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Korean (한국어 / 조선말)

Korean is spoken by about 63 million people
in South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The
relationship between Korean and other
languages is not known for sure, though
some linguists believe it to be a member of
the Altaic family of languages. Grammatically
Korean is very similar to Japanese and about
70% of its vocabulary comes from Chinese.

Origins of writing in Korea

Chinese writing has been known in Korea for
over 2,000 years. It was used widely during
the Chinese occupation of northern Korea
RBP
from 108 BC to 313 AD. By the 5th century
[Link]
AD, the Koreans were starting to write in
INSTALL
Classical Chinese - the earliest known
example of this dates from 414 AD. They
later devised three different systems for
writing Korean with Chinese characters:
Hyangchal (향찰/鄕札), Gukyeol (구결/口訣)
and Idu (이두/吏讀). These systems were
similar to those developed in Japan and
were probably used as models by the
Japanese.

The Idu system used a combination of

Chinese characters together with special
symbols to indicate Korean verb endings and
other grammatical markers, and was used to
in official and private documents for many
centuries. The Hyangchal system used
Chinese characters to represent all the
sounds of Korean and was used mainly to
write poetry.

The Koreans borrowed a huge number of

Chinese words, gave Korean readings
and/or meanings to some of the Chinese
characters and also invented about 150 new
characters, most of which are rare or used
mainly for personal or place names.

The Korean alphabet was invented in 1444

and promulgated it in 1446 during the reign
of King Sejong (r.1418-1450), the fourth king
of the Joseon Dynasty. The alphabet was
originally called Hunmin jeongeum, or "The
correct sounds for the instruction of the
people", but has also been known as
Eonmeun (vulgar script) and Gukmeun
(national writing). The modern name for the
alphabet, Hangeul, was coined by a Korean
linguist called Ju Si-gyeong (1876-1914). In
North Korea the alphabet is known as 조선글
(josoen guel).

The shapes of the consonants are based on

the shape the mouth made when the
corresponding sound is made, and the
traditional direction of writing (vertically from
right to left) most likely came from Chinese,
as did the practice of writing syllables in
blocks.

Even after the invention of the Korean

alphabet, most Koreans who could write
continued to write either in Classical Chinese
or in Korean using the Gukyeol or Idu
systems. The Korean alphabet was
associated with people of low status, i.e.
women, children and the uneducated. During
the 19th and 20th centuries a mixed writing
system combining Chinese characters
(Hanja) and Hangeul became increasingly
popular. Since 1945 however, the importance
of Chinese characters in Korean writing has
diminished significantly.

Since 1949 hanja have not been used at all

in any North Korean publications, with the
exception of a few textbooks and specialized
books. In the late 1960s the teaching of
hanja was reintroduced in North Korean
schools however and school children are
expected to learn 2,000 characters by the
end of high school.

In South Korea school children are expected

to learn 1,800 hanja by the end of high
school. The proportion of hanja used in
Korean texts varies greatly from writer to
writer and there is considerable public
debate about the role of hanja in Korean
writing.

Most modern Korean literature and informal

writing is written entirely in hangeul, however
academic papers and official documents
tend to be written in a mixture of hangeul and
hanja.

Notable features of Hangeul

Type of writing system: alphabet

Direction of writing: Until the 1980s
Korean was usually written from right to
left in vertical columns. Since then
writing from left to right in horizontal
lines has become popular, and today
the majority of texts are written
horizontally.
Number of letter: 24 (jamo): 14
consonants and 10 vowels. The letters
are combined together into syllable
blocks. For example, Hangeul is
written: 한 (han) = (h) + (a) + (n)
and 글 (geul) = (g) + (eu) + (l)
The shapes of the the consontants g/k,
n, s, m and ng are graphical
representations of the speech organs
used to pronounce them. Other
consonsants were created by adding
extra lines to the basic shapes.
The shapes of the the vowels are
based on three elements: man (a
vertical line), earth (a horizontal line)
and heaven (a dot). In modern Hangeul
the heavenly dot has mutated into a
short line.
Spaces are placed between words,
which can be made up of one or more
syllables.
The sounds of some consonants
change depending on whether they
appear at the beginning, in the middle,
or at the end of a syllable.
A number of Korean scholars have
proposed an alternative method of
writing Hangeul involving writing each
letter in a line like in English, rather
than grouping them into syllable blocks,
but their efforts have been met with little
interest or enthusiasm.
In South Korea hanja are used to some
extent in some Korean texts.
Used to write: Korean, and Cia-Cia
(Bahasa Ciacia / 바하사 찌아찌아), a
Malayo-Polynesian language spoken
on Buton Island in Indonesia.

