor 사범님께 sa-beom-nim kke
Kneel/ Sit Down 앉조 ahn-jo

Line Up 줄서 chul-seo
Ready Stance 준비 jun-bi

Return 바로 pa-ro
Stand Up 일어섯 yi reo sut

Best wishes to you!

Daniel

 

[dbell]

I studied Hapkido in Seoul Korea for two years, 6 days a week (well 1 year, then on and off for three years for a total of 2 years training) in an all Korean school, I was the only non-Korean in the class. Very little was said during class except to call off commands, or when teaching something new. Then the GrandMaster would go into detail describing (as he did it slow motion to his assistant) the move and reasoning behind it.

I had already gone to the US Army Language School for Korean and could read/write and speak it at the time, so I was able to get through fairly well. Some things I would make mental note of and go to my Korean counter parts back and work the next day and ask them what something meant if I didn't know it.

If you can remember what was said, and take it to your friends the next day, or that evening, you should do fine if you know 80% of what he is saying.

 

[arsenius]

Thanks for your replies, both of you.

Daniel, thanks for your list. That sort of thing I'm sure I can handle. I actually know most of those words, they are used everyday here.

DBell, how would you rate your Korean at the time you were here? You said you could write and speak. Do you mean fluently, conversationally, passably? I can understand 80-100% of casual conversation, but as I said I get lost when talk turns to specific topics. You said you could ask people later about what you didn't understand, so I'm guessing your understanding was better than mine. For myself, generally if I don't understand something (in Korean!) it's usually in one ear and out the other.

 

[dbell]

I was pretty fluent. Probably 99% of the language back then. Both written and spoken, but some of the terms he used I was learning as I went along. But if you are in the 80-100% range now, you should do fairly well.

You will want to work on not letting those things you don't know understand from going in one ear and out the other though...

 

[arsenius]

Thanks again Daniel and Dbell. Dbell, I will probably be working on that last suggestion of yours for a long time!

I have taken about a week of classes now, so I thought it might be time for an update.

So far I have been doing fairly well with the language in class, although I feel that language has been more challenging than the physical aspects. I'm enjoying all of it, though.

The main difficulty is that there are a lot of new terms to learn. Most people don't spend a lot of time talking about types of kicks when they're out drinking! Thankfully my instructor has been willing to write the terms down for me so that I can review them outside of class. I have been trying to review them while using visualization.

As far as the other language, like descriptions of techniques, it has been tough, but I have been doing okay with it. I am certainly not fluent yet, but I have been able to get by. And in general if I totally can't understand a description my instructor has been able to simply demonstrate for me.

I would suggest to anyone who wants to study hapkido in Korean that they have a basic understanding of Korean to begin with, because otherwise you would be quickly overwhelmed. For example, learning the names of the techniques in Korean would be very hard if you didn't know what Korean should sound like. However, I don't think you need very advanced Korean to study hapkido. If you took Korean class for six months or so I would imagine you could get by, learning just technique names, greetings, and so forth, and relying on demonstrations to actually understand what is taught.