In society, many people tend to judge others by appearances such as skin color, height, and weight, while overlooking the inner side. This tendency has naturally been absorbed by the language. There are many hurtful words spoken that discriminate against minorities, particularly in Korean language. The problem is that these discriminative words are so commonly used that people use them unconsciously. Even those who know that discrimination is wrong also involuntarily use these hurtful words.

 

From old times in Korea, there have existed discriminative words such as jjang-kae, orangkae, kkam-doong-yi, and yankee. These words put down and degrade other racial and ethnic groups. Although the tendency of prejudice and bigotry has been reduced, it is not rare that such words are still used today. In addition to the racially discriminating words, there are vocationally discriminative words, such as no-ga-da, which means a construction worker, gong-soon-yi, which means a factory girl, and jab-sang-in, which means hawker. These jobs are not preferred by society. For this reason, the workers of these jobs are disregarded with the hurtful words.

 

Gender discrimination in words is also one of the most serious problems. For example, Kimchi-nyeo and Doenjang-nye are representative ones among words that disparage women. These words are used to describe a woman of vanity and extravagance in Korean. However, they have now become a common expression in Korea, and have become a stereotype that hastily generalizes Korean women as a vulgar, inflated species, thus provoking sexual discrimination. Likewise, the effect of language on society is critical. If the language includes discriminative factors, the society could be naturally

influenced.

 

Language is an intangible cultural asset that embodies life, history, and values. Language also represents someone’s thought, dignity, and personality. For instance, during the Japanese Colonial Rule, Japanese imperialists instituted a policy to annihilate Korean language as a strategy to obliterate Korean culture. It shows that language is very important in the formation of identity for an

individual and a society. No matter who argues discrimination is wrong, and no matter how many people discuss discrimination, as long as discriminative words remain in our society, discrimination will not be eliminated.

 

Sexual, racial, and occupational discrimination in language poses a serious problem in Korea. Discrimination is very unreasonable and unjust; therefore, using words including the wrong factors is also undesirable. The society and its members generally agree that we are all the equal human beings, regardless of inborn features. Now, that thought should expand to the language that people use. To solve the problem, people should be careful when they talk with others and people should be responsible for their words. In addition, there is a need to set up an accessible institution that can purify and correct the harmful words. Under the National Institute of the Korean Language, linguists and netizens all should try to correct the discriminative words to proper words and the process of amending work should be operated systematically.

 

However, it would need a lot of help from various fields of society for the institution to accomplish its practical work. At the state level, through public relations, the government should make people recognize the using of wrong words. Also, through the media, the aims and purpose of the institution should be consistently promoted by encouraging the citizens to participate in the purification work of hurtful words. Media should take the head in exposing the purified words to the public. Be careful. Your tongue could be a sharp weapon that hurts others.