The Hangeul alphabet (한글)

Consonants (자음/子音)

A recording of the Korean consonants by

Jessica Kwon

!"!! #!"%'

The double consonants marked with * are

pronounced fortis. There is no symbol in IPA
to indiciate this.

Vowels (모음/母音)

A recording of the Korean vowels by Jessica

Kwon

!"!! #!"%&

Note on the transliteration of Korean

There are a number different ways to write
Korean in the Latin alphabet. The methods
shown above are:

1. (first row) the official South Korean

transliteration system, which was
introduced in July 2000. You can find
further details at [Link].
2. (second row) the McCune-Reischauer
system, which was devised in 1937 by
two American graduate students,
George McCune and Edwin
Reischauer, and is widely used in
Western publications. For more details
of this system see: [Link]
[Link]

See the Korean alphabet pronounced:

# Korean alphabet Real so…

Download
Download a Korean alphabet chart in Excel,
Word or PDF format.

Sample text in Korean (hangeul only)

Sample text in Korean (hangeul and

hanja)

Transliteration
Modeun Ingan-eun Tae-eonal ttaebuteo
Jayuroumyeo Geu Jon-eomgwa Gwonrie
Iss-eo Dongdeunghada. Ingan-eun
Cheonbujeog-euro Iseong-gwa Yangsim-eul
Bu-yeobad-ass-eumyeo Seoro Hyungje-ae-
ui Jeongsin-euro Haengdongha-yeo-
yahanda.

A recording of this text by Jessica Kwon

!"!! #!"$%

Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with
reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights)

Sample videos in Korean

WIKITONGUES: Suse…

연합뉴스TV 생방송 (LIVE & …

All That Gugak - Pansori

Information about Korean | Phrases |

Numbers | Colours | Telling the time | Family
words | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel |
Articles | Learning materials | Links

Links
Information about the Korean language
[Link]
[Link]/Korean/Artikel01/[Link]
[Link]

Online Korean lessons

[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]

More Korean links

Learn to speak Korean confidently and

naturally with Rocket Korean
Learn Korean with Glossika

Korean courses and other resources

available on Amazon

Languages written with the Hangeul

alphabet
Cia-Cia, Jeju, Korean

Alphabets
Adlam, Armenian, Avestan, Avoiuli, Bassa (Vah),
Beitha Kukju, Borama / Gadabuursi, Carian,
Carpathian Basin Rovas, Chinuk pipa, Coorgi-
Cox, Coptic, Cyrillic, Dalecarlian runes, Deseret,
Elbasan, Etruscan, Faliscan, Galik, Georgian
(Asomtavruli), Georgian (Nuskhuri), Georgian
(Mkhedruli), Glagolitic, Gothic, Greek, Irish
(Uncial), Kaddare, Khatt-i-Badí’, Khazarian
Rovas, Korean, Latin, Lepontic, Luo Lakeside
Script, Lycian, Lydian, Manchu, Mandaic,
Mandombe, Marsiliana, Messapic, Mongolian,
Mro, Naguaké Taíno Pictographic Alphabet,
N'Ko, North Picene, Ogham, Old Church
Slavonic, Oirat Clear Script, Old Italic, Old
Nubian, Old Permic, Orkhon, Oscan, Pau Cin
Hau, Phrygian, Pollard script, Runic, Santali,
Székely-Hungarian Rovás (Hungarian
Runes), Somali (Osmanya), South Picene,
Sutton SignWriting, Tai Lue, Todhri, Umbrian,
Uyghur, Zaghawa

Other writing systems

If you need to type in many different

languages, the Q International Keyboard can
help. It enables you to type almost any
language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or
Greek alphabets, and is free.

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